15000 people virtually participated in Heartfulness Institute
Gita Jayanti celebrations
Heartfulness Institute continues to revive the highly beneficial traditional values-based learning
system to enhance overall development by providing another platform to seekers to participate
and benefit
12 Dec 2021: Heartfulness Institute as a part of its ongoing initiative to revive the highly beneficial
traditional values & ancient wisdom, hosted Gita Jayanti celebrations on its virtual platform. Almost
15000 people from across the country coming from different walks of life participated in the virtual
recital of Gitopdesh and ‘Tales from the Vedas and Upanishads’ book launch. Shri Pavan K Varma, IFS,
Author-Diplomat & Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) graced the occasion with his valuable
thoughts on Gita Jayanti. The event received huge participation from various quarters across the whole
country.
Gita Jayanti is the day when Lord Krishna delivered his divine discourse to Arjuna on the auspicious day
of shukla paksha ekadasi of the Hindu month of Margashira. As the term ‘Gita’ suggests, the song of
God was transmitted by Lord Krishna into the heart of Arjuna this very day. As discovered by founder of
Heartfulness, Shri Ram Chandra ji of Shahjahanpur also known as Babuji, The Lord Himself spoke 6-10
verses while the rest of the 690 slokas were transmitted using yogic Pranahuti. The transmitted verses
were recorded by Sage Veda Vyasa as slokas in 18 chapters.
The Gita is just as relevant today across all age groups as it
was when Arjuna required motivation to fight to keep up
‘Dharma’. In a world that is more and more digitally
driven, and children have better comforts and luxuries
than their previous generations, imparting the knowledge
of The Gita has become mandatory to train children to
tread the path of righteousness. To further this cause,
Daaji also launched his book ‘Tales from the Vedas and
Upanishads’ as part of the event wherein his keen
curatorial selection brings an array of ancient tales of
adventure, quests and wisdom.
Daaji engages with the narratives and simplifies the
ancient wisdom to make it understandable and at the
same time feed the imagination of children by setting
them on a path to self-discovery. Accompanied by Gayatri
Panchpade’s charming illustrations, this is an easy-to
understand introduction to the otherwise complex world
of ancient Hindu scriptures. The book is a fabulous way of introducing the philosophical and spiritual
teachings of the rishis to children of the modern world. Daaji’s retelling of the stories through these
books make them a treasure-trove of knowledge and virtuousness.
Speaking on the occasion Daaji said, “Book-reading as a hobby is quickly vanishing among children with
digitization. Books are perfect tools to enable children grow intellectually, morally, and even spiritually.
My intent through this book is to bring children closer to the ancient wisdom through simplistic story-
telling and captivating illustrations. In my discovery of our existential truth, I understand children need to
see beyond merely being doctors and engineers. They need to find their true purpose of life and their very
existence besides following a vocation and work towards bringing peace within and without. Children
today need to understand the Vedas and Upanishads more than any other times so that they can
spearhead perpetuating the Vedic wisdom to the future generations. I hope this book can help them
cultivate the habit of reading as well.”
Shri Pavan K Varma said, “I put both my appreciation and appreciation to Daaji for his attempt to distill
some stories, anecdotes, fables, legends which cumulatively amount to comprehensible wisdom for
children. Hindus themselves know very little about their religion, spirituality of ancient India perhaps
because Hinduism is not a prescriptive field. There is a generational debilitation being passed down.
Daaji’s book is very important and thoughtful step in that direction – awakening wisdom in children who
would read about our past in a manner that tells why India is great and prompts them to read further
and push the horizon of their knowledge. The small anecdotes provide the essential vantage point to the
uniqueness of Hinduism’s cerebral processes and are put for consumption of those who want to know
more.”
The event also saw participation of children for sloka recitals along with their meaning. Also, an
unveiling of Certificates for the first and the second batch students of Gitopadesh took place at the
event.
The month of May had also witnessed Heartfulness host a special Gitopdesh coaching for children who
benefited from the sessions immensely.
The Heartfulness Institute has also been providing a regular Gitopadesh course to help children value
the greatness of the Bhagavat Gita and also remind the busy grown-ups to make the Gita a part of their
lives. The unique course is currently being attended by 1500 students from 25 countries. The four course
modules are woven with the four objectives of: Values in action, Swadhyaya, Actionable Knowledge and
Designing Destiny. —————————————————————————————————————————————– About Heartfulness: Heartfulness offers a simple set of meditative practices and lifestyle changes, first
developed at the turn of the twentieth century and formalized into teaching through Shri Ram Chandra
Mission in 1945 in India with a goal to bring peace, happiness and wisdom to one heart at a time. These
practices are a modern form of Yoga designed to support contentment, inner calm, and stillness,
compassion, courage, and clarity of thought, as the first step towards a purposeful life. They are simple
and easily adopted and are appropriate for people from all walks of life, cultures, religious beliefs, and
economic situations, who are over the age of fifteen. Ongoing training in Heartfulness practices is going
on at thousands of schools and colleges, and over 100,000 professionals are meditating in corporations,
non-governmental, and government bodies worldwide. More than 5,000 Heartfulness Centers are
supported by many thousands of certified volunteer trainers and millions of practitioners in 160
countries.
