Gitamritam- My Life My Passion

My Life My Passion is a session in Gitamritam where prominent people would come and share their life’s experiences with us. All of them are people who have worked towards their passion without surrendering themselves to adharma or any difficult stages in life. We could learn a lot about life and the world as such from their talks. This year’s speakers were:

Mr.Vineeth Narain (Journalist)

He is a crusader and the one who brought out the Hawala scam. He was a JNU student. He launched Kalchakra, the first Hindi-language video magazine. He consistently fought against the corrupt through all ups and downs of his life. In 1996 for the first time in Indian history, several Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers, Governors and  bureaucrats were charge-sheeted for corruption. He even fought against the Chief Justice of India and when he found out that even the chief justice was joining hands with the corrupt. No media supported him and even the people who he considered to be friends were not in a state to help him. He ignored threats and offers and fought for the truth. Later he met a mahatma who made him realize that when a person changes from within then the world outside him would change automatically. He became a Krishna Bhakthan and renovated many places in Brij that were left unnoticed. He holds on to his principles firmly and also taught his children the same. He believes in the ideology that if God wants to protect someone then no one can harm him and if God wants to harm someone then no one can protect him.

Gitamritam-2016

                                                 

I attended Gitamritam from June 1-8 and I must tell you that it was a few memorable days of my life. As the name suggests Gitamritam teaches us the concepts of Gita along with its practical applications. Those few days of learning has taught me that Gita is not only a book of conversations between Arjuna and Krishna but strategies to live a successful life with a balanced mind which is essential for each one of us.

Throughout those 8 days, we had to follow a strict timetable according to which we had to wake up by 4:30am and go to bed by 11:00pm. We had yoga sessions from 5:45a.m to 6:45a.m, My life My passion sessions from 9:00a.m to 11:00a.m, yoganidra from 11:15a.m to 11:45a.m, some fun activities from 1:30p.m to 3:30pm, swimming classes from 4pm to 5pm, bhajan from 6:45p.m to 7:15p.m, some discussions til 8:30p.m, Reflections sessions from 9:315p.m till 10:30p.m and we had three Gita classes 7:15am – 8:15a.m, 12:00pm – 1:00p.m, 5:30p.m – 6:30p.m. On the first day of the camp, our mobiles were taken from us but girls got a concession of using it for 10 mins to call our parents. But we could not find even 10 minutes to use our phones and none of us even had the time to think of phones as we were engaged with Gita classes, activities or thoughts about discussions that we would have had.

Gita classes conducted by Swami Dhyanamrita Chaitanya gave a new perspective on life. We understood what dharma and adharma are and how each one of us would come across Arjuna’s dilemma in the battlefield. At some point in time, all of us will have problems in decision making and how to fight our own battle of life and that is when the role of a guru plays. All of us will need a Guru who would help us understand the meaning of life, would lead us through a dharmic path and make us realize our karma. We also understood how hard it is for us to get adapted to the changes that happen in this world may it be to the people whom we love or any other things. We learnt that change is inevitable and only by accepting it and moving on with a balanced mind would help us to lead a happy and peaceful life.