The first building of the Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore (on what was Brodie’s Road) Sri Ramakrishna Mission’s Universal Temple in Mylapore

I have been a regular visitor to the Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore from when was a student in the latter half of the 1980s. The peace and quiet of the premises, not to speak of the meditative atmosphere in the two shrines, still attract me. I also like browsing in the bookstore which visitors can enter from North Mada Street facing the Kapaleeswarar Temple tank. The other way is from inside the campus. The store offers subsidised books*, from the short to voluminous reads. on a wide range of spiritual and religious topics for adults and children in different languages.

The Madras branch publishes two monthly magazines, the Vedanta Kesari in English since 1914, and the Ramakrishna Vijayam in Tamil for the past 92 years. Both magazines are printed in-house. The in-house press, set up in 1983, has facilities to print books of the coffee table type too.

The library in the Vivekananda Centenary building in the other corner of the premises still retains its spaciousness and old-world charm. The present library has a 49-year-old history. Above the library is a hall where I remember listening to a talk by Swami Ranganathananda, who is known to have declined the Padma Vibhushan as it was conferred on him in his individual capacity and not on the Ramakrishna Mission.

Adjoining the library (there’s greenery in-between) is the Sri Ramakrishna Universal Temple consecrated on February 7, 2000, after taking a little more than five years and Rs. 70 million to build. A few steps below the ground floor level of the temple is the 600-seat Swami Ramakrishnananda Auditorium named in honour of the monk who arrived in a steamer on the shores of Madras in March 1897 to establish the Math first at Ice House and, then, at its present premises in Mylapore in 1907.

An interesting aside about the name Ramakrishnananda is that, though Vivekananda (earlier Narendra) wanted to take the name of Ramakrishnananda, he gave precedence to his brother-disciple Sashi for the exemplary manner in which he had served their Master, Ramakrishna, and the way he carried on with his worship after the master passed away. Swami Ramakrishnananda’s 14-year stay in Madras resulted in the setting up of branches also in Bangalore and Trivandrum. Madras has the distinction of being the oldest branch of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.

The architecture of the Universal Temple, the face of the Madras math, so to say, is inspired by the temple in the Belur Math, the headquarters of the Mission near Kolkata, which took shape using the guidelines left by Vivekananda who envisioned a temple that would symbolise the openness of his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, to all faiths. As a wandering monk travelling through much of India, and parts of the East like Japan and China and parts of Europe and America, Vivekananda imbibed knowledge about the places of worship of different faiths and incorporated them into the temples of the Ramakrishna Mission.

A few diverse architectural elements from various schools and regions incorporated into the Universal Temple, mentioned in an article by G. Venkatramana Reddy, the honorary chief architect of the temple, are: the gateway, which reflects the Vijayanagar style; as you step inside, in front of the Universal Temple you see a garden with a lawn bordered on all four sides by low walls illuminated by lamps like the Mughal monuments of Agra and Delhi; the main portico of the temple, is at a height of ten feet from the ground and is reached by a 16-feet-wide stairway supported by four ornamental columns rising to 20 feet, is inspired by the facade of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome; and the motifs on the columns are like the ones in Jain temples in Gujarat and the tombs and mosques of Gujarat. The symbols of the six religions which historically held sway in India are carved on the wooden doors of the temple as a sign of welcome to worshippers of all faiths.

On entering the prayer hall, you walk into the nave leading to the sanctum where the marble statue of Sri Ramakrishna in a seated posture greets visitors. The nave divides the hall into seating areas, on the left and right. Almost at both extremes of the hall are the columns and, finally, the aisles, parallel to the nave, leading to the shrines of Swami Vivekananda and the Holy Mother Sarada Devi on either side of the sanctum. The portraits of 16 disciples of Ramakrishna, including one of Mahendranath Gupta, who recorded the conversations of Ramakrishna in Bengali, are fixed on the four sides of the two central columns on each side. The lay-out of the hall is influenced by the Buddhist chaityas and the open design of the sanctum resembles one of a church. Over the entire nave, the roof is shaped like a pointed arch ribbed and vaulted.

Sandstone slabs from Rajasthan and white stone slabs make up the exterior of the temple which has just been freshly painted to coincide with the completion of 12 years of the temple and the 175th birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna. The central dome, or vimana, over the sanctum rises to a height of 102 feet. There are many vimanas and images of Hindu deities installed in niches around the temple.

Greeting the eye everywhere around the campus are plants, shrubs, trees and flowers. In fact, standing on the side stairways on either side of the temple and looking at the colours of the flora, I’m reminded of the words of the Japanese poet Basho. “The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.”

The site of the first building of the Mission, which was raised in 1907, is of historical interest to visitors. Worship in the old shrine, consecrated in 1917, continued till 2000, interrupted briefly in 1942 when the daily worship was shifted to Uttiramerur during World War II. There is an image of the Holy Mother Sarada Devi on the ground floor of the old shrine.

Having briefly volunteered at the charitable dispensary and diagnostic centre on the campus, I know it buzzes with activity centred on the 600 patients coming in the mornings. Only certain diagnostic services are offered in the evenings. Around 20 doctors offer different services at the centre which started in 1925 when retired civil surgeon Dr. B. Raghavendra Rao volunteered his help.

The Ramakrishna Math and Mission has restored Ice House (Castle Kernan), which was leased to it by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1997. In the nearly 90-year-long interim between 1907 and 1997, the Ice House served, among other purposes, as a Home for Widows set up by Sister Subbalakshmi, a teacher trainees’ hostel, and a working women’s hostel. Between the early 1990s till 1997, the Ice House was left to the mercy of the elements, having been partially abandoned and kept under lock and key. It took 11 months and Rs. 6.5 million for the Math to renovate and restore Ice House, preserving its architectural style. Now, as Vivekanandar Illam, it houses a permanent exhibition on Indian Culture and Swami Vivekananda.

* Literature in the print and multimedia format can be ordered online from the Math’s website.