Personalia
Revered President Maharaj will be visiting Kamarpukur and Jayrambati from 2 to 13 November, and Rahara in Kolkata from 22 to 24 November.
Swami Suhitanandaji is scheduled to visit Delhi, Almora, Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Jaulangi, Kankhal, Rishikesh, Vrindavan and Gurugram from 1 to 23 November.
Swami Bhajananandaji is at Belur Math.
Swami Girishanandaji will visit Karimganj, Hailakandi and Silchar from 2 to 21 November, and Dhanbad and Durgapur from 28 November to 13 December.
Swami Divyanandaji is scheduled to visit Mumbai from 1 to 4 November, Bilasipara and Gossaingaon in Assam from 12 to 17 November, Sahudangi and Siliguri from 18 to 23 November, and Memari in West Bengal on 28 and 29 November.
Swami Vimalatmanandaji will be visiting Antpur from 8 to 12 November, Balaram Mandir in Kolkata from 17 to 20 November and Bankura from 23 to 29 November.
All of them are keeping well.
Headquarters
Durga Puja was celebrated at Belur Math from 10 to 13 October with great joy and devotional fervour. The weather was fine on all four days. Thousands of devotees attended the Puja on all the days and had darshan of the Divine Mother. Prasad was served to 50,000 devotees on the Ashtami day and, in total, to 1,14,500 devotees during the four days. Sri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, and Dr Sukanta Majumdar, Union Minister of State for Education, attended the puja on the Saptami day.
New Mission Centre
A new Mission centre has been started in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, following the taking over of Sri Ramakrishna Sevashramam, Nellore, in September.
Its address is:
Ramakrishna Mission,
3rd Mile, Navalakula Gardens,
Mypadu Beach Road,
Nellore, Andhra Pradesh- 524002
email id: nellore@rkmm.org
The Sevashramam was founded in 1985.
Communication Addresses
The road Swami Vivekananda Marg where Vrindavan centre is located has been renamed Ramakrishna Marg.
Dakshineshwar centre has launched a new website with the address dakshineshwar.rkmm.org
The following centres have changed their website addresses:
| Centre | Old address | New address |
| Itanagar | www.rkmhita.org | itanagar.rkmm.org |
| Taki | www.takirkm.org | www.takirkma.org |
News of Branch Centres in India
A number of our centres celebrated Durga Puja in a grand manner. At the following 35 centres, the Divine Mother was invoked and worshipped in the image from 10 to 13 October: Antpur, Asansol, Barasat, Bilaspur, Chhatrapur (under Raiganj), Contai, Cooch Behar, Delhi, Dhaleswar (Agartala), Digboi, Garbeta, Ghatshila, Guwahati, Gwalior, Haflong, Jalpaiguri, Jamshedpur, Jayrambati, Kailashahar, Kamarpukur, Karimganj, Kasundia (Howrah), Lucknow, Malda, Medinipur, Mumbai, Patna, Port Blair, Rahara, Sahudangi, Shella (under Sohra), Shillong, Shyamsayer (Bardhaman), Silchar and Varanasi Advaita Ashrama.
Dr Manik Saha, Chief Minister of Tripura, attended Durga Puja at Kailashahar centre.
Swami Divyanandaji inaugurated the newly constructed Birsa Munda Bhavan (building for skill development and training programmes) at Ranchi Morabadi centre on 30 September.
The Vivekananda Centre for Human Excellence and an Ayurveda clinic at Tirupati centre were opened on 2 October.
Mayavati centre inaugurated Sadhana Kutir (living quarters for drivers) on 5 October.
The convocation ceremony of the off-campus centre of RKMVERI (deemed university) at Coimbatore Mission Vidyalaya was held on 1 October. Certificates and degrees were awarded to 149 successful candidates.
Ranchi Morabadi centre conducted the following events across villages in Ranchi district: (i) a series of cultural programmes from 8 to 13 September to promote the indigenous culture and musical instruments, in which 1315 members from 46 cultural groups took part, and (ii) four football tournaments and one hockey tournament in September, in which 60 teams from various villages participated.
News of Branch Centres outside India
Durga Puja (in the image) was performed at Durban (South Africa) centre and its sub-centres at Chatsworth and Pietermaritzburg, Lusaka (Zambia) centre, Mauritius Ashrama, and 15 centres in Bangladesh, namely Bagerhat, Baliati, Barisal, Chandpur, Chittagong, Comilla, Dhaka, Dinajpur, Faridpur, Habiganj, Jashore, Mymensingh, Narayanganj, Rangpur and Sylhet, and at the Narail sub‑centre of Jashore Ashrama.
Sri Pranay Kumar Verma, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, and Sri Ghanshyam Bhandari, High Commissioner of Nepal to Bangladesh, attended Durga Puja at Dhaka centre.
Sri Ashok Kumar, High Commissioner of India to Zambia, attended Durga Puja at Lusaka centre.
Lusaka centre, Zambia, organized a special plantation drive on 17 September. Sri Ashok Kumar, High Commissioner of India to Zambia, attended the programme.
Values Education and Youth Programmes
Ahmedabad: A teachers’ seminar at a nearby place on 15 October which was attended by 530 teachers from primary schools.
Bamunmura: A youths’ convention on 29 September in which 255 students from 28 institutions participated.
Dhaleswar, Agartala: A teachers’ convention on 29 September which was attended by 100 teachers from 10 institutions.
Gurugram: (i) Twenty-one workshops for teachers on values education in different parts of the country from 28 August to 9 September, attended by 1016 teachers in all. (ii) Four online values education programmes for teachers from 31 August to 8 September in which altogether 210 teachers took part.
Jammu: Painting, elocution and singing competitions on 16 and 17 October in which a total of 200 students from 26 schools took part.
Jhargram: Various values education programmes from 31 July to 25 September in local educational institutions in which altogether 1935 students and 76 teachers were in attendance.
Kalyani: A workshop on ‘The Cultural Heritage of India’ from 14 to 18 September in which 35 students from nearby colleges took part.
Ponnampet: Two youths’ programmes at two local colleges on 16 October in which a total of 300 students participated.
Rajkot: Seven values education programmes from 13 September to 23 October in which altogether 568 students took part.
Tamluk: Cultural competitions, youths’ conventions and seminars in two phases from 7 June to 27 September for school and college students of Medinipur district, in which a total of 20,000 students were in attendance.
Yadadri Bhuvanagiri: Two values education programmes at a nearby place on 1 and 21 October in which altogether 120 students took part.
Outside India:
Batticaloa (a sub-centre of Colombo branch), Sri Lanka: Four personality development programmes at Hali Ela in October in which a total of 300 students took part.
Eye Camps and other Healthcare Services
The following centres conducted medical camps. A summary of the services provided by them is given below.
India:
Chennai Math: (i) An eye camp at Meyyur village in Thiruvallur district, with the help of Chengalpattu centre, on 6 October in which 76 patients were checked and 27 were referred for eye surgery. (ii) An eye camp at Chengam, with the help of Chengam centre, on 5 October in which 434 patients were screened; subsequently, 212 were admitted to a hospital in Puducherry for surgery.
Cooch Behar: A cleft lip and palate camp on 27 October in which 71 patients were treated.
Gourhati: Four eye camps from May to September in which a total of 191 patients were checked; 13 of them were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital.
Jammu: Three health camps at the centre and at a local school from 1 to 28 September in which altogether 708 patients were treated.
Lucknow: 5083 eye patients were checked and 206 were operated on and given spectacles in September.
Madurai: (i) Two eye camps on 15 September and 20 October: 282 patients in all were screened; subsequently, 66 were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital, and 45 were given spectacles. (ii) Two diabetes check-up camps on 15 September and 20 October where a total of 266 patients were checked. (iii) A health awareness camp on 29 September where 220 persons participated.
Manasadwip: (i) Conducted an eye camp in September in which 195 patients were treated. (ii) Arranged cataract surgery for 40 patients in August in association with another institution.
Nagpur: An eye camp on 6 October: 200 patients were checked; subsequently, 44 were operated on at an eye hospital and 139 were given spectacles.
Nattarampalli: An eye camp on 20 October: 276 patients were checked; later 67 of them were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital, and 62 were given spectacles.
Porbandar: An eye camp on 11 October in which 80 patients were checked; later 61 of them were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital.
Salem: A medical camp on 20 October at Mallasamudram, in which 75 patients were checked; subsequently, 17 were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital, and 21 were given spectacles.
Silchar: An eye camp at Choto Dudhpatil, Dist. Cachar, on 19 September: 123 patients were checked; subsequently 17 of them were operated on for cataract at a hospital.
Vadodara: Eye camps from June to September in which 1794 patients were screened; 224 of them were operated on for cataract at an eye hospital.
Outside India:
Batticaloa (a sub-centre of Colombo branch), Sri Lanka: Medical camps at Kiran, Sittandy and Kudumimalai in October in which altogether 663 patients received medical aid.
Obituaries
We record with sorrow the passing away of two of our brother monks.
Swami Shashankanandaji (Mahesh Maharaj), aged 88, passed away at our hospital in Ranchi Sanatorium on 1 October at 11.43 am. Initiated by Swami Madhavanandaji Maharaj, he joined the order in 1963 at Delhi centre and received sannyasa diksha from Swami Vireshwaranandaji Maharaj in 1973. He served at the headquarters (Relief office and Pallimangal department) and at Delhi, Chandigarh, Khetri, Raipur, Narottam Nagar, Taki and Saradapitha centres as an assistant, Ranchi Morabadi centre, first as an assistant and later as the head for a long 17 years, and as the first head of Purnea centre. He also served Swami Atulanandaji Maharaj for seven months. During 1977-79, he participated in the cyclone relief and rehabilitation project in Andhra Pradesh. He took a keen interest in bhava prachar activities and was passionate about agro‑based rural development initiatives.
After relinquishing the headship of Purnea centre in February 2021, Shashankanandaji had been visiting different places and lived an active life till the end. Among his literary works, Sri Ramakrishna Kathasarovar (a poetic work on Sri Ramakrishna in Hindi) deserves a special mention. His musical discourses on Kathasarovar were well appreciated. The Prime Minister of India sent his condolences on his sudden demise.
Swami Akshatanandaji (Pradip Maharaj) expired at Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata, on 11 October, the sacred Mahashtami day, at 8.40 am. He was 79. Initiated by Swami Madhavanandaji Maharaj, he joined the order in 1967 at Narendrapur centre and received sannyasa diksha from Swami Vireshwaranandaji Maharaj in 1977. He served at the headquarters, Narendrapur centre and Narottam Nagar centre as an assistant, and Contai centre as the head for sixteen years. He had been living a retired life at Contai centre and Belur Math for the last nine years. The swami was amiable by nature and could sing well and play the tabla.