Guru Purnima is an important festival for all the Kriyāvāns. According to the scriptures, it is also celebrated as Vyas Purnima – the birthday of Vyas deva. Purnima, or a full moon day, is a symbol of completeness. On this day, the disciple can realize completion by offering their lotus heart at the feet of the Guru. The day of Guru Purnima is a rare opportunity to meet the Guru and cover oneself with the showers of his blessings.
This year (2022), on July 13, Wednesday, Raj Yoga Kriya Yoga Mission celebrated the festival of Guru Purnima with great vigor. Due to the pandemic, the Guru Purnima festival had not been celebrated publicly for the last two years. But this year, by the grace of Gurudev, all the devotees and Kriyāvāns got the fortune of Guru Darshan. This year’s Guru Purnima was organized at Jai Krishna Library, located in the heart of Uttarpara, Kolkata. As July 13 was a working day, the ashram management decided to have the ceremony from 4:00 P.M. onwards so that the office-going devotees could get the privilege of getting the darshan of our Gurudev without hampering their regular work routine.
The volunteers of the RYKY mission responsible for decorating the conference hall, reached the venue a few hours before the commencement of the ceremony. A few volunteers were also standing at the main gate of the venue so that devotees from far away may not face any problem finding it. The ashram management had ensured that all covid-related protocols like mandatory wearing of masks and seating arrangements were followed properly.
Gurudev arrived in due time. The program began by lighting the lamp by Gurudev and garlanding the picture of Param Guru Shri Maheshwari Prasad Dubeyji. Along with Gurudev, other devotees also offered flowers to the image of Dubey Baba. After this, the devotees of the mission recited Guru Vandana and Vishnu Sahasranama.
Next on the agenda for the day was the most awaited activity for all devotees – offering the lotus flower at Gurudev’s holy feet. Once Gurudev took his seat on the stage, the devotees queued up to offer flowers and other offerings at Gurudev’s holy feet and receive his affection and blessings.
After the Gurupranam, Gurudev released the English-translated version of Param Guru Shree Maheshwari Prasad Dubey’s book – ‘Kriya Yoga Rahasya’, which is an instrumental source of inspiration for all Kriyāvāns. The English translation of this book has been done at the request of all the devotees who are not proficient in either of the languages – Hindi or Bangla. ‘Kriya Yoga Rahasya’ is already available in Hindi and Bengali, which devotees can procure from the RYKY mission volunteers.
In addition to this, the ninth digital edition of the mission’s mouthpiece – Anweshan, was also launched.
In the next leg of the program, events like devotional songs, violin recital, and a magic show kept the devotees mesmerized. Many Kriyāvāns took this opportunity by coming to the dais and sharing their thoughts related to Kriya, which Gurudev greatly appreciated.
At the end of the program, Gurudev gave a discourse on Kriya Yoga. After this, there was a Q&A session where devotees asked Gurudev some questions related to Kriya, each of which was answered by Gurudev.
Finally, the ceremony concluded with the distribution of refreshments between 6.30 pm to 7 pm.