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Swami Pramathananda
Vedanta Society of Toronto, Canada

(With deep regret we would like to inform the readers that Swami Pramathanandaji passed away on August 12, 2003.)

"My Young Friends, I cannot find sufficient words to express my feeling of joy and satisfaction I feel at seeing you all. When we were approaching the beautiful and spotless building, all the boys and girls welcoming us with flowers and lamps in their beautiful hands was a great sight. Now I see that all these boys and girls are sitting here enjoying this program.

Swami Vivekananda wanted man-making and character-building education, which you are demonstrating here. Swami Vivekananda said that his faith was in the younger generation, the modern generation out of which would come giants who would solve the problems of the world. You are the hope for the future of this tormented world. Swamiji also wanted 'Guru-griha-vas,' living with one whose character is a blazing fire and in the company of people whose lives are living examples of high ideals. Symbolically we see here, students are sitting in the front, behind them their teachers and then their guardians. Swamiji wanted students to acquire both kinds of knowledge: paravidya and aparavidya, secular as well as spiritual knowledge.

In the Sikshvalli of the Taittriya Upanishad, the teacher imparts the following instructions to the students at the completion of their studies: I will just mention a couple of them (1) Be truthful in your thoughts, speech and actions (2) Do not neglect your studies – both the secular and the spiritual, and (3) Adore your Mother as God, your Father as God, your teacher as God, and your guest as God. Because of such lofty teachings, the society in the Upanishadic time was founded on a strong moral foundation.

Read the writings of the famous Chinese traveler and parts of history books written by the Western historians such as Williaim Hunter and others. You will find that all these authors were praising India’s contribution to the world and saying that India is a gift to the world.

Swami Vivekananda said that bright days for India are coming. India is not going to sleep any more and no one will be able to stop her progress. I leave the future to you all.

Thank you."