Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations forming the core of a worldwide spiritual movement (known as Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement), which aims at harmony of religions, harmony of the East and the West, harmony of the ancient and the modern, spiritual fulfilment, all-round development of human faculties, social equality, and peace for all humanity, without any distinctions of creed, caste, race or nationality.
-
Ramakrishna Math
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 Vidyalaya
‘Vidyalaya’ is one of the branches of the well known Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission which was started by Swami Vivekananda more than a hundred years ago and which has its Head Quarters at Belur Math, West Bengal.
Ramakrishna Mission is a registered society in which monks of Ramakrishna Math and lay devotees cooperate in conducting various types of social service 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. The Headquarters of these centres are situated in Belur Math, Howrah, W.B. All branch centres of the Ramakrishna Math come under the administrative control of the Board of Trustees, whereas all branch centres of the Ramakrishna Mission come under the administrative control of the Governing Body of the Ramakrishna Mission.
The Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore, now a vast complex of 14 educational service wings, commenced its activities in the 1930 with the blessings of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, laid the foundation stone of the first wing, a school. Sri T.S. Avinashilingam, the Founder-Director, nurtured the Vidyalaya with his visionary and devoted service. Though it began humbly as a school with a single Harijan student under a thatched roof in Coimbatore in 1930, over the years it grew into a vast educational Complex. It is now spread over an area of 300 acres in Perianaickenpalayam, Coimbatore. The Vidyalaya was affiliated to the Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, Howrah, West Bengal, in January 1935. Swami Garishthanandaji Maharaj is now the Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya, Coimbatore. The Vidyalaya institutions are guided by a team of dedicated monks.
