Celebration Time!

Celebration time for all of us on this planet By K.Balu Jai Gurudev. The whole world it appeared was waiting for the ART OF LIVING SILVER JUBILEE celebrations to happen at Bangalore from 17th to 19th February 2006.I am just giving a bird`s eye view of all that happened on those 3 wonderful days. I left from Chennai on 15th February to be one day ahead.The Bangalore mail left Chennai with lots of devotees.My compartment had a majority of Aolites from West Bengal.They were all wearing their ID cards and badges which made it easy to communicate to them that we are all of the same family. The music troupe from Chennai was also travelling by the same train.As the train reached Bangalore very early in the cold morning we had enough time to chat with some but every one was so eager to reach the site of the celebration,Jakkur airfield. The information counter volunteers at the city station informed that buses had been arranged from the 17th morning from all points of the city. On the 17th morning we left by the first bus from Baswehwaranagar where I stayed with my brother.All the first trip buses left at the same time by 10am.By the time we reached Jakkur airfield the Morning vedic ceremony was in full swing and we could just hear the chants since we could not enter the pandal due to the heavy crowd.We satisfied our appetite by other means,ice creams and so on. The afternoon food was almost like a working lunch and though there was a very heavy crowd it was managed with all the ease of the usual AOL volunteer,no fuss, no shouting no nothing.Wonderful and affectionate though under very heavy strain. The evening function was compered by Vikram Hazra.The crowd must have been several lakhs and I was satisfied sitting near a TV screen.There were several TV screens and it was possible to view every programme without hindrance. On the second day,the crowd was still more.I reached home only at 2 am or so.Anyway my energy level was so high and never felt tired .On an average we would have walked almost 10kms daily. On the grand MahaKriya day 19th February,Gurudev started with the usual Ujjai breathing,Bhastrica and finally the Kriya.His words were so affectionate , tears started flowing down my cheeks for no reason. The dance and music programme afterwards was all splendour.I am sure some one else will write about it. On the 20th February was the day of Rudra abisheka and we all reached the Ashram at 11 am.The Rudra abisheka was also performed at Jakkur but since we reached home very late on the previous day we prefered to go to the Ashram instead of Jakkur. After the rudraabisheka was over by 1.00pm the bhajans started.Many in the pandal swayed to the delightful music,Shiva Om and several other compositions.We all prayed that Guruji should come there and suddenly it was announced that Guruji was coming there and within a few moments it was announced again that Guruji was not coming there.Of course Guruji was at Jakkur in the evening in all his splendour and divinity.I know something inside me has changed after the great event.So it would have been for the several lakhs who congregated there on those eventful days.Thank you Guruji. Jai Gurudev. K.Balu.Chennai.