Vision of Swami Vivekananda
As a Parivrajaka
Swami Vivekananda established Ramakrishna Mission as commanded by his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, for the secular and spiritual amelioration of humankind as a whole, irrespective of caste, creed, colour, nationality, gender or religion. His focus was on the individual emancipation of a human being from ignorance as well as the collective good of the society at all levels, physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual. To achieve this twofold objective at both the individual or microcosmic level as well as the collective or macrocosmic level—atmano mokshartham jagaddhitaya cha, to quote his own words—he “set in motion a machinery which will bring noble ideas to the door of everybody”, “a lever for the good of humanity, at least in India, which no power can drive back”. Swami Vivekananda made Belur Math as the headquarters of the worldwide Ramakrishna Movement comprising the twin organizations of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. He envisioned that Belur Math would be a centre of great harmony and synthesis, not only of all religious beliefs and traditions, but also of arts and sciences and the various branches of knowledge, both secular and spiritual. In fact, on 2 July 1902, just two days before he passed away, he prophesied, standing at the Belur Math grounds: "The spiritual impact that has come to Belur [Math] will last fifteen hundred years, and it will be a great university. Do not think I imagine it; I see it."
This vision of its great leader has been a subject of reverential meditation and debate for several decades among Swamiji’s disciples, admirers, devotees and followers. What began as a humble attempt in 1939 when the Governing Body of Ramakrishna Mission resolved to start an institution of higher education near Belur Math called Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira assumed a more serious form in 1963, Swamiji’s birth centenary year, when the authorities of Ramakrishna Mission submitted a proposal to the Government for the starting of a Vivekananda University. For various reasons it did not materialize at that time. However, the original vision of Swamiji has been a continuous source of inspiration to his followers who constantly thought and debated on what kind university Swamiji envisioned. Efforts in this direction were made off and on and finally, a deemed university under University Grants Commission (UGC) was established under Ramakrishna Mission’s auspices. The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, declared the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (RKMVERI) under the aegis of Ramakrishna Mission with headquarters at Belur Math, as a deemed-to-be university under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956. This university, created as a humble first step in the actualization of Swamiji’s vision, is unique in several respects.
