27/08/2026
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“Samaapan Satra”: The Last Chapter of a Life, the Beginning of an Endless Legacy
A Son of Arunachal in Spirit …
Shraddhanjali to Mananeeya Balakrishnan Ji
The man who walked the difficult trails of Arunachal Pradesh in the 1970s, carrying the vision of Swami Vivekananda and Eknath Ji Ranade into some of the remotest corners of the Northeast; the man who helped lay the foundations of the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya movement in Arunachal Pradesh; the man who devoted more than five decades of his life to Man-Making and Nation-Building - Mananeeya A. Balakrishnan Ji, President of Vivekananda Kendra Kanyakumari, has left his mortal body and journeyed into the eternal.
Balakrishnan Ji’s bond with Arunachal was not merely organisational. It was emotional, intimate and deeply rooted. He came to the Northeast as a young Jeevanvrati in the early 1970s and remained connected with Arunachal throughout his life. Vivekananda Kendra records that his first posting was as Zonal Organiser of the Northeast and that he continued to serve in various capacities in Arunachal Pradesh until 1981.
Those were not easy years. Arunachal was a vastly different land then - remote mountains, difficult roads, rivers and scattered settlements. Yet Balakrishnan Ji and his fellow Karyakartas went where few others ventured. The residential Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya movement began in Arunachal in 1977, eventually growing into one of the most remarkable educational initiatives in the Northeast.
For Balakrishnan Ji, Arunachal was never just a place where he had once worked. It became a part of his very being. The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi Ji, in his condolence, aptly recalled that Balakrishnan Ji devoted more than five decades to the ideals of Swami Vivekananda and the service of society, and specifically noted his “particularly deep association with the Northeast” and his important role in educational, social and nation-building activities.
I have personally witnessed how his face would light up and his voice would become animated at even the slightest mention of Arunachal Pradesh. Memories of its mountains, its people, its children and those early days of Kendra work seemed to remain permanently alive within him. Even in his final days, the mention of Arunachal could evoke that familiar warmth and enthusiasm.
Perhaps this was because he had not merely built institutions there, he had invested the robust youth part of his own life in the soil of Arunachal. His life embodied the vision of Eknath Ji Ranade: that the remote borderlands of Bharat should not remain neglected, and that education must become an instrument of character-building, cultural rootedness and national integration. The Kendra’s work expanded from Arunachal into Assam, Nagaland and other parts of the region, combining education with rural development, health, culture and service. His contribution was recognised by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh with a State Award in 2014 for his exemplary service to educational upliftment.
I have been blessed to spend many inspiring moments with Balakrishnan Ji. His words, his simplicity, his discipline and, above all, his complete identification with the work left a deep impression.
He held some of the highest responsibilities in Vivekananda Kendra, like, General Secretary for two decades, Vice-President for nearly two decades and finally President from 2020. Yet there was never an air of position around him. He remained, at heart, a simple Jeevanvrati Karyakarta devoted to the work entrusted to him. That simplicity was perhaps the greatest strength of this “Tapasvee” Karyakarta.
The generations of students shaped by the Kendra’s educational movement will remain a living tribute to his life’s work. May we have the strength to carry forward your unfinished dreams for Arunachal Pradesh, the Northeast and Bharat as a whole.
Vinamra Shraddhanjali, Mananeeya Balakrishnan Ji.
ॐ शान्तिः। शान्तिः। शान्तिः।
