TO ORGANISE OR NOT TO ORGANISE?

TO ORGANISE OR NOT TO ORGANISE?

All organisations are necessarily political because group activity requires political adjustment for internal solidarity and external sustenance. Hence, spirituality is an individual pursuit. The moment it organises itself, it degenerates to a degree and reduces itself to a material form. This I say despite Swamiji's affirmation that, by the power of love made manifest by a multitude of monks, the Ramakrishna Mission would be the embodiment of spirituality. I refute this affirmation in light of the developments within the Mission over the last five decades or so. I do not mean to say that Swamiji was wrong, for during his earthly hour the Mission had come to fulfil his words, as it stood shorn of all material corruption in his enlightened presence. But after he was gone, political considerations progressively came in, especially after the demise of the direct disciples of Thakur, just as Swamiji had prophesied. Hence, my earlier averment stands the test even of Swamiji's prophetic pronouncement. It must here be noted for good measure that Swamiji had himself brooded over the question of organisation and it was only after prolonged self-deliberation while in America that he finally decided to go ahead with organising the disciples of Thakur into a body, initially informally but eventually officially in the form of a Trust, ostensibly to avoid undue taxation but duly to give it a formal shape for furtherance of the missionary work. Swamiji had famously soliquised and penned, "To organise or not to organise? If I organise, the spirit will diminish. And if I do not organise, the message will not spread." So, he organised the followers of Thakur with its consequent dual effect.

Written by Sugata Bose