Daily Worship
Daily Puja of Shree Ramakrishna, Shree Maa Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Shivananda are performed in the temple to keep alive the flame of spiritual thinkings among the hearts of devotees and sadhus. The temple is kept open from 4.00 am to 11.45 am and 4.00 pm to 8.45 pm for the months of April to September & from 4.30 am to 11.45 am and 3.30 pm to 8.30 pm for the months of October to March.
At the very dawn just after opening of the temple Mangalarati, in the morning puja and in the evening evening-arati are performed. Evening-arati is performed with chorus aratrika-bhajan sung by hundreds of devotees and sadhus. The devotees can do their meditation and japa at any time in the temple when it is opened.
Celebration of Shri Krishna Janmashtami in Ramkrishna Math Barasat
Shri Krishna Janmashtami is the birth of Lord Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu. It is celebrated on the eighth tithi of the Krishna paksha in Bhadrapada Masa.
Ramakrishna Math Barasat observes Shri Krishna Janmashtami every year with due solemnity and religious fervour.
Afetr the evening Arati a special puja is performed on the auspicious day by the sannyasains of the math assisted by a few volunteers.
Sri Krishna Sankirtanam and devotional songs are performed.
Bhogarati is also performed with the singing of “ Jai Jagadish Hare”- in chorus.
The devotees offer pranams and take Prasad.
Celebration of Dol Yatra and the Birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Ramkrishna Math Barasat
Dol Yatra and the Birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is celebrated at Ramakrishna Math Barasat every year.
The full moon festival of Holi, celebrated in Phalgun Purnima, heralds the Vasanta-ritu, the spring season. The state of Bengal observes Phalgun Purnima as the birthday of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu(1486-1533 A.D).
For the devotees of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna, the event of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birth on this day is the prime reason for its celebration.
Sri Sri Thakur used to advise his disciples to read the traditional biographies of Mahaprabhu such as “Chaitanya Charitamrita” and “Chaintanya Bhagavata”. All through his life Sri Ramakrishna showed great respect even to the descendants of the followers of Mahaprabhu. We find in the Gospel, Sri Sri Thakur often emphasizing the efficacy of Mahaprabhu’s teachings as to chanting of Lord’s name – “….Chaitanya and Nitai, after some deliberation, made an arrangement to attract the worldly. They would say to such persons, ‘Come, repeat the name of Hari, and you shall have a delicious soup of magur fish and the embrace of a young woman.’ Many people, attracted by the fish and the woman, would chant the name of God.
Celebration of Sri Shankaracharya Jayanti
Adi Shankara (8th cent. CE) also called Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian Vedic scholar and teacher whose works present an harmonizing reading of the sastras, with liberating knowledge of the self at its core. He is considered to be the propounder of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy.
Swami Vivekananda considered Adi Shankaracharya (Adi Shankara) as the greatest teacher of Vedanta philosophy. Vivekananda was an admirer of Adi Shankara and translated Adi Shankara’s poem Atma Shatakam (also known as Nirvana Shatakam). He said, “The greatest teacher of the Vedanta philosophy was Shankaracharya. By solid reasoning he extracted from the Vedas the truths of Vedanta, and on them built up the wonderful system of Jnana that is taught in his commentaries. He unified all the conflicting descriptions of Brahman and showed that there is only one Infinite Reality. He showed too that as man can only travel slowly on the upward road, all the varied presentations are needed to suit his varying capacity.”
Sri Shankaracharya Jayanti is celebrated with due solemnity and religious fervour at Ramakrishna Math Barasat.
Celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ
The birth of Jesus Christ and his life has been an inspiration to humanity to follow the message of love, compassion, and fraternity. Today, when the world finds itself tormented by strife, hatred, and violence, his words and deeds have the power to heal wounds and show the way out.
We all know how important Christmas Eve is to the followers of Christian faith. The occasion is observed in various ways celebrating the advent of Lord Jesus Christ and remembering him as the saviour of mankind.
The Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission which stand as a unique symbol of harmony of faiths also celebrate the occasion in a befitting manner.
In fact, the celebration is organised at the main temple itself in Ramakrishna Math Barasat like almost all the branches of the Math and Mission.
Towards the end of the year, 1874 Sri Ramakrishna felt a great urge to learn the truth about Christianity.
He began to listen to readings from the Bible, by Sambhu Charan Mallick, a devotee of his from Calcutta. Becoming intensely fascinated by the life and teachings of Jesus, Sri Ramakrishna longed to gain a vision of God through the Christian path.
Scarcely had this desire arisen in his mind, when it was fulfilled it in a most marvelous way. The event happened at the garden house of Jadunath Mallick, which was situated to the south of the Kali temple at Dakshineswar. Sri Ramakrishna used to go there now and then for a walk. As Swami Saradananda narrates in his book, Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master (pages 414 to 416):
Jadunath and his mother had great devotion to the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) from the time they first had seen him. Therefore, even if they were not present in the garden at the time of the Master’s walk there, the officers would open the door of the parlour and ask him to sit and rest there for some time.
There were some good pictures hanging on the walls of that room. One of those pictures was that of the child Jesus in his mother’s lap (picture shown above).
The Master used to say that he sat one day in that parlour and was looking intently at that picture and thinking of the extraordinary life of Jesus, when he felt that the picture came to life, and effulgent rays of light, coming out from the bodies of the Mother and the Child, entered into his heart and changed radically all the ideas of his mind!
On finding that all the inborn Hindu impressions disappeared into a secluded corner of his mind and that different ones arose in it, he tried in various ways to control himself and prayed earnestly to the divine Mother (Kali), “What strange changes art Thou bringing about in me, Mother?” But nothing availed.
Rising with a great force, the waves of those impressions completely submerged the Hindu ideas in his mind. His love and devotion to the Devas (Gods) and Devis (Goddesses) vanished, and in their stead, a great faith in and reverence for Jesus and his religion occupied his mind, and began to show him Christian padrees (priests) offering incense and light before the image of Jesus in the Church and to reveal to him the eagerness of their hearts as is seen in their earnest prayers.
The Master came back to Dakshineswar temple and remained constantly absorbed in the meditation of those inner happenings. He forgot altogether to go to the temple of the divine Mother (Kali) and pay obeisance to Her. The waves of those ideas had mastery over his mind in that manner for three days.
At last, when the third day was about to close, the Master saw, while walking under the Panchavati (grove of 5 sacred trees), that a marvellous god-man of very fair complexion was coming towards him, looking steadfastly at him.
As soon as the Master saw that person, he knew that he was a foreigner. He saw that his long eyes had produced a wonderful beauty in his face, and the tip of his nose, though a little flat, did not at all impair that beauty. The Master was charmed to see the extraordinary divine expression of that handsome face, and wondered who he was.
Very soon the person approached him and from the bottom of the Master’s pure heart came out with a ringing sound, the words, “Jesus! Jesus the Christ, the great Yogi, the loving Son of God, one with the Father, who gave his heart’s blood and put up with endless torture in order to deliver men from sorrow and misery!”
Jesus, the god-man, then embraced the Master and disappeared into his body and the Master entered into ecstasy (Bhav Samadhi), lost normal consciousness and remained identified for some time with the Omnipresent Brahman (God, the Ocean of Consciousness) with attributes.
– Sri Ramakrishna the Great Master by Swami Saradananda (pages 414 to 416).
In this way,
Sri Ramakrishna realized his identity with Christ, as he had already realized his identity with Kali (Divine Mother), Rama, Hanuman, Radha, Krishna, Brahman (Absolute Ocean of Consciousness), and Mohammed.
Thus he experienced the truth that Christianity, too, was a path leading to God-Consciousness. Till the last moment of his life he believed that Christ was an Incarnation of God. But Christ, for him, was not the only Incarnation; there were others – Buddha, for instance, and Krishna.
At the Barasat centre of Ramakrishna Math and Mission Christmas Eve is celebrated by offering biscuits, cake, juice, sand witches, coffee etc to the Lord and also by singing Christmas Carol. Candles are also lit up to decorate the portrait of Mother Mary and the Baby Jesus.
Celebration of Ekadashi with Ramnama Sankirtanam
Ekadashi is one of the regular festivals celebrated in Ramakrishna Math Barasat like almost all centres of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission . Ramnama Sankirtanam is sung by the congregation on this day.
The singing of this Sankirtanam was started by Srimat Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj who was the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna. He was also the first President of the Ramakrishna Sangha. Once during the singing of the Sankirtanam in the Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama at Varanasi, Swami Brahmanandaji Maharaj had the Darshan of Sri Hanuman. The 108 slokas of the Ramnama Sankirtanam, contain a brief and succinct description of the Divine Play of Maryada Purshottam Sri Ramachandra.
Every ekadashi day devotees join the congregation in singing hymns to Lord Rama after Evening Arati. At Ramakrishna Math Barasat a special Puja is also offered to Lord Rama. A special offering( Naibedya) is also given to Sri Ramachandra and Hanumanji.
