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By Sutharsan Chakra das
For a long time, people of Colombo were anticipating a vibrant program for their spiritual upliftment. By joint efforts of ISKCON Colombo & ISKCON Batticaloa devotees, under the sponsorship of LiveU Pvt. Ltd. (Mr. Rajendran), people’s thirst for a substantial spiritual message was finally quenched. At the public program, HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami stunned everyone with his profound realisations of Bhagavad Gita. After the lecture, there were more than 20 written questions from the audience which showed the sincere quest of the public. Maharaja answered three questions, and encouraged the audience to continuously attend such discourses. The same day morning, Maharaja spoke on Vasantham TV about the importance of sincere inquiry about the purpose of life and invited everyone to participate in the evening program called “The Path of Bhagavad-Gita”. That might be the reason that so many people turned up for the program. Saraswathy hall located at the centre of Colombo was fully packed.
HG Mahakarta Prabhu, President of ISKCON Sri Lanka spoke about the beginning days of the movement in the country and their struggle to establish Krishna consciousness even during the war period. It was inspiring to see that after 40 years of their endeavours, Krishna bhakti is now becoming well accepted in society. The temple construction is going on and after completion, we can expect more and more jivas to join the Krishna Consciousness movement.
The special feature of the program was the drama – “Who is a Fool”. The story of the drama revolved around a proud king who engaged in vain materialistic endeavours and social welfare without any higher goal in life. The king ordered to find the biggest fool in his kingdom and hand over him a stick. At the end of his life, the king understood that he had wasted his valuable human life and realised that he is actually the biggest fool and the “fool’s stick” should actually be given to him. He then became repentant and took complete shelter of the holy name of Krishna. This drama was full of spiritual instructions emphasising the precious knowledge of Bhagavad-gita and the importance of the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. It thus conveyed a strong spiritual message in a very amusing and humorous way. Especially youngsters liked the drama very much. Some of them said that they had never seen such an enlivening spiritual program in their whole life.
Another innovative feature of the event was Mantra Meditation session presented by Vasudeva Datta Prabhu. He explained that many people come to such festivals and become very enlivened and blissful, but when the program is over, they go home and again fall back into illusion. He taught them the practical method of Japa Meditation by which they can remain spiritually enthusiastic even in their daily life. A team of devotees distributed japa malas to everyone and made them chant one round of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra together. The atmosphere in the hall became surcharged with the transcendental vibration of the holy names of the Lord and after the session, more than 60 people purchased the beads in order to chant on daily basis. Additionally, a six session course on “Rebirth” was offered to all the participants.
Sumptuous prasadam was prepared by Radhanath Krishna Prabhu with the help of local devotees. ISKCON Colombo offered their kitchen facilities for cooking.
It was a historical spiritual program and we hope to experience it again.
– Sutharsan Chakra das