Kolkata: The Vivekananda Auditorium of the Ramakrishna Mission Center for Human Excellence and Social Sciences (Vivek Tirtha) was inaugurated in the new city on Monday.
Vivek Tirtha resembles the Art Institute of Chicago where Swami Vivekananda addressed the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. Vivek Tirtha’s foundation stone was laid by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2014. The state government gave 5 acres of land on perpetual lease and the project was named Vivek Tirtha by Mamata Banerjee.
Built at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore, Vivek Tirtha will house a language school, computer training institute, library, lecture halls, auditorium and exhibition hall and separate quarters for monks, guests and staff. Vivek Tirtha is an institute of human excellence.
The Vivekananda auditorium was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 42.5 crore. The TCS Foundation donated Rs 40.2 crore.
Swami Suviranandaji, general secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, remembers RKM’s long association with the Tatas. Swami Vivekananda had traveled with Jamsetji Tata from Yokohama to Vancouver aboard the SS Impress of India. The two became friends and after the disappearance of Swamiji in 1902 and Tata in 1904, Sister Nivedita played a major role in the establishment of the Tata Institute now known as the Indian Institute of Science.
