LEARNGEETA & ME

It was in February 2022 that I had enrolled into a week long yoga retreat. On the first day of the stay, it was a cool evening with the sounds of hundreds of birds nesting for the night and a cool breeze wafted with the scent of the flowers in the retreat garden. A short distance away I heard a female voice reciting Sanskrit Shloks softly and melodiously. Just the ambiance and the sounds of the shlokas made that moment magical. I waited till she finished and approached her to express my delight in listening in on her. She explained to me about how she learnt to recite and memorize the Bhagavad Gita from Gītā Parivār, which teaches the Gītā online for free at convenient time slots and in 13 languages. She even sent me the link to join. As soon as I finished the week long retreat and returned home I enrolled and since then have never looked back. Learning Gītā has been the best decision in my adult life which has taken me from one strength to the next. I never knew that just by pursuing Gītā it could lead to such a positive transformation. It has busted all myths that one cannot memorise anything past their student life, or habits and behaviour is set by the time one becomes an adult.

The most important life lessons that Gītā Parivār has taught me are:

\* It is never too late to learn, unlearn and relearn. It's certainly a myth that we stop learning after a certain age. I've met amazing people well into their 90s who came into contact and memorized all 18 chapters or 700 shlokas of Bhagavad Gita.

\* Learning never ends. I've seen children as little as 6 to 12 years old who have memorized the complete Bhagavad Gita. If they haven't done their diligence in some past life then how do we explain it? Gītā Parivār gave a platform for such budding scholars.

\* Time management skills. Becoming a trainer myself has been the most rewarding experience. It taught me how to make the best use of every second in the 40 minute teaching session to impart Gītā to the participants.

\* Interpersonal skills. All activities are designed to see that all seekers of Bhagavad Gita return with their hearts full of love for God and a sense of service to mankind. It is no surprise that many seekers return to Gītā Parivār as volunteers just like me with an intent to give back what they received.

\* Team work. Gītā Parivār is a divine conglomeration run solely by amazing sefless volunteers who give a good part of their daily time in service. Every interaction with each other, be it seeker or fellow volunteer, is with utmost respect. When in need of help all members of different groups join together to seek collective solutions to every evolving issue.

\* Leadership skills. Every aspect of Gītā Parivār has a strong base in life lessons. The amazing fact is that the more voluntary service that we put in the more rejuvenated we feel. It teaches us how to excel in the chosen path of Gītā and also lead other like minded seekers along too.

Gītā has now become part of my daily routine and all unnecessary activities have been edged out.

I'm ever grateful to His Holiness Swami Gurudev Gobindadev Giriji Maharaj for creating this platform which has given me and the other hundreds of thousands of people a divine direction and purpose in life.

• Bindu Vidyadhar, Sullia