In continuation to my introduction to the Hindu culture present in Singapore, I will talk about the Gita Jayanthi and a spiritual talk I attended in Singapore.
The Gita Jayanti is an event centred around the Bhagavad Gita, celebrated on the 11th day of the waxing moon of the Hindu calendar. It was celebrated on 3rd Dec 2022 and incidentally it was the 25th year in succession this is being celebrated. This offered a great opportunity for all age groups to get to read, chant, study and understand the Gita.
https://www.gitajayanti.org.sg/
Gita Jayanti is organized by Hindu endowment board of Singapore where everyone was invited to participate in the event.
Swami Sarvapriyananda, from Vedanta Society of New York, was invited to speak on Gita, on 3rd Dec 2022. This session was presided by the Singapore minister of Transport Mr. S. Iswaran, who gave his inaugural speech.
Swami Sarvapriyananda is a great spiritual leader, associated with Ramakrishna Mission. He is known for his insightful talks. One of his popular talks is about the philosophical question “Who am I?”, which he delivered to the students of IIT Kanpur. Swami Sarvapriyananda was accompanied by Swami Sathyalokananda from Ramakrishna Mission, Singapore.
The topic of Swami Sarvapriyananda was, “Enlightening of life – based on Chapter 2 Sankhya Yoga - of the Gita”. The essence of this chapter is that, one should not surrender to the weakness of the mind. If one surrenders to the weakness, then they will not attain heaven and also it will lead to their disgrace. Lord Krishna explains Arjuna about the righteous path, reminds him of his duty and enlightens on “Karma” (duty) and “Dharma” (right behavior).
Swami Sarvapriyananda who is known for making complex topics easy for wider audience, conveyed the essence of chapter 2 in a modern and relevant manner, in about one hour. It was such a great experience to directly watch him and listen to his speech to understand what is “Oneness, evenness and detachment and control of senses”. It was truly inspiring.
The entire session can be watched in YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O77WyPq-qus