Bande Mataram

Bhawani Mandir: Appendix

The work and rules of the new Order of Sannyasis will be somewhat as follows

GENERAL RULES.

1) All who undertake the life of Brahmacharya for the Mother, will have to vow themselves to Her service for four years, after which they will be free to continue the work or return to family life.

2) All money received by them in the Mother's name will go to the Mother's Service. For themselves they will be allowed to receive shelter and their meals, when necessary, and nothing more.

3) Whatever they may earn for themselves, e.g. by the publication of books etc., they must give at least half of it to the service of the Mother.

4) They will observe entire obedience to the Head of the Order and his one or two assistants in all things connected with the work or with their religious life.

5) They will observe strictly the discipline and rules of achar and purity, bodily and mental, prescribed by the Heads of the Order.

6) They will be given periods for rest or for religious improvement during which they will stop at the math, but the greater part of the year they will spend in work outside. This rule will apply to all except the few necessary for the service of the Temple and those required for the central direction of the work.

7) There will be no gradations of rank among the workers and none must seek for distinction or mere personal fame, but practise strength and self-effacement.

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II. WORK FOR THE PEOPLE.

8) Their chief work will be that of mass instruction and help to the poor and ignorant.

9) This they will strive to effect in various ways—

1) Lectures and demonstrations suited to an uneducated intelligence.

2) Classes and nightly schools.

3) Religious teachings.

4) Nursing the sick.

5) Conducting works of charity.

6) Whatever other good work their hands may find to do and the Order approves.

III. WORKS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS.

10) They will undertake, according as they may be directed, various works of public utility in the big towns and elsewhere connected especially with the education and religious life and instruction of the middle classes, as well as with other public needs.

IV. WORK WITH THE WEALTHY CLASSES.

11) They will approach the zamindars, landholders and rich men generally, and endeavour—

1) To promote sympathy between the zamindars and the peasants and heal all discords.

2) To create the link of a single and living religious spirit and a common passion for one great ideal between all classes.

3) To turn the minds of rich men to works of public beneficence and charity to those in their neighbourhood independent of the hope of reward and official distinction.

V. GENERAL WORK FOR THE COUNTRY.

12) As soon as funds permit, some will be sent to foreign

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countries to study lucrative arts and manufactures.

13) They will be as Sannyasis during their period of study, never losing hold of their habits of purity and self-abnegation.

14) On their return they will establish with the aid of the Order, factories and workshops, still living the life of Sannyasis and devoting all their profits to the sending of more and more such students to foreign countries.

15) Others will be sent to travel through various countries on foot, inspiring by their lives, behaviour and conversation, sympathy and love for the Indian people in the European nations and preparing the way for their acceptance of Aryan ideals.

After the erection and consecration of the Temple, the development of the work of the Order will be pushed on as rapidly as possible or as the support and sympathy of the public allows. With the blessing of the Mother this will not fail us.

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