SAMARPAN DHYANYOG – International Yoga Day CELEBRATIONS GOA, 21ST JUNE, 2015
I had planned to go
to Goa for celebrating the IYD the moment it was officially announced. I then
started speaking to friends and fellow soul mates to make the road trip with
me. Five people agreed and then cancelled at the last moment. On 14th
June at the Science and Spirituality training session at Raheja College, Juhu I
had mentioned that I will not be in Mumbai on 20, 21, 22 June as I will be in
Goa for the event. Mr. Kishore Chiklikar of Kandivali centre was also present
and I got a call from him on the 18th asking if there was place in
the car for three people. On the 18th in the afternoon-evening I
came to know that another couple had also decided against coming. On the 19th
I got a call from Harish that he too could not make it. I had then decided to
cancel the trip, but then I thought that if at the last moment 5 people were
cancelling and three were being added then it has to be His wish. So I called
Mr. Chiklikar and told him that we will go. On the 19th there were
heavy rains in Mumbai with trees having fallen all over the place and the road
outside our house being completely flooded. Nevertheless, I decided to leave on
Saturday as originally planned but with a new set of people – Kishore, his
younger sister Nina and their mother. I picked them up from Sion at around 6.15
am and left for Goa.
We encountered
heavy rains in Mumbai and up to Lonavala. After that there was no rain till
Chorla Ghat. We reached Belgaum for lunch exactly at 1pm as planned. Post lunch
we left for Panjim at around 2pm, after I took the address from Ramaniji we
headed to GTDC Beach Resort at Miramar. The drive through Chorla Ghat was
slow as there was continuous torrential rain with visibility down to just a few
feet. We encountered lots of fallen trees and many accidents had taken place on
the route, but our drive through was safe and comfortable as usual with Baba’s
Divine company. We reached Miramar at 4.45pm and checked into two rooms in the
resort which had been booked for us by Ramaniji.
Ramaniji had called
saying that he will come to get me at around 5.30pm to go to the stadium. He
picked me up from the Hanuman Temple at around 5.35pm and showed me the road to
the stadium where the event was to take place the next day. As we were driving in to the stadium we saw
Khamankarji leaving and waved out to him but he did not notice. I called him
and he returned and joined us for a few minutes of discussions before leaving
for Colva where he had put up. After he left we went into the stadium and I
observed Ramaniji micromanaging the event with a firm but polite and loving
hand. He ensured that all the pieces of the giant jigsaw were being put in
place efficiently by the respective volunteers and then he stepped back. We
then went and sat at the back of the stadium to go through the event itinerary
with Jhalkiji, Rajendra and Shaila Gaunekarji. As Shailaji and Jhalkiji were
the masters of ceremony for Konkani and Hindi respectively, where they would be
alternating in conducting the event – they went through their scripts loudly
like a dress rehearsal. Ramaniji and I gave our inputs in a few places and the
itinerary was finalised. By 8.30pm we had seen that we were more or less
prepared for the big day tomorrow. We then left and had a quiet dinner
together, and retired for the night at around 10.45pm.
The next morning I
woke up at 4am as usual and post meditation got ready for the day's programme.
On 21st morning I tuned in to the U-Stream app on the phone and
listened to Pujya Swamiji’s discourse from 6am to 6.40am. I had called
Kishoreji and he got to see a few minutes of the concluding part of the
discourse. I then went for breakfast with the Chiklikar family and then sat
chatting till Ramaniji came and piloted us to the stadium at 9.15am. We
followed his car and tried to remember the route as we would be on our own in
the afternoon while going to the venue, which was Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee
Stadium at Taleigao. We then went inside and Ramaniji introduced the Chiklikar
family to the volunteers there and requested them to allot some Guru-karya to
them after which Ramaniji and I went and checked on the stage decoration etc.
After that we again sat with the MC’s for a final run through of the event,
making contingency plans in the event of any delay in flights etc. By noon or
so we were done and the stage was set for the event which was to begin at
4.45pm. We left for lunch and Ramaniji took us to Panjim where we had to buy
some cashews etc for family and friends, and he then explained the route to go
to Hotel Fidalgo and left us. We had a nice lunch and then we left for the
Hotel at around 2pm to rest a bit. At 3.30pm we dressed and left for the
stadium, we lost our way and backtracked to the main road where a person on a
motorbike came and told us to follow him – absolutely divine as if he was the
guide sent by Swamiji! He took us half way to the stadium and by then we
recognised the road and then easily made our way to the stadium. We reached at
4pm and got a good parking slot near the entrance with His Grace. It was
raining intermittently but by and large it was dry. We left our footwear in the
car and entered the stadium, where we were warmly welcomed by the volunteers.
The event which was attended by roughly 8000 people, was ably and
beautifully conducted by the Masters of Ceremony – Mr. Jhalki in Hindi and Mrs.
Shaila Gaunekar in Konkani (the local language). The programme began exactly at
4.45pm with bhajans being sung by Shri Vidyadharji and his team along with Ms.
Krishna Khamankar upto 5.20pm. Mr. Anant Khamankar, Trustee then briefly
explained about the IYD and the reason for the Samarpan Family’s celebration of
the event. Thereafter a short film on ‘Introduction to Samarpan Dhyanyog’ for
stress release and Life Management was shown. Thereafter His Holiness Swamiji’s
message for IYD was read out followed by information being given to the
participants about Samarpan Literature, Madhu Chaitanya, etc. At exactly 6pm
the Chief Minister arrived and was escorted to his seat by the event President
Mr. Govind Parvatkar.
After the arrival of the Chief Guest a brief introduction about His/Her
Holiness Swamiji and Guruma was provided. The President of the even Mr.
Parvatkar, then gave his welcome address to the participants of the event.
Thereafter the dignitaries were welcomed with floral bouquets. At 6.15pm the
event was officially inaugurated by the lighting of the traditional lamp by the
Chief Minister - Mr. Laxmikant Parsekar, the Sports Minister - Mr. TawadkarMr. Govind Parvatkar -President, Trustees – Mr. Anant
Khamankar, Mr. Suresh Patel, Ex-Trustee – Mr. NR Kamat, Pramukh Acharya – Mr.
Rajendra Gaunekar and Mrs. Kunda Dessai, and Goa Ashram Development Chairman – Mr.
Shamsundar Audi.
At 6.20pm Dr. Sitakant Ghanekar, Dr. Suraj Kanekar and Dr. Bharati
Sardesai were felicitated by the Chief Minister for the good work that they had
done in promoting yoga. At 6.30pm a brief outline of His Holiness Swamiji’s
book – Samagra Yoga was provided by a sadhak after which the book was launched
at the hands of the Chief Minister and a book was presented to the Chief
Minister and each of the doctors who were felicitated. Thereafter the Chief
Minister, Mr. Laxmikant Parsekar, addressed the gathering for ten minutes.
The arrival of His/Her Holiness Swamiji and Guruma was announced and
simultaneously the CD of the chant Om Swami Namo Namaha started playing to the
sound of accompanying claps. At exactly 6.55pm Her Holiness Guruma arrived and
took Her seat. His Holiness Swamiji arrived at exactly 7pm and after lighting
the lamp and paying his obeisance to Dada Guru, took His seat.
The invocation of the Gurus was done at 7.10pm after which His Holiness
Swamiji showered divine nectar and blessing on the participants with His
discourse. His Holiness Swamiji took a small ten minute meditation session by
introducing the participants to the mantra – mai ek pavitra atma hoon, mai ek
shudh atma hoon, which was repeated thrice followed by meditation. It rained heavily only for the duration of the meditation with the rain drops drumming on the metal stadium roof! After
the meditation His Holiness Swamiji requested the participants to ask questions
one at a time. The question answer session was very fruitful with quite a few
new insights being provided by His Holiness Swamiji. After the question and answer session Mr Jhalki requested Her Holiness to sing a bhajan. Guruma being the epitome of motherhood and kindness, in spite of being visibly tired sang a beautiful bhajan devoted to Swamiji to the joy of all those present. While Guruma faltered during Her singing a couple of songs one could see His Holiness looking at Her with such love and compassion that it gave me goose pimples! After Her bhajan the event concluded
exactly at 9pm with Shanti Paath,
after which both His/Her Holiness left one after the other. From 9.05pm onwards
the singing of devotional songs continued while ‘Prasad’ was distributed to the
participants. Mrs. Sumangala Khamankar sang the ‘Pasayadan’ in her mellifluous voice drawing curtains on a wonderfully
organised event which was filled with divine vibrations.
We then had
‘Prasad’ and Mr. Umesh Paiji told me that he was staying back and his
arrangement had been made at the GTDC with us. We reached the hotel by 10pm and
got into the room and after chatting for a while with Paiji we retired for the
night. Next morning I woke up at 4, meditated and went for a bath at around
4.45am. Paiji wished me good morning and I reciprocated, finished my morning
ritual and dressed up ready to leave. We then chatted till 5.30 when Kishoreji
knocked and we took our bags and left. I requested Paiji to join us as he would
have to register as a guest. We settled the bill, Paiji checked in and we left
at exactly 6am which was our scheduled time of departure.
The road was free
of traffic and we reached Chorla at quite a clip. Kishore who was sitting next
to me went to sleep and then I noticed that his sister Nina and their mother
were also sleeping. The drive was now twisting and turning up and down the ghat
with s-turns and z-turns at regular intervals. Suddenly the sleep energy got to
me and even though I was trying to remain alert my eyes shut for a fraction of
a second and I turned the steering in just the nick of time otherwise we would
have ended up like the other vehicles we had seen parked into the mountain!! I
then prayed to Swamiji and told Him to be with me and keep me alert. I then
made a conscious effort and while doing ‘namasmaran’
we reached Belgaum at 8am for breakfast at the Sanman. While having breakfast I
lovingly explained to Kishore that one does not sleep while sitting next to the
driver saying that the sleep energy which is created is dangerous! He smiled
and on the rest of the trip sat behind while his sister Nina sat in front. We
did not encounter any rain, in fact the sun was out and smiling at us. We
reached Lonavala at around 12.30pm and saw a huge traffic pile-up. Luckily with
His Grace we were stuck for only ten minutes as the traffic cops cleared the
way for us to go. The jam was because of a massive landslide which had taken
place just before the tunnel blocking the entire road going towards Mumbai.
We reached Mumbai
at 3pm, I dropped the Chiklikars at the Dharavi-Bandra junction and proceeded
on my way.
All in all a
wonderful experience with Swamiji’s discourse and an amazing question and
answer session where He gave new insights to certain topics.
Jai Baba Swami
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