Workshop on “Life Skills Development”
Teachers are nation builders as they shape young minds in the classroom. In order to carry out this role successfully, the teachings and the philosophy of Vivekananda could be a milestone. Mr. Vijay Kulkarni, who is associated with Ramakrishna Math in Pune, came to inspire our young teachers through the divine journey of Swami Vivekananda.
He quoted three important teaching of Swami Vivekananda…
- “Today’s thought is what makes your tomorrow”. We all know our thought shape our future. Our thoughts form experiences of tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. So think good, think positive and see the difference.
- The second philosophy he talked about was “Do not fear anything.” Be fearless. When you are determined to attain your goals, you might face many obstacles. But face all these obstacles with a brave heart, and success will be yours. According to Swami Vivekananda, “Fear is the root cause of every trouble in life.” Every soul is a divine soul. When your motives are good and you have faith in yourself, you will get divine strength from within. You are the POWER. Go ahead and take charge of your life.
- “Work is Worship” What is worship? It is offering something to God. Here, we are offering our work to God. We all normally work for our own benefit, for our own profits. When we are ready to give up this benefit and accept anything and everything that comes our way as a blessing from God, then, and then only work becomes worship.
Lastly, he ended his speech by making us repeat the following statement loudly, “Strength is life, and Weakness is death.”
He said that today’s education system lacks in addressing basic moral and ethical values, which leads to problems of youth. Confusing social events, and fierce competition, bewilders today’s youth. They lack tenacity, patience and tolerance. A small failure, and they are disillusioned. That is the reason, the cases of students committing suicide has become so common. Without proper guidance and counseling , they find darkness everywhere. We, as teachers, need to provide a ray of light in their life. Since he was here to talk about the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, he urged us to use thoughts of Vivekananda as lights to brighten the darkness of our life.