Girish Chandra admitted his ignorance of the scriptures and said, 'Hail Sri
Ramakrishna, the very embodiment of the Vedas!'
An adept in the knowledge of human nature, Girish was well aware that Swami
Vivekananda, in spite of his preaching the austere philosophy of Vedanta, had a heart
that was tender in the extreme. He wanted to reveal that side of the Swami's nature
before the disciple, and began to paint, in his usual poetic language, a heart-rending
picture of the afflictions of the Indian people — the starvation of the masses, the
humiliation of Hindu women, the ill-health and general suffering of the people
everywhere. Suddenly, addressing the Swami, he said, 'Now please tell me, do your
Vedas teach us how to remedy this state of affairs?'
As the Swami listened to his friend's words, he could hardly suppress his emotion. At
last it broke all bounds and he burst into tears.
Drawing the attention of the Swami's disciple to the great leader, Girish Chandra said:
'Perhaps you have always admired your teacher's intellect. Now you see his great heart.'
On May 1, 1897, Swami Vivekananda called a meeting of the monastic and lay
devotees of Sri Ramakrishna at the house of the Master's intimate disciple Balaram
Bose, for the purpose of establishing his work on an organized basis. He told them that
by contrasting Hindu society with American society, he was convinced that lack of an
organizing spirit was one of the great shortcomings of the Hindu character. Much of
the intelligence and energy of the Hindus was being expended without producing any
fruitful result. He also recalled how Buddhism had spread both in India and abroad
through Buddhist organizations. Therefore he asked the co-operation of the monastic
and householder disciples of Sri Ramakrishna in order to organize the educational,
philanthropic, and religious activities which he had already inaugurated, but which had
hitherto been carried out in an unsystematic way. Further, the Swami declared that in a
country like India, in its then current state of development, it would not be wise to
form an organization on a democratic basis, where each member had an equal voice
and decisions were made according to the vote of the majority. Democratic principles
could be followed later, when, with the spread of education, people would learn to
sacrifice individual interests and personal prejudices for the public weal. Therefore,
said the Swami, the organization for the time being should be under the leadership of a
'dictator,' whose authority everybody must obey. In the fullness of time, it would come
to be guided by the opinion and consent of others. Moreover, he himself was only
acting in the capacity of a servant of the common Master, as were they all.
Swami Vivekananda proposed to the members present that the Association should
'bear the name of him in whose name we have become sannyasins, taking whom as
your ideal you are leading the life of householders, and whose holy name, influence,
and teachings have, within twelve years of his passing away, spread in such an
unthought-of way both in the East and in the West.' All the members enthusiastically
approved of the Swami's proposal, and the Ramakrishna Mission Association came
into existence.