by Anuradha Pajjur

The Youth Camp in 2022 was back in person in all its glory! It was held at Chinmaya Somnath in Chantilly VA, from July 18th – 21st, 2022, 9am to 5pm each day.

The largest high school camp in Chinmaya Mission West had 52 youth from different states of North America who came together for engaging discourse, discussion, dialog, and dynamic activity. The camp’s theme was “Learning to be Natural”. In this camp, Vivekji taught the youth how to live an integrated life in a natural, authentic way.

Using “Sri Rama’s Reveries”, Vivekji discussed the musings of Lord Shri Rama where He imparts practical lessons on the divine insights that nature provides about human behavior, life and God.

We had two additional Vedanta teachers this year – Shankarji and Sumanji from Pittsburgh, PA, making the camp a rich experience where the youth learned how to lead a disciplined life, resulting in a peaceful relationship with themselves and the world around. The campers experienced a variety of activities. They watched a meaningful movie and had fun-filled workshops with Vivekji, Shankarji and Sumanji, in addition to enthusiastic and creative CSK sevaks. They had athletics everyday, getting out of their comfort zones. They offered seva at Chinmaya Somnath. The campers also went on a field trip to a local vegetable farm and had an enriching experience learning about farming and doing seva, and finished the day at a soccer field.

Parents had a special dialog session with Vivekji during camp closing which was a most intimate, meaningful experience for all. The feedback from the campers was positive and all of them expressed their interest in returning next year!