Clarification regarding some fake news involving Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
There is no branch center of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission in the Minakhan region of North 24 Parganas district, West Bengal.
একটি সংশয়ের নিরসন : মিনাখাঁ-অঞ্চলে রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ ও রামকৃষ্ণ মিশনের কোনো শাখাকেন্দ্র নেই|
সমাজ মাধ্যমে সম্প্রতি প্রচারিত একটি ভিডিও এবং ভক্তদের চিঠির মাধ্যমে আমরা জানতে পেরেছি যে জনৈক সাধু একটি রাজনৈতিক সমাবেশে বক্তব্য রেখেছেন এবং নিজেকে ‘রামকৃষ্ণ সারদা মিশন, মিনাখাঁ’ নামক একটি আশ্রমের সাধু বলে পরিচয় দিয়েছেন| সেই পরিপ্রেক্ষিতে বহু মানুষ আমাদের কাছে জানতে চেয়েছেন, উপরোক্ত সাধু রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ ও রামকৃষ্ণ মিশনের কোন সাধু কি না |
এই প্রসঙ্গে আমরা সুস্পষ্ট ভাবে জানাতে চাই যে উপরোক্ত সাধু রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ ও রামকৃষ্ণ মিশনের — যার হেডকোয়ার্টার্স হাওড়ার বেলুড় মঠে — কোনো সাধু নন এবং মিনাখাঁ অঞ্চলে রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ ও রামকৃষ্ণ মিশনের কোনো শাখাকেন্দ্র নেই |
ভারতে এবং ভারতের বাইরে অবস্থিত আমাদের শাখাকেন্দ্রগুলির সম্পূর্ণ তালিকা রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ ও রামকৃষ্ণ মিশনের official website এর এই লিঙ্কে দেখতে পাবেন : https://belurmath.org/branch-centres/
স্বামী বলভদ্রানন্দ
সহকারী সাধারণ সম্পাদক,
রামকৃষ্ণ মঠ ও রামকৃষ্ণ মিশন,
বেলুড় মঠ
১৭ মার্চ ২০২৬
[Covid Pandemic] Fake News 1
Two photos showing a few beds and a few monks with a caption stating that a Covid care facility has been opened on Belur Math premises.
Our clarification
No such facility has been started at Belur Math. But our hospitals in Kolkata (Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratishthan), Kankhal (Hardwar), Dehradun, Varanasi, Vrindaban and Mumbai are engaged in the service of Covid patients for quite some time.
After seeing these photos, many of our well-wishers have expressed their wish to contribute to our medical services for Covid patients. We request them to send their contribution to the Headquarters of Ramakrishna Mission through our website <donations.belurmath.org>. We will apportion the donations received to our hospital centres. We are not able to accept donations from foreign citizens for Covid-19 Relief.
[Covid Pandemic] Fake news 2
Our clarification
The speech is not by any monk of the Ramakrishna Math or Ramakrishna Mission. The so-called “Joydip Maharaj” is not a monk of our Order and never was he so.
[Covid Pandemic] Fake news 3
Our clarification
No such hymn has been composed or chanted by Revered Smarananandaji Maharaj, President of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, or by any other monk of our Order.
[Covid Pandemic] Fake news 4
Our clarification
The Ramakrishna Mission has not made any such promise.
(Swami Suvirananda)
General Secretary
Date: 02.05.2021
Swami Vivekananda’s speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago, USA, in 1893 heralded a new era in inter-religious understanding and propagation of Indian religious thoughts in the West. Among his speeches at the Parliament of Religions, the first speech beginning with the immortal words “Sisters and brothers of America” delivered at the inaugural session, is the most well-known and has a thrilling effect on the readers even after more than 125 years.
Around the year 2010, some overzealous people in their enthusiasm to spread this important speech on the Internet, released videos on YouTube and claimed that their soundtracks have the original voice of Swami Vivekananda. These videos, available in numerous YouTube channels under titles like “Real Voice of Swami Vivekananda”, “The Original Voice of Swami Vivekananda” and “Voice of Swami Vivekananda”, are extremely popular and have been watched by thousands of people since then.
The Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission would like to clarify that the claims of these YouTube videos regarding Swami Vivekananda’s original voice are false. This is because there is no voice recording of Swami Vivekananda, let alone of his speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions, available to us today, according to scholars. It is true that Swami Vivekananda’s voice was recorded a couple of times during his lifetime. But none of those recordings have been traced so far. Further, researches have proved that there was no arrangement for recording the speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions.
Vedanta Kesari, an English journal brought out by Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai, carried two illumining article by M S Nanjundiah on this subject :
- Swami Vivekananda’s Voice Recording? M. S. Nanjundiah | The Vedanta Kesari Article (August 2010)
- ‘That Golden Voice’ M. S. Nanjundiah | The Vedanta Kesari Article (June 2012)
Also, Advaita Ashrama, a branch of the Ramakrishna Math, has brought out an authentic audio reproduction of the speech in an audio book format :
Swami Suvirananda
General Secretary
Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission
Belur Math
11 Sep 2020
The Video Message in English : Swami Vivekananda’s Voice Recording : Swami Suvirananda
The Video Message in Bengali : স্বামী বিবেকানন্দের কণ্ঠস্বরের যন্ত্র-সংরক্ষণ সম্পর্কিত তথ্য | স্বামী সুবীরানন্দ | বেলুড় মঠ