Mission – Taking Bhagavad Geeta To Every Home In Odisha
In 1988, when Swamiji came to Bhubaneswar at the age of 34, he had nothing – no place to stay, no food, no belongings. But he constantly carried one inspiration in his heart, and that is to teach Bhagawad Gita to all and take it to every home in Odisha.
What he observed was people used to keep the Bhagawad Gita in the house of worship and pray on it, without reading it ever.
Swamiji felt that it was important to tell people about the contents of Gita and how it can transform their lives.
Initially for the first one and half years, Swamiji continuously worked to convince people to start reading Gita. During that time people had the view that if they mispronounced the shlokas, they will incur sin.
It took Swamiji lot of efforts to uplift people out of this mindset first.
With great difficulty, Swamiji convinced a few parents about the importance of Bhagawad Gita, who then agreed to send their children to learn Gita and its lessons.
Swamiji officially conducted the first Bhagawad Gita class with 3 children and gradually the number increased to 5. Many months later there were 35 students in his class.
Swamiji would not only teach them Bhagawad Gita shlokas, but also would give his students lessons on how to become a good human being. One of the things he taught these children was to touch the feet of their parents every single day in the morning.
Seeing positive improvements in their children, the parents were very happy. After one year of his teaching these students, Swamiji organised a small annual function kind of an event, where he invited few Sadhus, parents and their friends. The students chanted Bhagawad Gita in chorus along with Vishnu Sahasranama and sang bhajans in front of parents, family and friends.
This was hugely appreciated by all those present in the ceremony. Influenced by this transforming change, the mothers came forward and requested Swamiji if they could also learn to chant and understand Bhagawad Gita.
Swamiji wanted to take this mission to larger number of people. Before the Gita Jayanti in the year……………., he motivated around 50 ladies who agreed to chant all the 18 chapters of Bhagawad Gita during the Gita Jayanti celebrations. It was a grand success, which prompted all participants to suggest that this chorus chanting should be done every month in each of their houses.
And thus began a new journey.
Gradually, the word spread. Various temples started inviting Swamiji and his “Geeta Family” to important ceremonies, where they could chant not just Bhagawad Gita, but Vishnu Sahasranama and Lalita Shastra as well. By now Swamiji had a huge following of bhaktas, who were dedicated to the mission of taking Gita patha to every household.