National Youth Day: Courses about Swami Vivekananda on offer


National Youth Day: National Youth Day: As a tribute to the contribution of Swami Vivekananda towards the country, India celebrates his birth anniversary as National Youth Day on January 12. Calling Vivekananda a ‘national youth icon’, the University Grants Commission has asked universities to ensure that this year’s celebrations are held regardless of several varieties and colleges being shut. The UGC in its letter has asked higher education institutes to participate in online competitions.

“Swami Vivekananda accorded great importance to youth power towards nation-building and universal brotherhood. Swami Ji considered education to be a continuous process in which all aspects of life, such as physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual should be imbibed. His contribution to the creation of a new modern India is incredible,” the letter read.

Read | Swami Vivekananda Jayanti: Celebrate the spiritual leader’s birth anniversary with these inspirational quotes

While the varsities are asked to hold online lectures, webinars on teachings of Vivekananda, online competitions including creative writing, poetry, debate competitions, poster designing etc. In another notice, UGC asked higher education institutes to participate in celebrations of the National Youth Parliaments as well.

While these competitions are held usually during the first week of January, there are certain courses on Vivekananda or his philosophy available round the year. If you wish to know more about the ‘youth icon’, here are some courses across varsities on him –

Certificate Course in Swami Vivekanada Philosophy: The course is offered by Shankarlal Khandelwal Arts, Science and Commerce College, Akola. The six-month course can be pursued after class 12 and along with any other course. It teaches about the life and works of Swami Vivekananda, system of Vedanta, Vivekananda’s views on caste, society, politics, arts, education, etc, and yoga among other topics.

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Certificate course in Vivekananda Studies: A certificate course is being offered by Panjab University, Chandigarh. The course is divided into two parts – the life and work of Vivekananda, and sages of modern India. The course also teaches about the life and work of many other prominent people including Ramana Maharishi, Swami Ram Tirtha, Sharda Ma, Aurobindo.  The course is offered by the Centre for Swami Vivekananda Studies at PU in open mode. It is a year-long course.

The Centre also conducts a self-development programme (SDP) in collaboration with Sri Ram Chandra Mission (SRCM) and Heartfullness Institute for students of the various departments of the University, a PhD programme as well as a six-month certificate courses on yoga and meditation, ancient Indian wisdom, elementary Sanskrit and Bhagavadgita.

Certificate Programme In Swami Vivekananda Studies: Guru Jambeshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar offers a distance course called Certificate Programme In Swami Vivekananda Studies (CPSVS). It is a six-month course and anyone who has passed class 12 or a three-year diploma can take this course. “The programme structure seeks to develop an attitude among students for embracing values like peace, universal love, acceptance, harmony, service and self-leadership. The programme would also aspire to arouse spiritual consciousness and awaken a sense of human divinity amongst today’s’ youth,” the varsity prospectus reads.

Apart from these, several universities have chairs in Vivekananda studies including Central University of Jammu, Mahatma Gandhi University, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Educational and Research Institute, Sanskrit University among others. Even the world’s first university dedicated to yoga in Bengaluru is named Vivekananda Yoga University (VaYU).

 



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