As kids would say Long Time No see!! Its been a while between posts . That’s because Chinmaya Gurukul was taking a break for summer. But there was a lot of activity happening behind the scenes including a couple of pujas, Teacher’s Training and multiple Open Houses to get new parent’s questions answered, multiple seva days and harvests of flowers and vegetables from our garden.
Aug 3rd was Mahasamadhi Puja Day , which is to commemorate Gurudev’s passing from this world. Over summer, one of the teachers mentioned , MahaSamadhi is kind of depressing to think of. It makes sense since Death is not a easy topic for any of us to talk about, let alone celebrate. But every day of Gurudev was a blessing and a prayer and his final passing from this world only means his body is gone . He is always with us and we got to see this in Chinmaya Gurukul on Aug 3rd. The preparations started a couple of week in advance initiated by Sushma ji. The puja team rallied together to get the rest of the preparations done.
On Aug 3rd everyone gathered together at 7:00. The altar was beautifully decorated with flowers from the ashram and from all volunteers homes. There was an array of prasadams prepared lovingly by the devotees. The puja started at 7:00 with the invocations to Lord Ganesha, followed by Guru Paduka Stotram , chantings from Purusha Suktam and Guru Stotram . The 108 names of Gurudev was also chanted with offerings of flowers at the paduka of Gurudev. This was followed by bhajans and Aarti. We were blessed to have a few people who had the opportunity to listen to Gurudev’s lectures at various stages of their life . The one common thread in everyone’s reminiscences was how they were all led into spiritual pursuits after listening to Gurudev. This was followed by a fun and interactive quiz show ‘ How well do you know Gurudev?” Dinner was a joyous affair . Everyone dispersed around 9:00 .
This puja would not have been possible without the tireless help of our wonderful volunteers and we thank each one of them from the bottom of our hearts. We are pumped up and ready to go . Are you?
