November 25 , 2021 Pune
Sadhu Vaswani’s birthday, observed as International Meatless Day; receives resounding global support
62,70,462 people pledged to observe November 25th as Meatless Day
8,43,40,101 people supported the Meatless Day
35 people turn vegetarian for life
Satsangs and community service programs mark the occasion
Slaughterhouses close for the day in many parts of India
Highlights:
State of Uttar Pradesh, India and various cities including Bhopal, Lonavala, Ahmedabad, Gandhidham-Adipur, Vadodara declared the closure of all slaughterhouses.
Peace Rally organized by various Sadhu Vaswani Centres at Bilaspur, Kolhapur, Gandhidham, and Atlanta, USA.
Restaurants in India and abroad supported the cause of Meatless Day by closing or offering only vegetarian food - Shamiana in West Africa, Berjaya Group of Hotels in Penang, Aavri Groups of Hotels in Karachi, Pakistan & Dhaba NH 37, Pune.
Sadhu Vaswani Centers and schools organise competitions and activities including cookery competitions, salad-making competitions, drawing and slogan writing competitions to raise awareness about vegetarianism
Phee Boon Poh, Penang's State Minister for Environment, Welfare and Caring Society, Malaysia pledged to go Meatless on 25th November. Malaysian school children put up placards in the classrooms requesting to pledge.
Sadhu Vaswani Mission Pune welcomed the 142nd birthday of Sadhu T.L. Vaswani amidst sevas, discourses by the Great Masters – Rev. Dada J.P. Vaswani and Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani and talk by Didi Krishna Kumari. The day also marked the observance of International Meatless Day & Animal Rights Day. Sadhu Vaswani Centers across the globe organised awareness programmes preceding the birthday. Spiritual leaders shared wishes and supported the cause of Meatless Day.
On 24th November, the annual Dada Leela - scenes depicting the life and teachings of Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani – was performed and telecast virtually for a global audience.
In the early hours of 25th November, daily meals seva & feeding of birds and animals was carried out. The programmes began with the afternoon session that featured devotional renditions of bhajans invoking the Master, kindling of the holy havan fire and a talk by Didi Krishna Kumari.
In her address, Didi Krishna Kumari spoke about her experiences, as a little child, with Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani and how he inculcated in her the habit of sitting in silence. She also echoed his belief of Reverence for All Life saying, “Sadhu Vaswani was a visionary. He would tell us, the time will come when meat eating will be regarded as a crime.”
This was followed by the distribution of hath prasad to the devotees. The day also witnessed devotees coming to the Pune Headquarters to seek blessings at the Sacred Samadhi in strict adherence to pandemic protocols.
One of them was a 12-year-old kid, Jayesh Gehani, who had come all the way from Mumbai accompanied by his parents. He said, “I love coming to the Samadhi and the sevas are something I enjoy, especially the cleaning of langar utensils. I always look forward to it.”
The evening session included the telecast of discourses by Gurudev Sadhu Vaswani and Rev. Dada J. P. Vaswani. The day ended with observance of the vigil from 10:30 pm to midnight.
Sadhu Vaswani Centers, national and international organised virtual satsangs and carried out service activities including London, Taipei, St Maarten, Washington DC, Atlanta, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Casablanca, New Jersey, Dubai New Delhi, Mumbai, Baroda, Rajkot, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Pimpri among others.
In connection to the International Meatless Day, each year, several local authorities order the closure of slaughterhouses in their towns, cities and states. This year Uttar Pradesh, Baroda, Lonavala, Ahmedabad, Gandhidham-Adipur, Vadodara saw a complete shutdown of slaughterhouses.
To create and raise awareness about International Meatless Day, Sadhu Vaswani Schools across India and the world organised various competitions and activities. Among them was St Mira's Secondary School, Pune commemorated the birthday by organising a virtual program titled Goonj Uthi Praniyon Ki Awaaz - a performance by the school children to 'Save Life, Save Humanity'. SVIS Pradhikaran also held a virtual program: an enactment – Compassion is the Key. SVIS Hyderabad conducted activities and competitions that included nutritive vegetarian cooking competition, flag making with meatless slogans, adorable looking stick puppets, digital poster making competition, fruit and vegetable carving competition. Students from SVIS, Delhi carried out activities and competitions encouraging vegetarianism by conducting inter-house flameless vegetarian nutritive food competition, e-poster, pledges on tree leaves cuttings, poster making competition, soft board depiction or digital imaging, designing door hangings / bandarwals (torans), among others. Sadhu Vaswani Schools at Ahmedabad organized drawing and essay competitions, poster making competitions, speech competitions and cooking competitions for students.
On the occasion of Sadhu Vaswani’s 142nd birthday, medical concessions were given at the Mission’s healthcare institutions.
Service activities included the distribution of ration kits to needy families. At the Pune headquarters, ration kits were distributed to 30 needy families. At Daund, ration kits were distributed to 10 needy families. The ration kits consisted of rice (5 kgs), atta (5 kgs), tur dal (1 kg), chana dal (1 kg), green moong (1 kg), chavli (1 kg), cooking oil (2 litres), poha (1 kg), red chilli powder (100 gm), coriander powder (100 gm), kl masala (200 gm), and turmeric powder (100 gm). At Pimpri, ration kits were distributed to 90 needy families and the kits consisted of rice (5 kgs), atta (5 kgs), tur dal (1 kg), chana dal (1 kg), green moong (1 kg), chavli (1 kg), cooking oil (2 litres), poha (1 kg), salt (1 kg), rice (1 kg), pickle (1 bottle), jam (1 bottle), papad (1 kg), sugar (1 kg), tea (1 kg), candy (1 packet), ghee (1/4 kg), curry powder (1 kg), chilli powder (1 kg), hing (1 bottle). Joy packets consisting of biscuits (2 packets), chiwda (1 packet), dates (100 gms), raisins (1 packet -30pcs), chikki (1 packet) were distributed to 200 children.
Chennai center organised a ‘Gau Seva’ serving 2000 cows.
Related links:
Doordarshan tribute to Rev. Sadhu Vaswani on 25th November
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