The evening of 2^nd March 2008 marked a pious evening for many, as the Brahma Kumaris Learning Center for Peace in Watertown, MA , celebrated the festival of ‘Shivratri’ (the night of the Shiva) by bringing together artistic performances and learned spiritual scholars from India. 

The program was blessed by the gracious presence of  Dr. Kala Iyengar, the Coordinator of Peace Village, a Brahma Kumaris Learning and Retreat in the upstate NewYork, Surya Jayanti, the President of Telugu Association of Greater Boston, Geeta Ranga, the President of Shri Lakshmi Temple and Chand Pasha, the President of the Big Help Organization. The other special guests in the gathering were Rajiv Laroia, representative from the Indian Association of Greater Boston, Sister Rita Cleary and Brother Dev Lingadevaru, the coordinators of the Brahma Kumaris center in Boston. 

The guests were welcomed by an outstanding Indian dance presentation called ‘Kuchipudi’ by Hima Kakaraparthi. The young dancer depicted one of the most difficult pieces in the dance form that showed the nine different moods of the deity ‘Shankara’. This was followed by devotional songs by Alpana Agarwal, who has been passionately writing songs of God’s love and singing them for various religious gatherings since childhood. Then to add another splendid color to the evening, there was yet another enthralling dance performance by Ramya Ghantasala, who displayed the beauty and praise of ‘Shri Lakshmi’ (Goddess of wealth) and took over the audience with her graceful postures. The evening also had a tinge of humor that was given by a short-skit that revealed the confusion in the minds of the young generation from India on why and how to celebrate these traditional festivals. 

With the setting of the sun, the evening took a serene and thoughtful pace as the chief speaker of the program, Dr Kala Iyengar began sharing words of deep wisdom and insight. She elucidated the spiritual significance of the festival of ‘Shivratri’, saying that it symbolizes the descent of God on Earth. She prudently discussed the meaning of the word Shiva, symbolizing the incorporeal form of God as light and explained how this light-form is accepted as the ‘Supreme’ by people from diverse cultures and religions. She then delved upon the relationship between the supreme soul and the human souls, as that of the father and his children and urged the audience to practically experience this relationship in their daily lives through meditation. Dr Kala exemplified on the virtues of God as an ocean of love and mercy, and stated that if we forge a relation of parent and child with the former then these qualities would automatically get transferred into us, and we will be able to provide similar experiences to others.  She also gave the experience of deep silence by conducting Rajayoga Meditation for few minutes. To conclude, she exemplified the role of positive thinking as of critical importance in improving the quality of our lives and that of our families, and invited everyone to take benefit of the free meditation workshops that are organized at the center.  

The program was facilitated very well by Supriya Kopparthi, Senior Rajayoga Meditation Teacher who thanked everyone for making the program successful. 
 
 

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