THE BIRTH TITHIS OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND SRI SARADA DEVI COME AND GO EVERY YEAR WITHOUT MAKING MUCH OF A NATIONAL IMPACT, LEAVE ASIDE A GLOBAL ONE

THE BIRTH TITHIS OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA AND SRI SARADA DEVI COME AND GO EVERY YEAR WITHOUT MAKING MUCH OF A NATIONAL IMPACT, LEAVE ASIDE A GLOBAL ONE

There must be a fixed birthday for Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi -- their original ones of their very birth as per the Gregorian calendar that is universally valid -- so that the world may be better aware about the impending celebrations in their honour every year. The annual tithi puja may be conducted as usual but the fixed days must be added to the calendar of festivals for the Mission to make the divine duo more popular as the Christians have succeeded in doing by keeping Christmas fixed on the 25th of December every year. Otherwise, the bulk of the people are left unaware about the birth tithi events every year and that is not what the intended purpose is in celebrating them, I am sure. Swamiji's birthday used to meet with a similar fate till Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in formulating and declaring 12th January as the National Youth Day helped make his birthday progressively popular every year over the last three and half decades till it has now become quite a national affair in the real sense of the term. It is most meet that the Mission authorities think along the suggested line and take the necessary steps to bring people home to Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi in a far more effective way.

Written by Sugata Bose