Bhagawan’s Birthday!

 The 184th Birthday of Bhagawan Sri Ramakrishna was celebrated on 10 March 2019 at Eire Vedanta Society, Dublin in Ireland.

The programme began with a Puja of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Vimokshananda assisted by Swami Purnananda. The little boy Advaith surprised everybody by appearing in the make-up of Swami Vivekananda and retold the thrilling words of Swami Vivekananda from his Chicago Addresses.

Basil Conroy did the Readings from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. The portion highlighted the child-like mood of Sri Ramakrishna that brought the occasion so much merriment. The children from the John Scottus School of Dublin chanted Vedic Peace Prayers followed by a few verses from Srimad Bhagavad Gita. The audience delighted at the diction of the Indian and Irish children who pronounced the Sanskrit lines remarkably.

Tapas Chatterjee read out from the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna – the part where Thakur was making fun of ‘M’ when he had come to visit Thakur; Thakur was addressing Swamiji and other young monks and gave the example of the peacock. Rai Kamal read out a portion of ‘The Great Master’, vol 2 – the chapter on Spiritual Teachings by the Master; section 21 to 23 – where Thakur gave examples to Swami Brahmananda about the Tamasic qualities of certain people who wanted to meet Thakur, and Thakur’s advice to stay away from them. Another section talked about how Swami Vivekananda would bring his like-minded friends to meet Thakur. Sudipto sang in his mellifluous voice a few solo bhajans.

Jeff Delmar sang a song “Shepherd Boy” in an Irish famous tune, the poem that Swami Brahmananda Ji, a Direct Disciple of Sri Ramakrishna rendered during his last days. The children from Sanatana Ireland did many charming bhajans on Ganesha, Krishna and Shiva. Lucy, a daughter of Paul Hipwell played Cello instrument to the delight of the devotees. The Chai & Chant Group from Dublin performed several bhajans that brought exuberance among the listeners. The newcomer Hariharan of the Sanatana Ireland played dholak admirably.

The programme came to an end with a chorus singing of “Ramakrishna sharanam…” led by the Ramakrishna Choir, followed by Bhogarati and Pushapanjali and Prasad distribution. Earlier Swami Vimokshananda spoke on the importance of the holy occasion. He thanked on behalf of Eire Vedanta Society all those volunteers who supported mentally and assisted with donations and labour of love (tan,  man, dhan – as he put it) for the success of the function.

For a lot more photos please go to this link!

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Swamiji Jayanti at Dublin

Pencil sketch of SwamijiThe 157th Jayanti day of Swami Vivekananda was observed recently in a grand scale in India and elsewhere. While perusing the ‘global medley’ of photos that were constantly pouring in at my WhatsApp on that day, I was thrilled to notice the surging enthusiasm of the people all over the world irrespective of caste or creed, race or religion. Here is a personality that can be truly called Universal.

On Sunday the 27th of January, the Éire Vedanta Society (EVS) celebrated Swami Vivekananda’s Jayanti at its Dublin Centre. The programme included a ritualistic puja by Swami Vimokshananda, talks by Swami Purnananda, melodious bhajan singing by a group of adult devotees, hymnal chanting and singing of short songs by the children of Sanatana Ireland and readings of poems and reflections by several devotees and finally bhogarati followed by prasad distribution!

The multi-faceted qualities that Swamiji possessed included his deep interest in classical music like dhrupad, khyal etc is well known to everyone. He was also good at playing musical instruments like pakhawaj, tabla, violin, tambura etc. One music artiste Ashish Dha, specializing in Nada yoga in Dublin paid homage to Swamiji by singing the morning raaga Miyan ki Todi. He also played dhrupad and a little khyal to the delight of devotees in an Irish instrument Hammered Dulcimer somewhat likened to the Indian santoor. He charmed the assembled children by singing an English funny song playing with his guitar! A grand birthday cake was also offered lovingly by the children while singing the beautiful song “janmadinamidam…” in a chorus. About 50 people attended the function.

For EVS, this fledgling centre, this is the very first tithi-puja celebration. There was all around joy among the visitors. The reason was obvious: That Swamiji was the Guru of Ireland’s daughter Margaret Noble! It was Swamiji who gave the delectable name of ‘Nivedita‘ to this dedicated lady from the West. Even after a distance of a hundred years of Sister’s writings and speeches, when one goes through them afresh today, one is unmistakably inspired by Swamiji‘s broadness and inclusiveness of all faiths and beliefs. In her representation of Swamiji, He shone as broad as the sky and as deep as the ocean.

His was a mission tirelessly telling everyone that Divinity is within and to manifest in everyday life must be set as the goal. And he inspires men, women and children everywhere with his clarion call to stop not till one reaches the goal.

A few snaps of the Dublin Centre celebrating Swamiji‘s birthday:

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SingaSpeaks – Roar 72

Roar 72 describes the two major functions – one Sri Krishna Janmashtami held on 14 August 2017 and another – a sequel to this function. The latter one was a Cultural programme where Children from the Hinduism classes participated…

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