Dihika

Dihika
—  village  —
Dihika Location of Dihika in West Bengal and India
Coordinates	23°38′29″N 86°54′06″E
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District(s)	Barddhaman
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Website	bardhaman.gov.in/

Dihika (Bengali: ডিহিকা) is a village in Asansol subdivision of Bardhaman District, West Bengal, India.

History

It was made famous by Paramahansa Yogananda who had landed here way back in 1917 for setting up a "How-to-Live" school with only 7 students and a couple of teachers. The school, housed in a one-storey building on the brink of a small pond, was inaugurated on 22 March, 1917 with the financial assistance of Sri Manindra Chandra Nandi, the then Maharaja of Kashimbazar. However, the school was shifted to Ranchi in 1918.

In 1997, a piece of this land encompassing the pond was purchased by Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, the Spiritual Organization that Paramahansa Yogananda had founded in 1917. YSSI Dihika Kendra has been functioning from this place since then.

Dihika Ashram School, 1917

In 1920, Sri Yogananda was sent by his Guru Sri Yukteswar Giri to share with the West the philosophy of Yoga and its tradition of meditation. He was the first Hindu teacher of yoga to make his permanent home in America, living there from 1920—1952.

In 1973, J Donald Walters (aka Swami Kriyananda), who lived as a disciple with Sri Yogananda for three and a half years, elaborated the fundamentals of his Guru’s approach to education in his book Education for Life, a philosophy of holistic education that emphasizes experiential learning, spiritual development, and practical skills for living such as concentration, self-discipline, and compassion.

Education for Life Schools – also known as Living Wisdom Schools - state that they offer character development, strong academics, and development of moral strength.

After educating children in the US for nearly forty years, Swami Kriyananda has brought this system back to India and the first school is now up and running in Gurgaon, near Delhi. He has aptly named it "Dihika:Living Wisdom School", in honour of the place where it all started.

Geography

Dihika is located at 23°38′29″N 86°54′06″E.

This village is located on the north bank of Damodar River and is approximately 10 km away from the city of Asansol.

The Asansol-Durgapur region is composed of undulating latterite region. This area lies between two mighty rivers – the Damodar and the Ajay. They flow almost parallel to each other in the region – the average distance between the two rivers is around 30 km. For ages the area was heavily forested and infested with plunderers and marauders. The discovery of coal led to industrialisation of the area and most of the forests have been cleared.