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Ramakrishna Seva Mandira (Tenkalamole)
Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysuru
Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysuru
A branch of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Belur Math, Howrah,WB

Ramakrishna Sevamandira
“Shiva Jnane, Jiva Seva”- service to God in man

A chain of simple hut temples of Sri Ramakrishna in the rural areas called as Seva Mandira, wherein the service and spread of culture is being taken up along with the worship of Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and local deities.


This Seva Mandira will be managed by the local people under the guidance of Ashrama and the basic concept and mode of operation of the pr​​​​​​oject is to make it “by the people and for the people”. Local school teachers, leaders and volunteers who are service minded will be identified and trained in the Mysore Ashrama and asked to manage the Seva Mandira.


During his stay at BR Hills Swami Sureshananda initiated a few welfare measures for the tribal and rural folk.  Approached by the Zilla Panchayat officials, the Swami joined hands with the State Government in constructing houses for the poorest of the poor in the most backward region of the Chamarajnagar district.  With the financial aid received through Swami Prabuddhanandaji and devotees of the Ashrama, Swami Sureshananda bore the major share of the cost of the construction of 176 houses at three places of the district, Tenkanamole, Elakuru and Handijogi Colony (later renamed as Vivekananda Colony). These houses were constructed on the land site allotted to the beneficiaries by the Govt. After the construction the houses were handed over to the Govt. which in turn allotted them to the beneficiaries.


In order to support, safeguard and to continue to maintain their traditions and practices along with improved ways of living a new project to be implemented at Tenkanamole was conceived with the help of the service minded elders of the village and social workers in B R Hills. 

Background

Swami Vivekananda writes to Swami Shuddhananda from Almora on 11th July 1897: – “The easiest way is to take a hut — make it a temple of Guru Maharaj! Let the poor come here to be helped, also to worship. Let there be Kathâ (Puranic recitals) morning and evening there — through that you may teach all you want to teach the people. By degrees the people will be interested. They will keep up the temple themselves; maybe the hut temple will evolve into a great institution in a few years. Let those that go to relief-work first select a central spot in each district and start such a hut-temple, from which all our little work is to proceed.”


When Most Revered Swami Vireshwarananandaji Maharaj visited Mysuru in the year 1983, he expressed the need to start a chain of simple hut temples of Sri Ramakrishna in the rural areas, wherein the service and spread of culture is being taken up along with the worship of Holy Trio and local deities.



In this way the Sri Ramakrishna Seva Mandira serves the villagers under one roof as a Community Welfare Centre, a cultural hall and a place of dissemination of knowledge and not merely as a place of worship. Suitable training in all these will be offered to the local village youths and the social workers in the area. These volunteers will manage the project under the guidance of the Mysuru Ashrama.


Seva Mandiras will be a model in transforming the village temples into temples of service to the poor and a place for dissemination of knowledge to the needy. 

Triangular concept

Seva Mandira includes the following three mandiras under one roof:

  1. A central mandira without much rituals where along with pictures of the Holy Trio and the local gods and goddesses/ deities are placed and worshipped. This mandira is to be named as Sri Ramakrishna Seva Mandira.
  2. Nara Narayana Seva Mandira where service to the poor is conceived as worship of God. This is in line with Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa’s teaching “Shiva Jnane, Jiva Seva”- know that service to humanity is equivalent to worship of Shiva (God). Here service itself is worship.
  3. The Jnanaprasara mandira, to disseminate knowledge of spiritual, cultural and school subjects.

Seva Mandira Prayer & Spoorthi Gite