A group of devotees of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa at Somsar in Bankura district who had set up the Somsar Sri Ramakrishna Seva Mandir handed over the entire asset to the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission on Thursday.
After running the Seva Mandir, spread across four acres, for over two-and-a-half-decades, the members felt that their efforts to serve the masses based on the ideals of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda would find a bigger platform once the Math and Mission takes over the Seva Mandir and Belur Math manages the entire property.
Located on the bank of the Damodar, Somsar is a quiet little village and the birthplace of Swami Bhuteshananda, the 12th president of the order.
The village draws its name from the name of its presiding deity — Somsar or Shiva.
Dotted with several Shiva temples, Somsar began witnessing a change back in 1898 when a few devotees of Swami Bhuteshananda began visiting their guru’s birthplace and decided to restore an old Shiva temple.
The former president’s family members gifted land so that a new temple could be built and gradually this led to the formation of the Somsar Sri Ramakrishna Seva Mandir.
“Over the years we went on to set up a dispensary and an outdoor clinic to provide free treatment and a skill academy to impart vocational training to youths,” said Gour Das, the secretary of the Seva Mandir.
“After trying to reach out to the masses through our limited efforts and resources, we realised that this work will be done best by the management of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.”
After 26 years of its existence, the members of the Seva Mandir handed over the will and the deeds of the moveable and immoveable assets to Swami Gautamananda, one of the vice-presidents of the order, on Thursday.
“The Somsar Seva Mandir will now be known as Ramakrishna Mission Somsar. The authorities from Belur Math have already posted a senior monk,” Das said.