Billawas Dubai Celebrate Birth Anniversary of Sri Narayana Guru
Report & Pics: Shodhan Prasad
Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai
Dubai, Sep 19: The 156th birth anniversary of philosopher and social reformer Sri Narayana Guruswamy was celebrated with great ardour and spirit by the members of Billawas Dubai and Northern Emirates at Elite English School here recently.
Over 750 people belonging to different castes, creed and religions along with community leaders of various associations in UAE attended the puja.
Members of Sri Narayana Dharma Parpalana Yogam (SNDP), a well-known community organisation of Kerala with about two lac members in UAE alone, also participated in the proceedings. For the SNDP members, it was a heartening experience to learn about the Billawa community in Mangalore that followed the teachings of Sri Narayana Guru.
The programme began at around 10 am with bhajans and devotional songs rendered by three enthusiastic groups who rendered praises in their melodious voice. Even Gulf-born Kannadiga children sang regional devotional songs with keen interest and dedication transcribing the scripts in English.
Committee members of Guru puja erected a beautiful mantap on the stage with Guru’s statue decorated with flowers under the direction of Satish Ullal. There were also fruits, colourful lights and even tulasi. A row of thali laden with flower, fruits, and Guru’s photo was also kept in a row for those who offered special puja.
Raghu Bhat performed the puja explaining the importance of Guru and his teachings, while Deepak and Jyothi Deepak who were chosen to be seated on the pedestal on behalf of all the committee members of Billawas Dubai and Northern Emirates, accepted the puja offerings.
The puja ceremony went on till 2 pm while the bhajans simultaneously continued until Maha Mangalarathi. Later people queued voluntarily in line to offer their prayers, have darshan and accept the prasadam of the Guru puja. The guests were honoured on the occasion.
Mahaprasadam was distributed at the end of the puja with sumptuous vegetarian buffet lunch.
The programme was successfully conducted by the Guru puja committee of BDNE and under the leadership of the president Mohan Attavar.