The 150th Birth Anniversary of Sister Nivedita was hosted and celebrated by Sri Ramakrishna Mission Sarada Vidyalaya, Chennai, at the premises Sarada Vidyalaya Girls Higher Secondary School on 28 October 2017. The celebration focused on the relevance of Sister Nivedita’s life and convictions in the field of education, culture and reform. As a run-up to the actual day, science exhibitions had been held in the Sarada Vidyalaya schools.
The celebration on the 28 October 2017 had two sessions. The morning session was for the teachers of Classes VIII to XII and the afternoon session was meant for teachers of Classes I to VII.
The programme was well attended and all the teachers and non-teaching staff of all the five Sarada Vidyalaya schools, Ramakrishna Mission Boys schools in T. Nagar and Mint school participated enthusiastically. The presence of the Swamijis of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission and the Matajis of the Sarada Math added a spiritual touch to the proceedings. The programme was a packed one, with bhajans, meditation sessions, lectures, paper presentations and skits on the life and service of Sister Nivedita. It was a great, grand, much awaited and well organised programme of Sarada Vidyalaya schools.
The morning session programme started with prayer and lighting up of lamps by the monks of Sri Ramakrishna Math and the Secretary of the Sri RKM Sarada Vidyalaya, Smt. R Harini Varma. Dr. Divyanandaprana of Sarda Math enlightened the gathering by delivering a speech on ‘What Teachers should know from the life of Sister Nivedita’. There were four paper presentations, two in the morning session and two in the afternoon session in the following topics:
Sister Nivedita’s views on Education
My School My Pride
Sister Nivedita’s Contribution in Preserving
Indian Culture
Sister Nivedita views on Service
Sister Nivedita’s Patriotism
Skits were presented in both the sessions by the students of Sarada Vidyalaya schools on Sister Nivedita’s life and activities. Dr. M N G Mani spoke in both the sessions on the topic What must be the uniqueness of the Teachers of the Ramakrishna Mission Schools. Swami Sathyaprabhananda spoke on Sister Nivedita. A guided meditation programme for the participants was conducted in both the sessions by the Swamijis.
As a culmination of the programme, all the teacher participants of both the sessions took Acharya Vows with flower offerings. A sumptuous, grand lunch was hosted by Sarada Vidyalaya to all the participants of both the sessions. The programme ended with the customary vote of thanks.
