The spiritual and the temporal have collided to deliver a rude shock to several monks who renounced worldly ties years ago. All thanks to the SIR.

Scores of Ramakrishna Math and Mission monks are being called for SIR hearings because the names of their biological parents, with whom they cut off ties after embracing monastic life, are different from the names of gurus they now identify as parents. Several other monks are also facing problems as they do not have affidavits declaring that the original name at the time of birth and the ordained name after joining the order belonged to the same person.

The monks of Ramakrishna Math and Mission do not vote but want to be included in the electoral rolls out of fear of an identity crisis, difficulties in obtaining visas or in administrative work at the centres they are attached to.

On Wednesday, 90 monks came to Belur Math for a special SIR camp held for them. With anxiety writ large on their faces, some of the monks gathered on the ground floor of the Abhedananda Convention Centre for the hearing, while others waited in queues outside.

Some monks who attended the hearing were residents of the global headquarters of the order, while others came from centres such as the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narendrapur.

They sat in rows of chairs and approached the state election commission (SEC) officials one by one.

The SEC officials, seated on two conjoined tables at one end of the centre, scanned through the supporting documents after collecting the SIR forms from the applicants. Two monks stood around the tables, producing the required documents and trying to ensure the process went smoothly.

Sources said many of these monks had mentioned the names of their spiritual gurus as fathers in the SIR forms that were provided by booth-level officers (BLOs).

However, some of the documents that they had submitted while joining the order, and now furnished as part of the SIR exercise, contain the names of their biological parents.

There are several others whose names in the pre-monastic life exist only in the Class X board examination admit card. Monks are given a new name by the order while entering the monastic life.

“Many of them have affidavits stating that the person with two names, including the one given by the order after donning the saffron robe, is the same. But others don’t have affidavits,” said a source.

“While filling up the forms, they had given their monastic names. They are being called for hearings because of that,” he added.

Some elderly monks arrived in wheelchairs with junior monks assisting them.

“I’m 92 years old. In my pre-monastic life, I was called Sukumar Mukherjee. Now I have a different name — Swami Vaidyanathananda. I joined the order in 1965 and have been residing at the headquarters for the last few years since my knee replacement,” said one of the monks in a wheelchair. “I submitted a copy of my passport.”

Officials said some of the monks came to Belur Math for the hearing from outside Bengal. The names of several monks do not feature on the 2002 voter list.

“We don’t cast votes in keeping with the founding principle of the order laid down by Swami Vivekananda of not engaging in political activity,” a senior monk said.

SIR hearing among the monks at Belur math on Wednesday afternoon. Bishwarup Dutta

Swami Vivekananda had set a rule that says the monks of the order must be apolitical and not take part in politics or even express their opinions about politics. Ramakrishna Math and Mission sources said Vivekananda had dictated the rules to his disciple, Swami Suddhananda, at Ramakrishna Math, Alambazar, in Baranagar in May 1898.

Wednesday’s hearing continued till late afternoon as the monks walked in and out, carrying documents in plastic folders.

“The hearings of 90 monks of the order were conducted on Wednesday. We will need at least another day to complete the process since some of them are out of station,” said Howrah district magistrate P. Deepap Priya.

Several monks who were earlier attached to the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narendrapur but were transferred to other centres had to visit the block development office in Sonarpur, South 24-Parganas, for the hearing.

“They had to come from places such as Silchar, Guwahati, Bolpur and Bagda (in Purulia),” said a source. “They are feeling harassed,” he added.