The Ramakrishna Mission, founded by Swami Vivekananda on the basis of the Vedantic principle of serving human beings as the embodiment of God or “Shiva jnane Jivaseva”, carried out its annual “Narayan Seva” at Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi on Christmas Day.
Under this, 200 poor and needy boys and girls were provided with a school bag (with a beautiful coloured picture of Swami Vivekananda and a message printed on them), note-books, pen, an alarm-clock and a 500 ml thermos-flask. They were also sumptuously fed with khichdi prasad and sweets. Before the distribution, the children were taken around the ultra-modern Vivekananda Exhibition and were shown the 3D film on Swami Vivekananda’s famous Chicago Address.
Speaking on the occasion, Swami Shantatmananda, Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi, said that in previous years blankets were distributed to poor people under this service programme but it was felt that a better method of carrying out this “Seva Yajna” would be to help poor children by distributing educational kits to them which they could ill afford otherwise.
He was very happy to see the beautiful smiles on the faces of the recipients and wished them well in their journey of life. “On this grand occasion, Vivekananda Youth forum members also joined our senior volunteers and ensure the success of the program,” he added.
The members of the Ramakrishna Order believe that service is Vedanta in practice. “We need to serve others because their suffering is, in fact, our own. Making them happy is the only way we can make ourselves happy. The Mission carries out its humanitarian and charitable activities of service to mankind irrespective of caste, creed, religion, or economic status in all branches,” said a member.