Sydney, Australia



2006-09-22 to 2006-09-27



On Friday 22 September 2006, Paramahamsa Prajnanananda and Swami Samarpanananda commenced the Sydney program on the new moon day. Paramahamsa Prajnanananda spoke of the special significance of the new moon and the Hindu season of prayer and devotion to the Divine Mother for the next nine nights.


Public Lecture

Kangaroos

Koala Bear


The day commenced with a Kriya guided meditation at the Baden Powell Scout Centre, which is a beautiful bushland setting within Sydney northern suburbs. That evening we had organised a public lecture on Kriya Yoga, both Paramahamsa Prajnanananda and Swami Samarpanananda spoke about Kriya Yoga and answered many questions from the audience.

During this busy schedule, we also found some time to take both Swamijis to a nearby Koala park where they had a loving time with the native Australian animals like koalas and kangaroos.

For more photographs, please visit our photo album at Yahoo.


CENTENARY FUNCTION
The Centenary Celebration was organised on 23rd September and featured an INTERFAITH SEMINAR with the theme of “Oneness of Mankind” at the Strathfield Town Hall. Around 200 people from all over Sydney attended this special evening. The venue was lovingly decorated with beautiful hand made drapes, photo displays, posters and garlands made of beautiful flowers. The evening commenced with a fire lighting ceremony by Swamiji for Gurudev’s Centenary, followed by the introduction of the dignitaries, and a cultural feast of devotional songs and Indian traditional dancing by local kriya devotees. The seminar consisted of five keynote speakers from different religious backgrounds who all agreed that their spiritual pathway lead to the same God. Each guest speakers were presented with gift basket that included off-white saffron shawls from India and the evening was finalised with a splendid banquet for all to enjoy.

 

The keynote speakers were
1. Rev Bill Crew of Uniting Church
2. Khalid Saifullah Khan, National Vice President Ahmadiyya Muslim association Australia.
3. Brahmachari Gopal Ji of Chinmaya Mission
4. Swami Samarpanananda of Kriya Yoga
5. Paramahamsa Prajnanananda of Kriya Yoga

 

SILENT RETREAT
In honour of the Centenary Year, the association organised a four days silent retreat from 25th September till 28th September at the Tops Conference centre located at Stanwell Tops, a two hours drive from south of Sydney where the Great Escarpment meets the sea and north of Wollongong. Registration and room allocation for approximately 80 people from all over the earth went extremely well followed by complete silence.

The days were fulfilled with guided meditation, talks, meals and NOBLE SILENCE that commenced early each evening until after morning meditation. On the third day we all ventured off site to visit the nearby Hindu temple, which was an unexpected extra blessing. The retreat closed the Sydney Program after four days of silence.

 

OTHER PROGRAMS
We also had public lecture, initiation and special centenary evenings at other Australia centres like Brisbane (18th-21st Sept) Canberra (28th Sept-1st Oct) and Melbourne (2nd-5th October).

For more photographs, please visit our photo album at Yahoo.