Bhakta Sammelana at SV Temple Pittsburgh

[Guest guest]

Dear Prapatti Group Members:

 

This past week-end, the Bhakta Sammelana at Pittsburgh came to a very happy

conclusion. It was well attended by the Madhwas and SriVaishnavas (mostly

local). The sammelana was presided over by the Swamiji of Puthige Mutt,

Udipi. It was a treat to hear Swamiji speak in simple yet sweet sanskrit.

The sammelana started with a short discourse by Swamiji and the day's

proceedings concluded with his speech as well.

 

Representing the Ramanuja Siddhantam, there were talks by Shri Sadagopan,

Dr. M.G. Prasad (who is doing Yeoman service to our community), Prof.

Venkatachar, a great sanskrit scholar of international repute, Prof.

Sundararajan and myself. The central theme was Bhakti and Prapatti. On

the Madhva Siddhantam which I found to be not very different from our own

there were talks by Prof. Hebbar, Prof. Vasudeva Murthy, and Shri Harish

Baipadithya (a priest from Washington temple). On the whole the meeting

afforded a lot of interaction between the followers of two schools who are

binded together with a common goal of reaching Lord Narayana.

 

Thus, the sammelana highlighted the fact that there is much we can achieve

by working together. "Balam Vishno: Pravarthathaam."

 

The SV temple did a great job in making wonderful arrangements. Each of

the participants were given personal care and the volunteers took extra

ordinary effort to make sure that everything ran smoothly. Dr. Bindhu

Madhvan, the heart and soul behind this sammelana really did a wonderful

job of putting together this program.

 

On our way back from Pittsburgh we also had a chance to get a glimpse of

the Ati-Rudra Homam organized by the Sringeri Mutt. It was done in an

unprecedented scale. The expenses $700K. 130 Ritwiks in one place. I

think we must do something for Emperuman on that scale. This we can

achieve only if we all work together - Madhwas, Sri Vaishnavas and anyone

else who has a love for Lord Vishnu. I have a few projects in mind and

after giving some shape to those ideas I will post it to invite your views.

 

I must also mention that it was a great pleasure to meet Mrs. Nagu Satyan

and her family at the Pittsburgh temple.

 

 

Vijayaraghavan Srinivasan

Buffalo, NY