Swami Vireshwarananda, the tenth President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, was born on 31 October 1892 at Gurupura, Near Mangalore, South India. His pre-monastic name was Pandurang Prabhu; he was later known as Prabhu Maharaj. After his father's death at an early age, his mother moved with them to his maternal uncle's house at Mangalore.
After his initiation into sannyasa, Swami Vireshwarananda stayed at Varanasi. In 1921, he was sent to the Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati as a monastic worker. Later, he became its manager at Kolkata Office and was made its head in 1927. He became a trustee of the Ramakrishna Math and a member of the governing body of the Ramakrishna Mission in 1929. He was made one of the Joint Secretaries of the Order on 7 April 1938.
Vireshwarananda was sent to Varanasi, Orissa, Madras Presidency, Ceylon and other places to organize the workings of ashramas. In 1942 he finally returned to the Belur Math. When the Indian subcontinent and Asia were passing through a critical period during 1942 to 1947, he had successfully conducted several relief operations. When Swami Madhavananda took leave from his office of the General Secretary on health grounds, Vireshwarananda officiated on his behalf from 1949 to 1951. In May 1961 he was made the General Secretary of the Order, and he became the President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, on 22 February 1966 after the death of Madhavananda.
As the President of the Order, Vireshwarananda travelled extensively throughout India to spread the message of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Movement. During his tenure, the Order grew and became consolidated[citation needed]. He introduced many philanthropic activities including rural development, 'Pallimangal' and training of youth in self-employment, 'Janashiksha', which encouraged the Order to venture into newer fields and thus expand its scope of service.
Though Vireshwarananda was busy with administrative work, he could find time for reading extensively. He translated into English many Sanskrit scriptures, including the gloss of Sridhara on the Bhagavadgita, the commentaries of Sankara and Ramanuja on Brahmasutra. He served the Order as its President until he died on 13 March 1985.
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) is a spiritual and philanthropic organisation headquartered in Belur Math, West Bengal. The mission is named after the Indian Hindu spiritual guru and mystic Ramakrishna. The mission was 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. The mission bases its work on the principles of Karma Yoga, the principle of selfless work done with a dedication to God.
Swami Gambhirananda (1899–1988), born as Jatindranath Datta, was a Hindu sanyasi who servrd as the 11th President of the Ramakrishna Mission.
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.
Swami Madhavananda was the ninth President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission was born in Bengal Presidency of British India.
Swami Yatiswarananda was a vice-president of Ramakrishna Order, whose headquarter is in Belur Math. He was a disciple of Swami Brahmananda, who was a brother disciple of Swami Vivekananda and a direct disciple and spiritual son of Ramakrishna. He served in Philadelphia propagating the message of Vedanta. He was the president of Bangalore centre of Ramakrishna Math. He founded an ashrama in Switzerland.
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 in Belur, West Bengal, India on the west bank of Hooghly River. Belur Math was established in January 1897, by Swami Vivekananda who was the disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami Vivekananda returned back to India from Colombo with a small group of disciples and started work on the two one at Belur, and the others at Mayavati, Almora, Himalayas called the Advaita Ashrama. 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 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.
Swami Adidevananda was an Indian monk of the Ramakrishna Mission.
Swami Atmasthananda was an Indian Hindu monk, who was the 15th president of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission.
Swarupananda was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda and the first president of the Advaita Ashrama, set up by Vivekananda in 1899 at Mayavati, near Champawat. The ashram is a branch of the religious monastic order, Ramakrishna Math, also set up by Vivekananda on the teachings of his guru Ramakrishna.
Ramakrishna Sarada Math is a religious monastic order, considered part of the Hindu reform movements. It was established in 1929 at Bagbazar, Kolkata.
Ramakrishna Mission Home of Service is an Indian non-governmental organisation (NGO) located in Varanasi, established in 1900, and a branch of Ramakrishna Mission since 1902. It manages an education program on essential health issues in schools, slums and villages of Uttar Pradesh (India) thanks to auto-produced multimedia educational movies. It also gives health care and supplies free medicines to penniless people at its charitable hospital and two hospices.
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.
Nischayananda was an Indian monk who worked to help the poor and needy. He was a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He, together with Kalyanananda was responsible for setting up and running the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankhal. He was inspired by Vivekananda's philosophy of serving man as God and dedicated his life to serve poor and downtrodden in the remote areas where no healthcare facility existed. He worked in military service before joining the Ramakrishna Order as a direct monastic disciple of Vivekananda. He met Vivekananda in Madras and decided to become his disciple. After Vivekananda's death, he went for pilgrimage and by chance came to Haridwar where he met his brother disciple Kalyanananda and joined him in carrying out the works of Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama Kankhal.
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.
Vimalananda (1872–1908) was an Indian spiritual writer who was one of the monastic disciples of Vivekananda and an early monk of the Ramakrishna Order. He was involved in the publication of Prabuddha Bharata. He was actively involved in running day-to-day operations of the Advaita Ashrama at Mayavati during the early days of the Ashrama. He also inaugurated the Ramakrishna Math at Ulsoor in Bangalore in 1906. He died in 1908 at the Mayavati Ashrama.
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'.
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