During his tete-a-tete with Swami Dharmbandhu, founder of Shri Vedic Mission Trust, Bijoy Ghimire gets the opportunity to understand the mission and the very functioning of the Trust. Here in lies some highlights of his interaction with Swamiji.
If one sometimes happen to switch on to the devotional channels in the TV sets, one would be amazed to see the flourishing numbers of religious and spiritual preachers of all shades and hues. They will promise of instant enlightenment. Some assure of instant relief from pain and agony whereas some formulate unique ways of amassing wealth and thereby succeed in winning over the hearts and minds of thousands and lakhs of populace.
However, amidst such a race where one is busy wooing and shutting off the logical side of the conscience of the common man, here comes a person who has dedicated his life to the service of mankind in his own unique ways. The founder of Shri Vedic Mission Trust Swami Dharmbandhu organizes Rashtrakatha Shibir every year in the month of December at Pransla in the district of Rajkot, Gujarat. Since 2002, he has facilitated this platform whereby the youth and specially the students from different corners of the country assemble.
The primary objective of this congregation is to promote the spirit of national integrity, unity, social harmony and enhancing the educational and intellectual development of the youths of India. When this writer interacted with some students and teachers who participated in these shibirs in December, 2013, they do affirmed that these shibirs infact provided an excellent and enabling environment for teachers, students and visiting experts to interact with each other. In this very endeavour of the Trust, none of its activities seem to promote any religion but instead encouraged secular thoughts and ideas. Over 1,65,000 teachers and students have participated in the shibirs conducted till date.
When asked about the impact of the unbridled growth of consumerism and unavoidable hegemony of the foreign culture on the youths, Swami Dharmbandhu minced no words in giving a befitting reply that “the time has come to inculcate the rich Indian values into the minds and hearts of the students of our nation. If the youths are rooted to their rich cultural heritage, it will help in checking the onslaughts of the negativities of the foreign culture”.
Besides, enlightening students on the pristine cultural values, Swamiji also conducts regular shibirs for teachers training across the nation. He believes in value based education and emphasizes on the process of learning from nature.
With an aim to inculcate patriotic spirit into the young Indian minds, Swami Dharmbandhu is making all the necessary preparations for the 17th Rashtra Katha shibir ( 27th Dec, 2014 to 04th Jan 2015) at Pransla, Gujarat where the luminaries like Bharat Ratna CNR Rao, Shri Nandan Nilekani, Dr. Narayan Murthy, Dr. Sam Pitroda, C Rangarajan etc are invited. Swamiji believes that “detachment from nature and education sans values will only produce machines. Thus, education primarily based on competency, commitment and performance can only lead to social harmony and a strong, vibrant India.”
