Author:
Publication: www.kaumudiusa.com
Date: September 2004
URL: http://www.kaumudiusa.com/kusa/html/spirit_1.stm
Celebrations of the 150th Sree
Narayana Gurudeva Jayanthi were held across the world during the
weekend of August 28 - 29. The followers of Shree Narayana Guru in
the North East region of the United States of America celebrated
this great spiritual event under the auspices of Sree Narayana Association
of North America with events spread over for a full day. The festivities
were held in New York, at PS 177, 56-37 188th Street, Fresh Meadows
on August 28.
The festival was filled with symposiums,
discussions, and discourses, speeches, cultural festivities and delicious
traditional Kerala feast. The celebrations of the 150th anniversary
were combined with Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Sree Narayana
Association of North America and ironically it was celebrated on
the day of the annual celebration of the festival of Onam. This event
gave the youth, children, adults and seniors, what everyone had expected,
a treat for their heart, soul and stomach.
Sree Narayana Association is known
to organize fabulous celebrations of Gurudeva Jayanthi for the last
several years. They are also known to give the most delicious Kerala
style feast in the Americas. This year was no exception. However
comparing to the high standards they set for the last few years,
this year's celebrations and the feast was subordinate to their own
high standards. Still the feast was filled with the best Kerala dishes
you can taste in this corner of the world. The cultural items were
also good except a few which were not on par with the previous years
and one of them was not even fit to be presented on a stage of an
ethereal organization in the name of the most divine personality
lived during the last few centuries. This item was an insult to the
divine nature of this organization. Also the stage management was
poor.
This year's festivities commenced
at 10:30 AM with two symposiums, one for Youth led by Vasanth Velayudhan
and another one for Women lead by Mrs Kala Prasannan. Mr Jayachandran
Ramakrishnan, secretary of the association, inaugurated the celebrations
with the lighting of the traditional lamp. Vasudev Pulickal, chairman
of the association inaugurated the symposiums. The youth discussed
the problems faced by them in growing up in a multi cultural Ssciety
and the women discussed the problem of stress and it's management.
Both the discussions were lively
and filled with personal experiences and solutions. Women's symposium
brought out few speakers who never before were seen on stage with
microphone. However the discussions were lively and very informative.
They offered quite few steps on how to manage stress and overcome
the difficulties faced by people under stress. One of them quoted
from the Puranas and suggested ways to manage stress.
At 12:30 PM the special feast cooked
by the members of the association known as "the best Kerala style
feast out side of Kerala" was served. Over 1,000 people enjoyed the
feast. At 2:30 PM the public meeting commenced with the welcome speech
by Mr Sasi Divakaran, President of the Association. Sasi Divakaran
reminded the audience of the great services given to the association
by the founding members and the people who led the organization during
the last 25 years. He announced that they would be honored today
and then introduced some of them to the audience. Damanan Narayanan,
N S Thampi, E.K. Baburajan, Mr Janardhanan Govindan, Mr Nanu Kandyil
and K.K. Gangadharan were not present. Dr Raju Pullarkat, Vasudev
Pulickal, Udayabhanu Panicker, P.K. Radhakrishnan, K.P. Damodaran,
K. Velayudhan and A. Venugopal were decorated. Poojya Swamiji Shanthananda
honored them with "Ponnada". Sasi Divakaran stated that Udayabhanu
Panicker was one of the founding members and he held many positions
in the association such as member of executive committee, member
of the board of trustees, joint secretary, secretary, president,
and chairman on many occasions.
The speakers for the occasion were
Poojya Swamiji Shanthananda of Chinmaya mission of NJ, chairman Vasudev
Pulickal, Dr Babu Susheelan, Dr Girish Bhaskar, Dr Sashidharan, Shankar
Mani and Udayabhanu L P Panicker.
"Human should attempt to attain
the ultimate truth, not by discriminating between people and people,
religion and religion or by identifying between different interpretations
of God, but by discriminating between reality and unreality" said
Sasi Divakaran in his welcome speech. "Sree Narayana Guru proposed
three essential steps for social progress. They were organization,
education and industrial development. He believed in the necessity
of organization in the fight against social evils, because organizations
give strength to the people." he continued to said.
"The philosophy and the practical
approach of Narayana Guru to the problems are very significant in
the present condition prevailing in the world. Guru's teachings of
love and respect for truth have great deal of significance in human
life. He was a great human being with a deep understanding of human
nature and made every effort to encourage the full development of
every one. The true expression of nonviolence is compassion. To experience
genuine compassion we must develop a feeling of closeness to others
combined with a sense of responsibility for every body's welfare.
This can only happen when we accept that other people are just like
ourselves in desirous of happiness and not desirous of suffering.
It is very important that we find positive ways in which everyone
can be trained in the path of compassion, kindness and nonviolence.
This must be the objective of this organization," he said.
In his opening remarks, chairman
of the association, Vasudev Pulickal said, "Popularly called Narayana
Guru, the rishi from the southern Indian state of Kerala, preached
universal brotherhood for all irrespective of color, class, creed
or religion. India is the home for hundreds of great spiritual, social
and political leaders who changed the course of Humanity for a better
living for all life forms. Sree Narayana Guru was the greatest among
them who lived within the last few centuries. Sree Narayana Guru's
teachings eradicated the dark period of inhuman manipulation of human
being and other life forms.
"He radiated and instilled spiritual
knowledge in the society and removed the evil of ignorance. This
created a feeling of self-respect, love and brotherhood in the minds
of people all over. HE tried to constitute a society where religion
or religious propaganda will not disrupt the freedom and peace of
the human life and discredit any one in the name of religion, the
work they do, the community they belong to or the color of their
skin. He propagated the message of compassion, equality, equal opportunity,
independence and universal brotherhood." Pulickal said.
The chief guest, his holiness Poojya
Swamiji Shanthananda in his address said, "Narayana Guru showed us
how to live happily now and here, from moment to moment. HE did not
just tell us that, but HE lived it and showed us how to do it. The
philosophy of Sree Narayana Guru played a significant role in the
progress of the state of Kerala and India. HIS followers spread all
across the globe endeavor to spread his philosophy everywhere. This
rishi led a quiet but significant social revolution in India. We
should transfer his philosophy to the coming generation by living
it, not by just preaching it. We must teach them by our actions not
by our words," Poojya Swamiji Shanthananda said. "That is the reason
we, even after all these years celebrate his Jayanthi all over the world
and this will continue much further into the future" he said. Swamiji
reminded the audience the significance of the mirror Sree Narayana Guru
sanctified as the deity in a temple HE consecrated. This is the greatest
message of "adwaitha vedantha" he said. With this he told us that the
God is residing in you and you have to only realize that God in you. He
urged Sree Narayana association to teach the great words of Narayana
Guru to the children in a language they can understand.
"The essence of the teaching of
Narayana Guru was that, human interest, whether collective or individual
had their common center in the Self. The Self was the secret key
to all human values." Swami Shanthananda continued to say that, our
great Guru Narayana conveyed the message of our ancient civilization
which is thousands of years old and which still holds good for the
betterment of every life form in this world.
Dr Babu Susheelan, in his address
asked why we are still celebrating the Jayanthi of Narayana Guru?
Then he answered his own question thus: "Whenever Dharma is deflated
or deflected away, during the course of history, we had Rishis or
Acharyas take birth and direct the Humanity to the correct path of
Sanathana Dharma, the Spirituality of India. Of all such Rishis Narayana
Guru was the Great one. A yogi, a poet, a social reformer, a philosopher
and yet a simple human being. Even after all these years, his teachings,
based on Sanathana Dharma are relevant, not only in India but also
all over the world. His functional concepts based and developed according
to the ancient Indian concept of relation between God and human can
be practiced anywhere in the world. Hindus and non-Hindus can practice
them. All the writings of Narayana Guru reflect the Vedic concepts.
HE told us to practice cleanliness and be industrious. HE showed
us the benefits of hard work by working hard all HIS life."
Dr Susheelan continued to say that
our values have to be protected and so we must be united and organized.
That is why Narayana Guru asked us to be organized. We are a pluralistic
society and not a dualistic society. In our society all has to be
treated equally. The values of our Sanathana Dharma teach us that
all are the same and as such all must be treated equally. Our Spirituality
does not discredit or discriminate against any one. Our Spirituality
teaches us to be in harmony with the nature. We must have a strong
base to practice and promote our Spirituality. The only way is to
be united and organized as Narayana Guru said. Dr Susheelan stated
that Hinduism is Spirituality and Spirituality is Hinduism
Next speaker, Dr Girish Bhaskar
said, "While on the one hand, technological advancements have brought
the world closer than ever before; on the other hand, there are divisive
forces that misuse religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, color
and socio-economic status, to divide humanity and create feelings
of hatred against each other.
Dr Girish Bhaskar, during his speech
stated that Sree Narayana Guru came to the seen at the time when
great injustice was being inflicted on the people. The system, which
corrupted the country, was responsible for this and Narayana Guru
stepped in and changed everything around. HE traveled from one end
of Kerala to the other numerous times. He also traveled to Sree Lanka
and other parts of India with his message of Universal brotherhood.
He established Temples, about thirty of them. Most important one
was at Aruvippuram. HE wanted people to go to temple free of fear
of being thrown out. HE established educational institutions and
encouraged His disciples to do the same. He also was the moral cause
of Vaikkom Sathyagraha, which paved the way for temple entry for
all Hindus. He convened the first ever All Religious Conference of
India, which was the second one anywhere in the world to be convened.
The first was in Chicago where Swami Vivekananda represented Sanathana
Dharma and spoke.
Dr Bhaskar said Sree Narayana Guru
was the only reason the conversion of Hindus to other religions was
controlled in the southern parts of India. He stopped the custom
of child marriage and simplified the wedding ceremonies and stopped
the worships based on superstitions. He advised people to get education,
have faith in God, be clean, start cottage industries, get technical
education and start industries and prosper. All these were said more
than eighty years back. If people followed those instructions fully,
Keralam and India could have been much more advanced by now, Dr Bhaskar
said.
"As the new millennium has dawned,
people everywhere seek ways to unite humanity and work towards achieving
peace, joy and common good of the entire humanity. The best way to
unite humanity and achieve peace, joy and common good of the entire
humanity is to hold on to the principles of Sree Narayana Guru and
put them to practice." Dr Girish Bhaskar stated in conclusion.
"Greed and desire are the two problems
facing the humanity today and Sree Narayana Guru and other Spiritual
leaders guided humanity to get out of such evils and make a prosperous
life based on hard work, sincerity, love, mutual respect and dignity.
Narayana Guru and other such leaders used their pen and poetic and
literary power to uplift the human dignity. However a lot of present
day writers are doing the opposite. Their writings are counter-productive
for the welfare and safety of the society and its members," said
Dr Sashidharan in his speech.
He quoted the story of Macbeth and
said that it is time that we look for inspiration from spiritual
leaders like Narayana Guru and march forward. He stated that Christian
and Muslim community has given a lot for the welfare of the society
especially in the field of education. He stated that he was the product
of a christian educational institution. Dr Sashidharan stated that
Sree Narayana Guru never asked Hindus to be united, nor did Shankaracharya
say so. They both urged the whole humanity to be united.
Shankar Mani who also spoke said
that the way to control our future inevitably relies upon how we
direct our present state of mind and how we process decisions for
the present and future by learning from experiences from the past.
In other words, every decision we make affects our future and these
decisions we tend to make are based on past encounters and experience.
The relevance of this statement is tremendous because it correlates
to history. In the past, we were focused on bringing together the
people to learn Guru's words and deeds and what HIS principles meant.
Narayana Guru believed in the idea of unity that should regain throughout
the world. Everyone is the same, we all have blood running through
our veins and have hearts, which help, circulate it. We all breathe
air and we all drink water. We all love our families and raise our
children. We all want what is best for ourselves. We are all human.
Therefore, we all essentially should love and respect each other's
beliefs and take care of each other. After all we all worship the
same God.
Sree Narayana Guru would be 150
years old today if he still existed as a human on earth. Therefore,
I would like to wish him a happy birthday and may be his teachings
guide us for the good future. We can, together as a united community,
acting selflessly, shall take the next step to success. Guru once
said: "Acts that one performs, for one's own sake, Should also aim
the good of the other human." In other words, if I act for my own
sake it should also help those around me. The success of the organization
lies in aiming for the good of not only its members, but also of
all the people around us because we are "Of one same womb, one same
form, Differences none there is at all", Shankar concluded.
Udayabhanu Panicker, former chairman
of the association, released a beautiful souvenir publication. As
usual it had a lot of reading material on Narayana Guru and Indian
Spirituality. It also contained stories of the activities of the
organization during the past 25 years in pictures. Again just like
last year this souvenir was also designed and produced entirely by
the association. Before releasing the Souvenir Mr Udayabhanu Panicker
spoke to the audience. In his address Panicker stated that even though
different people use different superlatives for Sree Narayana Guru,
only few have really understood who Narayana Guru was. Some call
him a social reformer, some call him adwaitha vedathin, some call
him a humanist, some call him a philosopher and the communists, to
take political benefit describe him as a communist. Even some describe
him just as the leader of a particular community. However Narayana
Guru was much more than all these superlatives put together, he said.
Prasanna Babu proposed vote of thanks
to all those helped put together the event that was one of the most
admirable ways to honor a Great Guru whose teachings continue to
inspire the world every day of its life and the audience.
The speeches were spread between
melodious songs and scintillating dances from talented local artists,
which were a real treat to the hearts and minds of the packed audience.
Earlier, legendary King Mahabali was welcomed with Thalappoli, Chendamelam
and music. He was solemnly led to the stage, where in his presence,
women dressed in traditional Kerala attire, white Mundu, Nariyath
and blouse, performed the popular dance, Thiruvathira.
Students from many of the dance
institutes all around tri state area and different parts of USA presented
brilliant dances and music. Among those who entertained the audience
with their songs included Sreeja Mani, Tara Mohan, Shyamala Panicker,
Suresh Padmanahban, Iswarya Santosh, Omana Vasudev and Soorya Shaju.
Classical music presented by Pooja Rajeevan and Poorna Rajeevan was
a new addition to Shree Narayana Association's functions and that
was indeed an added attraction of very high caliber. The Kathakali
dance performed by Mohan Plavila and Mamtha Sasikumar was excellent.
Classical, semi-classical, folk, modern, and cinematic dances were
performed by Pooja Rajeevan, Poorna Rajeevan Meera Soman, Maneesh
Sasikumar, Aswathi Somarajan, Leakha Prasannan, Anjana Divakaran, Mamtha
Sasikumar, Sreeja Mani, Umamaheswari Panicker, Shreelekshmi Panicker,
Anjali Divakaran, Reshma Prakash, Archana Babu, Vinay Prabhakar, Lincy,
Tara Mohan, Meera Mohan, and Meera Soman. Anurdha Bhatt performed
Pushpanjali, while Sreeja Mani presented a beautiful Pooja dance and
Sreelakshmi Panicker played the violin. The evenings entertainment
concluded with a nearly two hour long Ganamela presented by local
artists. After those audiences were served dinner before they left.
=========================
Spirituality of Bharat
Udayabhanu Panickar
Mark Twain (1835-1910), The
Great American writer once wrote, " India is the cradle of the human
race, the Mother of history, the Grandmother of legend and the Great
Grandmother of tradition. The most valuable and the most instructive
materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only."
The Spiritual treasure of Bharat,
(some identify it as India) has no limits. Its vast treasure of knowledge
contains an unlimited collection. The Science of the Absolute, as
Nataraja Guru named it, it has every thing and anything Spirituality
has to offer. No other culture or country can claim to have this
vast array of knowledge. Some chose to name it as a narrow-minded
path to God and tie it down into a religion. It is not a narrow path
or ingression to salvation as some makes it out to be. It is not
a cult or a creed. It is a continuously evolving and absorbing, but
still strictly adhering to the traditions of our ancient Spiritual
Science. It never gave itself a name, because it set itself no sectarian
limits. It asserted no sole infallible dogma, or set up no single
narrow path or gate of salvation. It was a continuously enlarging
tradition of the God- ward endeavor of the Atma (human spirit or
jeevatma). It was and is an immense, many-sided and many staged provision
for a Spiritual self- reclamation for all. It had the right to speak
of itself by the only name it knew - Sanathana Dharma as Sri Aurobindo
said. It is an immeasurable collection of Spiritual thoughts, which
will help any one who will dare to swim through that vast self-building
and self finding knowledge. It is ever profusely donating but never
emptying.
It teaches us that the one who is
kind and practices righteousness, and remains passive in the affairs
of the world shall reach the God. It also teaches us that the one
who considers all the creatures of the world as her/his own self;
she/he shall realize the Immortal Being. God shall be with her/him
who attains the true knowledge of the Science of the Absolute, because
the Dharma or the Spiritual ways laid down by the Rishis of Bharat
is the true way to The God and the one who follow that path shall
reach the Ultimate Bliss.
If we do not have the mental peace
and happiness of our ancestors, it is due to our gross neglect of
the Dharma as our ancestors accomplished for us and educated us.
When the practice of Dharma declined, suffering began.
The moralists may condemn them or
praise them, wealth may come and go, death may occur today or tomorrow,
no matter what, the wise; the one with the true knowledge of the
Absolute don't deviate from the path of Dharma as preached by our
ancestors.
British historian Arnold Joseph
Toynbee (1889-1975) once said: "At this supremely dangerous moment
in human history, the only way to the salvation is the ancient Indian
way. Here we have the attitude and spirit that can make it possible
for the human race to grow together into a single family." This is
truer now than ever.
Sree Narayana Guru immensely radiated
Spiritual knowledge of Bharat throughout his life. His every action,
every word He said and wrote and even his silence contained an enormous
amount of influencing radiant knowledge of The Absolute (Aadmeeyajnana),
which communicate a message or messages taken from the ancient Aadmeeyajnana
of Bharat. All His writings including Admopadesha Shatakam, Jananinavaratnamanjari,
Darshanamala, Daivdeshakam, all do the same. They all convey the message
of "The Absolute". Adi Shankaracharya, Chattambi Swamikal and Swami
Chinmayananda were some other Great Gurus of Kerala who radiated an
immense quantity of Aadmeeyajnana of Bharat. And Matha Amritanananda
Mayi and Her own disciple Swami Adhyatma Chitanya are doing the same
now.
Let us dive into that vast ocean
of knowledge and fill our mind and intellect with the Ultimate Knowledge
and thus discard the desires and attain The Ultimate Bliss.
Learn from the mistakes of others.
You won't live long enough to make
them all yourself
