UTSAV '08

UTSAV KOLKATA, 08

“Love is seeing God in the person next to us. Meditation is seeing God within us." It taught to love yourself and to love others. Indeed the most appropriate line to describe the Utsav experience. Fourteen Hundred youth under one roof for a spiritual gathering, hats off to the idea. One vision, complete faith and hundred percent dedication, is all, that manifested in the form of UTSAV Kolkata, August 2008.
At one point of time Utsav seemed a fantasy, a possibility which certainly seemed impossible, but "addidas" puts it right, "impossible is nothing", and our two Yes+ teachers and a bunch of volunteers went all the way to prove it right. Managing, organizing, multi tasking, we did it all. Days which seemed really long in college classrooms, suddenly seemed to be running sort of hours. Sunset ignited panic every evening; it was a sign of one more precious day over. Time kept its pace which unfortunately registrations did not and at the end of July all we had was six hundred registrations. Offices we bunked, colleges we went but only for talks, ensuring the invisibility of the volunteer who was a student of that college and trust our parents if they say, they had no clue of where their children were the past twenty days, they actually didn’t.
The best was yet to come, an all India strike on the third day of Utsav. The dates had to be revised, those already registered had to be informed, the availability of Netaji Indoor Stadium (our venue for the course) had to be confirmed, and basically we were in a mess. We finally got dates frizzed which were 18th, 19th, 21st and 22nd of August, yes we had a break in between. And because of all this, the registrations suffered. Registrations did start coming but still the “Two Thousand” figure was far off and here came the icing on the cake, TRM scheduled on the last week before Utsav, talks had to be given, registrations had to come, id cards had to be distributed and out teachers had to leave, wow, couldn’t ask for more. Its now that the grace started working, conversions came from nowhere and everywhere, id cards were quite smoothly distributed and we finally crossed the four digit mark. Oh! What a sigh of relief.
Here came the D-day, and the two most amazing people landed in Kolkata, Bawa and Dinesh, they actually prove the point that opposite values is complementary, hats off to them. Just their mere sight made me realize that we were in for a treat. My realization was too small, treat was not the word, we had a blast. Fourteen hundred people together breathing to the rhythm of “SOHAM”, words cannot describe more. Vikram Bhayia was the cherry on the pie, without which the pie was certainly incomplete. The rock Satsang rocked every heart and soul present in the auditorium, and I can actually say, we couldn’t ask for more. The carefree confident smile which every participant was wearing on the last day paid off for all the hard work, it was eventually that what mattered.
Utsav, Kolkata was the most thrilling, exciting, learning and fun filled experience, unmatched. Nothing, simply nothing can ever come close to what Utsav experience was. Kolkata is rocking post Utsav, with known faces in every youth gathering, the seed has been sown and the harvest will indeed be beautiful, with Guriji’s grace.

Jai Gurudev

Smiles

Smile


Smile is infectious, it spreads like flu, you smile, the other person starts smiling too. Yes that’s what we do at the two Seva Mandirs in Kolkata, we smile by spreading the smile. If innocence is to be personified, the kids at seva mandir can do the best job. More they teach us, than we teaching them, the kids there are smart, I must admit. I am certain God could not have made better examples of Love and Care, it’s a belongingness that each one of us visiting seva mandir share with each and every kid present over there.
Come the day of dancing and wow, the glow on the faces of those little flowers is to be seen to believe. Every moment over there is an experience of its kind, every bit of it is filled with love, fun and laughter.

Drawing is an art they all excel in. Its creativity at its best, least did we know that even a mango could be purple, and clouds could refill them under a water tap, the sun wears shades to save itself from the scorching heat and mountains cool themselves under water. They teach us the lesson that Nature has life and Nature needs to be preserved. With all “Noble” intensions we decided to paint the Seva Mandir in Garcha Slum. Oh my God, an experience non of us could afford to miss and by the way we did a fairly good job. Watching Bal Hanuman with those kids was a complete blast. They give us our week’s dose of laughter and fill our cups to the brim with love.

Integral part of our lives our these kids, we cant part with, their vacations make us sad, common three weeks without seeing those kids, not an easy wait. An initiative of Art of Living Foundation, Seva Mandir is a school imparting quality education to the kids in tribal areas, slums and villages. Along with quality education comes all round development in fields of art and craft, stitching, archery, they learn a lot more with a blend of spirituality. Our weekly visit is an attempt to keep the smile shining on their faces and in turn they broaden our smiles.

Jai Gurudev

celebrating Death

The closest is even closer,
Once close at heart, is now close even in being.

The immortal is free of the mortal
And in Devine does He exist.

No source is needed, now to get close
As the source itself belongs to me.

Indeed stupid it seems that once words conveyed feelings.
Souls convey them now.

Oh my friend, I am celebrating,
I am celebrating your departure,

I am celebrating your meet with the Devine,
I am celebrating the closeness just felt.

Oh here they are, they always add the flavor.
Oh tears what took you so long?

See my friend is celebrating silence,
And here I bid adieu, I don’t need you anymore.

I want to celebrate,
Celebrate Death with my friend.

God's Message to Me

You re my special, I did not give you a choice
Choice is among betters, I said
I sent the best for you, I claimed.
I love you, I care for you,
I had no choice but to send My Son for you.
With affection, I have created
With tears I sacrificed, only for you, I cried.
I sent Him before, you respect Him.
I made Him humble, you care for Him.
I taught Him tolerance, you love Him.
He will stand with you, till day lasts,
He will combat for you, won’t give a thought.
He is dear to Me, never make Him sad,
Love Him as a devotee, loves God.
He has learnt to give, not to ask.
You meet His needs, I pleaded.
It’s not easy to send a Son, in mortality,
A Son, most affectionate, most precious,
You are fortunate, I say, my son.
Once in ages, do I make such a sacrifice,
And I made it for you this time.
Adore Him, Love Him, Respect Him, even Die for Him,
Even then He stands superior, on a bench unmarked.
A person sacrifices food, you respect him.
A king sacrifices kingdom, you admire him.
An Angel has sacrificed His halo here.
You worship Him.
With a heavy heart,
Here I send My Son, as your Brother,
Gods are jealous, Humanity is blessed,
And what can I say to you,
Just know, you are special.