Welcome Remarks by Dr Arvind Gupta, Director, the Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF)

Dear friends,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this Vimesh series of talks. Today’s talk is being delivered by Ms Nivedita Raghunath Bhide, the Vice President of Vivekananda Kendra and member of the Board of Trustees of the VIF. She will speak on the topic contemporary relevance of Swami Vivekananda.

Nivediata Didi has been associated with the Kanyakumari based Vivekananda Kendra since 1977. She joined the Kendra as lifetime worker and has been devoted to the mission of Vivekananda Kendra since then. During her illustrious career she has been associated with education, skills, training, character building and other missions of Vivekananda Kendra. She has worked with people at the grass root level for the upliftment of tribals and deprived sections of the society.

She has worked in the villages of Tamilnadu for rural development; was the Principle of Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Kanyakumari for rural children from 1981 to 1984 and Guided the 47 Schools of Kendra in rural and tribal areas of Andaman, Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh during 1993 to 2000.

A forceful writer, she has written on many subjects pertaining to Shri Eknathji Mission, Swami Vivekananda, Sister Nivedita, Women, Education of Children and Yoga. She has delivered talks at premium institutions of India like IIT, IIMs, IISc and various universities. She has participated and presented papers in numerous conferences both in India and abroad on the subject of culture, nationalism and education. She participated in international seminar at Melbourne organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) on the Subject of ‘Swami Vivekananda: Reassessing the Man and his Contribution’. She has also spoken at the Global Hindu Buddhist Initiative on ‘Conflict Avoidance and Environmental Consciousness’ at the VIF. Besides, Nivaditaji has organised numerous seminars for tribal communities on the subjects such as traditional systems and role of priests.

Nivaditaji has received many awards. She was honored with Padama Shree in 2017 for her social service and a Doctorate form the Desh Bhagat University in 2017. She has travelled abroad and lectured at various conferences and universities. The Government has used her services in various fields including education. She has been a part of many high-level committees to advise the government on education etc. A part of her duties includes looking after the Cultural Centre of Vivekananda Kendra as well as coordination with the VIF.

We are most grateful to her for finding time to be with us today to interact with and informed audience on the contemporary relevance of Vivekananda.

Dear friends,

India is at the cusp of revival and resurgence. India is already the sixth largest economy in GDP terms. It is set to become the third largest perhaps in a decade and half. Can we maintain the momentum of growth we have built in the last few years? How can we improve the quality of growth so that its benefit is fed by all? How do we protect environment as we continue to grow? These are some of the questions that we face today.

In 1893, Swami Vivekananda, delivering a speech at the Parliament of World Religions, told both countrymen and western world that thanks to its rich spiritual heritage India had been and can be a Vishwa Guru. It was not empty talk. Hinduism and Indian civilisation in general has a vast repository of ideas, concepts and wisdom which we can draw upon as we look towards the future.

But we should not be oblivious of the many false in our society. Vast segments of our population still live in poverty and deprived of basic human dignity. We still have to make progress in human development indices. We have to pay adequate attention to India’s Nari Shakti and Yuva Shakti. In the last few days we have seen a large number of women coming out openly with shocking revelations how they have been treated in work places. This does not show our society in good light. This shows that we still have to empower our women and provide them with a sense of safety and security. Swamiji had immense faith in India’s women and he always advocated their upliftment through genuine empowerment.

Yuva Shakti is our great resource. We can be proud of our youth. But a lot of work that needs to be done educate them, to imbibe them the sense of patriotism and the sense of serve and their mindset has to be moulded in such a way that they keep mother India foremost in their mind and priorities. Swamiji is an icon for youth. His exhortations to the youth are still relevant.

The good news is that we can overcome our problems and build our nation. For that we have to work in a united fashion and for a definite goal. Swamiji’s thoughts provide the necessary guidance.

No one is better placed than Nivedita ji to tell us about the relevance of Swamiji’s teachings today when India is looking forward to become great again. She has devoted all her life to working with young people, tribals, women and youth.

I request Niveditaji to share her views with us.