Forming of an informal group of young men in 1921 by Nepaleshwar Banerjee (later Swami Nityananda, a disciple of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi). They often met at Dr. Sen’s house in Kanpur in order to meditate, pray and read inspiring thoughts of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda and freedom fighters. In 1924 the Informal group took the shape of Ramakrishna Seva Sadan by setting up a shrine for regular worship of Sri Ramakrishna, starting of a school, a gymnastic club, hostel for boys and a charitable dispensary in rented houses in different places like Afeem Kothi, Raza Manjil, Karachikhana and Anwarganj.

According to Swami Vivekananda, the temples of Sri Ramakrishna should be built to enable the devotees to advance spiritually for realizing the truth with no hatred towards other faiths. The guidelines for building the temple of Sri Ramakrishna at Belur Math were laid down by Swami Vivekananda himself. Keeping this as basis, various other architectural features familiar to the region are added while maintaining its universal outlook. So various architectural elements and motifs found in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples and the churches and cathedrals of Europe are synthesized in this Universal Temple.