I. Non-profit organizations (NGO) Day – 2025 Celebration, Moscow
Theme: Empowering Grassroots Movements for a Sustainable Future
The World NGO Day at the Academy was held in Moscow with the support of the Public Council under the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Russia, the Commission of the Public Chamber of Russia for the Development of the nonprofit Sector and the NGO Agency for Social Information. The programme was hosted by the Presidential Academy, Moscow aimed at popularizing the activities of socially oriented NGOs dedicated to work with the millions of people who work in the fields of education, science, culture, sports, health, ecology, charity, and those who have chosen the mission to make the world kinder and fairer. Ruslan Nikolaevich Korchagin, Deputy Director of the Event, heartly congratulated the participants. He said: “”Active cooperation with NGO is part of the new educational technology “Training by serving”. In modern society it is actively developed by the University of Public Service and Management. Thinking has changed, and thinking determines the future.”” High–class professionals from the government agencies, resource organizations, NGOs, discussed the issues of NGO development and the possibility of professionalization of students in an open creative playful format with students and teachers. Brahma Kumaris Interregional Public Organization – Center for Spiritual Development, Moscow was represented by Nadezhda Ganikovskaya, Journalist, PR, Lyudmila Petrunina, Children Programs Coordinator and Olga Obodets, Musician, Teacher an experienced practitioner of programs for children and their parents aimed at improving family relationships. They found new friends, new contacts and new ideas for fruitful cooperation aimed to Empowering Grassroots Movements for a Sustainable Future.
Photo report:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1y_gzn5Zlc0T2ZAaGWsjNRNVuopXJX70s?usp=drive_link
II. The Art of Giving Gifts
A family Project “Treasures of the soul on the Brigantine of Knowledge
Chita, Russia
The family project “To the Treasures of the Soul on the Brigantine of Knowledge” continued in the city of Chita”. This time at the Senior Citizens Communication Center of the Social Fund of Russia “Ingoda”.
Instructors continued the journey to look for the treasures of the soul. To begin the journey they checked whether the children and their parents did their homework. They further shared how they expressed their love for their relatives, friends, and teachers, how they felt about it, and how their relationships changed. As the next part of the project the instructors introduced the topic The art of Giving Gifts with the aim of bringing novelty in the year of 2025. A gift shows our friendly and kind feelings. Various kinds of gifts are shared by people across the world on various occasions. However, while drawing attention to the theme a few questions were asked: When can I give gifts? What can be a gift? What things cannot be given as gifts? What can we wish for when giving gifts and what kind of mood should the giver have? The answers from the gathering were both very serious and joking, but they were united by the same thought: we can give any gift, the most important thing is to give it with a smile, sincere good wishes from our heart, and with pure motives. The cartoon “Winnie the Pooh and the Day of Worries” was added to the programme. Beautiful blessings for each other were shared. Some decorated the programme with poems. Realization emeged in the mind of every guest that how the human soul is actually a bestower of subtlels gifts in the form of good wishes and pure feelings. In silence the lesson of ‘how to give blessing and take blessing, as an eternal gift’.
Proposed new homework: to prepare such gifts for their relatives, friends and give them with great love, joy and happiness.
Photo report:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s3wq0bPdYZ4i0cc1KUsxTQbNPXRrwi4N?usp=sharing
III.Friendly meeting of Russian and Indian cultures.
Meeting with Mr. Siddarth Gowrav, Consul General of India, Vladivostok, RF
Irkutsk, Russia
A wonderful friendly meeting took place in the city of Irkutsk, the meeting of the Consul General of India in Vladivostok and the representative of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
Mr. Siddarth Gowrav became the fourteenth Consul General of the Republic of India in Vladivostok. Mr. Siddarth Gowrav joined the Indian Diplomatic Service in 2021. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Information Technology in Allahabad with a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering and received a Postgraduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta.
Pavel Khoroshutin, a Brahma Kumaris student, has been practicing Raja yoga for more than 14 years, he is a Director of the Center for Research and Development “Technologies of the Ideal”, a practical behavioral psychologist, a researcher with 20 years of experience, head of the behavioral psychotherapy modality of the OPPL (All-Russian Professional Psychotherapeutic League). He is the author of patents on behavior change technologies.
Mr. Siddarth Gowrav visited Lake Baikal as a tourist, and also had meetings with Irkutsk public organizations, including the Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Center. Various directions in yoga became the topic for discussion. The participants identified the main difference between the Brahma Kumaris method and other types of yoga.
Mr. Consul General has a deep knowledge of the psychological foundations of yoga. Comparing different approaches to yoga, he drew attention to the fact that the Brahma Kumaris methods allow people to teach moral behavior. Brahma Kumaris meditation has an effect when people accept the principles of purity and virtue in their life. The Brahma Kumaris technique of remembrance of the Supreme Soul as a way of concentration and attention management makes that practice highly psychological.
The meeting left pleasant impressions. During the meeting, Mr. Siddarth and Pavel exchanged gifts on behalf of the represented organizations.
Photo report:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JYQzFd5qQ8LEuVkR-G_IZraUXbOB8xbX?usp=drive_link
