Bramhavaadini, a women’s organization focused on the study and spread of Hindu scriptures, held its first Gita Study graduation ceremony on Sunday March 7th at the Chinmaya Maruti temple in Andover, MA. The twenty-one week course titled “Gita for the Goddess in You” was led by Dr. Shashi Dwaraknath and focused on the study of the Gita from a woman’s perspective. The group led by Ranjani Saigal, Parveen Minocha and Ritu Kapur honored the Guru at the event. Paintings by Raksha Soni(commissioned by the group), Meena Mehta and Manorama Chaudhury were presented to the Guru. The group made a donation to Chinmaya Mission in lieu of Guru Dakshina. Students were blessed by the teacher and received a graduation gift. 

“It all started when Ranjani Saigal and I studied Vedic Chanting for a year.  Later we saw the interest to study the scriptures from many women and thought we should have a group. Ranjani suggested the name Bramhavaadini and Parveen suggested the tagline Women on the Path of Dharma” said Ritu Kapur.

Bramhavaadini had held its inaugural event on Mother’s day in 2021 with a talk on the “Dharma of Motherhood” where Dr. Shashi Dwarknath shared  insights from the scriptures that can help mother’s perform their Dharma. In that talk Shashiji urged all to read “The Srimad Bhagavad Gita”.  The group requested her to teach the Gita from a woman’s perspective which she graciously agreed to do. 

The group embarked upon a twenty one week Gita study. The class included a one hour discourse followed by 30 min of Q/A. The students presented a recap each week of their learnings. The discourse has been recorded and shared on YouTube https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUe2eyaxuBdPoy7tHIEMJcSLyVOU1atXt. Shashi ji used her experiences of being a successful professional, a community leader, a wife, mother and grandmother to elucidate the ideas in the Gita. The women students felt very easy to connect with the teachings that was based on shared experiences with the Guru and the fellow students. 

All students felt the study had a tremendous impact on their life. “I left feeling strong and empowered after the study. It has helped me understand life better” said Parveen Minocha. The overarching sentiment in the group was that of gratitude to  Shashi ji for her spectacular discourse and guidance. "Shashi ji is a guide who is deeply spiritual and extremely knowledgable. She is a very accessible teacher who has great patience with the students. We are really overwhelmed by her compassion. She chose to give up her Saturday mornings to teach us. In her we found a true Karma Yogini" said Ranjani Saigal

Shashi ji also enjoyed the experience. “This experience has been very rewarding for me” said Shashi ji,”it motivated me to think of the Gita in a new way. The women in the group very were dedicated and really absorbed what I was trying to share” said Shashi ji. 

The group has members from around the USA. The next study the group is embarking upon is on Kathopanishad led by Swami Mahesh. To learn more about this please check out Dialogue with death .