A BRIEF HISTORY OF RAMAKRISHNA MATH AND MISSION

Introduction:

Talking about Shri Ramakrishna, Mr. Christopher Isherwood, a writer of worldwide repute and early practitioner of Vedanta in America said, “This is a story of a phenomenon. I will begin by calling him simply that, rather than “holy man”, “mystic” “saint”, or “avatar”; all emotive words with mixed associations which may attract some readers, repel others. (Isherwood 1965).

In November 1894, when Vivekananda was staying in the United States and was very busy in conducting public and private lectures, he wrote a letter to Alasinga Perumal (dated 30 November 1894), one of his most beloved disciples. In that letter he wrote—The life of Shri Ramakrishna was an extraordinary searchlight under whose illumination, one can really understand the whole scope of Hindu religion. He was the object-lesson of all the theoretical knowledge given in the Shâstras (scriptures). He showed by his life what the Rishis and Avatâras really wanted to teach. The books were theories, he was the realization. This man had in fifty-one years lived the five thousand years of national spiritual life and so raised himself to be an object-lesson for future generations. (Vivekananda 1894) (https://vivekavani.com/xxv-alasinga-letters-swami-vivekananda/).

What is “Vedanta”:

Very often, we encounter the word “Vedanta” whenever we visit one Ramakrishna center either in this country, or overseas including India.

Vedanta is one of the world’s most ancient spiritual philosophies and one of its broadest, based on the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of India. It is the philosophical foundation of Hinduism; but while Hinduism includes aspects of Indian culture, Vedanta is universal in its application and is equally relevant to all countries, all cultures and all religious backgrounds.

Vedanta affirms:

• The oneness of existence

• The divinity of the soul, and

• The harmony of all religions.

A closer look at the word Vedanta is revealing. “Vedanta” is a combination of two words: “Veda” meaning “knowledge” and “anta” meaning “the end of” or “the goal of”. In this context the goal of knowledge isn’t intellectual; limited in scope that we acquire by reading books. “Knowledge” here means the knowledge of God as well as the knowledge of our own divine nature. Vedanta, then, is the search for Self-knowledge as well as the search for God.

What do we mean when we say God? According to Vedanta, God is infinite existence, infinite conscious-

By Partha Ray, Texas

ness and infinite bliss. The term for this impersonal, transcendent reality is Brahman, the divine ground of being. Yet Vedanta also maintains that God can be personal as well, assuming human form in every age. Most importantly, God dwells within our own hearts as the divine Self or Atman. The Atman is never born nor will it ever die. (https://swamivivekanandafoundation.org/blog-whatis-vedanta/).

na jāyate mriyate vā kadāchin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ ajo nityaḥ śhāśhvato ’yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śharīre Gita 2/20

Sub-Schools of Vedanta

Broadly speaking, there are three main branches of Vedanta:

1. Advaita Vedanta

2. Vishishtadvaita

3. Dvaita

Early Phase of Planning:

After his return to India, from his first USA trip, in early part of 1897, Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta following a short stay at Darjeeling, with Swami Brahmananda, Mr. G C Ghosh, and others. Swamiji had long entertained the idea of starting an organization for spiritual, mental and material service with the cooperation of the monks, the devotees and the general public. He thought over the matter at Darjeeling, and now he gave a definite shape to this idea by calling a representative meeting of all the monks and devotees on May 1, 1897, at the house of the late Balaram Bose, 57 Ramkanta Bose Street, Baghbazar, and Calcutta. At this meeting, by unanimous decision a new organization was inaugurated, and in the second meeting of May 5, the following aims and objectives s were adopted.

“The association (Sangha) shall be known as the Ramakrishna Mission.

“The aim of the Sangha is to preach those truths which Shri Ramakrishna has, for the good of humanity, and preached and demonstrated by practical application in his own life, and to help others to put these truths into practice in their lives for their temporal, mental, and spiritual advancement.”

“The duty of the Mission is to conduct in the right spirit the activities of the movement inaugurated by Shri Ramakrishna for the establishment of fellowship among the followers’ of different religions, knowing them all to be so many forms only of one undying Eternal Religion.”

“The aims and ideals of the Mission being purely spiritual and humanitarian, it shall have no connection with politics. Anyone who believes in the mission of Shri Ramakrishna, or who sympathizes or is willing to cooperate with the aim mentioned aims and objectives of the Association, is eligible for membership.”

After the resolutions were passed, office bearers were appointed. Swami Vivekananda himself became the General President, while Swamis Brahmananda and Yogananda became the President and Vice-President respectively of the Calcutta center; Mr. Narendra Nath Mitra, a disciple of the Master and a solicitor was elected Secretary, and Dr. Shashi Bhushan Ghosh and Sharat Chandra Sarkar, Under Secretaries and Sharat Chandra Chakravarty, Reader of the Scriptures.

On February 13, 1898 (124 years back), the Math shifted from Alambazar to Belur (near Calcutta) at Nilambar Mukherjee’s Garden house on the Ganga. This was necessitated by two reasons. The “wretched house” at “Alambazar had received an “awful shaking” from the great earthquake of 1897. Which damaged the building. But a more pressing reason was the need of being near the plot of land meant for the permanent site of the monastery, for the purchase of which an agreement had been entered into on February 3, 1898. The plot was ultimately secured for Rs 39,000/-, donated by one Miss Henrietta Müller on March 4, 1898. The land was right on the Ganga, one eighth of a mile to the north of the above-mentioned garden house. There was much work to be done there. Fortunately, by then, Hari Prasanna, a disciple of the Master, had resigned from his service as an Executive Engineer and joined the monastery as a Brahmacharin. Two years later, on August 9, 1989, he took the vow of monasticism and changed his name to Swami Vijnananda. The supervision of the construction naturally devolved on him, while Advaitananda, persuaded to come from Varanasi, assisted him in the preliminary work such as grading the land, which was very uneven, because it had been used as a sort of dockyard for repairing small craft. There was a one storied building for dwelling purposes with two rooms on the northern side and another on the south, connected by a verandah facing the Ganga. There was also a separate block for servants. The place was scarcely habitable. Swami Vijnanananda’s task was to remodel the main building by adding some more rooms above as well as one on the southern side. Another with a couple of rooms above to serve as a shrine and a kitchen, a store and refectory below, had to be completed before the monastery or the Belur Math, as it came to be known, could be housed there. All this took a year. Mrs. Ole Bull’s handsome contribution made the construction of the shrine possible, and enabled Swami Vivekananda to make an endowment for the monastery.

All this time the remodeling of the buildings and leveling proceeded satisfactorily. On November 12, 1898, the day preceding the Annual worship of Kali, the Holy mother visited Belur, and sanctified the new Math premises by worshipping the Master there in the picture kept in her own shrine.

The consecration of the Belur Math was fixed for December 9, 1898, though the monastery could be housed there only from January 2 next year. On December 9, Swami Vivekananda worshipped the vessel containing Shri Ramakrishna’s ashes in the shrine at Nilambar’s gardenhouse, and himself carried it on his right shoulder from there to the new premises, remarking on the way to a disciple: “The Master once told me, ‘I will go and live wherever it will be your pleasure to take me, carrying me on your shoulders, be it under a tree or in the humblest cottage”. Placing the casket on a special Asana (seat) spread on the ground, he again worshipped it and performed Homa. Then a rice porridge cooked by Swami himself was offered to the Master, and all present partook of the consecrated food.

The year 1899 saw the birth of the Bengali fortnightly Udbodhan, under the editorship of Shri Trigunatita. At a later stage the press had to be sold off owing to difficulties of management. But the journal converted to monthly from its tenth year continued, till it became the nucleus of publication of center of Ramakrishna Math.

In 1897, the Ramakrishna Mission Association founded by Swami Vivekananda, had by now existed for two years. It functioned almost wholly as a forum for discussions of religious topics under the leadership of the monks, who played the leading parts. In fact, it was becoming evident that that the monks themselves had to bear the brunt of the “Mission work” also, though could count on their lay brothers help in various matters. And when the Belur Math came into existence, the Mission as an organization, was silently pushed into the background. “The Life of Swami Vivekananda”states, “Soon after this Math was established as the central continue to page 6 }