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Passing
of Shri S. Ramakrishnan, head of Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan:
In February, a true pillar of Indian culture, Shri S.
Ramakrishnan, the Director General of Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan passed away. Through
his devotion and tenacity, the richness of the Indian
literary tradition has been made available for the
entire world. At 81 years young, Shri S.
Ramakrishnan had written an email to Pujya Swamiji
less than 48 hours before his passing, sharing his
wish to join us for the International Yoga Festival
held March 1-7.
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A
special puja and ash immersion ceremony was
performed by his beloved son Shri S.
Sundararaman and by Shri Santhanagopal, on
behalf of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai.
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April 6 --
Rishikesh
Shri
N.N. Persad, the Tourism Secretary for Uttranchal came to perform the sacred ash immersion puja for
his beloved, respected father, Shri K.N. Persad. Although we had never met Shri K.N.
Persad, we are all sure that he was truly the
epitome of service, dedication and commitment, for we
see the way that his son is so filled with
selflessness and ardent devotion for the state of
Uttranchal and the entire land of India.
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April
8 --
Rishikesh
H.H.
Swami Chinmayanandji, the President of
Parmarth's Haridwar, Badrinath and Sahajanpur
ashrams, came for the divine Ganga Aarti with
Smt. Sumitra Mahajan, central cabinet minister
of telephone
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April
10 --
Rishikesh
Pujya
Sant Shri Morari Bapu came to Parmarth Niketan
on the second to last day of his Shri Rama
Katha in Haridwar. Although Ganga Aarti timing
is 6:30 pm, we held the Aarti for his arrival,
with hundreds of devotees sitting on the banks
of Ganga singing kirtan until he arrived. When
he came, he performed sacred Ganga Aarti and
also gave a beautiful speech about Ganga.
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Following
the aarti, he and Pujya Swamiji sat together
in Pujya Swamiji's garden, and then Pujya
Swamiji took Pujya Bapu up to the roof of the
new Ganga Line, where a special kutia is going
to be built. Pujya Bapu appreciated the divine
air of Mother Ganga and the beautiful view
from the rooftop.
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April
10
--
Rishikesh
The
Karia family of London, UK came to Parmarth to perform
the sacred ash immersion puja for Smt. Manharbala Prabhudas
Karia,
mother of Shri Ravibhai and Shri Jagdishbhai Karia.
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April
9-18 --
Rishikesh
Daniel
Dubie, a divine filmmaker from Hawaii, USA came to
Parmarth to seek Pujya Swamiji's blessings and to show
Pujya Swamiji the film which he had made titled Souls
at Bay. The film, made by Daniel and his company
RindonMagic together with Jade Yoshino of
Jadeavassociates is about the World Council of
Religious Leaders meeting at the United Nations in
Bangkok in June 2002 (where Pujya Swamiji was one of
the main Indian representatives) and about the
leaders' vision for peace in the world. The film
features Shri Bawa Jain, the Secretary General of the
World Council of Religious Leaders as well as many of
the world's top religious/ spriritual leaders from all
of the different faiths. The film is narrated by world
renowned actress Linda Gray , and features Ted
Turner-head of CNN, who aired some of the footage, and
such other supporters as Linda Evans, Lindsey Wagner
and Jane Goodall. Latin Grammy Award Nominee Maria Del
Rey wrote the heart touching song �World of Peace�
for the film where she performs it for the very first
time. Souls At Bay premiered in the Hawaii
International Film Festival and has been shown on
National Television in the United States, Asia TV and
will soon be seen on National Geographic." The
film is full of hope, inspiration and peace. Pujya
Swamiji arranged for a special screening of the film
for all the guests and rishikumars.
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Pujya
Swamiji gives Daniel a special Ganesh murti
and a rudraksh mala as an award for the
beautiful film,
and as a special prayer & blessing |
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April
24 --
Delhi
A special
Sindu Darshan interview on Doordarshan, hosted by Shri Tarun
Vijay, interviewed three top leaders of various traditions on
the significance of Sindhu Darshan. Pujya Swamiji represented Hinduism; Pujya
Maulanna Wahiduddin Khan Sahib represented Islam and Pujya
Shri Vincent Concessao, the archbishop of Delhi represented
Christianity. The 25 minute program has already been aired on
the national Government of India's news channel, Doordarshan.
It was beautiful to see how all three leaders spoke in such
perfect unity.
May
5 -11 --
Rishikesh
A special ATMA PARISODHANA YOGA
SAPTAHAM
yoga camp was led by H.H. Yogi Protoplasm.
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May
5 -15 --
Rishikesh
An annual
Acupressure Camp led by Dr. Suman Shah, Dr. Daksha Shah, from
Calcutta and Dr. K.C. Goel and his team from Allahabad took place
at Parmarth. Hundreds of patients received free treatment for
every ailment, through the ancient science of
acupressure.
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May
10-11 --
Mussoorie
Pujya Swamiji
was the Chief Guest at the Mussoorie International School
Annual Talent Contest. MIS is being run beautifully under the
leadership and vision of President Shri Hasmukh Rawalji. The
students are getting not only a top rate academic education
but also excellent extra-curricular activities, and most
importantly essential sanskaras, culture, values and ethics.
For the annual event, 500 students performed outstanding
traditional dances -- kathak, bharatnatyam and folk dance --
as well as beautiful Vedic Chanting, Classical singing and
bhajans.
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On
the morning of the 11 May, there was a large,
all school Yagna in which all 600 students as
well as their parents participated.
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Pujya Swamiji
gave a beautiful lecture in which He talked about the meaning
of Yagna and how it relates to all of the different religions,
not only Hindus. Yagna purifies us, brings us together with
the community and teaches us how to give. "The purpose of
life is to save, to serve and to achieve salvation."
After every ahuti, it is said, "Idam namamah." This
offering is for the wind, this offering is for the fire, this
offering is for the atmosphere. The offerings are made to all
of the divine elements that give us life, light and
nourishment. What can we really offer back to the atmosphere?
To the air? To the fire? To the water?
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Nothing, really, other
than just our surrender, our sacrifice and our pledge to
serve, serve and serve. As we chant the mantras and make our
offerings it signifies, "Oh God [in all of Your
manifestations] You protect us, so we offer our pledge to
serve You and protect You." But, how to protect? It means
we will not pollute the environment or destroy the atmosphere.
If we worship the air, the water, the fire, the Earth, it
means we will protect these divine natural elements.
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Also it
means that we will use these gifts You have given us in the
service of all the world; all that we have must be given as an
offering unto the world and all of its inhabitants - the
people, the animals and the natural elements.
He ended His
speech by telling the students: Life is an opportunity. You
must not waste it. "Bolo jivan kaisa hai? Jaise banalo
vaisa hai. Chahe is ko tamasha banalo. Chahe is ko teerth
banalo. Chahe is ko geeta banalo. Chahe is ko gaali banalo.
Chahe
is ko nark banalo, Chahe is ko swarg banalo." What is
life? Life is what you make it. Whether you make it Heaven or
Hell, the choice is up to you. Life is whatever you make it.
But, how? Lekin, banaye kaisa? The keys are given to you. It is
not only that the keys are given to you, but you ARE the keys.
A key can either open locks or close locks. Whether you
use your life to open locks or to close locks, that is up to
you. You ARE the keys.
May
11 --
Dehradun
Shri H.C.
Jain, the Commissioner Income Tax, organized a special
function at the Jain Dharamshala on "Vegetarianism from
the perspective of different religions." Various
spiritual leaders, scholars, doctors and experts gave lectures
on Vegetarianism from the perspective of Hinduism, Jainism,
Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity, as well as from a
medical/health perspective. Pujya Swamiji was the Chief Guest
of the function and gave a beautiful lecture about being a
true "human" and being vegetarian.
It is
amazing, He said, that a monkey does not have to go to school
to learn how to be a monkey. He doesn't need schooling or a
degree to be a monkey. Whatever he does, he does in the
"monkey-way" even without a degree. However, man
goes to so many schools, gets so many degrees, and still
doesn't know how to act human. Even after all these degrees,
after all these years in school, we still have to urge people,
"Act Human!"
The bodies
that God has given us are temples, they are divine, and we are
polluting these divine temples with trash. As long as there is
the blood of animals in our stomachs, there will be blood in
our thoughts. As long as we are eating violence, so we will
live violence. Our thoughts and our lives will never be
peaceful as long as we are ingesting violence and death. We
are only breeding tamashya.
In USA, every
year, they celebrate Thanksgiving, they give thanks to God.
How do they do it? By killing millions and millions of
turkeys. But I have never seen one news story where 50 turkeys
get together, grab 4 or 5 men and say "Today let us have
a party. Today let us celebrate," and kill the men and
eat them. Through these parties, through these
"celebrations" we are losing our humanity!
Through
eating non-veg we are killing the very environment in which we
live. It is only humans who destroy the land that feeds them.
It is only humans that destroy the Earth which sustains them.
We must bring back peace to the land, peace to the atmosphere,
peace to the animals, and peace to all the creatures upon the
Earth.
Pujya Swamiji
continued by explaining how important it is to teach the
Sanskaras of vegetarianism to our children so that they can go
forth and transform the world into a place filled with peace
and love and into a place where people truly act human.
May
14 --
Rishikesh
On the
opening day of Pujya Acharya Kishore Vyasji's Mahabharat Katha
Pujya Swamiji went to Vanprasth Ashram to officially light the
inauguration deepak (lamp) and He gave a beautiful lecture on
the meaning of Mahabharat.
May
14 - 21 --
Rishikesh
A
Bhagwat Katha by Shri Madan Mohan Shastriji was conducted at
Parmarth Niketan.
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