On the occasion of Sri Gita Jayanthi, ISKM Balasore had organised a youth preaching session on 14 Dec 2021. Nearly 200 students participated along with few teachers as well. The program started with harinama sankirtan by HG Murali Krishna Prabhu and then there was a brief talk about Krishna consciousness by us. We spoke about the importance of spiritual life and the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra. Then we got a shock when we asked them to ask questions which made us humble. Such an intellectual questions at this teenage age. Normally youth of this age are more inclined towards women, movie and money but these guys questioned me like Pariksit maharaja.
These are some of the questions asked by them:
1. What is religion? (This is the very first question)
2. What is the difference between mythology and science?
3. The God’s form we worship are real or imaginary?
4. What should I do as a Gaudiya vaisnava? (This was a question from a 16 years old boy, which was really amazing)
5. Why God is not removing our problems?
6. What is the ultimate goal of life?
There were many other questions too. They had given us 15 mins to conclude the program but it went on for two hours. Parents had come to pick them the students but they didn’t want to go. Despite us insisting that we have time for only 1 more question, they kept on asking intellectual questions. None of these questions were in the challenging spirit. All were submissive inquiries. We were thoroughly impressed with the program.
After that we conducted a quiz program and gave 5 Bhagavad-Gita as a gift for the winners. Even after the quiz program the students surrounded us and started asking so many more questions. It went on from 8 pm to 10 pm. We have requested management to give us half day especially for further question and answer session. IHG Murali Krishna Prabhu will be initiating a spiritual club in the institute to further establish the teachings of Srila Prabhupada to the youth
By Prahlad Bhakta Das
