The work deals with the nature, scope and impact of the varied community development activities of the Ramakrishna Mission in Eastern India. Serving man as God incarnate, which is part of the spiritual Sadhana of the order, has given a new orientation to their social activism. Vivekananda’s dictum, "We help them to help themselves" has made the Mission distinct from other philanthropic organizations as well as the government working for mass uplift. The Mission believes that it is not through doles and charity but only through assertion of self-knowledge that one can achieve safety, succour and salvation. This concept of seva is a potent device which it unleashed to tide over a divided, disturbed and disintegrated human society reeling under hegemonic domination-alien as well as indigenous. The work tries to evaluate how far the Mission was successful in its endeavour. The book also tries to show the similarity between Vivekananda’s line of thought and that of Antonio Gramsci’s concept of ‘Counter Hegemonic’ and whether Gramsci was in any way influenced by Vivekananda’s ideology. Hope this volume, will be of particular interest to readers of religious, social, cultural and intellectual history, as well as to NGOs working for community development.
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