Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna (1836–1886):
Swami Vivekananda extolled Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna as the best of the Avatars. Many eminent personalities, intellectuals, and devotees, howsoever they tried to appreciate his greatness, fell short due to the limitations of human language and understanding, for Sri Ramakrishna transcended all human and material phenomena.
Sri Ramakrishna soared very high in the realm of spiritual experiences, which can be compared only with the Vedas, the paramount knowledge-experience source of the Hindus. His spiritual undertakings did not limit to different Hindu sects but stretched beyond conventional boundaries to embrace Christianity and Islam. His contributions to religious harmony and religious practice and experience are immense.
To read more on his life and teachings, we recommend the following books at our website: https://publications.rkmm.org/
1. Mahendranath Gupta (M), The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, tr. Swami Nikhilananda, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math
2. Swami Saradananda, Sri Ramakrishna: The Great Master, tr. Swami Jagadananda, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math
Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi (1853–1920):
Sri Sarada Devi, the spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna, personified divine motherhood, and she bestowed divine wisdom and knowledge, divine love and compassion, and divine consolation and solace to everyone who came to her. Worshipped by Sri Ramakrishna as Divine Mother, she realised her godhood, stature and role for future work. She led the ‘Sangha’ silently during the desperate times when the young monks didn’t possess a permanent place to stay or food to eat. During her spiritual ministry, she initiated innumerable people from all strata of life. She transcended worldly realms and forever bestowed grace and solace upon people who called her ‘Mother’.
To read more on her life and teachings, we recommend the following books at our website: https://publications.rkmm.org/
1. Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Sarada Devi the Holy Mother: Life and Teachings, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math
2. Compilation, The Gospel of the Holy Mother, Chennai: Sri Ramakrishna Math
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
The Early Period: The Spirit of Renunciation
Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna forged a bond between his young disciples aspiring after monasticism under the command of Narendranath Dutta, later Swami Vivekananda. After Sri Ramakrishna’s Mahasamadhi, the fire of renunciation glowed intensely in the hearts of the disciples; they keenly felt their divine mission once while meditating on a cold Christmas Eve at Antpur in 1886. The disciples later undertook formal monastic vows in January 1887 (a few disciples took vows on a later date).
1) Narendranath Dutta — Swami Vivekananda
2) Rakhal Chandra Ghosh — Swami Brahmananda
3) Taraknath Ghoshal — Swami Shivananda
4) Gangadhar Ghatak — Swami Akhandananda
5) Saratchandra Chakravarty — Swami Saradananda
6) Sashibhushan Chakravarty — Swami Ramakrishnananda
7) Harinath Chattopadhyaya — Swami Turiyananda
8) Baburam Ghosh — Swami Premananda
9) Sarada Prasanna — Swami Trigunatitananda
10) Latu — Swami Adbhutananda
11) Gopal Chandra Ghosh — Swami Advaitananda
12) Nitya Niranjan Sen — Swami Niranjanananda
13) Kaliprasad Chandra — Swami Abhedananda
14) Jogindranath Choudhury — Swami Yogananda
15) Subodh Ghosh — Swami Subodhananda
16) Hariprasanna Chatterji — Swami Vijnanananda
Parivrajaka Days: The Heroic Saga of Renunciation
Swami Vivekananda and other monastic disciples, except Swami Ramakrishnananda, took a life of a ‘Parivrajaka Sannyasi’ or a wandering monk. They, alone or with brother-disciples, made short or long pilgrimages on foot. After making a few short pilgrimages, Swamiji embarked on a long journey from 1888–1893. He made his ardous, inspiring, enlightening, eye-opening spiritual journey travelling through several provinces from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. He met the kings, administrators, scholars, common public of all classes and children. He felt, wept and pondered about the abject condition of Indian masses and thought about a solution.
At Kanyakumari, Swamiji meditated for three days and envisaged a plan for India. He later wrote, “At Cape Comorin sitting in Mother Kumari’s temple, sitting on the last bit of Indian rock—I hit upon a plan: We are so many Sannyasins wandering about, and teaching the people metaphysics — it is all madness. Did not our Gurudeva use to say, ‘An empty stomach is no good for religion’? That those poor people are leading the life of brutes is simply due to ignorance… Suppose some disinterested Sannyasins, bent on doing good to others, go from village to village, disseminating education and seeking in various ways to better the condition of all down to the Chandala, through oral teaching, and by means of maps, cameras, globes, and such other accessories — can’t that bring forth good in time? … We as a nation have lost our individuality, and that is the cause of all mischief in India. We have to give back to the nation its lost individuality and raise the masses. The Hindu, the Mohammedan, the Christian, all have trampled them underfoot.”
1893 Chicago Parliament of Religions: The Fire of Vedanta Spreads
Swami Vivekananda’s lecture for a few minutes in the Chicago Parliament of Religions raised a raging storm that marked its way as one of the momentous occasions in the history of religion. The fire of Vedanta spread to all corners of the world. Within a few years after this historic event, Swamiji’s message came out in book form and spread like wildfire. Also, during this period, Swamiji keenly felt the need for organised work. He wrote, “My whole ambition in life is to set in motion a machinery which will bring noble ideas to the door of everybody, and then let men and women settle their own fate. Let them know what our forefathers as well as other nations have thought on the most momentous questions of life.”
He again wrote, “An organised society is wanted… Make a permanent centre… In any towns or villages you may visit, start an association wherever you find a number of people revering Sri Ramakrishna… From the day Sri Ramakrishna was born, dates the growth of modern India and of the Golden Age. And you are the agents to bring about this Golden Age. To work, with this conviction at heart!” He wrote many a time to his brother-disciples giving shape to the future organisation.
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission: Renunciation in Action
On May 1 1897, Ramakrishna Mission came into existence with the historic meeting at Balaram Bose’s house. During the meeting, Swamiji stated, “From my travels in various countries I have come to the conclusion that without organisation nothing great and permanent can be done. But in a country like India, at our present stage of development, it does not seem to me well advised to start an organisation on a democratic basis in which every member has an equal voice, and decisions are arrived at by a majority of the votes of the community. With the West the case is different…. Among us also, when with the spread of education we learn to sacrifice, to stand above our individual interests and concerns, for the good of the community or the nation at large, then it will be possible to work on a democratic basis. Taking this into consideration, we should have for our organisation at present a Director whose orders everyone should obey. Then, in the fullness of time, it will be guided by the opinion and consent of the members. This Association will bear the name of him in whose name we have become sannyasis; him, taking whom as your ideal you are leading the householder life in the field of activity — this Samsara —; him whose holy name, and the influence of whose unique life and teachings, have within twelve years of his demise spread in such an unthought-of way both in the East and the West. Let this Sangha therefore be established in his name. We are but the servants of the Master. May you all help in this work!” The proposal was accepted.
On 5 May 1897, resolutions were passed to define the principles, objectives and guidelines. Office-bearers were appointed in this historic meeting. On 4 May 1909, the Mission became a registered society.
Ramakrishna Math, a purely monastic institution, became registered on 30 January 1901. Swamiji executed a trust deed in this regard.
To read more on Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, see Belur Math website here: https://belurmath.org/