AnandalayaSpecialIssue

Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari

Branch Dibrugarh
Anandalaya
Vivekananda Kendra is Spiritually Oriented
Service organization working throughoutthecountry
since 1972 with an aim of Man making-Nation
building.
SinceinceptionweareworkingintheNortheast.
WeworkinthefieldofEducation,Ruraldevelopment,
Natural resource development, health, Cultural and
Socio-economicdevelopment.
In1993westartedourworkinteagardenareain
Dibrugarh district with an aim of all round
development.InthebeginningwestartedBalwadies
andhealthawareness.In2003wedesignedspecial
projectANANDALAYA.Theprojectaims:
To createaneducationsupportiveatmospherein
teagardens.
Toimparteducationthroughplaywaymethodand
increase interest for studies among primary
schoolchildren
Toreducetherateofdropouts and thusimprove
thestatusofthe education.
TogivemanmakingValuebasededucationand
improvequalityof education.
Toincreasepatrioticfeelingsamongthechildren.
To develop self respect among the tea garden
youthandpeople.

To create health awareness among the children

andthroughthemamongtheelders.
Toworkforallrounddevelopment.
We run83Anandalayasdailytwoandhalfhours
with2500students, 15 Sanskar Vargas weekly one
andhalfhourswith360students,,7BhajanSandhya
one hour in 3 Vistars with 210 women;at namely
Chabua,MoranandJalannagar,d.
Along with this, training camps of Acharyas,
Supervisors,andKaryakartsareconductedregularly.
Healthawarenesscamp,TrainingforSelf-helpgroups
ect.aretheregularfeatures.
T o run this successfully we have an
organizationalset uplikethis:
AandadalayaSangathak-3
AnadalayaVistarPramukh
(Supervisiors)-6
AnadalayaAcharyas-70
Healthworkers-10
Trainers-5
Karyakartas-30
Impactofwork
RegularityofstudentsinSchool.
Goodresultsofstudents.
Self-confidenceinyouth.
Cleanlinessinteagardenarea.

Three Day Seminar onTraditional

Systems of the Sawras - Change
and Continuity
ThreeDaySeminaronTraditionalSystemsofthe
SawraswithChangeandContinuitywasorganisedby
All Assam Sawra Samaj in collaboration with
Vivekananda Kendra Institute of Culture (VKIC),
Guwahati, Assam. The seminar was inaugurated on
th
8 May,2015morningwithhostingofAllAssamSawra
SamajflagbySriDinanathSawra,President,AllAssam
Sarwa Samaj, (Central Body) followed by lighting of
lamp by Mananeeya Nivedita Didi, Vice President,
Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari along with
Mananeeya D . Bhanudas, General Secretary,
Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari, Prof. Parimal
Chandra Bhattacharjee, Director, RAC, VKIC,
Guwahati, Sri Dinanath Sawra, President, All Assam
Sawra Samaj and Sri Ganesh Chandra Kurmi, noted
educationist.
TheseminarwasorganisedatLabourClubfieldof
Pathalibam, Sawra Line, Moran, Dibrugarh,Assam.All
together 225delegatesfromdifferentpartsofthestate
and also from various other states like Odisha, West
Bengal,Tripuraparticipatedinthethreedayseminar.
Altogether 12 papers were presented in 12
academicsessions.Thefirstacademicsessionstarted
with the paper The oral History of the Sawra
Community presented b y S r i Jayanta Sawra General
Secretary, AllAssam Sawra Samaj which focusses o n
the oral history oftheSawracommunitywhichisgoing
on generation after generation. How the community

camefromhillyareasofOrissapresentdayOdishaand
hadtostrugglehardtoadjustinanunknownenvironment
inplainareasofAssam.Thesecondacademicsession
startedwiththepaperpresentedbySriBarishSarwaon
The Family and Kinship systems among the Sawra
community. The paper highlighted on various kinship
relations among the Sawra community. The other
academic sessionsare onReligiousRitesandRituals
amongtheSawracommunitypresentedbySriSartinya
Sawra,TraditionalInstitutionsoftheSawracommunity
presentedbySmt.ParbinSawra,FestivalsoftheSawra
Community presented bySriHoliramSawra,Religious
andSupernaturalforcesintheSawracommunitybySri
Magon Raita andSriJayantaSawrajointly,Traditional
Health Care systems among theSawraspresented by
Sri Jayanta Sawra, The village organization of the
Sawra community presented by Sri Gauranga Sawra.
Sri Nokul Sawra presented paper on The god and
goddesses of the Sawra, Sri Barish Sawra on The
marriage system among the Sawra, Sri Ganesh
ChandraKurmionInfluenceofSrimantaSankardevaon
theSawraCommunity.
The seminar concluded with concluding remarks
fromMananeeyaNiveditaDidi.MananeeyaNiveditaDidi
said that the Sawra is one of the oldest communities
living in various parts of India like Orissa and central
India.MentionofSawracommunityisfoundthereinthe
two great epic Ramayana and Mahabharata. Through
this seminar it is tried to bring into focus the tradition
systemsoftheSawracommunity,theprocessofcultural
assimilation induecourseoftimeandthechange.The
concluding session was also chaired by Sri Ganesh
ChandraKurmiandSriDinanathSawra.

Kendra Karyakarta Writes...

Man with Capital M
MymindisenthrallingtoexpressthefeelingsthatI
haveinsideaboutoneofthetruesonsofBharatMata.Its
quite some time n o w a f t e r I b e g a n t o e x p l o r e & k n o w
about this man, Mananeeya Eknathji Ranade, the
FounderofVivekanandaRockMemorial&Vivekananda
Kendra.
IneverheardabouthiminmyearlydaystillIjoined
VivekanandaKendrain2007.AfterjoiningalsoinitiallyI
used to hear about Eknathji but never felt anything
special about him. For last around 3-4 years when I
begantolearnabouthim,Icouldfeeltheessenceofhis
greatpersonality.Fortunately,thisyearbeingtheJanma
ShatiParvaofthegreatpersona,Icouldhear,learnalot
about him,whichisengrossingme,asIbegintoknow
variousinstancesfromthelifeofMananeeyaEknathji.
I am in any way nowhere to comment anything
aboutSri.Eknathji,asIamnot well-versedabouthislife
orworktillnow.ItwillbelikeshowinglamptotheSun,but
whatever I have absorbed in this short span of my
association with Vivekananda Kendra, certainly some
incidentsfromthelifeofthepersonhascreatedabuzzin
myinnersoulwhichI wouldliketojotdown.
Whenever, I hear about Sri. Eknathji, one word
creepsupinmymindwhichis hisforesightedness.Iam
presently stationedatVivekanandaKendraVidyalaya,
Arunachal Pradesh Trust's administrative office at
Dibrugarh for account finalisation work for the session
2014-15. Here we participate in 'Swadhyaya' session
every Saturday morning where being the Janma Shati
ParvaofSri.Eknathji,wereadabout him & ponder on
proceedings from his life. Last Saturday i.e., 02/05/15,
during 'Swadhyaya' session, Mananeeya Nivedita
Didi,VicePresident,VivekanandaKendra& Mananeeya
PravinJi,JointGeneralSecretary,VivekanandaKendra
were present with us. While discussing about
Mananeeya Eknathji, respected Didi asked every one
present to saysomepointswhichimmediatelycometo
ourmindwhenwethinkofEknathji.Onthismanyshared
beautiful anecdotesfromthelifeofEknathji.Respected
Maheshanjitoldabouthispunctuality,hisdedication,his
detailing etc.OurdearbrotherChandrasekharalsoput
his feelingabout'Sahasikata'(courage)ofMananeeya
Eknathji onwhichDidielaboratedmany instances like
howEknathjiwasboldenoughtostandforhisrightwhen
hewasdeniedattendanceinhiscollegebecauseofnot
being able to pay fees in time. And further she also

explainedthewayEknathjistoodforthetruth&emerged
successful.
Didi elaborated many points about the great
personalitywhichrejuvenatedourmind.Shetoldthatwe
havetofocusinbeingacompleteperson.Wemaynotbe
goodineverytaskoflifebutwecanstrivetobecomebest
inwhateverwedo.Forexampleifapotmakercanbeso
perfect in making pots that none cancomplain orpoint
outanyfaultinhiscreation,thenheisaperfectpersonas
a pot maker. Similarly ifwecanculminatewhatweare
goodat&trytobetterourselves,surelywecanalsobe
complete.DidialsotoldusthewayEknathjiinc ulcated
the concept o f ' S e v a ' i n t h e m i n d s o f K a r y a k a r t a s . H e
also introduced the system where male & female
Karyakartaswereprovidedtheopportunitytoserveas
pertheircapabilities.ThusVivekanandaKendrabecame
st
the1 ofitskindSevaorganisationwherebothbrother&
sister Karyakartas wereworkingin tandemtowardsthe
developmentofthesociety.Nowwecanwitnessvarious
organisationsworking for the nation. The conceptwas
broughtforward by great Eknathji Ranade. He indeed
wasatruevisionary.
OneofDidi'spointsthatmademetoponderupon
was the story she told about h o w t o m a k e a given line
(rekha)smallerwithouttouchingit.Thestorygoeslike,
onceinaclass,ateacherdrewalineontheblackboard.
Hethenaskedthestudentsifanyonecanmakeitsmaller
withouttouchingitofrubbingitoff.Noonecouldcometo
anyconclusionhowit could bedone.Suddenlyoneof
thestudentsgotup&drewabiggerline(rekha)beside
the earlier one. So automatically the previous one
becameshorter.Itwasreallyveryinfluencingstory.We
allcouldrelatethatnothingisimpossibleifwearewilling
toapproachitpositively.
InmyturnIjusttoldthatIamverymuchinfluenced
from the life of Eknath ji on certain points like his
Organisationalskill,Managementabilities&speciallyhis
farsightedness (Dur-Darshita). On that point Didi
expounded certain points which touched me very
intensely. She told us that during 1960swhenEknathji
could explore North Eastern states of this country, he
couldunderstandthestrategicimportanceofthispartof
the countrywhich wasneglectedfromthemainstream.
Hedecidedtoserveinthisareaofthecountryintheform
ofschools.Hetrained&motivated youth with zeal to
serveasteachers.Nowwecanseetheoutcomeofthe

decisionmade atthatjuncture.Ifatthattime,Eknathji
hadn'tthoughttoimbibeRashtraBhaktiintheheartof
local residents, this partofthecountry wouldn't have
beentherewithus.
Beingfromthispartofourmotherland,Isincerely
salute the farsightedness of the Great son of our
motherlandMananeeyaEknathji,whogaveusachance
to serve mankind through service provided by
Vivekananda Kendra. I am proud to be a member of
Vivekananda KendrawhichisstrivingforManMaking,
Nation Building for so many decades. Ideology of
Vivekananda Kendra is reflection of foresight of
Eknathji Ranade to serve nation through service to
mankind. I am thankful to Vivekananda Kendra for
providing me the opportunity to be a part of thegreat
causeofNationBuildingwhichIdon'tthinkwouldhave
been possible for me had I been in any other
professional set-up. Gradually Mananeeya Eknathji's
life story is igniting the zeal in myself t o s t r i v e for the
servicetomankindwhichisverysoothingimpactformy
soul.
I feel it would be a great tribute to Mananeeya
Eknathji, if we a l l c o u l d learn moreabout him and let
others too know about him. Knowing him means,
spreadinghisthoughtswhichin fact were thoughts of
SwamiVivekananda himself. This w a y m o r e s o n s a n d
daughters of this great nation will come forward and
strengthen this nation further to become Jagad Guru
onceagain.
SubhashisMaulik
VivekanandKendraVidyalaya,
Yazali, Arunachal Pradesh

Yourcontributionmatters
We appeal to all to join this effort by
contributingyourtime,energyandmoneyso
that together we realize thevision of Swami
Vivekananda, One vision I see clear as life
before me: that the ancient Mother has
awakened once more, sittingonHerthrone
rejuvenated, more glorious than ever.
ProclaimHertoalltheworldwiththevoiceof
peaceandbenediction.
The contributionsareeligiblefor Income Tax
exemptionunderSection80G.
E-mail:assam@vkendra.org

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