RAMAKRISHNA TEMPLE, BELUR MATH

RAMAKRISHNA TEMPLE, BELUR MATH

This is the central shrine of the Ramakrishna Order headquartered at Belur Math, India. From here has issued a spiritual current that is inundating the world with the glorious message of the divinity of man, the harmony of faiths and the synthesis of all the diverse disciplines of knowledge in the light of the Vedanta as practised and espoused by Sri Ramakrishna who is the central figure and inspiration of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Movement. The marble statue of Sri Ramakrishna seated on the lotus pedestal here is not a material object or a mere work of art but is a living Presence pulsating with the rhythms of eternal life. 

Long back Sri Ramakrishna had promised that he would stay for a long long time wherever his beloved disciple Narendra (the future Vivekananda) would take his remains after his physical death, be it under a tree or in a hut. In keeping with that promise the Master is believed to be ever-resident in the sanctum sanctorum of the Ramakrishna Temple in Belur Math where his earthly remains have been preserved in a copper urn called 'Atmaramer Kouta'. And it is not merely a belief but it is an experiential truth for many sages and saints that have donned the ochre of the Ramakrishna Order right from the first generation of the Master's direct disciples. Sri Ramakrishna is a palpable Presence in the Belur Math, especially in the Ramakrishna Temple, and to this even lay devotees of the Master like Durga Charan Nag, popularly called Nag Mahashay, have testified. The blessed devotee was veritably in a transport when he visited Belur Math and was on record saying that having visited Dakshineshwar to see the Master in the subtle form---for the Master had already given up his mortal coil by then---he was disappointed only to be relieved to find him occupying the precincts of Belur Math.

In 1898, however, the 'Atmaramer Kouta' was preserved and worshipped in the Old Ramakrishna Shrine in Belur Math and it was only subsequent to the construction of the new temple in 1938 that it was shifted location to where it today is in the sanctum sanctorum of the Main Temple. Swami Vivekananda had during his lifetime studied Eastern and Western art, architecture and sculpture during his extensive travels through the globe. Out of this study emerged in his mind the design of the Ramakrishna Temple, a unique blend of different architectural traditions which symbolized the essential idea of universal harmony and the underlying oneness beneath the manifoldness of the world that Swamiji wanted to portray through the temple and so uphold the same before the wide world. He had entrusted Swami Vijnanananda, by academic training a civil engineer, to build the temple as and when funds would be available. Swamiji had a foreboding of his death and knew in his heart of hearts that he would not physically live to see the temple of his dreams, his tribute to his divine Master. But he assured his beloved Pesan (Swami Vijnanananda) that he would witness the consecration of the temple from above.

On the scheduled day, that hallowed morn when finally the Ramakrishna Temple was consecrated with the formal worship of Sri Ramakrishna, a young lad by name Satyakrishna was present at Belur Math. He was only eighteen years of age but had already been blessed with spiritual initiation by the then President Maharaj, Swami Vijnanananda. After the formal ceremonies were over, a few monks had gathered in the room of the President Maharaj which included a middle-aged monk by the name Bharat. Young Satyakrishna somehow overheard the following conversation.

Bharat Maharaj (addressing Swami Vijnanananda) : Maharaj, Swamiji had told you that on this day he would be present to witness the consectration of the temple. Did he come to see the proceedings today?

Vijnananandaji: Oh yes, he did come and so did Raja Maharaj, Baburam Maharaj and the rest of the Master's departed disciples. When the temple consecration was going on, I once looked up towards the ceiling of the temple to discover them lined up in space witnessing the event. Swamiji was right up there in fulfilment of his promise made to me.

Many years have rolled by since. 1938 is a distant date today living only in the memory of old-timers like the boy Satyakrishna. But he is no more a boy now. He is our nonagenarian venerable President Maharaj, Srimat Swami Atmasthanandaji who is ailing now for over a year but continues to be the leading inspiration of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Movement from his hospital bed in Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan where even Prime Minister Shree Narendra Modi has visited him. Sri Ramakrishna continues to adorn the Belur Math filling it up with his ethereal vibrations. Who knows how long he will stay there? Swamiji had once said that the spiritual wave that had hit the banks of the Belur Math would inundate the world for the next 1500 years with the mighty current of universal harmony and oneness. We are barely into the second century of that glorious chapter of human history and already the world is aglow with the radiance of the Ramakrishna Sun. He is the life of this movement, its very pulsation. Unto him alone belongs the future of the movement for he is the Way, his is the Will and he is the Goal towards which we, who are his children, are rushing along. May Thakur guide us on towards his realm of enlightenment! May he who is the light of the world take us into his leading and lead us from non-existence unto Existence, from darkness unto Light, from mortality unto Immortality! May he bestow Peace unto all!

Jai Shree Guru Maharajji ki jai! Jai Mahamayee ki jai! Jai Swamiji Maharajji ki jai! Jai Gangamayee ki jai!      

Written by Sugata Bose