Venu Menon
Wellington, May 23,2024
Swami Tadananda, minister-in-charge, Ramakrishna Vedanta Centre, Auckland, used his background in engineering to good effect when he gave a cogent, jargon-free talk on spiritual approaches to mental health and wellbeing at the Indian High Commission in Wellington on Wednesday, May 22.
Moving to New Zealand after a 12-year stint in Fiji, Swami Tadananda has set up the Vedanta Wellness Centre at New Lynn, Auckland, a branch of the Ramakrishna Mission in India, founded by Swami Vivekananda in 1897, which has over 250 branches around the world.
Identifying mental health as a dire need in New Zealand, Swami Tadananda quickly set about to deliver outcomes in that sphere of activity, intrigued by why New Zealand, with “no wars or man-made disasters,” faced a prevalence of mental health issues.
The Centre invokes age-old Vedic traditions and has evolved a unique strategy to popularise the practice of meditation as a catalyst for change.
It involves the training of instructors to “deliver mind-management techniques” and “age-appropriate meditation techniques,” rooted in a practical, non-religious curriculum.
The long-term goal is to “integrate meditation programmes into schools with ongoing support.” The wellness programme covers “businesses, communities, and the general public.”
The New Zealand project relies on a tried-and-tested strategic plan that has yielded results in Australia and Fiji, where Swami Tadananda had served after completing his training in India.
As a first step, Swami Tadananda pored over the 290-page report of the inquiry commission into mental health and addiction in Aotearoa, which he accessed via the Ministry of Health website. He studied the New Zealand government’s long-term strategic plan for mental wellbeing and addiction, which invited the participation of community-based organisations in the pursuit of “grassroots solutions.”
“The solution to a problem remains at a dimension above the problem,” Swami Tadananda told the gathering in Wellington.
This led to the insight that “Vedanta is the science of human excellence.”
Swami Tadananda explained: “Our Vedic teachers and sages explored the inner dimension of a human being – beyond the body, beyond the mind, beyond the ego.”
That raised the question: “Who are we?”
The Vedic answer is “We are pure consciousness.”
That consciousness, when transposed into human experience, manifests in worldly forms and pursuits.
Swami Tadananda proposes a spiritual approach to mental health and wellbeing.
“The solution is not ‘out there.’ You can go to a doctor or a psychiatrist and get a prescription. But the solution is within us.”
Meditation is a means of accessing that solution. And the future premises of the Wellness Training Centre , set to come up in 50 hectares amidst picturesque native bush at Glen Murray, will provide a tranquil setting for the dissemination of Vedantic knowledge and practices, and the cultivation of “spiritual intelligence.”
The project is inspired by Swami Vivekananda, who said:
“If in this hell of a world one can bring a little joy and peace, even for a day, into the heart of a single person, that much alone is true; this I have learnt after suffering all my life, all else is mere moonshine.”
Earlier, Second Secretary (Consular) and Head of Chancery Mukesh Ghiya, and Second Secretary (Press, Info and Culture) Durga Dass welcomed Swami Tadananda.
Kamil Lakshman, immigration lawyer and coordinator of the event, introduced the Swami and wrapped up with a vote of thanks.
Swami Tadananda welcomed questions from the floor before the evening culminated in networking over samosas and pakoras.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
