History of the Singapore Mission @ Norris Road.

[Guest guest]

dear sir

 

thank you for the information

 

is there any place on the web where i may obtain old photographs of the norris road

and bartley road key events like the presence of subhash chandra bose and nehruji

as well as the presence of the welfare activities ?

 

 

rgds

r. jai simman

singapore

 

 

-

P. S. Kamanat

Ramakrishna

Cc: rjsimman ; PILLAI K.S.C. ; office

Saturday, July 19, 2003 9:58 AM

History of the Singapore Mission @ Norris Road.

Sri Ramakrishna Charanam Saranam; Sri Sri MaDear Jaya Simman,A brief outline of the history of the Singapore Ramakrishna Missionactivities at its original building @ 9, Norris Road is given below for yourquick referance. If you want more details, please contact the Mission officeor you can contact me at kamanat 1) June 1893 - Swami Vivekananda (the founder of the Ramakrishna Mission & the chief Apostle of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna) visited Singapore on hisway to the US to attend the Chicago Parliament of religions. He visited thebotanical garden and the museum. The monks and the devotees of the Mission,with the help of the Authorities of the Botanical gardens have identifiedsome trees more than 120 years old. There is no change in the location ofthe botanical garden. So, the lawns of the garden is the same ground, whereSwamiji walked and observed keenly the various varieties of trees there. Thepresent museum building was re-built in 1905, after Swamiji's passing awayin 1902. Hence, the present museum is not a place visited by Swamiji. 2) 1913: After the historical success in the Parliament of religions inChicago, Swamiji spent his time and energy to spread the glory of Vedantaand finally established the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897 in Calcutta. Manyearnest seekers of religious wisdom and truth from various parts of theworld began to show keen interest in learning Vedanta and about Ramakrishna,who gave practical dimensions for vedantic truths. In Singapore, some suchreligious minded enthusiasts formed a group and invited one SwamiSarvananda, the then head of the Madras Centre of the Mission to deliver aseries of lectures. This was in 1913. The lecture tour was a great success. 3) 1919: The said group encouraged by the new interpretation of Vedantain the light of the life and teachings of Ramakrishna, continued theircongregation and stamped their mark on the Indian community especially amongthe Hindus in Singapore. As a result, the then 'Arya Sangam' donated a pieceof land in Norris Road (9, Norris Rd, measuring 5547 sq ft in area) toestablish a branch of the Ramakrishna Mission there. 4) 1921: Swami Abhedananda, another Apostle of Bhagavan Ramakrishnavisited Singapore on his way back to India from the US after a long vedanticpreaching for 25 years there. This gave a real boost and life to theexisting group in Singapore and a renewed interest in Vedanta from all walksof life. Another monk, Swami Prakashananda (a disciple of Swami Vivekananda)also visited Singapore and gave a series of lectures and rendered trainingfor the seekers of Spiritual wisdom. 5) 1928: The headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission (Belur Math) inCalcutta formally affiliated the Singapore Centre and sent Swami Adyanandaas its first resident monk to Singapore. Thus the Singapore Mission wasofficially opened on 9th Aug 1928. Adyananda was the first President of theRamakrishna Mission, Singapore. (1928 - 1933) 6) 1930: Swami Adyananda started the construction of the ground floor ofthe building and it was completed and occupied in 1930. 7) 1932: Vivekananda Tamil School was inaugurated in 1932 8) 1933: The school opened its night class in 1933 to teach Tamil,English, hygiene and moral lessons for the sake of the working poor adults.All the classes were conducted free of charges, mostly, even by feeding thestudents from the Mission kitchen. 9) 1933: Swami Bhaswarananda replaced Swami Adyananda and became the 2ndPresident of the Singapore Mission.(1933 to 1947). 10) 1936: The birth centenary of Bhagavan Ramakrishna was celebrated andthe 'Straits Times', the local newspaper carried news about it prominently.Bhaswarananda completed the construction of the second storey of thebuilding at 9, Norris Road. 11) 1937: Saradamani Girls' school was started for the benefit of girlsin Singapore and Malaya. (Many students of that school are still alive now). 12) 1939: To give more emphasis on the character building among theyoung, the Mission started YMCU (Young Men's Cultural Union). Manynon-hindus, including Muslims, Christians, Taoists and Buddhists becamemembers and got benefitted. 13) 1941: Amagazine "Cultutre" was started for the reading public. TheMission purchased 5.75 acres of land at 179, Bartley Road to startindustrial school and to house other activities there. 14) 1941: World war started and Singapore tasted its bitterness. TheMission started a 80 bed hospital to treat the war bomb victims andcontinued to run up to 1945. 15) 1942: The Mission gave shelter to the war victims at its Norris Roadbuilding. On 19th Feb 1942, Japanese occupied Singapore. They converted theNorris Road Ashrama building to a 'Nippon Go' - Japanese school. But, onrepeated appeal from the Mission, Japanese shifted the school from theNorris Road builfing to elsewhere. 16) Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose used to visit the Ramakrishna Shrine atNorris Road daily and to meditate there in the morning hours until he leftSingapore. Due to Netaji's close comradeship with the Japanese, the furiousBritish government arrested Swami Bhaswarananda and put under bar as soon asthe Japanese were surrendered, for allowing Netaji to come and meditate inthe shrine regularly. But, without much delay, the Swami was released fromthe jail unconditionally. 17) An orphanage to house and look after the poor orphaned children ofthe Singapore workers, who were killed during the construction of theinfamous death railway (Burma-Siam railway) was started by the Mission atNorris Road. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose declared open the new dormitorybuilding at 179, Bartley Road to house these orphans. (That historicalbuilding is still preserved there and now known as Sarada Hall). This wasthe start of the present Ramakrishna Mission Boys' Home, still looking afterorphan boys and children from single parent/broken family. Girls were housedat 38, Norris Road (later was permanently shifted to the RamakrishnaAshrama, Penang due to heavy bombing of the area) 18) 1947: Swami Vamadevananda replaced Swami Bhaswarananda as itsPresident (1947-53) 19) 1949: The first kindergarten to teach Tamil children was started in1949 at Bartley Road. 20) 1950: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Ramakrishna Mission at NorrisRoad and from there, he was taken to the new premises at Bartley Road forthe official opening of the new building constructed for the Boys' Home (thepresent boys' home building). Dr. C Rajagopalachari, the then GovernorGeneral of India had donated Rs 15,000/- for the construction of the Boys'Home as a gift from the Government of India. He also donated Rs 1000/- fromhis personal account. 21) The new temple construction committee was formed and its Chairmanwas Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, the British Governor General of South East Asiacolonies. 22) 1952: The magnificant new temple was consecrated by SwamiMadhavananda, a disciple of Holy Mother Sarada Devi. 'The Straits' Times'carried wide coverage of this function. The entire cost of the templebuilding construction was born by a single person, late Mr. GovindaswamiPillai. 23) 1955: Mr. Gulzarilal Nanda, the Cabinet Minister (Dy Prime Minister)visited Norris Road centre and personally handed over a cheque for Rs32,0000/- for the purchase of books for the library. This was a gift fromthe government of India to the Singapore Mission. 24) 1955 - 1983: Many dignitaries like Dr. Zakir Hussein (President ofthe Republic of India), Yang De Pertuan Negara of Malayan Federation, Mr LeeKwan Yew, Mr. Ahmed Mattar, Mr. Rajaratnam and many saintly Monks from theRamakrishna Order and outside the Order visited the Norris Road Centre. 25) 1974: Mr. Govindaswami Pillai donated a property at 119, SerangoonRoad for the upkeep and maintenance of the Ramakrishna Temple. But, later,the Collector of Land Revenue acquired it for a meagre sum. 26) 1983: The Norris Road Centre was sold off against the wishes of themajority of the Singapore devotees. There was a rumour in the air at thattime for the acquisition of those buildings by the Land Revenue Collector.(The preliminary talks & the procedures for the acquisition of the ofproperty at 119, Serangoon Rd by the government was on-going then and it wasbitter in their minds). The Mission was not in a position to lose everythingby accepting a meagre sum as compensation. So, the local advisory committeeof the Mission took a hard decision to sell off that historical property at9, Norris Road and to concentrate the activities at 179, Bartley Road. Thesale-proceeding from the Norris Road property was kept untouched as aseparate fund. Later the government authorities questioned the monks manytimes thinking that the Mission might have transferred the funds to India!.According to the Ramakrishna Mission guidelines from the HQ, no funds fromone Centre should be transferred to another Centre even though they have therights to do so. Best Regards Prakash Kamanat