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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.
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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
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