Yajna, religious discourses and processions marked the 182nd birth anniversary of the great 19th century saint Ramakrishna Paramhansa in Kankhal at Sewashram and Math premises. Akhada sadhus and Mahamandaleshwars deliberated on the importance of service (sewa) as part of attaining the divine consciousness, something that Ramakrishna Paramhansa personifies. The saints lauded the service being rendered by Sewashram for the destitute and others.
Speaking on the occasion, Mahamandaleshwar Arjun Puri of Juna Akhara said, “Ramakrishna embodies the essence of the holy scriptures that stresses on service to the poor completing the devotion to the lord. And this mission is what is driving the service-oriented works of the centres being carried on across the country.”
Mahamandaleshwar Harichetanand Giri of Udasin Akhara said that the message of Ramakrishna was becoming all the more relevant with the passing of years. He said, “He summed up his philosophy in one sentence-divine living in all, serving the needy amounts to serving the divine- Jeev sewa is Shiva sewa. This is the way-out for India to get out of the vortex of poverty which was stressed during a UNO meeting held a few years ago.”
Presiding over the function, Mahamandaleshwar Shyam Sundar Das hailed the saint’s sayings, calling them the condensed essence of the knowledge the hoary scriptures of the land epitomize.
Earlier, a procession was carried out in the morning in Kankhal by the saints and devotees. It passed through several roads with the participants chanting the holy name of Ramakrishna Paramhansa. The secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Swami Nityashuddhananda elucidated the philosophy of Practical Vedanta that the Paramhansa embodied.