Another staple yearly service by the students of the Muddenahalli Campus is the scheduled visit to Sai Dwarakamayee Vriddhashrama, an old age home at Sultanpet, Nandi village, about four kilometres from Muddenahalli. The resident population has now swelled to about fifty residents.
Old Age home visit – 2019
After a half hour bhajan session, the students spent about an hour interacting with the aged elders, during which they sang songs and listened to the experiences of the residents. The elders too enthusiastically sang and talked to the young students. For those residents who could not come to the prayer hall, the students visited them in their living rooms. The visit taught students, especially freshers, the value of empathy and respect for elders. They were emotionally touched after listening to the stories of the elders.
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The ‘Bring Back Chitravati to its Glory’ campaign
As part of an ongoing organised effort between the University and local authorities to bring back the sacred River Chitravati to its glory, Postgraduate students of the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus have been busy at work.
In the previous session, the students cleaned parts of the ghat and yesterday, on Friday, 15 November 2019, they planted scores of trees along the Chitravati River.
Sri Vivek Kapoor, Associate Professor, Dept. of Management & Commerce, led the initiative and shepherded the fine young gentlemen through this and other similar initiatives.
The local community also got involved, including the Commissioner himself.
“This has helped me relate firsthand to the needs of the community. We experienced the theoretical aspects of our Rural Management course today,” said a student.
#SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHL
Excellence at the Workplace
Increasingly, spirituality and ethics play an important role in organizations worldwide. Responsible business ethics, employee job satisfaction and a wholesome approach to individual and organizational behaviour are not just presentations in classrooms and research papers, but are being actively sought by mindful organizations.
In November, the Dept. of Management & Commerce conducted a one-day Management Development Program, Excellence @ Workplace – The Indian Ethos Way, to address some of these issues.
Led by Dr. N Sivakumar (Head of the Department) and Dr. G S Srirangarajan (Associate Professor), the programme took the participants on an introspective journey though reflection, exercises, talks and discussions on the profound messages from the ancient Indian texts and scriptures that are most relevant to current business practices and how they can be disseminated to the corporate world in a suitable manner.
From Karma Yoga to Dharma, executives from leading organizations discussed how to bring about greater engagement and satisfaction at the workplace in the process of achieving business goals.
Executives included directors, consultants and managers from Hexagon Wealth Advisors, SimplyFISoftTech India, Siemens Technology and Services, Point Analytics & Business Consulting, Future Generali India Insurance, GE Health Care, Tata Consultancy Services, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Mentor Graphics, Al Shaya India Ltd., Capital One India, SimplyFISofTech India and Titan Company.
#SSSIHL #SSSIHLIntegralEducation #SSSIHLManagementCommerce#values
Naryana Seva – 2019
Each month, food packets are distributed to the needy poor in the slums around Anantapur town. The monthly Narayana Seva activity sees a team of cooks, campus workers, rickshaw drivers and students come together to deliver 25kg of Pulihora (approximately 270-300 packets) to these marginalized citizens of society. The impact of this programme goes a long way in the lives of students. As alumni, they continue this activity, both at a large and small scale.
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Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha – 2019
2-8 October 2019
Dasara or Navaratri is a ten-day festival, usually falling in the month of October, and is celebrated all over India in the worship of the Divine as the Mother principle. Since the early sixties, the festival of Dasara in Prasanthi Nilayam has been closely associated with the Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yagna. This yagnam is a week-long worship conducted in the Divine Presence in the Poornachandra Auditorium in Prasanthi Nilayam each year for the welfare of the whole world. The yagnam commences on the fourth day of Dasara and concludes with the Poornahuti – the final oblation that is offered on Vijayadasami, the tenth day.
In addition to other rituals, the most important component of the yagnam is the Rudra yagam where the oblations are made in the Yagna Kunda to Lord Shiva while chanting hymns from the Sri Rudram. The students of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning take active part by chanting the vedas, reading the scriptures and performing other parts of the worship along with the learned pundits.
The evening programmes during the seven days of the yagnam are held in Sai Kulwant Hall, under the auspices of the ‘Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha’, where many speakers—primarily students and functionaries of Bhagawan’s educational institutions—address the gathering on topics concerning spirituality and philosophy, Bhagawan’s teachings and experiences of devotees.
SSSIHL Swacch Bharat Initiatives
‘Swacch Bharat’ occupies a central theme alongside development goals of the Government of India. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has identified SSSIHL’s potential and requested to implement a ‘Swachh Action Plan’ (SAP) (since 2018) in nearby ‘adopted’ villages. You can see these in action on our posts on Grama Seva here, here and here.
The purpose is to use higher education skills to help meet a clean living environment and assist villagers in getting clean water and sanitation, health care, energy, education etc in a sustainable manner. Educated youth are also urged to develop skills, build capacity and mind set to address community problems in their surroundings.
In addition, the University has always adopted best practices towards the Greenery of the campuses, cleanliness, recycling and waste management. Some of these are highlighted in the photo collage below.
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Campus Greenery
SSSIHL Kitchens
Liquid Biomedical Waste Decontamination Disposal
SSSIHL Solar Panels
Liquid Biomedical Waste Decontamination Disposal
Advanced NMR applications in solving Biology problems
A workshop for postgraduate and Ph.D. students on the potential applications of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) in the fields of chemical, biological, pharmaceutical and medical sciences to help solve complex biology problems was conducted on 14 Sep 2019 by SSSIHL Central Research Instruments Facility (CRIF).
The workshop was led by Prof. Ramakrishna Vadrevu, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad. Dr Ashish Arora, CSIR-The Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow and Prof. Siddhartha P Sarma, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore were the invited speakers.
Students were introduced to various NMR techniques including Basics of Magnetic Resonance, principles of one-dimensional, two-dimensional and three-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, and the like.
Detailed discussions about the potential of NMR, including elucidating the structures of complex biological samples like peptides and proteins along with Protein-Ligand interactions in relation to interactions of drug candidates with the therapeutic targets ensued.
Issues relating to using NMR to solve complex structures of the therapeutic targets by using various 2D and 3D NMR techniques in detail with case studies from the experts’ labs, as well as isolating toxins from venoms of snakes and cone snails were deliberated on.
#SSSIHLResearch #SSSIHLCRIF #SSSIHL
National Nutrition Week Celebrations – The Health Happy Week
National Nutrition Week Celebrations – The Health Happy Week
1-7 Sep 2019
“Take in only simple, pure, clean food – what is called sattvic food by the sages – that is to say, food that will not arouse the impulses and emotions, sharpen the passions, upset the equanimity, or hamper health. Food offered to God is free from the evil vibrations that injure the individual in subtle ways. Food offered to the hungry and then also eaten has the same beneficial quality. Since food has a subtle impact on the feelings and thoughts of man, you have to be ever vigilant.”
Sri Sathya Sai Baba
The National Nutrition Week, an initiative by The Ministry of Health, Govt. of India, is aimed to address several major health issues in India, such as malnutrition, awareness of a proper diet and nutrition and their positive benefits on people’s well-being.
The Dept. of Food & Nutritional Sciences, SSSIHL celebrated this week by designing a nine-code initiative, The Health Happy Week. The nine codes included daily walking, pranayama and yogasanas/exercises, bhajans/meditation/relaxation with music, care of plants, laughter session, avoiding caffeine (tea/coffee) and sugar, and consuming a bowl of salt and vegetables.
The Doctoral Research Scholars spread the awareness of this with posters and information sessions. The sessions also included presentations on how to incorporate the five human values in nutrition: The truth about food, Dharmic perspectives from farm to fork, Cultivating peace through food, Love in action through food banking, and the value of vegetarianism and a plant-based diet.
#SSSIHLFoodNutritionalSciences #SSSIHL
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Ganesh Chaturthi 2019
Lord Ganesha. He removes our obstacles; He liberates our mind from fear. He infuses in us the courage to follow dharma, and ultimately protects us all.
This afternoon, at SSSIHL, the staff of the Administrative Office and students from all four campuses – Prasanthi Nilayam, Anantapur, Brindavan and Muddenahalli – came together in love and reverence for Lord Ganesha.
The individual chariots, made with immense love for Bhagawan Baba, and decorated with all the possible hues of colour — each with a creative story and message behind it, made their way from the office or the hostel to the final destination of immersion.
#SSSIHL #GaneshChaturthi #SSSIHLIntegralEducation
SAKURA Science Exchange Program – JAIST, Japan
SAKURA Science Exchange Program – JAIST, Japan, 16-26 Aug 2019.
As part of prestigious SAKURA Science Exchange Program organized by the Japan Government, nine Doctoral Research Scholars and a teacher (from the departments of Physics, Chemistry, Biosciences and Food & Nutritional Sciences, SSSIHL) visited Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), in the Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan from 16 to 26 August 2019.
This year’s research focused on Sustainable Materials. A host of six professors at JAIST exposed SSSIHL researchers to the systematic protocols of research, engaged them in discussions (at the mentor group’s journal clubs), and trained the team in various advanced synthesis, characterization and applications undertaken at JAIST.
The various techniques picked up ranged from computational simulation to experimental hands-on work. The visit yielded a good amount of collaborations, ideas and a couple of publications under preparation and review.
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