The Beginning

Starting of charitable activities & Affiliation with Belur Math

From dispensary to full-fledged hospital

Starting of Rural Health Service

Furthering the philanthropic & spiritual cause

The Beginning

In giving an account of the major activities of this Ashrama and its interaction with the people it may not be out of place – indeed, it should be delightful reading to Ramakrishna devotees the world over – to narrate briefly this story of its coming into being and of its growth over the years. This report therefore traces the growth of this institution from the very beginning.

The message of Sri Ramakrishna was brought to Thiruvananthapuram (until recently misspelt and mispronounced Trivandrum) for the first time by Swami Vivekananda himself, when, during the close of his prolonged wanderings, he came here in the December of 1892 and stayed for nine days as a guest of Prof. K. Sundararama Iyer. A detailed account of the stay is given in the published reminiscences of the professor and of his son K.S.Ramaswamy Sastri. It was from here that Swamiji went to Kanyakumari and spent three days in meditation on the ‘last bit Indian rock’, deriving therefrom the inspiration for his future work: the material and spiritual regeneration of his motherland and the broadcasting of her invaluable scriptural treasures, the truth of which his master Sri Ramakrishna, demonstrated in his unique life. But while he was here, Swamiji kept an unusually low profile and made no consciousness attempt to spread his Master’s message. In fact, he excused himself when requested by his host to give a public lecture. 

Twelve years later, Swami Ramakrishnananda, Sri Ramakrishna’s apostle to South India and then the president of the Madras (now Chennai) Math, visited Thiruvananthapuram. Staying here for a month, he delivered four public lectures, held regular classes on the Gita and gave several interviews. Following his visit, a Vedanta Society was formed here under the leader ship of Dr.Raman Thampi, a medical officer who eventually rose in position to hold the highest post in the medical department. In response to the invitation of the Vedanta Society, Swami Nirmalananda, who, with his headquarters at Bangalore, was then actively spreading the message of Bhagavan Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda in southwest India, visited Thiruvananthapuram in September 1911. It was then that the idea of establishing an ashrama here was mooted. A subscription list was forthwith opened by Swami Nirmalananda himself subscribing his own name and making a token donation of one rupee on the spot.

However, it took four long years to get suitable site for the Ashrama, and it came about as though through the will of Sri Ramakrishna. One Arunachalam Pillai, a retired post master, owning extensive lands at Nettayam, a rural area about eight kilometers to the northeast of the town, generously agreed to donate five acres of land out of his property for the purpose of establishing the ashrama. The gift deed was registered on 23^rd December 1915 and the foundation was laid by His Holiness Swami Brahmananda, the first president of the Ramakrishna Order, on 9^th December 1916. For various reasons, the construction works of the ashrama could be completed only by 1924. Since Swami Brahmananda had entered Mahasamadhi before then, the installation ceremony in the beautiful shrine was performed by Swami Nirmalananda himself on 7^th March 1924. 

Built on a beautiful hill out of dressed and semi-dressed granite, this ashrama, by virtue of its ideal situation and solidity and elegance of construction, is unique among the Sri Ramakrishna ashramas in India. Its western verandah with a semi-circular porch commands a wide and beautiful perspective. Its roof is supported by twelve massive, fluted columns, each carved out of a single piece of granite. Later, some two and a half acres of land was also obtained from the same landlord and additional constructions were made.

Starting of charitable activities & Affiliation with Belur Math

In 1937 under the inspiration of Swami Nirmalananda, a purely secular organization called ‘Narendra Mission’ was formed here with Dr.Raman Thampi and a few other prominent devotees as members, for the purpose of carrying on charitable and philanthropic works among the masses. The Narendra Mission purchased a small plot of land with a decrepit building with just two rooms and verandahs at Sasthamangalam in the eastern part of the town. Soon after, the work relating to the religious magazine, Prabuddha Keralam, in Malayalam language, published by the Ramakrishna Mission was carried on in the larger room, where stayed also the swami in charge of the publication. Dr. Raman Thampi who had by then retired from service, began to use the front verandah for some time daily to render free medical aid and advice to financially needy patients. Towards the end of August 1939, a dispensary under the name ‘Narendra Mission Charitable Dispensary’ was formally opened here, putting to use the smaller room and the two verandahs with doctor Dr. Raman Thampi lending his free services as the chief medical officer and a new-fledged medical hand, Dr. K. Kesavan Nair as his able assistant.

Before long, the members of the Narendra Mission came to feel that the objectives of the Ramakrishna Movement could be better secured if the Ashrama and the Dispensary were taken over and managed by the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission at Belur. Therefore, the members wrote to the authorities of the Belur Math to that effect and requested them to send from the Headquarters at Belur a monk for this purpose, preferring a person who could speak in the language of the local people. Pursuant to this, Swami Tapasyananda came over here in early 1940 and took charge of both these institution – the Ashrama and the Dispensary. With that the Narendra Mission dissolved into the world renowned Ramakrishna Order.

From dispensary to full-fledged hospital

Swami Tapasyananda’s ministry, extending over three decades, brought a phenomenal growth in both the charitable and spiritual dispensations of the Center. Through the dedicated and painstaking effort coupled with the respect and influence his innate qualities commanded, Swami Tapasyananda transformed the small dispensary in a ramshackle shed into a full-fledged hospital with modern amenities and suitable buildings spread out over 1.56 hectares of land.

He accommodated himself in the larger of the two rooms, which had by then been vacated by the Prabuddha Keralam and its publisher, and with the help of a donation, first added a prayer hall and a shrine room to the old building. With the installation of Sri Ramakrishna’s picture in the shrine room and the commencement of daily prayer and worship this venue blossomed into an extension center of the main Ashrama at Nettayam.

Afterwards, with the help of another substantial donation, a new building named ‘Kalyani Pillai Memorial’ was put up in the then available space on the north. The facility this provided for opening a proper outpatient (OP) section, and the permission given by the government to specialist doctors in government service to render service in the hospital without detriment to their official duties, set the stage for a marked and rapid growth of the institution. In due course the Swami purchased or acquired through government some adjacent lands on the south and the north, and constructed buildings theron, securing the necessary funds through various sources. By the opening of a maternity ward with ten beds in a temporary shed in the newly purchased land on the south in 1944, the dispensary took the first step to raise itself to the status of a hospital. This shed was replaced by a better building later. In due course, several buildings were put up in the newly acquired lands on both sides to meet the increasing requirements occasioned by the steady expansion. Thus, by the time Swami Tapasyananda left Thiruvananthapuram in June 1971 (for shouldering the responsibilities in Madras Math), the hospital came to provide the following facilities: (1) OP Section with both morning and evening sessions, (2) Inpatients’ wards with 200 beds (116 free and 84 paying), (3) Maternity and Child Welfare (20 maternity beds), (4) Psychiatry Ward with arrangement for shock therapy, (5) A well-equipped Operation Theatre, (6) Weekly or bi-weekly Clinics in ENT, Dentistry, and Orthopaedics (7) Eye clinic (8) A well-equipped clinical laboratory (9) X-Ray (10) Cardiography and (11) Diathermy. A Nursing School was started in 1962. Besides these, an Ayurvedic dispensary was being conducted at Nettayam under the supervision of the Nettayam Ashrama.

In the matter of spiritual ministration, during the early years, Swami Tapasyananda used to organize bhajan parties by school children every week and visit houses in different parts of the town, both for spreading the message of Sri Ramakrishna and for collecting funds. These visits proved fruitful in both respects. From 1952, the Swami began to conduct Gita classes at the Sasthamangalam Centre and hold spiritual discourses elsewhere in the city and in outlying places. The Nettayam Ashrama continued to be the venue of all celebrations on special occasions and served also as a place for periodic retreat for devotees. Through these activities, Swami Tapasyananda was able to widen the circle of devotees considerably. Dr. Raman Thampi, through out his life, continued to remain the most ardent devotee and the main supporter of the Ashrama.

Soon after Swami Tapasyananda left, a setback occurred in the affairs of the hospital owing to the government suddenly withdrawing the permission they had earlier given to specialists in government service to work here. However, the hospital managed to tide over the situation and made its own arrangements to get the services of specialists. It thus succeeded in maintaining the course of growth and expansion.

One notable addition during this period was the construction of the polyclinic building in 1974, to which site the entire OP department was transferred, making available the Kalyani Pillai Memorial Building for extension of the office. Among other major constructions was the addition of more floors to the existing buildings, particularly the annexe in the extreme north. Another important work was the total renovation and restructuring of the old building housing the shrine and prayer hall, carried out in 1978 through the munificence of a benefactor. By the removal of partitions, the prayer hall was enlarged. The whole building was provided with mosaic flooring and a matching ceiling. The shrine room was made more attractive and the picture of Sri Ramakrishna was provided with a lotus-shaped stucco throne and a canopy above. The enlargement of the prayer hall has enabled a much larger number of people to attend the discourses held there. However, the assemblage sometimes becomes so large as to overflow into the courtyard outside.

Starting of Rural Health Service

In 1983, the hospital started a Rural Medical Service by organizing a mobile unit and commenced serving two villages. In 1986, a new project called the Sri Ramakrishna Rural Health Service Project was started under the Private Voluntary Organization Health (PVOH) scheme of the Government of India which provided a substantial grant for a specific period. The scheme envisaged the setting up of Mini Health Centres (MHC) at village level, a referral Rural Health Centre (RHC) and a Base Hospital. This project was carried out in five villages. The period of the Central Government grant expired in September 1990. Thereafter, the Ashrama is struggling hard to find the resources for continuing the scheme. At present there are six MHCs, one of which works both as MHC and RHC. The Base Hospital at Sasthamangalam (in the Annexe building) has 12 cabins.

Under the Innovative Scheme aided by the CAPART, the Ashrama provided 520 latrines and dug 155 wells during 1988-89 and 1989-90. Further, financial assistance was extended to poor villagers to thatch their huts. During 1988-89, when the second year nursing students went for community nursing to the Rural Health Centres, they distributed cash, food and cloth collected by them to the poor and the needy of those areas. For spreading health education among the villagers, the Ashrama arranged group and mass meetings, exhibitions, film shows and orientation camps.

Furthering the philanthropic & spiritual cause

The Hospital now provides specialized modern medical treatment. The general facilities now available are: (1) An Indoor hospital with 200 beds (2) an outdoor polyclinic (3) Maternity and Child Welfare Departments (4) Two fully equipped operation theatres (5) Two X-Ray plants, (6) Electrocardiography (7) Clinical, Biochemical, Bacteriological and Histopathological Laboratories (9) Ultrasound Scanning (10) Physiotherapy (11) A 24 hour casualty section and (12) Rural Health Service.

All the charitable and philanthropic activities conducted by the Ashrama are inspired by the ideal of service of God in man advocated by Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. At a time when medical facilities were very scarce in this locality, this institution proved to be a blessing to the people here and in the surrounding rural areas. Even after considerable enhancement in medical facilities in the locality, this Hospital continues to be of immense help, particularly to the middle and lower economy classes. Out of 200 beds the Hospital provides 78 are free, with free diet and free medical treatment and nursing care. Medicines are supplied to the patients at concessional rates and, in deserving cases, completely free. The rush in the OP and IP sections is very much on the increase as the patients receive here a very homely atmosphere and care.

Coming to the purely spiritual and cultural activities, the Sasthamangalam Centre now regularly conducts spiritual discourses in the evenings on three days of the week. Besides these, periodic discourses on Vedantic texts by competent scholars extending over a few days, either in the evenings or both in the mornings and evenings, are also arranged.

All important festivals like the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, as well as Gurupurnima, Durga Puja, and the like are celebrated mainly at the Nettayam Ashrama. The functions there come to an end with bhajan and arati at noon. This is followed by the distribution of prasad. The functions in the evening are held at Sasthamangalam. Sometimes on special occasions (like the Centenary of Swami Vivekananda’s appearance at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago), elaborate programmes are arranged in collaboration with like-minded organizations like the Vivekananda Kendra, choosing different places for the conduct of different programmes. In order to ensure a greater involvement of children and youth, competitions on subjects relating to the life and message of Swamiji are usually included in such programmes and prizes are given away.