• Table of Contents
  • Kalyana Mitra Lecture #1 by Swami Veda Bharati
  • Svadhyaya by Swami Rama
  • Cultural Activities by SRSG Children by Chandramani
  • Yoga and Science Retreat by Rajah Indran
  • TTP Students' Sangha by Beatrix Dekkers and Jim Fraser
  • The Hazel Diaries V by Roxanne Currie
  • A Labour of Love by Michael Smith
  • Musing by Jyoti Gerlitz
  • The Gifts of Silence by Aditi M Gaur
  • Gayatri Marx, a Dear Friend Moves On by Randall Krause
  • Go-Shala at SRSG Campus by Swami Veda Bharati
  • 2014 Events and Beyond
  • Full Moon Meditation Dates
  • Location of our SRSG ashram
• AHYMSIN Newsletter Archive

Cultural Activities by SRSG Children

by Chandramani

The Kalyana Mitra event was held mainly for giving the structured guidance for mantra initiates within the tradition. The topic, Kalyana Mitra, was interestingly motivating. Having a friend in life is the most beautiful gift that you can ever have, but even better is when you have that friend as your Kalyana-mitra, a spiritual counselor, like Lord Krishna to Arjuna. From way back, Kapila, the first Indian philosopher and the founder of Sankhya philosophy, became Kalyana-mitra to his beloved mother, Deva-hūti.

For a sādhaka, a spiritual seeker, a Kalyana-mitra is not less than a siddhi, a yogic accomplishment. Sankhya philosophy introduces an estimable conception of Kalyana-mitra. It mentions eight kinds of yogic accomplishment. One of them is Suhŗt-prāpti, accomplishment of a good hearted one or the spiritual counselor. The other name for Suhŗt-prāpti is Ramyakam which means charming, beautiful or full of love. Association of a charming and beautiful friend is desirable to everyone, so it is called Ramyakam as in case of Krishna and Arjuna, and Deva-hūti and her son Kapila.

The evening, when children performed their program, was precious because so far whatever teaching was imparted it was from their adults, but that night we all felt proud to have the children as our Kalyana-mitras. They taught us with charm and beauty, so they were Ramyakam.

Having said about a Kalyana-mitra, let me begin to focus on the performance of the children. As you know, the Indian culture finds its profound roots in religious thoughts, and Indian religion is a part of Indian philosophy. India’s culture exposes a longing for the Unspeakable. This cultural tradition is a major factor to be acquainted with the spirituality imbibed in the Indian tradition of music: vocal and instrumental and dance.

In such a short time, the ashram children had been able to perform so satisfactorily that everyone was amazed to see them. I personally was a little lucky to be there as the children chose me to host their program. These children participated in the program:

• Sakshi and Sunakshi, daughters of Mr. Tajvir and Mrs. Sunita
• Aditi and Udayana, respectively daughter and son of Mr. Surendra and Mrs. Mamta
• Kirti, daughter of Mr. Balavir and Mrs. Veena
• Shaunaka, son of Mr. Harshananda and Mrs. Kusum
• Puja and Ganesha, respectively daughter and son of Mr. Pramod and Mrs. Sona
• Emitai and Bindu, sons of Mr. David and Mrs. Nuria

There was dancing, singing, and a bit of laughter. Almost all the children, as you see in the list above, participated in different activities. There were some individual and group performances which brought variety to the program. The audience appreciated Aditi and Puja with their classical dance movements while performing a classical song Paga-pādam. Sakshi was appreciated for her bollywood dance movement.

Above all the most loved and appreciated performance was the Panjabi dance. The audience even wanted to have it performed again, but due to time limitations it was not possible. Emitai played harmonium, and his brother Bindu participated in a group song.

Overall it was fantastic!!!

I hope this gave you a little sense how much I personally enjoyed it. I wish we ashramites had seen the ashram children performing and been proud of them.