VYAKTITVA VIKASA KENDRA
(Personality Development Residential Retreat Camps for Youths)

“You are the creator of your own destiny”, said Swami Vivekananda. “You should uplift yourself by yourself”, says Bhagavadgita. And again, ‘Self help is the best help’ is a well-known adage. But, in spite of all these helpful suggestions why does man feel helpless? The question seems to be simple; but to give a satisfactory answer to it is extremely difficult.

Swami Vivekananda too was tormented by this question. To seek an answer to this question he travelled the length and breadth of this country; mixed and interacted with people from all classes of the society - and he went to the very root of the problem. He found that ignorance and lethargy were the root causes of man’s degradation. Diving still deeper into the issue, he discovered that the systematic exploitation of the masses by the upper class was the cause of this widespread ignorance and lethargy in the masses.

So it is better to strive for the betterment of the downtrodden. And again, to achieve this effectively, it is better to direct our attention and energies towards the future citizens - the student community - as ‘Prevention is better than cure’. So, we should strive to enable the budding youngsters to develop their personalities, to become thoughtful and to stand on their own feet. This is the rationale behind the new project, Vivekananda Vidyarthi Vikasa Kendra taken up by the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Belgaum.

Aim:

To reach the students with the man-making and character-building message of Swami Vivekananda is the main objective of the new project. But, for this the Ashrama shall not run any school or college. It is our sincere and noble feeling that all the educational institutions in Belgaum are ours. This is not a mere byword, but it shall be borne out by action. Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Belgaum has launched this new service-project to help students develop their personality. But, as mentioned above instead of founding a new institution for this purpose, we consider the already existing education centres as our work-field. The Ashrama works to inculcate noble ideas and ideals in the students and also to instill higher values in them. For this we have to spread far and wide, the life-giving and character-building message of Swami Vivekananda in the student community.

Swami Vivekananda knew the pulse of the younger generation. With his prophetic vision, he scanned the problems of the younger generation and also of the whole nation in general. He has also prescribed optimum solutions to overcome those problems. Further, he had the first hand information of our educational system and hence knew all its pros and cons. To remedy the drawbacks and mistakes of our educational system he has given a surplus of invaluable suggestions. And hence the much needed practical message of Swami Vivekananda will be highly useful for the students. Vivekananda Vidyarthi Vikasa Kendra intends to spread the fiery words and inspiring teachings of Swami Vivekananda among the student community. The project aims at reaching one lakh students.

Method:

This great responsibility of reaching the students with the message of personality development shall be carried out in the following stages:

• Organising lessons and lectures on Personality Development and Character-building; and conducting competitions with prizes as a follow-up work.

• Organising students’ conventions.

• Publication of books on Swami Vivekananda’s life and message at subsidized prices and propagating amongst the students.