The Order on the March

News & Notes from Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission

Guests of Honour

Sri Ram Nath Kovind, Hon’ble President of India, accompanied by Sri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of West Bengal, visited Belur Math on 30 th September. Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, Lokpal of India, visited Belur Math on 11 th September. Sri Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for

President of India, attending sandhya arati in Belur Math

Culture and Tourism, Government of India, visited Chennai Math on 15 th September. Sri Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India visited Puri Mission on 22 nd Sept. Governor of Jharkhand Smt Droupadi Murmu, attended a function at Ranchi Morabadi centre.

New Branch Centres

A new branch of Ramakrishna Math has been started on the premises of Sri Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Purnea, following its merger with the Math. A new branch of Ramakrishna Mission has been started on the premises of Sri Ramakrishna Sangha, Rourkela, following its takeover by the Mission.

News of Branch Centres

Srimat Swami Gautamananda Ji, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Ramakrishna Order and Swami Suviranandaji Ji, the General Secretary of the Order, inaugurated the Skill Development Centre at Chennai Students’ Home on 1 st September.

The School Education Department, Government of West Bengal, presented the Best School Award to the High School run by the Rahara centre in a function held in Kolkata on 5 th September. The award consisted of a certificate and a sum of one lakh rupees.

The renovated primary school building of Narottam Nagar centre was dedicated by Sri Chowna Mein, Deputy Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, on 11 th Sept.

Ranchi Morabadi centre observed the concluding phase of the Golden Jubilee of its Divyayan Krishi Vigyan Kendra from 23 nd to 30 th September. Srimat Swami Vagishananda Ji, one of the Vice-Presidents of the Order, and the Governor of Jharkhand Smt Droupadi Murmu inaugurated the celebration. A commemorative volume was released and public meetings, an alumni meet, a seminar on ‘Regeneration of Rural India’, religious discourses and several cultural events were held.

Delhi centre added a digital section to its public library in August.

Hyderabad Math observed the 20 th Foundation Day of its Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence by organizing a Convention for the faculty members of engineering colleges and a Youths’ convention; 2300 people participated.

Values Education and Youth Programmes

The following centres held workshops, conventions, personality development camps etc.:

Delhi centre: 24 workshops in 13 towns and cities for 1754 teachers and 65 principals; Gadadhar Ashrama: three Students’ convention for 580 students in Kolkata and Hooghly districts and a Parents’ convention in a village in Bankura district for 245 parents and teachers; Rajkot centre: 21 programmes in the Ashrama, and programmes in 45 schools in ten districts of Gujarat covering 21,772 students, 2 two-day residential personality development camps for 79 students; Vadodara centre: two programmes in the ashrama and programmes in 44 schools in six districts reaching 11,607 students.

Healthcare Services

Aalo centre: Three health awareness camps in four nearby villages benefitting 290 people. Asansol centre: Medical camp in which 611 patients were treated by 8 doctors. Jalpaiguri centre: Medical camps in which a team of 20 doctors and 15 paramedical staff treated 1220 patients and prescribed medicines. Madurai Math: A dental check-up camp in which 62 students were examined and 48 treated. Malda centre: A village medical camp in which 127 patients were treated.

Eye Camps: Bankura, Chennai Math (through Chengalpattu centre), Dehradun, Khetri, Lucknow, Madurai, Malda, Nagpur, Porbandar, Rajamahendravaram, Rajkot, Salem, Seva Pratishthan and Vadodara centres conducted eye camps in which 14,190 patients were treated, 1254 were operated, and 970 were given spectacles. Swachha Bharat Abhiyan

Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in September: (i) five cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving about 6530 volunteers, (ii) daily awareness campaign for 25 days in which volunteers reached out to 1850 households in different parts of Mangaluru and spread awareness about cleanliness, (iii) cleanliness drives in 172 villages of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts. (iv) magic shows on the cleanliness theme in 4 schools in Udupi district which were attended by 2300 students in all, (v) workshops on cleanliness in 106 schools in which 10,636 students participated, and (vi) a seminar on Clean India on 14 September attended by 700 youths. Distress Relief 18 centres distributed the following to needy people 11591 shirts, 10547 sweaters/jackets, 18702 trousers, 753 saris, 193 dhotis, 1120 notebooks etc. Winter Relief

Jamtara centre distributed 500 blankets to needy people. Flood Relief

In response to the floods in various parts of the country, the following centres conducted relief operations:

Kerala: (a) Haripad centre distributed firewood and other food items in Alappuzha district; (b) Kalady centre distributed food grains, clothes, and other household items among 550 families in Wayanad district. Gujarat: Vadodara centre distributed food packets, ration kits and saris. Maharashtra: Pune centre distributed food grains, blankets, utensils, food grains, etc., among 878 affected families in Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur districts Flood Rehabilitation

Kerala: (a) In the aftermath of the floods that affected Kerala in August 2018, the Headquarters distributed 188 bicycles to school girls in Alappuzha district through Kochi centre. (b) In response to the recent floods in the state, Koyilandy centre distributed 10 sewing machines among 10 affected families in Kozhikode district. Economic Rehabilitation

Under self-employment programme, Porbandar centre distributed 9 sewing machines to needy people.

More details and photos at http:// media.belurmath.org/category/service/ relief.

Vol.106. No.11 The Vedanta Kesari (English Monthly) November 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 October 2019

How many in our country truly understand the Shastras nowadays? They have only learnt such words as Brahman, Maya, Prakriti, and so on, and confuse their heads with them. Setting aside the real meaning and purpose of the Shastras, they fight over the words only. — Swami Vivekananda

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