26-28 February 2010, Indonesia
Swami Ramakrishnananda visited Indonesia for the second time and Jakarta for the first time and held four programs in just three days in late February. The programs were amongst a series of talks on “Success and Spirituality”, which delved into the problem of why worldly success does not necessarily lead to true success, contentment and happiness. The talks also set out to redefine the concept of success in the tradition of great masters from various religious traditions around the world.
The first program held at the Mangala Vinayak or Ganesh Temple in Cikini, Jakarta was on the topic of “How Masters See the World”. After the talk, a lively Q-and-A session was held and bhajans sang.
The second talk on “Developing wisdom to handle day-to-day problems” was held at the Bikram Yoga Studio and gave the audience practical tips and practices for living life successfully day to day.
The last program was held at the Hotel Intercontinental Mid-Plaza on the topic of “Achieving true success”.
A traditional Indian dance was performed that brought extra colour to the program.
Swamiji was invited to be a special guest speaker at a large Saraswati Puja at the main Hindu Temple Complex in Jakarta, Pura Aditya Rawa Mangun. Here he addressed hundreds of Indonesian Hindu youth on the topic of Saraswati and the importance of living by the principles of Sanatana Dharma. Indonesia’s Hindus, who are a minority, number over 10 million in population. These Balinese Hindus were thrilled to have Swamiji as a special guest from India.
-Tulasi