2

VVYM Silver Jubilee

Celebrations : Nov, 2013

Release : 3 day Youth Training Camp

Copies : 1,000

VISAKHAPATNAM VIVEKANANDA

YUVA MAHAMANDAL

Excutive Committee 2013-14

President :

Sri N. Lakshminarayana

Vice-Presidents :

Sri J.V. Ramana

Sri V.Viswanath

Secretary :

Sri Ch. V.S.K.N. Somaraju

Asst. Secretaries :

Sri D. Venkata Rao

Sri P. Ravichandra

Treasurer :

K.V.L.N. Murthy

Committee Members :

Sri M. Govindarao

Sri P. Kishore Kumar

Sri G.V. Ratnam

Sri T. Venkata Rao

Permanent Representative :

B. Sreedhar

Published at :

Sathyam Offset Imprints

Brindavan, # 49-28-5, Madhuranagar,

Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

Ph : 0891-2735878, 984 999 6538

For Copies :

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Yuva Mahamandal

C/o. Sri Ganapathi Seva Samithi,

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Offering Rs. : 30-00

Editor :

N. Lakshminarayana

Sub-Editor :

P. Ravichandra

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Programme for Campers

Flag Hoisting with Mahamandal Anthem, Mental concentration, Yoga, games,discussions on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, methods of character building,leadership, patriotism, room discussions etc.,

Open Programme

29-11-2013 Friday

06:00PM : Camp Inaugral Meeting:

Chief guest – Swami Amritanandaji Maharaj, RK Mission Ashrama, VSP

07:30 PM : Songs by VVYM members

08:00 PM : Cultural Programs

30-11-2013 Saturday

06:30 PM : Talk on “Relevance of Swami Vivekananda to the present day World”Swami Nityayoganandaji Maharaj, RK Mission Ashrama, VSP

07:00 PM : Burra Katha on Swami Vivekananda by Ramachandrapuram team

08:00 PM : Songs

01-12-2013 Sunday

06:30 PM : “Swami Vivekananda’s message to the Youth” talk by SwamiGuneshanandaji Maharaj, RK Mission Ashrama, VSP

07:00 PM : Songs

07:30 PM : Experience of Campers and distribution of certificates, prizes

08:00 PM : Vote of Thanks

Camp Guest speakers

1. Swami Tanmayanandaji Maharaj, Ambikapur

2. Sri Ravi Bhattacharjee, Kolkata

3. Dr. Pannala Syamasundara Murthy, Guntur

4. Sri K.P.S. Sastry, Hyderabad.

VisakhapatnamVivekananda Yuva Mahamandal

Silver Jubilee Celebrations -Three day Youth Training Camp

DATE :29th Nov. 1st Dec, 2013

Friday, Saturday & Sunday

VENUE :TTD KALYANAMANDAPAM,M.V.P. Colony, Visakhapatnam.

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6

INDEX

MESSAGES :

1. Ramakrishna Math, Howrah 8

2. Sri Ramakrishna Math, Chennai 9

3. Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Visakhapatnam 10

4. Ramakrishna Mission, Vijayayada 11

5. Akhil Bharat Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal, 12

6. S. Krishnan, Former President, VVYM 13

ARTICLES

1. Try Our Own Elixir 15

2. The Need of Organization and Leadership 18

3. Regeneration of India 21

4. By Questioning - Why Vivekananda ? 26

5. Character and its 24 Aspects 28

6. Origin and Development of

Visakhapatnam Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal 31

8.

DONATIONS 47

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MESSAGES

8

9

4 November 2013,

My dear Lakshminarayana,

I am glad that the 'Vishakapatnam Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal' which is affiliated to the

'Akhila Bharat Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal' is celebrating its Silver Jubilee Celebrations

from 29th Nov to 1st Dec this year, coinciding with the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami

Vivekananda. It is befitting that a three day residential youth training camp for young men is

being organised to mark the occasion and a souvenir will be released. I gladly comply with

your request for a messgge to be published in the said souvenir.

Swami Vivekananda had great hope in the youth and wanted them to be unselfish and of

strong character. It is such young men who can create a better India and fulfill the dreams of

the great Swami. May Swamiji bless you all and inspire you to dedicate yourselves to serve

with the motto, 'Shiva-jnaane Jiva- seva'.

With best wishes to you and all others who will be participating in the camp,

Yours affectionately,

Swami Gautamananda

31 Ramakrishna Math Road,

Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004

Ph: 24621110 (4 Lines); Fax: 24934589

email: mail@chennaimath.org

website : www.chennaimath.org

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11

7 October, 2013

Dear Sri Lakshminarayana

Namskars. I am glad to know that Visakhapatnam

Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal (VVYM) is celebrating Swami Vivekananda's

150th Birth Anniversary and VVYM Silver Jubilee. Also noted

that a Souvenir is being brought out on this occasion.

I sincerely pray to Swamiji to bless all your endeavors.

With Love and Regards

Yours in the Lord

Swami Sashikantananda

Secretary

Ramakrishna Mission

Vijayawada

Ramakrishna Mission

City Centre : Gandhinagar, Viajayawada - 520 003 Phone : 0866-2570799

Ashrama : Sitanagaram, Gunture Dist., - 522 501 Phone : 08645-272248

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Message

During last 25 years Visakhapatnam Vivekananda

Yuva Mahamandal as a unit of the Akhil Bharat

Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal is engaged in perform-

ing a substantial work to spread the message of Swamiji

among the people of that area, particularly the youths. I

am glad to know that you are going to celebrate the Sil-

ver Jubilee year of foundation of your centre through

various programmes including the training a camp for

the youths.

On this occasion I convey my best wishes to all mem-

bers of the Visakhapatnam Vivekananda Yuva

Mahamandal and also to all the participating members of

the camp for a successful training in the ideals of Swami

Vivekananda. I hope that the members will intensify their

activities further so that more and more young people

will be helped in character building as well as service to

the nation.

May the holy blessings of Shri Ramakrishna Deva, Shri

Maa Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda shower upon

one and all.

AKHIL BHARAT

VIVEKANANDA YUVA MAHAMANDAL

Nabaniharan MukhopadhyayPresident

Akhil Bharat

Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal.Date : 26 November 2013

Regd. Office :

BHUBAN BHAVAN,

P.O. Balaram Dharma Sopan,

Khardah, North 24-Parganas,

Pin : 700 116.

City Office :

6/1A, Justice Manmatha

Mukherjee Row,

Kolkata – 700 009

Phone : 2350 6898

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(S. Krishnan)Former President, VVYM

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ARTICLES

15

Chakravarti Rajagopalachari said : 'Swami

Vivekananda saved Hinduism and saved India.

But for him we would have lost our religion

and would not have gained our freedom. We,

therefore, owe everything to Swami

Vivekananda. May his faith, his courage, and

his wisdom ever inspire us, so that we may

keep safe the treasure we have received from

him! The work of the Vivekananda Yuva

Mahamandal is to inspire our young people

with the great ideal of Swami Vivekananda,

the ideas of freedom, so that they can use

the freedom they have got for the good of all,

for raising the weaker sections of the society

and creating a strong progressive nation.

Ideologies have been with us for hundreds

of years, and we have tried all of them. Today

we need to understand our own ideology to

face the challenges that are before our nation.

We had British influences, American

influences, Marxist influences, specially from

China and Russia, We have tried all these. We

have not tried our own influences yet. That

time has come today. We have to achieve

India's development in the Indian way, and

that education we get in the remarkable

literature of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.

TRY OUR OWN ELIXIR[Lecture delivered at Andhra State-level Youth Training of Mahamandal Camp in 1983]

The beauty of this approach is that it

welcomes foreign influences, foreign ideas,

but tells us to assimilate and make them

our own. We shall not be swept away by

these foreign ideologies. As for that the

Chinese and specially the Russians have

praised Swami Vivekananda, and to address

the audience in the University of Moscow I

found tremendous welcome from the

intellectuals of that great country. Slowly

some of our own Marxists are studying

Vivekananda and writing books on Swami

Vivekananda, sometimes distorted,

sometimes with great respect

But this is a good beginning. Let us have a

new India based upon our own culture and

tradition and strengthened by others'

experience and wisdom. In Sri Ramakrishna

and Swami Vivekananda all that is there, there

is the intense interest in human development

irrespective of caste, creed, or colour. I

discussed these things in my lecture in the

Moscow University, which was on a subject

that was proposed by the university itself:

'Swami Vivekananda - His humanism',

What we need today in India is a

tremendous humanistic impulse coming from

Swami Ranganathanandji is the 13th president of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission

16

the heart and touching every aspect of our

national life. We must understand how

Vivekananda brought our attention to this

great subject of man, how to unfold his

potentiality, how to make man realize his true

humanism, human values. In the great

contribution of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda

the central emphasis is on man. They

concentrated on this one subject, how to

make man established in his own dignity, his

freedom, his fullness. That is the great

philosophy they gave us.

The philosophy was there in our

Upanishads - the Divinity of man, i.e. infinite

possibilities in every human being. But that

was not made practical in day-to-day life of

people in his politics, economics, society, and

culture. Sri Ramakrishna said: Every Jiva is

Shiva, worship of jiva is the worship of Shiva.

Swami Vivekananda wrote in a letter from

America : *No religion on earth preaches the

dignity of humanity in such a lofty Strain as

Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon

the necks of the poor and the low in such a

fashion as Hinduism. Therefore, Swamiji

entreated us to apply this great teaching and

create a new society where human dignity,

human equality are realized fully.

We had so long been looking at heavens

in the name of religion neglecting man all the

time. Sectarian quarrels and fights in the name

of religion and philosophy prevailed, to the

neglect of the actual God in the form of man

in all of us. All over South India and also in

Bengal, there were conferences of pundits

discussing and quarrelling on whether

Shaivism is true or Vaishnavism or Saktaism;

and abusing each other, creating rift for

centuries at the head of the suffering millions.

Some of the sectarian feuds were carried over

to the period of Ramakrishna in an acute and

serious form. In the Gospel of Sri

Ramakrishna', you will find a picture of this

feud between two sectarians in the presence

of Ramakrishna and also the latter's scathing

remarks.

The whole national energy was wasted in

these meaningless excesses, and, on the other

hand, people were being brought down day

by day through social injustice, economic

oppression, etc. The very one who has raised

the national mind from these futile discussions

and turned that to feel the problems of men

in society is Ramakrishna. And Vivekananda

remarked: 'A country, the big leaders of which

have for the last two thousand years been

only discussing whether to take food with the

right hand or the left, whether to lake water

with the right hand or the left, whether to

take water from the right-hand side or from

the left, ... if such a country does not go to

ruin, what other will?

The young people of India had responded

to the call of Swami Vivekananda and

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concentrated on the problems of man and

exacted political freedom. We have got that

freedom, but have not worked for the other

requirements to realize the fruits of that

freedom. After independence our only pursuit

has become how to make money. As a result,

our society has become decadent with no

remedy coming to its mind. The society is full

of evils, corruption, and malpractices. Even

teachers of schools and colleges are not free

from that. In fact, this decadence of Indian

society is so obvious that a boy also can point

it out.

At this state we need badly the literature

of Ramakrishna-Vivekananda to get rid of the

predicament. It is a literature of strength, it

is a purifying literature, and it is a humanizing

literature. And our young people need this

inspiration when they are young. Swamiji

addressed this message to the young people

of India while speaking to the young men of

Calcutta, Lahore, etc. He said, 'My faith is in

you. He did not have faith in the rich people

of India. He used to say : My hope lies in you,

in the poor, in the sincere, in the patriot. The

rich are more dead than alive, he believed.

In my sojourn all over India I find many

people with plenty of money, but empty at

heart. I see them and remember the great

message that Swamiji conveyed : '... they

alone live who live for others, the rest are

more dead than alive.' That is why Swamiji

placed great emphasis on the development of

heart, of love, of compassion, or the

humanistic impulse.

With this love, this humanism, if young

men come up, they would become good

teachers in schools. They will be dynamic

teachers working for man-making and

character-building education. From them will

come engineers, doctors, and workers in all

fields. They will work for the upliftment of

people who had no opportunity to come up

for thousands of years. They will give them

the best of knowledge, the best of wisdom

to stand them in good stead.

With this inspiration, this sympathy, this

feeling for the poor, for the oppressed, let the

young men spread all over the country, in all

the departments of service, to purify all, and

help create a healthy nation in our country.

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The Need of Organization and Leadership

Power lay in mantras in Treta Yuga, in

knowledge or intelligence in Satya Yuga ; war

power was paramount in Dvapara Yuga, while

in Kali Yuga power lies in organization.

Swami Vivekananda was fascinated with

the idea of organization. He appreciated the

ment of the power of organization, of the

western world. He knew about organizations

of our own country appearing in old times,

their successes and drawbacks. Yet he

favoured the idea of organization for working

among the people - not only for amelioration

of their sufferings, but also for educating them

in the right line. He found that among the

common people of our country the spirit that

can make any organized effort successful was

absent.

He said, The faculty of organization is

entirely absent in our nature, but this has to

be infused.' Aphoristically he adds, The great

secret is, absence of jealousy.' He lamented,

You three hundred millions have a will each

separate from the other.' We may remember

what is mentioned in the Aims and Objects of

the Mahamandal since 1967 : Therefore to

make a great future India, the whole secret

lies in organization, accumulation of power,

coordination of wills' (Vivekananda) . In our

Anthem we have what Vivekananda puts in

the words : 'Already before rny mind rises

one of the marvelous verses of the Atharva

Veda Samhita (also occurring in the Rig Veda)

which says, ''Be thou all of one mind, be thou

all of one thought." Being of one mind is the

secret of society.

Besides this secret what makes

organizations thrive is proper leadership which

is also very very important. But, as it is

commonly held, leaders are born and not

made. What does it indicate ? It emphasises

that the right type of leadership is difficult to

acquire.

If somebody says, I want to be a leader,

he cannot prove his mettle right away. Swami

Vivekananda warns, 'And the more you go on

fighting and quarrelling about all trivialities

the further you are off from that accumulation

of energy and power which is going to make

the future India.' He continues, 'Every one

wants to command and no one wants to obey.

First, learn to obey. The command will come

by itself. Always first learn to be a servant

and then you will be fit to be a master. If

your superior orders you to throw yourself

into a river and catch a crocodile, you must

first obey and then reason with him. Even if

the order be wrong, first obey and then

contradict it. No centralization is possible

(Sri Nabhaniharan Mukhopadyay is the founder,

President of Akhil Bharat Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal)

A saying attributed to Vyasa goes like this :

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unless there is obedience to superiors. No

great work can be done without this

centralization of individual forces.'

His words are very clear and need no

elucidation. He puts plainly, 'We are lazy ; we

cannot combine ; we do not love each other ;

we are intensely selfish ; not three of us can

come together without hating each other,

without being jealous of each other.' 'Kill self

first if you want to succeed. Do not try to

lead your brethern, but serve them. Never

attempt to guide or rule others. Be the servant

of all. Do not try to be a ruler. He is the best

ruler who can serve well.'

If we want to work and succeed in our

organization we must hear, contemplate upon,

and make these thoughts our own and build

our leadership on these ideas so that those

who join the work go the right way. If the

leaders lack in essential qualities, the

following will not be conducive to any real

cons¬tructive work, which is the main object.

So those who lead should cultivate these basic

things and also mind the following :

ÆNo egoism; no name or fame or any other

interest. Cool head and calm judgement

always keeping the ideals in view. Try to

be a student always. Learn from every

experience.

Æ All must be clean in words, deeds, and

mind.

Æ Make the first sacrifice, then expect

others to follow suit. Work before you ask

others to work.

Æ Remain a follower till others make you

their leader. Each should think he could

be a leader and should imbibe the qualities

of a leader. Come forward whenever

circumstances demand, but don't rush to

lead. Do not wait on the ground that you

have not already had the office of

responsibility. Keep the conscience clear

that you are doing something for the

furtherance of the cause you stand for and

not for any personal motive.

Æ Become one of those whom you are to

lead. Do not look upon them from a height.

Æ Do not boast that without you nothing will

move, but give your due quota for the work

you are in.

Æ No compromise with untruth or what is

not moral. Never lie.

Æ Your work or programme is nothing or even

may be injurious, if it is not conducive to

the fulfilment of the ideals set forth before

you.

Æ Always remember, others will do as you

do.

Æ Your thought should guide your action.

Have planning, discrimination, foresight,

and farsight. Dash is good; but no

ostentation, hyprocrisy. Have control over

your speech, thought, tnd movement. Build

up the right motivation.

Æ Be clean in money matters. You have to

acquire both character and efficiency. Any

one of them does not make a leader.

Æ Shake off all bias. Be methodical without

becoming a machine.

Æ Talk enough, but do not talk too much.

Æ Do not run to lead if these are lacking.

Know, contemplate, and cultivate these

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ideas You will also have to lead many in

time. Make yourself worthy for the job.

Æ Remember Swamiji's charge. 'Work, work

the idea, my brave noble, good souls, - to

the wheel, to the wheel put your

shoulders ;stop not to look back for name,

or fame or. any such nonsense.

Æ Last though not least, have conviction

about the main aim and for the purpose

read Vivekananda carefully and regularly

lest you deviate from the path you have

chosen to become a Man.

Read the suggestions again and again. In

your diary note which qualities you have and

to what degree. Also note carefully which you

do not have. Do not despond. Try to acquire

those which you do not have and develop

those you already have. Make fresh notes

after six months and mark the progress. You

will be loved by all and command respect and

find joy in the work. The result will be you

will develop in character and efficiency and

only then the organization will succeed in

achieveing its object - to organize the youths

and to burn into their hearts energy, strength,

honesty, spirit of sacrifice and service,

courage, love for Motherland and her people

so they they may build a new great India.

(Source : A New youth movement)

RESPOND TO THE CALL

Youth of India, Swami Vivekananda is calling you. Respond to his call. Donot be distracted by anybody else. Calls from other directions will benefit neitheryou nor the nation. Let swamiji’s call enter your hearts. Rouse yourselves out ofstupor, wake up, shun all weakness and slumber. Manifest power and put yourshoulders to the wheel. We must work for the motherland. Remember how intenselySwamiji felt for the nation. The lion among men used to shed tears for the distressedof this land. He desired nothing for himself- neither happiness nor wealth, nor yetfame. He loved men and wanted them to be real men, to stand on their own feet, tobe self confident. caurageous and fearless ready to sacrifice every thing, if neededbe, for common weel.

Please respond to his call. It is our sacred duty to work for all rounddevelopment of this nation. This verily is our task. God is not in heaven. NeitherHe is confined inside temples nor mosques. He is not to be found in forests andmountain-caves. He is everywhere. He resides in all beings. Each human body is atemple of God, ‘the Taj Mahal of temples’. to use the metaphor coined by Swamiji.He ordained that we should worship Him there. Man is living in so much grief,with the ignominy of ignorance, in the innumerable bondages of the world! Thinkof that.

How to free them, how to awaken them fully to their power? Swamiji gavea simple yet correct analysis:

Come and join in study circles to know his project of Man-making.

This is the appeal of VISAKHAPATNAM VIVEKANANDA YUVAMAHAMANDAL to all the youth of Andhrapradesh.   

21

That was the time when the

sublimest truth of ‘the equality of man’, nay,

‘the Godliness of man’ reverberated in air. The

underlying principle of the unity of living

beings was expounded. Pray ! What principle

! That which says that we are all infinite in

essence. There the cries of ‘abhih’ (

Fearlessness) rent the skies. There the sages

declared, Tattvamasi (Thou art That), ‘Thou

art Sachchidananda (Existence Absolute,

Knowledge Absolute, Bliss

Absolute)’.Peculiarly, all this was done at a

time when the rest of the world was still in

its infancy. The place of this revelation was

the ‘Punya Bhumi of Bharata’, the sanctified

land of India. This was the India of yore,

where traditions dare not pee, when the rest

of the world was sleeping.

There is a place where the dark cloud

of misery, poverty and unhappiness hangs

over head. Its inhabitants have no courage at

their hearts, no brain in their heads and no

strength in their bodies to assert themselves.

There over 50% of the population starve, a

mad fight for wealth and pleasure has brought

in jungle law, and millions and millions are

sinking day by day. The Stage is the present

day India.

If one cares to look into history, one

would easily find that what has been said

above is, in short, the conditions of India of

the past and the present as well. It can easily

be observed that ours is not the glorious

conditions of the pas, but a melancholic

situation. Nobody would want the India should

remain in this situation. One should rather

want that India has to be regenerated. She

has to be given back her past glory. To be

precise, what we want now is the harmony

between the glorious aspect of the past

(which is spirituality) and the good aspect of

the present age (science and its fruits). But

how is this to come about?

THE FOUNDATION OF THE NATIONAL

EDIFICE

Every nation has a basis on which it

stands. As soon as that base is touched and

tried to change, the nation starts to crumble

into pieces. The basis of the civilization in

ancient Rome was its military power, its

imperial power. No sooner had it been touched

that it died a sad death. So also was the case

with Greece. There the base was the

intellectual power. India too has its basis

which is Religion, spirituality. Fortunately for

us, that base is not yet touched. The same

religious blood still flows through our veins

silently. The India eats religiously, prays

religiously, and does everything religiously.

That religious fervor pervades the land even

today. The present miserable condition

continues, because our leaders are not

fortifying us in that direction. Rather they are

trying to dissuade from that point. Karl Marx,

the great philosopher, rightly observes,”The

loss of his old world, with no gain of a new

one, imparts a peculiar kind of melancholy to

REGENERATION OF INDIAR. Vishwanathan

THE PAST AND THE PRESENT

22

the present misery of the Hindu (the

Indian)…”Our modern seer, Swami

Vivekananda, observes, “When the life- blood

is spirituality. If it flows clear, if it flows

strong and pure and vigorous, every-thing is

right. Political, social, any other material

defects, even the poverty of land will be cured,

if that blood is pure. He further says, “India

will be raised, not with the power of the flesh,

but with the power of the spirit; not with the

flag of destruction, but with the flag of peace

and love”. So, “Before flooding India with

socialistic or political ideas, first deluge the

land with spiritual ideas.” “But mark you, if

you give up that spirituality leaving it aside

to go after the materializing civilization of the

west, the result will be that in three

generations you will be an extinct race;

because the backbone of the nation will be

broken, the foundation upon which the

national edifice has been built will be

undermined, and result will be annihilation all

round.”.

This spirituality, of course, does not

mean the present forms of Hinduism, Islam,

Christianity etc. which are creating discord,

erecting great barriers between man and man.

Rightly Vivekananda proclaimed, “We want

to lead mankind to the place where there is

neither the Vedas, nor the Bible, nor the Koran;

yet this as to be done by harmonizing the

Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran. Mankind

ought to be taught that religions are but the

varied expressions of THE RELIGION, which

is Oneness, so that each may choose the path

that suits him best”. All the present problems

caused by religions arise actually from the

misunderstanding and misinterpretation of

this true meaning of Religion. The concept of

THE RELIGION is found by delving deep into

our cultural heritage and has been wonderfully

demonstrated in the life of Sri Ramakrishna,

“ the consummation of two thousand years

of the spiritual life of three hundred million

people”( as described by Romain Rolland).

Again we go back to Vivekananda

who has echoed our cultural heritage in a lucid

way with a modern approach. “Religion is the

manifestation of the Divinity already in man”.

“Try to be pure and unselfish – that is the

whole of religion”. Also, “The secret of religion

lies not in theories, but in practice. To be good

and to do good -- that is the whole of religion.”

India is to be raised with that religion “which

raises the brute unto man and man unto god”.

So, this is a ‘man-making’ religion. This is the

crying need of the day. Having based on this

religion, our motherland will be rejuvenated,

“more glorious than she ever was’.

THE WAY: TRUE EDUCATION

But how is all this to be brought

about? Education is the answer. But what

sort of education? Is it that which is being

fed now, which creates riots in the minds of

the people thereby leading to anarchy and

chaos? Is it that which makes animals out of

men as is being done now? No! ‘We want that

education by which character is formed,

strength of mind is increased, the intellect is

expanded, and by which one can stand on

one’s own feet.’ The basic necessity of the

hour is a ‘man-making, character- building’

education. A nation is great, only if its people

are men of great character. Each individual

being the unit of the nation, the nation will

rise only if its individuals be real ‘men’. Only

he who is brave enough to give his body, mind

and speech to the welfare of the world’ is fit

to be called a ‘man’, the rest are brutes. We

23

can become such men by bringing out the

immense potentialities hidden in us. We should

struggle hard consciously and continuously to

be more and more strong, to increase the

goodness contained in us, and thus establish

our characters. The way was laid down by

our great ancestors and has been explained

by Swami Vivekananda in a very much

scientific way. We must take that up to put

into practice, because the glory of India lies

in our being ‘men’ and making others ‘men’.

“BE AND MAKE’ -- this should be our

education-policy. Therefore, the main feature

of education should be the Religion. That must

be coupled with western science and

technology, no doubt, for the material

upliftment of the country. “But the root is

religion”. “Religion is as the rice, and

everything else, like curries. Taking only

curries causes indigestion, and so is the case

with taking rice alone. “The material

upliftment under these conditions will no more

be destructive, as the ‘man-making’ religion

will weed out all destructive elements and

breed in constructive ones to build a rocky

foundation of the nation. That is why Swamiji

said, “Man –making is my mission.”

UPLIFTMENT OF THE MASSES

One of the main causes for the

degeneration of India is our neglect of the

masses. “No amount of politics would be of

any avail, until the masses of India are once

more well educated, well fed, and well cared

of. ….If we want to regenerate India, we must

work for them.” They were being tyrannized

for ages by the priests, the kings and their

men, the traders and at last, by the foreign

rulers. Now they are being tyrannized by the

so-called educated, the rich and the politicians

who consist a very small section of the people.

We forget that the latter do not constitute

the whole nation. We do not realize that the

condition of the vast masses will ultimately

decide our condition. What we have in India

now, are islands of affluence amidst an ocean

of poverty. The masses pay for our education,

our luxuries, and in return, they get kicks and

are deprived of their legitimate rights. They

will have to be raised and united under the

banner of Love. We need now feel for them

from the heart. We are to help them to help

themselves. “The only service to be done for

our lower classes it to give them education,

to develop their lost individuality”. But ‘who

feels there for the two hundred millions of

man women sunken forever in poverty and

ignorance?’ Swami Vivekananda puts the

questions before us, which remains to be

answered, “Do you feel that millions and

millions of the descendants of gods and of

sages have become next door neighbours to

brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving

today, and millions have been starving for

ages? Does it make you restless? Does it

make you sleepless? Has it gone into your

blood, coursing through your veins, becoming

consonants with your heartbeats? Has it

made you almost mad? Are you seized with

that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have

you forgotten all about your name, your fame,

your wives, your children, your property, even

your own bodies? Have you done that?” And,

“That is the first step to become a patriot,

that very first step,” he adds. Such feeling

for others also ‘instills into the hear the

strength of a lion’ which we are lacking

severely. ‘Our country requires heroes. Be

heroes.’ We are also to use our intellect to

understand the things as they are and the

24

great plan, the methods for their betterment,

and also to reduce them into practice.

To work for the masses means to

worship them. In the present day India, we

have a lot of religions professing various ideas

of God. But it is a fact that we have sadly

failed to grasp the real idea of worship to God.

The Shastras declare that all beings are

manifestations of God, ‘Amritasya Putrah’.

‘Tattvamasi’—‘Thou art that’, exhorts the

Upanishad. Swami Vivekananda says, “Ye are

the children of God, the sharers of immortal

bliss, holy and perfect beings”. He also says,

“In one word, the ideal of Vedanta is to know

man as he really is, and this is its message,

that if you cannot worship your brother man,

the manifested God, how can you worship a

God who is unmanistested?”. If we can

understand that all of us are manifestations

of the universal ONE, the rest will come by

itself. So Swamiji says, “The poor, the

illiterate, the ignorant, the afflicted – let these

be your God. Know that service to these alone

is the highest religion”. We have to practice

this religion. That alone will do the job.

PROBLEMS OF WOMEN : THEIR SOLUTION

Suppression of women in India is

another important reason for our downfall.

We have forgotten the days of yore when

there were women like Gargi, Maitreyi,

Ubhayabharati and Lilavati etc, who were at

par with men. It was India which evolved the

ideal of the motherhood of women. It was

India which brought forth the idea that women

are the manifestations of the Divine Mother.

In the West, the ideal of the woman means

that of the wife, whereas in India it means

the ideal of the mother. Indian women will

have to be raised having based on the latter.

As in the days of yore, women will have to

observe Brahmacharya (i.e. purity in though,

word and deed) and should be educated in

sciences and other things ‘with religion as its

centre’. Swami Vivekananda says, “They have

many and grave problems, but none of that

are not to be solved by that magic word

‘education’”. So, ‘educate your women first

and leave them to themselves; then they will

tell you what reforms are necessary for them’.

In this way ‘women must be put in a position

to solve their own problems in their own way’.

But he reminds us, “O India! Forget not that

the ideal of thy womanhood is Sita, Savitri

and Damayanti”. The easiest way to revive

India is to raise up her women. Let the women

of India be raised up and Vivekananda’s saying

– ‘with five hundred men, the conquest of

India might take fifty years; with as many

women, not more than a few weeks’ - be made

a reality.

Just as the ‘Satya Yuga’ (Golden

age) has sprung from the very date Sri

Ramakrishna was born, as Swami believed

most sincerely, a great movement for the

upliftment of the Indian women has also been

inaugurated as the Indian ideal of womanhood

got personified in the life of Sri Sarada Devi,

the Holy Mother. That movement is now to

be spread through the length and breadth of

India as fire to save India from total

annihilation.

THE FUTURE AND THE YOUTH POWER

Till now we have dealt with almost

all the ways necessary for the regeneration

of India. But who is to bell the cat?

Vivekananda has the answer, “My faith is in

the younger generation, the modern

generation, out of them will come my workers.

25

They will work out the whole problem like

lions. I have formulated the idea and have

given my life to it…..They will spread from,

center to centre, until we have covered the

whole of India”. This is exactly our youths’

work. In the world over, whenever any change

was brought about, it was done by the youth.

Our political freedom from the yokes of the

British is largely due to the youths. It is always

they who have the tenacity of purpose. In the

Vedas, God has been given the adjective,

‘Yavistha’—the youthful. The modern

intellectuals of the world have also recognized

the ‘youth power’ recently, Sri Ramakrishna

and Vivekananda noticed the immense power

in the youth more than a century ago!

Youths of India! Leave out your crazy

hankering after the West. Weed out that

deadly slavish imitation. It is taking you to

your graves. ‘By imitation others, ideas never

become one’s own. Nothing unless earned is

our own.’ Swami Vivekananda, who lived and

worked in his youth, has given the right

solution. Only it has to be put into practice.

Let us sincerely put ourselves to the wheel,

and then the work will be done by itself. “On

our work depends the coming of the India of

the future. She is there ready waiting”, says

Swamiji “Up, up, the long night is passing,

the day is approaching, the wave has risen,

nothing will be able to resist its tidal fury”.

‘What we want are some young men

who will renounce everything and sacrifice

their lives for their country’s sake. We should

first form their lives and then some real work

can be expected’. Therefore, the primary work

which is obviously the first thing to be

done(otherwise the rest cannot follow) for the

regeneration of India is to propagate the life-

building and man-making ideals put forward

by Swami Vivekananda among the Indian

youth and to harness youthful energy in a

disciplined manner for nation-building

activities through settless service to the

country. We are fortunate that with this

object has come into existence the Akhil

Bharat Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal. The

Mahamandal has taken up the prime cause

of “Man Making” as its mission. The root

problem being solved, the accessory problems

are bound to be solved.

Come brothers and Sisters! Let us

unite to make a strong India, ‘more

rejuvenated than she ever was’.

(Source : Jailpagiri Vivekananda Yuva Maha Mandal Souvenir)

26

Q. There are so many great savants and seers

and intellectual people. Why should we go to

build our character according to the ideals of

Swami Vivekananda ?

A. First think then, you have to find out

alternatives and judge which to take up. Of

course, sometimes we club together many

names, as you have chummed up savants,

seers, and intellectuals. No doubt there are

many who have exercised their intellect and

savants are intellectuals of a high order. But

seers are not many. Swami Vivekananda was

not only an intellectual or savant, of whom a

peereither in the East or the West should

hardly be found, but also a seer. There were

and are many many intellectuals and savants,

but all are not seers.

The vision of the seers penetrates everything,

both without and within. The vision of

intellectuals is limited, both in depth and

expanse, and again limited expanse .in space

as also in time. The seer can sees the remote

past and the distant future as clearly as they

can see the present. They can delve into any

issue or problem or idea up to the bottom.

Intellectuals make use of their intellect, which

is always limited in its sway, however great

it may appear to the common man.

With uncommon intelligence, all compassing

erudition, encyclopedic knowledge, vast

objective experience, a heart expanded as

wide as the world, and the vision of a seer

Vivekananda saw man in depth, his essence

and potentialities, also man as he was in the

world, and the image of the future man, more

clearly than anybody else. Nobody else so

deeply loved man as man and wept so bitterly

for his present condition. 'Seeing him one

knew that he would willingly have offered his

flesh for food and his blood for drink to the

hungry.' Can you find a second man who could

be expected to do that ? 'His heart was a

huge cauldron in which the sufferings of

mankind were made into a healing balm.

His love for Motherland, India, was

unparalleled. Not because his orations on fndia

were excellent and sublime. While many

discovered India in her political geography,

natural beauty- variety in culture, language,

mores and manners, literature, art,

architecture, schools of philosophy, history,

etc. etc , he discovered the very heart of India

in his own heart and loved her with all his

heart. That is why Mahatma Gandhi

confessed that having read him, his love for

India increased a thousandfold and Subhas

Chandra staked his all for the freedom of

India. To alien people even, when he just

uttered the world 'India', it electrified them

and evoked their reverence. You cannot find

a second man who loved India so well.

His historic perspective was rare. His spiritual

realization could be compared with the sages

By Questioning - Why Vivekananda ?

27

of yore, and at the same time his acquaintance

with the current affairs of the world was

astounding. He was a pastmaster in physical

science and also in philosophy - Eastern as

well as Western. His command over the

scriptures 'of 'all religions of the world'

dumbfounded priests of the Orient as also of

the Occident.

With mastery of the external world of men,

societies, and their interactions coupled with

his hold on the soul, he is uniquely poised lo

cater to the need of the confused

consciousness of man of the present age,

marked by a lack of vision.

Here is a man who had realization, he saw

Truth face to face. Here is a man who was

utterly truthful and knew no fear. Here is a

man whose renunciation is absolute, whose

concentration is superhuman. Here is a man

whose sympathy knew no bounds, he was a

heart-whole man. Here is a man who is as

pure as purity. He was a man who said he

was God and everyone is God. He exemplifies

a life, of which a double cannot he found.

He sacrified his all, including life, for

revivifying man, making him stand on his own

feet. He shook the world and brought about

a change in its thought-current and

regenerated the nation. He diagnosed the

disease man was suffering from and

prescribed the remedy, demonsttaled and laid

bare the methods that could salvage the

drowning man. He was the first man, who

preached singlehanded a universal practical

philosophy of life to the world with

appreciable success, and gradual acceptance

perceptible to ihe discerning eye. He was one

who suggested subordination of personal

salvation to the liberaiion of all.

There have, of course, been great savants and

seers and intellectuals, there have been men

of science and of philosophy, men of literature

and arts, patriots, political thinkers, and

teacher, altruists, humanitarians, and men of

God, but Vivekananda was a 'freak of nature',

if you bare conceive, who was all this in one

and very much a citizen of the world, which

was 'lighted by the torch that Swamiji

carried.' Swami Yogananda said. 'In Naren,

the knowledge of the Vedas possessed by

a Rishi, the renunciation of Sankara, the

heart of Buddha, the freedom from 'maya'

and fullest manifestation of the

knowledge of Brahma of Sukadeva, are

found combined in one person .

So, it would be prudent not to be leafcounters

of Ramakrishna's slory, but to partake of the

juicy fruit of the life and light of Vivekananda

and to derive the benefit it offers. Who else

would give as he, where building of'life'is

concerned ? For building our character, it need

not to be emphasized, we must take up an

ideal which is the very best.' *

28

What is Character :

Swamiji says in Karma Yoga “Every action

and thought of ours leaves an impression in

our mind (ref 1). The sum total of our

impressions on our mind determines our

character. These impressions determines how

we behave at a given moment, respond to

given situation”. Hence we need to build/shape

our character in advance such a way that we

are equipped with capacity or strength to

respond in correct way when a situation arises

later in our life. Is there a way to know how

is our character? Yes, we can know by

analyzing our daily actions. Swamiji advices

us to “Watch a man doing his most common

action”. That gives needed clues about

character. What is strong character? Swamiji

says “ the tortoise tucks its feet and head inside

the shell, even you may kill it and break it in

pieces, and yet it will not come out, even so

the character of that man who has control over

his motives and organs is unchangeably

established. He controls his own inner forces,

and nothing can draw them out against his will.

By this continuous reflex of good thoughts,

good impressions moving over the surface of

the mind, the tendency for doing good

becomes strong, and as the result we feel able

to control the Indriyas (the sense - organs, the

nerve - centres). Thus alone will character be

established, then alone a man gets to truth.

Such a man is safe for ever; he cannot do any

evil. You may place him in any company, there

will be no danger for him”. Why do we need

strong character? We often think our

difficulties can be overcome with money,

name or fame or leaning”- however the above

will often fail in the long run unless we support

them with character..Thus Swamiji declares

“Neither money pays, nor name, nor fame, nor

CHARACTER AND ITS 24 ASPECTS

learning; it is character that can cleave through

adamant walls of difficulties”.

How to mould Character and its 24

aspects : Now let us study how to build strong

character. Yuva Mahamandal recognizes 24

aspects as essential to build strong character

and encourages all of us to strive to uphold

these values in our lives. Often we can see in

our scriptures, mythology a clear explanation

about these values. Stories rendered by Sri

Ramakrishna and lives of his disciples like

Swamiji teaches us in great deal to understand

significance of these values and how to follow

them.

Cleanliness: It is part of Niyama of

Patanjali Yoga Sutras. We can say it comprises

of external and internal cleanliness where the

later is more important than former. Sri

Ramakrishna tells story of prostitute and a

priest to narrate how the later is more

important than the former. In this story a priest

fail to maintain mental cleanliness as he is busy

scolding and counting the sins of a poor

prostitute who doesn’t know any other

livelihood. In due course death arrives the

priest realizes that it is he who committed sin

more times than the prostitute by

contemplating always on her sins. Whereas the

poor women who repents lifelong about her

all actions accompanied to the sacred worlds

after her death but the priest reaches the hell.

Priest’s physical austerities and cleanliness

doesn’t Rescue against the sins he did with

the mind.

Clear thinking & Common Sense : Sri

Ramakrishna says stories of “Elephant God”

and “farmer and Narada” to explain these

values. Swamiji as a child ignored the

warnings that a Bramhadaitya living on the

Compiled by Sri Peddiraju Srinivas

29

tree under which he used to play. In another

occasion we see how as young boy Swamiji

rescued even elders by calling nearby police.

In another incident Swamiji defends idol

worship in front of a Christian preacher.

Courage : When attacked by brute

monkeys in Varanasi Swamiji was advised to

face them –but not flee. Swamiji derives a

great lesson for all of us from this episode and

asks us to face difficulties of life but not run

away from them. Another great example from

Upanishads is story of Nachiketa and how he

chose to meet Lord of death and waited 3 days

in front of the house of death.

Courtesy : Swamiji message is “Serve

man as God”. Sriramakrishna used to bow

further to return salutation in similar or even

better manner. Gandhi drove freedom

movement peacefully and successfully as he

is courteous to all including British Queen

during that period. Only due to courtesy He

won the hearts of many English people who

rated Indians as uncultured.

Determination : Buddha determines to

meditate till death without rest and achieved

Nirvana. Lives of Ekalavya, Bhishma are great

examples from the epic Maha Bharata.

Diligence (hard working) : Arjuna

targeted only the eye of the bird. Swamiji says

“all the knowledge in the world has been

gained but by the concentration of all the

powers of the mind. The world is ready to give

up its secrets if we only know how to knock,

how to give it the necessary blow. The strength

and force of the blow come through

concentration. There is no limit to human

mind. The more concentrated it is the more

power is brought to bear on one point that is

the secret”

Honesty, Truthfulness & Sincerity :

Once a teacher verifies honest among his

students by asking them to sprout few dead

seeds – all except the honest student could

admit his seeds fail to sprout. “Satyam vada”

says. Taitireyam. Chandogya says story of

SatyaKama to explain this further. SRK says

“Truth is tapasya for this yuga”. “I gave up

everything to my Mother but never the truth”.

Truthfulness of Raja Harichandra life inspired

Gandhiji. Swamiji says” Society has to pay

homage to truth”. On sincerity he says “None

will be able to resist truth ,love and sincerity.

Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death?

And loving? Then fear not, not even death”.

Initiative : Swamiji is the first monk who

went to abroad and spread the message of

Vedanta and also created bands of people who

helped India though their unselfish deeds. He

asks us “Be and make. “Arise, awake stop not

till the goal is reached”.

Patience : SRK tells a story of two

devotees waiting for Mukti how patience one

would react to the delay.

Poise : Swamiji asks his fellow disciples

to have “deepest mental poise” while carrying

work. Samatvam Yogamuchyate.Gita (5/18)

says about Samadarsini.

Reliability (Trust) : This doesn’t require

explanation. Organizations will crave for

reliability - this quality can be showcased best

by of Kalyan Maharaj and how he lived entire

life in Khanakal obeying Swamiji orders. SRK

says “ A faithful wife stays with husband for

many births.

Resourcefulness : SRK says story of

boatman and Pandit. Swamiji asks students to

prefer playing football over reading Gita.

Swamiji says “ Vedanta coupled with modern

science” and the goal of mankind is

knowledge. Swamiji explained learning is

uncovering because all knowledge is in side.

He explains gravitation law was in Newton’s

mind until he encounters the falling apple.

30

Self-confidence : Shraddha : Swamiji

“What makes the difference between man and

man is the difference in this Shraddha and

nothing else. What makes one man great and

other weak is this Shraddha. Nachiketa says

“I am superior to many, Inferior to few, but

nowhere I am in the last, I can do something”.

It is said that Valmiki was asked to pronounce

mantra in reverse; however became poet

owing Shraddha on chanting the given mantra.

Self-control : Katha Upanishad says” God

created sense -organs with a defect of an

outgoing disposition. But wise man controls

the mind to see inward and realize happiness”.

The example of five horses and chariot.

SriRamakrishna says “Live like tortoise”. Sri

Krishna says control the fickle mind.

Self-reliance : Swamiji says “ He is an

atheist who doesn’t believe in himself. The old

religion says he is an atheist who didn’t not

believe in God. The new religion says that he

is the atheist who does not believe in himself.

Story of Ekalavya and life of Gandhiji and how

he carries his own baggage; life of JRD Tata

gives many examples. Gita 6/5 says” Uddare

aatmanatmaanam” One should save oneself by

one’s self. One should not lower oneself. For,

one’ own self is verily one’s own friend; one’s

own self is verily one’s own enemy.

Self-respect (Practical Patriotism) : Gita

emphasizes on Swa dharma. Swamiji says

grow like tree taking water,air etc to become

better tree –without losing individuality.

Sense of discipline : Yama – from Yoga

sutras ( 5 rules) upholds Ahimsa, Satya,

Asteya, Brahmacharya,

Aparigraha; these five clearly call for sense

of dicipline

Spirit of service (Compassion) &

Sympathy : Story of Buddha shows us that

he offers life for saving a sheep. Sri

Ramakrishna says “Sive jnane, Jive seva”.

Swamiji says “ Daridra narayans seva” On

Buddha Swamiji “ the great one, who never

thought and never performed a deed except

for good of others; who had the greatest

intellect and heart, taking in all mankind and

all the animals, all embracing, ready to give

up his life for the highest angels as well as for

the lowest man. Sister Nivedita, is also a great

example of Spirit of service

Tolerance : The examples of entire Life

of Sita, Sri Sarada Devi and Gandhi tells

volumes about this. Swamiji is world famous

Chicago address main theme is about religious

harmony.

Unselfishness : Sri Krishna asks Uddhava

in The Bhagavatam to take TREE as example.

Jesus says “Hands that serve are holier than

lips that pray”. SriRamakrishna asks Swamiji

to grow like a huge banyan tree and give

shelter to others. Swamiji “ They alone live

who live for others, the rest are more dead than

alive”. Nivedita: Margaret Elizabeth born in

Ireland in 1867. Swamiji said to her “Love

India”Foot notes :

Ref 1

What is mind? Google search for word “mind” showed “ The element of a person that enables them to be aware

of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought…”

What is mind comprises of ? From our scriptures we learn Mind comprises of Memory (chitta), deliberation and

conceptualization (manas), Determination and decision-making(Buddhi) and ‘I’ or self consciousness (ahamkara).

What is significance of manas? Katha Upanishad describes Body as chariot, our self as its master, Buddhi as

charioteer, sense organs as horses and manas as reins which control the horses...Thus we can say these reins are most

important – as they are like gears of a car without which driving is impossible in spite of having best driver and vehicle.

*

31

Origin And Development of

Visakhapatnam Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal

I) VVYM at AU Engg. Campus :

VVYM was first started as‘Vivekananda Study Circle’ on 6-11-1988at AU Engineering Hostels. The inspira-tion to this was then Nellore VivekanandaYuva Mahamandal. Sri TurlapatiLakshminarayana Rao of that unit hasguided Mr. Naidu Lakshminarayana(NLN)of Inkollu who came for Engg Coachingat Nellore.

First the study circle was started withtwo students(Chandra Seckhar,Mech andNLN,Chem) at Block No:1.Later the studycircle shifted to Block No: 4

The communication of initiatingVivekananda Study Circle was intimatedto Sri Nabhaniharan Mukhopadyay,Secretary,Akhil Bharat Vivekananda YuvaMahamandal(ABVYM) and he asked usto attend Annual Camp,1988.

Lt R.Viswanadhan (Working in IndianNavy, Former Member of JalpaiguriVivekananda Yuva Mahamandal) visitedhostels and introduced ‘Vivekananda Hiscall to the Nation ‘ in the Study Circle andencouraged us to attend the Annual YouthTraining Camp in Dec 1988 at Konnagarfor which NLN attended. Some 4 othersfrom AP also attended it.

II) City Study Circle :

Later NLN got acquaintance of SriS. Srinivasa Rao and Sri PSN Raju (Bothare Steel Plant Employees) through adevotee Srimati Bharathi Madam(Teacher) at Ramakrishna MissionAshrama,Vizag on Swamiji’s Birth Day in1989 .With the blessings of the SwamiYathirajanandaji an evening study circlewas started in February 1989 in the old

Ashrama itself (Present Library place).

The Study Circle was held from 4 p.m. – 5

p.m .It continued till new Temple was con-

secrated in Jan ,1991.

Some activities that were carried out

during the initial stage of VVYM(1988-92).

a) Free Coaching Classes : Free

coaching classes were conducted to AU

Engg. hostel Canteen staff children

(mostly muslim boys) at Hostel office

premises in the evenings. Study circle

members spared weekly one hour of their

time. One of the student got Engg. rank

at a later stage. This service activity was

a great inspiration to be members.

b) Food Packets Distribution : On

Guru Maharaj Jayanthi day in 1991 Study

circle members got prepared prasad from

their pocket money and distributed food

packets at various places to the needy

poor people.

c) Participation in Relief work at

Repalle: VSC member NLN had worked

at Ramakrishna Math, Rajhmundry

Rapalle cyclone relief shelter for 14 days

in May,1990 as volunteer under the

guidance of Swami Sashikanatanandaji

Maharaj (Presently Secretary Rama-

krishna Mission,Vijayawada)

d) Yoga Classes: We conducted yoga

classes for few months in 1991 in 5th

Block, followed by mental concentration.

Even Aratrikam too held for few weeks.

P.Hara Gopal and R.S. Prem kumar took

initiative. Study Circle members used to

attend spiritual talks that used to be held

in Bullaya College and used to meet Sri

Gali Pardhasaradhi Garu to clear doubts.

- N. LashminarayanaFounder - President of VVYM

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e) Lending library : Sri D.AppalaNaidu (Now Associate Prof. in AU Ch Engg

Dept) ran ‘Vivekananda Library’ where heused to lend subject books to students

year after year in his college days.

f) Second Study circle in AUEngineering Campus on Thursdays

To facilitate the day Scholars, NCCStudents, absentees of Sunday SC and

in place of city Study Circle that wasdiscontinued after RK Mission started its

own Yuvaka Sanga at Ashrama a SecondSC organized on Thursdays evening in the

park opposite to 1st Block(5pm-6pm). ThisStudy Circle group (Mr. P Ravi Sankar and

Sri. A. Sanjaya Kumar) also arranged RajaYoga classes at Gandhi Bhavan by Sri Gali

Paradha Sardhi Master(Professor,AUSankrit Dept).

There was regular correspondence

with Central Organisation. Batch afterBatch, senior SC members would be

interacting with freshers after their settlingdown and interested ones were invited to

the study circles. Few of them continuedand the process continues till date.

Mean while Sri. S. Krishnan , DE, Rly,transferred from Bhilai to Visakhapatnam

.He met us in Study circles and introducedExecutive Committee meetings and

Annual General body meetings to us.

III)VVYM AT INDUSTRIAL ESTATERAMALAYAM :

Sri S. Krishnan Started a new SC at104 Industrial Estate Ramalayam in 1993.

Sr. M. Govinda Rao and his friends usedto participate in it. Some of the activities

during this period are :

a) Swamiji’s Chicago Parliament ofReligions Centenary Celebrations: It

was celebrated on 11-09-1993 at theEstate Ramalayam complex.

b) National Youth Day 1994 : VVYMorganized National Youth Day on

12-01-1994 at Estate Ramalayam.

Competetion on Swami Vivekananda’s life

and teachings(Essay writing, Elocution)

were conducted. Swami Bodamaya-

nandaji of Rk Mission Ashrama gave a

lecture. A procession with Swami

Vivekananda quotes was held from

Temple to Kancharapalem mettu, School

children participated.

IV) VVYM AT VIVEKANANDA STREET,

KANCHARAPALEM :

Between 1994-95, VVYM had its office,

library at Vivekananda Memorial Club,

Reddy Kancharapalem. Activities during

this period are as follows :

a) Weekly Study Circle held.

b) Bala Vihar was started here only.

Over the years Bala Vihar children

became VVYM members. The strength

of VVYM for years together is Bala

Vihar Children. Sri M. Govindarao is

organising till date.

c) VVYM organized free Coaching

classes for school children and Bala Vihar

Students.

d) National Youth Day was held on 12-

01-1995 in the Vivekananda Street itself.

e) VVYM published its first telugu book-

let in Dec 1994. ‘National Integration and

Swami Vivekananda’ which was

translated by Sri Pannala Syama Sundar

Murthy. Relesed at Pathipadu where

world’s highest Statue was unveiled.

f) Vivek-Bharathi (Telugu qurterly of

Mahamandal) was printed in Jan 1995.

g) VVYM started enrolling new

members from different walk’s of life.

There was communication and

participation by AU SC Members with city

office.

h) Vivekananda Book Stall :

Bookstalls were arranged at varioustemples during the period 1993-1996 andseveral years at Kali Temple during MahaSivarathri days. Some members used todo volunteer work at Rly stn RK Mission

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stall and Sri Puvvula Krishna Mohan’s

Poorna market stall.

i) Medicines Distribution at KGH :From 1993-1995, our member Sri

B.Krishna Mohan used to visit KGHmonthly once and used to visit different

wards and medicines were distributed toneedy patients and he used to write letters

to the relatives of patients. Sri J.V.Ramana used to collect funds for the

above work.

j) Vivekananda Spirit of Success:

These classes were held for 4 years(1998-2002) in Kancharapalem. Children

from various schools were short listed andwere given special training for ‘4’ hrs on

every Sunday. White uniform was insisted,Yogasana and Service activities were

introduced to them.

V) VVYM AT GOORKHA LINE :

VVYM shifted its office to Railway

Goorkha line in 1996 with great courtesyof Sri Ganapathi Seva Samithi (Sri

B.Rudra murthy garu of SGSS is knownto VSC Members since 1989 at RK

Mission.) and since then continuing itsvarious activities from there. The main

activities being done from here.

a) Organizing National Youth Day on

12th January (1998 – 2002):NationalYouth Day was celebrated as a Day-long

Programme constituting of lectures, rallyin the evening and public meeting in the

evening . National Youth Day held atGoorkha Line , Seethamadhara, Vemana

Mandiram, N.A.D.(evening).

b) Study Circle at SathawahanaHostels : Study circle was conducted by

Sri V.Srinivasarao between 1998-2000at Satawahana Hostels on Thursdays.Sri

KPS Sastry and Sri T. Lakshminarayanarao have visited the SC.

c) Participation in Bhava PracharaParishat 10th Annual Devotees

Convention : Mahamandal members (11members) done volunteer work in the 10th

annual devotees convention of Rama-krishna Vivekananda Bhava Parishad heldin Vizag at L.Bullaya College grounds in2000. The souvenir was solely prepared,proof read by VVYM members.

b) Dental and ENT Camp : OneDental camp was organized in March 1999at Kancharapalem, Dr N. Siva Lalithaattended the patients and medicenes weredistributed.

ENT camp was organized on15-08- 2004 at Kobbarithota Junction, DrPrasada Rao, M.D., Dr. Phalguni Srikumarhave seen the patients, Medicines worthRs 8000/- were distributed.

C) Sri Sarada Devi Ratha yatra(2004) : Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi’s150th Birth Anniversary Ratha Yatra wasorganized in Sept 2004 from RTCComplex to RK Beach via Jagadamba.Public meeting was arranged at KaliTemple Swami Paratparanandaaddressed the gathering.

d) 10K/5K Health Run: In 2005 10k/5k health run was organized at RK Beach,a good number of runners participated.Cash awards were given by Sri MSN RajuGaru and Sri M. Nagaraju (U.S.A.).

e) Blood Donation camps: VVYMintroduced Voluntary Blood donationCamps in association with A. S. RajaVoluntary Blood Bank in 2004. Every yearduring the month of January (Swamiji’sbirth month) VVYM is organizing blooddonation camps. Around 50 people aregiving Blood (average) Swamiji’sLiterature is being given to Blood donors.VVYM got good reputation because ofthese Blood Camps.

f) One Day Youth Training Camps :For Character -Building, VVYM organisingone day youth training camps till now 3camps were held. September 2006(Gayatri Vidya Parishad), January 2008(Seethamapeta, KshatriyaKalyanamandapam), Septem-ber 2012(NSTL Community hall).

34

Classes on Character- Building, MentalConcentration, Leadership, SwamiVivekananda,Patriotism were taken,Ramakrishna Mission Swamijis, SeniorMahamandal Members, Sri RamakrishaDevotees Spoke in the training camps.There were Interactive sessions andpower point presentations.

g) Youth Conventions : YouthConventions were held in 2009 and 2011( half day sessions) with emphasis on “keyto success” and “Goal Setting”. Sri R.S.Premkumar and Sri Peela Ravi Shankar(AUSC Former members) spoke.

h) 20 Years Celebrations:VVYM’s 20years celebrations were organized as aday long program in Nov, 2008.SwamiGuneshanandaji was the Chief guest.

i) Annual General Body Meeting:It isconducted regulary as per the guidelinesof ABVYM . From 2008 onwards speakerswho have thoroughly studied Swamiji andwho are well-wishers of Mahamandalwere invited and it is being held as 4 hrssession followed by lunch.

j) Telugu Publications:VVYM takenup translation and publishing ofMahamandal publications into Telugusince 1994. Till now 10 books werepublished and as they were exhaustedall are being reprinted in this silver jubileeyear.

k) Vivek-Bharathi: This teluguquarterly was started in 1990 by Sri KPSSastry Garu. One issue was publishedby VVYM in 1995.After a gap of 17 yearsVVYM resumed its publications since Aug2012.

l) Vivekananda’s 150 th BirthAnniversary Ratha yatra: As part of

Swami Vivekananda’s 150 th birthanniversary celebrations,RamakrishnaMath,Hyderbad is conducting Ratha Yatrathroughout A.P. VVYM took this RathaYatra to different schools ,colleges andarranged lectures for 8 days in Feb/march2013.

m) NAD Study Circle : It was startedat Vivekananda Type Institute,Butchirajupalem on Guru MaharajJayanthi day in 2004 by Sri Ch.V.K.N.Somaraju. It has produced severalyoung boys who became a source ofour activities till now.

n) Polytechnic Study Circle/Muralinagar Study circle : Fewstudycircles were conducted at theGovt.Polytechnic premises in 2009 andthe study circle is shifted to PrasanthiPark,Muralinagar in 2012 and is going onwell and now we have few members whoare active to accomplish the assigned job.

o) ON LINE STUDY CIRCLE : To caterthe needs of non local members of VVYM,an ON LINE Study circle was initiated byour senior member Sri PeddirajuSrinivas (AU,1990-94) who is presentlyin Bangalore through SKYPE on 11thSept,2011.It has been continuouslyrunning. It is held on Every Thursdays 9p.m. To 10 p.m.Around 10 members arethere from different parts of India.Centralorganisation appreciated our effort.SkypeID : Visakhapatnam vym.

p) VVYM Building proposal: Afterworking for so many years VVYM felt theneed to procure site and build a buildingto have office / Library etc. Efforts weremade to search a site .Around 3 lakhsdeposited in a separate Bank Account.

Several Members and Well-wishers worked for the growth of

VVYM over the years. If we miss anyone please excuse us.

Our special thanks to Sri M. Satyanarayana Raju Garu, M.D., SRK InfraProjects Pvt. Ltd. & former president of VVYM (2004-08) Who supports

every activity we take up.

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PA to the Director of Agriculture

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47

S.L.No. NAME AMOUNT

1 SRI N. LAKSHMI NARAYANA 10,116

2 SRI B. PRAVEEN KUMAR 10,000

3 SRI M. SRI NAGESH BABU 10,000

4 SRI Ch. RAJESH 10,000

5 SRI Ch. VENKATA PHANI 10,000

6 Smt. Shobha & Sri S.K. PATNAIK 10,000

7 SRI D. APPALA RAJU 8,000

8 SRI T. GOKUL CHAND 5,116

9 SRI G. KUMAR RAJU 5,000

10 SRI PEELA SRINIVAS 5,000

11 SRI M.V. APPA RAO 5,000

12 SRI U. SUBHA 5,000

13 SRI J. MOHAN KUMAR 5,000

14 SMT. M. KAMALA KUMARI 3,000

15 SRI SABINENI BOSE 2,000

16 SRI M. GOVINDA RAO 2,000

17 SRI VASIREDDY JAIPAL 2,000

18 SRI G.V. RATNAM 2,000

19 SMT. N.BABY SAROJINI 2,000

20 SRI C.BHASKARA SHARMA 1,116

21 SRI K.SUNIL BABU 1,116

22 SRI V.V.SIVARAMAKRISHNA 1,116

23 SRI D.J.S. REDDY 1,116

24 SRI P.MURALI MOHAN 1,116

25 SRI P.V. KRISHNAM RAJU, VIZIANAGARAM 1,000

26 SRI HEMA SUNDAR 1,000

27 SRI K.PRADEEP 1,000

28 SRI N.CHANDRASEKHAR 1,000

29 SRI B.MADHAV 1,000

30 SRI V. LAKSHMANA RAO 1,000

31 SRI VIVISHNUTEJA 558

32 SRI T.S.S. REDDY 516

33 SRI B.VERRABHADRA RAO 501

34 SRI Y.GANGADHARAM 500

35 SRI T.T. RAO 500

36 SRI M.V.KRISHNA 500

37 SRI T.NAGESWARA RAO 500

38 SRI RAJASEKHAR 500

39 SRI K.SRINIVASA RAO 500

40 SRI CH. VIJESWAR 500

41 SRI R. GANGADHARA RAO 500

42 SRI G.PAULVEDAM 500

43 SRI G.RAJU SATYANARAYANA 500

44 SRI J.V. RAMANA 500

45 SRI M.Ch. KISHORE CHOWDARY 500

DONATIONS

48

With best Compliments from :

With best Compliments from :

R.K. TEXTILES

With best Compliments from :

Main Road, Marripalem,

Visakhapatnam

Phones :

9177600891, 0891- 2527451

49

DONATIONS Contd.....

S.L.No. NAME AMOUNT46 SRI MANTENA VENKATAPATHI RAJU 5000047 SRI BVV SATYANARAYANA 1500048 SRI MADHIRA RAVI (Publications) 1000049 SRI CH.GOPICHAND (Publications) 1000050 SRI S.KRISHNAN (Publications) 501651 RANI MEMORIAL SCHOOL 500052 SRI PEELA RAVI SANKAR (Publications) 500053 SRI V.LAKSHMANA RAO (Additional to Sl.No. 30) 500054 SRI P. NAGESWARA RAO 500055 SRI BACHINA SREEDHAR 250056 SRI R.KONDAL RAYUDU (Publications) 250057 SRI P.RAVICHANDRA 250058 SRI B.KRISHNA MOHAN (Publications) 200059 SRI CH.V.S.K.N.SOMA RAJU 200060 SRI NRK CHOWDARY 111661 SRI VV GOPALA KRISHNA 100062 SRI S.KASI VISWESWARARAO 100063 SRI B.PRABHAKHARAO 100064 SRI PAPPU HANUMANTHARAO 100065 SRI M.M.CHAKRABORTY 100066 SRI N.ANAND KUMAR 51667 SRI NRK RAJU 50068 SRIDEVI SAMAPATH STEELS 50069 SRI V.VISWANATH 50070 SRI KVLN MURTHY 50071 RK TEXTILES 50072 SRI B.SIVASASHANK 50073 SRI VIDYA TALENT SCHOOL 50074 SRI P.CHANDRA SECKHAR 50075 SRI G.SRI HARI BABU 50076 SRI G.NAGESH 50077 SRI K.TRIVIKRAMA RAO (Publications) 500

Note : 1) Donations in Sl. Nos. 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 14 (Pg. No. 47) are forPublications.

2) Please read G. Kumar Raju as G. Kamaraju

VVYM is thankful to all the above donorsand all the donors whose names are not appeared here.

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51

VISAKHAPATNAM VIVEKANANDA YUVA MAHAMANDAL (VVYM)

Silver Jubilee Celebrations29th Nov to 1st Dec, 2013, TTD Kalayanamandapam, MVP

Three day Youth Training Camp Report

Day 1 : 29-11-2013, Friday

Program started with Flag hosting by Swami Amritanandaji Maharaj.

R.K.Mission Ashrama, Visakhapatnam at 04:50 P.M. Flag down was done later at 5.40

p.m.after snacks arrangement. Camp Inaugural meeting was presided over by

Sri M. Satyanarayana Raju MD, SRK Infra projects Pvt. Ltd. Swami Amritanandaji

Maharaj. has given a brief lecture. Mahamandal Telugu publications were released.

Welcome address is given by Sri N.Lakshminarayana (President of VVYM).

Sri K.P.Subbaraya Sastry (Farm, Finance and Insurance Advisor, Hyderabad and First

State Co-ordinator of ABVYM for A.P.) spoke on “ Be & Make” the Motto of Yuva

Mahamandal. Sri Ravi Bhattacharjee(ABVYM, Kolkata) spoke on “Yuva Mahamandal

Movement in India” followed by a brief lecture by Swami Tanmayanandaji Maharaj,

Ambikapur. Songs were sung by Dr. Pannala Syama Sundara Murthy, Rtd Associate

Director of Research, ANGRAU. Day was closed by room discussions with campers

by senior Mahamandal members and the hear the holy.

Day 2 : 30-11-2013, Saturday

The day's activity was started at 05:30 AM with flag hoisting by President

(VVYM) followed by a class on Mental Concentration by Swami Tanmayanandaji.

Mr. Anil Kumar took Yoga class for the campers before breakfast.

Swami Tanmayanandaji spoke on ‘Jeevana Udheshya Nirdaranam Swamiji

Adarsam’ followed by a group discussion by the Campers on ‘Social work why and

how’ co- ordinated by Swami Tanmayanandaji and Senior Mahamandal Members

Sri K.P.Subbaraya Sastry spoke on ‘Message of Vivekananda in solving

present day problems of the society and practical approach to be adopted by the

youth’.‘Aims and activities of Vivekananda Yuva Mahamandal ‘were explained by

Sri P.Muni Swamy. Songs were sung by Pedabramadevam Sri Sarada Ramakrishna

Seva Samithi devotees..

Afternoon session was started with a talk by Dr.Pannala Syama Sundara

Murthy on ‘How to build Character as advised by Swami Vivekananda’ , followed by a

talk by Sri Ravi Bhattacharjee. Games were conducted for the campers. Flag down

was done at 5.30p.m. by Swami Nitya Yoganandaji Maharaj, RK Mission

Ashrama,Visakhapatnam. Aratrikam was sung by Swami Tanmayanandaji and open

program was started at 06:30 PM with a talk by Swami Nityayoganandaji Maharaj on

“Relavance of Swami Vivekananda to the present day youth”. Open Program was

presided by Sri P. Hanumantha Rao, RK devotee and retired teacher another guest

speaker was Smt. U. Subha, Vanitha walkers club. A Burra Katha was performed by

Ramachandrapuram, Ramakrishna Seva Samithi members. Day's program was ended

with room discussions.

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Day 3 : 01-12-2013, Sunday

The day's activity was started at 05:30 AM with flag hoisting by President,VVYMfollowed by a class on Mental Concentration by Swami Tanmayanandaji, Mr. Anil Kumartook Yoga class for the campers before breakfast. After Breakfast SwamiChinmayanandaji Maharaj, Ramakrishna Mission Sevashrama, Kankal has releasedVVYM Silver Jubilee Souvenir and gave a brief lecture and answered patiently thequestions raised by the campers,followed by a talk on 'Our National Ideals are Serviceand Sacrifice' by Swami Tanmayanandaji and a talk by Sri Ravi Bhattacharjee on ' ANew Youth movement'. A class on 'Leadership and Society' was taken byDr. P.S.S.Murthy. Mahamandal Character-Building Methods were explained bySri N. Lakshminarayana. Songs were sung by VVYM members.

A rally was organized with play cards of Swamiji quotes from MVP circle toUshodaya Junction. Flag down was done at 5.30 P.M. Arathrikam was done by SwamiTanmayanandaji. In the evening public meeting was addressed by SwamiGuneshanandaji Maharaj, R.K.Mission Ashrama, Visakhapatnam on ‘SwamiVivekananda's Message to the Youth’ followed by a talk by Dr V.S.R.K. Prasad,Principal, ANITS College of Engineering who presided the meeting. Later campersshared their experiences. Prizes were distributed to the winners (Boys & Girls) in thecompetitions that were conducted on 'Vivekananda His Call to Nation' in 30 schoolsand colleges in and around Visakhapatnam. Parents in large number attended (Morethan 600 numbers). Mementos were given to schools. Vote of thanks was given bysecretary of the unit.

Program ended with Ramakrishna Sharanam and Santhi Mantram (PurnaMadam).

Notes :1. 300 students from various schools and colleges joined the camp. (Students came

from different schools and colleges of Visakhapatnam, Tuni, Anakapalli, Challapalli,Hyderabad and Bangalore.)

2. All the English Speeches were translated into telugu by Dr. P.S.S.Murthy.3. Arise-Awake Exhibition on Life and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda was arranged4. Book stall on Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda Teachings was arranged

by M/s Himamshu Book depot and Calendar Stall was kept by Mr. Anil.5. CMR has provided around 25 small flexies and 2 big flexies.6. Food Catering was done through Akshya Patra, ISKON7. All the publications and Souvenir were nicely printed at Sathyam Imprints and

SJ brochure and camp application forms were printed at NationalPrinters,Allipuram.

VVYM is grateful to TTD Authorities who have alloted the premises at concessionalcharges.

VVYM thanks one and all (Schools/colleges management, staff, students,parents,speakers, devotees, well-wishers, media people) for their co-operation &participation in the celebrations.

Please visit VVYM blog : www.vvym.blogspot.com

(Blog was created by Sri Chavali Sreeram Kishore in the year 2005)