Auckland’s Radha Krishna Temple on the occasion of the Akshaya Tritiya festival led a global prayer session to fight the Covid-19 pandemic spiritually.
The temple located adjacent to the Mahatma Gandhi Centre in Eden Terrace has been closed for the last five weeks, even before the lockdown announced in the country.
The prayer was led by Dr Devrambhai Raval on Sunday, April 26, in a similar fashion to prayers conducted by priests from at least ten different countries from all around the globe.
The prayer was a joint effort bringing the priests located in different parts of the world together towards combatting Covid-19 spiritually and in a spiritual effort to the eradication of this pandemic from the world.
This initiative was applauded by the Hindu community and arranged in consultation with the Auckland Indian Association and coordination with different temples located within New Zealand.
“Covid19 has brought the whole world to a standstill. In this difficult time, everyone is doing their bit, and we salute each and everyone involved in eradicating Covid-19,” Narendra Bhana, president of the Auckland Indian Association told The Indian Weekender.
The idea to hold this global prayer session or ‘Vishwa Shanti Yagna’ was started by a priest in South Africa, Acharya Kiritbhai who conceptualised that a prayer session that could bring the Bhamasamaj to help with this Covid-19 pandemic that has affected roughly two million and killed over 200,000 globally.
Acharya Kiritbhai approached Pt Dr Devrambhai from Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Auckland to take the lead in this initiative and spread the word across New Zealand about the Vishwa Shanti Yagna.
To conduct the prayers, the priests selected the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya, which as per Hindu religion is a sacred day and the rewards for prayers on this day is manifold.
The prayer was conducted from 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 26 till 12:30 p.m. and was joined by the devotees LIVE on Radha Krishna Temple Facebook page.
“Acharya Kiritbhai selected Dr Devrambhai from Auckland, and we took this privilege to arrange the prayer session digitally for the community from across the globe. During the prayer session, mantras, poojas, jap, tap and yagna was conducted joined by devotees from different corners of New Zealand on Facebook,” Mr Bhana added.
As a part of the Vishwa Shanti Yagna, similar prayer sessions were conducted at different time zones from countries such as South Africa, USA, UK, India, Australia, Canada, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Japan, Germany and many more.
“This definitely is teaching us how, through technology, the Planet has become one family. This has created a history that Brahmasamaj will remember and be glad to have helped humanity the way they could,” Pandit Dr Devrambhai Raval said.
Liaising the global prayer session project for Shri Radha Krishna Temple in Auckland, Narendra Bhana thanked World Hindu Pandit of Shri Bhagwat Vidyapith (Krishna Dham Sala, Ahmedabad), Acharya Kiritbhai and Dr Devrambhai for implementing this initiative and conducting it for the betterment of the community across the globe.
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam will definitely prevail over Covid19,” Pandit Devrambhai said.