Dr. Kishore Pathial, Surekha Reddy & Rajeev Singh
On behalf of the board at Chinmaya Mission Portland, we are happy to welcome all of you to the 4th edition of Hari Patrika. We are pleased to share with you our special moments through the past year.
Chinmaya Mission Portland was started with a handful of students attending Bala Vihar (Sunday School) classes in 1996. From this humble beginning we have grown exponentially with students in 15 classes from infants up to grade 12. We have multiple tracks for adult study groups as well as language classes, Yoga, Vedic chanting and Swaranjali (music choir).
It is this spirit of volunteerism and the philosophy in that we give more than we take that has fostered the continued growth of Chinmaya Mission and Chinmaya Mission Portland. We are very pleased to let you know that we were able to complete all the permits and approvals from the City of Hillsboro for the additional, adjacent condo unit, acquired last year which shares the north & east wall between our Shadras cafe and library. This space is being actively used for a multitude of activities and we will continue to expand that.
We have enjoyed the presentations from Swaranjali, our thriving musical choir in the assembly. We are also proud of the progress made by the young students of ESL tutoring program, run by our Bala Vihar children. We have also added a new Chinmaya Chess Club and Lego Robotics club run by our Bala Vihar students as well. We continue to actively participate in the local community with road clean up, homeless cooking and Oregon Food Bank volunteering. We will be having a number of summer camps in robotics, cooking, medical service and many others this Summer – stay tuned!
As our children grow up in this nation, we want them to imbibe the noble aspects of our culture and values that we hold dear while being productive members in societies that they live in.
The purpose of Chinmaya Mission is “to provide to individuals, from any background, the wisdom of Vedanta and the practical means for spiritual growth and happiness”. The values that children, youth, young adults, adults and seniors derive from our studies are manifold. To review these, we have listed a few below;
- Priceless heritage which the children get connected to, and will always have access to, because of their background with Chinmaya Mission.
- Lasting friendships – formed with like-minded families and children.
- Invaluable knowledge which once learned, helps us lead successful, integrated lives.
- Compassion for all – through integrated, sustainable social help programs.
- Prosperity and peace are perceived as mutually exclusive, but Vedanta teaches us how to have both simultaneously.
We want to thank each and every one of you as we continue on this journey. Without your continued support, the progress thus far would not have been possible. We look forward to all of your continued support to help fulfill Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayanandaji’s vision of growing our center into one bustling with activities, serving all of those who are pursuing their spiritual growth, learning and practicing the principles of Vedanta.
We remain a fully volunteer organization and it is only through the combined efforts of us all, along with a broadly shared vision of our long-term future have we been able to accomplish all this. We know that we can count on all of you for your continued support through the years to come.
You can help us in this endeavor by coming forward to support our activities enabling us to bring many more such programs to Portland. We appreciate all the help in our effort to empower us all to live with our core values, bringing maximum happiness to the maximum people for the maximum amount of time in maximum ways.