European Youth Meet - an Unforgettable Experience!
The three-day European Youth Meet was packed with activities which helped everyone to bond together as a team as well as to come up with ideas to work together and move Bhagawan’s mission forward.
On the arrival day in the afternoon, the devotees all began cooking for Narayana Seva. Once the food was ready, they all left in cars with the 400 meals to be distributed to hungry homeless people in the port of Piraeus, as well as to other soup kitchens (places where food is provided for free to those in need).
There was a spirit of unity throughout the entire process and it was a truly beautiful experience being together and serving! It was inspiring to see all the devotees who had spent hours travelling to get to Greece, and yet had a tireless appetite for Seva even until late in the evening!
The second day began beautifully with a visit to the Acropolis Museum and to a several ancient archaeological sites. After lunch, everyone gathered at the Nectar of Love Seva Centre for the workshop centred around better collaboration for Seva and Satsang between the European youth. It was a fruitful few hours indeed, with several significant decisions having been made, such as:
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Proposal for Saturday, November 18 or Friday, November 24 of for the EU youth to meet and follow up together (since they are going to be in India for World Youth Meet)
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Set up platforms: Facebook, Whatsapp, Google Drive, and such to communicate, share report/content, and more.
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Send around common database of all European Union youth (after receiving each person’s approval)
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Each country to create a three month, six month, one year and five year vision and plan. Also, to create some form of write-up for basic follow up and reporting: progress made, next steps, what is being done, and so forth.
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Prepare booklet to present to Swami on November 23, 2017: European Youth Initiative. Structure could include important decisions taken in the European Youth Meet, what progress has been made, short term and long term vision set by each country, steps to take as individual countries and collectively, amongst other things.
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Regular calls between youth coordinators to follow up on decisions made and on future steps to take
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To decide upon regular video conference for ‘inner’ oriented practices – Vedas, Satsang, Samasta Loka chanting, and such
There was a very beautiful energy felt throughout the process, with everyone bringing their honest ideas and suggestions. Bhagawan’s presence was felt strongly in the form of enthusiasm, teamwork and a sense of unity. The late evening was spent with a relaxing visit to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre.
The last day was equally exciting as the previous two, as devotees spent their time both in the mountains and on the seaside, beginning with an activity-packed day on the Ashram grounds
On Mount Kitheronas (where the Ashram will be located), the devotees began with meditation, a Qi Gong session and a yoga class. In the afternoon, everyone went down to Psatha beach to have lunch and cool off. It was a wonderful day, and quite emotional having to greet each other at the end!
The youth realised that there is truly great potential for working together. They also realised that to a large extent, they are all in very similar situations, often facing the same obstacles. This conference definitely helped everyone to get a bigger picture as to what is happening in each other’s countries and in Europe as a whole, and served as fuel for collaborating in new ways.
All in all, everyone was very grateful that Swami blessed them with this opportunity and they resolved to make good use of it in the months to come!
