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The Story of the Making ofSalem Sri Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama

by Swami Sampurnananda & Swami Yatatmananda

A little girl, used to notice a wayside tree, as she walked up and down to her school and back home.Busy with her own concerns she just barely noticed it. One day mid-afternoon as she was walking, tired and haggard and the heavy school bag sagging down from her drooping shoulders, she looked up and found the tree inviting her to its shade. She relaxed and after a good rest walked home refreshed. She started noticing the tree more now. Once she was away for a while. When she walked that way she found a little grove where a single tree was standing... She started spending some happy hours in it. She was growing up and her concerns widened. After a little prolonged while, as she was walking that way with furrowed brow, she found a restful rock-seat under her tree. She sat on it in the welcome shade and spent some time trying to quiet her mind. When she got down and was on her feet, her breath was steady and brow clear.After many years, one day she wondered in repose:How come all this? How came this great tree? Who put the seed to the earth? Who tended the tender shoot? Who planted saplings to make it a grove? Who placed the Rock Seat? Who? How? When? Why?She gently asked around and found the answers. It enriched her experiences and made her joy whole.Salem Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama has been a sanctuary for very many since its Founding was proclaimed by Awakened India or Prabudhha Bharata, in the year 1919.1

But the Story of the Making of the Salem Ashrama starts a bit earlier and has many characters. Let’s have an outline of it first.

Brahma-Shakti|, the great Divine Power, in Whose gaze, the events of the world take place, saw that our great country, was engrossed in the miasma of ignorance and sloth, and consequent to it were indulging in selfish backbiting and pulling each other down. They were sinking further and further, all of them, en-masse. Sri Ramakrishna was born at this crucial period of our history. He realized and taught that Spirituality or God alone was the only required thing in life and everything else is inconsequential. He preached as its corollary that there need be no quarrels about the way to reach the Divine, that all methods of reaching God are true as long as they are sincere; what is needed is that the adherent should keep trying, never sagging and never letting God the Ideal out of sight.

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His Disciple Swami Vivekananda preached the glory of the Spiritual Essence of Man in America 2 . From there he wrote letters that lit the spirit of his disciples in Madras3. Subsequently many organized societies came about in the then Madras Presidency and the Southern States. Dedicated devoteesand volunteers of these Societies did service to fellow humans without discrimination due to caste or creed. The Clouds of Time was laden with the Bhava of Renunciation and Service.

Swami Vivekananda’s triumphant return from the West and the impassionedreception to him, helped to precipitate this cloud. His Lectures from Colomboto Madras was the divine deluge that made the then Southern Presidency andPrincely States, a vast and ready field for the growing of the saplings that were nurtured by his letters from the West. Swami Ramakrishnananda was sent by Swami Vivekananda to take care of the Work of Ramakrishna Mission in the South. Under his care, Societies spread over the Madras Presidency and the States grew well. When we say the Societies grew well, we mean many dedicated souls became engaged in selfless and caring services to the distressed and needy, especially of those from depressed classes.Now, coming specifically to Salem, we may first mention that it was through the (then) Salem district that Swami Vivekananda first entered (what is presently) Tamil Nadu. He had to get down and set his feet at Jolarpet in order to change trains. He passed through Salem on his way to Shoranur via Palghat (Olavacode)It is most fitting that the first public stir and organized activity that happened in the South India, was the little public meeting that took place in Vaniambadi, where the chief attraction, was Mr. Venkataswami Naidu donning gerua, announced about Vivekananda’s success in Chicago and paraphrased his words in Tamil. Sri Naidu set up Societies in Vaniambadi, Ambur, Dharmapuri, Arasampatti and Krishnagiri. Soon Swami Ramakrishnananda became the Patron of these bodies He also visited some of the places.We may also mention that Shri Kalipada Ghosh in late1886 and Swami Niranjanananda before 1992 had passed through Salem Town.Patriotism was in the air, and there seemed to have been an invitation to Sister Nivedita from some Vivekananda enthusiasts in Salem. There is mention of her visit to a holy Neem tree in a Grove near Salem where she witnessed a public Worship. She has given a description of it in her book ‘Studies from an Eastern Home’4. There is also a description elsewhere of a meeting in Salem where an interesting incident took place 5 . There is a mention in another place, of her meeting leaders of Indian National Congress in Salem6. During her visit to South, Nivedita was accompanied by her brother disciples Swami Sadananda and Br. Amulya (later to become Swami Shankarananda, the President of Ramakrishna Order). This was during early January 1903.

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Starting from 1903 Swami Ramakrishnananda passed by the then Salem District several times on his way to Bangalore and at least once through Salem City on his way to Ernakulam. Similarly the region was blessed by the passage of Swami Brahmanandaji on his way from Madras to Bangalore in 1909.The region became doubly blessed when in April 1911, Holy Mother travelled from Madras to Bangalore and returned after staying in Bangalore Ashrama for three days. She travelled through the then Salem District. Swami Ramakrishnananda too was with her.Come November 1916, Salem Town becomes blessed by the passage of Swami Brahmananda escorted and faithfully served by Swami Nirmalananda. He was on his way to the pilgrimage of Kanyakumari via Trivandrum. Early 1917 on their way back they pass through Salem Town. We do not have any record about Swami Brahmananda detraining at Salem and spending a day there, but there is a likelihood of his having done so or at least having breakfast brought to him at Salem Station.Since Feb. 1911, Bangalore – Ernakulam route via Salem had already become a regular passage for Swami Nirmalananda on his way for the start and nurture of Ramakrishna Mission’s historic Travancore work.Come 1919, Salem gets its due place in the Renascent Ramakrishna World.A spirit of Swadeshi was blowing over Salem.Many factors contributed to this. The first student body for study and propagation of Indian Culture, by name Young Men’s Hindu Association, came into being in Salem 1903. The Lion of South India and "The Hero of Salem”, Salem Vijayaraghavachariyar strode the public arenas like a colossus and gave the people of the area a just cause for pride with his exploits in the Courtroom where he was a feared adversary to dishonest lawyers and a man whom judges respected. Off court he was a very public spirited man engaged in social activities. He was a forerunner to Gandhi in insisting that Congress should look into the economic and social needs of the masse.C. Rajagopalachari who later came to be known as Rajaji was gradually taking over from him and in 1917 became the Chairman of the Salem Municipality. One B.V. Namagiri came under the influence of Rajaji and started a shop selling swadeshi items. There was a little group, all of them in their late thirties or early forties, who were all educated, competent in their profession, and courageously and selflessly engaged in public good. All seemed to have avidly read Vivekananda’s lectures. Rajagopalachari in his student days had met Vivekananda in the Ice House. He had read about Sri Ramakrishna, fresh as it came out, in the magazine 19th Century in the article ‘A real Mahatman’ by Max Mueller. As a matter of fact, it is inconceivable that anybody in the Presidency, who was educated and young, would not have read Vivekananda.Amongst this group in Salem, Namagiri seemed to have had the strongest desire that an Ashrama should be set up in Salem. It seems that what Alasinga Perumal was to Swami Vivekananda in Chennai, Sri B.V. Namagiri was to the Ramakrishna Movement in Salem.

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Swami Nirmalananda, President, Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Bangalore visited Salem to participate in Swami Vivekananda’s 57th Birthday on 2 Feb 1919 on invitation from Sri Ramakrishna Samaj and the Vivekananda Vidya Ashrama of Salem. We have no data about who constituted these bodies.Judging from what followed, and considering the way of working of Swami Nirmalananda, who never let go once he took up a thing, it seems this is the first time that this Namagiri led group met Swami Nirmalananda. He expressed his desire to help construct a Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Salem and Swami Nirmalananda advised him on how to go about it. Sri B.V. Namagiri collected subscriptions, donation and added his own major contribution and purchased a plot of land adjacent to his own home, in 1919.

On June 13, 1919, the foundation stone of the Ashrama was truly and well laid by Swami Nirmalananda.7 The Ashrama’s services started right away. Its first work was the translation of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna into Tamil. Copies of the first part of this book were distributed in the weeks that followed.8 Thus Salem became host to the third Ramakrishna Ashrama in Tamil Nadu, next to Madras and Nattarampalli. The ardent desire of the group of devotees led by Namagiri thus became fulfilled.

It also placed a huge responsibility on them that of consummating the process, by getting the required buildings built, developing the grounds of the new site, etc.

Just before the Navaratri in 1919, Bhaktan Maharaj (in future Swami Purushottamananda of Vashishta Guha) arrived at Salem on his way from Bangalore to Quilandy. He brought the words of blessings in the form of letters to Shri Namagiri and also some Vilva saplings which he carefully planted at the new Ashrama grounds.

The 85th Birthday of Sri Ramakrishna and the 58th Birthday of Swami Vivekananda was held in Salem Ashrama in 1920. Swami Nirmalananda took part. The devotees of Salem were meanwhile going on steadily with development of the Ashrama Grounds and building and building their lives by their regular contact with Swami Nirmalananda and Bangalore Ashrama.9

1924 saw a great flood in the region. The devotees busied themselves in flood relief.In 1924, two swamis were sent from Madras, to the centre which was opened at Nattrampalli on the north-western side of Joplarpet in 1911.Meanwhile at Salem Ashrama, buildings were coming up.

In 1928 Sri B.V. Namagiri and Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Chettiar10 formally sign their land deeds which transferring the Ashrama land to Swami Nirmalananda the President of Ramakrishna Ashrama at Bangalore.

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In 1928, Nov. 14: The Ashrama was declared open by Swami Nirmalananda. Swamis started to stay here on a permanent basis. Swami Yatishwarananda from Madras, Swami Shambhavananda from Ponnampet and Swami Chidbhavananda from Ooty were took active part in the installation ceremony.Swami Srikanthananda was made the Head of Salem Ashrama and Swami Viswambarananda was made the assistant. This is the consummation of the dedicated labour of the group of devotees. Sri Namagiri lived only for three more years after the sadhus started living in the Ashrama on a permanent basis. He attained the Masters’s feet on Sep. 20, 1931.

Swami Nirmalananda kept up an instructive and affectionate correspondence which helped them in nurturing this infant ashrama. Plans were drawn for the future progress of the Ashrama11.In 1933 Sri Vijayaraghavachariar declared open, a dispensary to serve the poor and needy. A school for Harijans was started at Pudur village in 1935. This is the precursor to Sri Ramakrishna Centenary in 1936. In 15th March 1937, Swami Nirmalananda addressed a big gathering in connection with Ramakrishna Centenary Programmes in Salem. The Story Continues12

Salem Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama Thus begun at the behest of selfless souls, seed laid by an experienced green hand, lovingly tended by the same dedicated gardener and his select helpers, the Tree that Salem Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama became, grew well, continues to disperse the Divine Grace that it had been endowed with, and thereby bring solace and happiness to many and add meaning to their lives.

|"Nigama-kalpa taror galitam phalam" ||"suka-mukhad amrta-drava-samyutam"||"pibata bhagavatam rasam alayam" ||"muhur aho rasika bhuvi bhavukah" |

O Thee Gentle Souls who search for Wisdom and Joy, Drink to your fill the Divine Words of the Lord as He speaketh to your heart, the Immortal Words which are of the essence of scriptures, which have been doubly laden with nectar by Suka’s retelling of it.

All are welcome.

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1 Prabuddha Bharata July 1919, Page 169

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My ideal, indeed, can be put into a few words, and that is: to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every movement of life.Religion is realization; not talk, not doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful they may be. It is being and becoming, not hearing or acknowledging; it is the whole soul becoming changed into what it believes.Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.#. Ye are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal bliss, holy and perfect beings. Ye divinities on earth---sinners! It is a sin to call a man so; it is a standing libel on human nature.

#. Man is an infinite circle whose circumference is nowhere, but the centre is located at one spot.

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Believe, believe, the decree has gone forth, the fiat of the Lord has gone forth — India must rise, the masses and the poor are to be made happy. Rejoice that you are the chosen instruments in His hands. The flood of spirituality has risen. I see it is rolling over the land resistless, boundless, all-absorbing. Every man to the fore, every good will be added to its forces, every hand will smooth its way, and glory be unto the Lord! . .

A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in

the Lord, and nerved to lion's courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the

downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation,

the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising-up — the gospel of equality.

No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no

religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism.

The Lord has shown me that religion is not in fault, but it is the Pharisees and Sadducees in

Hinduism, hypocrites, who invent all sorts of engines of tyranny in the shape of doctrines of

Pâramârthika and Vyâvahârika.

Despair not; remember the Lord says in the Gita, "To work you have the right, but not to the

result." Gird up your loins, my boy. I am called by the Lord for this. I have been dragged through

a whole life full of crosses and tortures, I have seen the nearest and dearest die, almost of

starvation; I have been ridiculed, distrusted, and have suffered for my sympathy for the very men

who scoff and scorn. Well, my boy, this is the school of misery, which is also the school for great

souls and prophets for the cultivation of sympathy, of patience, and, above all, of an indomitable

iron will which quakes not even if the universe be pulverised at our feet. I pity them. It is not their

fault. They are children, yea, veritable children, though they be great and high in society. Their

eyes see nothing beyond their little horizon of a few yards — the routine-work, eating, drinking,

earning, and begetting, following each other in mathematical precision. They know nothing

beyond — happy little souls! Their sleep is never disturbed, their nice little brown studies of lives

never rudely shocked by the wail of woe, of misery, of degradation, and poverty, that has filled

the Indian atmosphere — the result of centuries of oppression. They little dream of the ages of

tyranny, mental, moral, and physical, that has reduced the image of God to a mere beast of

burden; the emblem of the Divine Mother, to a slave to bear children; and life itself, a curse. But

there are others who see, feel, and shed tears of blood in their hearts, who think that there is a

remedy for it, and who are ready to apply this remedy at any cost, even to the giving up of life.

And "of such is the kingdom of Heaven". Is it not then natural, my friends, that they have no time

to look down from their heights to the vagariese of these contemptible little insects, ready every

moment to spit their little venoms?

Trust not to the so-called rich, they are more dead than alive. The hope lies in you — in the

meek, the lowly, but the faithful. Have faith in the Lord; no policy, it is nothing. Feel for the

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miserable and look up for help — it shall come. I have travelled twelve years with this load in my

heart and this idea in my head. I have gone from door to door of the so-called rich and great.

With a bleeding heart I have crossed half the world to this strange land, seeking for help. The

Lord is great. I know He will help me. I may perish of cold or hunger in this land, but I bequeath to

you, young men, this sympathy, this struggle for the poor, the ignorant, the oppressed. Go now

this minute to the temple of Pârthasârathi,[1]and before Him who was friend to the poor and lowly

cowherds of Gokula, who never shrank to embrace the Pariah Guhaka, who accepted the

invitation of a prostitute in preference to that of the nobles and saved her in His incarnation as

Buddha — yea, down on your faces before Him, and make a great sacrifice, the sacrifice of a

whole life for them, for whom He comes from time to time, whom He loves above all, the poor,

the lowly, the oppressed. Vow, then, to devote your whole lives to the cause of the redemption of

these three hundred millions, going down and down every day.

It is not the work of a day, and the path is full of the most deadly thorns. But Parthasarathi is

ready to be our Sârathi — we know that. And in His name and with eternal faith in Him, set fire to

the mountain of misery that has been heaped upon India for ages — and it shall be burned down.

Come then, look it in the face, brethren, it is a grand task, and we are so low. But we are the

sons of Light and children of God. Glory unto the Lord, we will succeed. Hundreds will fall in the

struggle, hundreds will be ready to take it up. I may die here unsuccessful, another will take up

the task. You know the disease, you know the remedy, only have faith. Do not look up to the so-

called rich and great; do not care for the heartless intellectual writers, and their cold-blooded

newspaper articles. Faith, sympathy — fiery faith and fiery sympathy! Life is nothing, death is

nothing, hunger nothing, cold nothing. Glory unto the Lord — march on, the Lord is our General.

Do not look back to see who falls — forward — onward! Thus and thus we shall go on, brethren.

One falls, and another takes up the work.

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4 THE INDIAN ASH, OR TREE OF HEALINGWhen Egypt had scarcely begun to make bricks, and Babylon as yet was but a village, already, it may be, the Dravidian hamlets of the south of India had received their consecration from the neighbourhood of the chosen block of unhewn stone outside their boundary, that remains to this day as the altar-place of Amma, the Infinite Mother. And only a palæolithic age, one imagines, could have suggested, as the ideal symbol, the low sharp-pointed cone of unchiselled rock that is worshipped still beneath the neem. But if this is so, we have in that very fact some indication of the earliest of human sociological developments. In the present age we instinctively ascribe to deity the aspect of masculinity. This is because our society is patriarchal and man dominant. There was an age, however, when woman alone was the steadfast unit; when marriage was an affair of an hour, and the child belonged to his mother's village; when all the men of that village were her brothers, the mamas, and natural defenders of her children; when marriage was only lawful between men and women of different villages; and when woman was the obvious head and governor of the whole. On such a society, raised to the highest point of organisation and efficiency, were based the origins of the ancient Egyptian monarchy, the government of Babylon, and the present royal family of Travancore in Southern India. In such a society, moreover, it was as natural to call God She, as it seems now to us to do the very opposite. Grey-haired women, full of strange lore about beasts and herbs, with deep wise eyes and gentle sovereignty of manners, were its ideal. .... The worship of the neem has its centre in Oude and Behar, the ancient Kosala and Magadha. From this it spreads north and south, to the deserts of Sind and the Dekkan. I have even seen it in the extreme south, in a beautiful glen near Salem. There the tree stood, in a sacred enclosure, shut in by a massive wall of grey stone some five or six feet in height. Under it a pot was buried, bottom upwards, making a dome-shaped object, and here and there around the little court were tiny boat-shaped lamps for ceremonial lighting. In Sind they go to great trouble and expense, it is said, to obtain the blessed tree, and plant it beside some well in the desert country, there to become the nucleus of a small artificial oasis. Only in East Bengal can I find no trace of its worship except as the home of Sitola Devi. The aswattha there surpasses it in sanctity, and servants from that country have a notion that it is haunted; and to see the spirit that dwells in it they hold a sign of approaching death.

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Another proof of the great age of the neem as a sacred tree lies in the manner of the worship that is offered by women. It is common, in later Hinduism, to perform the ceremony of pradakshina, or circumambulation, as an act of reverence, and this is what we might have expected to find in the worship of a tree. But it is not what happens. Before the neem stands its fragment of rude stone, and in parts of the country where this vividly suggests the presence of the All-Mother, high-caste women go in bands, on certain moonlight nights, to offer the lights and sandal-paste, the sweetmeats and libations of milk, that constitute the necessary offerings. When this has been done they make themselves into a ring, and go round and round--not the stone, and not the tree, but--a handful of fire, on which incense is thrown, standing in front of the sacred stone. As they go they sing marriage-songs, mentally praying, probably, for the birth of children, and finally the party breaks into groups for the enjoyment of games, romping and singing. We have here a trace of those primitive seasonal dances that were the communal form of marriage. We have also a hint of how early the witness of the fire was invoked as essential to marriage. How far may we trust this suggestion as to the order of emergence of the great religious motives, such as fire, planets, earth, and the rest?The neem may be worshipped at any time, by a woman who has first served the community to the extent of feeding ten beggars. But its greatest festivals occur on the moonlight nights of Sravan and Bhadra, August and September. The ceremony of Tij takes place on the third night of the new moon of Sravan, or August. On this day, it is considered extremely auspicious that young married women should receive gifts of clothes, jewels, or sweetmeats from their husband's mothers. When the presents arrive, the girl calls her friends and companions, and they go out into the moonlight, to bathe, put on the new possessions, worship at the feet of the neem, and then spend hours in free and boisterous merriment. On these occasions it is strictly correct to be accompanied by the boys and young men of their own village, and to he joined by them in the games which follow. Nor is this difficult to understand, for the night represents a return to the old festivities of the communal wedding, when the men of a girl's own village were regarded as her brothers and the idea of marriage with one of them could not occur. Here we have the equivalent of the May-Day games of Europe, and even the idea, spread by the Church, that May is an unlucky month for marriage, stands accounted for in the desire to extinguish heathen rites.....To the threshold of history we are carried back by this worship of the neem. It is night, the time that to primitive man was fraught with coolness and joy and formed the basis of all time-reckoning. About us sleep the southern forests. Long ago, if it was ever set there, the dim light has burned out before the stone at the foot of the sacred tree. Man is still a hunting animal, contending with hairier beasts for his simple home. A few rude stone implements, a little sun-dried pottery, and the struggling crops of half-wild rice, are all his possessions. Has he yet found fire? If so, for lamp-oil, as well as for medicine, he must still come to the sacred tree. Even his marriage is not yet his own: he knows only his sisters' children. Yet already here, in India, human society has been born. Already the lawful and lawless have

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been distinguished. Already the thought of enfolding Power has emerged. Already the sweetness of motherhood has been named. Already, in the sanctification of boundaries, the civic thought is born. Already the stone before the holy tree indicates a Presence the touch of whose feet makes sanctuary. Ages will go by, and man will long dream that the world is unchanging, ere these great movements will begin--north, east, and west--by which in the future nations and civilisations are to be made. Strange, that even now thoughts should have been conceived and expressed which will never be forgotten so long as man endures. Athene with her olive, and the Norns of the ash tree Yggdrasil are even now predestined to their place in human history, already in the forests of the Dekkan, in this the Palæolithic Age.

5 A similar event took place in Bengal.

During May, 1903, she lectured at one of the Midnapore samitis. The boys welcomed her with shouts of "Hip, hip, hurrah!" but she cut their outburst short "Have you become so hybrid that you express your approval in foreign slogans?" she said. "Repeat after me, 'Vah Guru ki fate! Victory to the Guru!' "

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She went south as far as Salem, where she inaugurated the first Hall dedicated to Swami Vivekananda, and also visited several members of the Congress; then she continued her journey toward Trichinopoli. This was an incursion into Brahman and Dravidian India, and it moved her deeply."If the North is the intellect, the heart of the continent," one of her friends quoted her as saying, "the South appears as a colossal statue of stone, seated in majestic repose, looking with deep inscrutable eyes from sea to sea. Swami Vivekananda felt that his mission had become Indian only when he was accepted by Madras. So, too, in days afar off, Buddhism and Vaishnavism started from the North, and became national and enduring only after the South had tested them and set her seal on them."It was this same approval that Nivedita had come to seek from the South, in the service of Mother India. For herself, moreover, she found inspiration in every new impression. She was never tired of watching the women of the South, with their flowing gait, their uncovered faces, their hair hanging down their backs, their jewels that jangled as they passed her. All their saris were of vivid colors. The men, with their naked chests daubed with sandal paste or

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ashes and mark ed with carmine, proudly displayed all the signs of their castes. Life had thrown aside all its veils and was bursting with exuberance. The temple of Chidambaram offered her another great experience, as she realized the similarity between the Hindu temples and the medieval Christian abbeys as they had been described to her. She spent a whole day in the temple gardens, behind the high pyramid-shaped doors on which, ranged in seven tiers, there is depicted a fantastic dance that shows gods wearing miters, goddesses crowned with flowers, and all their army of attendants, potbellied gnomes, and monsters with eyes like loto balls. On the inner side the garden walls were lined with straw sheds, where the priests lived with the wandering monks and the pilgrims. Brahman children were learning the SanskritShastras, and writing on palm leaves. Under broad parasols of plaited straw, vendors of fruit, flowers, and sweetmeats were selling offerings to the gods. Widows with shaven heads were tapping their blown cheeks and shouting prayers. "Hara, Kara, Kara!"* (* One of Shiva's names)they cried. The air was redolent of flowers, incense, and burnt oil. "It is here that civic life must be grafted," Nivedita said to her friends. "The life of the temple must overflow into the life of the world. The movement must start from the temples and return, after a long journey, to the shrine of the Divine Mother Herself."The one thing that threw a cloud over the last days of the journey was Swami Sadananda's ill-health. Throughout the trip the monk had been a tower of never-failing strength to Nivedita. "If any one thing has contributed more than another to any success I have had," she had written in October, "it has been Swami Sadananda. First, giving me freedom; second, transferring his bodyguard to me, just as he gave it to Swamiji. . . Can you not realize the strength it is to have the company of a sadhu, Swami's disciple and my own brother, wherever I go?" Whenever she spoke, she added in the same letter, she would glance from time to time toward the monk sitting beside her. "I feel as if some wild king of the woods had allowed itself to be tamed and chained, in too great a generosity even to know the sacrifice it was making."... It was early January, in 1903, when Nivedita returned to Calcutta. Urgent tasks were awaiting her there.

7 PB Report given in End Note 1 above Belur Math General Report follows

THE GENERAL REPORTOF

THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION.(1917-1922)

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INTRODUCTION."The national ideals of India are Renunciation and Service. Intensify her in these channels, and the rest will take care of itself". These words of the Great Swami Vivekananda furnish the key-note to the underlying spirit of the Rarr.akrishna Order of Monks at Belur, in the District of Howrah, Bengal, which rose out of the small brotherhood of all-renouncing disciples of Bhagwan Sri Ramakrishna Deva.Soon after his return from the West on ist May, 1897, Swami Vivekananda established an Association to unite the monastic and lay disciples of Sri Ramakrishna Deva in a common organised effort for the service of humanity. The objects of the Association were as follows:—

(i) To conduct in the right spirit the activities of the movement inaugurated by Sri Ramakrishna for the establishment of fellowship among the followers of different religions, knowing them to be so many forms only of One Eternal Religion. (2) To train men so as to make them competent to teachsuch knowledge or science as is conducive to the material and spiritual welfare of all persons, (3) To promote and encourage arts and industries. To introduce and spread among the people in generalVedantic and other religious ideas in the way in which they were elucidated in the life of Sri Ramakrishna. (5) To establish Maths and Ashramas in different places of India for the training of Sannyasins and such householders as may be willing to devote their lives to the teachings of others.(6) To send trained members of the Order to countries out- side India, to start centres there for the preaching of Dharma and for creating a close relationship and a spirit of mutual help and sympathy between the foreign and Indian centres. ! This Association which had been named the Ramakrishna Mission ceased to exist after about three years, but it bequeathed its name to the Ramakrishna Brotherhood, which carried en its missionary and philanthropic activities with the help of the followers of Sri Ramakrishna and the sympathetic public. As the Mission thrived and its activities widened, it was faced with some difficulties for which a legal status was given to it on the 4th May, 1909, by registering it under Act XXI of 1860 of the Governor General ofIndia. Memorandum of the Association and its rules and regulations as registered are given in the appendices A and B. Distinction should, however, be made between the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. The former is a purely religious and monastic institution with its branch Maths and Ashramas for the training of Brahmacharins and Sannyasins in the life of practical spirituality and is managed by a Board of Trustees, whereas the latter •is a .philanthropic body consisting of monastic as well as lay members engaged in works of charity and public good and guided by the Governing Body composed of the Trustees of the Ramakrishna Math at Belur, according to a different set of rules and regulations. When the monastic order steps out of the isolation of individual pursuits, and associates with the public in the sphere of service to humanity, it becomes the "Ramakrishna Mission". The Mission is, therefore, a collateral and dependent development of the.Math itself; and these twin institutions thus illustrate the principles of renunciation and service respectively. .

[ 3 ]The works of the Mission may, roughly speaking, be classified under the following heads:—(1) Missionary work (Preaching and publication of religious literature). (2) Philanthropic work. (3) Educational work. We shall take up these sections in order.SECTION A.The Maths and Ashramas.Permanent Institutions for Missionary Work.(I)Various monasteries associated with the hallowed name of Sri Ramakrishna Deva or otherwise, and established in different parts of India and outside it, properly constitute the permanent institutions for training missionaries for preaching the eternal truths of the Hindu religion as illustrated in the lives of Sri Ramakrishna Deva and his great disciple, Swami Vivekananda. These centres also form the fountain-head of all inspiration for the various philanthropic and educational works of the Mission. They have thus a permanent and intimate connection with the Ramakrishna Mission although they do

(7) 'Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Bangalore,

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This Ashrama has been doing useful work ever since its inception. During the period under review religious classes were held and lectures delivered by Swami Nirmalananda, President ofthe Ashrama, who also toured through Mysore, Coorg and Malabar several times, preaching the Vedanta and creating an enthusiasm for the ideals of the Ramakrishna Order w erever he went. Under the auspices of the Swami. the following branches have been started in Bangalore :— (1) Vivekananda Sangham at Kalasipalayam with a free night school for poor children. (2) Bhajana Mandiram at Doddapalayam for the depressed classes. (3) Sri Ramakrishna Balasamajasangham at Yellagowndanpalayam, which has got a reading room and holds weekly Samkirtan. (4) The Ballapurpet Ashrama opened by Swami Somananda. Swami Somananda continued to visit the Bangalore Gaol every Sunday during these years, giving religious instructions to the inmates in Kannada and Telugu at the request of the Government of Mysore. A Students' Home has been attached to the Ashrama in Bangalore since August, 1919, providing free lodging, boarding and religious instruction to about 13 students every year, who [9]attend the colleges, for their secular education. The expenses of the Home are met from public subscriptions. This Ashrama has been publishing Canarese translation of some of the books relating to the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda such as, the Lila Prasanga, Swami-Sishya Samvad, Raja Yoga etc. Swami Nirmalananda's work in_Malabar has been very fruitful. He has started the following centres in the district:— Besides the branch centres at Haripad, Tiruvella and Quilandi about which mention has been made in our last General Report, new Ashramas have been founded at Trivandrum. Alleppy and Muttatn in Malabar and at Salem in the Madras- Presidency. The office of the'.Malayalam monthly journal, the Prabuddha Keralam. has been transferred to the Alleppy centre which, besides, has published the Life of Swami Vivekananda Part I and a few of hfs writings in Malayalam. As a result of Swami Nirmalananda's work many youths have been attracted to the life of renunciation

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9 From Life of Swami Nirmalananda and other references.REMINISCENCES OF SWAMI NIRMALANANDA BY SRI S.K. YAJNANARAYANA IYER (WHO WAS THE PRINCIPAL OF SALEM COLLEGE)I had the privilege of knowing the revered Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj fairly closely for many years. I was at salem between 1917 to 1922 as the Principal of the salem college and the Swamiji used to stay in the town every year for a few days as the guest of my good friend, Shri.B.V, Namagiri. On all those occasions, I had the privilege of offering him Bhiksha in my house once every year. Every member of my family had received his blessings which we kept as our most sacred treasure. The Swamiji was particularly fond of my children with whom he joked and laughed like an elder playmate. They too moved freely with him and loved him more than they did any one else in the family.The Swamiji was pleased to invite me to Bangalore to deliver a lecture on the occasion of Sri. Gurumaharaj's birthday in 1920. Sri. Namagiri and myself spent three days at the Bangalore ashrama with the Swamiji as our host. And what a wonderful, ideal host he was ! He was an expert gardener and a master in the art of grafting. He not only loved his garden but took a genuine delight in taking his guests around and showing the many rare and beautiful varieties of flower in it. A great spiritual master as he was, he was also a good teacher in worldly matters. If he set his heart on doing anything, he would accomplish it within the minimum possible time and no detail, however trivial, would escape his attention. There was the touch of the superhuman in whatever he did. Yet, he was intensely human which showed itself most clearly in his exquisite sense of humour. He used to crack jokes endlessly and effortlessly, often at his own expense ! For example, he once said that he alone was the real Vedantin, for he alone had the full measure of Vedanta as he had lost all his teeth, And Showing his dentures, he would give his definition of Vedanta : Vi-dantasya bhavah-Vedanta!As a direct disciple of Sri Gurumaharaj , the Swamiji was spiritually very great indeed. His was an impressive personality and he chose to reveal its manifold aspects only to those who won his grace. No devotee or disciple, however intimate he may be, can claim that he has understood the Swamiji's greatness in full. Many like me had the privilege of seeing and hearing him several times. But how many of us can say that we have truly known him? It was Swami Nirmalanandaji Maharaj's personality that promoted me to show respect to religious men, But, truth to tell, he was without peer and I have not come across any Swami who can approach him in spiritual grandeur and majesty. Looking back on those days of my association with the Swamiji , i now begin to wonder whether my happy experience was an instance of unmerited luck or a golden dream.10 About N. S. Lakshminarasimha Chettiar

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It seems that Sri N. S. Lakshminarasimha Chettiar was about 40 in 1919. He was a grocery merchant of repute. He was a friend of Sri B. V. Namagiri Iyer. He donated 22 cents to Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama Salem, to compliment theland donation of B. V. Namagiri for the establishment of Ramakrishna Ashramain Salem.

When C. Rajagopalachari took over as the Chairman of Salem Municipality in 1917, one of his major projects for the development of Salem town was a planned extension of the City’s periphery. People started purchasing plots. Thus Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama Centre situated in Salem Extension became a part of Salem’s development. Building a Park in front of the Ashrama is said to be forethought of Rajaji. He seemed to have been behind naming the Park as Ramakrishna Park and the road too as Ramakrishna Road.

Sri B.V. Namagiri’s and Lakshminarasimha Chettiar’s houses were on the two sides of the Ashrama. Both of them had purchased plots in the Salem Extension area. Sri B.V. Namagiri donated almost half of the land he purchased for the establishment of Ashrama. Sri N.S. Lakshminarasimha Chettiar gave 22 cents to make it a compact area.

(Studying the land documents it seems that the idea of having a Ramakrishna Ashrama here were in their mind even in 1917. Sri Lakshminarasimha Chetty documents that the lands were purchased in 1917 while Sri Namagiri Aiyyar documents that land which he donated for the ashrama were brought for the specific purpose of setting up such an ashrama. History of Salem records that the City’s Extension programme started during this period).

Reporting about the formal opening of the Ashrama in 1928 it is said that a group of young men were working for 10 years towards this objective. Sri B. V. Namagiri Ayyar and N.S. Laksminarashimha Chettiar were friends and registered the document on the same day. They are the major contributors for the land. We understand both of them had houses on their plots. We find other names such as B.V. Subramanian Aiyyar, B.V. Narasimha Aiyyar, and Dr. K. Narayanan Ayyar of Puducottah.

His granddaughter Mythili relates that Sri Lakshminarasimha Chettiar was a big man in the Shevapet area owning a big house with iron grills popularly called க? பி வ?ீ (kambi Veedu) only house built in this area in such fashion. He was a charitable person. Smt. Mythili recounts hearing from her family elders that Sri L.N. Chettiar used to be an active contributor to community events. She

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recollects a popular yearly occurrence called Vanabhojanam (dinner under forest trees) when community members would arrange a wedding of a neem tree with a nelli tree and celebrate it with a grand feast. This used to be held at Chinna Thirupathi. It continues to be held even now but due to financial reasons the frequency and the scale is less.

Smt. Mythili’s mother had told her that when Sri Lakshminarasimha Chettiar passed away her (Mythili’s) elder brother was just 10 months old and that Sri L.C. was sixty when he passed away. Mythili is now 73. So we are able to place the year of passing away of Sri L.C. as around 1938.Sri Namagiri had passed away in 1931. Thus both major donors of the ashrama saw to it that the ashrama had taken firm roots in 1928 and then their work done, they passed away within ten years.

Smt. Mythili recalls hearing that when the mortal remains of her grandfather were taken to the cremation ground, big crowd had gathered. Even in the buildings terrace on the way were filled up with huge number of people to pay their last respect to this big man. A Local holiday was also declared marking on his death.Smt. Mythili was born in 1942. Her brother is elder to her by 5 years. She remembers that when she was 5 years old, she used to visit the Ashrama. Then she lived in the next building of the Ashrama’s north side.Smt. Mythilli is still living in Shevepet house. When sadhus of Salem Ashrama went to meet her she elaborated all these details of Sri Lakshminarasimha. Now the house is partitioned. She handed over four big size framed Raja Ravivarma Oleograph prints of Goddess Sri Laksmi, Sri Saraswathi, Lord Murugan with Valli Deivanai and Vishnu.

Smt. Dhanalakshmi, a devotee of the Ashrama had seen Swami Nirmalananada in the க? பி வ?ீ (kambi Veedu) in Shevapet where he had been taken for a Satsangh. She remembered seeing him smoking a hubble-bubble. She was daughter of Sri Natesa Pandaram, a well known devotee of Swami Nirmalananda who became instrumental in starting of the Dispensary. Her son Sri Shanmugam, a devotee of the Ashrama recounted this to us.

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and I am recovering my former(?) ...again. I am very glad that you are trying your level best to free yourselffrom your domestic concerns and responsibilitieswhich were imposed upon you by your brother.I wish you every success and pray Sri Gurumaharaj bless you to achieve your End before long. All are doing well here. Hoping this willfind you in health and Spirits. With my affectionate blessings Very affectionately yours nirmalananda--------------------------------------------------

My dear Kunhiraman, Very glad to receive your ...and to learn that you left off onceand for all your brother's domestic affairs, andThat henceforward you will by the grace ofSri Guru Maharaj be able to exclusivelydevote the rest of your life to His Service alone.I wish you every success. May Guru Maharajfulfil your noble End in leisure.

I intend visiting Travancorenext month and I shall then personally talkover other important matters concerningyour future. I am doing well. Hope this

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will find you all hale and hearty With affectionate blessings very affly yours nirmalananda----------------------------------------

Dacca 29 - 3 - 29. My dear Kunhi Raman, Just a line today that I was very glad to receive your letter and read the contents therein. I amalso very glad to go through that you spoke on Bhagavan andAvatara. Yes, by the grace of Bhagavan gradually everything in connection with the ashrama at Salem will improve. Work steadily having unswerving faith in Bhagavan.Things will progress in due course. As regards the Tamil translation ofGospel, I am of opinion that we need not take it up again.It will be a very great trouble and botheration. It willhamper our spiritual progress, if we introduce elementsof business & speculation. Our ashrama at Salem is inits infancy now. such an attempt will stifle itsvitality. Funds will be forthcoming by the grace and blessingsof Shri Guru Maharaj. Have patience & perseverance,and faith in Him. He will look to (that) all your needs.I am doing well. I leave this tomorrow for some other town in This side-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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I will be at Belur Math by the secondweek of next month. My affection to you both and to all the devotees. very affly yours, nirmalananda----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------To Swami SrikanthanandaSri Ramakrishna AsramaSri Ramakrishna RoadShivaswamipuram ExtensionSalem.(South India)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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. By the graceof Sri Guru maharaj you will not be in want. Have faith in Himand things will prosper.

Sri Ramakrishna Asrama R..d-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bangalore1st September 1932

My dear Srikanthananda. Received your letter duly.

I was very glad to go through the contents therein.By the grace of Sri Guru Maharaj things aregradually improving and I was very glad to be toldthat the Western Veranda will be covered with tilespretty shortly and I hope a charitable dispensarywill be an accomplished fact before long.. So farso good. Slow and steady work promises perma-nency. By the grace of Sri Guru Maharaj theSalem asrama is bound to thrive fairly and suc-cessfully. May Sri Guru Maharaj grant it a longlife and steady progress. I am glad to know that youare having good rains and all the plants are nicelygrowing and the vacant triangular piece of land---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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dotted with mango grafts. Allare doing well here, Convey mylove & blessings to Mr. Krishna ChettiarBhaskar, Balasamy and all other devotees.With my love and blessings for you both Very affly yours, nirmalananda

To Swami SrikanthanandaSri Ramakrishna AsramaShivaswamipuram ExtensionSalem.

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Calicut

17-9-37 My dear KunhiRaman, Hope by the grace ofSri Guru Maharaj now you are keeping well and everything is going on all right over there. I came to thisplace on the 26th of last month on a very very urgentand important work. By the grace of Sri Guru Maha-raj the work is very successfully finished. I will be leavingthis on the 20th by early morning train for Ottapalam andshall be halting there on my way to Trivandrum for 3 or4 days. If you can join with me there and go with me toTrivandrum I need hardly say that I will be very glad. B ishesI have got some very urgent & important matters in con-nection with our work to talk & discuss with you. I was veryglad to receive a letter of invitation from Mr. N. Pandaram toattend the marriage ceremony of his daughter. The letter was for-warded here. Convey my blessings to the newly married coupleand my sincere wishes for their long, happy and prosperousconjugal life and also my affectionate blessings to Mr. N.P.and his family. When you come to Ottapalam bring those two pieces dyed clothes with you. Tender my affectionateblessings to all the friends & devotees over there and also to the

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inmates of the ashrama. Trusting thisfinds you hale and hearty. The rest ..person. With much love and kind blessings very affly yours nirmalanandaToTo Swami SrikanthanandaSri Ramakrishna AsramaShivaswamipuram ExtensionSalem

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12 From GR, Ashrama Reports, PB and VK

THE TENTH GENERAL REPORTOF

THE RAMAKRISHNA MISSION(1938—1939)

(With some recent information)May, 1940ISSUED BY THE SECRETARY FROM BELUR MATH, HOWRAHThe national ideals of India are Renunciation and Service. Intensify her in those channels and the rest will take care of itself.Swami Vivekananda

ObituarySix months after the Mahasamadhi of Srimat Swami Vijnanananda, the fourth President of the Order, noticed in the preceding Report, the Math and Mission sustained an irreparable loss at the passing away of Srimat Swami Suddhananda, the fifth President, on the 23rd October, 1938. This was preceded by another mournful event when on the 26th April, 1938 Srimat Swami Nirmalananda breathed his last, and succeeded by an equally great blow when Srimat Swami Abhedananda, the last Sannyasin disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, passed away on the 8thSeptember, 1939.SECTION IIMISSION CENTRESA. INSTITUTIONS OF GENERAL SERVICEThe Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, SalemThe Ashrama at Salem was established in the Siva-swamipuram Extensions in 1928. Besides regular worship and Bhajana, scriptural classes are held for the public. Harikathas and lectures are occasionally arranged in the Ashrama premises. For the youngsters, Gita andParayana (recitation of scriptures) classes are regularly taken.Since 1933 a Free Ayurvedic Dispensary is being run in the town, which extended its work to the neighbouring villages during epidemics etc. The inmates of the Ashrama took great pains to root out the guinea-worm disease from one of the villages. For the benefit of the children living in Harijan quarters, theAshrama conducts a free Primary School, which has become popular..

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