Ramakrishna Mission
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The Ramakrishna Mission is an Association founded by Sri Ramakrishna’s chief disciple and religious leader, Swami Vivekananda on May 1, 1897. The Mission carries on missionary and philanthropic work in conjunction with householders (Grihasthya) disciples.
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Management
The Ramakrishna Mission acquired a legal status when it was registered in 1909 under Act XXI of 1860. Its management is vested in a Governing Body. Though the Mission with its branches is a distinct legal entity it is closely related to the Ramakrishna Math. The Trustees of the Math are simultaneously the members of the Governing Body. The administrative work of the Mission is mostly in the hands of the monks of Math. The Mission has its own separate funds and keep detailed accounts for them. Accounts are annualy audited by qualified Chatered Accountants. The Math and the Mission both have their Headquarters at Belur Math.
The Motto
The Mission is a registered Society laying emphyasis on rendering welfare services undertaken with a spiritual outlook. The service activities are rendered looking upon all as veritable manifestation of the Divine. The Motto of the organisation is "Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya Cha". Translated from sanskrit it means "For one's own salvation, and for the good of the world."
Math and Mission
The distinction between Math and Mission is ordinarily blurred to the common people who loosely associate Math with the Mission and vice versa.
- Note:
The appropriation of the name of Sri Ramakrishna or Swami Vivekananda by any institution does not necessarily imply that it is an affiliated branch centre of either Ramakrishna Math or Ramakrishna Mission.
Emblem of Ramakrishna Math and Mission
Rkm_emblem.png
Designed and explained by Swami Vivekananda given in his own words:
The wavy waters in the picture are symbolic of Karma; the lotus, of Bhakti; and the rising-sun, of Jnana. The encircling serpent is indicative of Yoga and the awakened Kundalini Shakti, while the swan in the picture stands for Paramatman (Supreme Self). Therefore, the idea of the picture is that by the union of Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and Yoga, the vision of Paramatman is obtained.
Presidents of the Ramakrishna Mission
The following is the traditionally accepted list of Presidents(spiritual heads) of the monastic order.
- Swami Brahmananda (1901 to 1922)
- Swami Shivananda (1922 to 1934)
- Swami Akhandananda(1934 to 1937)
- Swami Vijnanananda(1937 to 1938)
- Swami Shuddhananda(1938 to 1939)
- Swami Virajananda(1939 to 1952)
- Swami Shankarananda(1952 to 1959)
- Swami Vishuddhananda(1959 to 1960)
- Swami Madhavananda(1960 to 1965)
- Swami Vireshwarananda(1966 to 1985)
- Swami Gambhirananda(1985 to 1988)
- Swami Bhuteshananda(1988 to 1998)
- Swami Ranganathananda (1998 to 2005)
- Swami Gahanananda (2005 Present President of the Order
Prominent Monks
Apart from Direct disciples of Shri Ramakrishna, some of the other great monks of the order are
- Swami Ashokananda
- Swami Yatishwarananda
- Swami Prabhavananda
- Swami Nikhilananda
- Swami Ghanananda
- Swami Siddheshwarananda
- Swami Tapasyananda
- Swami Nityaswarupananda
- Swami Shambhavananda
- Swami Purushottamananda
Major Publications
- Periodicals
- Prabuddha Bharata (http://www.advaitaonline.com/pbharata.htm) - English monthly in 108th Year of publication
- Vedanta Kesari (http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/Magazine/VK/VKhome.asp) - English monthly in 90th Year
- Vivekaprabha - Kannada monthly in 4th Year
- Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam (http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/Magazine/RV/RVhome.asp) - Tamil monthly in 83rd Year
- Sri Ramakrishna Prabha (http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org/Magazine/RP/RPhome.asp) - Telugu monthly in 60th Year
- Vivek Jyoti - Hindi Monthly in 41st Year
- Udbodhan - Bengali Monthly in 105th Year
- Prabuddha Keralam - Malayalam Monthly in 88th Year
- Sri Ramakrishna Jyot - Gujarati Monthly
- Jivan Vikas - Marathi Monthly in 47th Year
Related Links
- Ramakrishna Math and Mission headquarters (http://www.ramakrishna.org/rmk_ordr.htm)