I find new ideas in the experiment of Nonviolence the deep I go: Laxmi Dass
“Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustices, not people. Nonviolence holds that suffering for a cause can educate and transform”, said Shri Laxmi Dass, Vice-Presidsent Harijan Sevak Sangh and Executive Member, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, while launching the course on “Non-Violence Communication” in Malayalam on May 25, 2021 as the chief guest during the webinar organised by Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti (GSDS) in association with Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS), Kochi, Kerala.
Speaking further about the philosophy of nonviolence and how it has impacted his life, Shri Laxmi Dass said, “The deep the philosophy of nonviolence, the deep has been my experience in understanding and finding new ideas about nonviolence. Nonviolence breeds nonviolence”.
He further appreciated the efforts of the GSDS in initiating this course first in English, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam and called it, ‘unique’ and ‘unparallel’.
Calling this a great and courageous step in finalizing and launching this course, eminent Gandhian and former Director GSDS, Prof. N. Radhakrishnan congratulated the team that translated the course in Malayalam and also the team from the Samiti under the guidance of Mr. Dipanker Shri Gyan, Director GSDS and Shri Laxmi Dass and said that “The Samiti has taken a pivotal and crucial role in redesigning the possibility as well as the capability of communication as an art and craft to effect paradigm changes in the social sector, for the communicative capability of a person defines the character of a person and reflects the cultural, political, social and economic milieu of the society which produces these persons right from the very beginning of the evolution of communication as a tool of discovering the innate potential of every individual”.
He further said that there should be a paradigm shift in effecting changes in the communication strategy, for, “We are living in an absolute culture of violence and violence engulfs the whole society and it has made very serious inroads into the very lifestyle of modern people, thanks to the enormous capabilities technology and other such things offer to us, pushing all other human attainments to the background”.
He emphasised, “The new thrust on Non-Violent Communication (NVC) is nothing new. In our collective efforts to affect a paradigm shift in our life style, life style will determine what is called the collective morbidity and the collective ethos and the ethical framework of our life”, adding that ‘We should strive for a non-violent communicative pattern for this will lead us to discover the non-violent potential of every human being through which we will be able to effect non-violence as a desirable objective to be cultivated and made part of our living, thinking and lifestyle”.
The launch programme also saw presentations by students and faculty members of the RCSS. Prof. Anand K., Assistant Professor (English) and Prof. Sisha S, Assistant Professor, Malayalam, joined their editorial team members, students of the college involved in the translation of the NVC course from English to Malayalam. Ms. Roshni Abraham, (B.Sc Psychology, 1st Year); Ms. Sharika Sasidharan (B.Sc Psychology, 2nd Year); Ms. Akhila K.V, (B.Sw, 2nd Year); Ms. Ann Treasa (B.Sw, 2nd Year); Ms. Unnimaya A.S (M.Sw, 2nd Year) and Mr. Antony A. Jaison (M.Sw 1st Year).
Prof. Anand informed about the regular interactions with Dr. Vedabhyas Kundu, Programme Officer, GSDS for carrying out this work and said that the thirty-paged course material that was received from GSDS has been translated into Malayalam comprising of seventy-five pages.
Ms. Bhadra K. N. a student of RCSS also recited the Malayalam Ente Gurunathan (My Guru) written by eminent poet Shri Vallathol Narayana Menon, dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi. The poem depicts the ideology of ‘one world’, where the poet refers ‘our world’ as a family.
The others who spoke on the occasion were Prof. Binoy Joseph, Principal, RCSS; Fr. Dr. Joseph M. K; Prof. Thomas Thiruthanathy.
Earlier Shri Dipanker Shri Gyan, Director GSDS in his welcome address appreciated the efforts of the GSDS in this time of COVID-19 pandemic to come up with a course on ‘Non-Violent Communication’ that has been accepted far and wide by students and thinkers. He thanked Shri Laxmi Dass for accepting the idea of initiating such a course and thereafter suggesting that the course is translated, which he said was done into three other languages – Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. He further expressed his gratitude to Prof. Anand K and his entire editorial team members for completing this task.
He further acknowledged the contribution of Prof. N Radhakrishan who as the former Director of GSDS had initiated similar academic programs and had run such short-term courses. He said, “My inspiration to launch such courses came from Dr. Radhakrishnan, whose visionary approach in initiating many short term courses had helped the outreach of the Samiti and also benefitted the larger community of student and youth”.
Dr. Vedabhyas Kundu informed that besides English, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam, the course on NVC has also been translated into Kyrgy language and Swahili language of Africa. This he informed was done voluntarily.
The launch programme concluded with the vote of thanks that was proposed by Dr. Kiran Thampi of RCSS.