Ramakrishna Mission

Ramakrishna mission
• The Ramakrishna monastic order and mission was officially established

in 1887 (formally registered under Societies Registration Act in 1909)
by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Swami Ramakrishna
Paramahansa (1836-86) of Dakshineshwar.
• Ramakrishna Paramahansa, who lived and worshipped at the temple of

Dakshineshwar, was a mystic.
• He was not only the source of inspiration and gentle piety to the
common people, but a powerful magnet for sophisticated middle class
westernized men, who were attracted by his utter humility, humanity
and spiritual integrity.
• Ramakrishna saw in all forms of worship the adoration of one
Supreme Being, in all religious quests “the search for the same
God towards who all are directing their steps, though along
different paths”.
• He drew spiritual inspiration from the Vedanta and the

Upanishads but regarded all religions as different paths leading
to the same goal.
• He was initiated into Islam by a Muslim Sufi and had the Bible
read out to him.
• He taught “not mercy, but service for man must be regarded as

God”.
• Ramakrishna’s humanism very deeply impressed his chief disciple
Narendranath Dutta, better known as Swami Vivekananda.
• The former saw in him the one man destined to propagate his message far
and wide.
• After Ramakrishna‘s death in 1886 Vivekananda, who was then hardly 24,
decided to dedicate his life to the propagation of his master’s message and
renounced the world.
• His grand tour around the country acquainted him with the vast misery and
sufferings of the common people.
• And led him to exclaim “the only God in whom I believe, the sum total of all
souls and above all, my God the wicked, my god the affl icted, my God the
poor of all races”.
• In 1893, he went to America and attended the world Parliament
of Religions at Chicago.
• His speech there, beginning with "Sisters and brothers of America" became
famous and brought him widespread recognition.
• He stayed in America lecturing, establishing “Vedanta Societies”
and making disciples.
• The substance of his addresses was that “no religion on earth
preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as
Hinduism”.
• From America, he went on a tour of the continent and visited
England, France, Switzerland and Germany.
• Vivekananda was the first Indian who questioned the
superiority of the west and instead of defending his religion
against the attacks of its critics, boldly asserted its spiritual pre-
eminence and incomparable greatness.
• After four years of stay abroad, Vivekananda returned to
India in 1897 and founded the Ramakrishna Mission on 1 May
1897 and established two principal centers, one at Belur near
Calcutta and the other at Mayavati near Almora, where the
men who joined the Ramakrishna Mission were trained as
Sanyasis for the religious and social work of the mission.
• The monks of the Mission were engaged in active service of

society, alleviating suffering, providing medical aid to the sick
and looking after the orphans.
• Under the auspices of the mission, schools were opened and

philanthropic centres were established.
Ideology and objectives
The ideology and objectives of the Ramakrishna Mission were:
i. To impart and promote the study of the ‘Vedanta and its principles as
propounded by Ramakrishna and practically illustrated by his own life, and of
comparative theology in its widest form. Vedanta is a Hindu philosophy which
teaches that there is Oneness of all truth, that all evolves from truth and returns
to truth. Thus all appearances are deceptive, unless apprehended through the
truth.
ii. To impart and promote the study of the arts, science and industries;
iii. To train teachers in all the branches of knowledge mentioned above and
enable them to reach the masses;
iv. to carry on educational work among the masses;
v. to establish, maintain, carry on and assist schools, colleges,

universities, orphanages, workshops, laboratories, hospitals,
dispensaries, houses for the infirm, the invalid, and the afflicted, famine
relief works, and other educational and/or charitable works and
institutions of a like nature;
vi. to print and publish and to sell or distribute, gratuitously or

otherwise, journals, periodicals, books or leaflets that the Association
may think desirable for the promotion of its objectives;
Ideas of the Ramakrishna Mission can be put under the following
heads:
i. Ideal: Freedom of the self and service of mankind.
ii. Aim: Preaching and practice of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal

religion as embodied in the lives and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna
and Swami Vivekananda.
iii. Motto: Renunciation and Service; Harmony of all religions.
iv. Method: Work and worship.

Activities of the mission
By providing an idea of the practices which the Mission is engaged in we hope to
indicate its wide range of activities.
i. Worship: This includes specialized training of monastic aspirants and religious
preaching.
ii. General and technical education with an ethical and spiritual background;
other general services include:
 Medical service;
 Famine and distress relief work;
 Rural upliftment;
 Work among the toiling and emerging people of all classes; and
 Other cultural activities.
Ramakrishna Mission’s Movement:
• The movement represented by Ramakrishna and his disciples such

as Vivekananda was the result of an inner resurgence of the Hindu
spirit to recover and reassert itself.
• Ever since its inception, the Ramakrishna Mission has always been in
the forefront of social reforms.
• It runs a number of charitable dispensaries and hospitals and

offers help render services in times of natural calamities such as
famines, floods, epidemics, etc.
It stressed on the following:
1. Devotion to God was the supreme goal of the mind. The devotion could be
expressed through love.
2. The God to be attained through love could be personal and conceived in any
image.
3. God could be formless or in forms. It was for the devotee to realize him in any
manner he liked.
4. True religion accommodated any amount of freedom in the love of God.
5. Religion was just a path towards the supreme goal. It was by genuine liberalism
that Ramakrishna aimed to remove all kinds of dogmatism, which the orthodoxy
blindly upheld.
6. To realize God the two essentials are—faith and self-surrender.
7. His views introduced a synthesizing and assimilating force into

Hinduism.
8. It aimed for the Ultimate, the Absolute, and the Eternal.
9. The Vedas, the Upanishads, the Sutras and the Shastras, the Faiths
and doctrines of the worshippers of Siva, Shakti, or Vishnu—everything
was merely the quest of that Eternal Being.
10. Ramakrishna broke the barriers, which separated various Hindu cults
and took them together towards a search for the Reality.
• Hinduism received a new vigor and a spirit of unity. It was a trend
described at times as Neo-Hinduism.
• Under it, reforms were possible and there was no need to leave the
fold in order to think of reforms.
• Here was the difference between the Brahmos and the disciples of
Ramakrishna.
• If the former partially left the Hinduism-fold because it followed

idolatry, the liberalism of the latter showed that one could remain a
perfect Hindu without worshipping idols.
• Ramakrishna searched for a universal synthesis of all religions.

• Vivekanand never gave any political message.
• All the same, through his speeches and writings he infused into the
new generation a sense of pride in India's past, a new faith in India's
culture and a rare sense of self-confidence in India's future.
• He was a patriot and worked for the uplift of the people.
• “So far as Bengal is concerned' writes Subhas Bose “Vivekanand may

be regarded as the spiritual father of the modern nationalist
movement.

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Ramakrishna mission

• The Ramakrishna monastic order and mission was officially established

• Ramakrishna Paramahansa, who lived and worshipped at the temple of

• He drew spiritual inspiration from the Vedanta and the

• He taught “not mercy, but service for man must be regarded as

• The monks of the Mission were engaged in active service of

• Under the auspices of the mission, schools were opened and

v. to establish, maintain, carry on and assist schools, colleges,

vi. to print and publish and to sell or distribute, gratuitously or

ii. Aim: Preaching and practice of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal

iii. Motto: Renunciation and Service; Harmony of all religions.

iv. Method: Work and worship.

• The movement represented by Ramakrishna and his disciples such

• It runs a number of charitable dispensaries and hospitals and

4. True religion accommodated any amount of freedom in the love of God.

7. His views introduced a synthesizing and assimilating force into

8. It aimed for the Ultimate, the Absolute, and the Eternal.

• If the former partially left the Hinduism-fold because it followed

• Ramakrishna searched for a universal synthesis of all religions.

• He was a patriot and worked for the uplift of the people.

• “So far as Bengal is concerned' writes Subhas Bose “Vivekanand may

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