The Krishna Life sessions initiated by ISKCON Mangalore, take the Bhagavad-gita to homes and apartment complexes across the city for busy working professionals. Clubhouses in apartment complexes and societies come alive with spirituality as the ISKCON volunteers engage dwellers with the essence of the Gita over the weekend. As the spiritual aspirants find it difficult to attend the sessions held at the temple due to busy traffic, the Krishna Life program has proven to be very convenient for the participants to attend the classes conducted at their door-steps.

The program is conducted free of cost and includes a short thought-provoking talk by a senior ISKCON devotee, a meditation session and singing bhajans and kirtans. It has drawn participants from different walks of life.

Srila Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of ISKCON was concerned about the defects of modern education directed towards sense gratification with no regard to scriptural regulations. Therefore he emphasized the importance of spiritual education which is the only remedy to all the problems of the world. He says, “The aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such realization must be considered avidya, or nescience. And to culture such nescience means to go down to the darkest region of ignorance.”

Further he says, “This Krishna consciousness movement is an educational movement to give enlightenment to the people at large, to understand the values of life. Not to live like animals – eating, sleeping, sex life and dying. This is animal life. This is the best of humanitarian welfare activities: to make people understand scientifically what he is, what is God, what is our relationship with God.”

While the Krishna Life sessions help people grow spiritually, the participants also find them immensely useful in dealing with the day-to-day challenges, improving relations and skills in their professional and private lives.

A city based paediatric endocrinologist, says: “With Western cultural influences, we are neither here nor there. There is a need to impart Vedic knowledge to our children. Gita sessions are the best thing to have happened for me to de-stress and stay in touch with our culture.”

Another participant finds these classes useful as there is hardly any time for extensive reading of other texts to understand the essence of the Gita.

Yet another participant with a high educational background and well-paying job is able to appreciate the deeply scientific nature of the Bhagavad-gita as opposed to the common misconception of spiritual practices to be merely faith-based activities.

The teaching capsules keep children in mind too, teaching them values like gratitude along with Krishna-Sudama stories, among others which are based on great personalities in our Vedic texts.

Being inspired by these classes, some working professionals have already begun engaging children in their neighbourhoods with the Bhagavad-gita and moral stories.