Our main mission is to give knowledge:Swami Shrikarananda

Swami Shrikarananda who became a Swami from a Brahmachari tells us about Dharm, Knowledge, Sadhna, Moksha and shares with us the glimpses of Chinmaya Mission through his divine experience in a conversation with Indus Age. Read on to feel enlightened:

You have now been initiated to be a Swami from a Brahmachari and Sydney will be greatly benefited. What does this elevation mean to you?

For me this elevation or the evolution as I would call it is to recognize and remind me of my goal.  The goal of a Sannyasi is to realize the truth with the conviction that Lord and Guru will take care of all other needs so that I can single-pointedly pursue my goal of achieving Moksha. Sannyas is given when the Guru knows that you’re ready. As a Brahmachari , we have  been practicing that but now the Guru says that you are ready to take the final step in this journey.This is a strong reminder of where I am,  what I have achieved so far and what I need to do for the rest of the journey. So whatever I do should be in line with the goal of achieving Moksha. By the special grace of Lord and Guru, so, when my Guru asks are you ready, I say you believe that I am ready then who am I to question. So the idea is that we all must strive.

What can Sydney community look forward to from ‘Swami Shrikarananda’?

The service that I have been doing as a Brahmachari to the Guru and the community intensifies with Sannyas and with that comes the conviction that this Sadhana that leads to moksha benefits the  society even more. We see when our Swamiji visits Sydney, people tend to gravitate towards him just like bees to the honey as everybody wants to get the honey of knowledge from the Guru!  As Sadhana increases and intensifies and aligned with worship of the Lord and the Guru, the society will also benefit from this knowledge and devotion.

I have read that Chinmaya Mission assists in changing the quality of people’s life. How can the Sydney Community engage with Chinmaya Mission Sydney to benefit.

Chinmaya Mission is a worldwide organization. Swami Chinmayananda saw that there are different types of people. Not everybody is knowledge oriented so he looked at different types of people and the Chinmaya Mission acknowledges this with temples, Seva activities and also Yoga. However, our main mission is to give knowledge. Because unless you know why you do what you do, you will never do it with hundred percent conviction and enthusiasm. Hence, we feel that all types of people can benefit from attending our classes and encourage them to do so.

How will the community be helped?

Attending the classes will help individuals become their best self and with the knowledge and activities provided by the Chinmaya Mission, the benefits will reach the larger community.

How can the community help the Chinmaya Mission?

The Vedanta (Self) knowledge, the devotion to the Lord and Service to society, Opportunities you get through our classes and activities enable you to remove your misunderstandings, tune your mind and intellect enabling you to perform to the best of your potential and have a positive energy when you deal in the

world outside and it will take you closer and closer to your Real nature which is permanent existence, consciousness, infinite permanent bliss (Sat-Chit-Ananda). This is the purpose of all of our lives, to re-discover our Real nature. The closer we get, the less selfish and more selfless we become, lesser the troubles we create for the world and lesser the world will trouble us. Peace and Happiness will prevail as we progress in our Quest…Observing your changes, others will get inspired to change themselves.Then you can encourage others to join the classes to gain this knowledge. So Chinmaya Mission tries to get this knowledge out to people at the grass root level. Knowledge for the littlest to the oldest. In Sydney, we have classes starting from for 0-2year olds which means that the child is inculcating concepts of values and faith from the time he/she is born! , Classes for Pre-kindy (Age 2-4), Grade K – 6 enable the children to learn about their culture and values. Teenagers from Grade 7 to 12 learn about how to deal with the issues they have with their own development as well as how to deal with the world around them , finding more depth in their thinking and actions and enabling them to become confident individuals making a positive contribution to society. Separate classes for the youth (aged 18-30years), adults and retired individuals are also provided. Gurudev had developed these special programs for all age groups. Knowledge for everyone. Practises for everyone. Knowledge for all. I urge the community to take the opportunity to learn and benefit from these classes and activities.  (To be continued….)

(Interviewed by Rajesh Sharma and transcription by Nidhi Kumari from Indus Age.  Special credit to Jagadish Sury and Priya Shah).