<p>Almost all of them have voter identity cards but hundreds of monks of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have never voted.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"There is no official instruction on this but we never vote as we do not take part in politics or express our political opinion in public," said a senior monk of the monastic order founded in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda.<br /><br />He told PTI that voting means taking sides of a particular political party or candidate which will take them beyond the spiritual path.<br /><br />"Swamiji gave us instructions that we should focus on spiritual activities and do humanitarian activities for the uplift of society," the monk said.<br /><br />Headquartered in Belurmath, few km away from Kolkata, the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have around 1500 'Brahmacharis' and 'Sanyasis' living an ascetic life based on the Vedanta philosophy.<br /><br />The Math and the Mission together have 178 branch centres all over India and in different parts of the world.<br /><br />Interestingly, almost 95 per cent of the monks possess voter ID cards.<br /><br />"For the sake of identification and particularly for travelling, almost 95 per cent of us are forced to seek a voter ID card. But we use it only for identification purpose and not for voting," a monk said.<br /><br />The Mission, had, however, supported the freedom movement, with a section of the monks keeping close relations with freedom fighters of various camps. A number of political revolutionaries had later joined the Ramakishna Order.<br /><br />"As individuals we may have political opinions but those are not meant to be discussed in public," the monk said.<br /><br />Polling in Howrah district, where Belurmath is located, would be held tomorrow.</p>
<p>Almost all of them have voter identity cards but hundreds of monks of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have never voted.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"There is no official instruction on this but we never vote as we do not take part in politics or express our political opinion in public," said a senior monk of the monastic order founded in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda.<br /><br />He told PTI that voting means taking sides of a particular political party or candidate which will take them beyond the spiritual path.<br /><br />"Swamiji gave us instructions that we should focus on spiritual activities and do humanitarian activities for the uplift of society," the monk said.<br /><br />Headquartered in Belurmath, few km away from Kolkata, the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission have around 1500 'Brahmacharis' and 'Sanyasis' living an ascetic life based on the Vedanta philosophy.<br /><br />The Math and the Mission together have 178 branch centres all over India and in different parts of the world.<br /><br />Interestingly, almost 95 per cent of the monks possess voter ID cards.<br /><br />"For the sake of identification and particularly for travelling, almost 95 per cent of us are forced to seek a voter ID card. But we use it only for identification purpose and not for voting," a monk said.<br /><br />The Mission, had, however, supported the freedom movement, with a section of the monks keeping close relations with freedom fighters of various camps. A number of political revolutionaries had later joined the Ramakishna Order.<br /><br />"As individuals we may have political opinions but those are not meant to be discussed in public," the monk said.<br /><br />Polling in Howrah district, where Belurmath is located, would be held tomorrow.</p>