BHAVAN'S VIDYA MANDIR PATHANAMTHITTA

In 1938, about a decade before the dawn of Indian Independence, Kulapati Dr. K.M. Munshi, a far-sighted visionary and practical idealist, along with three of his close associates, founded the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to preserve and propagate Sanskrit, the mother of languages.

Over the years, from being a modest indological research institution, the Bhavan, which was founded with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi, has steadily grown into a comprehensive, co-operative national movement, with an international outlook, for the promotion of ethical and spiritual values.

Bharatiya Vidya or Indian Culture, stands for the age-old but ever young Vedic concepts of Rita, Satya, Yajna and Tapas which, in modern parlance, mean the supremacy of the Majesty of the Moral Law anchored to Dharma; complete accord of thought, word and deed, which is Satya; discipline or self control by obliterating selfishness, erasing the ego, which is Samyama; and acting with a sense of dedication to God — an attitude of Ishvara Pranidhana — which is Samarpana. Dharma by itself encapsules Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram — the ideals of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.

The Bhavan's activities touch "all aspects of life from the cradle to the grave and beyond" as Prime Minister Nehru (Founder Member of the Bhavan) averred on the first of his many visits to the Bhavan in 1950. The Bhavan is an adventure in faith.