The fragrance of incense, variety of beautiful colourful flowers, illumination of glittering lights, melodious chanting of Hare Krishna Mahamantra and glow on the faces of shaved headed tilak borne devotees transformed the auditorium of Prabhupad Samadhi Mandir at ISKCON Mayapur into a transcendental heavenly planet. To mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations( 1996- 2016) of International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the devotees organised the programme- “Homage to Srila Prabhupad” to pay tribute to His Divine Grace A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupad, founder Acharya of ISKCON. Fifty years back when a lone 70 year old saffron clad Swami with only three translated volumes of Srimad Bhagvatam left the shores of Kolkata and ventured into the crude materialistic world of the United States of America to spread the message of Sri Chaitanya MahaPrabhu and bhakti yoga, few would have envisaged the formation of a global Vaishnava cult know as Hare Krishna movement. Today ISKCON has more than 600 centres, 65 eco-farms and 110 vegetarian restaurants. Its affiliated Bhaktivedanta Book Trust is the world’s largest publisher of Vaishnava literature and has distributed 516 million books and magazines. In addition, ISKCON’s affiliated Annamrita Food Relief program feeds 1.2 million school children every day in India.
On the occasion of Golden Jubilee celebrations good wishes and rich tributes have poured in from all over the world in the form of messages from The Hon’able President of India Sri Pranab Mukherjee, The Prime Minsters of India and United Kingdom, singer Lata Mangeshkar to name a few. As a tribute to the movement, The President messaged “I pay my humble tribute to the contributions of HDG AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad who incorporated ISKCON in 1966 and whose teachings continue to resonate in the hearts of Krishna devotees all over the world even today”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated ISKCON and written “journey has been manifestation of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam integration core of philosophy”. Theresa May PM UK in her message mentioned “For fifty years since its foundation by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, the men and women behind ISKCON have dedicated their lives to the words of Lord Krishna to achieve peace and unity.” Bharat Ratna and renowned singer Lata Mangeshkar in her words wrote “As an artist, I am most grateful for Srila Prabhupada’s efforts toward bringing about a religious cultural revival of Indian classical arts in all parts of the world. By the blessings of Lord Krishna, many talented disciples of Srila Prabhupada have virtually mastered the arts of bhajana and kirtana and classical dance”.
Srila Prabhupad considered Mayapur as very sacred land and called it his place of worship so the devotees left no stone unturned to make the it a programme which will be cherished for long. Eminent personalities from various walks of society – senior educationists , top administrative officials, columnists, scholars, performers, revered people from judiciary, and many direct disciples of Srila Prabhupad attended the programme. The programme started with “Sasti vachan” presented by the students of Gurukul and lighting of lamps by senior devotees. HG Sankarshan Nitai Das, MAC member welcomed the guests.Next the audience was left spellbound when renowned Bengali singer , Haimanti Shukla rendered bhajan and Hari nama in her captivating voice.
In the opening speech, HG Basu Ghosh Das, Vice Chairman of ISKCON Bureau India and also President of ISKCON Baroda temple shared his personal experience with Srila Prabhupad way back in 1974 when he met him for the first time. Although an American by birth, Das gave his speech in Sanskrit and recalled how he was deeply influenced by Srila Prabhupad’s simple way of explaining the highest spiritual knowledge. Further, he shared Srila Prabhupad’s vision of reviving the practice of Sanatana Dharma by spreading the message of pure love for Lord Krishna. Srila Prabhupad emphasised on living a simple lifestyle and instructed his disciples to practice sadhana bhakti, japa, listen to the glories of the Lord and distribute Krishna Parasad to every living entity of the world, informed Das. He said that moving forward ISKCON aims to spread the Sankirtan movement ( congregational chanting) to every household of the globe. Siraj ul Islam, prominent columnist discussed about the relevance of Bhagavat Geeta and the role of Srila Prabhupad in spreading it. He strongly expressed that the teachings of Lord Krishna in Bhagavat Geeta is not restricted to any one specific religion. He exhorted every one to study Bhagavat Geeta as it will result in uprooting all the dirt that exists in the mind of the people. Dr.Ashok Das, Principal, Assannagar Tarkalankar College, Nadia, eulogised the efforts of Srila Prabhupad in uniting the people of the world under the umbrella of ISKCON. He narrated the early life , treacherous journey of Srila Prabhupad to United States on the ship named Jaladuta and the giant achievements that followed. A documentary on the life of Srila Prabhupad was shown to the audience.
While paying his tributes, HG Jagadhatria Das, coordinator of the programme, felt that the globally stature of Srila Prabhupad surpasses of being merely a spiritual master. He said that Srila Prabhupad will stay in the hearts of the people of the world who dedicated his entire life in integrating the diversified masses by promoting the culture of universal brotherhood. Das said, under Srila Prabhupad’s direction ISKCON as a society has taught the world to break the barriers of caste, color, creed, nationality and unite together to please Lord Gour Hari as is mentioned in Srimad Bhagavatam that the only aim of a living entity should be “ Hari tosanam”- satisfying The Lord Hari. He thanked all the key speakers, volunteers and people for participating in the programme.
Source : http://www.dandavats.com/?p=30659
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