‘The Apeejay Stya Block at Ramakrishna Mission will promote values in education and education for values’, says Mrs Sushma Paul Berlia

To honour Founder-Chairman Dr Stya Paul, Ramakrishna Mission has dedicated a special block named the ‘Apeejay Stya Block’ in the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Institute of Values, Gurugram in Haryana. The ‘Apeejay Stya Block’ is dedicated to the life mission of
Man-Making and Nation-Building of Dr Stya Paul, the inspiration behind all Apeejay Stya Institutions.

The unveiling of the special block was done by Mrs Sushma Paul Berlia, Chairperson of Apeejay Stya Group and Apeejay Svran Group. She is also the Chairperson, Apeejay Education. This was followed by lighting of the lamp. Mrs Berlia, daughter and only child of Dr Stya Paul was also accompanied by her grandchildren – Rivan, Himav, Vivika and Viana, Mr Nishant Berlia Co-Promoter Apeejay Stya & Svran Group and Mrs Nisha Berlia. Together the family paid tribute to Dr Stya Paul.  

Present at the occasion were Dr Garg who had worked closely with Dr Stya Paul for 15 years, school principals, teachers, and members from the Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Institute of Values. The programme began with the Ganesh Vandana — Vakratunda Mahakaya – by the music teachers of Apeejay School. 

This was followed by the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by revered Swami Shantatmananda, Mrs Sushma Paul Berlia, Mr Nishant Berlia, and Dr Anuradha Balaram. The lighting of the lamp was done amidst chanting of the Saraswati Vandana, which contributed to the already sublime atmosphere at the occasion. The programme began with a prayer to Swami Vivekananda and a welcome note by Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Institute of Values (VIVA), Gurugram, for Mrs Berlia amidst thunderous claps by all present at the event. 

The welcome note also included Mr Nishant Berlia and Mrs Nisha Berlia. Aditya Berlia, Co-promoter Apeejay Stya and Svran Group and Co-Founder and Pro-Chancellor of Apeejay Stya University and Dr Neha Berlia, Co-Promoter Apeejay Stya and Svran Group and Co-Founder and Pro-chancellor, Apeejay Stya University attended the special event virtually. A special welcome note was sent out to Rivan, Himav, Vivika and Viana as well, who were present to be inspired by the noble and generous deeds of their elders. 

Swami Vivekananda once said: The greatest work is done when there is no selfish motive to prompt it. And the Apeejay family, including the grand children, are living this great idea. What was pioneered by Dr Stya Paul has been taken forward selflessly by Mrs Sushma Paul Berlia, Mr Nishant Berlia, Mr Aditya Berlia, and Dr Neha Berlia and this will continue to grow as Rivan, Himav, Vivika and Viana come of age and take it to even greater heights. 

Dr Stya Paul was one of the principal architects of India’s emergence as a self-reliant industrial nation founded on the strength of Indian capability enterprise. Throughout his long and illustrious life, Dr Stya Paul held responsible positions reflecting his versatility and leadership. Numerous awards and honours were bestowed on him, though he never desired any laurels for himself. Dr Stya Paul was hugely inspired by Swami Vivekananda’s philosophy. 

Swami Shantatmananda felicitated Mrs Berlia with a saree of Holy Mother, Ma Sarada, and a Gospel of Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa. Swami Shantatmananda also felicitated Mr Nishant Berlia with a shawl. 

Mrs Berlia began her address with the famous Kabir doha: Guru Govind Dou Khade, Kake Lagu Paye, Balihaari Guru Aapne, Govind Diyo Bataye. (My God and guru are standing together. Whose feet should I touch?)

“I commence with touching my guru’s feet, my father Dr Stya Paul, because he not only taught me how to live life but also my spiritual life. But I bow to my father, I would like to bow to Swami Ramakrishna Paramhamsaji, Swami Vivekanandaji, and Swami Ranganathanandaji because they were gurus of my guru. If I may, in the words of Swami Vivekananda in 1893 at the Parliament of Religions at Chicago, US, brothers and sisters. Since then, when Swamiji spoke those words, a lot has changed in the world. There have been so many changes and disruptions – economic, wars, the pandemic – but one thing that has remained constant and continues to remain the same is brothers and sisters under the skin. More than any other time, it was during the pandemic (COVID-19) that people perhaps really began to realise how interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent we all are. We realised, perhaps more closely than ever before, the oneness of existence – Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” Mrs Berlia said, who is also an ardent follower of Swami Vivekananda in letter and spirit. 

She said that value-based education rooted in Indian culture has always been the hallmark of Apeejay Education. The Awakened and Awakening Citizen’s programme across Apeejay schools is a living testament of our deep-rooted alignment with the values of Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna Mission. Therefore, the coming together of Apeejay Education and Ramakrishna Mission is a seamless confluence of like-minded thought, vision, and values.

She added that this oneness of existence is always there but we are not always aware. “Long back, when I had the privilege of being at Mount Kailash, there was a moment, standing on a mountain top overlooking Mount Kailash all alone – standing there with the vastness of creation around me – the golden glow of the sun rise illuminating Mt Kailash in front of me, I felt that I was a little speck in the entire cosmos and beyond. I also felt that everything was within me. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling, sometimes, we believe it is there and we are striving to be there.  But then we realise that it is not just there but also inside us. This is not the knowledge that can be read; this is not the knowledge that can be understood; this is not the knowledge that you can imbibe skills in; this is not the knowledge that can be imparted. It is a knowledge that comes from within who we truly are. This is what we are talking about when we mention human values and what it means to be the highest version of oneself,” Mrs Berlia said.

Talking about her father, Dr Stya Paul, Mrs Berlia said that she is not here in any other capacity but that of a daughter, a spiritual aspirant, and attempting to do some sewa in this world. “It is has long been in my mind how best to perpetuate the memory of my father. He never wanted any monuments for himself. He left behind living monuments in the forms of schools, colleges and so many other institutes beyond what we are running. He contributed to these in various capacities over the years; not just schools and colleges but hospitals and other organizations. His capacity to do sewa was infinite. I believe that it is important to remember him, not because he was a great man but because he was an ordinary man who rose to extraordinary heights,” Mrs Berlia added.

She said that we need to remember him (Dr Stya Paul) not as a saint to whom you look up to. What we want to remember him as is somebody whom each one of us is capable of emulating in our lives.

“When he talked of values, he did not just talk, in fact, he hardly ever spoke of them, he lived these values and those are the ones that people can relate to. It allows others to live by them and take them forward. He was not born to an affluent family; the family didn’t have electricity at home. Most of his education took place under the lantern for long hours. Imagine a scenario – a small boy climbing the extremely steep stairs with two crutches since he was diagnosed with polio. He navigated the rush of classrooms, sat on the floor and wrote on takhtis. But he was brilliant in Mathematics and went on to win the gold medal in combined Punjab University. He lost his parents at an early age. He was the eldest of the seven brothers and sisters, to his shoulders fell the responsibility of taking care for all of them – their education and settling them in life. What I am trying to illustrate is that we all have issues in life but the question is do we crib about them, rage, shout and complain about them to everyone around us or do we accept what can’t be changed and change what we can and move on. This is exactly what he (Dr Stya Paul) did. He faced every challenge with the spirit of a hero and smile of a conqueror. This was a phrase that used to inspire him a lot. This is what he used to tell me: ‘Face life with the spirit of a hero and smile of a conqueror. You can’t go through life being weak; be strong’. These are in the echoes of Swami Vivekananda and must have inspired him,” Mrs Berlia said.

It was during one of his visits to Kolkata he happened to meet Swami Ranganathananda. Dr Stya Paul was so enamoured with the lecture, that Dr Stya Paul went behind the stage to meet him. Swami Ranganathananda said three words: ‘Be a Man’. That broke the barriers of spirituality. 

“Since then we had the privilege of hosting Swami Ranganathananda in Jalandhar. I was very fortunate to interact with him, pester him and ask all kinds of questions. He was extremely patient. He was also kind enough to visit many of our schools and gave a lecture to our teachers; he also interacted with them. This resonated very closely with what Dr Stya Paul wanted because he first started donating to schools. A cow shed behind our home was converted into a school and handed to the local community to run. But he realized that if he truly wanted to have institutes that he was dreaming of, he would have to take the leadership and that is how the first Apeejay School was created. He wanted to create an environment where every aspect of a child’s potential – mental, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and in every way that one can think of to allow it to flower. Many of the things that we talk about under the New Education Policy 2020 and so many others, came through that,” Mrs Berlia said.

Dr Stya Paul had always dreamt of setting up an institute for value education. He even had a space for the same at Greater Noida campus. “For us, values have always been a cornerstone of everything that we do in education; even our curriculum, when we look at learning outcomes, we not only talk of knowledge skills and attitudes, we also talk about what values are being imparted at the end of every lesson in the classroom. You can imagine my delight when I got a message from Swami Shantatmanandaji. We have closely associated with his initiative of Awakening Citizenship in all our schools. It is a wonderful programme and made a difference in our students. The schools ran an assessment tool which could help measure if there has been impact. The programme has been scientifically validated as well instead of just hoping it will make a difference,” Mrs Berlia said.

She said that Swami Shantatmananda told her that they were setting up Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Institute of Values and would Apeejay like to participate in some way? “I am grateful to him, the Mission and his team for this honour to contribute to this. But it doesn’t end by purely having a hall dedicated to Dr Stya Paulji by this inaugural. We hope to be able to work very closely both within our schools but towards a larger effort of promoting value education and education for values,” Mrs Berlia added.

She said that she believes in coming together, a confluence of events and serendipity. “I have always found in my life and when you really aspire for something in life and put in all your heart and soul to make it happen, it does happen. This is what our Founder-Chairman used to say that it was not he who did or made anything happen. One individual can’t do anything alone. And with no disrespect to his memory, no person can do this alone and if they claim so it is incorrect. It was the higher purpose that he had, that brought together a confluence of people, circumstances, events, opportunities, and possibilities that have been able to bring us where we are today. And though he didn’t desire any monuments to himself, there are living monuments in terms of people whose lives he touched. He believed in giving and giving without feeling of being a giver. This was his hallmark; these are the values that we hope that our children and their children of this nation and of this world are able to carry forward. This institute is a torch bearer in this direction. We are privileged to be part of this togetherness to take this forward,” she said.

She concluded with a powerful couplet: ख़ुदी को कर बुलंद इतना कि हर तक़दीर से पहले ख़ुदा बंदे से ख़ुद पूछे बता तेरी रज़ा क्या हैI. (Value your self-respect so much that even God will give you according to your wish).

Speaking at the event Swami Shantatmananda, secretary, Ramakrishna Mission, Gurugram, said it is a touching moment for us and we wanted to show in our gratitude and indebtedness of Sushmaji and her entire family for their noble support. “Our institute is 135 years old. None of our initiatives have failed from the time Swami Vivekananda started this mission in 1897. This is due to God’s grace. After the COVID-19 pandemic we have been able to put up this institute in commemoration of Swamiji’s ideas. Sushmaji came to us at the right time and we were able to move ahead,” he said.

We wanted to reach out to the people in a more structured manner – to the entire country. “On Swamiji’s 150th Birth Anniversary, we decided to dedicate this programme to the entire country in the reconstruction of India. What we wanted to achieve was to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor,” Swami Shantatmananda said and recounting a story that he uses liberally in his satsangs, he said that at the centre of everything is the human being. 

“Swamijii said that if the nation has to be transformed, we need education. And what kind of education? Character building and man-making education. We wanted to devise a programme which could bring out the hidden talent of the students. Hence, the Awakened Citizenship programme was born. We need awakened citizens who can own their actions; we want citizens who can make responsible choices. This programme is structured in such a way that students can learn not just through teachers but peer learning as well and these can lead to citizenship values as they grow up,” Swami Shantatmananda added. 

Dr Balaram, Chief Coordinator, Value Education Programs at Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Institute of Values, Gurugram enumerated the programmes that the institute run including one for the young learners. She talked about the decade-long journey and how the programmes finally got their shape. 

The programme ended with Mrs Berlia felicitating Swami Shantatmananda with a shawl and a plant and a vote of thanks by the resource person at VIVA Ashmita Sunanda Ganguly. She said that Mrs Berlia is a true partner in their endeavour of nation-building and an inspiring role model of all of them. 

“It was on her birthday on November 2 that VIVA was inaugurated. Thank you ma’am for sharing the inspiring life of Dr Stya Paul. Mr Nishant Berlia, Mr Aditya Berla, and Dr Neha Berlia along with Mrs Berlia, are our pillars of support. We thank all of them for joining us to have been part of this historic moment of collaboration. A special thanks to the great grandchildren of Dr Stya Paul — Rivan, Himav, Vivika and Viana who are true to the legacy of partnering with us to usher in a new era of hope,” she concluded.