Swami Vivekananda on his triumphal return from the West was requested by the devotees in Madras (now Chennai) to start a Math here.To fulfil their earnest desire Swamiji sent his brother-disciple Swami Ramakrishnananda to Madras in March 1897 and thus Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, came into existence.

After reaching Madras, the first thing Swami Ramakrishnananda did was to set up a small shrine for Sri Ramakrishna at a rented house. He lived there and led a life of renunciation, service and austerities. Slowly he built up the institution as the present Sri Ramakrishna Math which is a hub of multipronged service activities. This is the oldest centre of the Ramakrishna Order in the South.

Activities of the Math:

• Worship: Daily worship in Universal Temple and celebration of the birthdays of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda and other religious prophets.
• Discourses and Spiritual training: regular religious discourses on weekends and during religious/cultural festivals. Also Meditation classes and Yoga classes are done in Vivekanandar lllam weekly.
• Free Charitable Dispensary and Diagnostic Centre: Renders service to hundreds of poor and helpless patients in and around the locality daily.
• Spiritual/Cultural Magazines: The Vedanta Kesari (English) and Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam (Tamil) are published Monthly.
• Publication of Books/CDs on Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Vedanta, Literature and also on Spirituality, Indian culture and Self development.
• Preaching: Viveka Murasu program: preaching the Man Making ideas of Swami Vivekananda in the Rural Schools.
• Sri Ramakrishna Centenary Library: A big library with Books and Periodicals of many of Indian Languages in addition to English.
• Education: Math Runs Free Schools: a Primary School and a Girls Higher Secondary School
  in Chennai City.
• Rehabilitation of Leprosy Afflicted Persons (LAPs): a programme to rehabilitate the leprosy affected persons.
• Mobile Dispensary: A Mobile Medical service is operating in the interior villages of Manali Firka, Chengalpattu District.
• Bala Mandir: The Bala Mandir was designed to give practical expression to some of the eternal values and manly virtues presented by the great spiritual tradition of India as exemplified and taught by Swami Vivekananda.
• Vivekananda Youth Forum: Forum is for men between the ages of 15 and 22 who are interested in spiritual life and service to humanity. The Forum is guided by a Monk of the Math.
• Free Computer Training Centers for Rural Girls: Math helps undereducated rural girls to acquire some vocational training in Computers so as to enable them to earn and look after their families.
• Nurse Assistant Training Programme: Math runs a One Year Nurse Assistant Training programme for rural girls who have discontinued their education due to faimilies' financial restrictions and other social/cultural issues.
• Math is running Free Tuition Centres for the benefit of poor and downtrodden students studying in Std. X & XII in Government Schools in the rural areas of Tiruvallur District of Tamilnadu.
• Relief: Math conducts relief activities in the areas of Tamilnadu which are affected by floods and other natural calamities and distributes free relief materials.