The Sankara Nethralaya family celebrated the nation’s 72nd Independence Day with great patriotic fervour, the presence of Swamy Vimurthananda, an eminent spiritualist and speaker from the Ramakrishna Order as the chief guest added to the nationalistic spirit of the day. The celebrations started with a soulful rendering of Muhammad Iqbal’s timeless patriotic song ‘Saare Jahan Se accha’ by students of the Sankara Nethralaya Academy. It was a day of great learning and retrospection for members of the Sankara Nethralaya family as the accomplished speaker from the Ramakrishna Mission, Chennai, well known for his role in bringing out the in-house journal of the Mutt and his exhaustive relief work among leprosy patients, gave a spirited talk touching on the worldly and spiritual aspects of life, in the true tradition of the Ramakrishna Order. The Swamiji observed that being a part of the Independence Day celebrations at Sankara Nethralaya was always a great pleasure as the institution observed it as a day of national importance and a day of acknowledging and rewarding the quality and service orientation of its employees.
The Swamiji compared Sankara Nethralaya as a large tree with strong roots in terms of its ethics, tradition, service and quality, well embedded into the nation’s psyche which made it a strong tree that will not fall easily. Underlining Swamy Vivekananda’s lines for renunciation from worldly pleasures and exhorting every citizen to be a giver and a contributor, he observed that he saw Sankara Nethralaya as a ‘Celebration of sacrifice’ with the spirit of service exhibited by everyone from the senior most doctor to the sweeper who kept the place clean. Complimenting the institution on its consistent overall growth he highlighted the Master’s emphatic call to realize one’s spiritual strength as the only way to realizing one’s goals and reaching greater heights in worldly and spiritual growth.
The Swamiji recalled the historic speech of Swami Vivekananda at the ‘Parliament of the World’s Religions’ at Chicago in year 1893 where he most poignantly addressed the gathering as ‘brothers and sisters of America’ which had an electrifying effect on the audience, his prophetic address in year 1897 where he referrd to the great change that would come after 50 years which was proved right with India gaining independence in year 1947. Swami Vimurthananda highlighted that Swami Vivekananda’s soul stirring speeches and the Bhagvad Gita became the clarion call and guiding words for the great men and women who fought for the nation’s freedom. The erudite scholar and orator concluded his absorbing and educative talk with a fervent appeal to the Government of India to honour Dr SS.Badrinath with the nation’s highest civilian award the ‘Bharat Ratna’ in recognition of the selfless service that he and his institution have rendered to society.
The day witnessed the honouring of the ‘Best employee’ (Man) and ‘Best employee’ (Woman) of the year and acknowledging and rewarding of employees for their period of service, good performance, awards for the best department, sports awards, educational grants for children of employees etc.