Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama @ Belgaum

‘DRAVYA YAJNA’ (Distribution of raw food materials to the extremely poor people)

Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama launched a new service activity named ‘Dravya Yajna’ on 28th Dec, 08. Under this scheme we provide raw food materials to the extremely poor families & destitutes.

The food items consisting of 5 kg rice, 5 kg wheat flour, 1 kg edible oil & 1 kg toor dal will be given on monthly basis. The beneficiaries are asked to come & collect the monthly ration on a specified date. They are also provided with a photo identity card & a cloth bag to collect the food items which they have to carry when they will come again to collect the next months ration. Those who have to travel long distance or are not physically fit to come & collect, for them we will be providing food items at their place.

The first relief for the month of January were given to the identified families & individuals on 28th of December, 08.

Right now we have identified 75 families & individuals from Belgaum & nearby village areas. The total cost of providing food relief to one family comes to Rs. 400 per month. That makes the total expenditure in providing relief to 75 families to Rs. 30,000/- per month.We wish to extend this help to more numbers of family in due course of time as & when we get funds for the same.

 Any contribution however small for this noble service will be thankfully acknowledged.

Note: Cheques / DDs can be drawn in favour of ‘Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama, Belgaum’.

‘Donations are exempt from Income Tax u/s 80G’

Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama is dedicated to serve the poor & needy in whatever way possible through its various service programmes.Continuing to do the same this year also we distributed blankets to 200 poor people from nearby areas & villages.

The chief guest for the programme was Sri Vishwanath Angadi (Principal district Judge, Belgaum) . Some of the other dignitaries invited were Dr. M R Chandrashekhar (Director, Belgaum Institute of Medical Sciences), Dr. Ashok Murgod (District Surgeon, Belgaum), Sri Ganapathi Mathur (CEO, Cantonment Board, Belgaum) & Sri Abdul Salam Saudagar (A local businessman & a long standing patron of the Ashrama).

The distribution programme was conducted in the main prayer hall of the Universal temple of Sri Ramakrishna. Amidst the Vedic chanting the chief guest for the programme Sri Vishwanath Angadi , the other invited dignitaries & Swami Raghaveshanandaji distributed the  blankets to the poor who had been selected beforehand & were provided with a coupon for the identification. They were also given food packet consisting of a Bun, Banana & Sweet). Books on the life of Holy Trio in very simple language were also given to all the recipients.

*As a part of the Holy Mother Sri Sharada Devi’s 156th Jayanti celebration we’ll be distributing sarees to 200 poor women at 4.00 pm on Sunday, 21st December 2008 in the Ashrama.

‘Donations in cash or kind for the celebrations & the Service activities will be thankfully acknowledged.’

Dear Devotees,

Our hearty greetings to you all on the auspicious occassion of Sri Sri kali Puja & Deepavali.

As per the tradition, the Divine Mother is worshipped in her terrible form of ‘Kali’ on the night of Kartik Amavasya.

On Tuesday, 28th October Sri Sri Kali Puja was performed in picture in the Ashrama. A special arati was performed & bhajans in praise of the ‘The Divine Mother’ were sung with great enthusiasm. About 100 devotees participated in the evening worship.

‘Deepalankaras’ (decoartion with lamps) were done with the oil lamps. Apart from the prayer hall there was also special decoration done at Sri Sharada Mantapa (Dining Hall). All the devotees assembled for the evening prayers were invited to see the special decoration done in front of the picture of the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi at Sri Sarada Mantapa & to pay their obeisance to Her.

All the devotees were served with sweeets offered to Mother Kali.

Dear Devotees,

Our hearty Vijaya greetings to you all!

The Navrathri festival was celebrated in the Ashrama from 31^st September to 9^th of October.

In the evenings during these nine days there were the chanting of Devi stuti followed by the Arati of Sri Ramakrishna and devotional songs sung in praise of the Divine Mother.

On the Saptami day, according to the local custom, Mother Saraswathi was worshipped in picture.

From Ashtami day to Vijayadashami Mother Durga was worshipped in picture at the Temple with special Puja, Havan, Vedic Chanting and bhajans. More than four hundred devotees participated and partook cooked food Prasada on this day.

On the Navami day Ayudh Puja was performed in the Ashrama, in which as per the tradition, the work places, instruments & machineries were worshipped.

In the morning of the Vijayadashami a small, informal worship was conducted on the new land acquired by the Ashrama & construction of the Sabhangana.was started on this auspicious day

In evening after the vesper services symbolic ‘Visarjana’ was done, amidst vedic chants, sounds of gongs & conch shells, by shaking of the picture of Sri Sri Durga.

A Report 

When the veteran politicians, young legislatures, entrepreneurs & men of social standing, share the same stage for a noble cause & speak earnestly, to a gathering of school & college students, their parents & teachers, about their experiences in life & how their lives have been inspired by the life & teachings of one man - Swami Vivekananda- then one may very well imagine what effect it must have made on the minds of the audience.

This is what happened on the morning of 27^th Sep, 08 at the very place sanctified by the stay of great Swami Vivekananda at Belgaum.

Saturday, 27^th September 2008 will be remembered, in coming times, as a day on which a new foundation was laid towards the strengthening of spiritual, cultural & moral values of our society in the region of North Karnataka. It was not an event for public propaganda. Rather it was, as Swami Vivekananda says “Slow and silent, as the gentle dew that falls in the morning, unseen and unheard yet producing a most tremendous result…”. This programme had the hallmark of the spirit in which the Ashrama is carrying on its activities.

The Chief Guest for the occasion, Sri C.M Udasi, the Hon. Minister for Public Works, Port & Inland Water Transport, Govt. Of Karnataka laid the foundation stone for the new Sabhangana to be constructed in the Ashrama premises. The sabhangana will serve as a multipurpose hall for conducting various activities of the Ashrama throughout the year. It will be used as a hall for special lecture programmes, satsangas, conducting Vivekananda Balaka Sangha & Yuvaka Sangha, competitions, students & youth conventions, welfare service activities, annual celebrations, etc.

In his touching & very thoughtful speech, Sri Udasi expressed his happiness & joy for being invited as the chief guest for this auspicious occasion. He appreciated the spirit of service towards the society with which the Ashrama is conducting all its activities & also the effort Ashrama is making in spreading, to the youths of this region, “the Character building & Man making ideas & ideals of Swami Vivekananda”, which is the pressing need of the present times.

The minister expressed his joy for the service activity of helping the poor students to continue their education by way of scholarship.

He also said that it is highly commendable & praiseworthy that the Ashrama is carrying on its multifarious activities for past several years in a quiet way. On behalf of the government he promised to extend all possible help for the Ashrama.

The other guests of Honour were Sri Shivakumar Udasi, Sri Ram Reddy, Sri Lakshman Reddy, Dr. A Rama Reddy. As special invitees were present Sri Abhay B Patil (MLA, Belgaum South), Sri Sanjay B Patil (MLA, Belgaum Rural), Sri Feroz N Saith (MLA, Belgaum North) & Sri Nanjundaiah. They expressed their heartfelt appreciation of the services being rendered to the Society through this Ashrama & wished these to continue to grow in the future also. All the speakers appealed to the gathering, in right earnestness, to imbibe the teachings of Swami Vivekananda for personal development in particular & development of the society in general.

The scholarships to the poor & meritorious students were distributed by the honorable minister & other dignitaries.

Free book coupons worth Rs 5000/- were also gifted to all the recipients to buy Ramakrishna-Vivekananda literature of their choice.

Sri Feroze Saith, (MLA, Belgaum North), under whose constituency the Ashrama is located, was much impressed by the Scholarship programme & promised to donate Rs. 50,000/- from his personal account to the Ashrama for this purpose. Similarly the other two legislatures from Belgaum, Sri Sanjay Patil & Sri Abhay Patil also assured to extend all possible help, monetary or otherwise, to the Ashrama.

In all, scholarships worth Rs. 5 lakhs & sponsorships worth Rs 2 lakhs have been distributed to 218 college students & 170 school students respectively, from all over Karnataka.

More than 500 people attended the function. All were served with cooked prasada after the programme.

Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama is the only Branch centre of the world wide Ramakrishna Math & Mission in the region of North Karnataka. This Ashrama since its inception in the year 2000, at the very place where Swami Vivekananda, as an itinerant monk, had stayed for 9 days (Oct 13-21, 1892) during his Bharat Parikrama, has been serving the society in various ways through its multifarious spiritual, religious & cultural activities.

Slowly & steadily the Ashrama has been expanding its services, which are being extended to the people of North Karnataka & there was a pressing need for proper infrastructure to conduct these activities. As such this new project comes as a welcome addition to the Ashrama & will go a long way in helping Ashrama serve the society.

It is estimated to cost Rs. 1.15 crores to construct this auditorium.We appeal to individuals & institutions to come forward to help generously in order to complete this project.

The donations may be sent by Cheque or D.D. favouring “Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama” to the following address:

“RAMAKRISHNA MISSION ASHRAMA

FORT, BELGAUM 590 016

KARNATAKA, INDIA

PH: 0831-2430789”

All donations are exempted from IT u/s 80G.