The Ramkrishna
Order
The Ramakrishna Order
is one of two twin organizations with Sri
Ramakrishna laying the foundation of his monastic Order
at Cossipore, Calcutta in 1886. Later after the passing away of the
Master, the monastic disciples organized themselves and started a Math
that was called "The Ramakrishna Math".
The Ramakrishna Mission was
started in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda, the main disciple of Sri Ramakrishna
a great prophet of nineteenth century India (1836 - 1886). It
started with a dozen monks or so and had practically no assets.
Today there are about a thousand monks and has several centers throughout
the world. They both have the common aim of disseminating
the ancient spiritual truths, Sanatana Dharma, as propounded by Sri
Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda and to serve
the humanity by seeing God in man.
What exactly do its
monks do in India and abroad?
The Ramakrishna Order does not believe in conversion to any one religion.
The monks of the Ramakrishna Order ask people to go to the root of religion
to reach and find and know God and not merely talking about Him. They
quote different prophets and different scriptures to show how in essence
they preach the same thing. In all matters of religion, their approach
is one of respect and understanding. Because of this approach, they
feel as much at home among non-Hindus as among Hindus.
As the Ramakrishna Order spreads, the attitude of the common people
towards religion is also changing. Previously, religion was equated
with rituals, but now people realize that religion is essentially a
science of being and becoming something that concerns man's inner nature.
The habit of prayer is good but if this is not accompanied by a corresponding
improvement in one's nature, it is not worth much.
The Mission has also established centres in different countries around
the world which are generally known as Vedanta
Societies. The Order serves as a bridge of understanding between East
and West, with the goal to harmonize the essential elements of each
on a rational, as well as a spiritual, basis. The mission strives
to imbue its members with a broad as possible outlook and imparts
to them a thorough spiritual training.
The Centers in the Western countries are devoted mainly to promulgating
the teachings of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. They generally do
not carry out social service work. On the other hand, the
India centers carry out various philanthropic activities, including
medical service, educational work, publications, and relief work.
The strength of the Ramakrishna Order is not in money, men or organization
but in the ideas it tries to present to the world. As the The
World Book Encyclopedia states that the influence of monansticism
today has declined almost everywhere. They cite the chief
reason for this decline in widespread secular reasons (doubt of
the value of religion). The Ramakrishna Mission, on the other
hand, has brought renewed interest in monasticism.
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