“The one who elevates and enlivens oneself and also, the society is a true saint.” : Manjiri Dhamankar

The Kannada Sangha Pune’s Kaveri College of Arts, Science, and Commerce under the Bahishal Shikshan Mandal, in association with Savitribai Phule Pune University had jointly organized the Dr. Babasaheb Jaykar Lecture Series from 15 to 17 January 2018.  Dr. S. B. Kharosekar, Principal, Kaveri college inaugurated the series and in his inaugural speech urged students to avail opportunities such as the Jayakar Lecture Series where renowned people are invited to speak on various inspiring topics. He asked them to make reading a habit and also to imbibe the qualities of great people in their day-to-day life. Ms Suchismita Mohanty, Vice principal, Kaveri College, Mr. Sachin Devkate, NSS Program Officer, Mr. Anand Buddhikot, Student Development Officer, MRs. Shilpa Khadilkar, Head, Bahishal Shikshan Mandal, Staff members and students were present on this occasion.

In the first session, renowned multifaceted personality Manjiri Dhamankar spoke on the topic ‘Sant Sahitya ani Dainandin Jeevan.’ She said, “A true saint is the one who not only elevates himself but also reform people at large.” She said real Dharma or religion is anything that upholds a positive order. She talked about rich saint-literature of Maharashtra and gave examples and anecdotes from the lives of great saints of Maharashtra such as Sant Tukaram, Namdeo, Dnyaneshwar, Ramdas Swami. She said that we must not forget that whatever we are doing has a force behind it, and bowing to that force is Adhyatma (Spirituality). She said we will attain complete proficiency in a particular work only if we lose ourselves in doing that work.

Ms. Swati Dodmise in her lecture on Communication skills informed students that great speakers are not born but they are trained to be one. She stressed on 7Cs of communication and said that communication must be Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent, Complete and Courteous. She asked them to practice tongue twisters and Sanskrit Shlokas for clear pronunciations. 

In the third session, Mr. Sanjeev Katke spoke on the topic ‘Swatantryachi Aishi-Taishi.’ He focused on the pre and post independence history of India and lamented that we Indians just read the history but never try to understand it. He said we as citizen are acting against the rule of law and that is why today in our society we are fighting corruption, discrimination, inequality, injustice and violence against women etc. He said all these ills of society can be rectified if we as individual citizen follow our duties and know our rights.

            Prof. Geetanjali More compered the program and Prof. Chaitra Uchil presented a vote of thanks.  The lecture series received a good response from the students.