Established in 1927, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi is a branch center of the world wide Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897 with its headquarters at Belur Math, Howrah, West Bengal. Besides conducting various spiritual and cultural activities like- Temple for Meditation, daily worship and Aarti, celebrating the birth anniversaries of the prophets and festivals of all religions, discourses on religious scriptures in the Mission premises and outside, youth classes etc are also performed in élan.
On November 5, 1954, at 4.00 PM, the foundation of the proposed Rs. 3 lakh temple of Bhagwan Sri Ramakrishna was laid by His Holiness Srimat Swami Sankaranandaji Maharaj, 7th President of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, with appropriate rituals and in presence of over 250 devotees and friends. The year 1954 was auspicious because of the celebration of Birth Centenary of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, coinciding with the inauguration of another stellar occasion. Copper plates with inscription announcing the foundation in four languages- Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and English were kept inside the crevice of 9 inches cut concrete slab and filled with sacred earth collected from Jayarambati, Kamarpukur, Dakshineshwar, Cossipore and Belur Math. Besides Pancha Ratna, Holy Earth was also accumulated from River Yamuna and Holy Dust from Vrindavan. Swami Ranganathananda, 5th Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, addressed the gathering on the significance of the ceremony and the object of erecting the proposed temple. He said that Sri Ramakrishna represented the harmony of all religions. A temple dedicated to his memory in the capital of India is meant to inspire the citizens with the ideal of the unity of man and the fusion of all faiths.
Apart from the renunciation and harmony of all religions that Sri Ramakrishna represented, he wanted his disciples to be spiritualistic and to demonstrate the highest goal of life for all. Not only that, he later said that spirituality must not be one`s own enjoyment alone- one must live the spiritual life so that he may be a source of inspiration to others, living for other`s sake, more than one`s own. Spiritual life should not be a selfish quest only for one`s own salvation. It is good if one desires his/her self-liberation, but that liberation will be impossible if one does not feel and work for the liberation of others as well. Ramakrishna said that he would be born again and again until he could remove the miseries of all humanity.
The Ramakrishna Mission center of New Delhi, serves the citizens of the Indian capital with numerous honorable activities, like- general library and reading room with a separate section for children, textbook library for the students of Delhi University, computer training center, T.B. Clinic (the first T.B. Clinic in India), medical center, homeopathic dispensary, mobile hospital, permanent exhibition on Holy Mother and Swami Vivekananda, selling of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Vedanta Literature in Mission premises, value education and personality development programmes, relief work in times of calamities, free coaching center for poor children, etc.
