Chinmaya Mission Houston Releases a New “Upanishad Daily” App

By Diya Vuthandam

Houston: In our fast-paced environments, filled with back-to-back meetings, classes, and notifications, an invaluable nugget of wisdom embedded in our daily routines can be just what we need to recenter ourselves. This was the intention harnessed by Chinmaya Mission Houston (CMH) as they developed their newly released app, “Upanishad Daily”, giving seamless access to some of our oldest scriptures through a novel, modern medium.

As the Texans say, this is not CMH’s first rodeo when it comes to digital transformation of our ancient scriptures. On October 6, 2019 the Gita 365 app was released to provide the viewer with a daily message from the Gita. It is said that the Bhagavad Gita is an essence of the Upanishads; as a natural progression students sought to expand on their knowledge and receive a more in-depth understanding of the Upanishads. Thus, on the heels of a successful launch of the Gita 365 app, the Chinmaya Jivan Darshan team, guided by Acarya Darshana Nanavaty (loving called Darshana Aunty) released the Upanishad Daily on October 24, 2021, which was blessed by the virtual presence of Pujya Guruji Swami Tejomayananda and Pujya Swami Swaroopananda.

Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda centered his mission around elevating the accessibility of Hindu scriptures to reach a wider audience of seekers around the world. Digitally transforming his teachings is a fitting next step. The App will send users a push notification of a short “message of the day”, derived from Pujya Gurudev’s Jnana Yagnas on the Upanisads­ – Kaivalyopanisad, Kenopanisad, Kathopanisad, three popular Upanisads handpicked to be an easy starting point in the discovery of the scriptures. Both the Gita 365 and Upanishad Daily apps are available for free on the Apple App store and Google play.

Distilling the message into an app format was not without challenges for the Jivan Darshan team. The messages delivered had to use media creatively to make these complex ideas easily digestible for the user. The platform has to be as user friendly and accessible as possible. Working with videos that were originally filmed 30-40 years ago posed some difficulties, as team members had to enhance the color and sound of the videos to make them more appealing to a modern viewer. The goal was also to ensure the user interface remained authentic to the spiritual tone of the platform, all while appealing to users from a broad range of generations.

The Sanskrit word “Upanishad” translates to “sitting down near to”, alluding to the fact that gurus would historically sit with their dedicated students to share their wisdom. In a world where there is an overwhelming abundance of knowledge on any topic, the Upanishad Daily, gives us intimate access to carefully curated material, much like a guru who is able to weed out the excesses and guides us through our spiritual study.

For more information about Chinmaya Mission Houston, Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya  and its activities please visit www.chinmayahouston.org, www.saumyakasi.org or call temple 281 568 1690 or Jay Deshmukh 832 541 0059 or Bharati Sutaria 281-933-0233

Artwork by Punam Malhotra