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| Established | 1929 |
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Ramakrishna Sarada Math is a religious monastic order, considered part of the Hindu reform movements. It was established in 1929 at Bagbazar, Kolkata. [1] [2]
In 1929, an internal dispute arose within the ranks of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. The then manager of the Udbodhan Office, Bramhachari Ganendranath, had been accused of financial irregularities by the Mission authorities. Those charges were never established. [ citation needed ]
Ganendranath was an ardent 'sevak' of the Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi. It can be seen in the biographies of the Holy Mother how deeply the Mother loved Ganendranath. Most of the photographs of the Mother were taken by him. Ganendranath was also an associate of Sister Nivedita. [ citation needed ]
Kiran Chandra Dutt was one of the leading figures in Calcutta at that time. He belonged to the famous 'Dutt' family of Baghbazar. His family, along with the family of Balaram Bose, a householder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, contributed much in the initial days of the Ramakrishna Order. [ citation needed ]
Kiran Chandra and other lay devotees of the Math and Mission including Shyamadas Bachaspati, an ayurvedic practitioner who treated the Holy Mother and Bhutnath Mukherjee, a renowned chartered accountant, were opposed by the Belur Math administration during a general assembly session of the Mission in March 1929. [ citation needed ]
Owing to difference of opinion with the then Belur Math authorities, 22 monks and 107 householder devotees of the order decided to form a new Math at a meeting at the legendary house of Pasupatinath Bose at Baghbazar to carry on the works on their own, based on the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna, the Holy Mother and Swamiji. The Math was named Sri Ramakrishna Sarada Math and the philanthropic Mission was named 'Vivekananda Mission'. The Math and Mission were registered according to government regulations on 13 December 1929. [ citation needed ]
By 1931 the Math and Mission had moved to its own house at 10, Ramakrishna Lane, Baghbazar.
The first president of the Math was Swami Nirmalananda (Tulsi Maharaj), one among the direct disciples of Ramakrishna and who devoted his life spreading the message of his Master in South India, especially Kerala. He was also instrumental in developing the Bangalore centre and establishing 18 Ashramas across Kerala mostly, two in present-day Tamil Nadu and one in Karnataka. But he held the post in a nominal way, while continuing to function as a representative of Ramakrishna Mission, founding new centres and developing the existing centres. The first secretary of the Math was Kiran Chandra Dutt. The Vivekananda Mission did splendid relief work in the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake. [ citation needed ]
After the demise of Tulsi Maharaj in 1938, Swami Amritananda, a disciple of the Holy Mother, became its president till his death in 1941. Then Swami Chandreswarananda, a disciple of the Holy Mother and a brilliant orator, became the president till he died in 1946. Swami Asitananda, a disciple of the Holy Mother, was the next president, and he led the organisation till 1951. [ citation needed ]
Swami Tripurananda, a disciple of Swami Bramhananda, became the fifth president. He died in 1978. His disciple, Swami Vishnudevananda is the current president. [ citation needed ]
This Math used to publish a weekly magazine, 'Bharat'. Saralabala Sarkar, a leading Bengali writer, was associated with it and 'Sanjeevani' was the monthly organ. The first editor of 'Bharat' was Swami Chandreswarananda and the first editor of 'Sanjeevani' was Bramhachari Ganendranath. Swami Bhumananda published his famous biography of the Mother in the pages of 'Sanjeevani'. [ citation needed ]
Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a Hindu religious and spiritual organisation which forms the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as the Ramakrishna Movement or the Vedanta Movement. The mission is named after and inspired by the Indian saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on 1 May 1897. The organisation mainly propagates the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta–Advaita Vedanta and four yogic ideals– Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, and Raja yoga.
Swami Shivananda (1854–1934), born Tarak Nath Ghosal, was a Hindu spiritual leader and a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, who became the second president of the Ramakrishna Mission. His devotees refer to him as Mahapurush Maharaj. Shivananda and Subodhananda were the only direct disciples of Ramakrishna to be filmed. He was a Brahmajnani. Shivananda introduced the celebration of the birthdays of his brother-monks. He was known to have laid the foundation stone of Shri Ramakrishna Temple at Belur Math, which was designed by Vijnanananda.
Shuddhananda who was the fifth president of the Ramakrishna Order, was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He joined the Ramakrishna Math in 1897. He became a trustee of Ramakrishna Math and a member of the governing body of Ramakrishna Mission in May 1903. He also took up the editorship of the Bengali magazine called Udbodhan for sometime. He was appointed as the secretary of the math and the mission in 1927 and as the vice president in 1937. In 1938, he became the president of the order. His tenure was short, as he died in 1938. He is renowned in the literary circles to have translated most of Vivekananda's original works from English to Bengali.
Swami Virajananda, born Kalikrishna Bose, was an initiated disciple of Sarada Devi and the sixth president of the Ramakrishna Order. Born as the son of Trailokyanath Bose and Nishadkalidevi, Virajananda was the first person to join the Ramakrishna Order after the direct disciples of Ramakrishna. In 1897, he was initiated into sannyasa by Vivekananda. From 1899 onward he served in Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati and became its president in 1906. He is recognised as a monastic disciple of Vivekananda.
Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located on the west bank of Hooghly River, Belur, West Bengal, India and is one of the significant institutions in Kolkata. The temple is the heart of the Ramakrishna movement. It is notable for its architecture that fuses Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, and Christian art and motifs as a symbol of unity of all religions. In 2003, Belur Math railway station was also inaugurated which is dedicated to Belur Math Temple.
Ramakrishna Math is the administrative legal organization of the Ramakrishna Order, considered part of the Hindu reform movements. It was set up by sanyasin disciples of Ramakrishna Paramhansa headed by Swami Vivekananda at Baranagar Math in Baranagar, a place near Calcutta, in 1886. India. The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and its twin organisation, Ramakrishna Mission is at Belur Math.
Ramakrishna Paramhansa Deva had sixteen direct disciples who became monks of the Ramakrishna Order; they are often considered his apostles. In the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda movement, the apostles have played an important role. Apart from Swami Vivekananda, the direct disciples or apostles of Ramakrishna were as follows.
Balaram Bose was one of the prominent householder disciples of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. He was the son of Radhamohan Bose. He is often referred in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna often visited his house and participated in kirtana and other devotional functions. Sri Maa Sarada Devi and some other devotees of the master, including Swami Adbhutananda lived in the house of Balaram Bose after the master's death. He was a great philanthropist and donated regularly to government and civilian organizations.
Pravrajika Mokshaprana was the second President of the Sri Sarada Math and the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission. In Hinduism, Sri Sarada Math is the monastic order for women established as an independent counterpart to the Ramakrishna Order.
Baburam Maharaj was a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century saint and mystic from Bengal, India. He was born in Antpur in the Hoogly district of Bengal in the year 1861. Baburam, as he was called in his pre monastic days, was also related to Balaram Bose, a leading householder disciple of Ramakrishna. He was given the name of Premananda or "joy of divine love" by his brother disciple Vivekananda. He had a notable contribution during the initial days of Ramakrishna Mission as he managed the whole affairs of Belur Math from 1902 to 1916. He also mentored young spiritual aspirants.
Swami Yogananda was a disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century mystic. He took his formal initiation from Sarada Devi, the "holy mother" of Ramakrishna Order and spiritual consort of Ramakrishna. He was the first vice-president of Ramakrishna Mission. He belonged to the family of Sabarna Roy Choudhury, an aristocratic family of erstwhile Bengal. He had a very short life, but he played a very important role during the formative years of Ramakrishna Mission. He was also a dedicated and devoted attendant to Sarada Devi during her stay in Calcutta after Ramakrishna's death. He was one of the disciples whom Ramakrishna referred to as "Iswarakoti" or the "ever perfect soul".
Saradananda, also known as Swami Saradananda, was born as Sarat Chandra Chakravarty in 1865, and was one of the direct monastic disciples of Ramakrishna. He was the first Secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, a post which he held until his death in 1927. He established the Udbodhan house in the Bagbazar area of Calcutta, which was built primarily for the stay of Sri Sarada Devi in Calcutta, from where he used to publish the Bengali magazine Udbodhan. There he wrote Sri Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga in Bengali, on the life of Ramakrishna, which was translated into English as Sri Ramakrishna, the Great Master. He is believed to be reincarnation of Saint Peter and he allegedly went into Samadhi when he was in the Saint
Nirmalananda, born as Tulasi Charan Dutta in Calcutta, was a direct disciple of Ramakrishna, the 19th-century mystic and Hindu saint from India, and took Sanyasa from Vivekananda along with Brahmananda and others. He was initiated by Sri Ramakrishna, on which fact a few latter-day antagonists tried to cast doubt in the Bangalore Court, but into which question the Court refused to get into. Nirmalananda played a key role in establishing Ramakrishna Math and Mission chiefly in South India, in Kerala and Bangalore and Tamil Nadu and also in the USA, Burma and Bangladesh.
Baranagar Math or Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar was the first monastery of Ramakrishna Order. In September 1886, after the death of Ramakrishna, when his devotees stopped funding, Swami Vivekananda and other disciples of Ramakrishna decided to make a dilapidated house at Baranagar their new math. The house crumbled to dust in 1897. In 1973 Vivekananda Math Samrakshan Samity was formed who attempted to preserve the area. In 2001, the possession was handed over to Belur Math authority, who soon-after declared it as one of their official branch. The restoration and development work of the area is still going on.
Alambazar Math is the second monastery of the Ramakrishna Order established in February 1892, which remained the order's headquarters till February 1898, when it was finally moved to Belur village on the bank of Ganga.
Swami Sadananda, popularly known as Gupta Maharaj in the Ramakrishna Order, was a direct monastic disciple of Swami Vivekananda. He was the first disciple according to some sources. He took his monastic vows and joined Baranagar Math to serve the other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna in 1888–89 and subsequently joined the Belur Math when it was established. He was one of the leaders of early Ramakrishna Mission in its relief work. One of his significant contributions was providing relief to the citizens of Calcutta during the plague epidemic of 1898–99. He traveled to Japan in 1903. His later days were spent in company of Sister Nivedita as her protector and guide. His notable contribution in the later part of his life was preaching the message of Swami Vivekananda, especially among youth.
Achalananda, popularly known as Kedar Baba, was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the founder of Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service, in Varanasi. He initially worked as a policeman, but was then influenced by the ideology of Vivekananda.
Baranagore Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama High School (H.S.) is a senior secondary boys' school in the district North 24 Parganas of West Bengal, India. The school was founded in 1912, and is located at the northern outskirt of Kolkata, on the banks of the river Ganges (Hoogly). The school is run by the Baranagar Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Authority under the guidance of Ramakrishna Mission at Belur Math. Based on its performance of the students in the Xth standard board examination, the school is considered one of the very best schools in West Bengal. Department of Tourism listed it as one of the tourist spots of West Bengal.
Sri Sarada Math is named after Sri Sarada Devi, the consort of Sri Ramakrishna, and founded on 2 December 1954. Built by a group of eight sadhavis, as per the instructions given by Swami Vivekananda, it serves as a monastic order for women. Headquartered at Dakshineshwar, Kolkata, the organisation has branch centres all over India, in Sri Lanka and Australia. The nuns of this order use the title "Pravrajika" before their ordained name, and are usually addressed as "Mataji" meaning 'revered mother'.