The Class of 2022 graduation ceremony at Chinmaya Vishwa Vidyapeeth began with lighting of the inaugural lamp by the Honourable Chancellor Swami Swaroopananda, followed by Vice Chancellor Prof. Ajay Kapoor, Managing Trustee Dr. Apparao Mukkamala and other honourable dignitaries addressing the outgoing students. We congratulate our gold medallist for the batch, Sugandhi Agnihotri, a student of the postgraduate diploma in Advaita Vedanta. This was an event filled with dance, music, hope, joy and memories.

We are proud of the Class of 2022, and cannot wait to see their future accomplishments.

Under the guidance of Swami Sivayogananda, Chinmaya Mission Madurai celebrated Navaratri in a grand manner from 26 September to 5 October 2022 (10 days).

Chinmaya Devi Group, Madurai, arranged a divine and a colourful Golu that displayed all the deities which added to the festive spirit. Members of the Devi Group invoked the Divine Mother by performing Lalitha Sahasranama Puja in the early hours every day, during the festival. The evening hours were filled with concerts by renowned artists and spiritual discourses by famous speakers from Madurai and Chennai.

The festive evenings began with Mridangam and vocal concerts followed by Bharatanatyam recitals, which was enjoyed by the audience. The spiritual discourse on “Dum Durgaya Namaha”, by Isaikkavi Shri.Ramanan from Chennai, took the devotees to a higher plane of Bhakti for Goddess Durga. The talk on Meenakshi Amman Kalivenba (Tamil text), by Dr. S. Girija, added value to the festival.

Many children participated gracefully in the Bharatanatyam recitals by three dance schools and parents thronged the venue to enjoy the expressive dance concerts. The musical evenings ended with a fitting vocal finale offered to Devi Maa by members of Chinmaya Yuva Kendra. Devi group members participated in the Narayaneeyam Parayana and Thirupugazh recital during Navaratri festival at Chinmaya Meenakshi. The dedicated Chinmaya Yuva Kendra were instrumental in the live YouTube streaming of all the programmes.

On Saraswati Puja day, Swami Sivayogananda performed special Puja followed by Arati and Bhajans. Aksharabhyasam (Vidyarambam) on Vijayadashami Day was initiated by Swami Sivayogananda to the tiny tots who gathered with their parents.

The Navaratri festival was covered by the famous news daily, Dinamalar. The artists were honoured by Chinmaya Mission Madurai, and certificates and gifts were also distributed to the children who participated in the Navaratri festival. Prasad was distributed on all the ten days during the festival.

Under the guidance of Swami Sivayogananda, Chinmaya Devi Group organized and coordinated the festival with great devotion and dedication.

Agus Indra Udayana from Indonesia visited Chinmaya Mission Sikkim on 10 September 2022 as part of the Indo-Indonesian Sangam Vedic Cultural Exchange and Tourism promotion. The visit was covered in Sikkim Express.

Chinmaya Yuva Kendra (CHYK) and Chinmaya Setukari (CSK) members gathered from 12 August to 14 August 2022, for a retreat hosted by Chinmaya Mission Boston. Over 30 participants came together, traveling from the local region and out of town, to spend the weekend at Chinmaya Maruti located in Andover, MA. With loving guidance from Shri Vivek Gupta, Shri Shankar and Smt Shashikala – greater Boston’s resident teacher – the retreat consisted of daily discourses and opportunities to integrate learnings through activities ranging from quiet reflection, gardening, skits, a cooking challenge and outdoor sports.

The retreat’s theme “Coming to Unity” lived up to its name in all ways! Participants spanned a wide range of ages – late teens to 40s – bringing a unique mix of perspectives and a familial feeling to the retreat. Our retreat guides delivered inspiring discourses on developing a higher vision of love. Participants further reflected on the teachings through discussion groups, which were uniquely set up based on an entry prompt of “What would you like to ‘drop’ and ‘keep’ to support your self-development?”.

Participants served at a local community garden, helping with weeding and harvesting produce that is donated to food pantries in the New England region. In an effort to support the environment, all meals were served on reusable dishware, often prepared by retreat participants, and the whole group practiced composting food scraps. Taking turns serving meals and cleaning up reinforced the spirit of community and caring for one another.

Sapna Rao