Personalia
Revered President Maharaj is in Coimbatore and will return to Belur Math on 8 March after visiting Delhi, Vrindavan and Gurugram. He is scheduled to visit Bengaluru, Kochi and Kalady from 21 to 29 March.
Swami Suhitanandaji is in Nabadwip and will return to Belur Math on 2 March. Thereafter, he will visit Tamluk, Contai and Chandipur from 7 to 14 March, and Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Adipur and Bidada (Gujarat) from 22 March to 9 April.
Swami Bhajananandaji is at Belur Math.
Swami Girishanandaji is in Medinipur and will return to Belur Math on 5 March after visiting Lalgarh. Later, he is scheduled to visit Barasat from 9 to 14 March, and Durgapur and Bokaro (Jharkhand) from 21 March to 14 April.
Swami Divyanandaji will be visiting Baranagar Math on 4 March, Gwalior and Vrindavan from 6 to 11 March, and Taki and Sandelerbil (West Bengal) from 25 to 30 March.
Swami Vimalatmanandaji is scheduled to visit Ramharipur from 7 to 13 March, Gol Park centre, Kolkata, from 21 to 24 March, and Gurap on 25 and 26 March.
All of them are keeping well.
Headquarters
The birthday (janma-tithi) of Sri Ramakrishna Dev was celebrated at Belur Math on Thursday, 19 February, with spiritual fervour and delight. Khichuri prasad was served to 23,000 devotees. The General Secretary presided over the public meeting held in the afternoon.
On 19 February, the Math and Mission, in association with other like-minded organizations, commemorated the 129th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s return to Kolkata from the West in 1897. A statue of Swamiji was carried in a special train from Budge Budge to Sealdah railway station, Kolkata, where a public meeting was held. Following this, a large procession of 4000 students, monks, devotees and admirers made its way from Sealdah railway station to Alambazar Math, covering a distance of 12 km.
The annual Public Celebration in connection with Sri Ramakrishna’s birthday was held at Belur Math on Sunday, 22 February, with religious discourses, cultural events and a mela (fair). Lakhs of people visited Belur Math on that day. Khichuri prasad was served to 37,000 devotees and visitors.
New Math Sub-Centre
On 1 February, the holy birthday of Swami Adbhutanandaji Maharaj, our long-cherished wish to establish a campus at Gayaji, the sacred place associated with the divine origin of Sri Ramakrishna Dev, was fulfilled. On that day, Swami Girishanandaji dedicated the new 15-acre campus, located 30 km from Gayaji city, and inaugurated a prayer hall, monks’ quarters, a guest house, and a building for educational activities. In all, 62 monks, 200 devotees and 2000 local people attended the programme. This new campus will function as a sub-centre directly under the supervision of the Math Headquarters.
Its address is
Ramakrishna Math,
Village Jharha (near Matua Pahar),
P.O. Gurua, Dist. Gayaji,
Bihar 824205,
phone number: 79034 91011
email id: gaya@rkmm.org
News of Branch Centres in India
Sri Vishnu Deo Sai, Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, visited Narainpur centre on 31 January.
Revered President Maharaj dedicated the Vivekananda Centre for Human Excellence on the Gandhinagar campus of Vijayawada centre on 1 February. Special worship, and conventions for devotees, youths and teachers, were held as a part of the programme.
Swami Vimalatmanandaji inaugurated a kitchen cum dining hall, named Maa Sarada Prasadalaya, at Nabadwip centre on 1 February.
Raipur centre celebrated the 50th anniversary of the dedication of its Sri Ramakrishna Temple (1976–2026) on 2 February with special worship, homa and bhajans.
The General Secretary opened the new primary school building at the Srirampur sub-centre of Jhargram Ashrama on 8 February. He also inaugurated a lift in the monks’ quarters building on the Ashrama’s main campus on that day.
The General Secretary inaugurated the newly set-up computer training centre at Kalyani branch on 28 February.
Ranchi Morabadi centre conducted four farmers’ fairs from 21 January to 27 February, in which a total of 22,900 people participated.
News of Branch Centres outside India
General Waker-Uz-Zaman, Chief of Bangladesh Army; Sri Pranay Verma, High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh; and several other dignitaries participated in Sri Ramakrishna’s birthday celebrations at Dhaka centre, Bangladesh, from 17 to 20 February.
Awards and Recognitions
Students of our Hatamuniguda school participated in (i) different academic Olympiads conducted by SilverZone Foundation, New Delhi, and secured 10 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals, (ii) the All India Swachh Bharat Art Competition, conducted by the National Education and Human Resource Development Organization, Mumbai, receiving 16 gold medals and 4 trophies, and (iii) the International Hindi Olympiad, conducted by the Hindi Olympiad Foundation, New Delhi, securing 5 gold and 4 silver medals.
A student of our higher secondary school in Kalady received Ravi Pillai Academic Excellence Scholarship from Sri Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, in a programme held at Thiruvananthapuram on 11 February.
Communication Addresses
Phone Numbers: Prayagraj centre has discontinued its phone number 2413369. It has a new phone number: 2990892.
Websites: Konampatti centre has launched a website with the address konampatti.rkmm.org
Values Education and Youth Programmes
The following centres held programmes mentioned against their names:
- Coimbatore Mission: Two values education camps for youths from 10 to 13 February, in which a total of 219 students participated.
- Contai: A youths’ convention on 21 January, in which 320 students participated.
- Gurap: Four youths’ conferences at four nearby schools from 21 January to 24 February, in which a total of 350 students took part.
- Hyderabad: (i) Two values education programmes on 31 January and 7 February for youths at rural areas of Telangana, in which a total of 900 students were in attendance. (ii) Four youths’ conventions from 10 to 17 February, in which a total of 4700 college students took part.
- Konampatti: A values education programme at a nearby school on 29 January, in which 200 students were in attendance.
- Mumbai: Inter-school and inter-college cultural competitions from 29 November to 24 January, in which a total of 6728 students from 213 schools and colleges participated. The prize-giving ceremonies were held on 8 and 21 February.
- Raipur: Cultural competitions on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda from 14 to 22 January, in which a total of 143 students from 21 educational institutions took part.
- Rajkot: A youths’ convention on 4 February, in which 500 youths participated.
- Salem: Three two-day values education programmes for youths from 6 to 28 January at nearby colleges, in which a total of 440 students were in attendance.
- Yadadri Bhuvanagiri: A motivational programme for youths on 8 February, in which 120 youths 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.
- Antpur: An eye camp in association with an eye hospital on 22 February, in which 54 patients underwent cataract surgery.
- Chennai Math: An eye camp in Chengalpattu district, with the help of Chengalpattu centre, on 22 February: 69 patients were screened and 27 were given spectacles.
- Coimbatore Mission: Ten medical camps (1 dental, 2 eye, 2 ENT and 5 general camps) in rural and tribal areas of Coimbatore district from 31 January to 22 February, in which a total of 701 patients were treated.
- Cuttack: A medical camp at a nearby place on 14 February, in which 300 patients were treated.
- Dhaleswar, Agartala: A medical camp on 14 February, in which 111 patients were treated.
- Digboi: (i) Three medical camps from 11 January to 1 February, in which a total of 71 patients were treated. (ii) An eye camp on 24 January, in which 22 patients were screened; subsequently, 15 of them underwent cataract surgery at an eye hospital in Dibrugarh.
- Gurap: An eye camp on 21 January, in which 27 patients were checked; later, 7 of them underwent cataract surgery at an eye hospital in Howrah.
- Halasuru, Bengaluru: An eye camp on 3 January: 156 patients were checked; subsequently, 24 were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital, and 15 were given spectacles.
- Hatamuniguda: An eye camp on 18 February, in which 88 patients were treated; subsequently, 46 of them were given spectacles.
- Jalpaiguri: An eye camp on 7 February in collaboration with an eye hospital, in which 200 patients were checked; subsequently, 7 of them were operated on for cataract in the hospital and 52 were given spectacles.
- Jammu: A medical camp on 20 February, in which 143 patients were treated.
- Kailashahar: A blood donation camp on 19 February, in which 55 people donated blood.
- Konampatti: (i) Four medical camps from 1 to 22 February, in which a total of 141 patients were treated. (ii) An eye camp on 22 February in association with a nearby eye hospital, in which 67 patients were screened. Of them, 13 underwent cataract surgery, and 30 were given spectacles.
- Lucknow: Eye camps in January: 5893 patients were examined, of whom 460 underwent surgery and received spectacles.
- Madurai: An eye camp on 15 February, in which 114 patients were screened. Of them, 40 were operated on for cataract at an eye hospital, and 7 were given spectacles.
- Mumbai: Two medical camps on 18 January and 8 February at Palghar district, in which a total of 330 patients were treated; 178 of them were given spectacles.
- Nagpur: An eye camp on 1 February, in which 85 patients were screened; later, 28 of them underwent cataract surgery in a local eye hospital, and 45 were given spectacles.
- Nattarampalli: An eye camp on 15 February: 242 patients were checked; subsequently, 93 were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital, and 59 were given spectacles.
- Porbandar: An eye camp on 13 February, where 92 patients were checked; later on, 60 were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital.
- Rahara, Kolkata: A medical camp at Hingalganj block, North 24 Parganas district, on 1 February, in which 452 patients were treated.
- Salem: A medical camp at a nearby place on 8 February, in which 465 patients were treated.
- Seva Pratishthan, Kolkata: A day-long medical camp at Belur Math on 22 February, the day of the annual Public Celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s birth anniversary; 401 patients were treated.
- Sribhumi (Karimganj): An eye camp in collaboration with a nearby hospital on 14 February, in which 21 patients were checked; later on, 8 were operated on for cataract in an eye hospital.