The 2016 Christmas Non-Residential Family Camp at Chinmaya Sandeepany, conducted by Pujya Swami Bodhatmananda got underway on December 24th.
The camp includes classes for adults, study group sessions for further reflection on the teachings, chanting, special exclusive sessions with Swamiji for our youth (ages 17-35) as well as planned activities for children below the age of 12. Children 13 and above are encouraged to attend Swamiji’s classes. And last but not least, all delegates are being treated daily to a sumptuous lunch and tea prepared by the CMSJ kitchen team.
Day 1: Over 325 people gathered enthusiastically for the Christmas Camp at Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in San Jose. Swami BodhatmanadaJi inaugurated the camp today and gave powerful discourses to introduce the advanced text of Svetasvetara Upanishad. Attendees had a wonderful start with smooth registration process, beautiful weather, nice food, and comfortable facilities of Sandeepany ashram. What a fantastic way to spend the Christmas break – away from the busy bay area routine, in a spiritual environment, pondering over the subtle teachings of Vedanta with like-minded people.
All pictures from Day 1 can be found here:
Day 2: With the second day of the camp, the Upanishadic teachings are now getting deeper. But with his infinite compassion, Swami BodhatmanandaJi in his lucid, captivating and humorous style is breaking down the highest teachings for attendees of all backgrounds and age groups. Here is our loving Swami Ji checking notes of some youngsters. Lot of people, young and adults alike, also got chocolates from Swami Ji today in celebration of Christmas.
More pictures from today (Dec 25th) can be found here:
https://goo.gl/photos/vYoCSCBinw98eqtQ7
Day 3: The original Vedantic scriptures are authored in Samskritam. While we are extremely fortunate to receive this sacred knowledge in English from our Swamins and Brahmacharins right here in bay area, it has also created a thirst among the students to study Samskritam to improve their understanding of scriptures. With Brahmachari YatindraJi’s engaging and humorous style, several Christmas camp attendees are getting a nice introduction to Samskritam and an assurance that everyone can learn Samskritam. Br. YatindraJi says – If someone like me who grew up in Chicago can learn Samskritam in merely 2 years, all of you can certainly get it.
More pictures from today [Mon, Dec 26, 2016]:
https://goo.gl/photos/ToXgMtxyjNzvAtkj9
Day 4: What is the nature of God? How can the same God, the in-dweller of all, be subtler than the subtlest and at the same time bigger than the biggest? Swami BodhatmanadaJi expounded such deeper Upanishadic teachings and engaged the audience with his mastery over Vedanta, passion for spreading the Knowledge and his great sense of humor. In this picture, you can see that even the sun rays along with the shadows of the attendees were reaching out to the altar for receiving the sacred teachings.
Here are some pictures from today (with couple of them from before):
https://goo.gl/photos/DmYWZLPJiH36TdrZ7