Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai

History

Origin

In February 1897, Swami Vivekananda returned to Calcutta from the West. At Madras, on the request of his disciples to begin a permanent center, Swamiji had said, "I shall send you one who is more orthodox than the most orthodox Brahmins of South India and who is at the same time incomparable in performing worship, scriptural knowledge and meditation on God." He meant Swami Ramakrishnananda, who was sent in March 1897.

Ice House, the First Monastery

The Ice House, which is now called Vivekanandar Illam, used to be called Castle Kernan. It is a three-story building on the Triplicane beach that used to belong to a wealthy lawyer named Sri Biligiri Iyengar. It is a place where Swami Vivekananda stayed on his return from the West and was given a historic reception by the citizens of Madras. Sri Iyengar, who was a devotee, now placed the ground floor at the Swami's disposal. Swami Ramakrishnananda moved to the Ice House and started his activities. He built a shrine for Sri Ramakrishna and worshiped there on a regular basis. While at the Ice House, Swami Ramakrishnananda started an orphanage for the destitute children, which has now grown into a large institution called Ramakrishna Mission Students Home, Mylapore. The Ice House served as the first monastery of the Ramakrishna Movement in South India for a period of 9 years.

Sri Ramakrishna Math in 1907

Biligiri Iyengar, the owner of the Ice House, died in 1902. Owing to financial problems, the proprietors of the Ice House building decided to auction it in 1906. After the Ice House was sold out, Swami Ramakrishnananda shifted to an outhouse in the rear portion of the Ice House. He spent almost a year in that small room, until the new Math building was built at Mylapore on a piece of land donated by a devotee. Then Swami moved into the new building on 17 November 1907.

This Math building constructed by Swami Ramakrishnananda no longer exists. It was unfortunate that within two years of its construction, extensive cracks developed in the roof of the building. One of the cracks was above the Shrine Room, and due to a sudden rainfall one night, Swami Ramakrishnananda had to hold an umbrella over the Master's photo in the Shrine the whole night.

Soon after Swami Ramakrishnananda left Madras and Swami Sharvananda took charge in 1912. This building was demolished and the present two-storeyed building with a spacious front hall was constructed by 1917.

Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1917–2000

On 4 August 1916, Swami Brahmananda, the first president of the Ramakrishna Order and a direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who had come on his second visit to Madras, laid the foundation stone for the new Math building. Thanks to the able supervision of Sri A. Ramalinga Iyer, superintending engineer, the construction work progressed rapidly, and on 27 April 1917, 8 months later, the inauguration ceremony was performed by Swami Brahmananda himself. At his instance, the building was dedicated to Swami Ramakrishnananda, who died in 1911 in Calcutta.

Swami Brahmananda stayed in this building in a room to the southeast on the ground floor. He used to walk inside the prayer hall, often touching the black stone pillars, going into high spiritual moods on several occasions.

Initially, the building consisted of a large hall and a few rooms only on the ground floor. Later, some rooms were built on the first floor, running parallel to either side of the prayer hall. The shrine was located upstairs, but there was no partition between the altar of Sri Guru Maharaj and the meditation room in which the devotees sat. The devotees sat at the feet of Sri Guru Maharaj. As this was felt to be inconvenient for conducting the worship, in 1938, some modifications were made to the shrine area, which was moved back a few feet and separated by bars from the meditation area. This provided much-needed space both for conducting the puja and other services at the altar and for accommodating the devotees (with a seating capacity of 40) in front. A small gopuram was also added later. On the southern side of the shrine, one room was used as a shayana griha for Sri Guru Maharaj and the adjoining room had large portraits of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda, and Swami Ramakrishnananda.

The prayer hall in the Old Temple was a witness to many important events. In addition to regular worship, the shrine has hosted numerous spiritual and cultural events over the past 80 years. All the seva (ritual service) to Sri Ramakrishna was done here as per the norms and procedures laid down by Swami Ramakrishnananda. Swami Brahmananda ordained Swami Yatiswarananda into Sannyasa in this shrine.

Swami Vireswarananda, the 10th president of the order, was invested with brahmacharya vows here. Three other direct disciples of Ramakrishna Swami Shivananda (3rd president of the Ramakrishna Order), Swami Nirmalananda, and Swami Vijnanananda (5th president of the Ramakrishna Order) also stayed in this building during their visits. Several eminent monks of the order, such as Swami Ashokananda, Swami Prabhavananda, Swami Akhilananda, and many others, have lived and performed intense spiritual practices in this building.

With a seating capacity of 300, the main hall was the place where most weekly and Jayanthi day discourses were held for several decades. This was the main hall for all important pujas, public meetings and celebrations until 1963. In the year 1920-1921, Durga puja was conducted here. For this purpose, at the behest of Swami Brahmananda, Ramlal Chattopaddhyaya, the nephew of Sri Ramakrishna, brought the image of Mother Durga from Calcutta. Durga Puja held here again in 1952, 1953 and 1954, as shown in the image.

The centenary celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna (1936), Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi (1953), and Swami Vivekananda (1963) were held in this hall. Many national leaders, such as C. Rajagopalachari, Morarji Desai, K. Kamaraj, and others, have spoken on various occasions. On the occasion of the 150th birthday celebration of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, a fiber glass statue of the Holy Mother was placed here in 2004 after taking it around in a procession in various parts of Tamil Nadu.

The Old Temple has been used for meditation, occasional classes and meetings for students and devotees since 2000, after the new Universal Temple of Sri Ramakrishna was consecrated in the same premises, on the site adjacent to the library.

The Universal Temple (from 2000)

Sri Ramakrishna Math completed 100 years of service in 1997. The shrine of Sri Ramakrishna set up in 1917 was too small to accommodate the growing number of devotees. The idea of a universal temple was conceived and Swami Bhuteshanandaji Maharaj, the 12th president of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, laid the foundation stone for the Universal Temple on 1 December 1994. It was realized by temple architect G. Venkataramana Reddy. On 7 February 2000, the temple was dedicated by Swami Ranganathananda, the 13th president of the Ramakrishna Order.

After Swami Ramakrishnananda, the monastery was headed by Swami Sharvananda (1911–26), Swami Yatiswarananda (1926–33), Swami Saswatananda (1936–44), Swami Kailasananda (1944–71), Swami Tapasyananda (1971–91), Swami Smaranananda (1991-1995), Swami Gautamananda (1995-2024).