Over 600 faculty members at the Amritapuri and Coimbatore campuses had the opportunity to recently come together as they participated in a very unique three-day cultural camp at their respective campuses – Sadgamaya 2012.
Chancellor Amma says that the main purpose of education must be to impart a culture of the heart — a culture based on spiritual values.
Imparting this culture to the teachers, Swami Amritageetananda Puri at the Amritapuri campus shed light on the Guru’s role.
“In our culture, the Guru is one who comes down to our level and slowly lifts us up to their heights. When the disciple needs the Guru, the Guru offers the teachings.”
Elaborating further on the culture of the heart, he said, “Unfortunately in our modern educational systems, we are trained to develop the head or brain but not the heart. One who can spontaneously act, acts from the heart. Such a person knows what to do and is a yogi. In this camp, let us have our hearts dominate, rather than our heads.”
Meanwhile teachers at the Coimbatore campus welcomed Swami Virabhadrananda of the Ramakrishna Mission and Swami Brahmavidyananda, disciple of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, who spoke to them about spiritual precepts including karma yoga and having the right attitude.
K. Subramaniam, Dean of Humanities, SVYASA Yoga University, Bengaluru and M. Lakshmi Kumari, Director, Vivekananda Kendra, Thrissur also spoke to the teachers at Amritapuri campus.
“We understood that when students are endowed with conviction, purity, discipline, morality and truthfulness, they have an extraordinary amount of confidence that can help them conquer the whole world,” one teacher participant of the camp shared.
“We understood that our role as teachers is to help bring out the unique talent inherent in every child with love and care,” the participant added.
At the Coimbatore campus, Shri. Krishna Jagannathan, Joint Secretary of Dharma Rakshana Samiti; Dr. Kambltampati Subrahmanyam, Principal of Gurukul College and Shri. Aravindan Neelakandan from NG Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari spoke.
Together they brought forth their perspectives as learned scholars of Sanatana Dharma, Swami Vivekananda and cultural anthropology respectively.
On all camp days, participants either began the day with guided meditation and yoga, or attended a bhajan session before signing off for the night. Panel discussions, quizzes on Indian culture, paper presentations and case competitions provided many opportunities for learning.
“This life is momentary. When one ponders on this, all battles, conflicts, negativity and pessimism will end. Because we understand that we are here for a short period of time only. Let us make our lives beautiful. Let us give happiness and joy to the maximum number of people. That is spirituality,” stated Sri. Vijay Menon, speaking to the teachers.
July 19, 2012
Amritapuri and Coimbatore Campuses
