Day 20: Visit to Belur Math, "A Symphony in Architecture" and Mayapur, the Kirtan Capital of the World

All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind. 

Swami Vivekananda

At the end of this exceptional journey, Mentor on Road reached Belur Math in Kolkata for our program there. 

Belur Math is the headquarters of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda, a chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. It is located on the west bank of Hooghly River, Belur, West Bengal, India and is one of the significant institutions of Kolkata. This temple is the heart of the Ramakrishna Movement. The temple is notable for its architecture that fuses Hindu, Christian and Islamic motifs as a symbol of unity of all religions.

Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are twin organizations which form the core of a worldwide spiritual movement (known as Ramakrishna Movement or Vedanta Movement), which aims at the harmony of religions, harmony of the East and the West, harmony of the ancient and the modern, spiritual fulfillment, all-round development of human faculties, social equality, and peace for all humanity, without any distinctions of creed, caste, race or nationality.

Ramakrishna Math is a monastic organization for men brought into existence by Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886), the great 19^th century saint of Bengal who is regarded as the Prophet of the Modern Age.

Ramakrishna Mission is a registered society in which monks of Ramakrishna Math and lay devotees cooperate in conducting various types of social service mainly in India. It was founded by Sri Ramakrishna's chief apostle, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), one of the foremost thinkers and religious leaders of the present age, who is regarded as 'one of the core architects  of the modern world', in the words of the eminent Western scholar A. L. Basham.

Although Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission are legally and financially separate, they are closely inter-related in several other ways, and are to be regarded as twin organizations.

We next visited the headquarters of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) situated in Mayapur, considered a holy place by a number of other traditions within Hinduism, but of special significance to followers of Vaishnavism as the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, regarded as a special incarnation of Krishna in the mood of Radha. It is visited by over a million pilgrims annually.

ISKCON belongs to Gaudiya (refers to Bengal) Vaishnavism, a devotional tradition based on the teachings of Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam. Mentor on Road attended prayers, had prasadam, management lessons and stayed overnight at the temple, which made one feel pure and happy with the religious music, sounds and environment.

Mentor on Road then crossed the river Hooghly by boat in the early morning next day from Mayapur in West Bengal, while fascinatingly observing the water transportation on the river via boats.

The Bhāgirathi-Hooghly river system is an essential lifeline for the people of West Bengal. It is through this river that the East India Company sailed into Bengal and established their trade settlement - Calcutta, which later grew up to be one of the major cities of the world and capital of the former British India. People from other countries like French, Dutch, Portuguese, etc. all had their trade settlement by the banks of this river. The modern container port of Haldia, on the intersection of lower Hooghly and Haldi River, now carries much of the region's maritime trade.

We later on passed through the streets of Mayapur in West Bengal during the morning hours. Hard to imagine that 128 years ago, this almost forgotten town was discovered by a leading Vaisnava reformer Bhaktivinoda Thakur who conducted a thorough, painstaking investigation of the site, by consulting old geographical maps matched against scriptural and verbal accounts. I am sharing a few sights of the morning life with the hustle bustle of Mayapur’s market place.

Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one that suits their taste. 

Swami Vivekananda