Establishment and Organisation of Ramakrishna mission 

The Ramakrishna monastic order and mission was officially established in 1887 (formally registered under Societies Registration Act in 1909) by Vivekananda, the chief disciple of Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa (1836-86) of Dakshineshwar. Ramakrishna Paramahansa, who lived and worshipped at the temple of Dakshineshwar, was a mystic. He was not only the source of inspiration and gentle piety to the common people, but a powerful magnet for sophisticated middle class westernized men, who were attracted by his utter humility, humanity and spiritual integrity. Ramakrishna saw in all forms of worship the adoration of one Supreme Being, in all religious quests “the search for the same God towards who all are directing their steps, though along different paths”. He drew spiritual inspiration from the Vedanta and the Upanishads but regarded all religions as different paths leading to the same goal. He was initiated into Islam by a Muslim Sufi and had the Bible read out to him. He taught “not mercy, but service for man must be regarded as God”.

Ramakrishna’s humanism very deeply impressed his chief disciple Narendranath Dutta, better known as Swami Vivekananda. The former saw in him the one man destined to propagate his message far and wide.  After Ramakrishna‘s death in 1886 Vivekananda, who was then hardly 24, decided to dedicate his life to the propagation of his master’s message and renounced the world. His grand tour around the country acquainted him with the vast misery and sufferings of the common people. And led him to exclaim “the only God in whom I believe, the sum total of all souls and above all, my God the wicked, my god the afflicted, my God the poor of all races”.

 In 1893, he went to America and attended the world Parliament of Religions at Chicago. He stayed in America lecturing, establishing “Vedanta Societies” and making disciples. The substance of his addresses was that “no religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism”. From America, he went on a tour of the continent and visited England, France, Switzerland and Germany. Vivekananda was the first Indian who questioned the superiority of the west and instead of defending his religion against the attacks of its critics, boldly asserted its spiritual pre-eminence and incomparable greatness.

After four years of stay abroad Vivekananda returned to India and established two principal centers, one at Belur near Calcutta and the other at Mayavati near Almora, where the men who joined the Ramakrishna Mission were trained as Sanyasis for the religious and social work of the mission. The monks of the Mission were engaged in active service of society, alleviating suffering, providing medical aid to the sick and looking after the orphans. Under the auspices of the mission, schools were opened and philanthropic centers were established. 

Ideology and objectives

The ideology and objectives of the Ramakrishna Mission were:

i.     to impart and promote the study of the ‘Vedanta and its principles as propounded by Ramakrishna and practically illustrated by his own life, and of comparative theology in its widest form. Vedanta is a Hindu philosophy which teaches that there is Oneness of all truth, that all evolves from truth and returns to truth. Thus all appearances are deceptive, unless apprehended through the truth.

ii.    to impart and promote the study of the arts, science and industries;

iii.   to train teachers in all the branches of knowledge mentioned above and enable them to reach the masses;

iv.    to carry on educational work among the masses;

v.     to establish, maintain, carry on and assist schools, colleges, universities, orphanages, workshops, laboratories, hospitals, dispensaries, houses for the infirm, the invalid, and the afflicted, famine relief works, and other educational and/or charitable works and institutions of a like nature;

vi.    to print and publish and to sell or distribute, gratuitously or otherwise, journals, periodicals, books or leaflets that the Association may think desirable for the promotion of its objectives;

Ideas of the Ramakrishna Mission can be put under the following heads:

i.     Ideal: Freedom of the self and service of mankind.

ii.    Aim: Preaching and practice of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion as embodied in the lives and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.

iii.   Motto: Renunciation and Service; Harmony of all religions.

iv.    Method: Work and worship.

Activities of the mission

By providing an idea of the practices which the Mission is engaged in we hope to indicate its wide range of activities.

i.     Worship: This includes specialized training of monastic aspirants and religious preachings.

ii.    General and technical education with an ethical and spiritual background; other general services include:

• Medical service;
• Famine and distress relief work;
• Rural upliftment;
• Work among the toiling and emerging people of all classes; and
• Other cultural activities.

Swami Dayanand took an important and far reaching decision during his tour to Bombay in 1875. This decision was regarding the foundation of “Arya Samaj”. This organisation was founded to plant his message and bring socio-religious reforms firmly to the soil of north India. It went on to have an enormous impact on the development of Hinduism and of Indian nationalism.

Apart from having a huge role in socio-religious reform movements in India one of the most a controversial and unconventional step that Dayanand took was to offer to “reclaim” Hindus who had changed their religion to Islam, Christianity and so on. This was often done en masse in what was known as the “Shuddhi” ceremony or ceremony of purification.

It may be considered that Dayanand wanted to bring together all Hindus who agreed on a couple of very broad issues: (i) a dedication to religious and social reforms and (ii)         a conviction in Hinduism that reform was to come through a revival of Vedic religion.

Being organised as a body, these people would be more effective in helping one another in influencing the whole society. Swami Dayanand was not interested in creating a body of followers to propagate his ideas. He held the opinion that reform had to come from the people themselves. It is task of the people to work for their personal improvement and for the upliftment of society. Dayanand would always be available to the people for advice-either in person or through his publications, but he would not be their leader. He had recognised the limitations of his own knowledge and refused to become the Guru of devotees not even of a single individual.

Organisation of Arya Samaj

The Arya Samaj had an effective organisational structure. Every branch of the Arya Samaj is a unit in itself, and these are located in village, towns and cities.  Membership involved acceptance of the ten principles or rules, the payment of one per cent of monthly or yearly income to help the cause and general cooperation and participation in meetings etc. Such weekly meetings comprised of the homa ritual, bhajans and prayers. A lay person regardless of caste conducts these meetings.

The Executive Committee governed the affairs of the Arya Samaj. The office bearers were five in number and additional members all elected by the members themselves

These ten rules are as under:

i.     god is the primordial root (source) of all true knowledge and of  all things that can be known through knowledge.

ii.    God is all Truth, All knowledge, All Bliss. He is Bodyless (Formless), Almighty, Just, Merciful, Unborn, Infinite, Unchangeable, Beginningless, Incomparable, Support and Lord of all, All pervading, knower and controller of all from within, Imperishable, Immortal, Fearless, Eternal, Holy and the creater of the whole universe. He alone is worthy of worship.

iii.   Vedas are the books of all true knowledge. It is the prime duty of all Aryas to study and propagate the Veda, to hear and preach it.          After God, the Veda is the most important of Dayanand’s ideology. His call “Back to the Vedas” means that we are to reject all changes that may be found in the scriptures that may be at variance with the teachings of the Vedas. The Veda is God’s own word, revealed to mankind through the Rishis (sages). They are thus of non-human authorship.

iv.    We should always be ready to accept Truth and reject untruth.

       This is an important dictum. We should not stick to any opinion, merely because it has the sanction of time. If it is untrue, we should have no hesitation in abandoning it.

v.     All actions should be performed according to Dharma and after considering the right and wrong to each.

vi.    The principal purpose of this Samaj is to do good to the world-physical, social and spiritual. This means that Arya Samaj is no sectarian or parochial institution working for the good of only its own members, as some of closed societies claim to be. The Samaj is created for the good of the whole world. This is far cry from the old Hindu approach of extreme individualism, where each aspirant sought only his own “Mukti” or salvation. In fact it was the early goal of young Dayanand too, before Swamy Virjananda widened his horizon and swore him to work for the good of the country and the whole world.

vii.   We should deal with love, righteousness and consideration of their merit. The basis of our behaviour with all fellow beings should be of love and good will, not snobbery, hate, ill will or jealousy. A society based on universal love will bring the kingdom of heaven on earth. Also a person of superior merit would receive superior regards. This is the character of human dignity, but it does not preach blind equality, irrespective of persons virtues or vice, genius or mediocrity, worth or otherwise. This is Vedic socialism.

viii.  We should work for the liquidation of ignorance and promotion of knowledge. Illiteracy, ignorance and superstitions are the mother of all ills and evils, while knowledge brings joy and all round welfare. The preachings at myriad Arya Samaj platforms and the network of D.A.V. and Gurukul institutions are translating this rule into practice.

ix.    No one should be content with his own upliftment but should feel his own good in the good of all. This means that all human beings, being the image of God are one entity. The whole emphasis is from selfish to altruistic good. No man or group can be happy if all around people are starving or miserable, as they would only bring down the whole social structure. To do good to others is no favour but enlightened self interest.

x.     All men are obliged (unfree) in having to obey the social laws that have been framed for the good of all; but everyone is free to work for his own welfare. For instance, one is not free to break the traffic laws or commit theft or murder, for all such laws are there, for the good of all. But in all personal matters, concerning one’s individual good, one has freedom. That means one has freedom of action but not at the cost of the well being of others.

Arya samaj movement and reform

The Arya Samaj opened a vast number of educational instituions for boys and girls all over north India. Orphanages were. Arya Samaj’s worked on earthquake relief. Before Mahatma Gandhi took up the cause of untouchables it was the Arya Samaj who had tried to get them recognised as equal members of Hindu Society. The samaj also carried on a ceaseless effort to remove their superstitions and teach them the fundamental doctrines of religion.

Dayanand formed many Gurukuls as part of the Arya Samaj educational programme. The first D.A.V. (Dayanand Anglo-Vedic) College was founded in Lahore to commensurate Dayanand’s memory after his death in Ajmer in 1883. This institution became a focal point of national education in the country. The idea of the Founders of Lahore College was to induce the scientific temperament in the students without uprooting them from their spiritual, cultural, religious moorings.

Arya samaj and emancipation of women

Women, like Harijans have been called ‘Slaves of the slaves’. In the British era men were the slaves of the British and women were the slaves of these enslaved men. Women had few rights, little freedom and were rarely considered as equals to men.

Dayanand, the founder of Arya Samaj was among the pioneers of women’s rights and equality in modern times. He advocated the equality of sexes. Dayanand encouraged women to study the Vedas - a revolutionary step at that time. They were allowed to recite “Gayatree” mantra while tradition did not permit them this privilege. Dayanand forcefully put forward the argument that women sages accounted for 200 mantras in the Rig-Veda alone.

He also carried on a crusade against child marriage. Dayanand ordained that no girl should be married till she was 16 and boys should marry at 25 or above. Thus he confronted the so called ‘Shastric’ injunction that, if a girl had her menses in her father’s house, the father and brother would go to hell. This idea was ridiculed by Dayanand. His argument was why anyone should go to hell because of a natural function.

Dayanand’s stand was that men or women should marry only once. For a young widow his prescription was for ‘Niyoga’, rather than widow marriage. To him “Niyoga” meant temporary union with the dead husband’s brother or other kin to get a child or two but not more than two. But his concept of Niyoga was not accepted by the Aryas. Dayanand in a true democratic spirit did not press his point. In fact, Arya Samaj in the Punjab advertised for and arranged some widow remarriages and Dayanand acquiesced.

Arya Samaj took up the cause of and improved education in general and women’s education in an impressive way. As mentioned earlier it had organised a network of schools and colleges in the country both for boys and girls where education was imparted in the mother-tongue. Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (D.A.V.) colleges were founded. Some of the Conservative Arya Samajis were of the opinion that education imparted in these colleges were not sufficiently Vedic in character, therefore in the leadership of Munshi Ram they started Gurukul at Hardwar, where education in its method and content was given in the ancient Vedic manner. Being the pioneer in opening women’s schools, colleges and Gurukulas, Arya Samaj founded the first Kanya Mahavidalaya in Jalandhar in 1896.

Politics and the arya samaj

Dayanand was not just a social and religious reformer. He was also a forerunner in the national and political awakening of India. The Arya Samaj was founded in 1875 a decade before the Indian National Congress. Dayanand had prepared the ground and declared that foreign government is no substitute for self-rule. Lala Lajpat Rai has mentioned that the British had always viewed the Arya Samaj with suspicion. This often took the form of deportations and prosecutions of its members. The Arya Samaj was considered a seditious body. Members were dismissed from civil and military service solely on the grounds that they were members of the Arya Samaj. The open declaration of the desire for political freedom at a time when jailing was common for such utterances showed a great deal of moral courage from its members. The Arya Samaj however always mentioned it was a religious, social and cultural organisation.

Swami Dayanand and Arya Samaj movement have contributed in the National movement in the following ways.

1.    Support of the Hindi language

2.    Swadeshi & Khadi were supported

3.    Opposition to salt tax was agreed upon and supported.

Some critics have dubbed Swami Dayanand as a reactionary, looking back towards the dead past because he gave the call “Back to Vedas”. Yet Dayanand ushered in modern action in India just as Gandhiji did half a century later.