Chinmaya Mission Alpharetta

As you must be aware, CM Alpharetta is starting the Phase I of Ashram development project. The estimated cost for this Phase will be $1M and the target date is 2015. We are very excited about the opportunities the new building will provide for all CMA members.

The Magic Show is to get the fundraising started for this wonderful cause.  Hope you will support it by attending with your family and friends.

Please share this information with them.

Jeff Palmer – the master illusionist has performed at several other CM centers too and was very received by the audience! For a preview of the show see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO7YwAOXD_I

Visit our fundraiser team between 10:30-12:40 on Sunday in the rotunda for get your ticket packages and for sponsorship opportunities.

Talk to any of them about participation in the CMA Pledge program. Qs may be emailed to Arvind/Shekhar. If you are interested in corporate sponsorship or set up a booth at Magic Show – contact Arsu/Raji.

Our annual Children’s Gita Chanting competition will be held on 18 ^th March 2012 at SFMS.

• We have chosen Chapter 7 (Jnana Vijnana Yoga) for this year’s competition.
• We will be conducting classes for children starting Dec 4^th.
• In order to provide trophies for participants & winners, we will collect a $10 participant fee.
• All participants will receive a learning aid CD (one per family please), and a printout of the shlokas. Collect the CD & printout at the front desk at Bala Vihar.
• The rules are similar to last year’s competition. Full rules will be posted in our website.

The number of verses to be memorized and chanted will depend on the current class/age group, as follows:

NOTE: This year we are adding a new ‘non-competitive’ category for high-schoolers (9th+ grade). Participants in this category need to learn only to read the shlokas, they do not need to memorize it. The detailed rules for this category are still under discussion, we will send it out once it is finalized. Note that high-schoolers still have the option of choosing the competitive category.

To register for the competition:

Register at the front desk, or send an email to cma.gitachanting@gmail.com, with ‘Gita chanting 2011-2012 enrolment’ as the subject, and the following details in the body of the email:

1. Child’s full name:
2. Current class in Bala Vihar
3. If the child wishes to participate in a higher group, mention that separately.

Participant fee of $10 may be paid by cash or check at the front desk.

Class time slots:
We will have classes every Sunday during the following time slots:

• Session 1: 10:20–10:50 AM
• Section A: 1-15 for under 8 yrs
• Section B: 1-30 for 8+ yr
• Session 2: 12:35–1:05 PM
• Section C: 1-15 for under 8 yrs
• Section D: 1-30for 8+ yr

You can join either session 1 or session 2 of the classes. We are offering multiple timings for convenience. Room numbers will be figured out on Dec 4th.

Volunteer to help with the competition:

We need volunteers to teach, collate participant information, judge the competition, tally the competition results etc.

If you would like to volunteer, please send an email to cma.gitachanting@gmail.com, with ‘Gita chanting 2011-2012 VOLUNTEER’ as the subject, with the following details in the body of the email: Your full name, area you wish to volunteer.

A note about Hindu Temple Bala Vihar Competition

The Bala Vihar at Hindu Temple of Atlanta (Riverdale) also usually holds its annual Gita chanting competition in March. For the past few years we have had the same high level rules and used the same Chapter. However, our competition is not linked to theirs. If you wish to register for the HTA competition, please check with the temple Bala Vihar about it.

Every year we plan Art & Writing competitions for our 3^rd grade and older kids.

We need several volunteers to plan for these competitions in terms of topics, rules, competition logistics and determining the winners.

If you are interested in helping with these competitions, please email Bhavana.

All the committees are planning activities for the Jan-May session. So this would be a very good time to get involved and help make a difference.  Our website has CMA Committee overview information that you can look at – http://www.chinmayamissionalpharetta.org/?page_id=76.

If you have not done so already, we encourage all parents to commit to attending a Study groups or Bhajan/Chanting class. Don’t just drop off the kids and leave to run errands.

The parent classes are for the parents of Bala Vihar kids.

Study groups and Yoga class is available for the parents who come early for their kid’s language class.

9:45-10:40 – Yoga in Gym

9:45-10:45 – Study group 1 – Self Unfoldment text in Drama room 509

10-10:55    – Study Group 2 (advanced) – Self unfoldment text in teachers meeting room 524

Study groups at SFMS from 11:30-12:30pm.

Gita Chapter 3 – Coordinated by Sundaram ji in Rm 509 – Read and discuss

Gita Chapter 3 – Coordinated by Sameer ji in Rm 339 – Watch Gurudev’s lectures and discuss

Gita Chapter 1 – Coordinated by Shekhar ji in Gym – beginner class

Bhajan Chanting Class – Coordinators: Smitha Yellamraju & Lakshmi Vedala – Media room by rotunda

CMA also has weekday sessions at 3800 Grey Abbey Dr, Alpharetta, GA:

Self Unfoldment Study group                        :  Friday morning 9:15-10:15am

Bhagavad Gita Study group                          :  Saturday morning 8:30-9:30am
Skype session with Ishwaranandaji              :  1st Tues. of every month 8:15-9:15pm (Nov 1st)

MedShare is a nonprofit charity organization dedicated to improving the environment and healthcare through the efficient recovery and redistribution of surplus medical supplies and equipment to underserved healthcare facilities in developing countries. The shipments from MedShare have brought healing and the promise of better lives to more than 85 countries and countless patients. MedShare needs help in sorting and preparing the medical supplies for shipping.
CMA is very proud to announce that youth group volunteers (Dhaumya Shah and Veena Ganapathi) have taken initiative to coordinate this seva project. The seva project is on Saturday, Feb 11th (1PM – 4 PM). CMA is encouraging all students (10+ year old) and parents to help MedShare in their effort to help underserved healthcare facilities in developing countries. Please sign up for this event by sending an email to darshanshah9@gmail.com. If you need more information about MedShare please visit www.medshare.org, or talk to one of the following parent coordinators:

Darashan Shah (678) 523-8459
Shobha Swamy (678) 608-2930
Dharani Komarlu (678) 491-6054

Copies are available in the rotunda for all parents/kids who do not have them. All parents should get a copy of Upasana Manjari for themselves so that they can learn the prayers/aarti we do in the assembly.  Also listen to the meaning of Guru Stotram at: Videos – (Stanzas 2,3 & 4 of Gurustotram)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoULgoCCkWU&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sla1FgmUueA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ggsPmoakhU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLE559651A9BB407F6

The person speaking the loudest is certainly heard the most yet the person speaking the most intelligently is listened to the most – why do we raise our voice when we ourselves do not respect those who raise their voice?

Whenever a circumstance is falling apart, the ego looks in every direction to lock blame onto someone instead of absorbing the circumstance, instead of accepting blame – why can’t an unpleasant circumstance just be sans blame being involved?

Only a personality that is calm, cool and collected lives by vision and not sight (yah pashyati sa pashyati) – why ever let go of the lighthouse that is our ideal?

The CMA Mortgage reduction plan is to get donations and no-interest loans (multiples of $1K) from CMA member families to pay off as much of the mortgage as possible.

We are thankful to all the families who participated last year to help us meet 65% of our goal. Our target will be met if we get another 20 families to participate in the $5K no interest loan plan.

More information and forms about the proposal is on our website home page at: http://www.chinmayamissionalpharetta.org/?page_id=158