Los Angeles & San Jose Winter Convention


From December 26th - 29th, the Indio, Los Angeles, and San Jose BAPS Kishore Mandal Karyakars got together to introspect and compare ideas in order to improve their respective mandals. A total of 35 kishores attended. The theme of this convention was "The Dawn of A New Era". This convention was inspired by the kishores themselves as they did not want to let this winter break slip by without doing some satsang. They took the initiative to organize this convention in the span of only 2 weeks! It was decided to hold the convention in San Jose. On the first day, to help everyone get to know each other, an ice-breaker game was played. The purpose behind this game was to re-emphasize the 1996 convention theme "Satsang Our Family" "The Future is Bright" video was shown which helped to give inspiration to everyone by driving the point home that God is sarvakarta and will make sure everything gets done, and we should ensure that we stay involved with the spirit of "Maharaj ane Swami maate shu na thaay?" Key issues that face many of the teenagers throughout the world were discussed;especially dating. A video clip from the 1997 Summer Convention in Lake Tahoe of Pujya Dr. Swami's speech was shown. Dr. Swami said that the first goal in life should be to progress in Satsang, and by dating we are distracted from this goal, On the second day, the kishores learned about another problem which faces many of the teens in this day and age: Time Management. The kishores learned that there is always time to do whatever they want to do. First and foremost, we must learn to prioritize and then do what's most important first. When our time-table is made, stick to it. As long as we manage our time correctly, everything can be achieved. This was followed by a karyakar session whereby the respective Sabha Sanchalaks and Networking karyakars got together to exchange information, learn, and brainstorm. The evening session was a group discussion about practical problem solving. In the evening, in a show of spontaneous devotion, a kirtan araadhana was performed. Many of the kishores participated, either singing, playing instruments, or dancing to the bhajans. The kishores departed with a spirit of enthusiasm to improve their mandals. For relaxation and entertainment between sessions, sports, activities,sight-seeing were arranged.