Swami Vivekananda Ashram - Media Statement
Swami Vivekananda Ashram - Media Statement
OBJECTION ON THE PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ON THE SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
ASHRAM SITE IN BRICKFIELDS
Malaysia Hindhudharma Maamandram as a national Hindu organization would like
to appeal to the trustees of Vivekananda Ashram to reconsider and drop the idea
of building a residential block on the institutional land.
Brickfields, which was lately given a new status as Little India, has many
historical reminiscence, cultural sites and temples of which the Vivekananda
Ashram is one of the oldest landmark of more than 110 years .
The vast development at the KL Sentral zone with many concrete buildings does
not speak well for our new status as Little India.
Furthermore the move by the trustees of Vivekananda Ashram to build
residential block for the purpose of commercial gain add injuries to the
invaluable heritage and historical site of Vivekananda Ashram.
We are proud to preserve holy spots in the vicinity of Little India, we have
Kandasamy Temple, Sri Hanuman, Sri Krishna, Karpura Vinayagar, Buddhist
temple and Temple of Fine Arts.
The Vivekananda Ashram like any other institution should seek support from the
government, private sectors, and public if the financial burden to manage 4
schools and ashram is a challenge to them.
The institution should also work closely with Hindu organisations, temples and
art/culture centres to promote the teachings of Swami Vivekananda.
Last November, we organized the 150th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda
celebration by conducting a 4 day stay in camp for our Hindu students;
unfortunately we were denied both the Ashram and school as the venue. The
camp took place in San Peng Tamil School. What has a Chinese name San Peng
got to do with Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniversary?
The patronizing of Kandiah Hall is just another evident on how our community
would want to contribute to the ashram.
As such we call upon the trustees of Vivekananda Ashram to;-
Uphold and preserve the status of the historical and heritage site of Vivekananda
Ashram because the place is significant for the Malaysian Indian community.
We are ever ready to work closely with the Ashram to promote the teachings of
Swami Vivekananda, empower children and students of SJK Tamil Vivekananda(
as we are presently doing) and SMK Vivekananda in the field of character
building, imparting values based on our Dharma and counselling – all without
any fee or cost.
We call upon people with concern to collectively joint hand and raise funds from
the community to give the holy ashram a new look by organizing volunteers to
paint the building to preserve and protect land bank owned by Malaysian
Indians. As a voluntary organization, we need to work closely and help each other to help
the needy. As said in Swami Vivekananda’s “SECRET OF WORK, our duty is to work,
selflessly and consistently for the community – without any expectation”.
