Second International Youth Tele-Satsang with Gurpreet Bhatia Ji - UK
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The Second International Tele-Satsang was held on first Saturday of February (Feb. 3rd, 2007), which was attended by approximately 20 devotees of the mission. Despite being in different time zones, Youth from California, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Montreal, UK and Italy participated to discuss and get blessings of His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji. The Tele-Satsang was addressed by Gurpreet Bhatia Ji from UK. The youth participating also received blessings from two senior Devotees of the Mission.
The topic for discussion was PROGRESSION. A concise summary of this discussion is presented hereunder.
Twelve Month Planner :
It was suggested that we need to create a 12 month planner of social, charitable and spiritual activities as discussed in last conference in December 2006. By organising such activities we should try to invite and attract various people to spread the message of Baba Ji, and tell people what the Sant Nirankari Mission trying to achieve today. The chief aim of such activities should be to involve other communities and societies attracting other people towards the universal message of Baba Ji.
Gurpreet Ji stressed on the need of establishing Universal Brotherhood within people in western countries, he mentioned how wide spread the Mission had now become in various states of India. Despite the diversity of race, language etc. their existed unity in India. The Same can be done in western countries by inviting people into our congregation places and centers for various events. He gave few examples of different initiatives being taken in UK such as,
It was thought that we need to increase awareness about mission by working in unison with various interfaith groups. Recently Sant Nirankari Mission - West Midlands Branch participated in an interfaith conference where youth from West Midlands gave a presentation on Mission. The theme was Sounds and Silence in our worship which was attended by various faith groups and people from various communities. After that a workshop- group discussion on mission was organized and numerous people at the conference attended the workshop on the Mission and became familiar and interested in its activities.
120 Schools participated in poetry, drawing and art contest on the topic Peace not Pieces, where they created drawings, wrote poems and essays on this subject and were presented with prizes. All the community were told that this was the message of His Holiness Baba ji and gave much appreciation.
Fixed time, pre-planned and organized programs are being conducted on special occasions where various related and friends are invited to attend the congregation.This will take a structured format where people are told in advance and come fully prepared to talk on a subject, songs are prepared, poetry etc.. and this has been very succesful.
Weekly English Congregation :
Regularly conducting the English congregation has helped increase number of devotees attending the congregation significantly and it was suggested that in the western world the EMS must be strenghtened as much as possible.
Social and Charitable Activities :
Supporting a great cause of Cancer Research has helped Sant Nirankari Mission - UK to well integrate it's efforts with the Cancer Research Group, this group has invited the mission to organize a Race for Life which will be organised on the same weekend as a samagam. Cancer Research now wish for the sevadal to marshall their future events and have given a press release in their own media promoting the work of the Mission.
Musical Concerts :
Various famous musicians are being invited to congregation Bhawan in UK where local people attend the concerts and get chance to know more about mission.People may not attend for satsang but when Musicians come they see the Bhawan and then are attracted after meeting with the devotees who are present. So it is indirect prachar.
We must encouraging the youth to develop such a spirit to move ahead in a constructive way. He said, it is most important for youngsters of mission to work together with elders, to respect the administrative system setup by Baba ji and to work in teams and move forward together.
Gurpreet Ji conveyed Baba Ji's message of becoming light houses. The idea is that if one is enlightened within only then can he go out to community, only then can he spread the light of this knowledge to other people. He also shared Baba Ji's message of greeting and meeting people with open hands, as a closed fist can't welcome others, but an open hand can be shaked with others, conveying the idea to broaden up and to think about community around us and the people in the local communities. He encouraged to constantly communicate to people about what we are and what our mission is.
To analyze the progress from the last tele-Satsang, Gurpreet Ji invited youth from various branches to share their initiatives and progress.
One youth shared the success of an event organized in a Library by Youth of Sant Nirankari Mission - Washington DC branch. Where local people were introduced with the mission by devotional songs, musical instruments, brochures and video documentary about Sant Nirankari Mission. The saint also shared their future plans to enhance this initiative to reach more library in near future.
A devotee from Phoenix shared public relations efforts done by their branch in an Indian festival and food for hungry program run by volunteers from the branch. Need of English Medium Sangat (EMS) was stressed along with Hindi language to be able to invite local communities to congregations. The saint requested all youth to encourage EMS in all branches across North America. Gurpreet Ji shared Baba Ji's directions given in the UK of using English language in the congregations for at least 40% of the congregation speakers along with other languages.
Another youth from Montreal, Canada shared their efforts to create a interfaith students group in the local university, where they discuss various topics on spirituality and what different faiths teach. Gurpreet Ji shared the example of seminar on Universalism and Peaceful Co-existence organized by Sant Nirankari Mission was the way forward and if it has been endorsed in India we should follow this practice in the western countries.
The discussion concluded with Baba Ji's message that Humanity is the only religion. The youth felt energized and agreed to channelize their efforts and utilize the Guru Puja Diwas [1] to contribute to the society and spread Nirankari Baba Ji's message. All the youth seemed satisfied and happy after receiving blessings of Baba Ji.
