"We serve as an army courageous and disciplined...."
Per Chinmaya Mission Pledge, there are various opportunities throughout the year for us to practice serving in our community!
The Seva Team at Yamunotri has been organized in an effort to inculcate the seva bhava in all families to serve both within the center and the community as a whole. To date, quarterly seva projects planned for the year.
The primary goal of spirituality is to dissolve our ego. Ego is sustained by selfishness and antidote to selfishness is selflessness. Serving the community is the practice of being selfless. The key to spiritual growth is making our minds pure, concentrated, and expansive. Serving others helps the mind become pure. The bigger the community we identify with and serve, the more expansive our mind becomes. Contrary to the common notion, serving others is more beneficial to the one who is serving than the recipient of service. Hence as spiritual seekers, we feel grateful for the opportunities to serve as means to our own spiritual growth.
Fall Food Collection
is in collaboration with Sewa Diwali. Sewa Diwali is an initiative by Dharmic communities, individuals and organizations like Yoga, Spiritual, Hindu/Buddhist/Sikh/Jain centers, Temples, Gurudwaras, Linguistic and Indian socio-cultural organizations who believe in the Sewa Dharma, i.e. Service to Humanity is Service to Divinity.
Winter Mahashivratri Clothing & Textile Collection
To invoke Lord Shiva's virtue of simplicity while also serving Mother Earth, we engage Bala Vihar students to learn about the issue of textiles and their contribution to climate change. The students learn about the clothing and textile program and encourage all to donate unwanted and unusable items. The collection occurs for the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO). The program ensures that 95% of the materials collected is repurposed, reused or recycled.
Spring Cleanup
We remember our mothers daily and celebrate them in the spring when nature blooms. As a tribute to our one Mother Earth, families volunteer with the Lake County Forest Preserve to clear the land of invasive species.
Summer Yamunotri Cleanup
Before the start of fall classes, sevaks devote many hours to repair and maintain Yamunotri and its grounds.
Yamunotri Teams Volunteer Signup
Our entire center is run by volunteers! Consider providing your expertise & time throughout the school year based on your skills & interests.
Volunteer
Point of contact
Jayanthi Vaikuntapathi - jayanthi28vaikunt@gmail.com
Volunteer opportunities provided at Chinmaya Mission are means to use our unique strengths and talents to serve the Lord in an attitude of devotion and service. Performing our actions in an attitude of dedication to the Lord is one of the primary spiritual practices that enable a seeker to purify the mind. A pure mind is essential to grasp and reflect on the subtle teachings from the scripture. In what area we serve is not as important as the attitude of dedication and surrender during serving. No area of service is lower or higher and all work done with dedication and surrender become worship of the Lord.