Annual Report for Academic Year 2001-02

   Revered Swami Baneshanandaji, respected Dr.Kalyanaraman, members of the faculty and my dear friends. Let me begin this annual report by quoting Swami Vivekananada’s words “Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached. Awake from the hypnotism of weakness. Think not that you are weak and miserable. None is really weak. You are what you want to be.”

   What a life giving message! The words of Swamiji are still relevant even after 100years, because these are not just words but great truths and these are the inspiration for the Vivekananda Study Circle, which has completed 5years since its inception in September’97.Over the years our scope and relevance in IIT-M has only broadened. We hope this annual report will give a comprehensive view of our activities.

Inauguration function:

   Our activities for the year 2001-02 began with the inauguration function with an opening talk by Sri P.Parameswaran, All India President, Vivekananda Kendra. His talk gave us a clearer understanding of our responsibilities as educated youth, born in the great Bharata, towards the whole of humanity. Revered Swami Gautamanandaji, President, Ramakrishna math, Mylapore, presided over the function. He gave an excellent introduction about the message of Swamiji to the freshers. Prof.S.S.Gokhale, Dean of students gave the welcome address.

Sunday classes:

   An important part of our activities is the Sunday classes, usually held in the spacious HSB333, between 9:30 – 11:00.

   Considering the importance of calm mind for a peaceful life and excellence in work, first few Sunday classes are exclusively dedicated for this. Swami Baneshanandaji taught us the ‘Theory of Meditation’ followed by a ‘Guided meditation’ session.

   The central theme of last year’s lectures was ‘Vedantic principle for Human Excellence’. The talk on ‘Education for Excellence’ by the Dr.K.Subramaniam conveyed the importance of proper man-making education, and then the talk on ‘Time management’ by Swami Jagadeeshwarananda Saraswati’ helped us in the optimization of time in our daily activities.

   While continuing with the above theme, the talk by Dr.N.V.C.Swamy, former Director of IIT Madras on ‘Patanjali Yoga Sutras’, set the ideal note for the beginning of even semester, followed by lectures on ‘Self confidence-Shradda’, ‘Self Mastery’, ‘Extracting our best’ gave a clearer picture of our goals. The talks on ‘Joy of living for others’, ‘Preliminaries of Yoga’, ‘Work like a Master’, ‘Concentration and knowledge’ pointed to us various ways to achieve our goals. The concluding lecture on ‘Humanity at crossroads’ pointed to us how the vast diverse cultures of India can live in harmony with each other.

   For the lecture series, although continuity is beneficial, each lecture gives independently, a new light on the topic.

National youth-day celebrations:

 We had a series of lectures and events as a part of our ‘National Youth-day celebrations’.

   An enlighting and informative CD show on ‘Personality Development’ by Swami Bodhmayananadji showed that personality development is nothing but recognizing the divine essence and perfection within oneself and manifesting them in each moment of one’s life. A book sale which followed the CD show also received good response.

   A special lecture by Dr.K.Subramaniam, former principal of Vivekananda College, on ‘The importance of Yoga asanas in everyday life’ provided the ideal ground for ‘Yoga training classes for 10days’ by Mr. Muthukrishnan, which received an overwhelming response.

  We also conducted ‘Essay writing’ and ‘Eloctution’ competitions for students of Kendriya vidyalaya and Vanavani schools, which saw enthusiastic participation from the students.

Other activities:

   We held ‘Ram Nam sankirtan’ twice, the second time on the occasion of ‘Sri Ramanavami’ with the help of Mrs.Padma, a devotee of Sarada math.

   Our website (www.oocities.org/vsc_iitm ) has completed one year, and our e-groups has an active participation of about 50 members.

   The ideals imbibed have found a practical outlet at the tuition centre at Velachery. Run with the help of NSS first year students, it aims at providing free academic assistance to poor school going children. Saturdays are kept aside for moral and spiritual teachings. We distributed sweets and books to them on some auspicious occasions and also took them on a trip to Vivekananda cultural heritage exhibition, near Marina.

 Our library now has over 350 books, 75 cassettes and 4 CDs which can be taken after Sunday classes or by contacting any of our hostel representatives.

The people now are slowly getting aware of the fact that Vedantic principles help in attaining ‘Human Excellence’. ‘Human Excellence’ not just for personal benefits, but for the ‘Good of the whole Humanity’ is our motto. Our work may be a small drop in the ocean, but the ocean will be less without that drop.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to all those who have helped us in becoming what we are today. Let me end by quoting Swamiji’s words “What our country wants are muscles of iron, nerves of steel, gigantic wills which nothing can resist. Let us all work hard, my brethren, this is no time to sleep. On our work depends the coming of the India of the future.”

Jai hind.