A big thanks to all the friends who made it to the 10th Samanvaya Freedom Lecture (FL10) and many others who sent their greetings and wishes. It was a wonderful evening and the lecture by Swami Vimurtananda was full of insights and thought provoking.
His presentation on the 'compartmentalized' education and 'over education' of our students leading them to 'sa-ksha-ra' which has to be only be flipped and read in reverse for accomplishing a negative role in society was well received. His presentation on the core ideas of Swami Vivekananda on how India lost its swaraj only due to the ignorance of its knowledge and spiritual core was wonderful.
For those who missed the lecture, we will soon try and put it up online.
"ஒன்றுமே வேண்டா துலகனைத்தும் ஆளுவர்காண்;
என்றுமே யிப்பொருளோ டேகாந்தத் துள்ளவரே"
The Samanvaya Freedom Lecture each year is accompanied by a Quote and a Theme Song. Though we don't make an announcement about this, every invitation so far has been accompanied by a theme that sets the tone for that year's lecture and the theme song that is sung at the beginning of the lecture too is related to the same. This year, the speaker and quote were both influenced by the 150th Birth Celebration of Swami Vivekananda, the amazing monk who has influenced successive generations with the spirit of service to humanity as a means of spiritual growth. Smt. Chitra Nagesh, our in-house teacher, singer and some times researcher had pointed out the amazing poetry of Bharathi called "Parasiva Vellam" and we chose the lines
"ஒன்றுமே வேண்டா துலகனைத்தும் ஆளுவர்காண்;
என்றுமே யிப்பொருளோ டேகாந்தத் துள்ளவரே"
as the quote for this year. It means (my translation), "those who don't need anything, rule the world as they have found that which provides them with joy through practice". She also set the entire poem of Parasiva Vellam (the full text is available in this site) to tune and sung it as the theme song at the beginning of the programme this year setting the tone of the lecture.
The magazine "THAALANMAI" has now crossed over 15 issues of consistent publication and is fast becoming the only magazine of its kind bringing together several threads on self-reliance together as original articles in each issue it carries. A magazine that is only brought out through voluntary efforts, particularly thanks to the duo of Ananthoo and Balaji Shankar. This magazine was introduced to the audience during the lecture by one of the consistent writers for the magazine and an organic farmer, Sri. Jaishankar. His articles on millets cultivation and traditional breed of cattle are rather well received and have a wide following among the small readership of this magazine.
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