The Order on the March

News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission

Headquarters

New Centres

Sree Ramarkishna Ashrama, Burdwan, a private centre, has now become a branch centre of the Ramakrishna Order and will function as a sub-centre directly under the supervision of the headquarters. Swami Suvirananda Ji, General Secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission presided over a meeting held on 24 August to mark this taking over. Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashram, Kasundia, Howrah, became a branch centre of the Ramakrishna Mission on 10 August. Pinon Hills Retreat, where Hollywood Vedanta Society, USA, was conducting some activities for the last few years, has now been made an official sub-centre of the Society.

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

Various programmes were held by the following centres:

Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata: Youth Convention (90 students); Baranagar Math: Two talks (153 students and teachers); Coimbatore Mission: Cultural competitions at 10 schools / colleges (1222 students); Cooch Behar: Youth Convention and Devotees’ Convention (400 people); Hyderabad: Programmes in 54 schools (19,000 students); Mangaluru: (i) Seminar (630 delegates), (ii) Lectures in 8 colleges (3340 youths); Nattarampalli: Students’ Conventions in 2 rural schools (1100 students), and short motivation talks at 22 rural schools (1000 students); Pune: (i) Seminar (425 people), (ii) Musical play in Thane on the life and teachings of Swamiji (1200 people); Rajkot: Convention (700 people); Taki: Seminars in 2 high schools (356 students); Bagerhat, Bangladesh: Devotees’ Convention (600 devotees); Lusaka, Zambia: Special Talk (85 people); Mymensingh, Bangladesh: (i) Devotees’ Convention (700 devotees), (ii) Cultural Competitions (250 students). Mymensingh, Bangladesh

News of Branch Centres

As part of its centenary celebrations, Salem Ashrama held the following programmes in July and August 2019: (i) Vivekananda Ratha visited 159 educational institutions and other public places in Salem, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, (ii) Cultural competitions in which 1579 students from 29 schools participated, (iii) Programme for 470 housekeeping staff in a hospital, (iv) Women’s Convention attended by 800 paramedical students and devotees.

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute (deemed university) inaugurated on its Belur campus a three-year degree course on Indian Heritage and Philosophy on 30 July, the sacred birthday of Swami

Ramakrishnananda. The course is especially meant for those young men who are desirous of joining our order but lack necessary academic qualification.

To actualise Swami Vivekananda’s vision of education, Swami Vimuktananda established Sikshanamandira, a residential college of teachers’ training and education adjacent to Belur Math. The college was inaugurated on 14 July 1958 by Swami Visuddhananda, the 8 th President of the Order and was named so by Swami Madhavananda, the 9 th President of the Order. The institute offers courses from B.Ed. to Ph.D. and publishes Sikshachintan and Samskritacintanam, two peerreviewed journals of education and Sanskrit respectively.

The diamond jubilee was celebrated with a weeklong programme from 4 to 11 August. Srimat Swami Shivamayananda Ji, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Order inaugurated the celebration which included a seminar, special discourses, youths’ convention, convention for municipality workers and some cultural events.

The new library attached to the Sanskrit college of Pala centre was inaugurated on 5 th August.

The Indian Epic Culture Centre, Kolkata, presented Viswanayak Vivekananda Award to Kankurgachhi Math on 18 August. On behalf of the Math, the General Secretary received the award.

Guests of Honour

Sri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of West Bengal, visited Belur Math on 4 August. Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office and Development of North Eastern Region, Government of India, visited Vivekananda Cultural Centre of Shillong Ashrama. Values Education and Youth Programmes

The following centres held special talks, workshops, cultural competitions etc: Viswanayak Vivekananda Award

Chandigarh Ashrama Two special talks for about 650 students; Contai centre: Talks in 15 schools from January to March attended by 6277 students, and Cultural competitions in 12 schools from January to May for 1222 students; Delhi centre: 42 workshops in 19 towns and cities for 2708 teachers and 137 principals; Gurap Ashrama: Convention for 240 youths; Rahara centre: Two Conventions for 75 youths; Rajkot Ashrama: Residential camp for 45 polytechnic students, 21 programmes in the ashrama and 23 in schools for 8827 students; Vadodara centre: Two programmes in ashrama and 4 programmes in schools for 2939 students.

Healthcare Services 80 patients were treated in a very remote village in Arunachal Pradesh by the Aalo centre. Medinipur Ashrama conducted a medical camp at Monidaha, a backward tribal area in Paschim Medinipur district, in which 744 patients were treated. Rahara Boys’ Home held two multidisciplinary medical camps in Nadia and South 24 Parganas districts in which 1302 patients received treatment. Further, following the outbreak of dengue in West Bengal, the centre set up four fever clinics in Habra in North 24 Parganas district in which 204 patients were treated. Lusaka centre in Zambia, held a medical camp at a slum in Lusaka in which 100 patients were given free medicines.

Eye Camps: Dehradun, Lucknow, Bankura, Halasuru, Kamarpukur, Salem, Chennai Math, Gourhati, Khetri, Medinipur, Porbandar, Rajkot, Ranchi Morabadi, Seva Pratishthan, Delhi, Sikra-Kulingram, and Vadodara centres conducted eye camps in which 14,355 patients were treated, 1355 were operated, and 1272 were given spectacles.

Swachha Bharat Abhiyan

Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in August: (i) Four cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving 1675 volunteers, (ii) Awareness campaigns for 24 days in which volunteers reached out to 1480 households in Mangaluru city spreading awareness about waste management, (iii) Cleanliness drives in 152 villages of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, (iv) Magic shows on the cleanliness theme in 34 schools in Udupi district, (v) Observance of Cleanliness Day in 130 schools in which about 13,000 children participated, and (vi) A seminar on Clean India on 9 August attended by 650 youths. Flood Relief

Assam: Continuing its flood relief work, Guwahati centre conducted a medical camp in Darang district of Assam in which 473 patients were treated.

Bihar: Katihar centre distributed grocery among 885 floodaffected families in three blocks of Katihar district.

Gujarat: Owing to heavy rainfall, many areas of Vadodara city and nearby villages were inundated with water, causing widespread disruption of normal life. Vadodara centre served cooked food to 2300 affected people and distributed 7884 food packets.

Karnataka: Owing to heavy rainfall, many areas of Belagavi town suffered severe water logging. Consequently, Belagavi centre initially distributed snacks and other essentials among 123 affected families, and then reached out to 1231 flood-affected village families along the banks of Krishna river and gave them food grains, cooking, and other daily necessities and garments. Later a team of doctors visited 2 villages and treated 250 patients and sensitised the villagers about the need for hygiene and safe drinking water. In the wake of severe rainfall in Kodagu district, Ponnampet Pune

Ponnampet centre distributed food grains, clothes, daily necessities and school stationery among 981 affected families in 20 villages.

Kerala: Koyilandy centre distributed food grains, clothes, and among 300 families in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. Students of the Sanskrit college of Pala centre participated in flood relief service by collecting the cooking items and clothes and distributing them among 105 flood-affected families of Kottayam and Wayanad.

Maharashtra: In the wake of severe water inundation caused by heavy rainfall in western Maharashtra, Pune centre served 17,700 packets of cooked food and distributed food grains, daily necessities, and clothes among 1500 affected families in Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur districts.

Tamil Nadu: Some tribal villages in the Western Ghats near Coimbatore were badly affected by rains. Coimbatore Mission centre distributed mats and blankets among 204 families. Distress Relief 13 centres distributed the following to needy people 9268 shirts, 5045 trousers, 1147 saris, 2220 sweaters/jackets, 78 blankets, 190 umbrellas, 15668 notebooks, 2082 school uniforms, 9141 geometry boxes. Belagavi Vadodara

Vol.106. No.10 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) October 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 September 2019

Happiness presents itself before man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head. He who welcomes it must also welcome sorrow. — Swami Vivekananda

Lavino-KapurCottons Pvt Ltd

100% Export Oriented Unit *Star Export House

BUREAU VERITAS–ISO 9001:2008 certified (Manufacturers of Absorbent Cotton Products)

Tarapur Plant: H-1, MIDC, Tarapur Industrial Area, Taps Post, Boisar–401 504

District–Thane. Maharashtra.

Tel: 02525-2722 90/91/92

Regd. Office: 121-122, Mittal Chambers, Nariman Point, Mumbai–400 021 Tel: 91 22 6632 5141 (30 Lines). Fax: 91 22 6632 4979 / 6632 4421/ 2282 0577