The evening of Monday 11 December marked a proud moment for Indian culture as the Bhagavad Gita was recited for the first time in history at the British Parliament by Dhruv Chhatralia. The House of Lords celebrated the completion of the spiritual organisation SHYAM’s third Gita Gnyan Maha Yagna by Saloni Belaid and 27 of SHYAM’s Bhagavad Gita teachers to over 340,000 students in 161 countries around the world after 2 years and 3 months.
The event also celebrated the over 150 recitals of the Bhagavad Gita given by Dhruv Chhatralia in London over the last six years and the festival of Gita Jayanti, the auspicious day on which the divine wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita was spoken by Shree Krishna to Arjuna. The event was hosted by Lord Popat and Lord Gadhia. It was attended by community leaders of 8 different religious backgrounds and chairpersons of over 25 national Indian organisations.
The evening featured inspirational and powerful talks by Lord Popat, Dhruv Chhatralia and Saloni Belaid. It began with a memorable speech by Saloni Belaid about this historic journey and how SHYAM’s teachers have achieved the impossible in completing this epic feat that has never been achieved before. Lord Popat then beautifully explained the significance of this historic occasion where the Bhagavad Gita was being recited for the first time at the British Parliament and gave messages of congratulations on behalf of both himself and Lord Gadhia.
Chhatralia then gave a powerful talk recital of the commentary of verses 1 to 28 of the first chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, and was almost moved to tears during his inspiring and thought-provoking speech. He presented Lord Popat with an edition of the translation of the Bhagavad Gita by Professor Radhakrishnan, the former president of India. Lord Popat then presented a copy of the book Rukhmini's Love Letter by His Holiness Pujyashree Bhupendrabhai Pandya to Saloni Belaid and a copy of a commentary of SHYAM’s commentary on the Hanuman Chalisa to Bhupendrasihn Jethwa.
