By Vignesh Sadras
From Rāma Jayanti (April 9th) to Vijaya Dashami (October 5th, 2022), 206 seekers of all ages, across the world, engaged in Chinmaya Mission Niagara’s Contentment Challenge – a commitment to engage in contemplation (dhyāna), conversation (japa/dama – meaningful repetition), concentration (unitasking/dharma), and generosity (dāna) daily.
Why? Shrimad Bhagavatam has shown that Bhagavan Krishna lives His daily life with the same structure, and after all, all want to be like Him, the embodiment of Contentment! This Challenge was Vivekji’s vision and was implemented by his trusty team, which now had new additions – “Rāma Dūtas”. Seekers were divided into 9 teams, and each team was guided by one Rāma Dūta. The teams were a source of inspiration for many seekers, who encouraged each other to endure through the challenge of trying to orient their entire lifestyle towards self-development.
In their WhatsApp team groups, seekers shared photos of their contemplation altars and their japa (photos attached), to remind each other that they were in this together. As the Challenge progressed, Vivekji guided the seekers to engage in japa by chanting out loud, later by writing, and finally by mentally chanting. The purpose of this progression was to encourage seekers to incorporate japa into all aspects of their lives.
Many seekers reported that this constant remembrance of Bhagavan, helped them navigate the challenges of daily life with a smile. By Vijaya Dashami, the Contentment Challenge community had offered 5,128,801 repetitions of Om Rāmāya Namah, and $77,296 to environmental charities including the Ocean Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund’s project protecting tigers and elephants in India, and the Clean Air Task Force.
inspiring sharing