Short Report
on the 150th Birth Anniversary Celebration of Swami Vivekanandaji
The Departments of Hindi and Philosophy,
P.G.Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh organized a lecture on “Life
and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda”on 11th October, 2013. Swami
Anupamananda ji (Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Chandigarh) was the
chief-guest of this program. The details of the progrmme is given below:
Dr. Anita Khosla (Head, Department of Hindi)
first introduced Chief-Guest and gave a detail account of his activities. She
mentioned in her speech that Swami Anupamanandaji served as the Director of
Vivekananda Institute of Languages, which offers Indian and Foreign language
courses to 7,000 students. He used to regularly interact and motivate the
students. In June 2012 Swami
Anupamanandaji took Charge as the Head of Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama,
Chandigarh. Since then he has been
visiting and conduction programmes. He directs the activities of the Ashrama,
which include service activities in medical field, educational field, cultural
and spiritual programmes. Dr. Beenu Dogra (Vice-Principal, PGGCG-11,
Chandigarh) presented in the programme with her kind and motivational presence.
Swami Anupamananda ji delivered his lecture
concentrating on Swami Vivekananda and Value Education. He added that remembering
Swami Vivekananda’s unique contribution for the regeneration of modern India, the
nation is celebrating his 150th birth anniversary. He has left an indelible mark on great
thinkers of modern world. ‘Man’ was
central to his philosophy. Since education
plays major role in developing human personality, he has propounded a philosophy
of education which has found universal acceptance. An important message of Swami
Vivekananda, which was very relevant to the Indian condition, was that man is the
maker of his own future. Man has the
power to make him-self what he wishes to be.
Man has immense possibilities. In
spite of this if someone remains an ordinary person, he alone is to be blamed
for this. Once a person decides the goal
of his life he needs to labour under correct knowledge. This will take him to the goal. Swamiji’s
this message brought change in the attitude of Indian people who had lost the
capacity to take initiative. The ultimate goal of education is to acquire
knowledge of one’s own real nature. “Each
soul is potentially divine.” said Swami Vivekananda. We have forgotten our real
nature. Hence we think ourselves weak and helpless. If we realise our nature we develop faith in
ourselves. Swamiji wanted personality
development through moral and spiritual education. “The very essence of education
is concentration of mind.”, said Swamiji.
The training of the mind is very important for Swamijis scheme of
education. Comprehension and retention
play an important role in education, which is not possible with an untrained
mind. With a trained mind alone it is
possible. So concentration becomes paramount to education. There
are three dimensions to our personality, i.e. physical, mental and spiritual. A
harmonious development of these three dimensions is essential for balanced
development of personality. Swami Vivekananda repeatedly stressed the immediate
need of mass education. He wanted
education to reach backward, downtrodden rural Indians. Swami Vivekananda pointed out that spirit of
service must be part of our life. Swami Vivekananda’s life
and message have the power to empower our thought process, which will help us
to inculcate self-respect, moral courage, social responsibility, creativity and
patriotism. Thus Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy of education can help the
younger generation to overcome the deficiency in the system of education and
produce men and women of character, which is the need of the hour.
On this occasion a special issue on
Value-Education of Milestone Education Review released in CD-ROM by Swamiji and
it is also mentioned that the online version of this issue will be made available
soon. This issue edited by Prof Nandita
( Chairperson, Deptt. of Education, P.U, Chandigarh & Coordinator, Centre
for Swami Vivekananda Studies), Dr. Latika Sharma (Deptt. of Education, P.U.
Chandigarh), Dr. Sudhir Baweja (Coordinator , Philosophy, Vivekananda Studies,
USOL, P.U Chandigarh). Dr. Sudhir Baweja gave an overview of content included
in this volume. He also emphasized on the importance of value-education in
present times and contribution of Swami Vivekananda through his philosophy of
education. Dr. Desh Raj Sirswal gave a report of events organised by the
philosophy department to celebrate the Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda
and other student activities. He also informed students that being a part of
this celebration Vivek-Vahini (a mobile-van for Swami Vivekananda’s literature)
visit college campus in November and December too. Students can read and
purchase literature from there.
In the end of the programme, Dr. Madhu Gosain
(Department of Hindi) presented a thanking note. She beautifully presented her
words of wisdom. Several faculty members from various departments of the
college and students participated in this event and enjoyed the programme
peacefully and thoughtfully.
Dr. Desh Raj Sirswal
11th October,2013
