Ramakrishna Mission

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The Ramakrishna Mission Emblem
The Ramakrishna Mission Emblem

The Ramakrishna Mission (Bengali: রামকৃষ্ণ মিশন) is an association founded by Sri Ramakrishna's chief disciple and religious leader, Swami Vivekananda on May 1, 1897. The Mission carries on missionary and philanthropic work through the combined efforts of monastic and householder disciples. The Mission, whose headquarters are near Kolkata, India, is closely affiliated with the Ramakrishna Math (monastery / monastic order). The Ramakrishna Mission emphasizes service to others as karma yoga, a concept found in Hinduism.

Contents

[edit] Management

The Ramakrishna Mission acquired a legal status when it was registered in 1909 under Act XXI of 1860. Its management is vested in a Governing Body. Though the Mission with its branches is a distinct legal entity it is closely related to the Ramakrishna Math. The Trustees of the Math are simultaneously the members of the Governing Body. The administrative work of the Mission is mostly in the hands of the monks of Math. The Mission has its own separate funds, for which it keeps detailed accounts, audited annually by chartered accountants. The Math and the Mission both have their Headquarters at Belur Math.

[edit] History

[edit] The Motto

The Mission is a registered Society laying emphasis on rendering welfare services undertaken with a spiritual outlook. The service activities are rendered looking upon all as veritable manifestation of the Divine. The Motto of the organisation is Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya Cha. Translated from Sanskrit आत्मनॊ मोक्षार्थम् जगद्धिताय च it means For one's own salvation, and for the good of the world.

[edit] Math and Mission

Technically, the Ramakrishna Math is a monastic order, and the Ramakrishna Mission is the part of the organization that carries on activities such as disaster relief, operation of schools and charitable hospitals, and other work. However, because the humanitarian activities of the movement are more well-known than the monastic order, and because the monks of the order perform a great deal of the humanitarian work, "Ramakrishna Mission" is popularly used to refer to both institutions.

  • Note: The use of the name of Sri Ramakrishna or Swami Vivekananda by any institution does not necessarily imply that it is an affiliated branch centre of either Ramakrishna Math or Ramakrishna Mission.

[edit] Emblem of Ramakrishna Math and Mission

Designed and explained by Swami Vivekananda given in his own words:

The wavy waters in the picture are symbolic of Karma; the lotus, of Bhakti; and the rising-sun, of Jnana. The encircling serpent is indicative of Yoga and the awakened Kundalini Shakti, while the swan in the picture stands for Paramatman (Supreme Self). Therefore, the idea of the picture is that by the union of Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and Yoga, the vision of Paramatman is obtained.

[edit] Controversies

To a large extent, the Ramakrishna Mission has avoided controversies through its policy of non-involvement in politics. However, in a move that was highly controversial within its own ranks, the Ramakrishna Mission went to the courts in the 1980s in order to have the their organization and movement declared as a non-Hindu minority religion.[1] According to the leadership, the mission did this purely as a matter of political necessity: there was a danger that the local government would take control of its charitable schools unless it could invoke the extra protection the Indian constitution accords to minority religions.[2] The Supreme Court of India ruled against the Mission, citing many pages of evidence that it had all the characteristics of a Hindu organization.[3] The wisdom of the attempt by the Mission's leadership to characterize the Mission as non-Hindu was widely questioned within the membership of the organization itself, and the leadership today embraces the Mission's status as both a Hindu organization and as an organization that emphasizes the harmony of all faiths.[4] Most members – and even monks – of the Ramakrishna mission consider themselves Hindus, and the Mission's founding figures, such as Swami Vivekananda never disavowed Hinduism.[5] This episode highlights the legal and constitutional discrimi­nations in India against the Hindu ma­jority, most urgently those in education and temple management. The constitutional bedrock of these discriminations is Article 30, which accords to the minorities the right to set up and administer their own schools and colleges, preserving their communal identity (through the course contents and by selectively recruiting teachers and students), all while receiving state subsidies. This same right is not guaranteed to the majority. [6]

[edit] Presidents of the Ramakrishna Mission

The following is the traditionally accepted list of Presidents(spiritual heads) of the monastic order.

  1. Swami Brahmananda (1901–1922)
  2. Swami Shivananda (1922–1934)
  3. Swami Akhandananda (1934–1937)
  4. Swami Vijnanananda (1937–1938)
  5. Swami Shuddhananda (1938–1939)
  6. Swami Virajananda (1939–1952)
  7. Swami Shankarananda (1952–1959)
  8. Swami Vishuddhananda (1959–1960)
  9. Swami Madhavananda (1960–1965)
  10. Swami Vireshwarananda (1966–1985)
  11. Swami Gambhirananda (1985–1988)
  12. Swami Bhuteshananda (1988–1998)
  13. Swami Ranganathananda (1998–2005)
  14. Swami Gahanananda (2005–Present President of the Order)

[edit] Prominent Monks

Apart from Direct disciples of Shri Ramakrishna, some of the other great monks of the order are

  1. Swami Ashokananda
  2. Swami Budhananda
  3. Swami Ghanananda
  4. Swami Jagadananda
  5. Swami Nikhilananda
  6. Swami Nityaswarupananda
  7. Swami Paramananda
  8. Swami Prabhavananda
  9. Swami Premeshananda
  10. Swami Purushottamananda
  11. Swami Shambhavananda
  12. Swami Siddheshwarananda
  13. Swami Tapasyananda
  14. Swami Yatishwarananda

[edit] Major Publications

Periodicals
× Name Running Year Language Periodicity Centre
1 Prabuddha Bharata 110th English Monthly Mayavati
2 Udbodhan 107th Bengali Monthly Kolkata Bagbazar
3 Vedanta Kesari 92nd English Monthly Chennai Mylapore
4 Prabuddha Keralam 90th Malayalam Monthly Thrissur Kerala
5 Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam 85th Tamil Monthly Chennai Mylapore
6 Sri Ramakrishna Prabha 62nd Telugu Monthly Hyderabad,Domalguda
7 Bulletin 56th English Monthly Kolkata Golpark
8 Jivan Vikas 49th Marathi Monthly Nagpur Maharasthra
9 Samaj Siksha 48th Bengali Monthly Kolkata Narendrapur
10 Vivek Jyoti 43rd Hindi Monthly Raipur
11 Vedanta 39th French Quarterly France Gretz
12 Ashramavani 23rd Hindi Monthly Indore
13 Sri Ramakrishna Jyot 18th Gujarati Monthly Rajkot
14 Divyayan Samachar 13th Hindi Monthly Ranchi Morhabadi
15 Nirvana 13th English Quarterly Singapore
16 Vivekaprabha 6th Kannada Monthly Mysore

[edit] References

  1. ^ Koenraad Elst Who is a Hindu? (2001) [1] ISBN 8188388254
  2. ^ Article 30.(1) gives them greater control over their educational institutions: “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.”
  3. ^ Koenraad Elst Who is a Hindu? (2001) [2] ISBN 8188388254
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]; [5]; [6]
  6. ^ [7]

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Ram Swarup: Ramakrishna Mission in Search of a New Identity. Voice of India, Delhi 1986.

[edit] External links

Hindu reform movements
v • d • e
Brahmo Samaj · Prarthana Samaj  · Arya Samaj · Ramakrishna Mission · Gandhism · Hindutva · Sri Aurobindo Ashram · Parisada Hindu Dharma
Topics
Bhakti · Caste · Indian independence movement ·Persecution of Hindus ·Shuddhi ·Women in Hinduism
Important Hindu reformers and Hindu revivalist writers
Sri Aurobindo · Ananda Coomaraswamy · Alain Daniélou · Koenraad Elst · David Frawley · Sita Ram Goel · M. S. Golwalkar · Mahatma Gandhi · Harsh Narain · Gedong Bagus Oka · The Mother · Srila Prabhupada · Raja Ram Mohun Roy · Ramakrishna · Dayananda Saraswati · V. D. Savarkar · Keshub Chandra Sen · Swami Sivananda · Arun Shourie · Ram Swarup · Debendranath Tagore · Rabindranath Tagore · B. G. Tilak · Vivekananda · Yogananda
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