FOUNDATION OF RAMAKRISHNA MISSION ... 2

"...We who have renounced in his name and embraced monasticism, you who have accepted him as your life's ideal even as you have stayed on in the householder's life immersed in activity, he whose holy name and wonderful life has spread across the East and the West in a wondrous way within 20 years of his passing away, this Order will be founded in his name. We are the servants of the Lord. Be thou our helpmates in this holy work."

Sri Girish Ghosh and other assembled lay devotees having seconded Swamiji's proposal, the future modes and procedures of the activity of the Ramakrishna Order were tabled for discussion. The Order was named Ramakrishna Mission. Its aims and objectives we are quoting from its printed advertisement.

Aim: Those principles of life which for the sake of human welfare Sri Ramakrishna had elucidated and enlivened in his own life, whose propagation and activation would conduce to the physical, mental  and spiritual growth of man, to aid this movement will be the aim of the Mission.

Mission: Beholding the diverse religious denominations of the world as manifestations of one imperishable, eternal religion, the work of establishing fraternal relations among the adherents of such religions which Sri Ramakrishna had initiated, the conducting of that work will be the mission of this organization.

Mode of work: To train teachers to equip them to impart education to the people for their temporal and spiritual uplift, to encourage and enthuse both industry and labour, and to introduce into society the principles of the Vedanta and other religions as they were manifested and elucidated in the life of Sri Ramakrishna.

The Indian work: To establish training centres in the towns and cities of India for aspiring teachers and to seek ways and means whereby such teachers might spread across the wide world and teach the masses. 

Foreign work: To send missionaries to foreign countries and to establish close, cordial ties between the foreign centres and their Indian counterparts as also to set up a stream of new centres.

Swamiji himself became the General President of the new association. Swami Brahmananda was nominated the President of the Kolkata centre and Swami Yogananda was nominated his assistant. Babu Narendranath Mitra (attorney) was elected the Secretary, Dr. Sashibhushan Ghosh and Babu Sarat Chandra Sarkar were elected the Assistant Secretaries and Swamiji's disciple Sarat Chandra Chakravarty was elected the reader of scripture. At the same time it was also laid down that every Sunday the Mission would meet at Balaram Babu's house for its weekly session at 4 p.m. After this initial session, every Sunday, for the next three years, the Ramakrishna Mission met at Balaram Babu's house for its deliberations. Needless to say that so long Swamiji had not left the shores of India for his second trip to the West, he would seek the opportunity to be present at these meetings and illumine all with his directions and sometimes captivate the audience with his divine renditions of songs.

Free translation by Sugata Bose

(Source book: Swami-Shyashya Samvad by Sarat Chandra Chakravarty)