Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement (known as Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement), which aims at the harmony of religions, harmony of the East and the West, harmony of the ancient and the modern, spiritual fulfillment, all-round development of human faculties, social equality, and peace for all humanity, without any distinctions of creed, caste, race or nationality.
RAMAKRISHNA MATH is a monastic organization for men brought into existence by Sri Ramakrishna (1836 -1886), the great 19th century saint of Bengal who is regarded as the Prophet of the Modern Age.
RAMAKRISHNA MISSION is a registered society in which monks of Ramakrishna Math and lay devotees cooperate in conducting various types of social services mainly in India. It was founded by Sri Ramakrishna’s chief apostle, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), one of the foremost thinkers and religious leaders of the present age, who is regarded as ‘one of the main moulders of the modern world’, in the words of an eminent Western scholar A.L. Basham. Although Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are legally and financially separate, they are closely inter-related in several other ways, and are to be regarded as twin organizations.
The Math and the Mission together have 172 branch centres all over India and in different parts of the world.
The Headquarters of these centers are situated in Belur Math. All branch centers of Ramakrishna Math come under the administrative control of the Board of Trustees, whereas all branch centers of Ramakrishna Mission come under the administrative control of the Governing Body of Ramakrishna Mission.
The main goals and objectives of these twin organizations, based on the principles of Practical Vedanta, are:
– To spread the idea of the potential divinity of every being and how to manifest it through every action
and thought.
– To spread the idea of harmony of religions based on Sri Ramakrishna’s experience that all religions lead to the realization of the same Reality known by different names in different religions. The Mission honours and reveres the founders of all world religions such as Buddha, Christ and Mohammed.
– To treat all work as worship, and service to man as service to God.
– To make all possible attempts to alleviate human suffering by spreading education, rendering medical services, extending help to villagers through rural development centres, etc.
– To work for the all-round welfare of humanity, especially for the uplift of the poor and the downtrodden.
– To develop harmonious personalities by the combined practice of Jnana, Bhakti, Yoga and Karma.
Inspired by the idea of the harmony of all faiths, its centres encourage adherents of different faiths to meet in a spirit of friendship and mutual appreciation, and to learn from one another without having to give up one’s own faith. In the words of Sri Ramakrishna:
“God has made different religions to suit different aspirants, lives and countries … all doctrines are only so many paths; but a path is by no means God Himself. Indeed, one can reach God if one follows any of the paths with whole-hearted devotion.”
MOTTO: The motto of the twin organizations is Ātmāno mokṣārthaṃ jagata hitāya ca, “For one’s own salvation and for the welfare of the world”. It was formulated by Swami Vivekananda.
IDEALS: Work as worship, potential divinity of the soul, and harmony of religions are three of the noteworthy ideals on which these two organizations are based. It is this ideal of service to man as service to God that sustains the large number of hospitals, dispensaries, mobile medical units, schools, colleges, rural development centres and many other social service institutions run the twin organizations.
HEADQUARTERS: The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are situated at an area named Belur in the district of Howrah, West Bengal, India. The entire campus of the headquarters is popularly known as ‘Belur Math’. Sprawling over forty acres of land on the western bank of the river Hooghly (Ganga), the place is an hour’s drive from Kolkata.
