Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda

On the initiative taken by Hyderabad Math, 57 educational institutions in and around Hyderabad have started Vivekananda Centres of Human Excellence.  The faculty of Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence of our Hyderabad centre will be visiting these places regularly and conduct classes on Swamiji’s message, personality development, etc for the students of those institutions.

The following centres organized various programmes, the main ones shown in brackets, to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda:

Kanpur (devotees’ convention on 10 April), Port Blair (youth conference on 23 April), Salem (two dramas on the life and message of Swamiji on 12 and 26 January)

On 27 March, Chennai Math celebrated the centenary of Holy Mother’s visit to Chennai with special puja and homa, film shows, devotional songs, and reading from her life.  More than 2000 devotees attended the programme.

Sarada Kindergarten of our Singapore centre has received the prestigious certificate of achievement in SPARK (Singapore Pre-school Accreditation Framework) assessment.  Ours is one of the very few kindergartens in Singapore to have received this certificate.

Rajahmundry centre celebrated the centenary of Holy Mother’s visit to Rajahmundry and the diamond jubilee of the Ashrama from 31 March to 4 April through various programmes such as procession, devotees’ convention, youth convention, women’s convention, public meetings and cultural programmes.  Chandi Homa was performed on 2 April at Pushkar Ghat on Godavari River where Holy Mother had taken bath.  Nearly 50 monks and 3000 devotees attended the function. 

The following centres conducted free eye camps:

Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, is keeping well at Belur Math.

Swami Gitanandaji, Vice-President, who was admitted to Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata, on 7 March, is still under treatment there.  His medical condition continues to be unstable.

Swami Smarananandaji, Vice-President, is scheduled to return to Belur Math on 3 May after his visit to our centre in Durban (South Africa).  He will be visiting Putunda (Dist. Burdwan) on 10 and 11 May, and Lucknow, Mayavati and Shyamla Tal from 17 May to 4 June. He is in good health.

Swami Prameyanandaji, Vice-President, is keeping well at Belur Math.

Obituaries

We are sorry to announce the passing away of three of our brother-monks.

Swami Tridiveshanandaji (Chidambara Maharaj) expired on 3 April at 10.15 am at our Ulsoor centre.  He was 86 and had been suffering from diabetes, hypertension and other old‑age ailments for some years. Initiated by Swami Shankaranandaji, he joined the Order in 1952 at Salem centre and had Sannyasa from Swami Madhavanandaji in 1963.  Besides his joining centre, he served at the headquarters office, Belur Math dispensary and our centres in Shillong, Shyamla Tal, Kanpur, Deoghar and Chengalpattu.   He had been living a retired life at Ulsoor centre for the last fourteen years. The Swami was simple, austere and affable by nature.

Swami Suprabhanandaji (Padmacharan Maharaj), head of Sargachhi centre, passed away unexpectedly on 14 April at 9 pm at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata.  Till the 12th evening he was active and cheerful.  However, on the 13th morning, when he was not seen around, the monks of the Ashrama went to his room and found him lying unconscious.  He was immediately rushed to a local hospital.  On examination, he was found to have suffered cerebrovascular accident (hemorrhagic).  After preliminary treatment at the local hospital, he was shifted to Seva Pratishthan where he passed away on the 14th night.  He was 64.  Initiated by Swami Vireshwaranandaji, he joined the Order in 1970 at Belur Math and had Sannyasa from his Guru in 1980.  Besides Belur Math, he served at Deoghar, Shillong, Narendrapur, Manasadwip and Cherrapunji centres as assistant and Sargachhi centre as head.  He was the headmaster of Manasadwip school for six years and principal of Cherrapunji school for ten years.  He participated in relief and rehabilitation work at Rajkot in 1987, Patna in 1988 and Hingalganj (Dist. North 24 Parganas) in 1989-91.  The Swami was amiable, kindhearted and jovial by nature.

Swami Aksharanandaji (Kalipada Maharaj), head of Dhaka and Narayanganj centres, breathed his last on 18 April at 9.57 am at Apollo Hospitals, Dhaka.  He was 81 and had been suffering from kidney disease, diabetes and hypertension for some years.

The news of his passing away spread immediately all over Bangladesh through electronic media and was published in all national newspapers the following morning.  The President and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and several other important persons sent their condolence messages.    His body was brought to Dhaka centre at 3 pm and kept there till 12 noon of the next day.  About 50,000 people from different walks of life came to pay their last respects and homage.

Initiated by Swami Virajanandaji, Swami Aksharanandaji the Order in 1950 at Pathuriaghata Ashrama (later moved to Narendrapur) and had Sannyasa from Swami Shankaranandaji in 1959.  He was the head of both Dhaka and Narayanganj centres for the last 37 years.  A source of inspiration and guidance to thousands of spiritual seekers, he tirelessly preached the message of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda in Bangladesh for nearly four decades.  He has left behind nearly 55,000 initiated disciples in Bangladesh.  His passing away has created a huge void which is difficult to fill.

Communication Addresses

Email IDs: The following centres have discontinued their email IDs given below:

Varanasi Home of Service has got an additional email ID <office@varanasirkm.org>.

Websites: The following centres have launched websites:

Commemoration of the 175th Birth Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna

The following centres celebrated the 175th birth anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna.  (Main programmes are given in parentheses.)

Baghbazar (procession, discourses, drama, musical performance, and seminar on Inter Religious Harmony and Peace), Kalady (public meetings, bhajans and cultural programme on 16 April), Malda (discourses, devotional music and drama on 9 and 10 April), Sarisha (procession, drama, discourses and musical performance from 25 to 27 March), Vadodara (public meetings, devotional musical and film shows from 28 March to 17 April).