Soon after the conquest of the world through spread of Vedantic wisdom by the illustrious patriot-saint of India Swami Vivekananda, there came upon in his mother land India a tremendous enthusiasm among the youth of India. They sprang into action to form associations for rejuvenation of the country.
Youths of Jamshedpur also did not lag behind. Under the leadership of Shri Upendra Lal Mukherjee, an initiated disciple of Srimat Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj (Raja Maharaj), the spiritual child of Bhagwan Sri Ramakrishna, a band of youth formed an organisation named Vivekananda Society on 20th December 1920 and started serving the society among its underprivileged sections. Soon they received from Tata Steel a piece of land of about one acre at L-Road, Bistupur in the southern part of the town in the year 1922. Vivekananda Society was affiliated to Ramakrishna Mission in 1927 and it was renamed as Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Society.
With just one school founded in 1922, the Mission at Jamshedpur today runs 16 formal schools and one non-formal school with about 12000 students on rolls. The Mission runs a hostel for school-going boys where 115 students get boarding, lodging and education either free of all costs, or at a highly subsidised fee. It also runs a mobile medical unit offering allopathic and homeopathic treatment through six centres in east Singhbhum and Saraikela-Kharswan districts of Jharkhand. The Blood Donation camps and cataract operations organised in these centres attract a good number of keen and needy participants.With the activities of the Mission expanding fairly rapidly, the number of monastic and lay members managing the activities also increased. However, the facilities for accommodation of its monastic members and other inmates remained the same as it was in 1920s.
With the Jamshedpur centre of the Mission approaching to celebrate its centennial existence, the need for construction of a new Monks’ Quarters for accommodating more number of monks is badly felt.
The plan of constructing a bigger Monks’ Quarters has been on the anvil for some time, but very recently we have got the permission of our headquarters to go ahead. The drawings have just been approved by the Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee [JNAC].
The total floor area of the proposed Monks’ Quarters is about 25000 sq.ft. While an amount of about Rs. 4.0 crore will be required to accomplish the project, we have just about 18 months to complete the project before the centenary celebrations of the Jamshedpur Mission.
We appeal to the devotees, admirers and friends of the Mission to join hands to accomplish the project. All contributions however small will be thankfully received and acknowledged. Donations to Ramakrishna Mission is exempt under 80G of Income Tax Act, 1960.
Yours in the Lord,
Swami Amritarupananda
Honorary Secretary