Vivekananda Review (June)

Vivekananda ReviewVOLUME 1 NUMBER 3 • JUNE 2013

Swami Kripamayananda, The Vivekananda Review ................................................................................................ 2

Swami Vidyanathananda, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University: An Overview .......................... 3

V. Kumar Murty, The Vedanta Vidya Mandir: A Retrospective ............................................................................. 6

Hema Murty, Swami Vivekananda and Sanskrit Education: Ten Years at the Vedanta Vidya Mandir .. 9

News from the Institute ....................................................................................................................................................... 12

CONTENTS

2 Vivekananda Review

The Vedanta Vidya Mandir celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Vidya is a Sanskrit word meaning “knowledge” and mandir (also Sanskrit) means “place of worship.” So the Vidya Mandir is

a place where knowledge is worshipped. How can we wor-ship knowledge? We can do so through respect, encourage-ment, discussion, even reverence. In short, a Vidya Mandir is a school.

The word “knowledge” itself has to be understood with care. Knowledge certainly includes information, but it goes much further. According to Swami Vivekananda, knowledge should transform us, make us stronger, and give us insight. It should help us to grow in all dimensions, not just intel-lectually.

Founded in 2003 by the late Swami Pramathananda, the Vedanta Vidya Mandir is a school held on Sunday at the Vedanta Society of Toronto. The school provides a spiri-tual perspective through which people may learn about culture and moral and ethical values. It tries to put Swami Vivekananda’s ideas on education into practice, the idea being that knowledge, with moral and ethical values and a spiritual perspective, builds the human being.

In this issue of the Review, we reflect on the founding of the Vidya Mandir and its activities during the past decade. We also hear from another young educational institution of the Ramakrishna Mission, namely the Ramakrishna-Vive-kananda University, which was founded only recently and has its main campus in Kolkata.

Swami Kripamayananda • Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett Avenue, Toronto, ON, Canada M6M 2E6 • [email protected]

The Vivekananda ReviewSWAMI KRIPAMAYANANDA

Above: Swami Kripamayananda is a monk of the Ramakrishna Order and President of the Vedanta Society of Toronto.

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V. Kumar Murty – Chief EditorAndrea MacLeod – Layout EditorPamela Brittain – Production EditorThomas Loree – Copy Editor

Published by the Vedanta Society of Toronto

VIVEKANANDA REVIEWA bimonthly publication dedicated to the study of Vivekananda’s ideas

© Vedanta Society of Toronto, 2013

The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not neces-sarily reflect the views of the Vedanta Society of Toronto.

Call for submissions: Manuscripts to be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief ([email protected]), maximum 3000 words in Word (.doc) format

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Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University: An OverviewSWAMI VIDYANATHANANDA

INTRODUCTION

The Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University was set up in 2005 with its main campus at Belur, West Bengal, and off-campus centres at Narendrapur, Ranchi and Coimbatore. The objectives and goals of the University have evolved over these few years and taken on a dichoto-mous form: social uplift on the one hand and academic excellence on the other.

The Ramakrishna Mission, with more than a century-old tradi-tion in social work and welfare activities, is certainly well-equipped to carry on its program of social welfare. But academic pursuits beyond school education within the scope of the Ramakrishna Mission had, till the inception of the Vivekananda University, been confined to just five degree colleges across India — three in West Bengal and two in Tamil Nadu.

Therefore genuine higher academic work is, as far as the Ramak-rishna Mission is concerned, a bold new venture. Nevertheless, to justify the name of a University, and to prevent a lapse into the aca-demic ethos of a glorified college, it is imperative that the University have clearly defined higher academic goals and objectives. It is also necessary to nurture such a vital academic intent in order to prevent a malodorous mediocrity from insinuating its way in and throttling the academic life.

In what follows, I shall first briefly account for the programs in the University that have a primarily vocational flavour and are ori-ented towards social work. I shall then proceed to examine in detail

the ethos guiding the Departments of Physics and Mathematics within the university, as it is here in these Departments that we shall find the higher academic intent in its purest form. In so doing, we shall also indicate how this higher academic work itself has a social dimension.

PROGRAMS WITH A PRIMARILYVOCATIONAL FLAVOUR

All the off-campus centres at Narendrapur, Ranchi and Coimbatore are devoted to providing an academic umbrella for programs that are largely oriented towards social work. Of these, the Coimbatore campus is devoted largely to physical education and disability manage-ment, while the Narendrapur and Ranchi centres are largely devoted to agriculture and rural development.

The relevant schools are the following:1. School of Rehabilitation through Special and Physical Educa-tion and Yoga, with the following faculties:

a. Faculty of Disability Management and Special Education, andb. Faculty of General & Adapted Physical Education and Yoga, at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

2. School of Agriculture and Rural Development, with the fol-lowing faculties:

a. Faculty of Integrated Rural Development and Manage-ment, including Agricultural Bio-technology, at Narendra-

Photo Credit: www.rkmvu.ac.in


“ ”pur, Kolkata, West Bengal, and the Faculty of Integrated Rural & Tribal Development and Management, including Agricultural bio-technology, at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

DEPARTMENTS & PROGRAMS WITH APRIMARILY ACADEMIC FLAVOUR

These are all in the Belur Main Campus. Sanskrit and Bengali are the two humanities departments, while mathematics, physics, and computer science are the three science departments.

We now turn specifi-cally to the departments of physics and mathematics. I shall dwell at length on these for two reasons:

As mentioned before, higher academic activity in general, and research in particular, have traditionally remained beyond the ken of organiza-tions largely devoted to social work. Therefore we need to investigate where precisely the social dimension lies.

The second, more personal reason is that being directly involved in the Department of Mathematics, it is easier for me to speak co-gently about the things that inspired us.

INSPIRATION AND HISTORY

More than a century ago, in 1893, Swami Vivekananda met Jamshedji Tata in a boat while travelling from Yokohama to Vancouver. There was an exchange of ideas and what emerged was a nascent, inchoate plan to establish centres for higher education and research, especially in the fundamental sciences. Jamshedji Tata offered the first directorship of such an institute to Swami Vivekananda. We quote below Jamshedji Tata’s letter to him:

“I very much recall at this moment your views on the growth of ascetic spirit in India, and the duty, not of destroying, but divert-ing it into useful channels. I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, which you have doubtless heard or read. It seems to me that no better use can be made of the ascetic spirit than the establishment of monasteries or

residential halls for men dominated by this spirit where they should live with ordinary decency and devote their lives to the cultivation of sciences — natural and humanistic. I am of opinion that if such a crusade in favour of an asceticism of this kind were undertaken by a competent leader, it would greatly help asceticism, science, and the good name of our common country; and I know not who would make a more fitting general of such a campaign than Vivekananda.”

Vivekananda was setting up the Ramakrishna Mission then and could

not accept such an offer. He nevertheless sent Sister Nivedita, who met Jamshedji and his advisor, Mr Padsa. Unfortunately, the then Viceroy, Lord Curzon, promptly suppressed a detailed plan that had been drawn up. The Prabuddha Bharata, a monthly journal started by Swami Vivekananda as the official organ of the Ramakrishna Mission, expressed its warm appre-ciation of the scheme in its editorial column of April 1899, during Swami Vivekananda’s lifetime, in the following words:

“We are not aware if any project at once so opportune and so far-reaching in its beneficent effects was ever mooted in India, as that of the Post-graduate Research University of Mr. Tata. The scheme grasps the vital point of weakness in our national well-being with a clearness of vision and tightness of grip, the masterliness of which is only equalled by the munificence of the gift with which it is ushered to the public. . . . Mr. Tata’s scheme paves the path of placing into the hands of Indians this knowledge of Nature — the preserver and the destroyer, . . . — that by having the knowledge, they might have power over her and be successful in the struggle for existence. . . We repeat: No idea more potent for good to the whole nation has seen the light of day in Modern India. Let the whole nation therefore, forgetful of class or sect interests, join in making it a success.”

Two of India’s premier institutions dedicated to fundamental re-search, namely, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, bear testimony to this

inspiration, both in terms of the excel-lence of the academic program, as well as in terms of the quality of research.

The time is now ripe for the Ramak-rishna Mission, which has matured in its service activities over the past century, to step into the field of higher education and research and contribute its might.

The time is now ripe for the Ramakrishna Mission, which has matured in its service

activities over the past century, to step into the field of higher education and

research and contribute its might.


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THE PRACTICAL NEED TODAY AND THE SOCIAL DIMENSION OF SCIENCE EDUCATION

Now, while inspiration is all very good and worthy, it runs the danger of exhausting itself through channels of emotional flatulence and frothy words unless it is harnessed into a workable plan. Since no pro-gram can start and sustain itself in a vacuum, one needs to take stock of the national situation before plunging in. What precisely are we trying to do in mathematics and physics at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University?

The School of Mathematical Sciences at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, particularly the Departments of Physics and Mathematics, aim at integrating teaching with research under the same umbrella. Teaching and research have unfortunately become dis-tanced from each other in post-independent India. To form a bridge between the two is the principal objective of our efforts. We would like to combine (at least in these two fields) the level of excellence in research at the top Indian research institutes with a level of (innova-tive) teaching commitment that is there at the best Indian teaching institutions. This is to ensure two things.

First, that undergraduate students get exposed to research from the beginning of their careers. Teachers often serve as role models for students. A motivated researcher-cum-teacher can serve this purpose best.

Second, that research institutions need students who are mo-tivated and aware of current research. There is a severe lack of such students in the fundamental sciences today in India. A program that fills this gap will thus be fulfilling a national need in developing tech-nically qualified scientific manpower. We thus hope to address, in some measure, the following issues that Indian science in general is facing at present:

1. Lack of a scientific middle class. Science education in its higher reaches is plagued by the lack of a system to bring larger num-bers of students up to par with centres of excellence abroad. Thus while India does have a potential for excellence in terms of bright youngsters, this does not translate into a manifestation of excellence due to a lack of institutions that can tap this talent and bring it to fruition. Programs combining the teaching ethos

of universities with the research culture of research institutes are rare. This is a pity, as there is a lot of raw talent that goes to waste without being tapped.

2. The quality of research remains below par in comparison with developed countries. Here quality is to be evaluated roughly in terms of peer review, publications in reputed journals, and citations. This, again, is not due to lack of talent. Indian research-ers abroad seem to be doing rather well. However, the research atmosphere within the country still needs to develop and meet international standards. Furthermore, in developed countries it is the university setup that provides the right environment for producing the best research, as well as the best teaching programs.

Given the national situation today, it is therefore imperative that our students grow up with a hunger for knowledge per se. Such a goal can only be achieved if time-honoured and time-tested disci-plines are actively encouraged to grow and flourish.

The Indian government has already taken note of these prob-lems and set up Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs) and National Institutes of Science Education and Research (NISERs). These, combined with national emphasis on education in general and higher education in particular, indicate the government’s commitment to the cause. Furthermore, several excellent research institutions across the country -- the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, the Harish Chandra Research Institute, the Chennai Mathematical Institute, and the Indian Institute of Science foremost amongst them -- have pledged their troth to teaching as a component of their activities.

We, at the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University would like to contribute our might in bridging this gap between teaching and research so that, in course of time, a synthetic knowledge culture may develop and take our country forward to the next stage of socio-economic evolution.

Swami Vidyanathananda • Dean of Research • Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Belur Math, India • [email protected]



The Vedanta Society of Toronto was founded in 1968. From its very inception, it had a bent towards study, discussion and education. Study circles as well as retreats that focus on philosophical and spiritual texts are a common feature of the

Society’s activities. At various points in the Society’s history, efforts were made to introduce a version of these activities that would be suitable for children. Though they were not very long-lived, many lessons were learnt from those early efforts, both in terms of the organizational and curricular aspects.

It was in April 2003 that the idea of the Vedanta Vidya Mandir started to coalesce. Swami Pramathananda, the then-President of the Society, felt deeply that the learning that was taking place in the public school system had to be supplemented with a larger perspective, namely a foundation in moral and ethical values and an awareness of the spiritual dimension of life. He was not alone in thinking this. Educators in general were considering this issue and how best to address it.

The challenge in the public school system is that there are constraints on how these topics can be discussed. In Canada, it was not many decades ago that religious views were blatantly imposed on students. However, the pen-dulum has swung in the other direction now, and the freedom to practise one’s own religion has left educational institutions in a situation where re-ligion has to be approached with great care, if at all. As in other countries, secularism in Canada has forced public institutions to adopt an attitude of indifference to religion. At the same time, amongst many educators, there is a feeling that the ‘baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.’ There

are life-giving principles common to most religions which take the form, not of theological assertions, but of codes of behaviour with our fellow human beings. We call these our moral and ethical principles or values. Though there may be differences in the particulars, there are also signifi-cant overlapping ideas. Moreover, our civic sense confirms the importance of these common ideas. Should the educational system not help students to become aware of these ideas and values? Moreover, can the system not help students to develop a broader spiritual perspective?

A resource guide developed by the Ontario Ministry of Education considered these issues in the context of a multi-cultural, multi-religious society, and recommended that several themes be discussed: relation-ships, occasions, beginnings and endings, signs and symbols, ritual and customs, journeys, harmony with nature, leadership and sacred books and places. Rina Chakravarti from the Vedanta Society, who at the time was the Hindu representative on the Ontario Provincial Multi-faith Committee on Chaplaincy, was a member of the Steering Committee that worked on this document. This resource guide is quite useful and helped the teachers of the Vidya Mandir in developing a curriculum.

At the same time, we remark that the Vedanta Society is a spiritual institution, and thus we are not bound by the same constraints as the public school system in discussing religion. Moreover, the Society is guided by Sri Ramakrishna’s principle of the harmony of religions and thus, working in a multi-religious context is not seen as a problem. Indeed, it may in fact be an opportunity to practice Vivekananda’s teaching “The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a

The Vedanta Vidya Mandir: A RetrospectiveV. KUMAR MURTY

Teacher Deepa Bhattacharya and Coordinator Ramya Satyanarayana with students of the Junior Class

Swami Pramathananda

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Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve their individuality and grow according to their own law of growth.”1 Thus, while the provincial resource guide provides useful structure, the Vidya Mandir can in fact go beyond it and speak more openly about religious perspectives and teachings.

In addition to this, Swami Pramathananda also felt that everyone should be aware of his cultural roots, and not only be proud of his heritage, but also have meaningful knowledge of it. Thus, the three-fold ideals of the Vidya Mandir were formulated, namely knowledge of one’s own cultural and spiritual tradition, grounding in moral and ethical values, and a spiri-tual perspective that opens the mind to accept truths from all traditions.

What shape should those ideals take? Swami Pramathananda’s vision drew on his many years as headmaster of several of the most prominent schools of the Mission, and laid out the ideals and some of the operational details of such a school. Armed with his ideas, as expressed in his own hand in a two-page letter written in April 2003, the Vidya Mandir started taking shape. In July 2003, classes had started. Today it is time to reflect a little bit about where we are and where we want to go. In doing so, we note that the year 2013 is also the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, and it is good for our reflections to be inspired by the backdrop of this event.

Swami Vivekananda is certainly a ‘man of our time.’ He gave expression to the spiritual aspirations of people of many traditions. His words are a source of inspiration to Hindus, but also to people of many other faiths. This is why author Romain Rolland titled his biography of Vivekananda The Universal Gospel.

A common denominator of Vivekananda’s teachings is the infinite pos-sibilities that are within the human being. The fulfillment of human destiny is in recognizing, awakening, developing and manifesting the latent talents within us. In Vivekananda’s words, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.” 2 This process is intimately connected with our spiritual destiny. He defines religion as “the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.” 3 The similarity of the two definitions is not an accident. Through striving to our own perfection (in other words, the development of our own talents), we also grow in accordance with our spiritual destiny. This is a very non-theological way of expressing the spiritual ideal. In Vivekananda’s words, it approaches God through man, as opposed to theol-ogy, which approaches man through God. In other words, a theological approach postulates the existence and nature of God and from this derives

moral, ethical, philosophical and spiritual conclusions about the human being.

Vivekananda’s approach is to begin with man. He asserts that the human being is the repository of infinite possibilities and unlimited potential. And he asserts that our efforts should be aimed at realizing this potential. In this, he finds both the basis for moral and ethical values as well as religious aspi-ration. Indeed, being conscious of our potential gives us faith in ourselves and Vivekananda says that not believing in ourselves is atheism! Lest we understand this in a narrow or selfish sense, he says further that this faith in ourselves “is not selfish faith” for faith in ourselves means faith in others as well.4 Thus, in his view, an educated individual is awake to his or her own potential, and also to the potential of others.

These ideas of Vivekananda are captured in the three-fold ideal of the Vidya Mandir, namely to impart knowledge, to give an awareness of moral and ethical values, and to awaken a spiritual perspective in students.

Currently, the students of the Vidya Mandir are drawn from the Indian diaspora, and as such, the cultural and spiritual knowledge that is taught is based on Indian cultural and spiritual traditions. Thus, students learn about the history of the Sub-continent, about the epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayanam, and about the great thinkers that have shaped the Indian ethos. They learn some of the music associated to this tradition and also get an introduction to Sanskrit, the ancient and foundational language in which much of ancient Indian thought is expressed. They learn the moral and ethical values underpinning this thought through fables, both ancient and modern. They also learn about the method of prayer and worship and about contemplation and meditation.

It is easy to underestimate the power of knowledge in this process. One may think that ‘knowing’ something is of less value than developing a moral sense or a spiritual perspective. However, this is fallacious. We must know, we must study and we must think and discuss what we have learnt and studied. We must ask questions and think about the material and develop understanding. All of this improves our understanding, but also strengthens the mind.

Vivekananda emphasized the importance of developing and strengthen-ing the mind. In his view, it is, in effect, the source of all knowledge. He declared “all knowledge is in the mind” and “the infinite library of the uni-verse is in your own mind” 5. He made no distinction here between secular and sacred knowledge. How can we make that latent knowledge manifest?

Teacher Renuka Balachandran with students of the Junior class

Teachers Melanie Bose and Rajesh Chunawala with students of a music class


“The power of attention, when properly guided, and directed towards the internal world, will analyze the mind, and illumine facts for us. The powers of the mind are like rays of light dissipated; when they are concentrated, they illumine.” 6 Thus, learning to concentrate the mind, from his perspec-tive, is an important part of education.

The curriculum of the Vidya Mandir has been organized into a 12-year cycle, roughly divided into 3-year segments and classified as Junior, Inter-mediate, Senior and High School. Students admitted to the Vidya Mandir must be at least 4 years old.

The junior class consists of students in kindergarten to grade 2. This is, of course, a big range and children at this age are evolving rapidly. Thus, their attention spans and overall cognitive abilities vary significantly within the group. Therefore, in practice, the group is actually further divided into two subgroups, based on age. The Intermediate class consists of students in Grades 3-5 and those in the Senior class are in Grades 6-8. The High School class is for students in Grades 9-12. A more granular division into classes is possible but it would be a function of the total enrolment and of available resources, including the availability of space and of qualified teachers.

All students in the junior, intermediate and senior classes receive train-ing in music and Sanskrit. The music training gives students an awareness of their own vocal range and teaches a body of devotional songs. The Sanskrit training gives students the ability to speak, and to a limited extent, read and write, in Sanskrit. The classes are oriented towards a conversational style of learning. The manner of presentation has, of course, to be adapted to the age and academic level of the students. Thus the approach is tailored to each of the age groups. At the moment, the high-school students are not offered music or Sanskrit, but this may change in the future.

In addition, each of the groups has a dedicated class in which to study topics relevant to the themes of the Vidya Mandir. Thus, in a typical year the junior class will discuss stories and parables such as the story of “the crocodile and the monkey” from the Pancatantra, the stories of “the elephant and the blind men” and “grass-eating tiger” from the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, and the story of “the squirrel and Rama’s bridge” from the Ramayanam. Each of these stories illustrates a teaching, either of interper-sonal relationships or moral values or spiritual perspectives. The style of presentation encourages the students to interpret each story in their own way and to share those interpretations with others in the class, generating a kind of discussion. Given the age of the students in the class, time is also allotted for activities such as drawing and other ways of working with their hands.

The intermediate class studies stories such as “Swami Vivekananda and the monkeys” as an illustration of a principle of facing the difficult situations of life. They study the lives of great spiritual personalities such as Rama and Krishna. They might also discuss topics such as “God as Mother” and “God as Light,” drawing on multi-faith perspectives to illustrate points. Again, all these topics are presented in a discussion style and supplemented with various “‘hands-on” activities.

The senior class studies similar topics though at a more advanced level. Thus, this past year saw them learning the basic principles of Vedanta and Swami Vivekananda’s ideal of education, along with an introduction to the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sarada Devi. In past years, they studied selected portions of the Bhagavad-Gita and the Ramayana and tried to relate it to the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. The age of these students makes it possible to engage them in writing and speaking.

The high school class studied a variety of topics around the theme of

“Great Thinkers of the World.” Thus, brief introductions to the lives and teachings of thinkers such as Socrates, Buddha, Rama, Krishna, Christ, Mo-hammad, Zarathustra, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, and others, were studied and discussed. The previous year, the theme of the course was the famous epic Mahabharata. It was studied from the perspective of moral and ethical dilemmas in life and how we can face them. The fundamental theme running through the epic is one of the necessity of making choices even when we have incomplete information, and of accepting the conse-quences of those choices. Thus, if we attempt to analyze the Mahabharata from a naïve perspective of good and evil, or heroes and villains, we will not be able to come to any definite conclusion. In fact, each of the main characters embodies both strengths and weaknesses, and it is the composite of all of those that makes up their personalities. This, together with the need to make difficult choices in life, makes the epic timeless and relevant even in our age. Students are encouraged to discuss the epic from this point of view.

The teachers of the Vidya Mandir are volunteers who have some experi-ence in education. Many of them are, or were in the past, teachers at the elementary or secondary school level, or are instructors in a University. It is important for the future of the Vidya Mandir to expand the available supply of teachers by offering a training program that will equip interested persons with the knowledge and skills necessary to be an instructor. Some preliminary efforts in this direction have been made, but more remains to be done.

In addition to teachers and students, the third pillar of the Vidya Mandir consists of the parents. Without the active co-operation of parents, the school cannot succeed. The school meets for just two and a half hours every week or every other week. But parents are in touch with their children every day. Thus, they have the potential to reinforce what is taught at the school and to help the students advance quickly. We have found that the students who excel at Vidya Mandir also have a supportive home environ-ment where parents and students together review and even discuss the material learnt at the school. In order to make it fruitful for parents to stay on-site during the Vidya Mandir classes, some adult classes are also offered on the Bhagavad-Gita and a discussion group is held in which parenting issues are discussed.

If the first decade of the Vidya Mandir was about birth and baby steps, we expect that the next decade will see the school growing and becoming firmly established in achieving its goals of supplementing the public educa-tion system by disseminating knowledge which goes beyond the public curriculum, by teaching and illustrating moral and ethical values, and by providing a spiritual perspective to successive cohorts of students.

V. Kumar Murty • Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 2E4 • [email protected]

NOTES1 This is from his talk at the Closing Session of the Parliament of Religions on September 27, 1893.2, 3 CW, Volume 4, p. 358.4 CW, Volume 2, p. 30.5 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (CW), Volume 1, p. 28.6 CW, Volume 1, p. 129.

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Swami Vivekananda had a grand vision for his life’s work. “My idea is first of all to bring out the gems of spirituality that are stored up in our books and in the possession of a few only, hidden, as it were, in monasteries and in forests

– to bring them out; to bring the knowledge out of them, not only from the hands where it is hidden, but from the still more inacces-sible chest, the language in which it is preserved, the incrustation of centuries of Sanskrit words…I want to bring out these ideas and let them be the common property of all, of every man in India, whether he knows the Sanskrit language or not.” 1 Of course, when he says “every man in India,” we should understand it to mean “everyone in India”. He continues: “The great difficulty in the way is the Sanskrit language – the glorious language of ours; and this difficulty cannot be removed until – if it is possible the whole of our nation are good Sanskrit scholars.” 2

While it is not the goal of the Vidya Mandir to produce Sanskrit scholars, familiarity with the language to the extent of being able to engage in a two-sentence conversation will bring us a little closer to the original thoughts with the power of the original words undimin-

ished. Swami Vivekananda described this power when he said “the very sound of Sanskrit words gives a prestige and a power and strength to the race.” 3

The word “Sanskrit” means that which is refined or polished or cultured. Culture is an important part of human civilization. Vive-kananda says: “It is culture that withstands shocks, not a simple mass of knowledge. You can put a mass of knowledge into the world, but that will not do it much good. There must come a culture into the blood.” 4 It is clear from these words of Swami Vivekananda that in order for an individual (or a nation or a group of people) to succeed, there must be two things present. One is knowledge and the other is culture. One without the other will not bring a good result. Defining culture is, of course, not easy. Some may understand it to mean an appreciation of art and music and other “high” expressions of human civilization. We understand it to mean character and an embodiment

of moral and ethical values.The study of Sanskrit without the

cultural aspect is of limited value. We have witnessed this at Sanskrit camps where Sanskrit is taught without a cultural component. We end up with a Sanskritized version of the “brat,” or irreverent child, who has no manners and who exhibits bad behaviour, but now in Sanskrit! The attitude with which students approach a subject is extremely important. There must be seriousness and a respect (if not reverence) for the material being studied. At the Vedanta Vidya Mandir this attitude is emphasized using the image of the goddess Sarasvati. Before the start of each class, students recite a prayer to Sarasvati and we teach them that she represents knowledge and education and that they should approach her with a reverent attitude. Once they do, the lesson becomes spiritual. Sanskrit is like our mother and must be treated with reverence. In order for the words to become powerful and alive, there must be a reverential attitude; otherwise, they

remain dead.At the Vedanta Vidya Mandir, there is an undercurrent of spiritu-

ality that forms the basis for all education. Not only is Sanskrit taught in the spoken format, but together with it, moral and ethical values

Swami Vivekananda and Sanskrit Education: Ten Years at the Vedanta Vidya MandirHEMA MURTY

Teacher Jayanthi Hari with students of the Senior class


”“At the Vedanta Vidya Mandir, there is an undercurrent of

spirituality that forms the basis for all education.

are taught. This is done in the hope students of the school will grow up with both an intellectual as well as a cultural strength that will en-able them to function spiritually in the outside world. Sine qua non to this is, of course, parental co-operation and participation.

Over the course of the ten years, we have observed that those students who excel at Vidya Mandir studies are those who have been brought up with similar cultural values at home. It is important that children not receive mixed signals. The unified cultural outlook provided at home is reinforced at school, arming the student with the knowledge and confidence with which to face the outside world. This kind of reinforcement can be important for members of any diaspora as the public school environment can potentially present cultural chal-lenges.

Of course, the end result of this type of education is that these students can pick up verses of the Bhagavad Gita in the original language of Sri Krishna and understand them without the need for a translation. Eliminating, or just minimizing, the need of an intermedi-ary translator gives us a more intimate and immediate connection with sacred books such as the Gita.

Having outlined the philosophy of the Vedanta Vidya Mandir and the spirit in which Sanskrit is taught, we will now discuss the details of the instruction.

Generally, a child’s learning curve varies with age. From four to five, he sees the world discretely. Games using external objects are re-ally the main way to communicate with this age group. However, ow-ing to the current constraints of time and space, Sanskrit education at Vidya Mandir starts at age six. This education from six to eight years is about identifying and repeating sounds. Using flash cards and pictures,

we teach the names of objects. As well, two word sentences and games using single words are methods of instruction. This approach helps the child become familiar with words and how they are pronounced. Familiarity and fearlessness are essential in education. For whatever reason, those who have gone through a British approach to Sanskrit education tend to consider it a difficult subject and be somewhat fearful of it. Perhaps this is due to the rule-based grammatical form of instruction, as opposed to the conversational approach.

The junior age group enjoys nursery stories. Most people are under the impression that these stories come from the Greeks, specifi-cally, Aesop’s fables. Swami Vivekananda points out that “India has given to the world the fables of Aesop, which were copied by Aesop from an old Sanskrit book; it has given the Arabian Nights, yes even the story of Cinderella and Bean Stalks”. 5

This age group needs to move around during the class. There must be games in which there is some movement. We will describe two specific games the children always look forward to playing. Since they seem never to tire of these games, they can be used as instruc-tional tools when the children look bored or distracted.

The first game is called nadI-tIram, which means river-bank. Children are divided into two groups. There is a “river” in the middle and each group of children stand on opposite “banks” of it. The teacher yells out “nadI!” and the children must all jump into the nadI. Then the teacher yells “tIram!” and the children must jump backwards to the “tIram”. If any child makes a mistake, he is out of the game. Eventually we end up with a couple of children remaining in the game who must battle it out. The teacher can then mix up the calls or change his/her intonation or speed to make it challenging, eventually establishing a winner. From this game the children learn two Sanskrit words and their meaning. In addition, the sound of the words becomes familiar with repetition.

Another game we play with this age group is sparshakrIdA, in which the children stand in a circle. One child is selected to start the game. That child attempts to tap another child on the shoulder. Before he can, however, the second child must say a Sanskrit word. If that sec-ond child cannot say a Sanskrit word before being tapped by the first child, the second child will be out. Otherwise, the first child keeps attempting to get someone else out by tapping him before he can say a Sanskrit word. In this way, the students become aware of how many words they actually know. There is an attempt to remember as many words as possible during class time, in anticipation of playing this game. This increases the students’ interest in paying attention during

instruction time. In this game there is movement and that provides a good break and keeps the students attentive.

A third game is called AkAsha-bhUmi-pAtAlam. Students stand in a circle. When the teacher yells out “AkAsha!”, the students must point to the ceiling. When the teacher says “bhUmi!”, the students must place their arms stretched out parallel to the floor, and when

the teacher says “pAtAlam!”, they must point their hands to the floor. Those students who don’t point in the correct direction are then out of the game. The teacher can make the game more challenging by say-ing the names faster to make the students pay attention.

There is a children’s nursery rhyme featuring a fox looking for grapes on a high vine. Unable to reach the grapes, despite repeated efforts, the fox walks away and remarks that the grapes are probably sour anyway and not worth eating. From this nursery rhyme came the expression “sour grapes”. This expression and story are from a group of stories called Panchatantra, written around 300 B.C. Some of these stories made their way into the Greek tradition and were retold in Aesop’s Fables.

The children can easily understand and recite this short nursery rhyme about EkaH ShRgAlaH and present it during a recital while act-

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ing out the story in abhinaya format.The junior class depends heavily on audio/visual instruction,

with games and songs interspersed between actual Sanskrit lessons. It is easy to form the class starting with standard prayers, which the stu-dents will be able to recite after a couple of classes. Then, using flash cards, the teacher can have a competition between the children to see who can name the words the fastest and keep score.

The next age group consists of 9- and 10-year-olds. This interme-diate-age group has a little more cognitive ability to follow the flow of a story. For this age group — and the 11-to-13-year-old group, the syllabus is the same. Also, children generally feel intimidated when thrust together with children who are more than a year older. There-fore, although the syllabus is the same for the intermediate and senior classes, the division of the classes is necessary for proper education to take place.

It is important for us to keep in mind the motivation for Sanskrit education at all times, as many of us have received incorrect Sanskrit education in the British system and may be fearful of the language as a result. We should be careful not to infect our children with the same fear.

The intermediate and senior classes are capable of making sen-tences. Hence we can actually have them make stories or recite stories and follow the logic of them.

Memorization in general is a great tool to sharpen the brain. The intermediate and senior classes progress fast in Sanskrit education if we introduce a little bit of Sanskrit story memorization. Again, the power of words and familiarity with words and the attempt to move the mouth to make the correct sounds will assist these students in the long run. Most Sanskrit stories are infused with moral and spiritual values, which are, again, essential for children of the Indian diaspora.

For example, to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, the children memorized and recited a Sanskrit version of the “face the brutes” story of Swami Vivekananda. This is the story of Swami Vivekananda when he encountered a wild group of monkeys during his wandering days. The moral of the story — “face the brutes” (kashtAnAm sammukhI karotu) — is a powerful message for children attending schools where bullying is a problem.

The 30-minute class starts with standardized prayers which the students can recite. The prayers are printed out in roman script and handed out. This speeds up their ability to comprehend the Sanskrit words. After the prayers, we teach simple sentences. For example, the first sentence we teach is bhavataH nAma kim?, which means “what is your name?”, addressing a male. This simple sentence is recited without knowing the meaning of each word but understanding what the question is. During this exercise, the students learn to move their mouths to pronounce Sanskrit words properly. The question is modified for girls as bhavatyAH nAma kim?,(The students understand the gender differences in some words.) The students now have four Sanskrit words in their vocabulary. Learning proceeds by taking simple two-word sentences and expanding them based on a fill-in-the-blanks approach. For example, saH is the Sanskrit word for “he”. Therefore, saH Sri rAmakrishNaH is a valid sentence. They can then fill in the blank in saH ___ using names of gods. The teacher should bring in pictures of Rama, Krishna, Ganesha and others, as well as female god-desses.

And so instruction for the older children proceeds in this format

with simple sentences. At the end of the school year, the children can recite an entire story of about 10 to 15 sentences and feel comfort-able doing so. This type of Sanskrit instruction is fun, educational and it’s easy for students to pick up the language and feel a sense of confidence in speaking it. They are not afraid of the language and their pronunciation is good. Needless to say, students who attend classes regularly do better than those who do not.

Over the course of the past 10 years, many students have gradu-ated from the Vedanta Vidya Mandir and all of them speak favourably about their experience there. It is the hope of the Vidya Mandir that the knowledge of Sanskrit they have acquired will give them confi-dence to go through life unafraid and with a generous and helpful attitude toward others.

Hema Murty • Vedanta Vidya Mandir, 120 Emmett Ave., Toronto, ON, Canada M6M 2E6 • [email protected]

1-4 Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol 3, pp. 290-2915 CW, Volume 2, p. 420.

Sanskrit teacher Hema Murty

News from the InstituteVEDANTA VIDYA MANDIRThis school for children in Kindergarten (age 4 and up) to Grade 12 runs from late September to the beginning of June of each year. Its aim is to supplement the curriculum of the public school system in a way that is consonant with Vivekananda’s views on education. It meets approximately biweekly on Sunday afternoons. Registration is now open. Parents can register their children at www.viveka-institute.org.

The tentative class dates for the coming year are:September 15: Orientation(Teachers will make short presentations on their class for the coming year, children will watch a video)September 29: First classOctober 20, 27November 10, 24December 1, 15January 5, 12, 26 (Swami Vivekananda’s Birth Anniversary will be celebrated on Sun Jan 19.)February 9, 23March 2, 23 (March 3 is Sri Ramakrishna’s Tithi Puja. March 9 is the Public Celebration of Sri Ramakrishna’s Birth Anniver-sary. March 9–16 is March Break.)April 6, 20May 4,18, (Buddha Purnima is on Wed May 14; the Society will celebrate it on Sun May 11.)June 1, 8, 14, 15 (June 8 and 14 are rehearsal days and June 15 is Pradarshanam).

Please contact [email protected] for more information or go to www.viveka-institute.org to register.

THE SECOND ANNUAL VIVEKANANDA PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITIONVivekananda was well known to be a powerful orator. The New York Critic called him “an orator by Divine right” and Harvard professor and philosopher William James wrote “The man is simply a wonder for oratorical power … the Swami is an honor to humanity.” It is therefore fitting to celebrate Vivekananda’s legacy with a public speaking competition.

The 2013 competition will take place in November at the Vedanta Society of Toronto, 120 Emmett Avenue, Toronto M2M 2E4. The exact date will be announced on the website www.viveka-institute.org and registration forms will be available at this site as well. The competition is open to high school students. The Junior level is for students in grades 9 or 10 while the senior level is for students in grades 11 or 12.

The format of the competition is as follows. Students should prepare a 10 minute talk on the following topics:Junior (Grades 9 and 10): Self-confidenceSenior (Grades 11 and 12): The Power of Education

This will be followed by impromptu speeches where participants will be given a topic and will have a short amount of time to prepare. Participants will be judged on poise, diction, the persuasiveness of their speech and their ability to relate their thought to that of Vivekananda.

At the end of the day, prizes will be awarded in each of the Junior and Senior Category as follows: First Prize: $200Second Prize: $100Third Prize: $50

Documents

Vivekananda Review (June)