VIVEKANANDA STUDY CIRCLE

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY - MADRAS

Annual report for the academic year 2003-04

(Prepared by Surya. S, presented by Ramnath Kini )

 Revered Swami Gautamanandji, Swami Atmashraddhanandji, Hon Director Prof. M.S. Ananth, Shri N. Vittal, distinguished invitees and members of the faculty among the audience, and my dear friends:

Scope of VSC:

 “we have got political freedom; there is need for a second citizenship. Besides freedom, there is need for a second constituent, namely responsibility to make a citizen. Without that second constituent freedom becomes an enemy of itself… we got freedom and that made us citizens-but only in a formal sense. But that freedom had not strengthened, but only weakened our democracy. This is because it is not fortified and enriched by that sense of responsibility. That is why there is so much indiscipline, misbehaviour, law-breaking among our citizens in India. We had to inject into our sense of freedom this second constituent of freedom namely the sense of responsibility right from the primary stage itself” notes Revered Swami Ranganathananda ji, in his famous lecture, ‘Enlightened Citizenship and our Democracy’; VSC has always aimed to be an organization to promote such an ideal; A group to infuse a sense of Pride about India and her culture, and at the same time, a group, to create a sense of responsibility among students.

Inaugural Function:

We had the great fortune of having our activities inaugurated last year with the blessings of Swami Gautamanandaji, (President, Sri Ramakrishna math, Mylapore). Sri Sreekumar Menon (IRS, Commissioner, Customs & Central Excise), talking on ‘Challenges before the Youth: An Indian Answer’ pointed out that, it is not that the youth of India is lacking in capabilities: rather, it is lack of enthusiasm and of Shraddha which is actually hindering their progress. Prof. V.G. Idichandy, (Dean of Students) while delivering the welcome address, reminded us of the importance our institute lays on character building, evident from the fact that two out of the four point pledge, taken by our graduates at the time of convocation, deal exclusively with integrity of character.

Sunday Classes

Vedanta asserts that ‘in the inner world, all knowing tends to being’. Meditation is a method through which we become more and more aware of our Inner Divinity. Understanding this fact, every year we begin our Sunday classes with two sessions dedicated exclusively to it. While ‘Theory and steps of meditation’ covers the context, the session on ‘Guided meditation’ seeks to provide a practical demonstration of the techniques of meditation.

In the odd semester we had talks on ‘Time management’, ‘Personality development’, ‘Yoga in daily life’, ‘Mind and its control’, all aimed at Character Building.

The theme of Sunday Classes for the even semester was ‘Introduction to Vedanta’. ‘Place of Reason in Religion’, ‘Law of Karma’ and ‘Freewill and Destiny’ broke the idea that religion is all faith and no reason, while ‘Advaita Vedanta’, ‘Upanishads’ and ‘Bhakti schools of Vedanta’ helped us appreciate the basics of Vedanta.

Last year we had to contend with the sad parting with Swami Baneshananda, the beloved guide and instructor of VSC for last three years. He has since left for Germany to take charge of a new Vedanta Society there. Swami Atmashraddhananda, the present editor of Vedanta Kesari, the monthly English journal of the Ramakrishna order, has since, kindly agreed to take up that role.

National Youth Day Celebrations

This year celebrations on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s birthday, declared by the government of India as ‘National Youth Day’, were held on a much larger scale than previous years and were spread over three days.

The special talk on this occasion, by Dr. S. Krishnaswamy, a writer-director-producer of Documentaries and Serials on ‘Our God: India, the Young & Ancient’ brought to light many facts about how India is slowly changing in its external form, yet maintaining it’s characteristic spirit. The four videos ‘Arise Awake’, ‘Mother India’, ‘India 5555’ and ‘Genius of India’ which were screened on this occasion drew good response from the students. A trip to ‘Vivekananda Cultural Heritage Exhibition’ near Marina was organised with the help of Institute along with a three day Book-Sales of books related to Yoga, Indian Culture and Spirituality.

Talking about ‘Renaissance in India’ Sri Aurobindo notes “Spirituality is indeed the master key of the Indian mind; but this was not and could not be her whole mentality, her entire spirit…when we look at the past of India, what strikes us next is her stupendous vitality, her inexhaustible power of life and joy of life, her almost unimaginable prolific creativity”. As an effort to give a glimpse of this rich diversity of India we started a newsletter named ‘Young India’, of which the first copy was released on the National youth day. It is a fortnightly, and is being put up in all the hostel common rooms, and notice boards.

Service Activities:

Sri Ramakrishna once said “If God can manifest Himself through an image, then why not through man also!” Our two tuition centers in Velachery and Taramani, founded on this ideal of service and run with the help of NSS are functioning well. The Coordinators and Volunteers of these centers have also participated in a two day teacher training programme, organized by NSS, IIT Madras. “Uttishtha Jagrita”, a video on life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda in Tamil was screened once for the benefit of students at these centers.

Other Activities:

A workshop on ‘Personality Development’ was organized with the help of Swami Bodhamayananda ji in the odd semester.

‘Where does India stand today in the present world scenario?’, was the question answered in the special talk on ‘India’s Competitive Advantage’ by Sri Rajeev Srinivasan, an Alumni of IIT Madras, and a columnist in rediff.com. This talk attracted an encouraging student attendance.

A “Ten day Advanced Sanskrit camp” was organized with the help of Prof. R. Ramachandran, head, Samskrita Bharati, Chennai.

‘Sri Rama Nama Sankirtan’, a lofty and soothing Hymn was organized on the occasion of Sri Rama Navami.

Our library, located in the basement of Brahmaputra hostel, and website (www.oocities.org/vsc_iitm) are also seeing enthusiastic participation from the students.

Conclusion:

In retrospect now, the response, encouragement and participation in our activities by both the faculty and students has been growing over the years. We extend a heartfelt thanks to all who have helped us become what we are. With the same trend, we'll surely scale new heights and fulfil Swami Vivekananda's dream, when he said “My faith is in the younger generation, out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem, like lions". 

Thank-you