ABSTRACT
As the events of the 1919 cyclone showed, Binode was moving towards the creation of a formal organisation to express and channel his ideals of service and celibacy. The priority, as the Acharya saw it, was to replace lost cattle, especially the bullocks that were essential for ploughing. Finally, Sangha has powerful echoes of Buddhism: it means ‘organised community’. So the Sangha was named after India as the historical repository of the divine ideals which the movement sought to promote and express. The increase in the work of the Sangha was symbolised by the expansion of its accommodation in Calcutta. The whole emphasis was upon the Sangha as an extension of the life of the Acharya, and likewise as a spiritual journey, embarked on in a community, towards the Eternal. The Acharya considered that part of the problem of Hindu independence was brought about by the social divisions within the people.
