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CASE STUDY III DESCRIBE THE PUBLIC RELATION ACTIVITIES OF SRI RAMAKRISHNA MISSION

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PUBLIC RELATION ACTIVITIES OF RAMAKRISHNA MISSION INTRODUCTION: The Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission are the two key organizations that direct the work of the Ramakrishna movement, a socio-religious movement influenced by 19th century saint Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and shaped by his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda. Also referred to as the Ramakrishna Order, the Math is the movement's monastic organization. Founded by Ramakrishna in 1886, the Math primarily focuses on spiritual training and the propagation of the movement's teachings. The Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897, is an humanitarian organization which carries out extensive medical, relief and educational programs. Both the organizations have headquarters at the Belur Math. The Ramakrishna Mission acquired a legal status when it was registered in 1909 under Act XXI of 1860. Its management is vested in a Governing Body. Though the Mission with its branches is a distinct legal entity, it is closely related to the Ramakrishna Math. The elected trustees of the Math also serve as Mission's Governing Body. Vedanta Societies comprise the American arm of the Ramakrishna movement and work more in purely spiritual field rather than social welfare. Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement known as Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement. The Ramakrishna Mission is a philanthropic, volunteer organization founded by Ramakrishna's chief disciple Swami Vivekananda on May 1, 1897. The Mission conducts extensive work in health care, disaster relief, rural management, tribal welfare, elementary and higher education and culture. It uses the combined efforts of hundreds of orderedmonks and thousands of householder disciples. The Mission bases its work on the principles of karma yoga. The Mission, which is headquartered at Belur Math in Howrah, WB near Kolkata, India, subscribes to the ancient Hindu philosophy of Vedanta. It is affiliated with the monastic organization Ramakrishna Math, with whom it shares members. The Ramakrishna Math is administered by democratically elected Board of Trustees. From amongst themselves the Trustees elect President, Vice-Presidents, General Secretary, Assistant Secretaries and Treasurer. For the confirmation of the election of the President, Vice-Presidents and the General Secretary, the opinion of monks of twenty years standing is sought and taken. History: Ramakrishna Paramahamsa ( 18361886 ), a 19th century saint was the founder of the Ramakrishna Order of monks and is regarded as the spiritual founder of the Ramakrishna Movement. Ramakrishna

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was a priest in the Dakshineswar Kali Temple and attracted several monastic and householder disciples. Narendranath Dutta, who later became Swami Vivekananda was one of the chief monastic disciples. Shortly before his death in 1886, Ramakrishna gave the ocher cloths to his young disciples, who were planning to become renunciates. Ramakrishna entrusted the care of these young boys to Vivekananda. After Ramakrishna's death, the young disciples of Ramakrishna gathered and practised spiritual disciplines. They took informal monastic vows on a night which to their pleasant surprise turned out to be the Christmas Eve in 1886. About Swami Vivekananda:

Swami Vivekananda (12 January 18634 July 1902), born Narendra Nath Datta , was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a key figure in the introduction of Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the western world and was credited with raising interfaith awareness, bringingHinduism to the status of a major world religion in the late 19th century. He was a major force in the revival of Hinduism in India and contributed to the notion of nationalism in colonial India. He was the chief disciple of the 19th century saint Ramakrishna and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission. He is perhaps best known for his inspiring speech beginning with "Sisters and Brothers of America," through which he introduced Hinduism at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago in 1893. After the death of Ramakrishna, his devotees and admirers stopped funding the Cossipore math. The unpaid rents soon piled up and Narendra and other disciples of Ramakrishna had to find a new place to live. Many of his disciples returned home and became inclined towards a Grihastha(family-oriented) life. Narendra decided to make a dilapidated house at Baranagar the new math (monastery) for remaining disciples. The rent of the Baranagar Math was cheap and it was funded by "holy begging" (mdhukar). In his book Swami Vivekananda: A Reassessment, Narasingha Prosad Sil writes, "the Math was an adult male haven, a counterculture community of freedomseeking youths on the fringe of society and the city". The math became the first building of the Ramakrishna Maththe monastery of the first monastic order of Ramakrishna. Narendra later reminisced about the early days in the monastery: In January 1887, Narendra and eight other disciples took formal monastic vows. Narendra took the name of Swami Bibidishananda. Later he was given the name Vivekananda by Ajit Singh, the Maharaja of Khetri.[55] In January 1899 the Baranagar Math was transferred to Belur in the Howrah district, now known as the Belur Math. Administration: The Ramakrishna Mission is administered by a Governing Body, which is composed of the Trustees of Ramakrishna Math. The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math at Belur (popularly known asBelur Math) serves also as the headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission. A branch centre of Ramakrishna Math is

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managed by a team of monks posted by the Trustees led by a head monk with the title Adyaksha. A branch centre of Ramakrishna Mission is governed by a Managing Committee consisting of monks and lay persons appointed by the Governing Body of Ramakrishna Mission whose Secretary functions as the executive head. All the monks of the Ramakrishna Order form the democratic base of the administration. A representative meeting of all monks is held every three years when the report of all the activities of the Organization are approved and the accounts passed and guidance sought for further development. This conference places its seal of approval on the decisions taken by the Trustees elected by them and gives policy guidance. The scope of the Administration follows the detailed rules made by Swami Vivekananda when he was the General President of Ramakrishna Mission after the monastic brothers opined that there should be specific rules for the work of the Ramakrishna Mission (as the Ramakrishna Movement is commonly known). These rules were dictated by Swami Vivekananda to Swami Suddhananda, between 1898 to 1899, and has been accepted as the consensus of the opinion of all the monks of the Ramakrishna Mission then, consisting of all the disciples of Sri Ramakrishna and their disciples. Later for clear and formal legal confirmation of these rules, a Trust Deed was registered by Swami Vivekananda and many of the other disciples of Sri Ramakrishna, during 1899 - 1901. Aims of organization: The aims and ideals of the Mission are purely spiritual and humanitarian and has no connection with politics. Vivekananda proclaimed "Renunciation and service" as the twofold national ideals of modern India and the work of Ramakrishna mission strives to practice and preach these ideals. The service activities are based on the message of "Jiva is Shiva" from Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda's message of "Daridra Narayana" to indicate that service to poor is service to God. The Principles of Upanishads and Yoga in Bhagavad Gita reinterpreted in the light of Ramakrishna's Life and Teachings is the main source of inspiration for the Ramakrishna Mission. The service activities are rendered looking upon all as veritable manifestation of the Divine. The Motto of the organization is Atmano Mokshartham Jagad-hitaya Cha. Translated from Sanskrit it means For one's own salvation, and for the good of the world.. The main goals and objectives of the organization: The main goals and objectives of these twin organizations, based on the principles of Practical Vedanta, are: To spread the idea of the potential divinity of every being and how to manifest it through every action and thought. To spread the idea of harmony of religions based on Sri Ramakrishna's experience that all religions lead to the realization of the same Reality known by different names in different religions. The Mission honours and reveres the founders of all world religions such as Buddha, Christ and Mohammed. To treat all work as worship, and service to man as service to God.
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To make all possible attempts to alleviate human suffering by spreading education, rendering medical service, extending help to villagers through rural development centres, etc. To work for the all-round welfare of humanity, especially for the uplift of the poor and the downtrodden. To develop harmonious personalities by the combined practice of Jnana, Bhakti, Yoga and Karma.

Definition of Public Relation:

Ivy Lee and Edward Louis Bernays says,"a management function, which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures, and interests of an organization... followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance." the World Assembly of Public Relations Associations defined the field as "the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest."
Activities of the organization: The principal workers of the mission are the monks. The mission's activities cover the following areas, Education Health care Cultural activities Rural uplift Tribal welfare Youth movement etc.

Relief and Rehabilitation Work : The Mission and Math conducted several relief and rehabilitation operations during the year. The details of the operations are given below A sum of Rs. 3.56 crore (Rs. 2.64 crore in cash and Rs. 0.92 crore in kind) was spent on primary relief operations to help 5,67,186 people of 1,30,198 families from 2027 villages. Youth welfare programme: Apart from the educational and cultural programmes for students conducted by our educational centres, some of our Mission and Math centres have separate recreational and cultural centres called Balak Sanghas (for children) and Yuvak Sanghas (for youths) in Bangalore, Chennai (Math), Hyderabad, Malda, Mangalore, Mysore, Pune, Ranchi (Morabadi), Salem, Visakhapatnam, and a few other places. In these centres, children are provided supplementary nutrition and guidance in the practice of social, moral and spiritual values, and are also taught the basics of scriptures, chanting, devotional music, etc.

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Medical / Health Care: 1. During the year under review the Mission and Math had the following medical and allied units. 2. Specialised medical treatments : The following special treatments were provided by some of our centres through their hospitals, dispensaries, special programmes, camps, etc. a. Tuberculosis cases were treated at the 150-bed sanatorium in Ranchi, the TB Clinic attached to Delhi centre as also by our centres at Bhopal, Chennai Math, Dehradun, Kamarpukur, Lucknow, Narainpur, Patna, etc. b. Leprosy case detection and treatment was done by our centres at Ichapur, Kamarpukur, Lucknow, etc. c. Maternity and child welfare services were provided by our hospitals in Kolkata (Seva Pratishthan), Lucknow, Thiruvananthapuram and Vrindaban and also by some dispensaries. d. Psychiatry treatment was provided in our Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata (Seva Pratishthan), Vrindaban and Lucknow hospitals and also by some dispensaries. e. Eye treatment was rendered by our centres at Bhopal, Garbeta, Kamarpukur, Patna, Porbandar, Rajkot, Ulsoor, and so on, and at the hospitals in Lucknow, Muzaffarpur, Vrindaban, etc. Besides, many centres have separate eye-department attached to their dispensaries. f. Neurology department functioned at the hospitals in Itanagar, Kolkata (Seva Pratishthan), Lucknow, Varanasi, etc. g. Physiotherapy treatment was provided by our centres in Delhi, Itanagar, Kolkata (Seva Pratishthan), Lucknow, Nagpur, etc. The centres at Rajkot and Visakhapatnam had special clinics for providing physiotherapy treatment to cerebral palsied children. Besides, many centres had special departments for dental surgery, ENT, cardiology, paediatrics, acupressure, acupuncture, etc. Many centres provided ayurvedic treatment also. 3. Medical Camps : 89 eye camps were conducted, in which 6469 patients were operated on for cataract free of charge. Besides these, a considerable number of medical camps for health awareness, dental care, child care, general medicines, etc were organised. The total expenditure incurred for medical work during 2006-07 was Rs. 61.55 crore. The rural and tribal activities: The rural and tribal activities may be broadly grouped under the headings : (i) General; (ii)
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Agricultural; and (iii) Medical. i. General : Attempts were made to create awareness amongst villagers regarding sanitation and cleanliness. Drinking water was provided by digging bore wells and tube wells. Construction of pucca houses, low-cost toilets, and so on ensured a healthier living. Religious and moral classes were conducted and cultural functions were arranged. ii. Agricultural : Free soil-testing was done. Farmers were taught improved methods of cultivation through our institutes like agro-clinics, and were also provided with agricultural inputs and financial help. Projects such as wasteland development, planting of fruit and forest trees, etc were undertaken iv. Medical : Mobile dispensaries supplied free medicines to a large number of patients, and organized free diagnostic and eye-operation camps. Besides, preventive and promotive measures were undertaken through health education and immunization schemes / programmes on a regular basis.

Education: The Math and the Mission centres lived up to their reputation in the field of education. Apart from excellent academic performance, the students won laurels in sports and other extra-curricular activities. The educational work of the twin organizations has been summarized in the following table.

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The total expenditure incurred for educational work during 2006-07 was Rs. 111 crore.

Women welfare programme: Both the Mission and the Math have permanent programmes for service to women, the most important of which are mentioned below. 1. Care for pregnant and nursing women through the maternity departments of our hospitals in Kolkata (Seva Pratishthan), Vrindaban, Thiruvananthapuram and also through other hospitals and clinics run by us. 2. Old-age Home for women in Varanasi. 3. Educational service to girls : (a) A large educational complex exclusively for girls, known as Sarada Vidyalaya Mission centre, in Chennai, offering education to girls from the primary to the higher-secondary level. (b) High schools for girls run by Chennai Math, Jamshedpur and Sarisha centres. (c) A higher secondary school for girls in Chengalpattu. (d) A primary teachers training institute in Sarisha. Apart from the above, there are co-educational schools of different grades under our centres in Aalo (Along), Coimbatore, Chennai (T Nagar), Kalady, Jayrambati, Bhubaneswar, etc. Besides, a Sanskrit co-educational school is functioning at Kalady.

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4. Nurses Training Institutes attached to five of our hospitals in Kolkata (Seva Pratishthan), Lucknow, Vrindaban, Itanagar and Thiruvananthapuram. 5. Programmes for enhancing women empowerment by forming self-help groups, imparting vocational training and the like for making them self-reliant.

Achievements of organization: I. Establishment of a fully equipped multimedia lab and recording studio for the production of health education presentation. Training of a multidisciplinary team composed of doctors-including child specialist and lady doctors- social workers, health educators, multimedia specialists, artists, management and bio-statics consultants, pharmacists, field and office assistants. II. Improving Health Literacy (basic knowledge and understanding of hygiene and sanitation problem, allowing people to make the right decision regarding their health by targeting children and teenagers. Using a participatory learner centered approach to health promotion; health education productions have been developed on the topics of: Nutrition Hygiene and Sanitation Exercise Tobacco use prevention Diarrhea Acute respiratory infections Tuberculosis and Malaria. The design is based on the principles and practices of Action Learning, Social Marketing, Structured Discovery,Model Centered Instruction, Behavioral Change Communication and Edutainment. III. Mass interactive health education with the help of nine animated movies (30 minutes duration) made by us (to over 300,000 students from schools and colleges, villagers, and slum dwellers). IV. 11000 participants in 286 workshops of ten participatory transformative health education workshop productions (designed and developed in-house) conducted in school of three social economic grades. The main teachings fall under the chapters of: Stop bullying School health team training Hygiene and Sanitation Food for health HULLO ABC (IPC) Exercise:- the True Bodyguard Tobacco use prevention

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I Read V. Development of health education products: Manual in Hindi and English, booklets, summary sheets, posters, pamphlets, cards and health education kits on all the 9 above mentioned topics to aid affective dissemination. VI. Weakly mother and child health (MCH) and primary health care services are delivered to over 54 000 slum dwellers along with other regular community services. VII. Primary health services to 70,000 villagers in 13 blocks of Mirzapur district through a network of 100 community health workers and birth attendants (trained by us) along with mobile medical services. VIII. The training of 40 TBAs (traditional birth attendants) and more than 75 CHWs (community health care workers) of Varanasi and Mirzapur districts. IX. Research and evaluation carried out for all aspects of the programme.

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