[GHHF] Bala Samskar Kendra Students – Organized Nagara Sankirtan in combined Celebration of Swami Vivekananda Birthday and Makara Sankranti
Mark Tully stated that “I have repented today: I do profoundly believe that India needs to be able to say with pride, “Yes, our civilization has a Hindu base to it.” The genius of Hinduism, the very reason it has survived so long, is that it does not stand up and fight. It changes and adapts and modernizes and absorbs–that is the scientific and proper way of going about it. I believe that Hinduism may actually prove to be the religion of this millennium, because it can adapt itself to change.” He also observed “Hindus are still slaves to MUSLIMS and CHRISTIANS.”
Global Hindu Heritage is very happy to inform that we started about 18 Bala Samskar Kendras in and around Guntur to teach about the richness of Hinduism, Hindu festivals, Hindu ethos, Hindu History, and culture and traditions. Sri Rajesh is a very active member in the community championing the Hindu Values not only to the children but also actively involved in making the Hindus proud of their culture.
Sri Thunuguntla Ramesh and other teachers organized a very big program in the celebration of Swami Vivekananda Birthday and Makara Sankaranti by organizing Nagara Sankirtna in three Districts. They are:
Guntur District
Bapatla District and
Palanadu District.
Nagara Sankeerthana
Nagar sankirtan, is a tradition in the Indian religions involving the processional singing of holy hymns by a group in a residential area. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is credited with introduction of custom of Nagar kirtan, which included singing not only lyrical verses dedicated to Krishna but also chanting and singing them repetitively on the streets of city in form of a procession.
Nagara Sankeerthana means organizing group chanting of religious songs selected a number songs on different Gods and Goddesses such as Lord Vishnu, Lord Shiva, Devi, Ganesh, Dattatrteya, Rama and other gods going around the streets either in the city, village or in the Ashram itself. Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji of Avadhuta Datta Peetham conducts Nagara Sankeerthanas during new year in different cities – Mysore, Hyderabad and other cities. In 2013, following Nagara Sankeerthan in Hyderabd he said, “ Today we completed Nagara Sankeerthana for a second consecutive year victoriously, gloriously, happily, with devotion and focus! Who in the world doesn’t want the blessings of God and Guru? Nobody. If such people exist, they would be the most ignorant beings that ever existed. Everybody needs Guru’s blessings. I pray that His blessings last forever.
We now reached the last part of Nagara Sankeeerthana programme. We started at one point, tried to cover as much distance as we can. Of course, we would like to cover up entire city of Hyderabad but that would take us three days or so! We covered about 8 kilometer radius, praying that we get rid of the kinds of hardships and get the 8 sidhis. With Gods grace, may the worlds be prosperous, happy, peaceful and courageous. With this wish, we sang His name on the streets, reached the starting point. After this, we are supposed to sit down for a while here and pray to God. This set of events have been an ancient tradition. We just followed all the steps in this tradition. We also witnessed prayers to Lord Rama. Let’s now sing one song on Lord Rama. Our Guru Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji has written and composed thousands of bhajans because in this Kali Yuga, singing God’s praise is the most effective spiritual practice. This was also true for other Yugas as well. Today as we were singing in the streets, it felt like we were transported to Krita Yuga. Only by following dharma and ethics can we reach such a happy state. Following that ancient dharma, we performed Nagara Sankeerthana today. Let’s sing one of the thousands of Bhajans given to us by our Guru and then we will talk more about the importance of Nagara Sankeerthana. Everyone should sing with me. Bhajan removes fear and re-birth. It removes our sins and sorrows from our past lives as well.
When we hear the sounds of songs, “it reverberates to a long distance. In the old world, they used to say that the sound of the bell on the hills of Tirupati used to be heard across the kingdom. The power of sound is such. This is a direct answer to those who wonder what good we are doing to the world by singing in the streets of Hyderabad. The waves of our sound reach far corners of the world and bring peace and happiness to the world. How much service can we do to the world? We have our human limitations. We can’t serve the world physically beyond those limitations. Only by singing God’s name with devotion, we can serve all the people in the world. This tradition has been followed by Lord Hanuman and other great men like Tumbura, Narada, Tyagaraja, MuthuSwami Deekshitulu, Shyama Shastry, Ramanujacharya, Madhvacharya and the like. Today, our Sadguru, the living incarnation of Datta Himself is promoting this tradition. This year’s Nagara Sankeerthana is the second. We did the first in the year of Nandana. We should do this every year. I pray God to make it possible.”
Sri Satya Sai Baba is communicating to the whole world lessons in spiritual practices. One of the important items of these spiritual activities is Nagara Sankeerthana. Members should wake up in the Brahma muhurta (before sunrise), mentally intone the name of God, and also do it loudly so that others will hear it. All are to be woken up with God's name. All daily chores and disciplines should be carried out in God's name. Each member should encourage other members also to follow this ritual so that collectively all will dedicate their lives and work to God. This comprehensive programme of service is Nagara Sankeerthana. This sacred programme should be carried out in every hamlet, village, town and city. At dawn no other sound but the name of God should be heard. This will yield immense benefit. It purifies the mind as well as the environment. On waking, if one loudly intones the divine names of Rama, Krishna, Govinda, Damodara, Sankara, Durga and Lakshmi, one's heart gets cleared of impurity. Sathya (truth), Dharma (duty), Santhi (peace) and Prema (love) get firmly implanted there. Moreover, waking up in the Brahma Muhoortham is itself a wholesome habit. It is good for health; mind gets alert; heart is filled with happiness; all the organs are purified. Sri Sai Bhagavan has given instructions that all devotees should assemble at one place, conduct intonation of Pranavam (i.e. Om), and recite Suprabhatham. Afterwards they should go about on the streets of the town from 5 to 7 A.M. singing soulful devotional music with appropriate bhaav (content), raag (tune) and thala (rhythm in sounds which is reflected by cymbals, Mrithangam, tamboora etc).
WE NEED YOUR HELP
Ghar Waapasi is going on unimpeded. We appreciate it if you can help in hiring more people who can go to these villages to do Ghar Waapasi. We have employed 20 Pracharaks working at the ground level. More people we hire, more villages can cover to welcome them back and also create Chaitanya (Awareness) among the students and villagers.
1) Sponsor one Bala Samskar Kendra for $1000.00
2) Sponsor one Pracharak: In order to expand our base and hire one Pracharak, it would cost approximately $3000.00 per year. We have five anonymous donors who sponsored Assistants.
DONATIONS
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