What is this program?

Our goal was to create a workshop for regional YA retreats, focusing on the WYC theme of Ideal Sai Youth: Messengers of Sai Love. The workshop is designed to unify YAs on a regional level and encourage them to think about theory and practice when it comes to Swami’s teachings. We hope that, through the various parts of this workshop, YAs will leave with valuable tools to help them with personal transformation sadhanas. We also hope to create a National Toolkit that YAs can tap into before and after the WYC.

How was the workshop created?

The core team went back to the SSE manual and Swami’s discourses to research and define love, human values etc. Over and over again we were drawn to the idea of perception and the thought that we all wear glasses of some sort at any given time. What glasses we wear and how we wear those glasses affects our perception of the world around us. If we wore green glasses everything would appear green. Similarly if we wore the glasses of love, everything would appear beautiful and lovable. The core team thought it would be interesting to pursue this idea and challenge ourselves as YAs to think about the glasses we wear and how that may help or hinder our progress on the path towards becoming Ideal Sai Youth. We also wanted to take this a step forward and have YAs come up with additional everyday ‘tools’ that will help them through any spiritual sadhana. Everyday objects that you just cannot ignore and will constantly remind you of your spiritual goal.

How will this workshop be implemented?

The goal is to integrate this workshop into regional YA retreats that will be happening between now and the WYC. Regional reps and YAs involved with retreat planning will be able to take the provided workshop outline and execute it at their retreats. The different parts can be spread out throughout the retreat time. Sample retreat schedules will be posted on this site as a resource.

Documents and Resources

The workshop is divided into 4 parts. Each part is outlined in detail with suggested activities, the goal of that workshop and materials needed to successfully execute it.

Workshop outline – Full version with all parts

Part 1: Ideal Sai Youth

Part 2: Eyeglasses of Love

Part 3: Creating a Toolkit

Part 4: Ideas Consolidation – Post Workshop

Cases for Workshops

We will soon be adding a PowerPoint version of the guide as well. 

Any stories that have been talked about in the guide are included here:

King and the Green Glasses

Jesus and the dog

Relevant Quotes from Swami

Activities, case studies and retreat agendas incorporating this workshop will be added periodically    

Have Questions? Need Suggestions?

Please feel free to contact us with anything that may come up during your workshop planning and implementation stages at Workshops@saiyausa.net.

Please use the brief outline below to give you an overview of the Ceiling on Desires Workshop and use the Complete File to conduct a Ceiling on Desires workshop.

Ceiling on Desires (COD) Workshop: Time, Money, Food, and Energy

I. Part One:  (Please have slide ‘COD PowerPoint’ ready)

A. Introduction

   +Facilitator use slide 2 of ‘COD PowerPoint’ file

   +Please have someone record answers on poster-board 

   +COD slideshow (slides 3 – 7)                                                         

   +Divide everyone into 4 groups but do not assign resources at this point             

B. Story: “The Magic Seat” (slides 8 – 16 & “TheMagicSeat” Word document)

C. Discussion:

   +Facilitator explains the structure of the workshop.

   +Assign each group one resource:  Money, Food, Time and Energy.

     -Within these groups discuss ways of how the assigned resource is wasted.

     -Discuss how this wastage affects you and your surroundings

     -Discuss techniques that will help stop or reduce the wastage of these resources

Note: Facilitator distributes techniques document, one to each group

                             -----------------Break ---------------

II. Part Two:                                                                                                                             

A. Activity: Prepare skit/song/commercial or use skit provided in the document.

   +Presentation/skit is about why COD is important and how to achieve it based on Baba’s teachings.                                                                                                       

B. Present/discuss/summarize work from previous activity

C. Story:  An incident in Parthi

D. Swami’s video      

Regional YA retreat took place in Shrewsbury, MA during the weekend of April 14/15, 2007. Over 65 Young Adults from New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York participated in the retreat. This Regional Retreat was a great culmination to our road trips and yet a great new beginning for WYC and beyond. Young Adults were pleasantly surprised to meet and mingle with so many YA brothers and sisters from across the region.

Click here for the entire report.