Author: rashmil

Mumbai

On February 24, 2019, Sri Aurobindo Society’s Mumbai branch organized an AuroYouth Camp held at The Studio, Fort. Twenty-three people between the age group of 18 to 30 years participated in the on-day camp conducted by Ms. Anahita Sanjana and her team comprising Tanushka Vaid, Ashumi Mehta, Jasmine Sampat, Dolly Desai and Kadambari Shah.

The session started with an introduction to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, with a brief description of their goal and work. Following this, various concepts about the mind, body and the purpose of yoga were explained – each with an accompanying activity for better understanding.

Starting with an exercise to control the mind, an art activity on converting our inner weaknesses into strengths and an exercise on gratitude were held.

Later, exercises of breathing, meditation and the techniques of Metta were demonstrated. These helped improve everyone’s concentration, calm the mind, and let go of past grievances. A few basic yoga postures were also shown.

Discussions were held on how to decide the Aim of Life; how to deal with various Emotions; and on how to attain Success in Work and in Relationships.  To conclude the day, everyone learnt the Mother’s chant ‘Anandamayi Chaitanyamayi Satyamayi Parame’ and were given copies of her guidance book Seeds of Light.

Feedback received from all the participants was very encouraging, and all the camp participants went home feeling energized and connected with their inner selves.

Varanasi

On February 24, 2019, Sri Aurobindo Society’s Varanasi branch organized an AuroYouth Camp held at Arya Mahila PG College (affiliated to B.H.U) in Chetganj, Varanasi, U.P.

Thirty-one students between the age group of 18 to 20 years from UG students of AMPGC participated in interactive sessions of the one-day Camp. This is the sixth AuroYouth Camp conducted by the AYE in this college with its B.Com first year students.

The following PPTs were shared at the Varanasi Camp:

1) Aim of Life, 2) Values for Success and 3) Introduction to Sri Aurobindo & the Mother

The session started with an introduction and welcome note. During the discussion on Aim of Life, the students’ individual aims underwent a review towards the end of the session and it became deeper in meaning and profundity. The level of participation by the students was very high; they were very receptive and open.

Guided meditation began following the ‘Aim of Life’ session. The participants appreciated it a lot; everyone felt that after the meditation, a different energy was noted in the room.

The session on ‘Values for Success’ was amazing and the most interesting. They learnt about the qualities required for success. Following lunch, with meditation music, the third session on introduction to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother began.

From the feedback of participating students, it was noted that they were all glad to be part of the Camp.

The following executive members of the branch conducted the camp: Dr. Swapna Bandopadhyay, Dr. Sunita Yadav, Dr. Deepika Baranwal, Dr. Bandana Balchandnani.

The second edition of Sri Aurobindo Society’s AuroYouth Camp was held on November 25, 2018, at The Studio, Fort in Mumbai, which saw the participation of around 32 people between the age group of 18 and 30 years. It was organized by the Mumbai branch of Sri Aurobindo Society and conducted by Ms. Anahita Sanjana and her team: Shailaja Munshi, Tanushka Vaid, Ashumi Mehta, Jasmine Sampat, Dolly Desai and Kadambari Shah.

The session started by introducing The Mother and Sri Aurobindo, with a brief description of their goal and work.

Then the 5 Koshas were explained – each with an accompanying activity for better understanding.

With the Manomaya Kosha, there was an exercise of realizing the futility of our mental judgments about people.

In the Pranamaya Kosha, an art activity was conducted on converting our inner weakness into strengths, which was followed by an exercise on gratitude.

In the Anamaya Kosha, we spoke about the importance of good sleep, food and exercise.

Then the Vigyanmaya Kosha and Anandamaya Koshas were discussed and an exercise of writing to our inner self was conducted.

An exercise of breathing, meditation and using the techniques of Metta were then shown.

Following this, the resource persons spoke on how to decide the Aim of Life, how to deal with various emotions and how to attain ‘Success in Work’ and ‘Success in Relationships’.

To conclude the day, the participants were taught The Mother’s chant and were given copies of her guidance book Seeds of Light

 

An AuroYouth one-day camp was organized by the Konnagar Branch of Sri Aurobindo Society on February 17, 2017 in which 22 young women participated. This camp was held on the auspicious day of foundation of the Branch. Konnagar being the ancestral place of Sri Aurobindo has its own charm, and the presence of the young students of Serampore Girls College (affiliated to the University of Calcutta) made the premises even more vibrant.

The programme began with the hoisting of the Mother’s flag by Shri Salil Kumar Banerjee, Secretary of Sri Aurobindo Society, Konnagar Branch. A collective pranayama exercise and meditation with music was conducted by Shri Kinkar Das, which was followed by an Introduction to the camp, conducted by the Smt Jayantika Basu, AuroYouth Director of West Bengal and Secretary of Sri Aurobindo Society West Bengal State Committee, wherein she introduced the speakers to the participants of the camp.

Thereafter a session on ‘Introduction to Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and Sri Aurobindo Society’ was taken up by Shri Sourav Chattoraj, AuroYouth Executive, followed by ‘Aim in Life’ session by Shri Kinkar Das, AuroYouth Executive. A session on ‘Inner Awareness’ was divided into three parts—‘Physical Being, Vital Being and Mental Being—and was discussed by Ashok Basak, Mithumita Bardhan (newly selected AuroYouth Executive at the ‘Train The Trainers’ Camp held at Pyradanga on September 9–11, 2016) and Sourav Chattoraj. Ashok Basak took up the ‘Physical Being’ while Mithumita Bardhan and Sourav Chattoraj discussed the ‘Vital Being’ and ‘Mental Being’ respectively.

The post-lunch session began with a participatory activity wherein the participants were divided into four groups and were shown a presentation on ‘Flowers and their Messages’, wherein 10 different flowers were shown and their spiritual significance was elaborated by Shri Sudhendu Shaha, Joint Secretary of Sri Aurobindo Society West Bengal State Committee. The students were then quizzed by Smt Jayantika Basu on the basis of the aforementioned presentation, followed by a feedback and question and answer session. The programme concluded with distribution of certificates to the participants and a photo session.