The Ramakrishna Math and Mission (henceforth, Ramakrishna movement) is a relatively small but influential organization, which has generally been held in high regard by members of the English-educated Hindu elite in both India and the Hindu diaspora.1 At its heart lies the institutionalized practice of sevd, organized service to humanity. Its founder, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), has been described as an architect of Neo-Hinduism and the formulator of a style of Neo-Vedanta that has provided the philosophical rationale for the practice of seva. Vivekananda's reworking of Vedanta was made possible through his willingness to reinterpret traditional Hindu concepts, including karmayoga and seva, in a highly flexible manner. The distinctive nature of the movement and its philosophy has been taken by some to be suggestive of a marked discontinuity with forms of Hinduism Vivekananda would have encountered through his early socialization in Bengal and later through his guru Ramakrishna, in whose name devotees maintain Vivekananda faithfully acted. These are important considerations to be borne in mind in any study centered on the relationship between Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. This article, however, is concerned with ways in which the Ramakrishna movement has attempted to implement ideas derived largely from Vivekananda during its more recent history. Determined to encourage all classes and castes to apply Advaita Vedanta teachings in their everyday lives, Vivekananda asserted that Vedanta would aid the individual in commercial and intellectual, as well as spiritual, undertakings {Collected Works of Swami Vivekananda [hereinafter CWSV] 3: 427, cf. 245). His Neo-Vedantic broadening (arguably, by-passing) of the technical senses traditionally attached to Advaita presented it as akin to a form of self-assertiveness training, capable of enriching any aspect of individual endeavor, for "The secret of Advaita is: Believe in yourselves first, and then believe in anything else" (CWSV 3: 426).2