MONASTICS AND THE LAITY UNITE IN LOVE OF THAKUR FOR THE MISSION DEMANDS IT

Hierarchical high-handedness notwithstanding, devotees must ever strive to serve the Mission of the Master to the best of their ability for the Mission is as much theirs as such authority’s. When Swami Vivekananda had established his Master’s Poor Man’s Trust in his blessed name, he had eminently done so in the hope that his Master’s lay devotees would run it in conjunction with his monastic disciples for in those days they were all bonded in a fraternal love for each other in the Master despite some very sharp differences of opinion between a section of the lay and the monastic disciples regarding the functioning of the Order. But such differences never stood in the way of their essential love for each other and the Mission was an integrated whole, fuelled by the inspiration that came from the recollection of the Master’s divine life. 

Since then over a century has rolled by and the Movement of the Master has expanded in breadth and volume, gathering momentum as it has spread across the face of the earth, affecting the lives of millions for whom it has stood as a beacon in this dark world of material madness, bringing succour to the poor and the powerless and hope to the lost and lonesome. But expansion brings in its wake added interaction with the world and problems galore of a worldly kind crop up which are difficult for men of renunciation to tackle or to solve on their own exclusively and require closer cooperation with the laity. In this regard the householder devotees have for various historical and administrative compulsions lagged sadly behind and there is an unfortunate lack of co-operative cohesion between the monastic brotherhood and the laity in the Order. The day-to-day functioning of the burgeoning Order requires such an intense involvement of the monks, few in number relative to the magnitude of the work attended to, that it leaves hardly any time for them to devote to this aspect of giving a great deal of patient hearing to suggestions offered by well-meaning devotees who wish to render valuable service to the Master’s Mission. The natural corollary of such ultra-busyness coupled with possible irritation at the so-to-say ‘stupidity’ of the stray devotee is that there is a clear disconnectedness between the monastic brotherhood and the laity in so far as co-operative cohesion in running the Mission is concerned. Sure enough, a large part of the blame for this lack of co-operative efficiency attaches itself to the lack of enthusiasm in the general among the lay devotees to go beyond the run of their routine rigmarole of life to thinking more of the national necessities attended to by the Mission, notwithstanding the fact that the Mission runs beautifully still everywhere on the twin shoulders of the aforesaid two institutions of the laity and the monastic. 

The time has now come to redress these issues and since some decades a movement is on under the auspices of the Mission which is catering to the nurturing of this element of private help to the cause. In line with this vision hundreds of Private Ashramas have sprung up in different parts of India which are run by devotees under the guidance of the Mission following the same ideals as are fundamental to the Master’s Movement. Many of these Ashramas have grown in size and quality to merit absorption into the Order proper and have become legalized as branch centres of the same. This movement is gathering momentum too and augurs well for the future of the Master’s divine cause on earth.

But in an increasingly complex world situation where annihilation of the human species looms large and millions periodically get slaughtered by the malefic hand of primeval ignorance, there is scarce any room for any feeling of self-sufficiency or laxity of purpose or intent unless, of course, one cites bogus philosophical assertions of supposed detachment that calls for such a laid-back attitude while the masses suffer their daily deaths. It is here that it becomes pertinent that there be more room for involvement of the lay devotees in the work of the Mission for it to remain connected to the heart-beat of humanity. Else, the work of the Mission will progressively get sidelined to become but a footnote of history despite tall protestations by all and sundry that, after all, such a fate can never befall the Mission in whose every fibre runs the vitality of Vivekananda and into which the Master and the Mother have breathed in their life-force. So be it and so shall it be that the Mission shall flourish through the tide of times for over a millennium in grand glory but only after necessary adjustments have been made to enlist the support of the masses for whom it stands and who it leads unto perfection. Idle assertions as have become the penchant in podiums that the work of the Mission will by the prophetic power of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda run through the millennium do no good to the cause of making such a possibility a reality. In fact, such an averment runs contrary to the very spirit of the leonine Swami who had breathed life into the Mission. Time it is then, indeed, to brood deep on this nagging issue of organizational help that may accrue from closer co-operation between the monastic order and the laity, the two wings of the Mission’s flight unto freedom.

A certain brusqueness of manner on the part of authority, stemming from psychological superiority and the hangover of a decadent feudal culture, and the consequent servility of the common man faced with the prospect of a possible rebuff to his intent of the hour, is the bane of organizational well-being for it cuts out popular sympathy for the movement and creates artificial distinctions and distances where none need be there. Such an air of superiority deals a death-blow to a movement that is, by definition, intended for the masses whose understanding is poor and requires sympathetic nurturing. Where humility ought to be the hallmark of the great and sympathetic understanding of the problems of the common man the necessary virtue of the high-minded, impatience and the inability to hear through the articulation of the ordinary is a disease that needs to be treated before other remedial measures may be effective in countering the growing sense of alienation of a large section of society from involvement in the Mission’s welfare work.

The eye of the needle must pass the thread that will bind all in a common love for the Master. And this necessitates that it be free from any dross that may block the passage of the binding cord of love. For love is the soul of the Ramakrishna Movement, its binding force and its propelling power. Egotism or a supposed sense of superiority runs completely contrary to the tenor of the Movement. And this holds true equally for all, be one a lay devotee or be one a monk. What is needed is an acceptance of the fact that devotees ought to be treated as veritable divinities even as monks ought to be revered as belonging to the holy body of Sri Ramakrishna. Such a high ideal needs to be perpetually practised for it to cement relations between the laity and the monastic and the consequent smooth functioning of the Mission. Such a stance taken in one’s everyday life renders the hour holy, lubricates the labour of love and sanctifies service as the befitting offering to the Master in whom humility shone like a gem of inestimable worth. After all, at the end of the day, what is all this humbug of duty and work resolved unto? Pure crystallized unalloyed love. So, let love be the keynote in ideal and practice in our daily lives and let us harmonize, monk and man, as we traverse the path of Ramakrishna en route to Ramakrishna. He who is the way and the end of our terrestrial evolution, may he guide us unto him! May the Mother take us all into her arms and so lead us to liberation from this ceaseless strife we call life! Jai Ramakrishna! Jai Ma!