SARASWATS FROM BIKANER
From the 2nd to 5th of January, 2020 Shri Chitrapur Math, Shirali graciously welcomed 182 Rajasthani sadhaka-s who were overwhelmed by the number and variety of activities planned ahead for them by a huge team of volunteers under the Loving Guidance of Pujya Swamiji. Here is an exhaustive report by Sanchalika Ameeta Shiroor on the wonderful Shibir organised for the (February 2020)
The venue – Goa, the occasion - Vishwa Saraswat Sammelan, 2016 , where a young Saraswat from Bikaner, Shri Sampat Saraswat was present to witness four Mathadhipati-s address the Saraswats who had assembled there. He was completely mesmerised by our revered Mathadhipati- Parama Pujya Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji. Extremely moved by His Ashirvachan, he made up his mind that he would give an opportunity to many more Saraswats from his community to benefit from Pujya Swamiji’s Divine Guidance. His dream fructified in Jan 2020, when a Shibir was organised for the Saraswats from Bikaner in the Divine precincts of Shri Chitrapur Math, Shirali from 02 Jan to 05 Jan – a befitting start to the new decade!
The Sanchalak-s (we were 36 of us) had arrived in Shirali a couple of days earlier. Everything was worked out to the minutest detail. This was the first time a Shibir of this magnitude was being organised and all of us were quite anxious and nervous. However, once we met Pujya Swamiji and took His Blessings, all our fears were put to rest! The Shibirarthi-s arrived at Murdeshwar on 02 Jan. around 11.30 am. The journey from Bikaner to Murdeshwar took 36 hours and to add to this, the train was delayed by almost 3 hours! They were received warmly by some of our Sanchalak-s. It was heartening to see that the womenfolk had outnumbered the menfolk! Some of the women had stepped out of their village for the very first time! Loud cries of “ॐ नमः पार्वती पतये हर हर महादेव” were heard, immediately breaking the ice between the two Saraswat communities. The scene on the platform resembled one from a movie- women dressed in traditional, brightly coloured lehenga-s and heads covered by the ghunghat-s and men in traditional dhoti-s and kurta-s. They were quickly made to board the buses that were already waiting there and ferried across to the Math. In the Rajangan, the Reception Committee welcomed them with a “welcome energising drink”. Room numbers and name tallies were handed out with the dexterity of professionals! A curious band of Shibirarthi-s who could not control their eagerness to see Pujya Swamiji were heard asking गुरुजी कट्ठे? (where is Swamiji ?). On being informed that HH was in His कुटीर, the next question naturally was कुटीर कट्ठे?
After freshening up, lunch, a “power nap” and a hot cup of tea / coffee, the Shibirarthi-s assembledhe Mandir for Deepa Prajwalan at the Divine Hands of Pujya Swamiji. HH also invited Shri Sampat Saraswat, Kailaje Bhavanishankarmam, Mallapur Narayanmam and Heblekar Kuttymam to light the lamp. Pujya Swamiji spoke about two elements necessary in our Adhyatmik Sadhana - Upasana to invoke Shakti and Seva to express it. By Upasana we would get Bhagavati’s Anugraha and in Seva we would get inspired by each other and inspire other people too. HH concluded with the bhajan गुरू शरणं.
After a briefing and introduction to our Math and the Guru Parampara, the Shibirarthi-s were taken in groups for the inner and outer Parikrama-s of the Math. All of them showed a keen interest in learning about our Guru Parampara, our Maths and our Samskara-s! Later on, they also happily participated in the Deep Namaskar and Ashtavadhan Seva.
Post-dinner, in an interaction with the Shibirarthi-s, Pujya Swamiji narrated the story of Ravana and the Atmalinga and therefore, the importance of the temple at Murdeshwar. Pujya Swamiji also talked about Narasimhagiriji Maharaj – His विलक्षण सामर्थ्य, and how during an eclipse, He used to do His japa standing in the water in ekaant. Pujya Swamiji also expressed that Narasimhagiriji Maharaj’s Shishya-s were also highly realised Souls, one of them being Parama Pujya Ishwaranand Giri-ji Maharaj! Swamiji concluded the session with the bhajan माँ तू प्रेम सुधा बरसादे
Group visits were organised to the Shree Parijnanashram Vastu Sangrahalaya, Srivali High School, Samvit Sudha and its Conversion unit. They expressed extreme happiness over the fact that Pujya Swamiji was taking such a keen interest for the empowerment and uplift of t rural women. They were very impressed with the Samvit Sudha products and the hard work that the women were putting in towards creating these products. In fact after their visit to the Samvit Sudha Conversion Unit, the sale of products went up substantially because they realised that the money they spent would be utilised for a good cause.
The Shibirarthi-s participated wholeheartedly in each and every activity that was assigned to them. Many of them were “Super Senior Citizens” but for them, age was just a number and did not deter them from participating in any activity. They attended the Pranayam and Ninad sessions with great spirit and enthusiasm. They also performed Paduka Pujan with great devotion. Few of them also took the Mantradeeksha from Pujya Swamiji. In the “Paramarsh” session with Pujya Swamiji at Panchavati, they came up with interesting questions and doubts regarding superstitions, japa, puja and HH answered them with great love and patience. Pujya Swamiji also explained the meaning and significance of the three powerful mantra-s that are chanted during the Devi Anushthanam. The womenfolk were taught the chanting of these three mantra-s while the menfolk participated in the Gayatri Japa Anushthanam. All of them also enthusiastically participated in the Samskrit Sambhashanam session. They were taught Samskrit by way of interesting games. They were so happy that they wanted more classes, which of course could not be held due to paucity of time. It was really heartening to see these simple village folk who spoke nothing much other than their native language Marwari, trying to converse by making simple sentences in Sanskrit! In fact some of them even learnt a few “Amchigele” words and more importantly, used them in the right places!
The Shibirarthi-s were very keen to see Pujya Swamiji performing the Devi Pujan and HH graciously obliged! They were spellbound by the gracefully -performed Pujan and also by all of us following Pujya Swamiji by chanting the stotra-s along with Him. Pujya Swamiji also conducted a Swadhyaya at Panchavati. Commencing the Swadhyaya with the bhajan भासुरा श्री भवानी.... followed by a brief explanation of the bhajan, HH took up the first verse of the “Sadhana Panchakam” by Adi Shankaracharya :
वेदो नित्यमधीयतां तदुदितं कर्म स्वनुष्ठीयतां
तेनेशस्य विधीयतामपचितिः काम्ये मतिस्त्यज्यताम्
पापौघः परिधूयतां भवसुखे दोषोऽनुसन्धीयताम्त
आत्मेच्छा व्यवसीयतां निजगृहात्तूर्ण विनिर्गम्यताम्
ujya Swamiji explained how this was so closely related to our daily life – and that reading and studying the Veda-s daily, recognising and staying away from the sins that are present in the outside world, getting rid of negativity and unnecessary desires is the only way to be One with the Atman !
During the question-answer session that followed, HH explained the importance of the japamala, the chanting of stotra-s and also warned us that we should not start obeying spiritual instructions given by unauthorised people. Instead we should just listen to them and then check the veracity of the information with our Guru. Pujya Swamiji explained that Shree Saraswati Devi had gifted us our वाणी so would bless us if we used it for the right purpose by chanting shloka-s and stotra-s everyday.
The Yuvas also involved themselves totally into various activities. The girls drew a beautiful and colourful rangoli on the porch leading to the Math. Yuva boys and girls helped out in the seating arrangements of Shibirarthi-s in the Bhojanalaya (this was indeed a Herculean task, considering that 182 of them had to be served at one time!). Once they were done with their meal, they would coax all of us to sit down and then, they would serve us lovingly. All of them loved all our Amchi preparations, including theफुलवरा आम्बट सुकृतफल and the कुवाळ्या धंवी रांदई and appreciated the variety of dishes in our cuisine.
On the evening prior to their departure, they were taken to Murdeshwar where they had the Darshan of “Murdeshwar – Atmalinga” and also the world’s second tallest Shiva statue. From here they were taken to the Bengre beach. For most of them, this was a first view of the sea and visit to a beach. In fact, one of the senior women very innocently asked a Sanchalak – इसमें मीठा पानी है या खारा? ?!” Needless to say, they had a whale of a time! After this, there was an interaction with Pujya Swamiji. HH sang the bhajan तनमय हो जा मेरे मन explaining that while most bhajan-s are devotional tributes to God, this particular bhajan tells us how we must mould our mind and channel it towards God and Godliness! Several Shibirarthi-s also sang wonderful Rajashtani bhajan-s and keertan-s with full gusto!
The three days flew by like three minutes! By the time the Shibir came to an end, the Bikaner Saraswats had seamlessly integrated themselves with our Chitrapur Saraswat community. Everyone was very sad to leave the Guru Sannidhi and had made up their mind to come again and again and definitely for a longer duration. Pujya Swamiji blessed them with Phalmantrakshat, wished them well, expressed happiness that they had participated wholeheartedly in all activities and extended an invitation to all of them to come to Shirali more often.
With the Blessings and Guidance of Parama Pujya Swamiji this Shibir was a resounding success. The Sanchalak-s had toiled endlessly, doing whatever the situation demanded! All events went off without a hitch, the camaraderie was exemplary and all of us were sad that this was the last day of this wonderful Shibir. At 5am on January3rd, all Shibirarthi-s gathered once again in the Rajangan, this time to bid farewell to all of us. Armed with methi thepla-s (rolled out by the Sanchalika-s) and aloo-matar sabji, they set out for the Murdeshwar station. Our efficient Sanchalak-s managed to load all of them, luggage included, in just about 2.5 mins! After they returned, they told us that at the station one of the Shibirarthi-s actually composed and broke out into an impromptu bhajan in Rajasthani, in praise of our revered Swamiji and our Shri Chitrapur Math. I am reproducing the lyrics below. I’m sure you all will understand them because they are expressed in the language of pure love and devotion!
We are all indeed blessed to have such a wonderful Guru and eternally indebted to our Parama Pujya Swamiji for always giving us an opportunity to offer our seva, thereby purifying us as we move forward on the path to Shishyatva!
ओ म्हानै जाणौ जाणौ चित्रपुर के धाम गुरु जी कौ कौड लाग्यौ . . .
कौड लाग्यौ
रे म्हानै चाव लाग्यौ ओ कौड लाग्यौ रे म्हानै
गुर हमारा समदरसी हे मे नदीयौ का निर
नदिया जाय समद मे मिल गई कंचन भया सरीर
गुरु जी कौ कौड लाग्यौ
गुर हमारा परम पिता हे परमेश्वर समान
हम गुरू कि करे वन्दना जाणौ परली पार
गुरुजी कौ कौड लाग्यौ
सारस्वत कुल की महीमा बङी हे कौई ने पावे पार
हिरदय का ताला खौल दिया सिवली के करतार
गुरु जी कौ कौड लाग्यौ
गाव बामनवाली नाम सम्पतमल आप बङे हौ महान
दुर देशा मे गंगा बहादी सारस्वत नर नार
गुरुजी कौ कौड लाग्यौ
नगर नगर साधक आये सेवा करी महान
पुनम सारस्वा महीमा गावे करे सबकौ परणाम
गुरुजी कौ कौड लाग्यौ
साभार पूनमचंदजी सारस्वत सूरत
We are all indeed blessed to have such a wonderful Guru and eternally indebted to our Parama Pujya Swamiji for always giving us an opportunity to offer our seva, thereby purifying us as we move forward on the path to Shishyatva!
ॐ नमः पार्वती पतये हर हर महादेव