page_title: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai
section_title: Sri Ramakrishna Math 1917 – 2000
hierarchical_section_title: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai / History / Sri Ramakrishna Math 1917 – 2000
caption_attribution_description: English: The Universal Temple at the Ramakrishna Mission in Mylapore, Chennai, India Français&#160;: Le Temple Universel à la Ramakrishna Mission à Mylapore, Chennai, Inde
context_page_description: Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai is a monastic organisation for men brought into existence by Ramakrishna, a 19th-century saint of Bengal. The motto of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission is: "For one's own salvation, and for the welfare of the world". The mutt in Chennai is the first branch center of the Ramakrishna Order in Southern India. It was started in the year 1897 by Swami Ramakrishnananda, one of the direct disciples of Ramakrishna. Besides Swami Ramakrishnananda, the Math was visited by Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Brahmananda, Swami Nirmalananda, Swami Shivananda, Swami Abhedananda, Swami Premananda, Swami Niranjanananda, Swami Trigunatitananda, and Swami Vijnanananda.
context_section_description: Swami Brahmananda, the first president of the Ramakrishna Order and a Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who had come on his second visit to Madras laid the foundation stone for the new Math building on 4 August 1916. Thanks to the able supervision of Sri A. Ramalinga Iyer, superintending Engineer, the construction work progressed rapidly and on 27 April 1917, 8 months later, the inauguration ceremony was performed by Swami Brahmananda himself. At his instance the building was dedicated to Swami Ramakrishnananda, who died in 1911 in Calcutta.
  Swami Brahmananda stayed in this building in a room to the Southeast on the ground floor. He used to walk inside the prayer Hall often touching the black stone pillars, going into high spiritual moods on several occasions.
  Initially the building consisted of the large hall and a few rooms only on the ground floor. Later some rooms were built on the first floor, running parallel to the either side of the prayer hall. The shrine was located upstairs but there was no partition between the altar of Sri Guru Mahraj and the meditation room in which the devotees sat. The devotees literally sat at the feet of Sri Guru Maharaj. As this was felt inconvenient for conducting the worship, in 1938, some modifications were made in the shrine area which was moved back by a few feet and separated by bars from the meditation area. This provided much needed space both for conducting the Puja and other services at the altar and for accommodating the devotees (with seating capacity of 40) in front. A small gopuram was also added later. On the southern side of the shrine, one room was used as shayana griha for Sri Guru Maharaj and the adjoining room had large portraits of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Brahmananda and Swami Ramakrishnananda.
  The prayer hall in the Old Temple was a witness to many important events. Besides conducting a regular worship for 80 – plus years (except for a short period during the Second World War in 1942, when due to the fear of the bomb threat, from the Japanese forces, the puja to the sacred relics of Sri Ramakrishna was briefly shifted to Uttiramerur), the shrine has been a place of many spiritual and cultural events. All the seva (ritual-service) to Sri Ramakrishna were done here as per the norms and procedures laid by Swami Ramakrishnananda. Swami Brahmananda ordained Swami Yatiswarananda into Sannyasa in this shrine. Swami Vireswarananda, the 10th president of the Order, was invested with brahmacharya vows here. Three other Direct Disciples of Ramakrishna Swami Shivananda (3rd president of the Ramakrishna Order), Swami Nirmalananda and Swami Vijnanananda (5th president of the Ramakrishna Order) – also stayed in this building during their visits. Several eminent monks of the order such as Swami Ashokananda, Swami Prabhavananda, Swami Akhilananda and many others have lived and performed intense spiritual practices in this building.
  With a seating capacity of 300, the main hall was the place where most weekly and Jayanthi day discourses were held for several decades. This was the main hall for all important pujas, public meetings and celebrations till 1963. In the year 1920/21, Durga puja was conducted here. For this purpose at the behest of Swami Brahmananda, Ramlal Chattopaddhyaya, the nephew of Sri Ramakrishna, brought the image of Mother Durga from Calcutta. Durga puja in image was held here again in 1952, 1953 and 1954. The centenary celebrations of Sri Ramakrishna (1936), Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi (1953) and Swami Vivekananda (1963) were held in this hall. Many National leaders such as C. Rajagopalachari, Morarji Desai, K. Kamaraj and others have spoken on various occasions. On the occasion of 150th birthday celebration of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, fibre glass statue of the Holy Mother was placed here in 2004 – after taking it around in a procession in various parts of Tamil Nadu
  Since the year 2000, after the new Universal Temple of Sri Ramakrishna was consecrated in the same premises in the site adjacent to the library, the Old Temple is
caption: Universal Temple at Sri Ramakrishna Math Chennai
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