The Ramakrishna Mission: The Making of a Modern Hindu Movement 0195651332, 9780195651331

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The Ramakrishna Mission

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The Ramakrishna Mission The Making of a Modern Hindu Movement Gwilym Bcckcrlcggc

OXFORD \lNIVl!Jt.SlTY PJll!SS

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY

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YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road. New Delhi 110001 Oxford Univenity Press is a departnlent of the Univenity of Oxford. It furthen the Uuivenity's objective of excellence in research, scholanhip, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford NewYork Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaan1 Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kuala Lu111pur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mu111bai Nairobi Paris Sao Paolo Shanghai Singapore Taip.ei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw with associated companies in Berlin Ibadan · Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford Univenity Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in India By Oxford Univenity Press, New Delhi © 2000 Oxford Univenity Press The n1oral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford Univenity Press (uiaker) First published 2000 Oxford Univenity Press 2000

All rights reserved: No part of this publicatio111nay be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval syste111, or transmitted, in any fonu or by any 1neans, without the prior pemlission in writing of Oxford Univenity Press, or as expressly penuitted by law, or under tenus agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Depart111ent. Oxford Univenity Press, at the address above You inust not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you 111ust impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 019 565133 2

Printed in India at ~urabh Print-o-Pack. Noida Published by Manzar Khan, Oxford Uuivenity Press YMCA Library Building, jai Singh Road, New Delhi t to 001

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Acknowledgements

Much of the thinking reflected in these srudics evolved prior to and during the preparation of my doctoral thesis on .seva in the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr. David Smith of the University of Lancaster, amongst other thin~ for encouraging me to develop what was then little more than a passing interest in the iconographic representations of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. Comments passed by participants at various conferences have played a significant part in hdpi.ng me to refine the arguments now brought together in this volume. Chapters Six and Eight were first presented at the annual Sanskrit Tradition in the Modern World Seminars convened by Dr Dermot Killinglcy at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Chapters Seven and Eight arc expansions of a paper given at the Institute for Asian andAfucan Studies at Humboldt University in November, 1997. Chapter Three was first presented as a paper to the Modern Religious Reform Movements pand at the 15th European Conference on Modern South Asian Studies at Charles University, Prague, in 1998. The research in India that provided the basis for the essays in this volume was supponed by a succession of grants &om Edge Hill College, the Spalding Trust, and the Faculty of Arts at The Open University. Such generous support, however, would have yielded little without the unfailing assiSta.nce of Swami Lokeshwarananda, late Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture in Calcutta. I am also grateful to Swami Prabhananda, formerly Assistant Secretary at Bclw Math and now Secretary of the Ramakrishna Mission lnstirutc of Culture, for responding to my questions on the basis of his extensive research into the early history of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. The srudy of F. Max Muller, which comprises the first section of Chapter One, was originally published in the lnt""4tiona/ Journal of

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The RA"'4/trishna Mission Comparatiw Philosophy and Religion (Volume l, Number 2, 1995). This study has been expanded here to include a previously unpublished discussion of Romain Rolland's accounts of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. Chapter Three is an expansion of a briefer, descriptive account ofSwami Vivekananda's involvement in famine-relief, originally published in R.KDasgupta, General Editor, Swami Viwkananda A Hundred Yean since Chicago--A Commnnoratiw Volume, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta, 1994. Chapter Four first appeared in Religion (Volume 20, 1990) but is included in this volume in a slightly revised form. Chapter Five was first published in the journal ofContemporary Religion (Volume 11, Number 3, 1996) and appears here virtually unchanged. All these chapters have been selected for inclusion in this volume partly to bring them to the attention of a wider readership and partly to highlight the themes that provide tht organizing principles for this collection of essays; common concerns that their earlier, separate publication could not illusuate so effectively. The remaining chapters contain previously unpublished work. I am grateful to Mrs Sue Buckley, Faculty Secretary, for her considerable assistance in preparing the manuscript. Above all, I owe a debt to my family, Anne, Meirionwen and Tom, for their support during my sporadic but often lengthy absences while gathering materials in India. Vlll

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Contents .

Abbreviations

XI

..

Illustrations

XII

Introduction

1

Part One: The Ramakrishna Movement in Theoretical Perspective 1. The Ramakrishna Movement and Its Tradition According to Two 'Sympathetic Outsiders': F. Max Millier and Romain Rolland

7

2. Ramakrishna and Vivekananda in Critical Studies of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission

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3. Categorizing the Ramakrishna Math and Mission

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Part Two: The Ramakrishna Movement in India 4. 'First of All Comes the Gift of Food': Swami Vivekananda's Response to the Problem of Modem Famine

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5. The Ramakrishna Math an~ Mission's Practice of Seva and the Promotion of Human Rights 6. Iconographic Representations of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda

96

113

Part Three: The Ramakrishna Movement in Britain 7. Sowing the Seeds of Vedanta in Britain: Surprising Shoots or Disappointing Harvest?

143

8. Henrietta Muller's Search for the Religion of the FemrtU Libre

180

Bibliography

202

Index .

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Abbreviations

CWSV: The Comp/& Works ofSwami .Vivelta1111nd4 (8 Vols) (Mayavaci Memorial Edition) Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, 1990. GSR: The Gospel ofSri Ramakrishna Translation by Swami Nikhilananda of Sri Sri Ramakrishna KAthamrita, compiled by Mahendranath Gupta (2nd imp.}, Madras: Ramakrishna Math, 1986. HRMM: Swami Gambhirananda History ofthe Ramakrishna Math and Mission (3rd rev. edn), Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1983. LSV: The Lift of Swami Vivekananda by His Eastern and Western Disciples, (2 Vols), (6th edn), Calcutta: Advaica Ashrama, 1979. SRGM: Sri R4makrishna, the Great Master by Swami Saradananda Original in Bengali. Translation by Swami Jagadananda (2 Vols), (6th rev. edn), Madras, Sri Ramakrishna Math, 1983. SVITW: Marie Louise Burke Swami Vivekananda in the West: New Discoveries (5 Vols) (3rd edn), Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama, 1983-1987. VIN: S.P. Basu and S.B. Ghosh (eds) Vivekanand4 in Indian Newspapers 1893-1902 Calcutta: Basu, Bhattacharya and Co., 1969.

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Illustrations

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

SRGM, Vol.I front. Reproduced by kind permission of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras

II5

SRGM, Vol.I front. Reproduced by kind permission of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras

I I6

SRGM, Vol.I front entitled 'Sri Ramakrishna'. Reproduced by kind permission of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras ·

II7

Swami Gokulananda (ed.) The 150th Birth Annivmary ofSri Rin111zltrishna and Cmtmary ofthe R.am4/trishna Order New Delhi: Ramakrishna Mission, I 987

I20

Sri R.am4'trishna Mission Ashram4 Sou11t11ir 1981 T.Nagar, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, I98 I

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SRGM, Vol.I front entitled 'The Holy Mother'. Reproduced by kind permission of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras

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LSV, Vol. I front. Reproduced by kind permission of The President, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta

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Sri R.am4'trishna Mission Ashram4 Souvenir T. Nagar, Madras: Ramakrishna Missioh Ashrama, I 98 I

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l/JustrittWns Fig. 9

Pottery images of Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi and Vivekananda (Dakshineshwar, 1991)

•

XIII

128

Fig. 10 The figure of Ramakrishna in the'Worshipped Pose' on a commercial adverciscment; Rash Behari Avenue, south Calcutta (1995) (Author's photograph)

130

Fig. 11 Close-up of Fig. I 0

131

Fig. 12 A black and white devotional picture (Kalighat, 1995)

132

Fig. 13 A commercially produced post-card (Kalighat, 1995)

133

Fig. 14 A commercially produced post-card (Kalighat, 1995)

134

Fig. 15 A commercially produced devotional poster (centtal Calcutta, 1995)

135

Fig. 16 A commercially produced poster (centtal Calcutta, 1995)

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Fig. 17 A commercially produced calendar (centtal Calcutta, 1995)

138

Fig. 18 A devotional poster (centtal Calcutta, 1995)

139

Fig. 19 A calendar on display in Vive~da's family home (Calcutta, 1991).(Author's photograph)

140

Fig. 20 Laminated plaque (Kalighat, 1995)

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Introduction

In any centre maintained by the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, there is a strong sense of the past mingling with the present. The personalities whom devotees regard as their movement's founding figures are ever present in the gallery of photographs hung on the walls. Gazing at these pictures soon brings the visitor into eye-contact with Sri Ramakrishna in whose name the Math and Mission was created; Sri Sarada Devi, Ramakrishna's wife. and the Holy Mother of the organization; Swami Vivekananda, acknowledged by devotees as Ramakrishna's closest disciple and the actual founder of the Math and Mission; Swami Brahmananda, another direct disciple of Ramakrishna, who took office as the first President just before Vivekananda's death. It was Swami Brahmananda who was responsible for putting in place much of the organizational structure that continues to this day. In the picture gallery of a typical Math or Mission, however, personalities other than Ramakrishna, his consort and his rwo most influential disciples also have their place. It is not uncommon to find all the direct disciples of Ramakrishna portrayed. Certain centres were created by these direct disciples, and these individuals are given particular prominence as 'founders' .1 Anyone who spends a lot of time absorbing the atmosphere in these centres will soon come to recognize influential past members of the Ramakrishna movement, often in stock poses, from their ageing 1

Iconographic presentations of personalities within the Ramakrishna movement arc di~ in Chapter Six in which brief reference is made to Swami Akhandananda. I have examined Swami Akhandananda's contribution to the promotion of the prac1icc of smrwithin the early Ramakrishna movement in Swami Akhand:manda's 1n111vr11l4 (vow of service) and the earliest expressions of service to humanity in the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in Antony Copley (ed.) 11nJ Their Fol/mum, Oxford University Press (India).

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photographs. Local dc:votces and benefactors who have played an important role in creating or maintaining the centre and its work have their own niche. My primary interest has been the study of the practice of service to humanity (seva) within the Ramakrishna Math and Mission. During the many hours, and in some cases days and weeks, spent in its different centres in India and Bangladesh, I have found myself drawn again and again to the photographs of the distant and shadowy personalities who have places of honour beneath the turning fans. In time, the personalities of the individuals at the heart of the Ramakrishna movement began to take on definition and in a sense became very familiar. So, in time, did initially lesser-known disciples of Ramakrishna, and I began to appreciate the roles played by many other individuals in the founding and dc:velopmcnt of particular centres. In short, the Ramakrishna Math and Mission became a 'movement' as my appreciation grew of the extent to which the historical process of its founding and growth involved many more significant agents than just Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. This volume of essays, consequently, uses the designation 'Ramakrishna movement' in place of the more conventional Ramakrishna Math and Mission, or simply Ramakrishna Mission, to signal that for a religious organization to survive it must have a dynamism. It continues as a 'movement' because of the dynamism generated by the interplay between its internal organization and society more generally, but also because the legacy of the focal figures, c:vents and realizations at its heart arc successively shaped, transmitted, received and indeed transformed by adherents. This collection of essays is about the 'making' of the Ramakrishna movement; more specifically, it is about the ways in which the movement has been promoted, presented and rejected by those who have shaped, received, transmitted and transformed the legacy preserved in the name of Ramakrishna. In spite of adopting the broader designation of the 'Ramakrishna movement', howc:ver, this book will deal exclusively with the Ramakrishna Math and Mission's handling of the legacy of Ramakrishna. It may seem unnecessary to make this point, but it should not be forgotten that, although the Ramakrishna Math and Mission is undoubtedly the most widely-known organization to take Ramakrishna's name, other organizations, created either through fission within the Ramakrishna Math and Mission or independently of it, also look back to Ramakrishna. The designation 'Ramakrishna movement' has also been adopted because sc:veral of the essays in this volume deal with the period before the legal establishment of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission as related

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Introduction' •

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but separate entities in 1909. In celebrating its first centenary in 1997, the Ramakrishna Math and Mission celebrated the founding of the Ramakrishna Mission Association by Vivekananda on his return from his first lengthy stay in the West in 1897. Belur Math, the present-day headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mach and Mission, was consecrated in 1898, and it was not until 1909 chat the relationship between the Math and Mission was legally clarified. In the meantime, between 1893 and 1899, Vivekananda had been active in the United States and Britain, and other embryonic groups began to take shape in both these counuics under names such as Vedanta Society or Vedanta Centre. Moreover, even before the completion of this first phase in the institutionalization of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission in both India and the West, Ramakrishna's reputation had spread sufficiently to attract the interest of Friedrich Max Millier, one of the most popular lndologists of his day. Muller published a short article on Ramakrishna's life and teaching in 1896 and followed this up with a fuller study in 1898. His attention had co be almost entirely conccnuated upon Ramakrishna because, at the rime when he completed the substantial part of his research, the Ramakrishna Mission Association was still co be born. MUiier was not in a position to do more than acknowledge that Vivekananda and a circle of other followers were determined co preserve the legacy of Ramakrishna. Even before the strict founding of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, therefore, a dynamism was at work. It had already caught up and begun to work on the name and memory of Ramakrishna-in the heat of Calcutta and Madras and in other pans of India couched by Ramakrishna's memory and influence, in the depths of cold North American winters, in the fashionable London suburb of Wimbledon, and in the relative comfort of a scholar's study in Oxford. The essays in this volume have been arranged in three parts and comprise studies of the movement in both India and the West and from its earliest days down to more recent rimes. They examine the beliefs and strategics adopted by members of the Ramakrishna movement and critical analyses offered by scholars outside its membership. Although several of the chapters arc devoted to Vivekananda, they deal with aspccrs of his work that have not been widely discussed in other critical studies. The studies in this collection have been chosen because of the light they shed on the ways in which he promoted the establishment of the Ramakrishna movement and the defections from the movement that aspects of his behaviour and policies appear to have uiggercd. This volume does not set out to rehearse the main thrust of the critical debate about the relationship between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. To an

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extent, it presupposes a broad acquaintance with this debate on the pan of its readers, although Pan One reviews at some length methodological problems and questions that have been central to this debate. Instead of concentrating exclusively on the relationship between R;unakrishna and Vivekananda, the volume brings forward other personalities who have been significant contributors to the growth of the movement and examines a variety of ways in which it has been presented to the wider world. · In the first pan, The Ramakrishna Movement in Theoretical Penpective, I r~icw the ways in which the relationship between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda h~ been rewritten by 'outsiders', in other words, by scholars and observers unaffiliated to the Ramakrishna movement. The first chapter is devoted to the work of Max Muller and Romain Rolland who, although 'outsiders', were clearly 'sympathetic outsiders'. Both were hailed as well known 'western savants' by devotees who welcomed their interest in Ramakrishna. Milller' s work is examined in greater detail because he was the first scholarly observer whose account of Ramakrishna's teaching reached a wide audience. Although later scholars have been quick to dismantle the reconstructions of the lives and teachings of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda put forward in rurn by Mil.lier and Rolland, nevertheless, each played a crucial role as an influential 'outsider' who presented Ramakrishna and Vivekananda to a wider reading publiC' in Britain, Europe, India and the United States. Their work also illustrates how both Ramakrishna and then Vivekananda have been constantly reinvented and represented in the light of the interests and concerns of those who have written about them-whether as 'insiders' or 'oursiders' relative to the Ramakrishna movement. The second chapter in 1- .1rt One, Ramaltrishna and Vivekananda in Critical Studies ofthe Ramakrishna Math and Mission, traces more recent developments in 'outsider' srudies of Vivekananda's relationship to Ramakrishna and their respective roles within the Ramakrishna movement. This chapter explores the widenin~ gulf between the understanding shared within the Ramakrishna movement of its origins and the parts · played by Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, and the radically different manner in which the relationship between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda has increasingly come to be prettnted by 'outsider' scholars. This chapter establishes the agenda for this volume of essays in two ways. First, it illustrates the extent to which 'outsider' scholars have focused their attention narrowly upon the relationship between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda and thus have neglected the parts played by other promoters of the Ramakrishna movement. Second, it identifies a

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willingness among 'outsider' scholars to accept the possibility that the memory and legacy of Ramakrishna have been shaped and even ttansformcd according to the needs of his followers and by others for whom he has become a potent symbol. This willingness is largely. if not cntirdy, absent in studies produced within the Ramakrishna movement. These tend either to as.mmc or to insist that Vivekananda was a faithful mediator of Ramakrishna's teaching and priorities and that the Math and Mission has zealously preserved this direct inheritance. The final chapter in this section devoted to the scholarly study of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission considers the movement's starus as a 'modem Hindu movement'. It examines in particular the debate concerning the movement's relationship to the Hindu religious tradition, a debate triggered by questions posed by scholars about the real extent of Vivekananda's indebtedness to Ramakrishna. This issue has been made more topical by the recent protracted court case in which senior members of the movement argued that they were 'Ramakrishnaites' as distinct from Hindus. In Part Two, The &zmllltrishna Movemmt in India, I offer three studies of ways in which, since its inception to the present day, the Ramakrishna movement has been promoted and presented in India. The first of these studies, 'Firrt ofAU Comes the Gift ofFood'.· Swami Viwlta111lnd4 i &sponse to the Probkm ofMotlnn Famine, reexamines Vivekananda's life after the death of Ramakrishna and prior to his dcparrurc for Chicago in 1893. Attention is drawn to Vivekananda's consistent emphasis on the need for famine-relief on his arrival in the United States. In contrast to Ramakrishna's recorded response to famine, it is suggested that Vivekananda's experience of the effects of recent widespread famine reflected a preoccupation that grew during his wanderings through India. It posed both moral and practical challenges that were influential at a time when Vivekananda was formulating a strategy for his own 'mission'. The second study, The &zmaltrish"" Math and Missions Practice of &va and the Promotion ofHuman Rights, analyses Vivekananda's attempt to set about changing social conditions in India and his use of exemplars from earlier Indian religious traditions, not solely Ramakrishna. Although stressing that Vivekananda thought in terms of duties rather than rights, l:iricf reference is made to ways in which the recent Ramakrishna movement has promoted its concerns in concert with international initiatives to secure human rights and to improve social conditions. The final study in this part, Iconographic Representations ofSri &zmaltrishna and Swami Vivtlta""nda, compares and contrasts the •markedly different ways in which the legacy of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda has been preserved iconographically within the Ramakrishna movement and popularly

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presented in commercially-produced devotional pictures and statuary beyond the control of the Ramakrishna movement. Although a certain amount has been written by scholars about the growth of the Ramakrishna movement within the United States, to the best of my knowledge there has been no substantial, published study of the transplanting of Vivekananda's Vedantic message in Britain. The third part of this volume, The Ram4krishna Movement in Britain, contains two chapters on this topic. As well as filling a lacuna in Ramakrishna/ Vivekananda studies, these two closely rdated chapters provide further illustrations of the concerns of this volume. In Sowing the Seeds ofVedanta in Britain: Surprising Shoots or Disappointing Harvest?, I chart the growth of the London Vedantic movement between 1895 and 1899, examining both the strategy that Vivekananda adopted to promote and present the Vedanric cause in Britain and the roles and reactions of certain members of his London circle of followers who emerged as leaders. Analysing the probable causes of the collapse of the planned London Vedanta cenae introduces the third concern of this volume with defectors--those at one time caught up in actively promoting and presenting Vivekananda's message only to fall away. The final chapter traces the contribution of one such leader turned defector, Henrietta Muller, to the development of the Ramakrishna movement in both Britain and India. 2 The chapter also examines the route by which Henrietta Muller came to hold convictions Strikingly close to Vivekananda's brand of'universaJ rdigion' before being exposed to his influence. Her ultimate defection from Vivekananda's cause, it is argued, may be explained satisfactorily only with reference to these earlier influences and the expectations these engendered, and not, as the literature of the Ramakrishna movement generally attempcs to do, in terms of flaws in her character. It is to be hoped that the studies in this volume will illustrate and illuminate the complexity of the interplay between personalities and forces that have shaped the making of the Ramakrishna tradition and itS pre-eminent custodian, the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, over the last century.

'This volume will make repeated reference to both Friedrich Max MUiler, the lndologistt and Frances Henrietta Muller, feminist and, for a time, Vivekanancb's coworker in the cause of promoting Vedanta. To reduce the risk of confusion. I have adopted the convention widdy followed in the literature of the Ramakrishna movement and dscwhere of giving Henrietta Muller's name in the angliciud form without the umlaut.

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Chapter One

The Ramakrishna Movement and Its Tradition According to Two 'Sympathetic Outsiders,: 1 F. Max Muller and· Romain Rolland Introduction F. Max Muller, the eminent Victorian lndologist, and Romain Rolland, the French man-of-letters, although separated by time and culture, were united in their desire not merely to record but to commend the teachings associated with the names of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. In presenting the lives and teachings of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda to a wider reading public, Muller and Rolland also promoted the goals they believed that Ramakrishna and his followers had embraced. The interest shown by Millier and later Rolland in Ramakrishna and Vivekananda has been valued within the Ramakrishna movement, not least because the international reputation enjoyed by both these writers lent further weight to the claim that Ramakrishna and Vivekananda deserved wider attention. Their works have been kept continuously in print by the movement's publishing houses. In disseminating and popularizing the Ramakrishna tradition, both Miiller and Rolland played a hand in shaping images of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, which, although congenial to the membership of the Math and Mission, have been successively challenged and set to one . 1

The lint part of this chapter devoted to MUiier was originally published under the title of 'Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa-F.Max MUiler's A Re11/ M11hatm11n: A Stru/y in Ninn«nth·cmtury lntlo'4gy' in the lntmuttionttl Journttl of Compttrtttiw &lifi4n "'"' Phillnophy. I (2), 1995.

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side in more recent, critical studies. Yet, only by first understanding the nature of the stance adopted in turn by Millier and Rolland, essentially that of the 'sympathetic outsider', is it possible to appreciate the extent to which the thrust of 'outsider' scholarly studies of the Ramakrishna movement has changed over the last century, and particularly in the post-war period. This, it is suggested, may go some way to explaining why the movement, which so welcomed the attention of a scholar like Millier a century ago, has increasingly gathered a reputation for being closed to, even hostile to, certain kinds of more recent, 'outsider' scholarship. This chapter, therefore, offers more than simply an appraisal of the contributions of Millier and Rolland to Ramakrishna studies, now long since overtaken by more recent scholarship. It contextualizes the analysis offered in Chapter Two of the major shift in the tenor and direction of post-war studies of the Ramakrishna movement. As will later become apparent, it also provides a basis upon which to assess the argument introduced in Chapter Seven that marked affinities can be found in the attitudes of both the key personalities who devoted themselves to the promotion of Vedanta in late nineteenth-century London and later adherents to the ideal of a universal religion, including Rolland.

M iiller's 'rescuing' of Ramakrishna Max Millier played an influential part in shaping the early accounts of the life and teachings of Ramakrishna, although his own studies were virtually completed before the embryonic Ramakrishna movement took institutional form with the founding of the Ramakrishna Mission Association in 1897. In spite of the publication of an article on Ramakrishna in 1896 by C.H. Tawney just prior to Miiller's first study of Ramakrishna, it was Millier who brought Ramakrishna to the attention of mainstream English-language scholarship. 2 M tiller was undoubtedly one of the most widely known Indologists of his day and regarded by many as the founding father of the 'science of religion'. 3 Muller's interest was seen by members of the Ramakrishna movement as a significant indication of the recognition now being given to their master (CWSV, VI: 362f.), and, of course, Mtiller's standing as a scholar assured an attentive 2

Originally in Tht lmptri41 and Aiuui& {bulntrly Rn1irw and Orimlill and Coloni4/ Rttord Qanuary-April, 1896), now republished in Mookcrjcc (1976.) pp. 37ff. For a brief biography of C.H. Tawney, sec the entry in Buchland ( 1906). 'For derailed accounts of MUiier's life and carcet, sec, for enmple, Chaudhuri (1974) and Voigt (1981). On MUiler's hopes for India within the context of his concern to promote lndology in the service of Christian mission, sec Bcckcrlcggc (1997a).

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The RAmaltrishna Movnnmt 11ntl Its Trtltiition •

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reception for his researches among academics. M iiIler' s studies also provided important $0urces for J.N. Farquhar's classic Motiern Hindu Religious Movmrmts, first published in 1915, and, as we will sec, for Romain Rolland who, together with Millier, was largely responsible for disseminating knowledge beyond India about the Ramakrishna movement during the fifty years after Ramakrishna's death. The theme that binds together Millie.r's 'A Real Mahatman', published in The Ninmmth Cmtury (August 18%), and his more detailed RAmaltrishna: His Lift 11ntl S11yingr (1898) is the stated desire to rescue Ramakrishna as an example of a genuine s11nny11Jin from among the impostors popularly dignified with the title 'mahatman'. Millier declared that not only was Ramakrishna ' ...a real Mahatman, but (also) a man of original thought' (Millier, 1896: 309; cf. Millier, 1975::vi). Partly because Ramakrishna's teaching was becoming known beyond India, Millier urged that it was necessary to inform missionaries, statesmen and scholars about living Vedanta, although he added that it would not be desirable that the 'Sannyasins of India' should ' .. ever find followers or imitators in Europe ...' (Millier, 1975:vif.). Expressions of ambivalence about th.e Hindu tradition were noted by Swami Vivekananda as a characteristic ofMilller's earlier writings (CWSV, VIII: 337; cf., Voigt, 1981 : 26ff.). M iiller's determ.ination to secure a fair hearing for a relatively narrow strand within Hindu religious philosophy, nevertheless, revealed a measure of goodwill that was generous by the standards of the day. It also indicated a tendency to refashion Hindu tradition in the mould of his own religious preoccupations; a commonly found combination in eighteenth-century European lndological writing (Marshall, 1970). Personal religious convictions substantially shaped what Millier looked for in a 'real mahatman' and his expectations of the role to be fulfilled by Vedanta in mode.rn India. Millier remained outside the Oxford religious controversies, speaking of his 'simple piety' and the 'safe harbour' of his Christian faith (Chaudhuri, 1974: 70f., 374; cf., Muller, 1901: 2916). He came to believe that Christian scripture should be scrutinized with the same rigour as was applied to other ancient texts but was sceptical of the outcomes of the endeavours of scholars like Renan in pursuit of the 'Jesus of history' (Chaudhuri, 1974: 74f.). Milllcr's appreciation of religion was marked by a declared detestation of'pricstcraft' and a strong moral sense imbued with Lutheran and Kantian values (Sharpe, 1975: 39;cf., Chaudhuri, 1974: 72). Miillcr evaluated Vedic religious culture on the basis of the principles that guided his own faith regarding, for example, the Veda as the fruits of the 'childhood' of the Aryan mind and Kant's Critique ofPure R.r11Jon

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10 •

The Ramakrishna Mission

as the fruits of its 'perfect manhood' (Chaudhuri, 1974: 90). It was Mtiller's scepticism about the true worth of any class of religious specialists, his acceptance of a 'natural religion' common to all humankind and consequent willingness to explore a range of religious traditions that led some Chrisrians to suspect the calibre of his professed Christianity (Beckerlegge, 1997a: 190ff.; Voigt, 1981: 27ff.). These underlying principles laid the foundations for the religious eclecticism that characterized the latter part of Mtiller's life. They were to colour not only his scholarly interests in the Hindu uadition but also his personal response to the religious teachers who were inuoduced to him through his many Indian informants; most notably, those associated with the Brahmo Samaj and the nascent Ramakrishna movement. In fact, Mtiller's interest in Ramakrishna appears to have developed as a result of links Mtiller had already established with prominent Brahmos. Vivekananda stated that Mi.iller had been drawn to Ramakrishna due to a conviction that Ramakrishna had exercised a decisive influence upon the thinking ofKeshab Chandra Sen (CWSV, VI: 280 cf., VI : 411 ). This claim is supported in Muller's writing (Muller, 1896: 316). Vivekananda clearly believed, moreover, that Mtiller's first article was based exclusively upon the account given of Ramakrishna by Prorap Chandra Mozoomdar of the Brahmo Samaj. Muller, in fact, referred to both Mozoomdar and The Brahmavadin as a further source. The Brahmavadin, however, only began publication in the September of 1895 and, according to Vivekananda, Millier had completed his article at least six months before it appeared in print in the August of 1896 (CWSV, V: 115; cf., VI: 362). This also suggests that Muller's article probably would have been. completed before Tawney's was published in the first quarter of 1896. We have to recognize, therefore, the imporrancc of Mozoomdar's role as a source, especially as Mozoomdar had written on the subject of Ramakrishna as early as 1879. Although Vivekananda spoke in a rather vague fashion of Millier having been 'charmed' by Ramakrishna for years prior to writing 'A Real Mahatman' (CWSV, VI: 363), Muller's acquaintance with Keshab Chandra Sen and Mozoomdar can be dated from the 1870s. They had begun to refer to Ramakrishna in their writings respectively from 1875/1876, so contributing to Miiller's growing awareness of Ramakrishna (Datta, 1954: 173; cf., Mookerjee, 1976: 2, 1l9ff.). Yet, it is difficult to b~ precise about the exact form of Mozoomdar's influence upon Millier and on Tawney for that matter. Mozoomdar's fullest account of Ramakrishna, probably developed from earlier publications, appeared under the title of 'The Hindu Saint' in The Theistic

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The Ramalrrishna Movnnmt and Its Tradition • 11 Quarterly Review, October 1879 (Mookcrjcc, 1976: 3-11). Revealing much about the narurc of Ramakrishna's appeal for Mozoomclar and those of a similar educational background and religious leanings, the article contained a brief physical description of Ramakrishna but offered no account of his life. Conscqucndy neither Tawney nor Milllcr could have used this article as a source for the biographical accounts that they included, although, of course, both could have received information from Mozoomclar by other means. Tawney dscw directly on Mozo~mclar for evidence of Ramakrishna's catholicity (Mookcrjce, 1976: 38) while Muller used Mozoomclar to support his thesis that Ramakrishna was neither an occultist nor an impostor (Milllcr, 1896: 317). All three.writers included examples of Ramakrishna's reported teachings, although Muller's list was the most comprehensive. With the exception of numbers 3, 14, 15, and 24, all the sayings given by Muller arc to be found in the issues of The Brahmavadin from 14 September 1895 to 15 February 1896. This lends further support to Vivekananda's report of when the article was prepared. None of the sayings missing from these issues of The Brahmavadin arc to be found in the articles of either Tawney or Mozoomdar. It would seem, therefore, that while Tawney and Millier repeated judgements passed by Mozoomdar in 'The Hindu Saint', both relied upon other sources for further details relating to the life and teachings of Ramakrishna. Millier, at a distance in Oxford, had to depend on his private correspondence with Mozoomdar and on available issues of The Brahmavadin. He referred in particular to a letter from Mozoomdar, received in September, 1895, which was used explicitly as a source for his second work and presumably would have been available for the preparation of the 1896 article (Millier, 1975: 6lf.). 4 The consequences of Milllcr's dependence upon distant sources in compiling the 1896 article arc evident in its scrucrurc with its brief exposition of the major tenets ofShankara and Rarnanuja, an appendage of thirty-one precepts of Ramakrishna and a postscript giving some newly received biographical information. The factor of distance may also explain why Muller made no mention of Ramakrishna's closest disciples, including Vivekananda, or of the latter's sucn ofHuman Rights • I 05 and Vivekananda attempted to construct a synthesis of Hindu and western social ideas. For the former, the insights of Mill and European utopian-socialisrs contributed to a new exposition of Jhamuz (Taylor, 1978: 208; Komarov, 1987: 102). The social and political thought of the young Brajendranath Seal, under whose influence Vivekananda fell as a student, was the result of a similarly synthetic approach involving Vedantic monism, Hegelian dialectics and the 'Gospel of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity of the French Revolution' (LSV, I: 108). It is evident that Vivekananda shared with other Indian intellectuals of his day the belief that India's fortunes had declined severely under the British (CWSV, IV: 362; VII: 475£.), although he stopped short of an outright attack on British rule in his writings. His appreciation of the realities of contemporary social conditions was intensified after the death of his father and during his parivrajalta phase (Rolland, 1970: 24 lff. ). It was this latter experience that lay behind his powerful in