We were enthralled! We were blessed! We couldn’t believe
what we have just heard. It was live, right in front of our eyes. Vikram Hazra
on his electric guitar and his troupe on percussion and flute together created
energy in the audience that is rarely experienced. I knew that it is not just
music that he is playing but also the way he is involving the audience in the
music that is making the difference.
It was a collective effort of each and every soul in Yogi Sabhagriha that I felt, that one cannot have this experience by choice. One needs to be blessed to experience this musical phenomenon.
Then Vikram Hazra took the microphone in his hands and said, “Imagine the energy created by just 3500 people …” and he paused. The audience started laughing and applauding to his way of bringing the WCF topic. “Imagine 1000 such musical concerts happening in parallel. Imagine the noise of those 3.5 million people and imagine the silence of those 3.5 million people.” We held our breath for a moment.
What a vision H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has! It is
phenomenal. We generally struggle to get an audience of 20000 for any major
event. He envisions creating a stage for the capacity of 20,000 people.
How
many countries participate in FIFA? We had 43 nations participating in the 2014
world cup. In which event do we have people from 155 countries flying in to
celebrate humanity, to celebrate diversity and work towards the direction of
world peace?
If you still haven’t understood the gravity behind what
World Culture Festival is going to do, let me tell you what Guruji said in UN
during the World Yoga Day last year. “The term religious tolerance is of the
bygone era.
You tolerate something that you don’t like. Now the time has come
for everyone to celebrate diversity.” Imagine 3.5 million people who would
assemble in Delhi carrying this vision ahead. I believe that this one thought
can prove path breaking. When we start appreciating each other’s cultures, we
start appreciating the goodness in every part of the world. There blossoms hope
for us to be comfortable with each other, to belong to each other despite of
the differences.
I wonder how come such event was not organized by UN all
this while! Especially in the world ridden with terrorism, events like these
sow the seeds of hope. Be a part of this hope. I urge each and every soul on
the planet to be a part of this event in whatever way they can.
Let us make some noise about peace
Jai Gurudev!
