While most students eat an early dinner at the Broadhead Center or work out at Wilson or Brody, a little-known weekly gathering takes place on Thursdays at 6 p.m. in Duke University’s Hindu Life Room It will be held at
During Satsang, Duke’s Hindu Chaplain Priya Amaresh leads undergraduate and graduate students in philosophical discussions about Hindu scriptures.
Priyaji (ji is a word of respect in India and among Hindus), as participants call her, has been leading the satsang since becoming the duke’s Hindu chaplain in 2021.
Traditional satsang discussions center on the practical application of spiritual teachings to everyday life.
“Satsangha brings together people who want to sit together and think and enjoy the truths. These truths are given in the Bible for us to understand. The Bhagavad Gita. What are the teachings? Upanishads?” Amaresh said.
This year, Amaresh is focusing on one of Hinduism’s most sacred texts, the Bhagavad Gita. This book has been widely interpreted as a conversation between God and humans and serves as a spiritual and philosophical guide. Amaresh chose the Gita because of its importance in Hindu scripture as part of the Mahabharata, one of the most notable Hindu epics, and because of the relatable experiences and questions of the book’s characters.
Most of the students who attend regularly are graduate students, but there are also undergraduate students who try to make time to attend.
“I like having a space during the week where I can just relax and spend some time.” [to] Draw closer to God,” said Aarshi Singh, a first-year student who started attending this semester and has become a regular. “I definitely come for the people and the community.”
In contrast to American-born undergraduates, the participating graduate students are mostly from India and see satsanga as a way to stay connected to their spiritual, religious, and cultural roots.
Raj Jain, who grew up practicing Jainism, was drawn to Satsanga as a second-year master’s student in engineering management.
“This…is a way of making sure that my spiritual side is still alive,” said Jain, who is from the Indian state of Maharashtra. Jainism, which is not Hinduism, pointed to the “practical aspects” of satsang, noting that the gathering is not solely focused on religion.
Rucha Patil, a 23-year graduate student, has continued to participate in satsang even after graduation.
“It feels like home…This place and all the people remind me of where I’m from,” said the Pune, India native. Patil plans to move to Boston and plans to join a local satsanga group if she can find one.
Students can also look forward to being served ‘prasad’, food offered to the deity before being served and eaten, after the session ends around 7:30 pm. With a small group of four to eight students per week, Amaresh cooks his own food, except during festivals. The number of participants was significantly larger than previous years, with about 25 people participating.
Typically, the pastor serves traditional South Indian food such as idli, the Indian steamed rice cake, with chutney and a rice dish called pongal, and the students don’t waste any of it.
Amaresh, who grew up in Michigan, has experienced many challenges in maintaining his spiritual life in the United States.
She noticed that among students on Duke’s campus, “until you come once or twice and experience it, there’s a little bit of a feeling of, ‘I’m not quite there yet, I’m not interested.’ .”
“It should become part of your daily routine,” Amaresh says. “We don’t take our faith as seriously as some communities do. We take it for granted. And we get caught up in the world. [we] It’s like deviating from our spiritual path.I hope so and I hope so [somewhere] In time, your students will realize that this is important too. ”
Singh highly recommended satsanga to other students, but acknowledged that “everyone is on their own journey and everyone practices in a different way.”
“[It’s] “It’s definitely a great space for Hindus on Duke’s campus to connect with each other,” she added. “It’s a great, great program that Duke has to offer, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it every week.”
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Samanyu Gangappa is a first-year student at Trinity and a reporter in the news department.
