Swamiji tour report from the Washington DC area

[Guest guest]

krishNabhaktas,

 

1008 Sri Sugunendra Theertha swamiji's tour report in Washington DC

area:

 

1008 Sri Sugunendra Theertha swamiji spent the navarAthri festival in

the Washington DC area. Devotees in this area were blessed with the

special poojas, discourses, special celebrations and the blessings. A

devotional atmosphere pervaded the krishNa bhaktas in this area during

this time.

 

Swamiji arrived in the city on the ninth of October. He started off the

tour with the evening pooja in Sri bAlAji hebbar's house. There was an

extended bhajan session following the pooja, which brought out the

devotional atmosphere. Swamiji spoke about the importance of navarAthri

and how navarAthri can be considered as the " king of festivals " . The

morning pooja on the next day was also in sri bAlAji hebbar's place. The

place was filled with devotees from this area. The pooja and the

discourse, in which swamiji talked about the importance of temples and

poojas, was exquisite. About 150-200 people who had gathered were

treated to traditional serving of the food on " bALe ele " on the ground.

Religious atmosphere during the serving of the food was enhanced by

stotras chanting and devara nAma singing by the volunteers.

 

During the week, swamiji performed poojas, discourses and lectures at

devotees homes. Swamiji conducted classes on the book " sri mahAbhAratha

tAtparya nirNaya " of sri madhvAcharya during evenings. Many students

utilized this opportunity to learn portions of the great book. Swamiji

also did special " srikara devaru " and lakshmi pooja during morning

times. Here " srikara devaru " and lakshmi are worshipped with nArAyana

hR^idaya and lakshmi hR^idaya stotras that are repeated in increasing

counts for each day of navarathri. It was wonderful to watch this

special pooja. Swamiji also did discourses on the navaratna prameyA's of

mAdhva philosophy during the nine days of navarAthri. Swamiji explained

the difficult philosophical concepts in a very easy to understand

fashion with down to earth examples. These lectures are mostly in

English. VMS volunteers are planning to bring out cassettes with all the

swamiji's lectures. These cassettes will be on the " must have " list of

all mAdhvas and krishNa devotees.

 

On Saturday, October 16th, Children's conference was arranged by Smt.

Rama Srinivasa Rao and other VMS volunteers. About 25 children attended

the conference. There were stotra lessons, lesson on Indian calendar,

discourses by swamiji, quiz, coloring sessions and talent show by

children. All the children had a fun time while learning important

concepts at the same time. Every body was impressed by the enthusiasm

and the knowledge childen showed in quiz and talent shows.

 

On Sunday, October 17th, swamiji performed pooja at the sri siva

vishNu temple in Lanham, MD. Devotees performed kanakAbhisheka (or

showering with gold and silver coins) on swAmiji. It was a moment full

of spirituality and emotion as the devotees offered respects to swamiji

in a unique and memorable function. The function was enhanced by sri

suttur swamiji from Mysore, India participating and doing the first

kanakAbhisheka to swamiji. It was touching to see a swamiji of the

shaiva tradition performing the kanakAbhisheka to a swamiji of the

vaishNava tradition. The coins were consecrated by doing pradakshina

to Lord sri venkateshwara sannidhi with the chanting of sri sukta by the

devotees. Then kanakAbhisheka was done to the Lord viTTala and swamiji

by showering them gold and silver coins to the chantings of the hymns.

Sri JV Acharya coordinated all aspects of this spiritual event that was

unparalleled in the hindu tradition in this country. After the pooja,

swamiji gave a discourse with a Q & A session in the auditorium.

 

 

On Tuesday, October 19th, swamiji and the devotees celebrated vijaya

dashami and madhva jayanthi. Many of the devotees had taken time off to

celebrate this special festival on a week day. Devotees did pArAyaNa of

entire sumadhva vijaya grantha, which is the biography of sri

madhvAcharya, in the morning. Sudarshana homa was performed and swamiji

did tapta mudrAdhAraNa. After mahA pooja, swamiji instructed students on

the shanti pATha and did mangala for the sri " sri mahAbhAratha tAtparya

nirNaya " class. There was a special atmosphere at this function where

the students were given upadesha of shanti mantra and bramha sUtras.

After lunch, there was an excellent lecture on " sAkhi pramANa in dvaita

philosophy " by sri jayakrishNa. He explained the difficult concepts in

a very clear manner. Following the lecture, there was an impromptu Q & A

session with swamiji on the same subject. swamiji explained some of the

intricate aspects of sAkshi and showed everybody how to use the sAkshi

concept to help us in some practical situations. sAkshi can be used to

help us differentiate between right and wrong and truth and untruth when

it is used properly. Next we were treated to an excellent harikatha on

sri rAghavendra swamiji by sri vAdeeshAchar. The eventful day concluded

with toTTilu pooja by swamiji in the evening. It was a fitting way to

celebrate vijaya dashami and madhva jayanthi.

 

Swamiji's tour concluded on the 20th of October. During the last

discourse during his stay, swamiji gave the example of an episode from

mahAbharatha to emphasise the impermanence of life. He emphasised the

importance of religious sAdhana throughout the life with easy to

understand examples.

 

Swamiji's tour was memorable to the people of the Washington DC area.

The devotional atmosphere of the poojas, excellent discourses, stotra

chantings and melidious devara nAmAs by sri vAdIshachar, wonderfully

tasty " naLa pAka " by sri Rama Mohan Kodancha and able assistance by sri

shrisha bhat and sri prasanna acharya are still the talk of the town.

swamiji also initiated " samkIrtana " or devotional dance to devara nAma

by devotees during the toTTilu pooja. People are awaiting the release of

the cassettes of the discourses to treasure the memories of the tour.

 

I want to thank the volunteers who helped to organize and support the

various activities. Apart from the volunteers mentioned above, the

services of sri Sudhindra Yapalparvi, sri Gopal Potti, smt. Chandra

Bappanad, sri JayakrishNa, sri Srinvasa Rao, sri Rama Rao, sri Badari

Mathad, sri Gopi Boray, sri Raghavendra Rachuri and sri Prahlad

Kulkarni were crucial to the success of the events.

 

I will conclude with a bit of the melodious devara nAma sung by sri

vAdIshachar that brings out the devotional atmosphere very well. sri

vAdIshAchar has made this the signature song of this tour,

taTitkoTi nibha kAya jagannAtha viTlayya viTalayya..

 

Vasu

 

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Vasu Murthy

 

vmurthy

 

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