Over forty students and staff members gathered to hear the first lecture titled "Master Your Mind and be a Master of This World" on March 19 presented by Gautamji at the University of Melbourne. Learning the language of self-knowledge was something new that the students had the chance to discover during their lunchtime break. It was very appropriate that a former alumnus of the University and still a very young Brahmachari of the Chinmaya Mission was to deliver this important message.

He created a strong rapport with the young audience by pacing for more than half of the time in providing student-life examples with identical language and gestures to those of his audience. The subject of the lecture, the mind, was defined and exemplified so that the attendees could easily identify it in their every-day interactions. The foremost part of the presentation was short and simple but effective; the students were given two simple suggestions:

1. to remember three things they should be grateful for when their mind feels unsatisfied and
2. to commit to executing small decisions lead by their reasoning faculty, the intellect, in order to strengthen it.

This was not a single attempt to create awareness of the work of Chinmaya Mission and its Youth Programs within academia but, surely, the first lecture of many to come in this new frontier. As the laughter, curiosity and nods of the audience during the lecture suggested, learning about the application of Vedanta – The Science of Life - is as needed by students and academics as it is in every walk of life. Respectively, Chinmaya Mission should be grateful that the strong potential for substantial inner transformation in the younger population is channelled through the ancient knowledge also within the environment of one of the top eight universities in Australia.

More photos from this event can be found here.

Br. Gautam will be conducting another free session on "From Potential To Performance" On May 14.