One of Gurudev’s quotes, that he would thunder , especially emphasizing the last 2 words was ‘Youth are not useless ,they are used less’. Everyone has heard different stories of Gurudev’s interaction with youth, whether it is the motorcycle rally that welcomed him in Chennai or Gurudev’s endless patience with questions from the youth . It was his vision that led to the establishment of Chinmaya Yuva Kendra(CHYK), which is for kids who have passed out of school and moving into college , a graduation from Bala Vihar to CHYK. And an offshoot of that is Junior CHYK ,which was established for kids from 9th-12th grades , so their real world concerns and issues can be addressed . It was also to harness all the energy these kids have towards community projects.
It is a recommended program at Chinmaya Gurukul ,that kids choose to attend in addition to their regular Bala Vihar classes.We have an average participation of about 60-70 kids .The format for the month is, the first Sunday is Seva day when kids do some volunteer activity. 2nd Sunday is Samooha day. For Samooha Day, different groups are created (similar to Harry Potter houses) and kids choose topics relevant to them. They spend it researching the topic and they will create a presentation and present it at the end of the year. The 3rd Sunday is for developing Skills Day . 4th Sunday is a guest Speaker Day when a professional speaker gives them a talk on topics relevant to them, both secular and spiritual .
In Chinmaya Gurukul , our JCHYKS are always around signing up for different volunteer projects like packing food for United Way , helping with summer camp or art projects, helping in our gardens or serving food at events. They are always in the forefront during yagnas, helping with baby sitting .
We had a wonderful start this Sunday with our first Seva Day project spearheaded by our JCHYK lead Suri , JCHYK coordinators and a wonderful team of volunteers. They took up a few projects around the Ashram.
The first was spreading wood chips in the walkway to Tapovan Wing. Kids formed a human chain making quick work of the mountain of wood chips and beautifully passing it along to the person . All of this work took barely 45 minutes demonstrating their team work . There was a lot of lifting, shoveling and spreading but the joy of spending time outdoors on a beautiful fall day with their friends made it all worth it. One kid mentioned he is just building muscles , not complaining about the strain of pushing the wheel barrow.
The second project was sorting, cleaning, and organizing papers, bins around the Art room . They also took up the task of cleaning and organizing the kitchen .
The Beauty of youth is in their service, in their compassion, in their friendship and in their joy. That beauty enriches Chinmaya Gurukul in so many ways and we are so grateful to our JCHYK team who selflessly dedicate themselves to this mission .
