AnandalayaSpecialIssue

Vivekananda Kendra is Spiritually OrientedService organization working throughoutthecountrysince 1972 with an aim of Man making-Nationbuilding.

SinceinceptionweareworkingintheNortheast.WeworkinthefieldofEducation,Ruraldevelopment,Natural resource development, health, Cultural andSocio-economicdevelopment.

In1993westartedourworkinteagardenareainDibrugarh district with an aim of all rounddevelopment.InthebeginningwestartedBalwadiesandhealthawareness.In2003wedesignedspecialprojectANANDALAYA.Theprojectaims:

To createaneducationsupportiveatmosphereinteagardens.Toimparteducationthroughplaywaymethodandincrease interest for studies among primaryschoolchildrenToreducetherateofdropouts and thusimprovethestatusofthe education.TogivemanmakingValuebasededucationandimprovequalityof education.Toincreasepatrioticfeelingsamongthechildren.To develop self respect among the tea gardenyouthandpeople.

To create health awareness among the childrenandthroughthemamongtheelders.Toworkforallrounddevelopment.

AandadalayaSangathak-3AnadalayaVistarPramukh(Supervisiors)-6AnadalayaAcharyas-70Healthworkers-10Trainers-5Karyakartas-30

We run83Anandalayasdailytwoandhalfhourswith2500students, 15 Sanskar Vargas weekly oneandhalfhourswith360students,,7BhajanSandhyaone hour in 3 Vistars with 210 women;at namelyChabua,MoranandJalannagar,d.

Along with this, training camps of Acharyas,Supervisors,andKaryakartsareconductedregularly.Healthawarenesscamp,TrainingforSelf-helpgroupsect.aretheregularfeatures.

To run this successfully we have anorganizationalset uplikethis:

Impactofwork

RegularityofstudentsinSchool.Goodresultsofstudents.Self-confidenceinyouth.Cleanlinessinteagardenarea.

Vivekananda Kendra KanyakumariBranch Dibrugarh

Anandalaya

Three Day Seminar onTraditionalSystems of the Sawras - Changeand Continuity

ThreeDaySeminaronTraditionalSystemsoftheSawraswithChangeandContinuitywasorganisedbyAll Assam Sawra Samaj in collaboration withVivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture (VKIC),Guwahati, Assam. The seminar was inaugurated on8 May,2015morningwithhostingofAllAssamSawraSamajflagbySriDinanathSawra,President,AllAssamSarwa Samaj, (Central Body) followed by lighting oflamp by Mananeeya Nivedita Didi, Vice President,Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari along withMananeeya D. Bhanudas, General Secretary,Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, Prof. ParimalChandra Bhattacharjee, Director, RAC, VKIC,Guwahati, Sri Dinanath Sawra, President, All AssamSawra Samaj and Sri Ganesh Chandra Kurmi, notededucationist.

TheseminarwasorganisedatLabourClubfieldofPathalibam, Sawra Line, Moran, Dibrugarh,Assam.Alltogether 225delegatesfromdifferentpartsofthestateand also from various other states like Odisha, WestBengal,Tripuraparticipatedinthethreedayseminar.

Altogether 12 papers were presented in 12academicsessions.Thefirstacademicsessionstartedwith the paper The oral History of the SawraCommunity presented b y S r i Jayanta Sawra GeneralSecretary, AllAssam Sawra Samaj which focusses o nthe oral history oftheSawracommunitywhichisgoingon generation after generation. How the community

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camefromhillyareasofOrissapresentdayOdishaandhadtostrugglehardtoadjustinanunknownenvironmentinplainareasofAssam.ThesecondacademicsessionstartedwiththepaperpresentedbySriBarishSarwaonThe Family and Kinship systems among the Sawracommunity. The paper highlighted on various kinshiprelations among the Sawra community. The otheracademic sessionsare onReligiousRitesandRitualsamongtheSawracommunitypresentedbySriSartinyaSawra,TraditionalInstitutionsoftheSawracommunitypresentedbySmt.ParbinSawra,FestivalsoftheSawraCommunity presented bySriHoliramSawra,ReligiousandSupernaturalforcesintheSawracommunitybySriMagon Raita andSriJayantaSawrajointly,TraditionalHealth Care systems among theSawraspresented bySri Jayanta Sawra, The village organization of theSawra community presented by Sri Gauranga Sawra.Sri Nokul Sawra presented paper on The god andgoddesses of the Sawra, Sri Barish Sawra on Themarriage system among the Sawra, Sri GaneshChandraKurmionInfluenceofSrimantaSankardevaontheSawraCommunity.

The seminar concluded with concluding remarksfromMananeeyaNiveditaDidi.MananeeyaNiveditaDidisaid that the Sawra is one of the oldest communitiesliving in various parts of India like Orissa and centralIndia.MentionofSawracommunityisfoundthereinthetwo great epic and . Throughthis seminar it is tried to bring into focus the traditionsystemsoftheSawracommunity,theprocessofculturalassimilation induecourseoft imeandthechange.Theconcluding session was also chaired by Sri GaneshChandraKurmiandSriDinanathSawra.

Ramayana Mahabharata

MymindisenthrallingtoexpressthefeelingsthatIhaveinsideaboutoneofthetruesonsofBharatMata.Itsquite some timenowaf te r Ibegantoexp lo re&knowabout this man, Mananeeya Eknathji Ranade, theFounderofVivekanandaRockMemorial&VivekanandaKendra.

IneverheardabouthiminmyearlydaystillIjoinedVivekanandaKendrain2007.AfterjoiningalsoinitiallyIused to hear about Eknathji but never felt anythingspecial about him. For last around 3-4 years when Ibegantolearnabouthim,Icouldfeeltheessenceofhisgreatpersonality.Fortunately,thisyearbeingtheJanmaShatiParvaofthegreatpersona,Icouldhear,learnalotabout him,whichisengrossingme,asIbegintoknowvariousinstancesfromthelifeofMananeeyaEknathji.

I am in any way nowhere to comment anythingaboutSri.Eknathji,asIamnot well-versedabouthislifeorworktillnow.ItwillbelikeshowinglamptotheSun,butwhatever I have absorbed in this short span of myassociation with Vivekananda Kendra, certainly someincidentsfromthelifeofthepersonhascreatedabuzzinmyinnersoulwhichI wouldliketojotdown.

Whenever, I hear about Sri. Eknathji, one wordcreepsupinmymindwhichis hisforesightedness.Iampresently stationedatVivekanandaKendraVidyalaya,Arunachal Pradesh Trust's administrative office atDibrugarh for account finalisation work for the session2014-15. Here we participate in 'Swadhyaya' sessionevery Saturday morning where being the Janma ShatiParvaofSri .Eknathj i ,wereadabout him & ponder onproceedings from his life. Last Saturday i.e., 02/05/15,during 'Swadhyaya' session, Mananeeya NiveditaDidi,VicePresident,VivekanandaKendra&PravinJi,JointGeneralSecretary,VivekanandaKendrawere present with us. While discussing aboutMananeeya Eknathji, respected Didi asked every onepresent to saysomepointswhichimmediatelycometoourmindwhenwethinkofEknathji.Onthismanysharedbeautiful anecdotesfromthelifeofEknathji.RespectedMaheshanjitoldabouthispunctuality,hisdedication,hisdetailing etc.OurdearbrotherChandrasekharalsoputhis feelingabout'Sahasikata'(courage)ofMananeeyaEknathji onwhichDidielaboratedmany instances likehowEknathjiwasboldenoughtostandforhisrightwhenhewasdeniedattendanceinhiscollegebecauseofnotbeing able to pay fees in time. And further she also

Mananeeya

explainedthewayEknathjistoodforthetruth&emergedsuccessful.

Didi elaborated many points about the greatpersonalitywhichrejuvenatedourmind.Shetoldthatwehavetofocusinbeingacompleteperson.Wemaynotbegoodineverytaskoflifebutwecanstrivetobecomebestinwhateverwedo.Forexampleifapotmakercanbesoperfect in making pots that none cancomplain orpointoutanyfaultinhiscreation,thenheisaperfectpersonasa pot maker. Similarly ifwecanculminatewhatwearegoodat&trytobetterourselves,surelywecanalsobecomplete.DidialsotoldusthewayEknathj i inc ulcatedthe conceptof 'Seva' inthemindsofKaryakartas.Healso introduced the system where male & femaleKaryakartaswereprovidedtheopportunitytoserveaspertheircapabilities.ThusVivekanandaKendrabecamethe1 ofitskindSevaorganisationwherebothbrother&sister Karyakartas wereworkingin tandemtowardsthedevelopmentofthesociety.Nowwecanwitnessvariousorganisationsworking for the nation. The conceptwasbroughtforward by great Eknathji Ranade. He indeedwasatruevisionary.

OneofDidi 'spointsthatmademetoponderuponwas the story she told abouthowtomak e a given line(rekha)smallerwithouttouchingit.Thestorygoeslike,onceinaclass,ateacherdrewalineontheblackboard.Hethenaskedthestudentsifanyonecanmakeitsmallerwithouttouchingitofrubbingitoff.Noonecouldcometoanyconclusionhowit could bedone.Suddenlyoneofthestudentsgotup&drewabiggerline(rekha)besidethe earlier one. So automatically the previous onebecameshorter.Itwasreallyveryinfluencingstory.Weallcouldrelatethatnothingisimpossibleifwearewillingtoapproachitpositively.

InmyturnIjusttoldthatIamverymuchinfluencedfrom the life of Eknath ji on certain points like hisOrganisationalskill,Managementabilities&speciallyhisfarsightedness (Dur-Darshita). On that point Didiexpounded certain points which touched me veryintensely. She told us that during 1960swhenEknathjicould explore North Eastern states of this country, hecouldunderstandthestrategicimportanceofthispartofthe countrywhich wasneglectedfromthemainstream.Hedecidedtoserveinthisareaofthecountryintheformofschools.Hetrained&motivated youth with zeal toserveasteachers.Nowwecanseetheoutcomeofthe

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Kendra Karyakarta Writes...Man with Capital M

decisionmade atthatjuncture.Ifatthattime,Eknathjihadn'tthoughttoimbibeRashtraBhakti intheheartoflocal residents, this partof thecountry wouldn't havebeentherewithus.

Beingfromthispartofourmotherland,Isincerelysalute the farsightedness of the Great son of ourmotherlandMananeeyaEknathji,whogaveusachanceto serve mankind through service provided byVivekananda Kendra. I am proud to be a member ofVivekananda KendrawhichisstrivingforManMaking,Nation Building for so many decades. Ideology ofVivekananda Kendra is reflection of foresight ofEknathji Ranade to serve nation through service tomankind. I am thankful to Vivekananda Kendra forproviding me the opportunity to be a part of thegreatcauseofNationBuildingwhichIdon'tthinkwouldhavebeen possible for me had I been in any otherprofessional set-up. Gradually Mananeeya Eknathji'slife story is igniting the zeal in myself tostr ive for theservicetomankindwhichisverysoothingimpactformysoul.

I feel it would be a great tribute to MananeeyaEknathji, if weal lcould learn moreabout him and letothers too know about him. Knowing him means,spreadinghisthoughtswhichin fact were thoughts ofSwamiVivekananda himself. Thiswaymoresonsanddaughters of this great nation will come forward andstrengthen this nation further to become Jagad Guruonceagain.

SubhashisMaulikVivekanandKendraVidyalaya,

Yazali, Arunachal Pradesh

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YourcontributionmattersWe appeal to all to join this effort bycontributingyourtime,energyandmoneysothat together we realize thevision of SwamiVivekananda, One vision I see clear as lifebefore me: that the ancient Mother hasawakened once more, sittingonHerthronerejuvenated, more glorious than ever.ProclaimHertoalltheworldwiththevoiceofpeaceandbenediction.The contributionsareeligiblefor Income TaxexemptionunderSection80G.E-mail:assam@vkendra.org