strives to practice and preach these. he principles of the upanishads and yoga in the bhagavad gita are reinterpreted in the light of ramakrishna's life and teachings, and are the main source of inspiration for the mission. motto manifestation of the atman can be realized through any of the four yogas. the ramakrishna mission also believes in the harmony of all religions, i.e. that all religions lead to the same goal if followed properly. monastic order after the death of ramakrishna in 1886, his young disciples organised themselves into a new monastic order. the original monastery at baranagar, known as baranagar math, was subsequently moved to the nearby alambazar area in 1892, then to nilambar mukherjee's garden house, south of the present belur math in 1898 before finally being shifted in january 1899 to a newly acquired plot of land at belur in howrah district by vivekananda. attitude towards politics swami vivekananda forbade his organisation from taking part in any political movement or activity, on the basis of the idea that holy men are apolitical. almost 95% of the monks possess voter id cards for the sake of identification and particularly for travelling, as they are forced by governmental authorities to seek a voter id card. but they generally use it only for identification purpose and not for voting though they are not forbidden to vote. as individuals, the monks may have political opinions, but these are not meant to be discussed in public. the mission, had, however, supported the movement of indian independence, with a section of the monks keeping close apolitical relations with freedom fighters of various camps. a number of political revolutionaries later joined the ramakrishna order. emblem designed and explained by swami vivekananda in his own words: the wavy waters in the picture are symbolic of karma; the lotus, of bhakti; and the rising-sun, of jnana. the encircling serpent is indicative of yoga and the awakened kundalini shakti, while the swan in the picture stands for paramatman (supreme self). therefore, the idea of the picture is that by the union of karma, jnana, bhakti and yoga, the vision of paramatman is obtained. activities a sailor assigned to the mine countermeasures ship uss patriot who cleared ground to plant a garden of pomegranate, guava and lemon trees at the mission. social service and health promotion at the home of service – ramakrishna mission, varanasi, india the principal workers of the mission are the monks. the mission's activities cover the following areas, education healthcare cultural activities rural upliftment tribal welfare youth movement, spiritual teachings the mission has its own hospitals, charitable dispensaries, maternity clinics, tuberculosis clinics, and mobile dispensaries. it also maintains training centres for nurses. orphanages and homes for the elderly are included in the mission's field of activities, along with rural and tribal welfare work. the mission has established many renowned educational institutions in india, having its own university, colleges, vocational training centres, high schools and primary schools, teacher-training institutes, as well as schools for the visually handicapped. it has also been involved in disaster relief operations during famine, epidemic, fire, flood, earthquake, cyclone and communal disturbances. the mission played an important role in the installation of photovoltaic (pv) lighting systems in the sundarbans region of west bengal. due to the geographical features of the sunderbans, it is very difficult to extend the grid network to supply power to its population. the pv lighting was used to provide electricity to the people who were traditionally depending on kerosene and diesel. religious activities the mission is a non-sectarian organisation and ignores caste distinctions. ramakrishna ashrama's religious activities include satsang and arati. satsang includes communal prayers, songs, rituals, discourses, reading and meditation. arati involves the ceremonial waving of lights before the images of a deity of holy person and is performed twice in a day. ramakrishna ashramas observes major hindu festivals, including maha shivarathri, rama navami, krishna ashtami and durga puja. they also give special place to the birthdays of ramakrishna, sarada devi, swami vivekananda and his other monastic disciples. 1 january is celebrated as kalpataru day. the math and the mission are known for their religious tolerance and respect for other religions. among the earliest rules laid down by swami vivekananda for them was, "due respect and reverence should be paid to all religions, all preachers, and to the deities worshiped in all religions." acceptance and toleration of all religions is the one of ideals of ramakrishna math and mission. along with the major hindu festivals, christmas eve and buddha's birthday are also devoutly observed. cyril veliath of sophia university writes that the ramakrishna mission monks are a relatively orthodox set of monks who are "extremely well respected both in india and abroad", and that they "cannot be classified as just another sect or cult, such as the groups led by the gurus". veliath writes that "of the hindu groups i have worked with i have found the ramakrishna mission to be the most tolerant and amenable to dialogue, and i believe that we christians couldn't do better, than to cooperate wholeheartedly in their efforts towards inter-religious harmony. awards and honourable the ramakrishna mission has received numerous accolades throughout its lifetime: bhagwan mahavir foundation award (1996). dr. ambedkar national award (1996). dr. bhawar singh porte tribal service award (1997–98). in 1998 the mission was awarded the indian government's prestigious gandhi peace prize. shahid vir narayan singh award (2001). pt. ravishankar shukla award (2002). national communal harmony award (2005). the ramakrishna mission was selected for an honorary mention of the unesco madanjeet singh prize for promotion of tolerance and non violence 2002. the ramakrishna mission ashrama narainpur, chhattisgarh was jointly selected for the 25th indira gandhi award for national integration for the year 2009 with musician a.r.rehman for their services in promoting and preserving national integration. in a speech made in 1993, federico mayor, director-general of unesco, stated: i am indeed struck by the similarity of the constitution of the ramakrishna mission which vivekananda established as early as 1897 with that of unesco drawn up in 1945. both place the human being at the center of their efforts aimed at development. both place tolerance at the top of the agenda for building peace and democracy. both recognize the variety of human cultures and societies as an essential aspect of the common heritage. branch centres baranagar ramakrishna mission, india singapore ramakrishna mission, 179 bartley road, singapore 539784 as of seventh march 2022, the math and mission have 265 centres all over the world: 198 in india, 26 in bangladesh, 14 in the united states, two each in canada, russia, and south africa and one each in argentina, australia, brazil, fiji, france, germany, ireland, japan, malaysia, mauritius, nepal, netherlands, singapore, sri lanka, switzerland, uk, and zambia. besides, there are 44 sub-centres (14 within india, 30 outside india) under different centres. the centres of the ramakrishna order outside india fall into two broad categories. in countries such as bangladesh, nepal, sri lanka, fiji and mauritius, the nature of service activities is very much similar to india. in other parts of the world, especially in europe, canada, united states, japan, and australia, the work is mostly confined to the preaching of vedanta, the publication of books and journals and personal guidance in spiritual matters. many of the centres outside india are called as the 'vedanta society' or 'vedanta centre'. controversies in 1980, in an act that caused "considerable debate" within the order, the mission petitioned the courts to have their organisation and movement declared a non-hindu minority religion for the purpose of article 30 of the indian constitution. many generations of monks and others have been of the view that the religion propounded and practised by ramakrishna and his disciples is very much different from that practised by hindu masses then. they held that the ramakrishna's "neo-vedanta" is a truer version of the ideals of vedanta. so it was honestly felt that this makes the followers of ramakrishna eligible for the legal status of "minority". it is possible that the immediate cause for the appeal for minority status was because there was a danger that the local marxist government would take control of its educational institutions unless it could invoke the extra protection the indian constitution accords to minority religions. they argued that the ramakrishna's "neo-vedanta" is a truer version of the ideals of vedanta, and that this makes the followers of ramakrishna eligible for the legal status of "minority". while the calcutta high court accepted ramakrishna mission's pleas, the supreme court of india ruled against the mission in 1995, citing evidence that it had all the characteristics of a hindu organization. the mission found it advisable to let the matter rest. the wisdom of the attempt by the mission's leadership to characterize the mission as non-hindu was widely questioned within the membership of the organization itself, and the leadership today embraces the mission's status as both a hindu organization and as an organization that emphasizes the harmony of all faiths. most members – and even monks – of the ramakrishna mission consider themselves hindus, and the mission's founding figures, such as swami vivekananda never disavowed hinduism.