News Bulletin : 01 August 2018

Personalia

Revered President Maharaj is scheduled to visit Rahara from 29 August to 1 September.  He is keeping well.

Swami Vagishananda ji will be visiting Jamshedpur and Ghatshila from 15 to 25 August.  He is keeping well.

Swami Gautamananda ji is scheduled to visit Chengam from 1 to 3 August, Kayamkulam, Tiruvalla, Haripad, Kochi, Kalady and Thrissur from 13 to 24 August, and Indore and Bhopal from 27 to 31 August.  He is in good health.

Swami Prabhananda ji  will be visiting the Institute of Culture, Kolkata, from 14 to 25 August.  He is keeping well.

Swami Shivamayananda ji is scheduled to return to Kankurgachhi Math on 17 August after his visit to Kaliaganj, Raiganj, Sahudangi and Jalpaiguri.  He will be visiting Dimapur and Barpeta from 22 to 30 August.  He is in good health.

Swami Suhitananda ji is scheduled to visit Ranchi from 3 to 10 August, and Ramharipur and Bardhaman from 17 to 28 August.  He is in good health.

Headquarters

Guru Purnima is celebrated at Belur Math on 27 July 2018. Photos.

Sri Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Government of India, visited Belur Math on 7 July.

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

The following centres held programmes mentioned against their names:

In India:

Coimbatore Mission Vidyalaya: Cultural competitions in a school and a college in Coimbatore on 12 and 23 July.  In all, 690 students took part in the competitions.  At both the venues, the competitions were followed by a talk, awards ceremony, and a skit. Report and Photos.

Asansol: A public meeting on 30 June which was attended by about 600 devotees.

Malda: A devotees’ convention on 8 July in which about 700 people took part. Report and Photos.

Swamiji’s Ancestral House: A lecture on 30 June which was attended by 300 people.

Outside India:

Lusaka, Zambia: A public meeting on 8 July which was attended by about 100 people.

Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita

The following centres held programmes mentioned against their names:

Antpur: A students’ convention on 21 July in which about 150 students and 20 teachers participated.

Chennai Mission Ashrama: An orientation programme for teachers on 14 July in which about 180 teachers mainly from the schools run by the Ashrama participated.

Gurap:  Two spiritual retreats on 27 May and 1 July in which about 300 devotees took part.

Swamiji’s Ancestral House: Two lectures on 25 June and 4 July which were attended by about 800 people.

News of Branch Centres (in India)

Ramakrishna Mission Shilpapitha, the polytechnic run by Belgharia centre, celebrated its diamond jubilee on 25 July.  Swami Vagishananda ji presided over the public meeting held in the morning.  The public meeting held in the afternoon was presided over by the General Secretary.  Sri Pranab Mukherjee, former President of India, addressed the meeting as the chief guest and also unveiled a statue of Swamiji on the college campus.  A large number of students and devotees attended the programme. Report and Photos.

The General Secretary inaugurated the new extension to the school building and a dining-hall for girls at Jhargram centre on 12 May.

Agartala centre conducted a blood donation camp on 19 July which was inaugurated by Sri Sudip Roy Barman, Health Minister of Tripura.  A total of 50 persons donated blood in the camp.

Chennai Students’ Home held a workshop on Foldscope (a low-cost paper microscope) on 30 June in which 36 teachers from our educational institutions in Chennai took part. Report and Photos.

Guwahati centre held a health awareness camp for women at Borgaon in Assam on 1 July which was attended by 65 women; 16 of them were examined by doctors.

Porbandar centre conducted a medical camp on 15 July in which 409 patients were treated. Report and Photos.

Ramharipur centre held a blood donation camp on 29 July in which 29 people donated blood.  A health awareness programme was also held on that day.

The new MRI unit at Seva Pratishthan hospital was inaugurated on 6 July.

Visakhapatnam centre held a surgery camp in July in which an expert surgeon operated on 13 children suffering from cerebral palsy.

The 13th foundation day celebration and the annual convocation of RKMVERI (deemed university) were held on the university’s Belur campus on 4 July.  In all, 204 students received their degrees.  The General Secretary presided over the programme.

Swami Gautamananda ji inaugurated the newly built first floor of the monks’ quarters at Lucknow Math on 6 July. Revered Maharaj also inaugurated an advanced phaco machine, used for cataract surgery, in our Lucknow hospital on 8 July.

Swami Gautamananda ji dedicated Brahmananda Bhavan, the new office block, at Kanpur centre on 9 July. Report and Photos.

Swami Vagishananda ji inaugurated the new dining-hall for boys at Jhargram centre on 10 July.

On the sacred occasion of Ratha Yatra on 14 July, Puri Math conducted a medical camp from 14 to 22 July in which about 300 patients were treated.  The Math also served lemonade to about 10,500 pilgrims.

Puri Mission Ashrama served lemonade to about 10,000 pilgrims during the Ratha Yatra festival.  A medical camp was also set up on this occasion.

Bankura centre inaugurated its year-long centenary celebrations with a procession in Bankura city on 19 July.  On 22 July, the General Secretary presided over a public meeting and also inaugurated the centenary building on the Kenduadihi campus of the centre.  About 400 people attended the programme.

Sri Tathagata Roy, Governor of Tripura, visited Agartala centre on 22 July.

The new prayer hall and monks’ quarters at Narottam Nagar centre were dedicated on 22 July. Report and Photos.

Revered President Maharaj inaugurated the newly built extension to the vocational training centre of Baghbazar Math on 29 July.  The General Secretary attended the inauguration and addressed the public meeting held on this occasion.  The training centre is located at Pranakrishna Mukherjee Road, Kolkata.

The under-14 and under-17 football teams of Narainpur school won the state-level Subroto Cup Football Tournament held at Narainpur from 20 to 22 July.  The school also won the overall champions trophy.

A postgraduate student of the Vivekananda Institute of Medical Sciences of Seva Pratishthan  secured first position in the final examination of MD (General Medicine) conducted by West Bengal University of Health Sciences this year.

A student of Vivekananda College of Chennai Vidyapith won a gold medal in the 400-metre relay race and a silver medal in the 200-metre race in the South Asian Junior Athletics Championships held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 5 & 6 May, and a bronze medal in the 400-metre relay race in the Asian Junior Athletics Championships held in Gifu, Japan, from 7 to 10 June.

Students of Deoghar Vidyapith secured the following ranks at the national level in the Sanskrit Olympiad 2017 conducted by Samskrita Bharati Educational Trust, Guntur: 1st rank (1 student), 3rd rank (2 students), 4th rank (4 students) and 5th rank (1 student).

The following centres held summer camps for students.  The programme included chanting, bhajans, yogasanas, values education classes, etc.

Values Education and Youth Programmes

Gourhati centre conducted values education programmes at 8 nearby schools from February to May; altogether 1500 students attended the programmes.

Hyderabad Math held two youths’ camps – one on 30 June and 1 July, and the other on 14 July.  In all, about 400 youths participated in the camps.

Mumbai Ashrama conducted a students’ workshop at its rural centre in Sakwar on 22 April.  About 120 students took part in the day-long workshop.

Rajkot centre held 16 values education programmes in the month of July which were attended by a total of 2620 students.

Swachchha Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign)

Coimbatore Mission Vidyalaya conducted four cleaning drives in July in which the Vidyalaya students cleaned a public road and the premises of a school and two government offices.

Mangaluru Ashrama conducted the following activities in June and July: (i) nine cleanliness drives in Mangaluru involving about 86,550 volunteers, (ii) daily awareness campaign for 38 days in which 2450 volunteers reached out to nearly 4680 households in Mangaluru and spread awareness about cleanliness, and (iii) cleanliness drives in 138 villages of Dakshina Kannada district in which about 13,675 people took part.

News of Branch Centres (Outside India)

On 8 July, Boston centre, USA, celebrated the 125th anniversary of Swamiji’s arrival in Boston.  The programme consisted of music, group meditation, and a slide show of the events around Swamiji’s arrival there.