Gur-Seva for Guru Purnima: Indo-American Temple
Festival in New Jersey

-- Click here to Watch Photos in the Gallery Here --

Volunteers of The Sadhu Vaswani Center of New Jersey, USA, participated in the Indo-American Festival organized by the Bridgewater Temple in Bridgewater, NJ, during the weekend of July 9th. and 10th. The fair was held during the hours of 11 am until 10 pm. The fair consisted of an exhibition of Indian culture, religion, books, foods, handicrafts, and many talented performers. It was attended by many celebrities including U.S. Congressman Bob Menendez and U.S. Senator Jon Corzine.

The Center's volunteers used this opportunity to represent Sadhu Vaswani and Dada J.P. Vaswani at this event by familiarizing the more than 10,000 people attending with their lives, their books and publications including East & West Series and the recently published New You Books; with the Sadhu Vaswani Gurukul, and also with the first ever Sadhu Vaswani Summer Camp for children being held in Rochester, New York. All of this was accomplished in a stall that was 10 x 20 feet, as well as by so many of our volunteers walking all over the fair grounds, talking lovingly to all those who would stop and hear of their love for their Master!

One primary motivation of our volunteer force was the overwhelming desire to give something back to the Mission and Guru that have given them so much love for all these years! What better way than to share the love of their Guru with so many! We were all amazed at how many people had heard about Dada through his TV talks, and many others, local Americans, who expressed a keen desire to read about his teachings and him!

The flying success of this endeavor and the thirst of the people for light can be judged by the following statistics: Book sales totaled four hundred and nineteen dollars; over one hundred people took away copies of the East & West Series back editions; fifty new children were committed for the weekly Gurukul classes, bringing the New York area total close to one hundred and thirty; and, eight children were committed for the Summer Camp, bringing the total so far to over sixty campers.

Finally, please read the enthusiasm from our volunteer Naresh, as he describes a scene from the mela by email to another volunteer:

"I must tell you a most wonderful thing Anita did today. As soon as she noticed the senator of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, who had just come in and was standing by the stage, she took one of Dada's book (Love is Never Blind - which is about Beloved Dada) and ran, literally ran, towards him. She handed the book to him talking of Dada, the senator recognized Dalai Lama's name on the cover (since Dalai Lama has written the foreword too) and asked if Dada was associated with him and Anita explained that they both knew each other well. Jon Corzine nicely kept the book. This happened so fast before his assistants realized what was happening and cordoned off his access again. So, even the senator of New Jersey got Dada's message, believe it or not.
That itself was an excellent example of the kind of exposure of Dada's name and message, at the holy grounds of the Hindu temple, these two days.
And of course, Sunil Ahuja, was in his true form today - he stayed till the very end, motivating everybody, kept serving all the volunteers with food and drinks etc in all humility and with so much love and kindness from his big heart - we were really touched."

The Sadhu Vaswani Center, NJ, thanks all its volunteers for this grand effort....we will not name each of them....you know who you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please join us capture the spirit of this event by reading these poems and seeing some of the pictures we have brought back for you!!!!

Mela Poems by Naresh Singhani:


First Poem:

Was it a stall or was it a temple
Camped by the Hindu Gods
Peeked in, there He was
His smile brightening it all
Did we feel His Presence
He was there
The love, the service
It was He who inspired us all.

Second Poem:

If Gurukul was a movie
She would be a star
Not Shirly Temple
But our Shirly at the Temple
She shared the love of Dada
With kids small and old
A loving hug here, a friendly remark there
Lit many childs hearts aglow.