With no end in sight, the Corona pandemic continues to take its toll on human health. More in terms of mental than physical. The fatality rate due to the corona has gone up, workplaces are being opened more for economic reasons not because the Corona pandemic is over. In between all these chaotic scene ISKCON Ayodhya came up with idea of providing the sublime knowledge of Bhagavad to masses in form of Bhagavad Gita 18 Chapter in 18 Days(1-18 June) .Registration was opened on 22nd May and Sessions were to be started by 1st June. Such was the enthusiasm and eagerness about Bhagavad Gita that with mercy of Srila Prabhupada, H.H Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj our beloved spiritual master, H.G Devakinandan Prabhu, H.G Sankarshan Nitai Prabhu and H.G Sadbhuj Gaura Das president ISKCON Ayodhya within span of 10 days 1 Lakh(100 K) people got registered for the free course. People were so eager that we were not able to handle the volume so much that registration had to be stopped since we were not able to handle the unexpected volume. In total 4 Lakh 35 Thousand people(435 K) approached for registration but we have to refuse rest of them except 1 Lakh.
We had participants from all across the Globe mostly from India since the sessions were in Hindi. 99% audience were new to krishna consciousness
Sessions and course material was prepared based on teachings of Srila Prabhupada & were conducted by Devshekhar Vishnu Das from ISKCON Ayodhya and his sister Padmaradhika Devi Dasi. Both of them have their families an Engineer by profession both brother and sister are working in Multinational companies and practicing Krsna consciousness and dedicatedly serving in there respective local temples in various capacities right from Deity worship, Preaching,Cooking & Book distribution.
"The sole aim of the service was to present the teachings of Bhagavad gita as it is presented by Srila Prabhupada in his books. We just summarized chapter by chapter" told Padmaradhika Devi Dasi. "We thought that since the duration is too long and in current situation people don't have enough time we will get around 100 registration but as acharyas says people want to hear about knowledge about supreme lord and hence100K people across India and abroad signed up in just a short span of 10 days and we were overwhelmed that we have to stop registration. It was all because of the mercy of Srila prabhupada." confessed Devshekhar Vishnu Das.
Finally the Icing on the cake moment was when Iskcon GBC secretary H.H Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaj joined the Q & A Session to bless all the participants by his motivating words and asked them to read Srila Prabhupada Books and take up the process of Devotional service by Chanting Hare Krishna Mahamantra..
The sessions were inaugurated by following dignitaries on first day through online platform :
1. Dr. Neelkanth Tiwari. Minister of State (Independent Charge). Tourism, Culture, Religious Affairs, Protocol(MOS) - Government of Uttar Pradesh and patron Minister of District of Ayodhya Uttar Pradesh, India
2\. Mr. Arvind Sharma Ex - IAS : Ex-Secretary in Prime Minister Office(PMO) and Vice President of BJP Uttarpradesh Unit.
3\. Mr. Anuj Jha : District Magistrate(DM) Ayodhya.
These sessions were well covered in Print media few of them which reported them are as below :
1\. Dainik Jagaran2. Navbharat Times3. Janmorcha.
The audience gave an overwhelmingly positive feedback.Audience included IPS rank officers, Government Officials, Doctors, Businessmen, Director of Firms, Professors, Teachers etc. On the completion of the 18-day course they are provided with Certificates once they successfully complete quiz .In order to bring these people more closer to Krishna further sessions are planned for these participants.
Finally it proved beyond doubt that this Corona has become Karuna(Mercy) for all these people. Jai Srila Prabhupada. Hare Krishna.
Your Aspiring Servant
Devshekhar Vishnu Das Adhikari(GKG)
Source: https://www.facebook.com/Dandavats/posts/2002647643233475
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