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Makar Sankranti 2013

Every festival gives us a reason to celebrate life. Festivals enliven and enrich our lives with exuberance of kirtan, katha-varta and divine blessings. Each festival however, also brings with it a reminder, an unspoken message to delve deeper within, to connect with the inherent source of all joy and bliss.

To mark the occasion of Makar Sankranti, there was a special discourse by HDH Acharya Swamishree on the 14th of January 2013 in Nairobi. Devotees thronged in the temple hall, decorated with colourful kites, to hear Acharya Swamishree’s message and to receive blessings on this auspicious day.

Makar Sankranti is the period when the sun enters the makar rashi, the capricorn sign of the zodiac, it marks the beginning of the uttarayan period. This period has a lot of significance for those on the spiritual path as universal positive forces are activated, making it a very auspicious beginning - spiritual practices like jaap, taap and daan if performed during this period are said to reap great benefits.

During His divine blessings, Acharya Swamishree said:-

* An average person cannot live simply in joy, gratitude and reverence.

* He himself complicates matters and then endures a lot of unnecessary suffering.

* His entire life is spent worrying about others, wondering what others are thinking about him.

* Caught up in the storms of turbulent passions, he is constantly thrown off-balance by insatiable desires.

* He daily encounters fear, anger and aversion which weaken him further.

* Sadly, he does not realize that he can choose to be eternally free from this toxic emotional strangle-hold.

* Darkness of mind is so dangerous that to differentiate between what is true and what is false is almost impossible without the guidance of the Guru.

* Only truly fortunate one is graced by the presence of a Guru, an enlightened being in his life.

* It is the wisdom given by the Guru which pulls him out of the dark, bottomless abyss of ignorance into the dawn of wisdom. Without access to this wisdom, he continues to live in ignorance.

After the blessings, everyone was presented with mahaprasad with the compliments from event sponsors