Guru Cool

Who says jagrans are just for senior citizens? All over India, youngsters are embracing spirituality in a revolution that8217;s strewn with kids-only weekend meditation packages, disco satsangs and gurus who can talk the talk. Even music channel MTV now has an 8216;alternative lifestyle8217; programme called Soul to Soul.

AOL teacher Dinesh Ghorke, 27, says nearly half of the 20 lakh people who practise this course of sadhana, seva and satsang are between 18 and 30 years old. In the last one year alone, the number of young people enrolling in their courses has gone up by more than 150 per cent. 8216;8216;What8217;s the point of doing this after 60? By then, life8217;s experience would have taught you everything,8217;8217; says Seema Ramchandani. This 22-year-old recently left the Channel-V promoted band Viva to dedicate her time fully to satsangs.

8216;8216;It8217;s a new awakening among the youth. Earlier, people would join meditation or yoga after they hit the wrong side of 50.

Now, teenagers are trying different faith-healing programmes,8217;8217; adds Sattvika Chaitanya, Maharashtra co-ordinator of Chinmaya Mission8217;s youth wing, which has 50,000 under-30 followers across the country.

In the picturesque calmness of the Osho Commune International at Koregaon Park in Pune, you can feel the youthful energy everywhere. 8216;8216;Our generation is more intelligent, more adventurous and more open to experimenting with the self. So, we are asking more questions,8217;8217; says 22-year-old Angelina from Shimla, explaining why she is a frequent visitor here.

The commune now offers weekend wellness packages for the under-25 age group. The package, which was started this year, includes food, meditation, maroon and white robes, plus the ubiquitous AIDS test. 8216;8216;Osho8217;s meditation packages were designed for the young so they are activity-oriented,8217;8217; says spokesperson Ma Sadhana.

Like Osho, the Karmic Research Centre in Delhi believes in active spiritualism. This group, whose members are mostly between the ages of 16 and 35, offers a slew of activities including dance meditation and visualisation exercises. 8216;8216;The focus is to help young people apply meditation to problems and issues, like work, relationships and their future,8217;8217; says senior member Urmila Chatali, 43. Most groups say that8217;s exactly why they are so popular with the youth.

8216;8216;The need of the time,8217;8217; is how Guarang Das, 30, explains the phenomenon. Das used to be an IIT engineer with the Kirloskar Group, now he8217;s the vice-president of ISKCON8217;s youth education and character building programme. 8216;8216;Our youngsters are under constant pressure, we prepare them to face the world confidently,8217;8217; he says. 8216;8216;Krishna consciousness is the way to happiness.8217;8217;

The cramped Mumbai hall where ISKCON holds its monthly Prerana, a programme exclusively for bachelor boys between 15 and 30 years hardly

resembles the road to rapture. Yet the 200 college students present don8217;t notice as they wait patiently for the evening to unfold. Escorted by two aides, Swami Devamrita Maharaj from New Zealand gives a beatific smile. Constantly changing the contours of his face, like an accomplished actor in a tragicomedy, the Swami transports the boys to the blissful world of Brindavan. The young devotees lap it up.

Discourse over, they sing and dance to the tune of Hare Krishna, then help themselves to a sumptuous dinner. 8216;8216;The gurus8217; talks have helped me find a balance,8217;8217; says 14-year-old Anirudh Shetty. 8216;8216;Coming here improves my concentration.8217;8217;

Through their youth wings, spiritual organisations across the country have started enrolling youngsters with an almost missionary zeal. Take the Chinmaya Yuva Kendra CHYK, a wing of Chinmaya Mission. Holding activities like study groups, lecture series, workshops, picnics, padyatras and hikes in the Himalayas, it aims at 8216;8216;empowering the youth to get clarity of vision.8217;8217; Something Neha Sharma, 18, a student at St Xavier8217;s College, Mumbai, found tempting. 8216;8216;It8217;s changed my life. Earlier, I would get panicky and nervous. After joining CHYK8217;s weekly study classes, I have gained confidence. Many of my friends now see me as a motivated girl,8217;8217; says Sharma.

Yet this younger, brasher breed of spirituality isn8217;t waiting around to be discovered. It8217;s always within sight, and it often presents itself at your doorstep in a convenient quick course. Like Mumbai-based Rajyoga Centre, a wing of Prajapita Brahmakumaris World Spiritual University, which recently held its week-long Positive Change course at SNDT Women8217;s College, Mumbai. 8216;8216;Many people wanted to sign up but we only picked 500 for our first batch,8217;8217; says Brahmakumari Kunti, director.

But some, like 24-year-old Vikalpa Jetly, don8217;t need to attend a class to find their 8216;8216;summum bonum ultimate good in life8217;8217;. At a young age itself, Jetly started reading different traditions 8212; Buddhist Vipassana, Sahaja Yoga, Falun-gong et al. He eventually found his gurus in Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Paramhansa Yogananda and J Krishnamurthy.

8216;8216;I started with yoga through higher aspiration of a lesser kind 8212; to become taller when I was in Std VI. But by 17 8216;the snake had bitten me8217; as Swami Vivekananda would put it,8217;8217; explains Jetly.

College students, lawyers, bankers, marketing executives8230;they come from every field, and for varied reasons. Some to cope better with work pressure and relationships,some to get rid of a drinking problem and others just to improve their health. But these initial reasons soon dissolve into a higher spiritual goal like achieving 8216;unity with spirit8217; or simply attaining a 8216;balance in life8217;.

Of course, there are lots of youngsters who still think spirituality is for the oldies. That8217;s exactly what Naresh Ramkrishnani 26 thought till two years ago. But after he attended his first few jagrans out of curiosity, he found great peace on listening to the Jai mata di dhuni. Soon he was involved in doing seva, which made him feel important and needed. Today, Ramkrishnani attends a jagran almost every Saturday night.

Even chic Malabar Hill residents like Mala Bhavnani, 25, and Maangalika Jolly take time out to fulfil their spiritual needs. Once a week, they attend Gita chanting classes because it 8216;8216;helps them cope better with situations8217;8217;. While they admit not everyone around them is happy with their involvement at such a young age, their teacher Nandini insists this is the age to learn it all. 8216;8216;Krishna was not exactly young when he told Arjun these universal laws,8217;8217; she says.

Publisher Gautam Sachdeva confirms that the number of young adults buying books on spirituality is on the rise. His company Yogi Impressions has released two books 8212; Conscious Flight into the Empyrean and Kundalini Diary 8212; which received a good response from youngsters.8216;8216;This is probably because they are realising how the material in these books can be applied to their lives,8217;8217; says Sachdeva.

Elaeenah8217;s 8216;channelling8217; classes have been attracting more and more young adults in the last one year. 8216;8216;These souls, born since the 8217;90s, are highly evolved souls, meant to help the earth get over the difficult period it is going through,8217;8217; says Elaeenah.

During the class, Elaeenah goes into trance and the soul of an 8216;ascended master8217; enters her body. The master speaks to the audience through her, sometimes addressing their questions or simply talking on a subject.

Parineeta Nanjee 27 has benefited from the masters8217; knowledge to get through a 8216;8216;difficult personal phase8217;8217;. 8216;8216;It made me look inward and helped me find my truth,8217;8217; explains this marketing executive. Nanjee8217;s 24-year-old interior decorator sister Maya also joined the course along with her. 8216;8216;I8217;ve learnt the importance of the soul and that the body is something that we take in to experience and learn many things,8217;8217; says Nanjee.

What will she do with her new-found knowledge? 8216;8216;To achieve unity with spirit would be the ultimate, of course.8217;8217;

With inputs from Uma Karve in Pune and Suman Mishra in Delhi