3000 students in Mumbai take part in ISKCON's Gita contest

MUMBAI: As many as 3000 students from 80 schools in the city participated recently in the Gita Champions League contest organised by International Society for Krishna Consciousness ( ISKCON).

Besides Mumbai, the contest is also held In foreign countries. In Australia, every year, an essay contest is held on " Bhagwad Gita - As it is" in English. Recently, the competition was held in Mauritus and Malaysia. It is also planned to be organised in USA, South Africa this year, an ISKCON release said today.

In Mumbai recently, 23 toppers from various schools were given trophies and certificates comprising Rs 5000 first prize, Rs 3000 second prize and Rs 2000 third prize by Sunil Dhamne, Deputy Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at a function here on April 8, the release said.

Eighty-two students among the participants were non hindus. Last year, the topper was a Muslim girl in one of the categories of the contest.

Besides Mumbai, the contest is also held annually in Pune, Nashik and Nagpur (Maharashtra), Delhi, Ujjain (Madhya Pradesh), Belgaum (Karnataka), Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Kolkata.

The contest, held in English, Hindi and Marathi languages, motivates school students to absorb themselves in the teachings of Bhagwad Gita and enrich their lives and build around them a strong value system, the release said.

Till date, more than 1.41 lakh students from around 1564 schools in various cities of India have participated in the Gita Champions League contest, the release added.

The GCL contest in Mumbai was started by the visionary guidance of senior members of the ISKCON Chowpatty Temple in Mumbai in 2010. Since then, every year the contest has involved thousands of students in schools by imbibing in them character and spiritual wisdom.