The Order on the March

News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission

Headquarters

Silver Jubilee of Vivekananda Veda Vidyalaya

It was Swami Vivekananda’s desire to establish a Vedic College in Belur Math. This came true in 1993 with the foundation of Vivekananda Veda Vidyalaya at Belur Math. The institute, functioning under the National Institute of Open Schooling, is a free, fully residential Higher Secondary school for boys. The students mostly hail from economically backward families and belong to all castes. The curriculum includes Vedic studies, Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit grammar, Indian philosophy, English, and Computer applications.

The Vidyalaya celebrated its Silver Jubilee with a public meeting and cultural programmes on 30 June and 1 July. Srimat Swami Smaranananda Ji Maharaj, the President of the Order, presided over the first-day function and Swami Suvirananda, the General Secretary and Swami Balabhadrananda, one of the Asst. Gen. Secretaries of the Order addressed the gathering. Veda Vidyalaya, Belur Math

Bronze statue of Sister Nivedita

A bronze statue of Sister Nivedita installed at the initiative of the headquarters at her family cemetery in Great Torrington, United Kingdom, was unveiled on 27 July. The Government of West Bengal funded the project, and devotees and admirers in the UK extended support for this endeavour.

125 th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Addresses at the World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago

Various programmes were held by the following centres:

Almora: (i) A statue of Swami Vivekananda was unveiled at Kakrighat, followed by a public meeting. The programme was jointly held by Almora centre and Vivekananda Seva Samiti, Kakrighat. (ii) A statue of Swami Vivekananda was unveiled at Vivekananda Corner, near Almora centre. The programme was jointly organized by Almora centre and the Nagar Palika Parishad; Baranagar Math: Four lecture programmes (400 students); Coimbatore Mission: Cultural Competitions (1338 students from 8 institutions); Guwahati: Devotees’ Convention (167 people); Lucknow: Public Meeting in which Sri Ram Naik, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, addressed

Great Torrington, UK

the gathering; Mangaluru: Lectures (2560 youth from 4 colleges); Shyamla Tal: Motivational Workshop (46 students); Silchar: Lectures at 10 places (5000 students and 100 teachers from 30 institutions); Taki: Lectures (1029 youths from 7 schools); Tamluk: Cultural Competitions (3000 students from 27 schools); Dhaka, Bangladesh: Public Meeting (1000 people); Durban, South Africa: 6 Devotees’ Conventions (732 devotees).

News of Branch Centres

On the sacred occasion of Ratha Yatra festival on 4 July, Puri Math treated 1103 patients in a medical camp and served lemonade to 13,000 pilgrims and Puri Mission Ashrama gave medical aid to 200 patients and served lemonade to 12,200 pilgrims.

The 14 th Foundation Day celebration and the Annual Convocation of RKMVERI (deemed university) were held on the university’s Belur campus on 4 July. The General Secretary, who is also the Chancellor of the university, presided over the programme and conferred the degrees and diplomas to the successful c a n d i d a t e s . The UGC has c a t e g o r i z e d R K M V E R I as a Grade-1 institution.

Kamarpukur centre recently purchased a portion of the sacred ‘mango orchard of Manik Raja’ in Kamarpukur, a place frequented by Sri Ramakrishna in his childhood days. In a programme held on 4 July to mark the acquisition of the land, a number of mango saplings were planted there.

Srimat Swami Gautamananda Ji inaugurated the second floor of the boys’ hostel of Jhargram school. Sri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India, visited Bhubaneswar centre.

Srimat Swami Gautamananda Ji inaugurated at Chennai Math: (i) Swami Yatiswarananda Hall attached to the Library, and (ii) Swami Tapasyananda Hall for conducting welfare programmes among leprosy-afflicted persons.

Netherlands centre launched an online monthly magazine named Vedanta Vani. It can be accessed on the website vedantavani.com RKMVERI Convocation

Values Education and Youth Programmes

The following centres held programmes, workshops, conventions, etc:

Barisha centre: Programme for 36 school students; Delhi centre 41 workshops in 18 towns/cities for 2111 teachers and 72 principals; Gadadhar Ashrama: 3 Conventions for 500 students; Haripad Math: 1 Workshop for 118 students; Medinipur centre: Workshop for 370 students / teachers from 12 institutions; Rajkot Ashrama: 22 programmes in the Ashrama, and 28 programmes at various schools for 10,521 students; Vadodara centre: 6 programmes on its campus and 10 programmes at various schools for 2668 students.

Healthcare Services 29 persons donated blood in a blood donation camp inaugurated by Sri Jishnu Dev Varma, Deputy Chief Minister of Tripura at the Agartala centre.

Chandipur Math held a medical check-up camp for cleft-lip patients in which 28 patients were examined. Guwahati centre conducted a medical camp at Hajo in Kamrup district of Assam in which 450 patients were treated.

Chennai Math’s Charitable Dispensary & Diagnostic Centre installed a new Digital Mammography System which will offer breast cancer detection. It Agartala

was inaugurated by Preetha Reddy, Vice-Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.

Rahara Boys’ Home held two multidisciplinary medical camps in North 24 Parganas and East Bardhaman districts in which 1324 patients were treated.

Bankura, Chennai Math, Kamarpukur, Khetri, Lucknow, Madurai, Porbandar, Rajamahendravaram, Rajkot, Ranchi Morabadi, Salem, Seva Pratishthan, Vadodara and New Delhi centres conducted eye camps in which 10332 patients were treated, 666 operated and 557 given spectacles. Swachha Bharat Abhiyan

Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in June: (i) four cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving 1850 volunteers, (ii) awareness campaigns for 23 days in which volunteers reached out to 1350 households in Mangaluru city spreading awareness about waste management, (iii) cleanliness drives in 182 villages of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, (iv) magic shows on the cleanliness theme in 42 schools in Udupi district, and (v) cultural competitions on the cleanliness theme in 130 schools in which 13,100 students took part. Flood Relief / Rehabilitation

Guwahati centre distributed food, clothes, and provisions among 861 families in Baksa, Darrang, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong and Morigaon districts. The centre also conducted a medical camp in Kamrup district and provided assistance to 450.

The Headquarters built, through Kochi centre, eight anganwadis (childcare centres) in Alappuzha district and handed them over to the Government of Kerala. (ii) Thiruvalla centre helped 8 flood-affected families to repair their houses. Cyclone Relief

Rajkot centre distributed 5300 packets of snacks among people who had taken shelter in government-run relief camps Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai Alappuzha

as a precautionary measure against the Cyclone Vayu; Puri Mission continued its relief work in the wake of the Cyclone Fani, which had hit the state in the month of May. The centre distributed 2000 saris and an equal number of lungis, towels and mosquito-nets among 2000 families in Puri district.

Drought Relief / Rehabilitation

Continuing its drought relief work, Aurangabad centre distributed 10.20 lakh litres of water in 13 villages of Aurangabad district.

Rahara centre sunk a tube-well in South 24 Parganas district. Distress Relief / Rehabilitation

Through 9 centres in India the Order distributed 4306 shirts, 1141 trousers, 1685 jackets/sweaters, 2 7 4 8 s a r i s , 478 blankets, 2 2 5 s c h o o l uniforms, 49696 N o t e b o o k s , a n d o t h e r s t a t i o n a r i e s . Batticaloa subcentre in Sri Lanka distributed 11,825 notebooks among 3000 poor students and 11 fans to 3 schools. Lusaka centre in Zambia distributed 100 kg powdered maize.

Rahara centre distributed 5 tricycles, 2 wheelchairs, 5 folding sticks, 1 crutch and 5 hearing aids among 18 differently abled people. Economic Rehabilitation

Following items were distributed to the needy persons: Chandipur (1 sewing machine); Guwahati (2 sewing machines); Ponnampet (64 honey collection boxes and 54 sewing machines); Ramanathapuram: (32 sewing machines). Batticaloa

Vol.106. No.9 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) September 2019.

Regd. with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under No.1084 / 1957. Postal registration number: TN / CH (C) /190 / 2018-2020. Licensed to

Post without prepayment TN/PMG(CCR)/WPP-259 / 2018-2020. Date of Publication: 24 th of every month; Posted on 26 August 2019

If it is impossible to attain perfection here and now, there is no proof that we can attain perfection in any other life. — Swami Vivekananda

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