TEN-POINT GUIDELINES

To be eligible to be a member of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Bhava Prachar Parishad, a non-affiliated centre, sometimes referred to as a “private centre”, will have to abide by the following rules:

1. The private centre should be registered as a Religious Trust and/or under the Societies Registration Act and must follow the spiritual and ethical ideals and principles of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission and conduct their activities along the lines of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

2. The private centre should have a close rapport with, and a loyal attitude towards, the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

3. The members of the management committee of the private centre (by whatever name that committee be called) should have no connection whatsoever with politics or political parties. The members should also have no connection whatsoever with groups and organizations that are not approved by the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

4. No Swami who has left the Ramakrishna Order for whatever reason (except purely medical) should be allowed to stay in or be associated with the private centre.

5. The private centre should maintain proper records and books of its finances and accounts which should be audited annually by Chartered Accountants.

6. The private centre, besides its other activities, must render some social service, curative and/or preventive, among the poor of the immediate neighbourhood.

7. The private centre should take up some welfare work among the rural Harijans and/or Girijans and/or other backward communities.

8. The private centre should pay attention to the youth of the locality. Weekly or fortnightly study circles, annual competition in essay-writing, recitation, music, elocution etc. may be organized. Grown-up boys and girls should have separate study circles. Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, i.e. 12th January, declared as the National Youth Day by the Government of India, should be observed by every centre.

9. Besides holding classes on the scriptures, the centre should arrange for sale of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature for propagation of the inspiring message of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Movement. Moreover, each centre should have a library with sufficient number of books on Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literarture.

10. Whenever occasion arises, the private centre should render relief services to people suffering from calamities. It may be done independently or under the guidance of the Math and the Mission.