Atlanta katha, special and sutratmak
The people of Tucker, Norcross and all the neighboring cities of Atlanta, Georgia were blessed with Pujya Bhaishri’s Shreemad Bhagwad Katha, for the 8 days of August 3-10th. The katha was held at the Sardar Bhavan in Tucker and organized by India American Cultural Association (IACA) and India Cultural and Religious Center (ICRC). The katha was fabulously received with packed daily audiences and people from all over attending, some driving as much as two hours a day for katha and some from as far away as Vancouver, Canada as well as various other states.
The Gyan Yagna was organised to serve the spiritual needs of the Atlanta, Georgia community and to raise funds for the building of a new temple on the Indian American Cultural Association (IACA) premises. As the organizers pointed out to Pujya Bhaishri, whenever Thakurji is ready to make his Mandirhere he will but for their part, they were willing to spend whatever it takes to make this yagna a success and enjoyable for everyone attending. The mukhya yajmans of the kathawere Dr. Padminiben and Shri Chandler Sharma.
The katha timings were 5:30-8:30 pm, but the divine Katha Ganga freely flowed from 5pm till 9-9:30pm most days and of course, later on Thursday August 7th on the day of Krishna janam. The Katha session began at 5 p.m. and continued for seven and a half consecutive hours. In this seven and a half hour session, Pujya Bhaishri threaded all the Skandhas leading up to Shri Krishna Pragatya, which was celebrated at 12:00 a.m. (midnight). The entire session was interspersed with various anecdotes embellished with soothing music. A special effects extravaganza to celebrate the utsav began at 12:00 a.m. (midnight) to herald the Pragatya of Lord Krishna. The special effects included simulated thunder, lightning, River Yamuna and Akashvani as well. The awe-inspiring session was thoroughly enjoyed by all of the devotees. Celebrations continued for another hour after midnight with more to come the next day.
The entire hall was filled with ecstatic devotees dancing in a large circle around most of the seating area, as well as smaller circles within that as everyone danced in joy at the new baby’s arrival in Gokul. Nandotsav celebrations were thoroughly enjoyed as well. The Govardhan Puja included a skit at the end of the katha with a mountain that Krishna smilingly lifted for his cowherd friends and family as everyone took shelter under it. The devotees from Atlanta had prepared hundreds of mouth-watering dishes for the celebrations of the Annakut. The special effects were mesmerizing and the costumes were simply beautiful. Shortly after midnight, everybody enjoyed the Annakut along with Mahaprasad.
Shee Rukshmaniji’s vivah was also truly magnificent with both sides singing many well-wishing wedding songs as the actual ceremony took place. Pujya Bhaishri instructed everyone to not merely witness the ceremony as yet another wedding, but to truly imagine one’s OWN wedding to Shri Krishna and to feel all that you would feel as Krishna’s Chosen One- man or woman!
He blessed all the people of Atlanta and praised their efforts to truly become the best of both worlds, but encouraged them to keep this dedication to their culture and heritage alive and thriving. He also strongly urged them to make a trip back to India, with children, at least every two years and spend some time with family, etc but to definitely make time to go visit a holy teerth or dham and to understand the significance of the place, resident deity and holy saints who choose that as their abode.
During these eight days the katha amrit was full of priceless pearls of wisdom, emotion and enlightenment. Bhaishri discussed the content and significance of the various chapters of the Bhagvatam and elaborated on the many hidden meanings of some of the stories and events. Of the many things said some of the striking sutras were:
Before attempting to know or understand God, come to know and fully appreciate the Glory of His Katha, and with that power understanding Him will come on its own.
Everywhere you look people have everything they need, yet complain of being upset and unable to feel at peace. Just as trying to cool a pot of boiling water with ice cubes is only a temporary measure, so too is trying to cool our burning minds with the ice of chanting, or praying and fasting only a superficial remedy. To truly make the change, remove the cause of the heat- in our case the fire of Bhav Rog. We are essentially by our own nature at peace and we don’t need to DO anything to come back to our own nature, instead we need to STOP doing all that we do in this sansaar that causes us angst and our temperatures will come back to normal and we will experience the bliss of peace and that is who we are!
We don’t even live life to the fullest when we are not mentally fully present in this very moment! There are three main causes of our mental anguish:
i. Regret
ii. Attachment
iii. Fear
We are constantly living in either Regret for the Past or Fear of the Future or too attached to the Present to ever live this very MOMENT, which is called the present because it is a gift, that we are losing every minute.
Too often things are awry because nothing is in sync in our lives. What we think, what we say and what we actually do are all different and this causes problems. Our Actions are like our Drawing Room where we entertain guests. The part of our “House” that we let outsiders/visitors view and live in. Our Emotions are like our Family Room, where we entertain our close friends and family and where you can be a little more natural. Our Thoughts, however, are like our bedroom – our inner sanctum where only those selected few who you let in are privileged to share. If we are able to harmonize what happens in these three rooms of our life, within which we live our entire lives, we will be much happier and at peace.
Just as the Triveni encompasses the three rivers: Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in it, our lives too must become the union of our Actions (Ganga), Emotions (Yamuna) and Thoughts (Saraswati). Then we can personify the merging of Karma and Bhakti and Gyan.
We all need to renew our commitment to Citizenship and Morality. Society has degenerated to where we humans cannot trust each other, and yet we strive to have faith in God?!
Science is today exploring the Power of Positive Thinking: They say a mere 10 minutes of positive thoughts in a day negates hours of negative energy. Yet our sages and scriptures tapped into this powerful energy source eons ago and have urged us to spend at least a few minutes, if nothing else, with ourselves in a day refocusing our energy and just emptying our minds. 10 minutes in the morning can renew your entire being for the rest of the day and strengthen you to face the onslaught of negative energy that you will be surrounded in all day, so why not take those few moments to revitalize and equip yourself, just as you make time for tea or breakfast or even to brush your teeth! Science has yet to discover the Power of Prayer and Surrender…
The difference between an Optimist and a Pessimist isn’t just that an Optimist sees the glass as “half full”. It’s that the Optimist appreciates what he does have and that positive attitude and energy may well give him the capacity to FILL that glass, yet the pessimist will never realize the same result.
Ravan from the Ramayana understood the secrets of success well and implemented them in his life:
i. Recognize your opponent’s Skill and capacity
ii. Know your own strengths and limitations
iii. Do what you do with complete dedication, dedicated mind and full effort.
He is a great example of having no confusion at all! He understood and knew who Shree Ram was; yet he also understood the limitations of his demonic body and nature and knew that he could not attain Shri Ram through sattvic observances. Instead, he did what he did best and chose enmity with the Lord but it was no half-hearted measure. He embraced his choice and his actions and efforts were steadfast and even when implored by his wife, wise counselors and elders, his own brother, Vibhishana, and even Shri Hanuman and Angad to give up his foolhardy behavior- there was no room for negotiation at all in Ravana’s mind and ultimately he attainted liberation at the hands of Shri Ram himself. This does not mean that we all can choose a similar path, but there is a priceless lesson to be learned here and the above three points are secrets to success.
We are said to be using a mere 0.1% of our mental capacities and with such little use of our mental powers we haven’t even been able to open the files of life. We have the strength to achieve so much more if only we are able to tap into it!
Man is the sole cause of both his Bondage AND his Liberation.
Pujya Bhaishri left immediately after poornahuti for London on the evening of August 10th.
