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Vijaya Pushkarna
Vijaya Pushkarna

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Awakening the inner spirit

80-Bodhatmananda Showing the way: Bodhatmananda says people abroad have found value in what Indian scriptures have to offer | Arvind Jain

Through more than 300 centres worldwide, Chinmaya Mission conducts spiritual discourses, feeds the hungry and tends to the underprivileged

Since September 11th, all the more we have asked,

Why is our planet in crisis in spite of all that we have amassed?

Almighty Lord, tell us, please tell us

The secret to happiness and peace within us.”

Thus begins a poem titled A Journey into the Fragrant Mind: The Fragrant World, by Vandana Bapna, at the Chinmaya Mission’s Washington Regional Centre. Dedicated to the acharyas, it was part of the centenary celebrations of Swami Chinmayananda. Clearly, 9/11 shook people, and took many to Indian spirituality, for answers. Specifically to Vedanta, which is what the mission imparts lessons in.

Come August, a young Chinese girl will be among those pursuing Vedantic studies at the Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai. A few years ago, there was a Russian. There was a Nigerian in 2002-2004, when Swami Bodhatmananda, the present acharya of the Vedanta course, himself attended the rigorous two-year programme. Almost every batch has about ten foreigners who come in with just one goal, to study Vedanta, which is the gist of the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Bhagawad Gita.

Marcia from Brazil had heard about the Gita from her mother and once while in Delhi, she saw a poster of a Gita discourse at the Chinmaya Mission. She went in and was blown away by Swami Nikhilananda’s discourse. Marcia went back to Brazil, only to return to study Vedanta. Although she struggled to learn English and Sanskrit, she is now Brahmacharini Sita, wholly immersed in the activities of the Chinmaya Mission in South America.

Swamini Umananda, from Paris, is in charge of the mission’s activities there. She had visited India before she joined the mission in 1990-91. Swamini Shivapriyanka from Poland manages the mission’s activities in Toronto. Genny Ayers aka Arpita Ayers is now Swamini Radhikananda, and runs the centre in Florida.

When Swami Chinmayananda started his international tours, it attracted a large number of people who wanted to be part of his ‘gyan yagna’—a spiritual discourse to learn answers to questions like ‘who am I’ and ‘what is my identity’ and to learn through this understanding how one should deal with problems in life. People were mesmerised, and as word spread, study groups were formed, Bal Vihars were started to instil values in children and Yuva Kendras for the youth. People got immersed in discourses by acharyas who travelled from India to supplement teachings by resident acharyas abroad. Now there are over 300 centres worldwide.

Whether it is in New Jersey, Boston, London, Paris or Sydney, the Chinmaya Mission reaches out to communities in need—be it feeding the hungry or tending to the underprivileged. The mission conducts spiritual discourses, classes for children, music sessions, Vedic chanting, recitation of verses from the Gita and pujas and celebrations of everything that is part of Indian culture.

In a school in Trinidad, 700 children in unison recite the 15th chapter of the Gita, which is the essence of the Vedas. The Chinmaya Vidyalaya seems to bursting at the seams. And managing the mission is Swami Prakashananda, whose family from India landed there generations ago. In Durban, Swami Abhedananda conducts classes in Vedanta. Getting admitted to the course takes a lot of commitment and dedication. Yet, many young people make the effort.

At any time, about 50 acharyas are in these overseas centres, engaging with people in interactive sessions on Vedanta.

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