INDIA POST NEWS SERVICE
MILIPITAS, California: For Anvi Brahmbhatt, a senior at Milpitas High School, the biggest merit of the BAPS Women’s Conference was connecting with other women.
“It’s nice to know and learn from other women about their goals, the efforts they put into achieve them and the challenges faced along the way,” said Ms. Brahmbhatt.
The conference, in its 13th year, hosted over 300 women at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Milpitas, California, March 30. The theme of the conference was “Sadhana: The Purpose and the Pursuit”. ‘Sadhana’ means efforts towards our goals. Through drawing on our hopes and goals, our purpose and priorities, the conference presented an insightful look at our efforts, its challenges, and how to overcome them through actionable steps.
In highlighting the topics of the event, keynote speakers Dr Elizabeth Markle and Monet Levalley-Garcia noted the importance of maintaining constant efforts towards our ‘sadhana’ in all aspects of life. Dr. Markle is the founder and executive director at Open Source Wellness, an organization aiming towards a better lifestyle. Levalley-Garcia is a health coach and program manager at Open Source Wellness. Both speakers led the audience through the four parts of a well-balanced lifestyle: “Move. Nourish. Connect. Be.” They emphasized the importance of these four goals and how they can lead to a happier and better life for all.
The opening portion of the conference focused on identifying the hope behind our everyday efforts. Speaker Dr Umangi Patel, a double-board certified physician in internal medicine and gastroenterology, highlighted through her own ambitions and goals, how she strives to achieve them, and the challenges she struggles to overcome. She shared the role spiritual sadhana plays in maintaining faith, strength, courage and stillness required to get past frustration, apathy, bitterness, and hopelessness that life’s experiences and challenges bring. Dr Patel also highlighted the importance of the 90-10 rule which states that 10 per cent of your life is what happens to you, but the other 90 per cent is how you react to it. For Dr. Patel, her spiritual sadhana is her backbone and what helps her propel through life.
The second portion of the conference focused on the “how” of practicing personal spiritual Sādhanā. Dr. Leena Pandya shared how daily spiritual practices, objective introspection, service to others, and maintaining healthy familial relationships help towards our goal. She spoke of the importance of honest introspection in allowing us to see past ourselves, understand others, and maintaining perspective through life’s situations. She shared the five factors that have helped her in her daily life. These five factors are thinking positively of others, ‘seva’ or acts of kindness,’vairagya’ or detachment, ‘nirmanipanu’ or having no ego, and ‘bhakti’ or devotion. Through her talk, she simplified the seemingly difficult concept of spiritual sadhana into everyday achievable steps.
The last speaker of the conference, Roshni Brahmbhatt, an Enforcement Officer at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, led the audience through an activity that involved everyone’s participation. Brahmbhatt led the discussion and had each audience member turn to their neighbor and genuinely discuss their opinions on questions shown on the screen. Audience members enjoyed the honest discussion of questions and issues that many women may potentially face.
The various speakers provided a wake-up call for Preena Patel:
“Having that realization that the stories that you hear are real, it’s kind of a jump-start to the heart and to the head to remind me of the daily spiritual practices’ importance towards my own goal,” Patel said.
“I am so proud and happy to see the young women organize such a wonderful conference. I look forward to applying some of the principles discussed today in my day to day life,” said Jasmine Dave, another participant in the conference.
The BAPS Women’s Conference was inspired by His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj and encouraged by His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj, the current spiritual leader of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha.
The conference highlights the influential role of women in today’s society and also empowers the younger generations by promoting a healthy dialogue around current topics. Before and after the conference, the attendees had the opportunity to network with others from the greater community and share their perspective on the talks of the day. Many in attendance felt inspired by the conference and conveyed their motivation to share the word with their family and friends.
