The Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Asansol is rooted in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) who stressed, among other things, the equal validity of all religions, the potential divinity of man, and service to man as a way of worshipping God. Sri Ramakrishna's chief disciple, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), carried far and wide these teachings which, really speaking, constitute the core of India's oldest philosophy, Vedanta. Later, in 1897, he founded, in order to propagate these ideas, a non-proselytizing religious organization, the Ramakrishna Mission, which, besides teaching Vedanta, gives concrete service to the community by running schools, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, etc. Ramakrishna Mission's Headquarters is located at Belur Math, West Bengal, India and has more than 140 branches in India and abroad.