Bhajan News : : September 18, 2004
In bhajan we celebrate September month as the Children's month
and encourage children to practice on some religious theme to
share. As it was Ganesh Puja today, most of the children presented
stories on Ganesh. The rest of the children presented stories
on Hanuman except Mrunali Das who presented the story on Durga
and how she killed Raktabija. Bagmi Das coordinated the children's
presentation and ended with the sloka "Yada yadahi dharmasya
gLAni bhabati bhArata...".
The children were presented quiz books for their effort.
Mahashakti prabhu took the audience to the highest level of spirituality
with his melodious singing of the bhajan "Krishna Jinka Nam
He, Gokul Junka Dham He". Nrusingha Chaitanya Prabhuji in
his discourse reminded the audience to focus on the unique superiority
of the Lord. There was discussion on whether we have any unique
God or not and whether Ganesh, Durga etc. should be considered
as demigods or gods.
Today's prasad was sponsored by Dr Joy Gopal Mohanty and Mrs
Sulochana Mohanty of Columbia, MD.
Bhajan News : : August 21, 2004
Chirantana
Bhajana Mandali completed seven years of congregation. Lord Jagannath
was decorated very uniquely today.
Bi-yearly newsletter chirantana's 13th issue was published today
to celebrate this auspicious moment. Dr Indu Mishra released the
newsletter and the congregation members shared their stories of
last seven years. Dr Joy Gopal Mohanty and Mrs Sulochana Patnaik
volunteerd to take charge of bhajan communication and newsletter
related publication and distribution. Bhajan singer Debaki Nandan
Chowdhury requested everybody just to remember the easiest 3rd
Saturday rule even if they do not get any communication.
The children were taught Srikrisna Astakam from the newsletter
Chirantana.
A child member Satish Mishra started playing tabla in the bhajan
program for the first time. He accompanied his father's singing.
Although he is learning Tabla, he was shy and today he came out
of that shyness and amazed his uncles and aunts.
The food was tasty and the extra taste was added by the sweets
prepared by Dr Joy Gopal Mohanty. All the sweets were gone in
the first round. The members sat together and discussed the past
and the future of the bhajan program while enjoying delicious
dinner.
Today's program was sponsored by Bimal and Leena Mishra of Potomac,
MD to celebrate the happiness of their parenthood with the gift
of a lovely daughter.
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Bhajan News : : July 17, 2004
Bhajan and Prabachan
Bhajana Mandali was blessed today with the presence
of Bhakti Sidhanta Swami. Bhakti Siddhanta Swami had spent 25
years in ISKCON Bombay and often visits temples in New Yor and
other places in USA. He explained the meaning of Gita Sloka 29
which explains the secrets of getting peace. Arjun had asked Krishna-
"Who is peaceful?". Krishna had replied - "My devotees".
In his Prabachan, Bhakti Sidhanta Swami narrated a story to emphasize
the fact that the sins of the bad people can be relaxed if other
people talk about his sins and thus share the sins. We had a good
gathering today. Bhajan Mandali welcomed 3 new families. Bhajan
continued before and after Arati for about 3 hours.
Dinner Discussion
Plan for summer program for children was discussed.
Sponsor
Today's bhajan was sponsored by Prasanna and Babita Nayak of
Bowie, MD. The sponsorship was made in the memory of Prasanna's
father for his death anniversary.
Bhajan News : : June 19, 2004 (Rathayatra
Day)
Bhajan and Prabachan
It was an auspicious day; the day of Rathayatra. Bhajan
Mandali welcomed many new families from other states. Bhajan singers
were very enthusiastic with the crowd of new people and sang Rathyatra
bhajans continuing or about 3 hours.
Nrusingha Chaitanya Prabhu gave prabachan. In his Prabachan he
narrated stories to emphasize the fact that human beings are born
as the supreme creations of the Lord. The quality that differentiates
them from other animals is the ability to think and judge good
from bad.
Dinner and Discussion
The dinner was enjoyable with varieties of cakes for Raja, sweets
and vegetable curry. Plan for summer program for children was
discussed.
Sponsor
The program was sponsored by Chitaranjan and Namita Das of Pennsylvania.
Bhajan News : : April 17, 2004
Bhajan
We had a good gathering today. Bhajan Mandali welcomed 3 new
families. Bhajan continued before and after Arati for about 3
hours.
Oriya School
The children learned the days, months and seasons in Oriya. Also
some translation exercises were discussed.
Dinner Discussion
Plan for summer program for children was discussed.
Sponsor
The program was sponsored by Naresh and Bigyani Das of Columbia,
MD.
Bhajan News : : March 20, 2004
We had a special bhajan program at DURGA TEMPLE,
8400 DURGA PLACE, 8400 Fairfax Station, VA - 22039 (http://www.durgatemple.org/).
The program was arranged by Prof. Tumuluri Ramakrishna and Debaki
Nandan Chowdhury. Although the number of Oriya families joined
was very less, some of the Durga Temple devotees joined the program
and praised our effort. They also invited us to organize bhajan
program during temple festivals and on Sundays when the temple
is full. Here are some of the photographs of the bhajan program
at Durga Temple.
Bhajan News : : February 21, 2004
Bhajan
It was a good gathering. We had a full agenda of the bhajan program
including prabachan. The children sang the group bhajan "keDe
sundara shYAmaghana". The adults enjoyed the kirtan and bhajan
singing. Bhajan Mandali welcomed the new Oriya family Asit and
Smita Satpathy to the bhajan program.
Prabachan
The question was discussed about the reasons behind the bhajan
program. The question created some awarenes. According to Nrusingha
Chaitanyaji, a wise person gets knowledge from the surroundings.
When he/she observes days and nights, winter and spring, he/she
sees the truth and realises.
He also emphasized that when a master's dog who wears the lease
of its master does something wrong, the master is blamed. Likewise,
if a devotee wears a "Tulsi Mali" and does something
wrong, God takes care of the devotee.
Dinner Discussion
Plan for upcoming Holi program was discussed.
Sponsor
The program was sponsored by Dr Indu and Jhunu Mishra of Columbia,
MD.
Bhajan News : : January 17, 2004
Bhajan
There was predictions for snow and freezing rain in the evening.
However, our devotees kept faith on Lord Jagannath and dared to
perform their rituals by driving in the snowy weather. The temple
priests like everyday had decorated the deities in new cloth and
golden crown and jewlry. The air of the prayer hall was serene
and fresh. Devotees sang their regular bhajans. Maushumi Patnaik's
"sanje sakale", Pratap Dash's Bhikari Bal style singing,
Nrusingha Mishra's Salabega bhajan, Brahmapriya Sen's "Tora
Sharana Galire Murali" and sepcifically Mahashakti Dash's
"Dasabatara" were very touching. Debaki Nandan Chowdhry's
touching prayers dedicated for Sangram Mahapatra were very emotional.
The Arati started at 7:00 PM. Mahashakti Dash's "Jaya Jaya
Gourachander Aratika Shobha" and "Chala Mana Dekhijiba
Sandhya Arati" with the sound of mridangam and singles created
a very enchanting feeling in people's heart.
Bhajan Mandali welcomed Dr G.S. Mishra and Prashanti Mishra of
Cuttack, Orissa who were visiting their daughters in New Jersey.
Bhajan Mandali also welcomed Amaresh and Ritanjali Mishra from
New Jersey.
Children's Program
The children practiced the prayer they had learnt in the last
month. Opinions were discussed on their plans for their Holi involvement.
They decided to perform a drama where they can themselves speak
Oriya.
Dinner Discussion
"Bisnupurana" serial was shown during the dinner time.
The plan for upcoming Holi program was discussed.
Sponsor
The program was sponsored by Dr Shashadhar and Meera Mahapatra
of Silver Spring, MD.
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