Few people strive to do great things, and fewer become great by achieving them. One such person is our own Dr. Kshama Metre who has been awarded the Padma Shri Award for her social work. This prestigious award is given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their distinguished contribution in various spheres of activity including the Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Social Service and public life. Dr. Metre, the director of CORD (Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development) received this honour on Repulic Day 2008.» Read more

Beloved Lord ! You had, with infinite patience,
in your endless mercy, led us through a busy year,
giving certainly more than what we asked for,
and often even more than what we, perhaps, deserved.

We prostrate to you in humble reverence,
really aghast at your endless grace,
under which alone we could live all through the last year,
a fairly noble and moral life of service and satisfaction.

Lord ! with your help, may we live a nobler life of
greater undertakings in your seva, all through the coming year.

In the Chinmaya Mission, 'Balvihar' means two things. Place of fun and learning.

Brahmacharini Nivedita completed four days of talks on the Complete Art of Meditation between September 23-26. The talks were based on the text called "Drg Drsya Vivek" (Discrimination of the Seer and the Seen) by Sankara.

Those who attended were taken step-by-step through the 31 verses of this text. Some brief notes from the text's main message follows. Full recording of the talks is also available on CD for those who wish to listen to the entire message. Please call (03) 9846 8359 to order your copy of these CDs.

In modern life we see that there is much material progress and comfort. At the same time humanity experiences great stress and strain. There is comfort, but there is also stress. When there is stress comfort is no comfort at all.

We generally hear that there is too mush stress, strain and tension in our day to day life. In business we have cut throat competition. There may be strain within the family or in social relationships. Within ourselves we may find disintegration. This stress and strain is experienced by us as anxiety, worry, fear, or frustration.

Once we choose our course in life, there is no point in complaning about situations, difficulties or problems that we may have to face. A householder's life has its ups and downs. Conflicts in the mind arise due to dual and contradictory purpose in life.
Surrender and insistence on one's will cannot go together.

It is we who carry the load of all due to our sense of doership, possessiveness or ignorance and then, when tired, blame others. Do your best to please the Lord and not any man.