Viveka Tirtha

Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centre
for Human Excellence and Social Sciences

A humble attempt to actualize the great vision of Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda’s main emphasis was on man-making, total and holistic development of human personality. His memorable words were: “The aim of this institution is to make men. …You must have this new method — the method of man-making. The true man is he who is strong as strength itself and yet possesses a woman’s heart. You must feel for the millions of beings around you, and yet you must be strong and inflexible and you must also possess obedience; though it may seem a little paradoxical — you must possess these apparently conflicting virtues. …You must be free as the air, and as obedient as this plant and the dog.”

Swamiji’s vision of an ideal human personality was the harmonious development of the faculties of feeling, thinking and willing—heart, head and hand: “heart to feel, brains to conceive, hands to work.” He wanted this man-making programme particularly for the youth of our country so that we would have strong, energetic, young men and women, sincere to the backbone, of impeccable character and unimpeachable integrity. He wrote: “What I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made.”

It was to put into practice Swamiji’s views on man-making education that Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission started school, colleges and hostels in many of its branch centres. There was, however, a need to have a separate centre devoted to the study and propagation of basic principles of Human Excellence in the light of Swamiji’s message.

“A hundred thousand men and women, fired with the zeal of holiness, fortified with eternal faith in the Lord, and nerved to lion’s courage by their sympathy for the poor and the fallen and the downtrodden, will go over the length and breadth of the land, preaching the gospel of salvation, the gospel of help, the gospel of social raising-up, the gospel of equality.”

Legal Aspect and Support

from the Government of West Bengal

The State Cabinet in its meeting held on 09.09.2013, decided to approve the allotment of 5 (five) acre plot of land in New Town, Kolkata in favour of the Ramakrishna Mission for setting up a Centre for Human Excellence and Social Sciences on usual terms and conditions. Accordingly, a registered deed of Lease was executed on 28th May 2014 between the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (HIDCO) and the Ramakrishna Mission.

Chronological Developments

Therefore, when the Government of West Bengal, at the initiative of its Chief Minister, proposed that a centre for Human Excellence and Social Sciences for research and educational activities at various levels in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences with special emphasis on Value Education, man-making and character-building education as enunciated by Swami Vivekananda, be started at Rajarhat in Kolkata, the Ramakrishna Mission accepted the proposal. The Mission requested the Govt. of West Bengal in writing (letter dated 19.08.2013) for allotment of a plot of land at a concessional price.

Actualization of Swamiji's Vision

Some Concrete Steps Contemplated in the Proposed Centre

The proposed Centre, christened “Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centre for Human Excellence and Social Sciences”, will be a humble attempt to actualize the great vision of Swami Vivekananda by creating the machinery by which the excellences inherent in a human being, the Perfection and Divinity already present in man, become fully manifest and flow out as a torrent for the welfare of the world.

University Off-Campus
The Centre will be developed into a larger institution eligible to be included within the ambit of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University headquartered at Belur Math, so that it would be possible to award degrees at the undergraduate, post-graduate and doctorate levels under the seal of the aforesaid University.
Centre for Value Education
Sustained value education programmes will form an important activity of this Centre, meant for not only youths and students, but also for teachers and parents, professionals in various walks of life,
Centre for Self-Development
The Centre will focus on character building and personality development through a variety of methods like conducting various self-development courses, seminars and symposia, and programmes designed to develop concentration of mind (yoga), introspection, meditation.

Exposition on Indian cultural heritage
The Centre may house a permanent Exposition on Indian cultural heritage with many attractive and inspiring paintings and models delineating the glory of Indian heritage in relevance to modern applications and the lessons that we can learn from it for our edification.
Vivekananda Research Wing
Serious study and research will be conducted on various aspects of Indian cultural heritage, philosophy, social sciences, consciousness studies, Vedanta as applied to modern life, Swami Vivekananda’s ideas and their applications in the present age, modern science vis-à-vis ancient Vedantic wisdom.
Publication Division
The Publications Division of the Centre will bring out books and literature in various languages both at the research level as well as for the edification of the youth to help them build up their character and discover their inner richness.

Architectural Plan of the Project

With this end in view, following buildings/departments are slated to come up at Viveka Tirtha: (i) An off campus of Vivekananda University, (ii) Centre for Value Education for the people of all walks of life, (iii) A school of languages with language laboratory, (iv) A computer institute, (v) A digital library, (vi) Deptartment of Citizenship Training, (vii) A conference hall, (viii) An auditorium, (ix) An Exhibition hall, and (ix) Separate quarters for guest faculties and staff etc. One distinguishing feature of the campus is that the central building of the entire campus of Viveka Tirtha will resemble the Art Institute at Chicago, USA, where Swami Vivekananda delivered his world-famous addresses in the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893. This Art Institute gave the World a new civilization befitting the culture of East and the West. The other buildings will be named after the Western disciples who served Swamiji in his Mission in the West as well as in India.

The construction of the entire campus of Viveka Tirtha is estimated to cost 172 crore rupees

and the targeted time of completion is 5 years.

Financial Aspect and Appeal

As a charitable organization, Ramakrishna Mission depends entirely on the generous donations from the public and financial support from the Government for running all its service activities. Especially, a project of this magnitude cannot be materialized without the active support from the Government, Corporate Bodies and generous people. The Ramakrishna Mission is appealing to the corporate houses to support the project financially and be part of a noble cause. The Corporate houses under their Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) are taking a lot of initiatives for building our nation, and starting an Institution of this kind will no doubt strengthen the cardinal objectives of their mission.

You Can Help Us

Donate us to build a centre devoted to the study and propagation of basic principles of Human Excellence in the light of Swamiji’s message.

Donations to the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission are exempted from income tax under Section 80G of the IT Act, 1961.

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