Golden Jubilee of Temple Dedication

YOUTH CONVENTION

Held in Vivekananda Auditorium, at

Ramakrishna Mission,  New Delhi, on 17^th November, 2007.

    As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Consecration of the Temple of Sri Ramakrishna, the Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, organised  Youth Convention in Vivekananda Auditorium on 17^th November 2007.

    The programme began with the registration by delegates from 8.30 a.m. on that day.   As many as 435 students and other category youths registered themselves, but only 343 delegates attended the Convention. The delegate fee was as low as Rs. 25/- for each.   All the youths who were registered and who attended the Convention were given  individual numbers for facilitating  their recognition. 

    Each of the delegates was given a kit containing  a special badge, a copy each of the books – “Personality Development” by Swami Vivekananda, “Inspired Lives” of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi and Swami Vivekananda, and  “Vivekananda – His Call to the Nation”, besides a notebook and pen and a Feedback sheet (which the delegate is expected to fill and give back to the Mission before leaving at the end) and a copy of the printed programme for the day.

    For this Youth Convention, three Resource Persons (Swamis) were specially invited to motivate the youths and they were Swami Ishatmanandaji, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, Narottam Nagar, Arunachal Pradesh, Swami Nikhiileswaranandaji, President and Secretary, Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission,  Vadodara and Swami Sarvapriyanandaji, Registrar, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur Math, and they are all stalwart Swamis in their own domain.  Besides, Swami Jitatmanandaji, Secretary, Swami Vivekananda’s Ancestral House and Cultural Centre, Kolkata, was invited to deliver the Inaugural Address.  The subject for this Youth Convention was “Character Building versus Career Building”.

    The Morning Session of the Youth Convention began in the Vivekananda Auditorium with Vedic chanting by the Swamis of the Ramakrishna Order.   This was followed by Guided Meditation by Swami Nikhileswaranandaji, who explained and demonstrated it in detail.

Then Breakfast was arranged below the Auditorium and everybody went down and took it in an orderly fashion.

Breakfast over,  all the youth delegates assembled in the Auditorium at about 9.45 a.m.  Then Swami Shantatmanandaji, Secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, made a short  speech welcoming all those who adorned the dais and the youths assembled on that occasion and  detailing the pious objective behind holding this Youth Convention.

Inaugural Address by Swami Jitatmanandaji Maharaj 

 Then Swami Jitatmanandaji delivered a very inspiring Inaugural Address to the clapping of one and all in the Auditorium.   This was followed by introductory speeches by Swami Ishatmanandaji, Swami Nikhileswaranandaji and Swami Sarvapriyanandaji who spoke to the delegates in English, Hindi and English respectively.  

    After their short speeches, the youths were divided in three groups and put in charge of these three Swamis and seated in three places separately for close discussions on the subject mentioned above.  The Swamis in charge of these groups were also given 100 question forms each so that after discussions for two hours with a short Tea interval of 10 minutes, if any  questions remain to be answered, they can be put in writing by the delegates and they will all be answered during the question-Answer Session.  Swami Nikhileswaranandaji was given a group of youths who mostly love to discuss with him in Hindi on the subject.  Swami Ishatmanandaji was given the charge of 150  youths, Swami  Nikhileswaranandaji was given the charge of 113 youths with better understanding in Hindi and Swami Sarvapriyanandaji was given the charge of 80 students.  The first  group led by swami Ishatmanandaji was accommodated in Sarada Auditorium nearby, the second  group led by Swami Nikhileswaranandaji was accommodated in the  Vivekananda Auditorium itself and the third group led by Swami Sarvapriyanandaji  was accommodated in the Library hall under the Vivekananda Auditorium.

Delegates practicing Relaxation techniques under the guidance of Swami Sarvapriyanandaji in library hall

The first phase of discussions besides the main subject,  focused on stress management followed by practice of relaxation techniques.   All this was recorded in  nutshell by 2-3 delegates chosen by the Swami in charge of the group. 

After heated discussions for one hour, Tea was served to delegates of all the three groups at their respective venues.

In the second phase of discussions, besides the main subject, discussions were also held on values and common problems of the youth for one hour.  At the end, at about 1.00 p.m. a report was prepared by each group under the guidance of the Swami in charge.  Then the delegates dispersed for Lunch arranged on the lawns at about 1.15 p.m.

The Afternoon Session began  at 2.00 p.m. with the presentation of report by by 2-3 delegates of each group.  Following the presentation of report by each group, some questions/clarifications were sought by delegates of other groups and they were satisfactorily answered by those delegates as well as by the Swami in charge.

After presentation of reports and clarifications made, there was a general Question-Answer session during which all the three Swamis in charge of the three groups answered all the questions given in writing by some of the delegates to their entire satisfaction.

At the end a beautiful Valedictory Address was presented by Swami Shantatmanandaji, who made some good suggestions for implementation by the delegates.

Finally, before the delegates dispersed for Tea, they filled up the Feed-back sheets and gave them to the volunteers collecting them.  Some of the feed-backs are found to be extremely eye-openers and they demonstrate the anxiety of the youths for developing a better character and career. Some of them suggested that this sort of Youth Convention should be held as frequently as possible.

After Tea many of the delegates surrounded the respective Swamis in charge of their group and sought personal clarifications and had discussions with them for a long time.  This shows what a tremendous success this Youth Convention achieved on 17^th November, 2007.

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Golden Jubilee 1957-2007

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