| News of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission : 31 January
2008
Personalia
Swami
Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna
Mission, is keeping well at Belur Math.
Swami Gitanandaji,
Vice-President, will be visiting Nagpur from 2 to 8 February, and
Limbdi, Rajkot and Porbandar from 15 to 23 February. He is in good
health.
Swami Smarananandaji,
Vice-President, is scheduled to visit Burdwan from 4 to 8 February,
and Vijayawada and Rajahmundry from 11 to 23 February. He is
keeping well.
The birthday (tithi-puja)of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated at Belur Math on Tuesday,
29 January. Thousands of devotees attended the celebration throughout the day.
Cooked prasad was served to about 15,000 devotees. Swami Smarananandaji,
Vice-President of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, presided over the
public meeting held in the afternoon.
The Headquarters and the
following centres celebrated the National Youth Day (12 January). (Main
programmes are given in parentheses.)
The
National Youth Day (12 January)
Headquarters
(along with Saradapitha: processions, speeches, recitations,
music, audio-drama,
yogasana‑demonstration),
Aalo (procession),
Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata (speeches, question-answer session,
cultural competitions, music, drama), Agartala (public meeting
addressed by the Chief Minister of Tripura), Aurangabad
(procession, meeting, cultural competitions), Bangalore (public
meeting addressed by the Governor of Karnataka), Bhubaneswar
(national integration camp addressed by the Governor of Orissa),
Chandigarh (speeches, cultural competitions, blood donation camp),
Chennai Math (public meetings, essay competition in which about
1,21,000 youths from India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia participated),
Coimbatore Math (public meeting, video show), Garbeta
(procession, speeches, recitations, question-answer session, cultural
competitions, music), Ghatshila (procession, meeting, music),
Jalpaiguri (meeting, geeti alekhya), Jamshedpur
(processions, youth convention, cultural competitions), Kadapa
(procession, cultural competitions), Kanpur (procession, cultural
competitions), Limbdi (procession, public meeting, cultural
competitions), Madurai (speeches, essay competition in which
about 20,000 students from 151 schools and colleges participated),
Malda (procession, blood donation camp, cultural function),
Manasadwip (procession, speeches, recitations, music), Mangalore
(headmasters’ convention, youth convention), Mumbai (garlanding
of the statues of Swamiji at the Gateway of India and at Swami
Vivekananda Udyan in Mahim, procession, speeches, cultural
competitions), Nagpur (procession, cultural competition,
symposium),
Narendrapur (procession, public meeting addressed by
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India),Port Blair
(procession, public meeting, cultural competitions), Puri Mission
(procession, public meeting, cultural competitions), Raipur
(public meeting addressed by the Governor of Chhattisgarh, cultural
competitions), Rajkot (processions, speeches, cultural
competitions and exhibitions in Rajkot, Adipur, Bhuj and Upaleta),
Sarisha (seminar), Shillong (seminar), Thiruvananthapuram
(cultural competitions, public meeting), Thrissur (seminar),
Ulsoor (public meeting), Vadodara (youth convention),
Visakhapatnam (procession).
News of
Branch Centres : INDIA
A
homoeopathic dispensary was inaugurated at Palai
centre on 30 December, the sacred birthday of Holy Mother.
Swami
Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna
Mission, unveiled the newly installed 12˝-foot bronze statue of
Swami Vivekananda at Swamiji’s Ancestral House, Kolkata,
on 1 January.
Vrindaban
Sevashrama organized a function from 11 to 14
January to mark the concluding phase of its centenary
celebrations. Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Ramakrishna
Math & Ramakrishna Mission, unveiled the newly installed statue
of Swami Vivekananda at the Sevashrama on 12 January. He also
released a commemorative volume and an English edition of a book
on Holy Vrindaban. Swami Atmasthanandaji, President, Swami
Smarananandaji, Vice-President, Swami Prabhanandaji, General
Secretary, and several other distinguished persons addressed the
public meetings. A special postal cover brought out by the
Department of Posts, Government of India, was released.
Cultural programmes were held on all the four days. About 180 monastics and 1500 devotees attended the function.
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Viveknagar
centre organized two All-Tripura devotees’ conferences at the
Ashrama on 20 December and 27 January, which were attended by
558 and 393 delegates respectively.
Dr Manmohan
Singh, Prime Minister of India, accompanied by Sri Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Sri Mani
Shankar Aiyer, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern
Region; Retd General Sri J J Singh, Governor of Arunachal
Pradesh; Sri Dorjee Khandu, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh;
Sri Prithviraj Chauhan, Minister of State in Prime Minister’s
Office, and several other dignitaries visited our Itanagar
hospital on 31 January.
Three
students of Narendrapur college, namely Soumya Subra
Bhadury, Sandipan Chakraborty and Upamanyu Sengupta, won the
first, fourth and fifth prizes respectively in the All-India
Elocution Competition on Swami Vivekananda held at the Institute
of Culture, Gol Park, in December 2007.
Five
students of our Aalo (Along) school, namely Nyato Doji,
Tania Uli, Nanjal Dulom, Kembi Basar and Baanu Loya, were
awarded a gold medal each for their case studies on a
Biodiversity project presented in the 15th National Science
Congress held at Bharatiya Vidya Pratishthan, Pune, from 27 to
31 December 2007.
The
following centres conducted free eye camps:
Sl.
No.
Centre
Duration of
camps
Patients checked
/ treated
Specs given
Surgeries
no.
performed at
01
Belgaum
26 December
39
–
15
A hospital in Belgaum
13 January
43
–
3
Our Eye Care Centre in Belgaum
02
Jamshedpur
Nov. - Dec.
130
–
41
A hospital in Jamshedpur
03
Lucknow
January
1045
–
223
Our Lucknow hospital
04
Madurai
13 January
213
39
–
–
05
Mumbai
18 November
262
153
37
Our Mumbai hospital
06
Narainpur
22 January
55
–
37
Our Narainpur hospital
07
Patna
January
300
–
190
Our Sarada Netralaya in Patna
08
Porbandar
11 January
212
–
28
A hospital in Virnagar, Dist. Rajkot
09
Ulsoor
January
870
–
246
Two hospitals in Bangalore
10
Vadodara
20 January
292
–
37
A hospital in Vadodara
News of
Branch Centres : OUTSIDE INDIA
Swami Shridharanandaji
returned to Sydney (Australia) after a seven-week visit to India.
Swami Vitamohanandaji returned to Gretz (France)
after a one-week visit to India.
Swami
Amaranandaji, head of Geneva (Switzerland) centre,reached Kolkata on 26 January on a three-week visit to
India.
Communication Addresses & Numbers
Telephone / Fax Numbers: The faxnumber of
Dhaka
(Bangladesh) centre has been changed from 956‑4055 to
717-0888. The earlier fax number, 956-4055, is now an
additional telephone number of the Ashrama.
The telephone
number of the Minister-in-Charge of St.
Petersburg
(Florida, USA) centre has been changed from (727) 366-8755
to (727) 403-1524.
Vijayawada
centre has got an additional telephone connection
08645-272656 at its Sitanagaram campus.
Email Addresses: Kochi centre has now only the
following two email addresses: <rkmathkochi@bsnl.in> and <rkmathkochi@gmail.com>.
The other email addresses have been discontinued.
Website:Dhaka (Bangladesh) centre has launched a website with
address www.rkmissiondhk.org.
We
are sorry to announce the passing away of three of our brother-monks during the
last month.
Swami
Tadatmanandaji (John Maharaj) passed away at the Trabuco
monastery (a sub-centre of the Vedanta Society of Southern
California, Hollywood, USA) on 11 January at 5.07 am local time
(6.37 pm Indian Standard Time) owing to cardiac arrest. He was
76. Initiated by Swami Prabhavanandaji, he joined the Order at
Hollywood centre in 1959 and had Sannyasa from Swami
Vireshwaranandaji in 1971. After his initial few years in the
Hollywood monastery, he spent the remainder of his 49-year
monastic life at Trabuco monastery. The Swami was a talented
artist, and his many oil paintings of the Holy Trio and others
are spread in several countries. He had become especially well
known as the creator of the large painting depicting all the
monastic disciples of Sri Ramakrishna standing together. The
Swami was respected and loved for his dedication, and gentle and
affable nature.
Swami
Vidyanandaji (Vijay Maharaj) passed away on 20 January at 9
am at Varanasi Home of Service owing to chronic renal failure.
He was 99 and had been lying almost unconscious for the last
three years. An initiated disciple of Swami Shivanandaji (a
monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna), he joined the Order at
Chandipur centre in 1927 and had Sannyasa from Swami
Vijnananandaji Maharaj (a monastic disciple of Sri Ramakrishna),
in 1937. Besides his joining centre, he served at Belur Math,
Gadadhar Ashrama, Varanasi Home of Service, Kanpur, Vrindaban,
Kankhal, Bankura, Asansol, Chennai Math, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai,
Baghbazar and Jayrambati centres. He had been leading a retired
life at Varanasi Home of Service for the last 14 years. The
Swami was hard-working, dedicated, kind-hearted and
affectionate. His outstanding monastic qualities earned him the
respect and love of all.
Swami
Sudamanandaji (Dhiren Maharaj) expired on 23 January at 5.45
pm at Varanasi Home of Service hospital. He was 79, and had
been suffering from old-age problems for a few years. An
initiated disciple of Swami Shankaranandaji, he joined the Order
at Belur Math in 1955 and had Sannyasa from Swami Madhavanandaji
in 1964. Besides Belur Math, he served at Advaita Ashrama (Kolkata),
Saradapitha (Belur), Ranchi (Morabadi), Nagpur, Balaram Mandir,
Kankhal, Varanasi Advaita Ashrama and Bankura centres. Simple,
austere and loving by nature, the Swami was known for his keen
sense of humor.
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