Buzz By The Bay: Swamini Supriyananda Of Chinmaya Mission On Stress, Spirituality, & Inner Strength
· Free Press Journal
Discover timeless Vedantic wisdom in this special episode of Buzz by the Bay with South Africa born Swamini Supriyananda who heads the Chinmaya Mission, Hong Kong, as Chinmaya Mission celebrates 75 years of spiritual service. She is a psychologist by training and a Swamini or a Hindu monk by calling. Which makes perfect sense given how deeply Hindu philosophy explores the human mind. The interview touches on topics such as the power of the human mind in Vedanta. How to control the “monkey mind” through awareness and discipline. The deeper meaning and spiritual strength of the Hanuman Chalisa
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Excerpts from the interview:
You are leading the Chinmaya mission in Hong Kong, which is a very multicultural city. Are most of your followers Indians. Or do you have even international people who come by?
We do have a few local Chinese that have joined actually since Gurudev’s time and a lot of the expats that live in Hong Kong. I don't know if they are as committed, but they do come to see what this is all about. Some stay, but predominantly it is still Indian.
Since you are a psychologist by training, I’d like to focus a bit on how Hindu philosophy largely deals with your human mind?
Very much so. Because everything we are experiencing, even in the world outside, gets filtered by our own mind.
The year 2025 was quite traumatic. There were many incidents which left people quite shattered. We had terrorist attacks. We had the Air India plane crash. How would you advise people to cope with such events?
Life is uncertain. And if we think about how much control we have over our lives versus how much circumstances can sway us in whichever direction, it’s so hard to control the outside world, but we can definitely control inside. And the idea is when we can't control outside, and we invest so much time and effort trying to, that's wasted time and effort.
Where should we invest our energy?
Invest your time and energy where you can make a difference. So even in the world outside, I can't change the political situation, but I can be there for a person who needs their hand held. And I can turn inwards and I can calm myself down so that I'm not adding to the collective hype. Because, you know we bounce off each other too. And so sometimes if I get into a frenzy about something then there’s a domino effect. So where I can control is within.
By changing our attitude, can we not mitigate the stress that comes from life’s uncertainties?
Both sorrow and pleasures are fleeting. if you want something that is higher than the fleeting pleasures and sorrows, we have to lift our thinking. And we have to be able to see more than wherever our senses pull us, or wherever our attachments pull us.
To commemorate the 75th year of Chinmaya mission, a grand Hanuman Havan was held in Mumbai with thousands of people chanting the Chalisa. Was the primary purpose to pray for peace and prosperity for all?
For sure. Havans are always done to help us in the collective environment. When we are putting offerings into the fire of the physical Havan, that Agni, it has medicinal properties and so that goes into the air. And so collectively, on a very subtle level, it's enhancing the space around us. And even the physical qualities like water around us.
What are the benefits of chanting together? Because sound vibrations are also healing?
The words create a very specific vibration almost like a formula. Like medicine to help us calm down or increase sugar or decrease sugar, it has a very specific effect. So different chants create different moods within our own mind because our mind is nothing but vibration. As we chant out loud that vibration pervades space and it affects the plants, it affects other human beings, it affects animals and the chant of the Chalisa has so many beautiful formulas in there.
What impact does chanting the Chalisa have on our mind and body?
It creates courage within us. A lot of our lives we spend being afraid. And maybe we don't use the word afraid, but we are stressed. Stress is nothing but fear. We are anxious, which is nothing but fear. We are apprehensive of other people, which is nothing but fear. We dread something happening. Fear. And chanting together like this can actually help remove that fear. And so this quality of courage is so much more empowering than the fear we face in all these small, small ways in everyday situations.