This booklet discusses the traditional modes of monasticism in India and compares them with the modern monastic way of life as seen in the Ramakrishna Order.

'Religious ideas will have to become universal, vast and infinite, and then alone we shall have the fullest play of religion, for the power of religion has only just begun to manifest in the world... The power of religion, broadened and purified, is going to penetrate every part of human life and be infinitely more a power for good than it has ever been before.' Swami Vivekananda

This book is based on short monographs on this subject written by Swami Bhajanananda. The swami is well known for his insightful thoughts and insightful writings and some additional matter from his other writings have been included to make this publication more comprehensive and complete.

Who was Sri Ramakrishna? What was the purpose of his advent? Did he bring about a silent revolution unseen on the surface? This book skilfully deals with these issues, taking for its subject the Avatarahood of Sri Ramakrishna and its universal significance.

The first publication of the new Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University in a proposed series addressing vital contemporary issues in the light of Indian wisdom and the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda philosophy.

The author, an erudite scholar monk of the Ramakrishna Order, was formerly an editor of Prabuddha Bharata, the principal monthly journal of the Order. This book is, for the most part, a compilation of editorials written for Prabuddha Bharata from 1979 to 1986. A few articles contributed to other journals have also been included. There has been an effort to maintain all through the book a sequential order of ideas but some repetition has been unavoidable since this is a compilation of articles written at different times. The book is primarily meant to guide and give inner strength to the younger generation through noble and inspiring ideas based on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda's teachings.