Ghantali Mitra Mandal 

History of Foundation

Ghantali Mitra Mandal, (GMM) has been formed in 1965 as a chari­table institution handling the social activities in Thane and around areas. The founder of GMM is late Yogacharya Shrikrishna Vasudeo Vyavahare, (alias Anna), who was off late known as Swami Satyakarmanand. Initially for around five years main activities were restricted with focus on cultural and social activities sporadically.

In the year 1970, Yogacharya Kashinath Balkrishna Saharasbuddhe relocated him after retirement in Thane. He was the disciple of Paramhansa Swami Satyanand Saraswati from Bihar School of Yoga, Munger. He approached Yogacharya Anna Vyavahare with the strong request to spread the culture of Yoga in Thane and around. Once Annji experienced the benefits of Yoga in his personal level, he decided to introduce Yoga as one of the major activities of GMM, leading to formation of Yoga Department. The yoga Department was started in 1971which was conducting the Weekly Yoga Classes, only on Sunday, with duration of 3 months (12Sundays). This small seed was really going to grow with very strong and deep roots in Thane and around. This small beginning, led to daily classes at various locations with morning and evening batches. Presently there are nearly 15 batches in a day at Thane and Ghatkopar.
Though GMM is not stuck to any specific school of thought, has kept its approach open to accept and implement various streams of Yoga, without deviat­ing from scriptures in any manner. However, there has been an influence of teachings of Paramhansa Sami Satyanand Saraswati while implementing and spreading the Yoga from “Door to Door and shore to Shore”. Though experiments presently widely done in the field of Yoga, are noticed by GMM, are not necessarily accepted in its philosophy. In short, we can say, we believe in Traditional Yoga suited to present trends and need of society. The entire focus of work of GMM has been revolving around one famous sentence of Swami Vivekanand – “Yoga should not remain merely a thought movement but should be made socially relevant”. Whatever is implemented at GMM is always having social relevance and of usage to common man to handle his day to day issues. The lineage started by Yogachrya Sahastrabuddhe Guruji, ably enriched by Yo­gacharya Shrikrishna Vyavahare is taken forward by present Head of yoga Department, Shrikrishna Mhaskar, with the team of more than 250 committed and dedicated Yoga Teachers.

Lineage

Legendary Work

GMM humbly feels proud to conceptualize, design and implement more than 35 socially relevant proj­ects, useful for people of various walks of life. The brief summary of various projects can be highlighted as under,

• The highly renowned and appreciated (which won Silver medal at International Yoga Conference, Bangkok in 1981) was “Yoga for Jail Inmates”, first ever in the world, transforming them into Yoga Teachers. A certificate course for three months under the auspice of Indian Yoga Society, Sagar Madhya Pradesh was conducted and 13 jail inmates were successful in completing the same. They were posted at various jails in Maharashtra. During the punishment and even after completion of the same, they continued to spread the culture of Yoga. The photos of Yoga Sadhana of jail in­mate are attached.
• GMM has conducted various Yoga Conventions in Thane on very large scale in Thane of which one as in 1978 and other was in 1982, attended by more than 3500 people from all over India. For the first time in 1982 convention Jail Inmates were brought on dais for demonstration of Asanas for common public. The said convention was in­augurated by Late Morarjibhai Desai. The photo of the same is attached herewith.
• Annaji and Yogacharya Sahasrabuddhe had an opportunity to teach Yoga to then Prime Minis­ter of Nepal, Shri Kirtinidhi Bishta for couple of years. The photo of the same is attached.
• GMM has conducted camps for mentally chal­lenged students from the school in Thane viz. The Saint John Baptist School, giving very en­couraging results over the behavioural aspects of the participants.
• A very legendary project on the pregnant women (Yogankur) was conducted with more than 30 females. They were given specific Sadhana daily basis and readings pre and post level of Sadhana through sonography, which gave very astonish­ing results like increase in blood supply to fetus, normal delivery chances were high for certain operation cases. The paper presentation on the same was ranked first at International Yoga Con­ference. As per psychometric tests conducted for the babies born under this project had high level of emotional and intellectual quotient compared to other babies born during the period. The pic­ture of the same is attached herewith.
• Another important project related to increas­ing height of kid in the age group from 12 to 21 has given superb results. Minimum from 1 cm to maximum 4 cm height increases in a span of 15 days camp attended by the participants. This project is in vogue for more than 3 decades. The photo of the camp is attached.
• The camp for physical and mental relaxation in the name of Relaxation Camp is conducted dur­ing the fifth week of the month. So far 48 camps have been organized reaching golden jubilee by December 2020. The photo of the same is at­tached.
• Another time tested and proven project is related to increasing concentration power and memory of students, viz. Medha Sanskar. It has been proved with psychometric tests supported with subjective experiences of participant students. So far it has been attended by more than 65000 students from 8th to 12th standard. The photo of the same is also attached.
• The alarming problem of infertility due to PCOD has drawn attention of GMM and various camps are conducted for the benefit of females diag­nosed as certain cases. There are very good results in the form of certain females conceiving during the span of three to six months. Both the project related to Yogankur and PCOD are imple­mented under the expert guidance of Dr. Ulka Natu, In Charge of GMM’s research wing.
• The latest and burning problem is of diabetes which is increasing at an alarming rate. Preempt­ing the issue, GMM has taken this issue on top priority by joining Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) of SVYSA, initially. Now the same is implemented independently unde the guidance of expert team lead by Dr. Vimal Borgaonkar. So far 55 camps of two months duration are successfully implemented and research paper presented at International Yoga Conference has been appreciated with ranking.
• Some of the landmark projects in addition to above, conducted by GMM are Yoga for Adivasi students, Sportsmen in the field of Badminton and Table Tennis, Obesity Control, Control of Anxiety.
• In addition to these projects Conferences related to specific topics viz. Therapy Confer­ence, Conference for Yoga Teachers working selflessly in Maharashtra region and a Yoga Awareness Conference in the auspicious pres­ence of Swami Niranjananda Saraswati can be treated like landmark achievements of GMM in the field of spreading culture of Yoga. The photos of the same are attached,

Special Techniques or Specialisation

The techniques implemented by GMM in spreading the culture of Yoga is to focus Satisfaction oriented Work than, Result or Money oriented work. All the teachers, more than 250 are actively involved giving their time and expertise without any honorarium or personal monetary gains. All work selflessly and as a commitment to return something to society. The inputs are given without tall claims about cure or removal of disorders of the participants. We ensure that everyone feels the practices as “Doable” with ease and comfort with due commitment. The milestone specialisation is one year “Diploma in Yoga Education” with internship of one month, is being conducted since last 26 years, which is successfully completed by more than 3000 students.

We are happy to make a mention that we are closely associated with Indian Yoga Association, New Delhi as an Institutional member. Also are one of the founders of IYA Maharashtra Unit and presently Shrikrishna Mhaskar, is Secretary of Maharashtra Unit.