October 2016 Meeting

In this month’s meeting we explored the spiritual and scientific aspects of death, following on from last month's meeting. We continued by discussing and debating the myriad of ideas regarding what happens after death. Much of the youth believed in the concept of reincarnation, where it is accepted that your previous life determines what you will be   reborn into. An interesting perception that was raised was the idea that the body is merely a “vessel” for the soul, and the experiences that occur in our lives are steps in shaping it. Therefore, the soul remains unchanged and enters a new body as the exterior is spiritually insignificant.

The cycle of reincarnation

We also had debates on eternal life which consisted of a mixture of views. The topic of death is very much overlooked and was therefore interesting to hear everyone’s opinions especially from a diverse cohort, with a range of different ages. 

During this meeting, we also cut a beautifully crafted cake to celebrate Swami’s birthday which was made by one of our youth wing members.

Swami's birthday cake

September 2016 Meeting

After summer we were all ready and refreshed to come back to the youth wing for our September meeting and looked forward to meeting our fellow youth members and welcoming back our youth wing coordinators Ghaya and Tom.  

Our session this month focused on a topic that is often very difficult to grapple with, life after death. There are many different perspectives of what happens after death. Although there is uncertainty as to what happens after death, we felt it was a crucial topic which should be explored and we should not be fearful of discussing it. 

We expressed our ideas on what exists after life using diagrams and drawings. Each individual’s thoughts differed with ideas ranging from traditional concepts of heaven and hell, to blank pieces of paper illustrating there is nothing after life. A number of ice breakers were involved to lighten the atmosphere and to recharge our energy as discussing life after death can be mentally challenging. 

The session ended with an eye opener; entailing the tragedy of Dr Paul Kalanithi, a neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and sadly, passed away.We watched a short video discussing his book, ‘When Breath Becomes Air’, which he wrote after his diagnosis. The book reflects on his transition from a doctor to a patient and shares his ideas on life including the idea that life was not about avoiding suffering. Today, most people do all they can to avoid hardship however sometimes we need to suffer as the lessons we learn from suffering are often the best lessons in life. Dr Kalanithi’s story was tragic, but his perspective on mortality and the meaning of life is unique and thought provoking.

A quote from the book "When breath becomes air"

Tough Mudder - Completed

On Sunday 25^th September 2016, seven of us participated in the London South Tough Mudder. This 12 mile mud and obstacle course was an incredible experience where we were faced with 22 challenging obstacles.The obstacles varied from running, pushing and pulling our way through 60ft of heavy rotating barriers to sprinting through a field of electric wires delivering 10,000 volts. As well as demonstrating our physical strength, a number of these obstacles tested our team work and mental grit.

Members of the youth wing after completing Mud Mile 2.0

We each found certain obstacles harder to complete than others. As a team, we were able to give each other a helping hand and confidence boost when we faced our biggest fears. For some of us, crawling and pushing our way through a very small space whilst 100lbs of water rested on our backs was physically challenging as well as mentally draining. For others, sliding through 10 tonnes of ice was by far the most unbearable obstacle. The encouragement from the rest of the team and our fellow tough mudders was what motivated each of us to complete the obstacles and step out of our comfort zone.

3 of the participants during the obstacle course

We are grateful and proud to have successfully completed one of the world’s toughest obstacle courses. Most importantly, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have helped us along the way and to those of you have donated to such worthy causes. We have raised over a staggering £2850 for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and Om Sharavanabhava Seva Trust.

Two participants running through the Electroshock Therapy obstacle

A youth member reacting to an electric shock

Please see below for what each member of the team had to say about Tough Mudder.

“The toughest mental challenge I’ve ever faced and a real test of teamwork.”

(Dhaarica Jeyanesan)

“Team work makes the dream work!”

(Sachin Sooriyakumar)

“There’s no way we could have done this without each other!”

(Anchali Muraleetharan)

“One of the biggest challenges faced so far! But we got through it as a team.”

(Vidushan Jeyanesan)

“It was definitely challenging but every second was worth it.”

(Sagana Selvalingam)

“It doesn’t matter how long it takes to get there, as long as you get there!”

(Banuja Srikantha)

“The toughest physical challenge but the most worthwhile!”

(Vidhya Sasitharan)

The team after completing the course

Tough Mudder

A group of older youth wing members have decided to participate in Tough Mudder on the 25^th of September to raise money for both Swami’s charity and Great Ormond Street Hospital’s charity. Tough Mudder is a 12 mile mud obstacle course. This obstacle course will test our determination and our mental and physical strength with a range of activities. There will be more than 14 obstacles including swimming through a stretch ice, running through electric wires and climbing up a 15 foot pipeline.

Arctic Enema Obstacle

Rain Man Obstacle

This will involve a huge amount of physical training in the lead up to the event.  As well as a physical challenge, this will be a mental challenge and Swami has always stated to us all that with mental strength and self-belief we can accomplish anything that we want to. We aim to complete the course with this mentality.

Electroshock Therapy Obstacle

Mud Mile Obstacle

We will update the blog once we have completed the event.

Everest Obstacle

Birth Canal Obstacle

Blockness Monster Obstacle

Being vegetarian!

This is the journey of one of our youth member's becoming a vegetarian.

At the beginning of January 2016, I made a sudden decision to challenge myself to be a vegetarian. Being a meat-eater I knew I would find this challenge exceedingly difficult. However, being aware of the benefits to be a vegetarian encouraged my thought and was the basis of my sudden change in diet.

Week 1

This was definitely by far the hardest week, I was struggling with my choices of dishes at home and at school as there was limited availability of vegetarian dishes. Also, I found it tedious as I was extremely cautious about what I was consuming, but somehow I managed to remain vegetarian.

Week 2

This week was much better as being vegetarian turned out to be like my normal routine. This week I recognised some changes about me. First of all, it helped me with my revision, as my concentration span had increased and for the first time I actually stood by my revision timetable for that week, which was great!

Week 3

By this week eating vegetarian dishes were like second nature, but I still had to be very cautious on what I was eating. I noticed further changes about myself, but I wasn’t the only one, the people around me had identified changes about me too. Firstly, I recognised my urge for fitness had increased and my mind was more alert. I was a calmer and a more collected person and composed myself better than I ever did.

Overall, it was a challenging but rewarding experience. It was surprised by how much my diet influenced my mindset and how soon I become accustomed to being a vegetarian. I would definitely recommend being a vegetarian for a few days a week, even if it difficult to be a complete vegetarian. 

A quote from Swami

The Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita (“Gita”) is a Hindu scripture encompassing powerful spiritual messages. The concept of dharma, bhakti and the yogic ideals of moksha are reiterated throughout the Gita.

Whilst Prince Arjuna’s duty asa warrior was to fight the righteous war between the Pandavas and Kauravas, Lord Krishna is his charioteer and spiritual guidehelping him to fulfil his dharma. He supported Prince Arjunaby providing him with divine knowledge on the battlefield. 

Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna

One significant principle Lord Krishna expressed to Prince Arjuna was, “No one should abandon their duties because he sees defects in them. Every action, every activity, is surrounded by defects as a fire is surrounded by smoke.” As humans, we often aim for perfection and expect life to be one easy ride. When we face challenges or obstacles, we struggle to think of the different ways we can overcome them. We fail to realise that every act may have positive and negative outcomes or the outcome may not even be clear during the early stages. For example, a doctor may fear to treat a patient if, during the process the patient may experience severe pain or if there is a low success rate. If doctors neglect their duty to provide medical care, doctors will not be pursuing their own dharma. Each and every individual has a different purpose and duty to fulfil. There may be doubts and challenging situations to face on the way. However, it is imperative to embrace your duties and accept that every act and result is likely to have consequences, which we must be able to handle with a positive outlook in order to move forward.

Lord Krishna also told Prince Arjuna, “All work fetters, as all fire gives smoke. Only selfless duty saves. Surrender all deeds to me. All problems will be solved by my grace. Pride will lead only to your moral ruin.” The part of this quote which caught my eye the most was ‘only selfless duty saves’. As a Youth Wing, we have tried to demonstrate selfless duty in many different ways i.e. volunteering in the community. As humans we should seek to help others without expecting something in return. Small examples of this in day to day life include giving up your seat for others or donating clothes to charity. Furthermore, we should not allow pride to ‘ruin us’. Although pride may be considered as a positive emotion which helps individuals work harder to achieve greater success, it can turn into something abhorrent. Therefore we should keep our self-esteems limited.

The Bhagavad Gita book

Coping with stress

With the exam season in full flow, it can be easy to get sucked into revision, hard work and trying to achieve your goals. However, this can lead to us feeling stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted. 

In the run up to exams, it’s important to stay calm and take some time out to do things that you enjoy. For example, you could join a club in order to interact with other people, do some exercise and there are even colouring books for adults that help with relaxation. It’s also important that you get a good amount of sleep each night and eat clean so that you are well-rested and energised for efficient revision! 

High levels of stress can cause illness, tiredness as well as affecting your mental well-being. This can therefore affect you performance at work, university, college or school which could affect your future greatly. For instance, if you have upcoming exams but became severely ill due to stress, your ability to do the exams will fall and cause you to get lower grades than expected. This can therefore affect your future and so it is better to reduce your stress in the first place. Also, being stressed can cause you to become less social , as you will always be thinking about  what you are stressed about, which can affect your relationships with friends and family. For example, you may rather spend time doing work than spending time with friends, which could cause your relationships with people to suffer. 

Overall, rather than causing further problems by being stressed it is better to solve the problem before it becomes worse by following some of the solutions stated above.

Taking some time out will not only help you relax and perform better in your exams, but will also help you reflect and gain some perspective on your experience with exams. We are all extremely lucky to have an education and, therefore, we should make the most of this opportunity and enjoy it! 

Colouring book

Healthy lifestyle

Parents

Without our parents, none of us would be here today. Many young people of today’s generation take their parents for granted, for example they often find them embarrassing and controlling. However, they don’t realise how much their parents do for them.

When you fall over as a child, who helps you up stand on your feet again? At this moment, the parent rushes over to help their child, and cares for them affectionately. The child in return shows unconditional love for their parent. However, imagine the same situation with a teenager with their friends, they wouldn’t want their parents fussing over them as they struggle, as they would see this as an embarrassment.

Swami can be seen as a mother figure, a father figure or in any form you want to see him as. He shows unconditional love to everyone whoever they are and cares for them as a parent does for their child. Swami has stated in his speeches the importance of our parents. “Take into consideration the amount of suffering our parents have been through for you to be where you are currently. Therefore you must make them feel proud of your life”. Our parents do so much for us and we don’t even realise how their unconditional love is so significant.

This picture shows the love Swami has for his devotees who he sees as his children

Before you turn your parents away from you, think about what they did and do for you to be who you are. Imagine if your parents weren’t by your side to pick you up from your downfalls, to keep you strong through your struggles and be there when it really matters.

New Year Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions, what are they? Why do people set them? Why do people commit to them? These are all questions that are important when you want to set a New Year’s resolution for yourself or help suggest a resolution for your friends. Picture yourself on January 1^st after making your New Year’s resolution thinking that you’ll start tomorrow or in “a few days”; do you really think that you’ll start in “a few days”? NO! Of course not. That is why you must ask yourself these questions so that you know why you have an aim and to remind yourself of the purpose you have given your resolution (thus finding out if you even want to set yourself a resolution).

When looking at what a resolution is I think we should acknowledge that New Year’s resolutions originated from Romans who made promises to the Roman God Janus (which is where the name of the month January is derived from. With the evolution of these resolutions in Roman times came New Year’s resolutions that knights in the medieval era made out of honour and now, what they are currently known for: making promises to oneself for the New Year.

People’s New Year’s resolutions vary from big to small changes in their life. The importance of setting a New Year’s resolution varies in every individual as some take it as a fresh start to the New Year however some may not think of it as an important factor. Some people argue against this, as they believe that if you want to set a goal you shouldn’t need to wait until New Year’s Day and should just form a part of your daily routine. Professor Richard Wiseman from the University of Hertfordshire stated that only one in 10 of us will reach our goals. This shows that New Year’s resolutions are not taken very seriously in comparison to setting a realistic goal on a normal day.

On the other hand, many would agree that setting new year’s resolution is beneficial as in reality majority of the population don’t set goals in the fear of failure. Therefore, a new year’s resolution is considered as a fun alternative which wouldn’t be seen as a failure if broken.

We wish everyone who are still persevering with their new year’s resolution the best of luck to reach success!

2016 Resolutions

New Year in Sreekrishnapuram

Earlier this year in January, Darshainee and I (two youth wing members) were fortunate enough to spend our New Year with Swami in Swami’s ashram in Sreekrishnapuram, Palakkad. Every year, my family go to India for Christmas and spend a few days with Swami. This year we were able to spend our first new year with Swami. It was both of our first new year away from home. Both of us found it to be a magical experience as well asbeing an opportunity to learn many important messages and lessons from Swami and participate in the several New Year programmes.

My family arrived at Palakkad on the 27^th December 2015, and Darshainee and her family arrived the day before .Shortly before we arrived, Swami had gone to Chennai to aid those who had suffered in the Chennai flood, where more than 300 people had been killed and the city was a state of devastation.

On our first day, we spent the day strolling around the ashram and relaxing with Swami’s dog, Appu. It was exciting to see the preparations taking place for the New Year Celebrations. The next day, we woke up early to go to Naga (snake) temple to attend the Naga Pooja, where Swami enlightened us on the importance of praying to Naga Devas (snake Gods) on a Saturday. During the pooja we were also joined by some little kittens who had also come to watch the Pooja. We were given manjal (turmeric powder) and coconut water as prasadam at the end of the pooja.

Shortly after, we moved to the Saraswathi Mandapam, where Swami gave his beautiful discourse and awaited darshan. Later in the evening, Swami took us to Mayiladumkunndrum, which is a temple that Swami is building in Calicut. It will be the next Palani, one of the six abodes of Lord Murugan. The view from the top of Ashram was astounding and we had lots of fun. Except from the fact, we ended up getting bitten by ants.

Below is Swami’s New Year message:

''We have a strong internal connection with every atom in this universe. The universe, the womb in which we are all placed, which leads us from old to the new (constant change). Due to this we can never say that we are alone in this universe. We are enriched with all the energy that is present in the bodies of our father and mother, from whom we obtained this body. When we turn inwards and perform worship to the divinity within, the inner light manifests. Then we truly realize everything, see everything.

Realizing what has to be realized, and worshipping with sincerity that which has to be realized, our life favours our resolve. When our life is in tune with our resolve, we get to realize that we have the Almighty's grace. It is not that His grace is absent, it cannot be created, it is only to be received/absorbed. We must not be dispassionate towards anything; our thoughts must be illumined such that we are able to see the divine effulgence within everything that exists. With cleansed words and actions, we must transcend from the old to the new.

We always say, 'forget the past!', and we find this very difficult. But we must erase what is to be forgotten and highlight that which has to be remembered. Isn't this process an inseparable part of our life? We must forget the detrimental memories and cherish the truly blissful ones. Reject that which is detrimental and receive that which is beneficial (for life to proceed). Isn't this the reason why this New year has come in search of us? The basis of our life; peace of mind, physical well-being, victory in all walks of life, world peace, love and brotherhood, are all the same. May all be blessed with true knowledge and goodness. Welcome to all children across the globe, to this New Year.

The New Year Celebrations continued until 4am, but everyone was still wide awake. To end the evening celebrations, we were given deepams (lanterns) to mark the New Year.  We hope next year we get blessed with the same experiences and spend another New Year with Swami. 

 

 

 

New Year celebrations underway

 

 

Youth Wing's 3rd Birthday

Om Sharavanabhava

Saturday 12^th December marked the last youth wing meeting of the year and the youth wing’s third birthday. In this session, we were joined by our Youth Co-ordinators Ghaya and Tom with their baby boy, who came back after maternity and paternity leave. They commended the strength of the youth wing and how independent we have become. They thanked our current Youth Co-ordinator Dhaarica for her continued hard work in running the youth wing. This was followed up by spiritual pass the parcel to reward our members and to welcome the newcomers to our youth wing. Each layer would consist of a spiritual question, which once answered correctly, would reveal a reward. We then did spiritual charades, allowing us to bond with the new youth members. After all the fun and games, we reflected on what the youth wing has achieved over the last year, looking at what we did well and what we can do differently next year.  We hope this 2016 is full of seva in the local community as well as the international community and as architects of our own destiny we hope to pursue our dharma. 

Two youth members playing spiritual charades

Youth members and youth coordinators enjoying themselves 

A game of spiritual pass-the-parcel