‘GIFT or Gita, an Inspiring Friend to Treasure’ was a series of talks by dynamic youngsters and eminent personalities on the cosmic song of the Lord, the Bhagavad Gita. It was organised by Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth and Chinmaya Yuva Kendra, Kerala, in commemoration of National Youth Day which is celebrated on 12 January, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Youngsters from across Kerala and other states registered for the event which was held online on Zoom and streamed live on the YouTube channel of Chinmaya International Foundation (CIF).
The event was scheduled for 19 days. On the first eighteen days, youngsters spoke on select verses from the Bhagavad Gita, expounding on the gems inherent in those verses. The speakers on the last day were Swami Swaroopananda (Chancellor of CVV and Global Head of Chinmaya Mission), Swami Tejomayananda (former Chancellor of CVV), Mr. Jayakumar (IAS officer), Ms. Arya Rajendran (Mayor of Trivandrum).
On 07 January 2021, the fourteenth day of the series, Sarang B. Narayanan ( third-year B.Com.) spoke on the eighth verse of the twelfth chapter on Bhakti Yoga, Sreesivan ( second-year B.A. Sanskrit) spoke on the twenty-fourth verse from the fourth chapter and Krishna Priya P. S. ( first-year B.A. Sanskrit) expounded on the tenth verse of the first chapter. Dr. Anil Narayanan (Assistant Professor, School of Linguistics and Literary Studies) was the keynote speaker on the same day. He spoke on the fourteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita. He explained the three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. The gunas keep the eternal Self bound to the physical body. Sattva binds by attachment to knowledge and joy, Rajas by passion and activity, and Tamas by laziness and sleep. He went on to explain how to recognise someone who has transcended all the gunas and described the qualities of the person who has gone beyond the three gunas.
Shri. Karthik Sharma K. (Assistant Professor, School of Vedic Knowledge Systems) was invited to deliver a keynote address on the eighteenth day of the programme that is 11 January 2021. After listening to the students speak, he concluded the ideas presented by them, while emphasizing karma yoga and its importance in the life of a student.