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human being lives his life in a community. How wonderfully Sarada Devi had imbibed this lesson and passed it on to her disciples becomes clear in her famous last utterance. If you want peace of mind.. As Sarada ascended her steps to perfection she came to acquire the epithet which describes the Divine Mother. She became the Maharajni of the entire Ramakrishna Math and Mission which recognized her as the Empress or Queen of the Sri Ramakrishna family. It didnt stop there. Her nobility and enlightenment percolated into the society which recognized her greatness as a Holy Mother. Thus did she ascend the throne of Supreme Motherhood as Simhasaneswari. Like in all Avatars she was the Shakti who accompanied Siva to establish Dharma. Sri Ramakrishna passed on to her the mantle of the great work of preserving the trends of Dharma which he came to establish. After his Samadhi she remained as the pillar of strength and guidance for thirty four years making sure that Sri Ramakrishnas legacy is well taken care of and thus she became Devakaryasamudyatha, ordained to do the Devakarya of establishing Satya and Dharma. Sri Ramakrishna himself recognized the Jnana Ganga that flowed through her and he compared her to Sarada the Goddess of Wisdom. Holy Mother played the role of teacher of Para and Apara Vidya with equal and easy felicity, astounding one and all who sent near her. The education she imparted to those who lived with her in day-to-day wordly matters was without parallel as it always carried the fragrance of Adwaita. Abheda Bhava was her abiding characteristics. Swami Vivekananda says all knowledge must lead ultimately to the knowledge of Oneness. When Holy Mother brought her Para Awareness to bear upon a daily chores they acquired a beauty and perfection of their own. Even her Apara knowledge started leaning more and more on her Para Awareness they revealed what Swami Vivekananda later called as Practical Vedanta and this is how Saradamani Devi, a finite human being transformed herself into a measuring rode for the Infiniteness of Motherhood.

Vishwa Bhanu
Volume 1 Issue 1 April -& May 2011

Highlights of the month of April 2011

EDITORIAL With the dawn of the new year, and with increasing number of activities, an urge to start a bulletin which would highlight briefly the monthly events taking place at Vivekananda

Personality Development Camp I for Tiny Tots. Personality Development Camp II for Junior Children . Swami Mridananda Smriti Puraskar to Ma. Lakshmi Didi 12th April Ganapathy Homa and Srichakraa Puja.

Kendra Vedic Visions Ananda

dham, at Kodungallur, came forth and took shape as VISHWA BHANU which will hence forth be our Bi-monthly English bulletin, so that all our Kendra centres have an idea of the various activities taking place here apart from the five utsavas.

CHILDREN ENGAGED IN SINGING GROUP SONG

Vivekananda Kendra Vedic Vision Foundation, Kodungallur

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Personality Development Camps 2011

The Parents would be eagerly waiting for the summer vacations, so that their wards could be introduced to a new discipline in their lives. Taking many things into consideration like water availability, resource persons etc., this time we decided to have three half-day camps for the different age groups .

P D C NOI
Accordingly the first camp was inaugurated on 7th Morning by Sri Rajappani,our Vanaprasti Karyakarta. Children belonging to the age group of 6years to 9 years participated. The main idea behind this camp was to give an opportunity to the children to exhibit their talents and creativity. We had fifteen children in this camp. Children were taught Sanskrit slokas, stories from Panchatantra, patriotic songs, kids yoga and the most entertaining part was krida yoga. The children enjoyed whole programme. On the concluding day all the children were served with delicious lunch and a special interaction session with their parents was held. Unique thing about the camp was that the children themselves conducted the concluding programme where in they exhibited their talents like singing songs and enacting the stories in small skits, Lakshmi Didi gave her blessings to the children and extolled the parents to encourage the children at home also what they learnt during the camp.

Lakshmi Didi delivering the Inaugural address

Its Play time with our camp teachers.

she had already started imbibing from her mother-in-law those wonderful traits which had qualified her to become the mother of the best of Avatars. In worldly sense Chandra Mani was a perfect mother, simple, undemanding, full of natural faith, rooted in Dharma and overflowing with love and concern for everyone around her. Truth manifested in her as a deep faith in their family deity Sri Ramachandra by whose grace, she believed Gadhadhar, the Divine Child was born to her. She was Dharma personified. With these two deep seated awareness in her life turned out to be a combination of Nishkama Karma or Yajna and Tapas. Worldliness found no entrance into her household. Herself an embodiment of purity the young bride Sarada absorbed it all effortlessly. The second lesson was not that easy to learn and Sarada left it totally to her Master to enlighten her on the divinity of her self. At an opportune time Sri Ramakrishna through the famous Shodashi Pooja bestowed on his consort the divine status and unfolded the divinity within her. The worldly lessons made her acquire all the maternal qualities that make life smooth, harmonious and fulfilling, helping her to take care of not only her own fractured family but also of the larger and more variegated family of the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna. Even those who could not be made whole by Sri Ramakrishna were sent to Mother for their training and enlightenment. One cant help drawing comparison from that immeasurably profound sthothra of Lalithasahasranama. The very first word Sree Matha denotes that motherhood is the greatest of gifts that Divine Mother has bestowed on humanity. Mother is the kindergarten teacher helping the child to pick up the abc of life. She is the window through which the child looks at the world and values its goodness and badness. She is the last consolation of dying man. When in pain or pleasure the natural expression that comes from a human being is that of Mother. Languages may be different but the feeling remains the same. No wonder that Sri Ramakrishna insisted on Sarada acquiring the traits of a good mother first. Sri stands not only for wealth and prosperity but also for poison. A good mother has to consume or mop up a lot of poison that gets generated during interactions as a

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wonderful human being. Age of five was a turning point in her life as it brought her in contact with her Lord and Master at whose side she was to spent her adulthood. Her husband proved to be not only her Mentor and Tutor, but also her Supreme Lord and Guru. Bereft of all the external confusing influences of the so called modern education, she brought an almost blank mind slate as she came to her Master to share the bliss of married life. On one occasion she pointedly asked Sri Ramakrishna what is his idea of her, knowing which she could fruitfully fill up her role in his life. Without hesita-

Valedictory function attended by Didi and Sri. Sudhakar. Children demonstrated everything they learned in the 7 days camp starting with Samuhika prayer, action songs, skits and yoga

Yoga Demonstration

Childrens drama based on Panchatantra stories

tion he imprinted on one side of her mind slate that she was none other than the Divine Mother worshipped in the temple. On the other side he added the note that to him she was no less than his own mother who stayed in the Nahabath, his grand old mother Chandramani Devi. Sarada Devi could absorb the second lesson very effortlessly as

English action song on animals

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SWAMI MRIDANANDA MEMORIAL AWARD FOR SPIRITUAL SERVICES

HOLYMOTHER - AN EDUCATOR PAR EXCELLENCE

By Dr.M.Lakshmi Kumari

Srimad Swami . Purushottamananda Sarawati of Vivekananda Seva Kendram, Cherrusserry and Srimad Swami Swaprabhanandaji of Ramakrishna Math, Quilandy gave away the prestigious Swami Mridanandaji Memorial award to Rev Lakshmi didi on the 12th of April 2011 at Trissur

Education is the manifestation of the Perfection which is already in man says Swami Vivekananda. A great educator, therefore, has to be one who would help the students to manifest the perfection which is already in him or her. The educator has to be perfect oneself and must also be ever eager to impart this perfection to those he or she comes in contact with, that is, helping the finite being to discover the Infinite within. How did an apparently simple uneducated village belle transform herself into an educator par excellence? It is interesting to look into Holy Mothers life for clues which reveal the magnificence of her inner transformation which goes beyond all our criteria of education. The knowledge she acquired was so perfect that she could easily pass on infinitude to ordinary human beings. Let us start with her elementary training which integrated into her wonderful character building foundational traits on which she built up her future life. Born into a poor strictly orthodox Brahmin family, gifted with unbounded wisdom, Saradas early childhood was automatically built on very strong foundations so that it could easily take the weight of the Infinite on them. These foundational pillars were of Sanatana Dharma, Truth, Dharma, Yajna and Tapas. Her early life experiences look apparently very elementary or rural but they were all lessons in unfolding the perfection inherent in her. Natural concern for the members of her family, for the labourers who worked in the fields, to the famine stricken multitude this are the golden threads which we find woven into the fabric of her life from early childhood. Her faith in Almighty, the various austerities which were part of an orthodox Brahmin family and of course her early association with Sri Ramakrishna, all helped her to mould herself into a

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GANAPATHY HOMAM & SRICHAKRA PUJA Ex General secretary of VK , Man. RBVS Manian and family visited Kendra on the 20th of May 2011

On the 18th of April we had Ganapathy Homam and Sri Chakra Puja. Dr. Vijayan from Gurupadam along with his wife Smt Shiela performed the puja. In the evening we had Vishnu Sahasranam archana. Monthly Yoga classes for men and ladies separately, went on well. From 1st April 2011,summer vacation started for the children of Sandeepani Sishuvihar .

Swami Nirmalananda Giri visited Anandadham on 22nd May in the after noon. As usual, after seeing the patients who seek ayurvedic consultation, he continued Kathopanishad class.

Ill fated day of 29th May 2011 saw the toppling over of our huge Budda Tree ( Ficus tree ) in the Vrindavan Park. This was done by the previous nights furious Pavandeva.

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P D C NOII

The second camp started after Vishu, on 18th April and concluded on 24th April 2011.

DIDI AS CHIEF GUEST DURING DEEPA PRAJWALAN CEREMONY, ON CHATTAMBI SWAMI S SAMADHI DIVASAM AT HIS ASHRAM PREMISES, PONMANA ON THE 5TH OF MAY 2011

The camp was for the age group between 10 years to 12 years belonging to classes IV to VI

STATUE OF BALAGOPALA AT VRINDAVAN LOOKING FRESH AND AGILE AFTER PAINTING THANKS TO SRI SUDHIR DAS

Daily routine started with prayer and Gita chanting , followed by lectures, Yoga , Prasadam and ending with Games and prayer .

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CHILDRENS P D C III

PDC III was inaugurated by Didi on 2nd May 2011 Children from Cl VII to Cl IX were the target group. Ten children attended the camp. Routine included prayers, Geeta chanting. Lecture sessions, Yoga, and Creative Games .

CREATIVITYBEST WITH WASTE Valedictory function on 24th April evening was a grand one. Smt Valsala teacher the DEO was as the Chief Guest. Children presented what they had learned during the 7 days camp. Sri Rajappanji spoke to the parents of the children after the function was over.

Satsangh Prabhashan Parampara

VEDIC VISION FOUNDATION

Highlights of the month of May

Personality Development Camp III

Sri L. Girish Kumar, basically a scientist who is a well known Shakti sadhaka was the speaker at our monthly satsangh. He has agreed to take classes on Lalitha Sahasranama, twice every month at Ananda dham. On the 30th May 2011, was his introductory class from 4 pm to 6 pm.

Didis visited Chattambi Swamis Ashram, at Panmana near Kollam on 4th MAY & Kottayam

Didis visit to Waynad to attend RKBS 2011.

Ananda dham in its full bloom