BEGINNINGS ARE SMALL

They only live who live for others

Swami Vivekananda Centre for Positive Thinking

( in Collaboration with Ramakrishna Mission , Vivekananda University ,Belurmath)

MCKV Institute of Engineering,

Liluah, Howrah.

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E-edition /Vol 1/1.01.2015

CONTENTS

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Topics Page No.

1.Message f rom Secretarys desk 3

2.Message f rom Editorial board 4

3.Vivekananda-the unexplainable personality

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4.Inspiring youths in the l ight of Swami Vivekananda

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5.Relationship between Swami Vivekananda and science

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6.Value education 13

7.Swami Vivekananda as a role model 15

8.Golden days of my l ife 17

From Secretarys Desk

I really appreciate that Swami Vivekananda Centre forPositive Thinking has taken up an initiative to publish the e-version of Renaissance published previously. My best wishesto all the members associated with this centre for taking upsuch a good initiative.

Arijit Sarkar,

Asst.Prof,IT Dept,MCKVIE.

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From Joint Editors DeskWe really feel blessed enough that we are a part of SwamiVivekananda Center For Positive Thinking .Hope that we willbe able to inculcate the values of Swamiji in us and in eachand every reader through this magazine.We honour yoursupport and its our pleasure to share the work of so manydedicated and thoughtful personalities. Wish you all a veryHappy New Year 2015!

Ananya Sinha Roy,

Mrittika Chakraborty, IT Dept ,3rd Year,MCKVIE.

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We are grateful to our Director Sir and Principle Sir along withal l the active members of our Centre , Swami Vivekananda CentreFor Posi tive Thinking, i ncluding some of our teachers SomaBandhpadhay, Rachi ta Ghosh Hajra, Adi ti Basu, Uday BhanuDutta, Arindam Das and students including Sayantonee Maitra,Ishi ta Biswas, Jyoti Verma , Chai tri Dhar, Ananya Pal, DebdeepKhan and Sayan Bhattacharya. Lastly we would like to thankour Secretary Sir, Ari ji t Sarkar without whom this i ni ti ativewould not be successful .

Vivekananda- The Unexplainable Personality

Love cannot be seen, we can feel it.Wind cannot be seen, but we can feeli t too. Likewise God cannot be seenby our normal bare eyes. But thepure heart can feel him. When ourloved ones are in danger, we realizehow much we love them.Our each andevery breadth tells us that air is allaround us. Just like that wheneverwe are helpless, whenever we needhelp, we can realize that God isomnipresent. He is always there tohelp us. Because we are His belovedchildren whom He has sent to thisbeautiful earth to spend some days,to complete some tasks. SometimesHe himself comes in disguise to helpHis children. 12 th January 1863 Hecame to this earth once again asNarendranath Dutta who later becameSwami Vivekananda. He was a greatpersonali ty with infinite amount ofconcentration, perseverance and

amazing intellect . He was thegreatest motivator among all,whomade people think twice beforegiving up. He was the person whomade people realize their real innerstrength, their willpower. His life isa great lesson for all. Whatever bethe situation,his words are alwayshelpful to get out of any weaknessany bondage as he says allweakness, all bondage isimagination. He always taught toserve man as God and to be theservants of of servants .And thenwe should be grateful to the peoplewhom we are serving as they are thepeople who are giving us theprivilege to practice charity. Thereare people who think that theycannot help a person for hisl ifetime then why for a day? Forthem Swamiji says, If in this hellof a world one can bring a l i t tle j oy

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and peace even for a day into theheart of a single person, that muchalone is true; this I have learntafter suffering all my life: all elseis mere moonshine.SwamiVivekananda was a monk to whomreligion was the manifestation ofthe divinity already within us. Godwas unself ishness Function ofreligion was to raise the bruteunto man, and man unto god.He said, If you are really pure,how do you see the impure? Forwhat is within, is without. Wecannot see impurity without havingi t inside ourselves. This is one ofthe practical sides of Vedanta.According to him man is the makerof his destiny. All power is withinyou, you can do, anything andeverything.Arise, awake and stopnot till the goal is reached. Toexplain him completely we can say,He was someone justunexplainable.

Chaitri Dhar.ECE,3RD YEAR.

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You cannot believe i n God until you believe i n yourself.

My Faith is in the YoungerGeneration, the Modern Generation,out of them will come my workers.They will work out the wholeproblem, l ike Lions.

Swami Vivekananda expressed thisconfidence in the youth of thiscountry exactly 50 years before theend of Colonial Rule while speakingto a mammoth gathering ofyoungsters in Madras. Swamijihimself was the embodiment ofyouth, dynamism and vibrancy. Thel ife and ideals of Swamiji are thegreatest inspiration for the youth ofour nation. In a short life of 39years, this great man conquered theentire world with his message. Manygreat personalities both in India andacross the world became deeplyinspired by Swamiji. The writings ofSwamiji can ignite the minds of the

reader. Today, the youth of thiscountry faces various challenges andI am certain that the message ofSwami Vivekananda has the power towonderfully guide them into thefuture. Swamiji always held that thereal bir th of the individual takesplace when the purpose of his lifegerminates. He believed that he whodoes not have a purpose is nothingbut a walking-talking corpse. Tillthe purpose is not recognized, life isabsolutely useless.

Our youngsters should decide whatthey want to do in this life. Rightfrom our childhood, we areconstantly chained by the thought ofcareers, or what we want to be andin that process forget some of thef iner aspects that life has to offer.I t is extremely important not todecide t he purpose of l i fe with t he

InspiringThe Youths In The Light Of Swami Vivekananda

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narrow objective to be something orthe other. Think of doing notbecoming and in this process youwill certainly become something.Once the purpose of life is clear, allactions of life become driven by thatpurpose. A precursor to do anythingin life is to have confidence in theself . Swami Vivekananda attachedmore importance to self-confidencemore importance to self-confidencethan even faith in God! He is anatheist who does not believe inhimself . A precursor to do anythingin life is to have confidence in theself .Swami Vivekananda attachedmore importance to self-confidencethan even faith in God! He is anatheist who does not believe inhimself . The old religions said thathe was an atheist who did notbelieve in God. The new religionsays that he is an atheist who doesnot believe in himself , he famouslystated. Unfortunately, we have

l imited ourselves without knowingour capabili ties. Many times we feelthat we can do only this muchdespite being blessed withtremendous capabili ties. If our youthis determined, there can be nothingimpossible for them to achieve inthe world! But, for this we mustregain our self-confidence. Swamijialways believed that everything thatis happening around us be it small,big, positive or negative gives usthe opportunity to manifest thepotential within. For any endeavourto attain the pinnacle of success,dedication to the cause is absolutelyessential . Swami Vivekananda oncesaid, To succeed, you must havetremendous perseverance , tremendouswill. I will drink the ocean, saysthe persevering soul; at my willmountains will crumble up. Havethat sort of energy, that sort of will ;work hard, and you will reach thegoal. This er a b elongs t o

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organization and teamwork. Be it anysector from science, technology tobusiness, teamwork constitutes a majorcornerstone to attaining the desiredresults. So Friends, if the presentyouth walks on the path of Swamijisideals and beliefs it will merely be amatter of time before India adorns themantle as the leader of the World. . Inany case, we are the most youthfulnation in the world but simply that isnot enough. I t is necessary to arm ouryouth with the relevant knowledge andskil l that will convert this mammothpotential to desired results. So let usnot only try but inculcate in us thespirit of Swami Vivekananda whoinspires us by his lines Arise, Awakeand s top not t i l l the goal i s r eached.

Ananya Sinha Roy.IT,3RD YEAR.

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The powers of the mindare like the rays of thesun when they areconcentrated theyi l luminate.

Swami Vivekananda was a great &

the most adorable son of our beloved

motherland. He realized the absolute

truth of our society. Being a monk

he is an encyclopedia, an esteemed

spiritual teacher, a patr iot saint, a

scientist with an honest mind and an

incredible memory with a musical

voice and a smart appearance. These

are some of the impressions we do

possess about him. But, do we ever

recognize him as a scientif ic

visionary or a genius scholar of

science . Swamiji was well-

acquainted with the thought process

and consequent development in the

field of science. This often enabled

him to draw remarkably accurate

conclusions from various scientif ic

theories. He did defined the goal

for the science. Swami Vivekananda

astonishingly could predict newer

scientif ic ideas, which have

attracted the attention of

scientists. This, unique and

significant aspect of his personality

has not been explored adequately

yet. Let us now make an attempt to

explore it. Swami Vivekananda gave

an account of Indias contribution to

the World in the field of Science and

Technology. Swami Vivekananda has

spoken about unity at many

occasions. Swamiji proclaimed about

the goal of science and also

predicted what was going to get

unfolded in the long run of science

in f uture.Now we can easi ly see that

Relationship between Swami Vivekananda and Science

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his proclamations are coming true

and science is approaching a goal as

hinted by him. For example subject

named cosmology another branch of

astronomy that deals with the

general structure and evolution of

the universe. Swami Vivekananda has

explained the process of the origin

of the universe based on his

knowledge of the Vedanta philosophy

and has convincingly correlated it

with modern scientif ic theories. In

later time scientists found that there

is similarity between the big bang

theory and the theory of cosmology

what Swamiji says long time before.

The Big Bang theory is an effort to

explain what happened at the very

beginning of our universe.

Discoveries in astronomy and

physics have shown beyond a

reasonable doubt that our universe

did in fact have a beginning. Prior

to that moment there was nothing;

during and after that moment there

was something called our universe.

This big bang theory is an effort to

explain what happened during and

after that moment. The comparative

study of both the expositions

given at the different points of

t ime, shows beyond any doubt how

that Swamiji was having detailed and

accurate knowledge of scientif ic

ideas discovered til l his times. We

can also observe that Swamijis

scientif ic explanations carry hints

which may work as probable

solutions to many unresolved

mysteries or problems of Big Bang

Theory. Nikola Tesla, the great

scientist who special ized i n the

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f ield of electr icity, was muchimpressed to hear from Swamiji hisexplanation of the Cosmology andthe theory of cycles given by theHindus.Swamijis views and hisdeep knowledge of Darwins theoryof Evolution can be understood byhis elucidation as given in theconversation between RambrahmaBabu, Swamiji and one Disciple.Swami Vivekananda also has a verygood relation with Jamshedji Tata.Tata said that he recall Swamijisideas in connection with his schemeof Research Institute of Science forIndia. Also Swami Vivekananda washaving close contact with AcharyaDr. Jagadish Chandra Bose throughSister Nivedita and he was veryproud of Boses accomplishments inthe field of science. With the help ofSister Nivedita Dr. Jagadish ChandraBose participated in theInternational congress of Physicistsat Paris in 1900 and presented his

famous research work to the worldcommunity of physicists. Followingthe footsteps of Jamshedji Tata, Dr.Jagadish Chandra thought ofestablishing a research instituteafter his retirement as a professor.Foundation day ceremony of this,Basu Vigyan Mandir (Bose ResearchInstitute) took place on 23rdNovember 1917. At this inaugurationfunction Acharya expressed his mindin spirited words, which shows theinfluence of Vivekananda.

Sayantonee Maitra.IT,4TH YEAR.

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To be good and to do good i s that i s what the

whole religion .

Swami Vivekananda once saidEducation is the manifestation ofperfection already in man.Formanifestation of this perfection,value education plays the mostimportant role for man makingeducation and two basic pillars onwhich we should depend upon areMoral education and Charactereducat ion:

Moral Education:Morals as socio-legal-religious norms are supposedto help people behave responsibly.However not all morals lead toresponsible behavior. Valueseducation can show which morals are"bad" morals and which are "good".The change in behavior comes fromwrestl ing with questions aboutr ight and wrong.

Character Education: Charactereducat ion i s an umbrella t erm

generally used to d escribe t he

t eaching of chi ldren in a manner that

will help them develop as personaland social beings. However, thisdefinition requires research toexplain what is meant by "personaland social being". The following aresome of the reasons why valueeducation is very much essential inthe society we l ive in :

(1) The progress in science andtechnology without simultaneousdevelopment of moral values couldhave serious repurcussion in manyareas of life. I t is very essential that

moral awareness is promoted toorient the progress in science andtechnology towards the welfare ofmankind.(2) With the generaldecline of traditional values, somecommon values should be

Value Education

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rediscovered to unite humanbeings.(3) Schools can remain hardlyneutral so far value education isconcerned. Teachers are alwayspassing on some values to theirstudents whether they are consciousof it or not through their conduct inand out of classrooms, through theirselection of books to be read,through choice of instructionalstrategy and so on. The need for aconsciously planned value educationprogramme is thereforeobvious.(4)There is an increasingmoral complexity in thecontemporary world, and pupils areexpected to face more complicateddecision-making situations aboutissues involving values. They shouldbe helped in developing the abilityto make proper choices in suchsituations. (5)It cannot be ignoredthat the rate of juvenile delinquencyis increasing everywhere. I t is adefinite symptom of crisis whichtodays youth undergoes in the

process of hi s personal growth. I n

such a situation value educationassumes a special significance. Intodays world our human values arebeing discarded. I n such a s i tuation

it is very important for someone tolay down basic principles for us sothat we may lead a brightenedl ife.No matter the stepping stones ofsuccess hit us hard but on the basisof these of these principles we canguide our life. Thus value educationcompletes this need very easily withan impact on the young mindsmaking the world a better place tol ive in .

Ishita Biswas.IT,4TH YEAR.

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Everything that i s excel lent will come when this s leeping

soul i s aroused to self conscious activity.

The technological developments ofrecent times have propelled thehuman race on a fast track ofmaterial progress .People face toughcompetit ion to excel at every stageand in every sphere of human life.Our lives are marked by dailyfrustating commutes to the workplace and because of this peopleare under constant stress to achievesocial status and material prosperity.Problems are further compounded bythe usual human traits of greed,anger, jealously, hatred, lust and soon. To understand how important itis to manage our life effectively weneed to look at in a holistic manner.We are all engaged in unceasingwork, all through our lives frombirth to death but none of us pauseto think why we do all this work?just for defeat someone in any kind

of competition we all aimlessly runtowards the victory . Although weare not confirm what actually wewant in our life. In this situationwhat do we do? We have to findsomeone who will help us to get outfrom this situation. Who is thesomeone? Someone is the IDOL, orTHE ROLE MODEL OF LIFE .Regarding to the definition themeaning of IDOL IS AN IMAGEUSED AS AN OBJECT OFWORSHIP.The big question is that Where do we get a Role Model from?How do we get a Role Model in ourl ife? Whether we are aware of ornot from childhood onwards ,through various phases of life , weadopt Role Models . When we aregrowing up ,say til l the age offif teen , the best Role Model if I amnot wrong must be our parents and

Swami Vivekananda As A Role Model

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our teachers .The development of achild comes from these greatpeople.One of the most famousamong them is SwamiVivekananda.Swami Vivekananda isan embodiment of Intuitive powermade magnificent contributions invarious disciplines such as arts,social science, physical science ,and spiritual science providing aholistic vision of a human. The greatman always told us about threeth ings which ar e

necessary to make every man great,every nat ion gr eater.

(1)Conviction of the powers ofgoodness.

(2)Absence of jealously andsuspicion.

(3)Helping all who are trying to beand do good. He always told us notbe afraid of a small beginning ,great things came afterwards. Becourageous.

(4)His great lines HOLINESS IS

THE HIGHEST AND DIVINESTPOWER IN EARTH AND IN HEAVEN .Everything that makes for onenessis truth, Love is truth.If we make Swami Vivekananda as a Role Modelour Sole will be jealous free, hatredfree and we will feel a satisfaction and peace which are veryimportant to be a good humanbeing .

Jyoti Verma.IT,3RD YEAR.

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Purity ,patience and perseverance are the three essentials to success , and

above al l, love.

Golden Days Of My Life

Life is a collage of joy-sorrow whichhelp us to learn, to be experiencedand take us forward in the stony pathof life smoothly. School days aregolden era of building goldenmoments and memories. Whilestudying in Srerampore Girls HighSchool in class nine a compulsorycamp was arranged. First of all I wasnot prepared as I had to live withoutmy parents for that three days but Iwas helpless and had to go. Thoughi t wasnt easy for me but that campchanged my life, way of thinking,perceptions entirely. The camp wasarranged in Vivekananda Nidhi,Srerampore on Value enhancement inhuman mind .During camp I and myfriend adopted a completelydifferent new lifestyle whichincludes waking up early in 4 am byhearing morning prayer, meditation,f lag hosting and mind soothing

classes on values, human minds, howto fordge a heat in life which tr iedto enhance our posit ivity. In classesI learnt that every human mind isl ike a mine where there is lots ofprecious stones and gems, onlyweve to enhance and extract it outby dedication. I, being a late riserdiscovered the hidden beauty ofnature after seeing sunrise of theGanga from window of my room.Toenhance leadership quality within usleaders were also elected, by votesand I got the department of timemanagement for which I also startedto work in time. No foods or gadgetsor luxury commodities were allowedfrom outside as we were livingtogether like a family. The campwasnt only educative butentertaining and adventurous also .My friends of upper floor was verymuch af raid as they heard some spine

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chilling, blood curdling soundassuming it to be ghost.But at thesuspense was disclosed and it wasfound to be sound of some insectwhich converted the entire tremblingthing into a funny incident. Last daya closing ceremony was arranged bystudents and they were felicitate bygiving inspir ing books ofRamakrishna and Swamiji. Though wewere detached from outside world,we tasted all the flavours oflearning, enjoyment and positivevibes which will remain like treasuretrove in my bottom of heart and mindas golden days and it still bringsf resh a i r of oxygen in l i fe.

Indrani Bhattacharya.ECE,3RD YEAR.

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Tak e r i s k s i n y o u rl i f e i f y o u w i n , y o uc a n l e a d ! I f y o ul o s e y o u c a n g u i d e .

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