Odisha-based Sri Sri University Celebrates Sixth Commencement Day
Cuttack: Sri Sri University celebrated its sixth commencement day to welcome post-graduate students of Management, Good Governance, Yoga and Journalism. The ceremony started with lighting the lamp by dignitaries followed by Guru Puja by Senior Art of Living Teachers, Mr. Girin Govind, Mr. Narendra Lamba and Ms. Jaina Desai. The occasion was graced by Chief Guest Ms. Rajita Kulkarni, the President of World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), Belgium and Guest of Honour Mr. Subhas Mahajan Ex Vice President of General Motors, United States.
Melodious rendering of Saraswati Vandana was performed by the students of Performing and Visual Arts led by Mr. Santosh Panda. This was followed by a scintillating Odissi performance by Arupa Panda and her students Shailaja Nandini and Gayatri Sahoo.
Prof Srinivas Subbarao, Dean Student Welfare introduced the guests and welcomed them onto the dais. Prof Nand Lal, the VC of Sri Sri University in his welcome address spoke about the uniqueness of the university and how it is providing opportunity to develop core competency in domain knowledge and transferable skills to deal with real life situations both in personal and professional lives. Quoting Srimad Bhagavad Gita, he emphasized on the need to have faith and discipline to gain knowledge.
Mr. Subhas Mahajan spoke at length on the need of excellence in education and how Sri Sri University is uniquely positioned to make a great difference to the lives of students. Mr. Mahajan shared about his experience in the defence forces of the United States and why he is keen to contribute to holistic education has a role in peace building.
Dr. Richa Chopra, Director of Academic Quality Development Cell (AQDC) and Chief Counsellor- Vivechana – The Counselling Space at Sri Sri University, shared her ideas about strengthening academic quality and excellence.
Mr. Narendra Lamba, the Director of Operations at Sri Sri University emphasized the need to be ethical and challenge of being gentle at the same time. He underlined the three important things required for a student. First is domain expertise, second is to have tools to lead a happy and successful life and third is on how to become a contributive member of the society. He reiterated why meditation is the solution to many problems that we are facing today.
Prof Srinivas Subbarao, Dean of Student Welfare, introduced Ms. Rajita Kulkarni, the President of WFEB who is also the new President of Sri Sri University. Ms. Kulkarni has made seminal contribution to business ethics and has been an internationally recognised trainer in transformational leadership.
Ms. Kulkarni in her first Presidential Commencement Address presented a global picture of education, market and challenges to human life. She argued that Speed, Scale and Survival are the three things currently moving the world. She encouraged students to understand these forces and prepare for world economy that is increasingly marked by Volataility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA). She shared the stories of Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar and PV Sindhu and how these people have given their best of life to their passion. She advised that students need to dream, believe and do in order to excel in their life.
Prof Prasanna Kumar David, Executive Registrar, offered vote of thanks.
The ceremony ended with another beautiful Odissi dance Vande Utkala Janani choreographed by Rashmi Rekha Das of Faculty of Performing and Visual Arts and performed by Shailaja Nandini and Gayatri Sahoo. Everyone stood to pay respect to the anthem of the state of Odisha.