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'Youthopia' - Workshop
“YOUTHOPIA” – one day residential youth workshop at chinmaya mission Delhi gave a unique experience to the participants. It had the right mixture of learning and fun.
It started with the first session on meditation by Swamiji. Swamiji started by explaining the theory and principles of meditation. The principle was to understand that “We are not what we can control”, just like a dog, if we can control the dog that means we are not the dog. Our body is gross which can be controlled by the subtle mind and mind can be controlled by the subtler intellect. The capability of the intellect is to discriminate and take decision. For this intellect needs knowledge. Right knowledge is the key to control both mind and body. Meditative state is the state where mind is kept steady, with right knowledge for as long as we want. After this we had a meditation session.
Now the fun started, two teams were created and the first team was asked to prepare dinner while the second team played badminton. After the wonderful dinner prepared and served by the first team, it was movie time. We watched the movie “Peaceful Warrior”.
The next day started with the chanting of Gayatri Mantra. Swamiji taught the vedic way of chanting the mantra.then everyone participated in the gayatri havan, which was followed by breakfast.
In the second session on meditation swamiji explained the challenges of living and how to overcome them. Swamiji explained that challenges are at body level, mind level and at intellect level. Physical challenges can be solved by having right food, exercise and rest.
Mental challenges are difficult as they are subtle. One of the challenges is to maintain balance in difficult situations and the solution is to grow above the situation. Sometimes mind gets stuck up with objects or people. We have to understand that object or people are not the source of happiness, it is our own Self. Memory is a big challenge for all and the solution is to give our mind new things to do regularly.
Intellectually, the challenge is praise and insults. People need constant praise to do their work. Praise is required for people who are not self-inspired. We need to find that which inspires us and that will lead us to the purpose of our life.
Now, it was the second team’s turn to prepare lunch. And the first team played badminton. After a wonderful lunch there was group discussion on the main learnings from the movie. Workshop concluded with the presentation from both the teams.
Thank you Swamiji for forgiving us an unique experience of learning and fun.
