Chinmaya Vanaprastha Sansthan (CVS) The aim of CVS is to give a comprehensive vision to senior citizens and to make their life purposeful and happy. |
Chinmaya Mission's services for senior citizens are innovative, practical and unique. They help society's elders find a harmonious balance between action and inaction, a remarkable strength in retirement, comfort and security within a like-minded community and the beauty and wisdom of spiritual evolution.
Operating two specific projects, both providing the same amenities and goals, Chinmaya Mission offers senior citizens the services of its Pitamaha Sadans and its Central Chinmaya Vanaprastha Sansthan (CCVS). Both projects aim at providing a serene, comfortable, and purposeful life for senior citizens.
The Central Chinmaya Vanaprastha Sansthan (CCVS) is administered by Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, the apex body of Chinmaya Mission Worldwide, with the purpose of assisting and training householders and near-retirees (vanaprasthis) to make a smoother and easier transition from life in grahastha ashram to life in vanaprastha ashram.
In accordance with the four stages taught in the Vedas, when a householder enters his later years or nears retirement, it is most beneficial for him to withdraw from the stresses and pressures of a materialistic lifestyle to spend more time seeking and finding inner peace. To live with a more holistic vision of harmony and serenity is to slowly withdraw from the world and dive deeper into one's inner spiritual bliss.
CCVS strives to improve the quality and style of life for senior citizens so that their energies are best utilized in self-unfoldment and selfless service. For this purpose, CCVS developed and offers the following courses:
1. Art of Graceful Ageing (Preparatory and Basic Courses)
2. Keeping Fit: The Yoga Technique (Preparatory and Basic Courses)
CCVS's training courses, which offer talks, demonstrations, and workshops on topics such as scriptural texts, yoga and finance, are conducted on two levels: basic and advanced. To date, about 120 courses have benefitted approximately 5,500 participants. With the growing popularity of these courses, which have already been conducted in 18 states in India and 1 overseas in Colombo, Sri Lanka, CCVS hopes to reach more senior citizens who want their life to change from materialistic to holistic. To request a training course for a group in your area, contact CCVS.
CCVS has also published almost a dozen books in English, Hindi, and Tamil on various topics for senior citizens. Contact CCVS or Central Chinmaya Mission Trust for details.
CCVS's 'Art of Graceful Ageing' Course is for persons over 50 years who are interested in planning for their eventual retirement and their life's activities thereafter. The preparatory course is for four days and the full basic course is for ten days. The course is typically conducted by two senior gerontologists and a Chinmaya Mission acharya, for whom the local organizers provide transportation, lodging and board. Talks, demonstrations, and workshops are offered on the following topics:
Physical Health
How to prevent and cure old-age ailments and diseases, how to maintain vibrant health, specific yoga techniques.
Emotional Health
How to prevent and cure psychological problems, analysis of the mind and its workings, integration techniques.
Social Health
The vision and approach to retirement, how to plan in advance for retirement and constructive social activities during retirement.
Financial Health
Financial planning for retirement, investment strategies, part-time jobs, wills and testaments, the holistic vision of minimalism and how to reduce one's dependence on money.
Spiritual Health
Vedantic study, guided meditation and spiritual sadhana.
'Keeping Fit' is a course, which is both preventive and curative. It helps to strengthen both, the gross and subtle body, through the respective exercises. Almost all important pranayamas, bandhas, and mudras are incorporated in the yoga techniques taught. Concentration of the mind is achieved through the rhythmic performance of prescribed exercises, all of which are patterned after renowned yoga techniques. The exercises revitalize muscles, strengthen bones, and positively affect involuntary organs as well as the digestive and neurological systems. While this course promotes the prevention and cure of various old-age illnesses, more importantly, it imparts holistic health, increased energy and well being.
