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Dear Diary

Swami Vivekananda

Vivekananda, original name Narendranath Datta, Datta also spelled Dutt, (born January 12, 1863, Calcutta, died July 4, 1902, near Calcutta), Hindu spiritual leader and reformer in India who attempted to combine Indian spirituality with Western material progress, maintaining that the two supplemented and complemented one another.



His mission was to bridge the gulf between paramartha (service) and vyavahara (behavior), and between spirituality and day-to-day life.


Vivekananda believed in the fundamental oneness of God and said, "For our own motherland a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam, is the only hope."


Emphasizing social action, he declared that knowledge without action is useless. He lamented the isolationist tendencies and the touch me not attitude of Hindus in religious matters. He believed that it was an insult to God and humanity to teaching religion to a starving man.


At the Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893, Swami Vivekananda made a great impression on people by his learned interpretations. The keynote of his opening address was the need for a healthy balance between spiritualism and materialism. Envisaging a new culture for the whole world, he called for a blend of the materialism of the West and the spiritualism of the East into a new harmony to produce happiness for mankind.


Some of the famous quotes given by Swami Vivekananda are as follows:
________

Arise, Awake, and Stop not until the goal is reached.
________

Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually reject as a prison.
________

Take risks in your life,
If you win, you can lead.
If you lose, you can guide.
________

Talk to yourself once a day,
otherwise, you may miss meeting an
intelligent person in this world.
________

Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later.
________

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.
________

All power is within you; you can do anything and everything.
________

We can learn a lot from Swami Vivekananda quotes, especially youth. Whenever I feel demotivated I read his quotes, it gives an immense amount of energy. Channeling youth energy is very necessary otherwise India would miss its dream of becoming a global power. Drug addiction is the major problem that youth is facing today.


Life is not easy for most of us, but we can make it easy by reading quotes of great people like Vivekananda. It will make your journey of life smooth. So I request all the viewers to go through Vivekananda's teachings. It will definitely help you in various endeavors in life.
 
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Arpita Singh | 07 Mar 2022

The Arts

चाँद का मूक समर्पण

घर के आँगन  में बैठी  चुपचाप निहार रही थी,
 निस्तब्ध भाव से उसे -गगन के उस चाँद को-
 चुपचाप एक कोने में खड़ा जो मुझसे कुछ कहना चाहता हो -
 मगर डरता है -कहने से कुछ बातें अपनी,
 मैली ना हो जाए कहीं उसकी यह सफेद चाँदनी  ।
 मुक्त भाव से बहुत कुछ कह दिया उसने मुझसे -
जो समझ ना सकी थी उस समय मैं ,
 किंतु समझ गई हूँ  आज -
शायद वह कहना चाहता है मुझसे -
नहीं आवश्यकता आज लोगों को उसकी शीतल चाँदिनी  की ,


क्योंकि वे तो हो चुके हैं आदि- हिंसा के  आग में जलने की, शोलों पर चलने की, तूफ़ाँ में घिरने की ,अहंवादिता सहने की ,लड़ने और मरने की ,
नहीं बुझती है आग  अब उनकी शीतल चाँदिनी से -
बुझती है आग अब  तो केवल रक्त के ही पान से। 
सुनो !नहीं आवश्यकता अब  लोगों को मेरी शीतल चाँदिनी की। ... 
नहीं दे सकता खुशी उन्हें ,अब मैं क्षण भर को भी -
यही प्रतिध्वनि  उस निराकार व्योम  में मैनें  सुनी -
मैं हूँ अकेला- मैं हूँअकेला -मैं हूँ अकेला 
है बहुत कुछ साम्य मुझमें  और गगन के उस चाँद  में -
 जो कुछ ना कहकर भी ,जैसे बहुत कुछ कह गया हो मुझसे।

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Kumud Pathak | 05 Mar 2022

The Arts

The Game of Life

Life has a bookshelf for your heart
Ink runs through your ups and downs
The darker shades were sorrowful nights 
The night has been won
You'll overcome
Patience plays its part graciously
Some chapters afraid to open
Stories of person you have met
Thousands of inky footprints
Now it's time to write your own story
The tales of your mornings and blueberry
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Mausam Jha | 03 Mar 2022

Research & Policy

Social Learning Theory of Education

Albert Bandura said, “The content of most textbooks is perishable, but the tools of self-directedness serve one well over time.


Every teacher has a few students who are bullies or try to create nuisance in the class. They may be very good in studies but are distractors for the rest of the class. The most important job of a teacher, apart from imparting education, is to help them become better learners and people, in the complete sense. Therefore, the need for Social Learning arises. What is Social Learning? It is the basic idea that children learn by observing the actions of others. There are four key elements to the Social Learning Theory:


  1. Attention- where the student focuses on the behavior of others. If they see the behavior of the person they are observing, to be unique, they tend to emulate them. This can help in improving the behavior of the students.
  2. Retention- The student tries to retain the behavior in his memory by internalizing it. It can be recalled later when the situation arises where the response is demanded to be in the same way that the student observed.
  3. Reproduction- The student is able to produce the previously learned knowledge when it is required. Continuous practicing of the behavior when the situation demands helps the student to remember it forever.
  4. Motivation- Students require the motivation to perform well or need to be appreciated for any improvement in their behavior. Motivation and appreciation can motivate the students to behave in the required manner and punishment for the same prevent them from acting in the same manner again.

Social Learning theory is different from the social cognitive theory where the latter is a more specific term that works on the idea that apart from observing and working according to the learnings of others, students also use their cognitive factors and environment while reacting to a particular situation. Here, the inner force also plays an important role and self-efficacy is an important area of this theory. Social Learning is a broader area where the students learn by observing others. But the main question arises- how can teachers incorporate social learning within their classes?


One way could be by using the strategy of flipping the classroom. In the traditional setup, the concept or the topic is taught to the students first followed by an assessment or some activity. But here, the students are given a video or some reading material to be seen at home. They observe the video or the material is given, critically analyze the concept, and try to explain and apply what has been learned by them in the class. This enhances social learning within the students as they observe others, their ideas, and actions, while the students are explaining the concept to the class. The students can be praised and encouraged or corrected by the teacher, which can be observed and learned by others, applying these observations to their learning stock. Peer tutoring can be another one, where the students can be brought in contact with one another, and each one can learn from the other. One way can be by cring the older students in connection with the younger ones, where they can share their experiences and learnings with the younger students and help prevent them from making mistakes that they made during their time.


It has been seen that social modeling is very useful in education as it not only improves the behavior of the students in a particular situation but also makes them more empathetic and compassionate. Constructive feedback helps students enhance self-efficacy and make them more developed holistically. Therefore, apart from implementing other learning theories in the class, implementation of the social learning theory can help in making students more caring and empathetic towards others, not only in their school journey but also in the future.

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Divya Joshi | 25 Feb 2022

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