Education is the Key

[Guest guest]

Work of the Vivekananda Centre London.

 

The recent BBC Radio 4 poor presentation of Sister Nivedita in a way,

highlights some serious underlying issues that need to be addressed.

Vivekananda or Sri Ramakrishna are unknown entities for the mainstream

in the West. We can see from such documentaries that the presenters

or producers really have no clue as to what they are all about. We

may be tempted to blame these presenters for their shortcomings,

but then we must recognise our shortcomings too. We have been very

poor portrayers of these personalities! Why blame others when we

have done such a poor job of putting across the teachings of

our mentors? Adopting a wimpish attitude and cowering in our shells

in case the media 'misportrays us' cannot be the attitude advocated by

Vivekananda. We have to keep knocking on these doors until the correct

portrayal of what our mentors stood for gets aired. That is what we intend

to do.

 

The work done by the Vivekananda Centre London generally gets very

encouraging comments from the RK movement like the one from Swami

Adishwarananda who was gracious enough to say 'You are doing a better

job than us.' But then we also hear comments like: 'They don't really

understand anything and still they want to teach others. "

We smile and carry on.

 

Let us summarise Part of the work we do:-

In the Field of Education:-

 

(a) We are actively taking the teachings of our mentors to mainstream

schools in the UK.

 

Next week we will be doing two sessions at two major schools in North

London (Cannon High and Edgware High) where we will get an opportunity

to put across the teachings of Vivekananda to about 400 youngsters of all

faiths. One of these sessions is meant for 16 to 18 year olds and will be

for two hours. We touch on all aspects of Hinduism - clearing up serious

misconceptions and putting across the more dynamic aspects like

Divinity within and Religious pluralism advocated by Vivekananda.

All such sessions are well received.

 

(b) We are at the moment locked in a major battle with the main

educational bodies in the UK. We wish to displace teachings that

portray Hinduism as:- Polytheism, Caste System & the Holy cow

with Hinduism that is in harmony with the findings of Modern

Sciences:- Ideas of evolution, Origin of the universe, Role of

Consciousness, Quantum mechanics etc.

Philosophy of Religion and Science and Religion are two very

topical subjects that will benefit greatly from the Hindu input.

 

© Education is the key:-

Poor portrayal of Hinduism begins at grass root level in schools.

We are deliberately targeting this area to remove serious misconceptions

and to introduce the vibrant legacy of Vivekananda's teachings. We are

now the most prominent Hindu body in the field of Religious Education

in the UK.

 

Vivekananda Centre London