Guru Purnima is perhaps the most auspicious day for devotees to express their gratitude towards their Guru and perform Guru Puja. This day is celebrated throughout the world by Gurumaa’s disciples and as usual, was celebrated in Lonavla where devotees offered their gratitude towards Rev. Gurumaa by worshipping Her lotus feet.
The assembly hall was filled to its capacity with many devotees coming from far away places to express their obeisance to Rev. Gurumaa.
The function was inaugurated with “Deep Prajwalan” by Akshat Mitra and Upanshu Mitra. This was followed by a beautiful dance performance by Bhavika Gupta. This upcoming artiste is the daughter of Mrs. Savita Gupta, who was given Diksha by Gurumaa this year. So far, no Guru Purnima function in India was celebrated without the melodious bhajans of Shri Rajendra Jain. However, the untimely death of this great singer had created a big vacuum in this field. But, before his demise, this melody king had prepared his students to carry the baton forward and this was very ably done by his son Abhinay Jain and by his student Kuldeep Sharma. Hearing them sing with closed eyes created an illusion as if Shri Rajendra Jain was singing himself, thereby justifying his choice of students!! Post the enchanting performances by Bhavika, Kuldeep and Abhinay, Guru Puja was performed.
Those devotees who were initiated with Diksha in the earlier years performed Guru Puja first. This was followed by new initiations - Pujya Gurumaa initiated Diksha to three devotees this year. Guru Puja was followed by Guru Aarti. The entire hall started reverberating with the sound of Aarti as all devotees started singing from within their hearts.The program culminated with some delicious dinner arranged at the hall. Due to ill-health, Gurumaa left for the Ashram before dinner was served.
The whole program was very well organized by Mrs. Pushpa Khandelwal and Mr. Vishal Khandelwal. Everyone present there appreciated their organizing capabilities and their attention to minute details – right from decoration of the hall to making all other arrangements for the function and arranging for some deliciously light dinner, everything was done with perfection. The program was also well ‘anchored’ by Mr. Vishal Khandelwal and Nayan Mitra, making it a memorable one. We sincerely pray to Baba for Gurumaa’s speedy recovery so that many more devotees every year can have the good fortune of being blessed by Gurumaa and the Guru Purnima function can be organized with Her divine presence for years together.
