Samarpan Diwas - Atlanta
Samarpawan Divas was observed in Atlanta during the weekend of May 13th and 14th. Numerous saints from neighboring cities such as Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee & Texas visited the Atlanta Branch to be a part of this day and to pay their tribute to His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj. The occasion was also attended by several dignitaries Mr. Amitabh Sharma, chairperson American Indian Foundation, Mr. D.V Singh, deputy consul general of India, Atlanta USA, Mr. Narender Reddy, Executive member of Hindu Temple, Mr. Armin Dastur, Member of Parsi Association, Mrs. Nazeera Dawood deputy chief of staff, office of the chairman. Mr. Chander Gambhir, Administrative and Public Relations Professional, Mr. Mehul Raja, president Gujrati Samaj.
The youth of Atlanta worked together on an exhibition with pictures messages and sculptors that portrayed the life of His Holiness with the messages he gave to the world. The effort was appreciated by all the visiting saints.
Atlanta branch started with a samagam on Saturday evening. It was indeed an emotional and sentimental day for all the saints present as they reflected on all the teachings and experiences with their beloved guru. As the day called upon surrendering, all the speakers who shared their thoughts emphasized on the importance of complete surrender. Saints explained that complete surrender comes with the faith that the almighty knows better for me than I. Once we understand this we can fill our lives with contentment and not be effected by circumstances good or bad.
Rev Dharam Pal ji from India shared many instances of his experience with Babaji, all of which conveyed the kindness and love that Babaji had in his heart for all his devotees. One such story was of a saint and her daughter who were doing sewa for several days during one of Babaji’s visit in kullu. The saint was so devoted that they left their own house hold chores to ensure that everything goes smooth during Babaji’s visit. When babaji visited, as a practice he often used to visit some saints house too. The sister expressed her wish for babaji to visit her house and babaji readily agreed. But when the time came, there was no one to give that saint a ride back to her house. Worried that Babaji would reach her house and there are no arrangements done, she started walking with her daughter, when midway babaji’s car passed her, and asked her to ride along with him. Upon reaching the saints house Babaji was happy, and blessed the family for their true devotion. This story once again resonated with what we have been hearing that we can please our guru only by following his words and true devotion, nothing else will suffice.
Saints also got to hear some soulful music with beautiful words from Reverend Sheetal ji. Rev Chawla ji from Florida expressed his thoughts in form of a poem, which touched upon the importance of human life and satguru.
A documentary on the life of Babaji was also showcased during the sangat. There were various aspects of babaji’s life from his childhood, youth to that of being a spiritual head that were covered in this documentary. Babaji was referred to as “bhola” or the innocent when he was a child due to his simple and innocent nature. Since his childhood he was kind and compassionate, be it towards his classmates, elderly people or saints from the sangat. He never flaunted his position as being the son of satguru but rather preferred to do sewa quietly. For the last 36 years, as Satguru Babaji led the mission and its devotees towards the path of love peace and unity. He tirelessly worked towards instilling the human values among people from all walks of life. The sangat on Saturday was concluded by Baba Hardev Singh Ji’s discourses and Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji’s discourses. Babaji in his vichaar spoke about the life of a saint and their connectivity to God. A saint even though while living in this world and fulfilling his duties is always connected to the almighty, just like a mother who is focused on her child no matter how engrossed she becomes in her chores. He also emphasized on keeping the company of saints, as that helps us stay connected with the almighty.
Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji also talked about the sacrifices that Babaji made throughout his life for the benefit of mankind. She talked about the learning and unlearning process that we go throughout our life, while it is important to learn new things it’s equally important to unlearn the bad habits or vices that we might have inculcated in our life and sometimes unlearning something proves difficult than learning.
Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji also shared an instance of a stay in a hotel, where babaji was tasting deserts and he would take a spoon and then pass on the rest to others. But there was one dessert that he did not pass on, later Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji came to know that the dessert that was not passed on was spoilt, and babaji did not want the hotel staff to get a bad name. Such was his heart filled with love and compassion for all.
Sunday Sangat continued with saints sharing their thoughts. Manohar Lal ji from Alabama said Love peace and unity are all interrelated and we need to practice this message of babaji in our daily, and our lives should not be led in selfishness but rather in selfless love.
Saints from Atlanta also organized a kavi darbaar sharing some beautiful poems that pitched heartfelt thoughts about the life and teachings of his holiness. Rev Sushil Kumar ji from Tennessee said Satguru has taught us the message of love and practiced it himself, he went on saying that he can personally vouch that people who have completely surrendered and followed the directions of satguru are the ones who are truly happy.
He shared a story where once there were a few fish that come on shore with the tide and a child playing threw one of them back in the water. And even though the child saved just one fish but it was the effort that counted. If each one of us did our part no matter how small or big, the world could be a mirror that reflects happiness and love. Kids from Tennessee and Atlanta also shared a beautiful song and touched everyone with their innocence and love.
Towards the end Reverend Kapil Bhandari, SNM Atlanta Coordinator, thanked the distinguish guests and each saint from neighboring states who attended the samagam for their participation and gracing the Atlanta sadh sangat.