Puthige Swamiji's Jordan Trip

[Guest guest]

Dear Devotees,

 

With great pleasure, I would like to give you a small

report of His Holiness' trip to Jordan

 

On 21st after finishing all poojas early morning in

the house of Smt. and Sri. Nalini and Jayaram Nadig at

Houston, we departed for Amman, Jordan. Smt and Sri

Geetha Rama Rau, Smt. and Sri. Jayashree Satyendra,

Smt. and Sri. Nirmala Vasan, Smt. and Sri Rohini and

Sheshagiri, Smt. and Sri. Durga Raghavendra Rao, Smt.

and Sri. Jayanthi and Ramanath Kongovi, and several

other devotees wished us well when we departed. Most

of them even came to the Houston airport to see us

off.

 

We were welcomed by Mr. Bheema Rao and Mr. Aravinda

Aacharya when we landed in New York and we were taken

to the residence of Smt. Susheela and Mr. Bheema Rao.

There, we performed evening pooja. At Bheema Rao's

house Sri. Shankara Shetty, Sri. Seetharama Bhatt and

others came to wish us farewell. Mr. Aravinda

Aacharya and Mr. Bheema Rao took us to the JFK

airport. Mr. Aravinda Aacharya who has rendered

valuable support for Jordan trip gave most useful

suggestions on the way to the airport. Mr. Bheema Rao

was very active and made all the necessary

arrangements. By this time, Dr. Dinakara Rai made all

the necessary arrangements for checking in.

 

At the airport the staff of Royal Jordanian Airlines

were very enthusiastic and curious to see a Hindu

Swamiji and his religious team leaving for Jordan. By

finding out that these Hindus and Swamiji were going

as the guests of the king, we were treated as special

people. Mr. Bheema Rao and Mr. Aravinda Aacharya bid

us goodbye.

 

To see the elder and active Bheema Rao and the smart

and humble Aravinda Aacharya bidding farewell to our

jubilant Swamiji, who was on the way to spread the

message of Sri. Krishna in the world platform, " the

picture of bidding farewell, in Sundarakanda, to the

mighty Hanumanji, the messenger of Sri. Rama, by

Jambavan and Angadha passed by in the screen of my

mind for a moment " . By the time, the captain of our

seven members troop, Dr. Dinakara Rai, led us to the

aircraft of Royal Jordan.

 

The next day afternoon we reached Amman international

airport via Amsterdam. We saw the representatives of

the king and the WCRP who were full of curiosity and

were posing the question " are you Swamiji? " to every

delegate from the Royal Jordan aircraft. By this

time, we saw our representative Keshavaraja who had

already reached there two days prior in order to make

all the necessary arrangements, rushed to the spot and

introduced us to all of them and they were glad to

receive us.

 

Passing through the airport lounge, we were quite

curious to see the islamic country. We felt ourselves

as strangers there. I observed all eyes were planted

on us and some people were discussing within

themselves something, which I guessed that they were

talking how this Hindu Swamiji entered our country and

they were convincing themselves as if it was because

of their king's wish.

 

By the instructions from the conference organizers,

Swamiji and us bypassed all the security measures and

we reached the baggage claim area quickly. The hosts

themselves carried our luggages as if we were their

close relatives. At that time, we were under flash

lights of cameras. For Swamiji, they had arranged a

royal car and for others a mini bus. Within 45

minutes we were in the guest house called 'Amman Jewel

Guest House'. Our Indian association people were

waiting for us. The president of the Indian

association, Mr. and Mrs. P. K. Yadav were so happy to

see us. He had also selected Mr. Pradeep Kumar from

Mangalore for coordinating with Keshavaraja. In

warfoot all of us got everything ready for pooja and

bikshaa by fixing peetham and making arrangements for

cooking. We felt as though we were in India. We saw

the systems of America and weather of India there so

it was a grand and very pleasant new experience for

us. There were all facilities phone, TV, washing

machine, Indian system kitchen and everything. The

guest house assistants, who were very humble, were not

even knowing English words. In fact, they had

provided a 'royal suite' at Mariott Hotel for Swamiji

and His entourage. However, Swamiji opted to stay at

the guest house to maintain the sanctity of the

Krishna Puja.

 

Next day, 23rd Nov, 1999 the conference organizing

secretary Mr. John McAuley came to the guest house to

see Swamiji. He gave all information about the world

assembly and offered to provide a special car for

Swamiji's use. That evening, Indian Ambassador of the

Indian Embassy visited Swamiji at the guest house and

witnessed Tottilu Pooja. Ambassador was happy to meet

Swamiji and enquired about the facilities in the guest

house.

 

On the evening of 24th November, we were taken to see

the dead sea. Dead Sea is located about 25 miles from

the Amman City. It is considered as the lowermost

point on the earth (450 ft below sea level). The

unique speciality of the dead sea is that nobody will

sink in the sea water. All of us experienced that !!

 

 

25th Nov was the inaugural day of the world assembly.

In the inaugural ceremony the King of Indonasia, The

King of Jordan, King Husain, The prince of Jordan,

Prince Al Hasan Talal, and the secretary general of

the World Conference, William Wendley were present

there among many dignitaries. The King Husain

personally met Swamiji and had a brief conversation.

 

From 25th to 28th November, various topics like

Economic and political factors for common living,

Social and religious factors for common living,

Conflict transformation, Disarmament and Security were

covered. There were about 1500 delegates from 66

different countries representing all the religions.

All the participants from India met Swamiji and took

His blessings.

 

On 27th november, about 25 people from Indian

Association of Jordan visited the guest house for the

Tottilu Pooja and took Prasadam from Swamiji.

 

On the last day of the world assembly, Swamiji was the

key speaker of the closing ceremony. Swamiji's speech

on the topic 'historically rooted spirituality for

common living' was well appreciated. (The text of the

speech will be posted separately).

 

We are happy to inform that His Holiness has been

elected as President of the WCRP for five years.

 

We all enjoyed our stay at Amman, particularly due to

the kind hospitality and warm treatment provided to us

by the organizers of the assembly in general and

Muslim volunteers of the palace in particular . Their

whole hearted attempt to make us feel at home was the

reason behind the success of our Jordan trip.

 

Next day, 30th November, we all departed from Jordan

International Airport and reached New York and

travelled to Los Angeles to continue Swamiji's trip as

per the schedule.

 

 

Prasanna Acharya / Keshavaraj

_______

 

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