Kolkata: Vivekananda Auditorium of Ramakrishna Mission Centre for Human Excellence and Social Sciences (Vivek Tirtha) was inaugurated on Monday in New Town.
Vivek Tirtha resembles the Art Institute in Chicago where Swami Vivekananda had addressed the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. The foundation stone of Vivek Tirtha was laid by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in 2014. State government gave 5 acres of land on perpetual lease and the project was named Vivek Tirtha by Mamata Banerjee.
Constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore, Vivek Tirtha will house a school of language, a computer training institute, a library, conference halls, an auditorium and an exhibition hall and separate quarters for monks, guests and staffs. Vivek Tirtha is an Institute of Human Excellence.
Vivekananda auditorium has been built at an estimated cost of Rs 42.5 crore. TCS Foundation has given Rs 40.2 crore.
Swami Suviranandaji, general secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Mission remembered long association of RKM with the Tatas. Swami Vivekananda had travelled with Jamsetji Tata from Yokohama to Vancouver in SS Impress of India. The two became friends and after the demise of Swamiji in 1902 and Tata in 1904 Sister Nivedita played a major role in setting up of the Tata Institute now known as the Indian Institute of Science.