December 16th was a golden and unseasonably warm morning in Dayton, NJ. Our Marathi Vishwa, NJ community members were guided to the Community Hall by the MV banner and welcomed by our committee members for the Gita Jayanti event.

Inside, on a beautifully decorated table, a lovely statue of Lord Krishna adorned with jasmine flower garland, blessed the audience. The fragrance from the scented candles and fresh flowers, prasad in silver bowls, and the presence of so much devotion made the atmosphere serene and refreshing. The event kicked off on time by MV committee members Kanchan Joshi and Anirudha Niwargi. MV Community members – Ranjana Deshmukh, Shashi Deshmukh, Nisha and Raju Moholkar, Swati Goudar, Snehal Vaze, Sandhya Pendse and Rajiv Pendse led ‘Gita Pathan’. The entire event continued for more than 2 hours in fully synchronized rhythm with all the attendees reciting adhyay after adhyay in fluent Sanskrit. It was really a magical and spiritual experience.

The group got a short break halfway and was treated to hot masala tea and snacks. Once Gita Pathan completed, we all did aarti and enjoyed prasad and lunch of Sabudana Khichadi and Sheera. After lunch, we had a session for folks to share their life experiences related to the Bhagavad Gita. We had a wonderful response and I am sure everyone in the audience benefited from this interactive session by listening to each other’s life experiences. 

With Lord Shrikrishna’s blessings all went well. We would like to thank all our attendees for their presence.

MV BoD (Board of Directors) Leads for this program were Kanchan Joshi and Anirudha Niwargi. They were supported by Mandar Kelkar, Dipti Karkhanis, and Vrushali Bhawtankar.