History

Eternal Truths

Teachings of
Gurus and Swamis

Symbology and
History

Church of
the Children

The Church of Our Children is now located in the original church building (Shishu Bhavan). Children of all ages, from infancy through high school, are welcome each Sunday at 11:00 a.m.

Church of the Children

The staff of the Sunday School is made up of dedicated men and women who bring their love, wisdom, and example of devotion and dedication to the children.

In the four basic activities of the Sunday School, the children experience life of the soul; the welcoming activity before 11:00 a.m., in which the children and teachers sit together around the tables and informally begin their lesson through coloring, reading, and interacting with each other; the opening circle, in which the children learn to worship through prayer, hymns, offering, and meditation; the prayer rug, in which the children and teachers listen to and discuss the lesson prepared by a fellow teacher; and, lastly, creative work, in which the children express in some way the principles they have just learned about. Guided through these experiences, the children are taught the same message that is conveyed in the Temple and the Gandhi Centerthe life of the soulusing materials and activities appropriate to children. Above all, the children are taught the value, importance, and technique of daily meditation and prayer wherein their inner lives may be established on the realization of God and his righteousness. Twice a year, at Christmas and at the end of the year, the children present special programs to the congregation.

Opening: meditation,
hymn and offering

Welcoming Activity in Sunday School

Creative work in
Sunday School

Initiation of
Sunday School children
by Srimati Kamala

A program presented by the children of the Sunday School

Srimati Kamala and Swami Premananda, 1975

SRIMATI KAMALA became identified with the ideals of Advaita Vedanta and settled in the Church Ashram in 1968 to receive training from Swami Premananda. She was initiated by Swami Premananda and ordained a minister of the Swami Order by him in 1973. Since 1975 she has served as the Minister of the Church and the Director of the Gandhi Memorial Center. She has studied at the University of Rouen, France, Saint Lawrence University in New York (B.A.) and the University of Maryland, where she completed a Master's Degree with honors in Special Education. In 1978 Kamalaji was consecrated as Swami Kamalananda by Swami Premananda.

Srimati Kamala frequently represents the philosophy of the Church and Mahatma Gandhi before university, theological and civic groups outside of Washington. In June 1980, she received two awards in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the community as "Ambassador of Indian Philosophy and the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi in the U.S.A.": one from the Association of Indians in America and the other from Montgomery County's Chief Executive.

In the summer of 1995 she produced and directed a music and dance drama, the "Moha-Mudgar," based on Swami Shankaracharya's 16-verse text for the occasion of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in cooperation with the Indian Embassy of Washington, D.C., and at which the First Lady, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke. It was held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in July 1995.

At the Second Convention of Asian Indians in North America held in Chicago (May 1982) Kamala was given a special "Friend of India" award and citation for "fostering the cultural and spiritual heritage of India in North America." That recognition was only once previously given. Several of her six visits to India between 1979 and 1997 were sponsored by the charitable Lotus Trust of Bombay and the India Government (Indian Council for Cultural Relations).

Srimati Kamala, Director, Gandhi Memorial Center, USA, receiving the 1995
Jamnalal Bajaj Award for promoting Gandhian values outside India, from the
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in Bombay on November 5, 1995.
Mr. Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of the Foundation is seen on the extreme right.

MISSION IN INDIA

During India's most devastating famines in the 1940s, Swami Premananda started to send contributions from his personal funds to assist one of the hardest-hit areas. When the congregation learned of this, many of them asked permission to help. At this point, the Swami asked a group of former classmates in India to take charge of this work. With funds donated solely by the Washington church, a 40-acre piece of land, with a lake was purchased at Jhargram, District of Midnapur, West Bengal. There a medical mission and a school for three destitute orphans were started. In a short time a capacity enrollment of 300 boys was reached. Volunteer teachers and pupils worked together to build roads and cultivate the land to raise food. This project became so successful that it attracted the attention of the government of India, which asked permission to build a technical and industrial school and a teacher's college in conjunction with the church-sponsored Sevayatan Mission. The school and Satsanga Mission now look to the Self-Revelation Church for spiritual guidance only, because financial support comes from the Indian government. Prior to the action of the Indian government, the school had been supported entirely by the congregation of the Washington church.

THE SWAMI ORDER OF ABSOLUTE MONISM