Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad
Ramakrishna Math Marg, Domalguda,
Hyderabad
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Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement (known as Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement), which aims at the harmony of religions, harmony of the East and the West, harmony of the ancient and the modern, spiritual fulfillment, all-round development of human faculties, social equality, and peace for all humanity, without any distinctions of creed, caste, race or nationality.
RAMAKRISHNA MATH is a monastic organization for men brought into existence by Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), the great 19th century saint of Bengal who is regarded as the Prophet of the Modern Age.
RAMAKRISHNA MISSION is a registered society in which monks of Ramakrishna Math and lay devotees cooperate in conducting various types of social service mainly in India. It was founded by Sri Ramakrishna's chief apostle, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), one of the foremost thinkers and religious leaders of the present age, who is regarded as 'one of the main moulders of the modern world', in the words of an eminent Western scholar A. L. Basham.
Although Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are legally and financially separate, they are closely inter-related in several other ways, and are to be regarded as twin organizations.
The Math and the Mission together have 173 branch centres all over India and in different parts of the world.
The Headquarters of these centres are situated in Belur Math. All branch centres of Ramakrishna Math come under the administrative control of the Board of Trustees, whereas all branch centres of Ramakrishna Mission come under the administrative control of the Governing Body of Ramakrishna Mission.
The motto of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission is:
Atmano mokshartham jagad hitaya cha,
"For one's own salvation, and for the welfare of the world".
History of the Math in Hyderabad:
Prior to shifting of the Math complex to the present site in 1979, the institution was functioning on the Market Street, adjoining the Mahaboob College in Secundrabad in a much smaller building from 1973. That building was handed over to the Belur Math in 1974 by a private body called the Ramakrishna Math, Begumpet, which lies to the north of the present Rajiv Gandhi Airport of Hyderabad. That Math at Begumpet was built in 1922 by one Swami Yogeshwaranandaji, a disciple of Sri Ramachandra Datta who was a householder disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. On the demise of that Swamiji, a disciple of his carried on the work till 1932. When he, too, passed away, the conduct of the Math activities was entrusted to a Managing Committee of devotees and admirers who were prominent citizens of the twin cities. It had several successive Presidents and Secretaries.
The Ramakrishna Math at Begumpet and the Ramakrishna -Vivekananda Samiti on the Market Street, Secundrabad, run by another group of devotees, were amalgamated into one institution at the instance of the late Swami Yatiswaranandaji Maharaj, who had visited Hyderabad earlier and stayed in the Begumpet Math. He has left behind a number of disciples in the twin cities. It was, therefore, easy to get one institution affiliated to the Belur Math. For about forty years, the Managing Committee was frequently requesting the Belur Math Trustees to have this institution taken under its protective wings. The years rolled on without success. Every thing bides its own time! So, the time had arrived in 1973 to have this Hyderabad Center affiliated to Belur Math. Certain legal formalities took about a year.
In the meanwhile, the Market Street building was restructured to make it suitable for housing the affiliated Ramakrishna Math with some of its activities, which went on until 1979. By then the Monastic Quarters on the present site was ready to be occupied. It look another two years to complete the construction of all the buildings in the Math complex, except the unit comprising the Book Sales Section, the Math Office, and the Ramakrishna Darshanam on the first floor, which came into existence much later. The present site, with an area of eight acres is quite extensive. It was given to the Math on lease for 99 years by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
