Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation: Concluding Program

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Concluding Program - Samarpanam

Concluding Function Of Sister Nivedita Birth Anniversary

The Chembai Sangeetha college auditorium was the venue to the culmination of the one year long celebrations in conjunction with the 150^th birth anniversary of Sister Nivedita. The events were jointly organised by Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation and Vivekananda Darshanika Samajam. On the occasion were distinguished guests from different walks of life. On the dais were :

Hon. Justice K P Jyothindranath - High court of Kerala,

Param Poojya Pravrajika Ajayaprana Mataji - Vice President, Sri Sarada Math, and the Ramakrishna Sarada Mission,

Hon. Mr. Peter McIvor, Deputy Head of the Embassy of Ireland in New Delhi,

Mr. François Gautier, editor in chief of the Paris-based La Revue de l’Inde and trustee founder of FACT – India(_http://www.fact-india.com/ ) and

Mananeeya. Dr. M. Lakshmi Kumari, Chairperson 'Samarpanam', Past President of Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari and Chairman of Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation , Kodungallur.

Revered Swami Golokananda Maharaj of Sri Ramakrishna Math, Kalady, also graced the occasion.

The lighting of the Bhadra deepam was carried out by Justice Jyothindranath.(🎧 https://goo.gl/wJkX5e )

Post this Lakshmi Didi's opening address stressed upon "Shraddha/avivesha " with references from Kathopanishad and throwing light upon the thoughts for choosing Margaret Elizabeth Noble to be Sister Nivedita whose life was dedicated to the people of India, especially in the upliftment of women. (🎧 https://goo.gl/c3EZbU )

'Thank you Ireland for having produced such a wonderful Lady' said Mataji in her address to the gathering. Towards the end of her address she asked everyone to remember the 5 words 'Mother's heart', 'Hero's will', 'the leader, servant and friend in one'. She ended the talk by saying "Try your best to nourish those ideals within you, as much as you can for God's children, that will be the highest homage we can give to Sister Nivedita."(🎧 https://goo.gl/BoUkp1 )

Hon. Mr. Peter McIvor spoke on the contribution of Sister Nivedita, her lifetimes work, education and empowerment of young women. He continued, 'She was an important interpreter of India to the outside world. Informing a western audience about India of all it wonderful phases - It's history, it's heritage, it's mythology, it's religions and it's cultural reawakening of that times. Later she was also to write about the life of her master and his master Shri Ramakrishna, for whose life and teachings she had developed a strong attachment.' (🎧 https://goo.gl/KK41yr )

As a token of India's love and respect for Sister Nivedita's sacrifice for our motherland, Justice K.P.Jyothindranath presented a memorabilia to Hon. Peter McIvor who represents Ireland, the motherland of Sister Nivedita.

Mr. François Gautier in his talk started off by saying 'I am not a knowledgeable man of Sister NIvedita" but I have always admired her and this is why I accepted this invitation, for most of the time I refuse invitations to this type of conferences.' He continued 'Sister Nivedita is a special person to me, because she is one of the very very few westerners who come to India not to give something but because India gave here something. Sister Nivedata had a rare intuition when she met Swami in London that there is a rare knowledge in India that she needed.' He talked off a similar intuition that he had when he came to India many years back.(🎧 https://goo.gl/fvQDxH )

Sister Nivedita award was presented to Smt. Uma Preman, Founder, Santhi Medical Information Centre, Guruvayur By Mrs. McIvor & the Citation for the same was read by Shri. Arun. A. In response to the award Smt. Uman Preman thanked the organisers and shared her experiences.

Prize distribution for Quiz competition winners were given by Shri N. Nandakumar,

President, Vivekanada Darsanika Samajam.

Vote Of Thanks was given by Ms. Beena Govind.