The History and Purpose of Sri Sarada Math

Holy Mother, Sri Sarada Devi

In his letters from 1894 to 1901, Swami Vivekananda prophesied that a wave of spiritual influence would inundate the world for many centuries to come due to the advent of Sri  Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi.  

Swamiji wrote, “...there is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. … Mother has been born to revive …Shakti in India; and making her the nucleus,  once more will Gargis and Maitreyis be born into the world. …Hence it is her Math that I want first….Without the grace of Shakti nothing is to accomplished. …Hence we must first build a  Math for Mother….In villages and towns they will open centers and strive for the spread of female education. Through such devout preachers of character there will be the real spread of  female education in the country.” 

Swami Vivekananda tried to manifest his dream into reality during his lifetime, but there were no competent Indian women to take up this work. Swamiji’s chief Western woman disciple,  Margaret Noble, went to India to support his work. He named her Sister Nivedita, the dedicated one. She established the Sister Nivedita Girls’ School in the presence of the Holy Mother, Sri  Sarada Devi in November 1898. Many of the early Sannyasinis, including the first President of  Sri Sarada Math, were educated in that school.  

Sri Sarada Math

At last, Sri Sarada Math was founded on December 2, 1954. The leadership of Sri Sarada Math was given to Sarala Devi, the Holy Mother’s disciple and intimate attendant for many years. She was later ordained as Pravrajika Bharatiprana Mataji, the first President of Sri Sarada Math.  It is now the largest independent self-administered women’s monastic order in the world. As  Swamiji had declared, “women must be put in a position to solve their own problems in their own way. No one can or ought to do this for them.”  

Pravrajikas of Sri Sarada Math spoke at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in  1993. At that time, several Sacramento devotees learned of the Sri Sarada Math and later welcomed them at the Vedanta Society of Sacramento. As Swami Vivekananda foretold, “If an  Indian woman in Indian dress preach there the religion which fell from the lips of the Rishis of  India- I see a prophetic vision- there will rise a great wave which will inundate the whole  Western world.” 

Most Revered Amalaprana Mataji

The Sri Sarada Mahila Samiti was initially inspired by the Pravrajikas of Sri Sarada Math, beginning with Most Revered Amalaprana Mataji, the second General Secretary of the Math. All donations for the education of girls and young women, as well as building funds for schools, have been made through the guidance and oversight of the Sri Sarada Math and the  Ramakrishna Sarada Mission.  

The Samiti Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws were filed with the State of California on  November 27, 2001 , and are completely in alignment with the work of Sri Sarada Math,  although we have no legal or binding relationship with the Sri Sarada Math and the  Ramakrishna Sarada Mission. Our relationship is based in love, mutual respect, and cooperation. 

 “This corporation (the Sri Sarada Mahila Samiti of Northern California) is a Religious  Corporation and is not organized for the private gain of any person. It is organized under the  Nonprofit religious Corporation Law exclusively for religious purposes. It shall focus on  nurturing the spiritual lives of Samiti members and friends… through the study of universal  values and the teachings of the East commonly known as Vedanta. Vedanta is the source of  one of the world’s oldest major living religions, Hinduism. Vedanta has produced many great  saints and teachers. Sri Sarada Devi (1853-1920) is one of three of the most well-known in 

modern history. Her life was a demonstration of the ideal of the Motherhood of God as  expressed and lived through her purity and truth. The specific purposes of this corporation are  to provide an educational program related to the ancient spiritual wisdom of India in the United  States, and to provide financial support for projects in India and/or other countries.”