With the blessings of Pujya Gurudev, Chinmaya Mission Ann Arbor held its 5th annual CHYK retreat in 2018. The retreat was held from November 2nd through 4th with attendance from youth all over the United States. Sri Vivek Gupta of CM Niagara led the lively camp, titled“The Relevance of Ramayana,” that revolved around a study of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda’s Sri Rama’s Reveries in Nature. This poetic and concise text contained the dialogue between Bhagvan Rama and Sri Lakshmana during their journey to find Mother Sita.
It was captured at a time when the two rested during the monsoon period. Lord Rama shared his thoughts, observations and analogies of the picturesque scene. Sri Vivekji walked the attendants through the scenes Lord Rama described and the noble thoughts He shared. Vivekji gave the students a vision, mission and action statement in correlation with the verses studied. This made the knowledge practical and applicable to students’ everyday lives. The retreat was supplemented with workshops and thought-provoking discussion questions. It also included dynamic sports, seva in the ashram and a viewing of “The Jungle Book,” reflecting the theme. The camp flowed in a seamless manner and was a weekend of satsanga, laughter and peace to the delight of the ever-dynamic Sri Vivekji and all the youth who attended.
