at Cove and John Ashram
ON THURSDAY March 3, the Guyana Sevashram Sangha celebrated Shivaratri (The Night of Shiva) at its Ashram in Cove and John.  As usual, the throngs of Shiva devotees paid obeisance to the Lord for 24 hours of singing and chanting of the Lord’s name.
Although the other Hindu organizations in Guyana celebrated Shivaratri on Wednesday,  March 2, the worldwide Sangha wanted to synchronize its celebrations with its headquarters in India; hence the celebrations began several hours later in the western hemisphere.
The Sangha is a religious organization that propagates a blend of spiritual growth and intellectual development and has produced many scholars of exceeding brilliance through its many educational institutions worldwide.  The Guyana branch once had in its faculty current Executive President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who still reveres the Guru who guided his spiritual growth, His Holiness Swami Vidyanandaji Maharaj, spiritual and administrative head of the Guyana and New York branches of the Sangha.  President Jagdeo never misses an opportunity (very rare for him) to visit the Ashram and enwrap himself with the blanket of calm and the ambience of peace and purity so redolent in the Cove and John Ashram.

His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo always tries to make time to visit the spiritual guide of his youth, His Holiness Swami Vidyanandaji Maharaj (Guruji), especially on the occasion of Shivaratri.  Seen in picture with President Jagdeo and Guruji are, from left, Pt. Krishna, a young devotee, Housing Minister Irfaan Ali, little Ashley Alfred, Administrative head of the Cove and John Ashram, His Holiness Swami Shivashankaranandaji Maharaj, former Finance Minister and dorm student of the Hindu College, Saisenarine Kowlessar, Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad, and Principal of the Hindu College, Ms Rajkumarie Singh.

“… Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free:
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls:
Where words come out from the depth of truth:
Where timeless striving stretches its arm towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of lost habit:
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
Thought and action:
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake
(Rabindranauth Tagore, Gitanjali xxxv)

The transcendal ambience of the Guyana Sevashram Sangha headquarters at Cove and John on the East Coast of Demerara is one that has provided solace and comfort to many troubled souls. Its aura of peace and spiritual bliss has encapsulated, enervated, and elevated many who subsequently became devotees, and a few chosen ones who take vows to pursue the life of a sanyasi.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has said, in the video production on the Life of His Holiness Guruji Swami Vidyanandaji Maharaj, the first Swami of the Caribbean and a giant among men and monks, that as a young man, long before he became Minister of Finance or President, that he often sat under the trees and submerged himself in the ambience of peace and spiritual tranquility of the Ashram.
Great Shivbakht, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, is convinced that it is only by the devotion to Lord Shiva that he learned to practise at the Ashram, and the guidance of Guruji that he has achieved all he has today.

The Guyana Sevashram Sangha, known to everyone as the Cove and John Ashram, was established by Act of Parliament in 1956 and has been described as the spiritual and academic capital of the Caribbean.  It is certainly the holy place of pilgrimage in Guyana for Hindus who journey from all over Guyana and all over the world, especially to celebrate Shivratri, to this holy place that has been sanctified by the great sacrifices of the monks and devotees who have worked unremittingly and made tremendous sacrifices to serve mankind through educational, spiritual and empowerment pursuits.
It is an amazing phenomenon that the Hindu College takes children with the lowest assessment passes who did not gain entrance to recognized high schools, some of them with serious disciplinary problems, and churn out the most rounded personalities who straddle the world today in achievement at the highest levels in various spheres of endeavour.

The Sangha continually upgrades its facilities for the benefit of the students and pictured above are officials at the launching of the new hi-tech computer laboratory and reading and research centre.  Seen in picture are, from left, donor Mrs. Sylvia Sobraj, Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, a devotee, Swami Bhajanandaji Maharaji, head of the Canadian Sangha, and Ministers Bheri Ramsarran and Shaikh Baksh.
Through this local branch of the universal Bharat Sangha Guyana has produced the only monks originating from the western hemisphere and today they serve the Lord in various parts of the world.  It is a miracle to see the tranformation of what was once 20 acres of swampland donated by Mrs. Resaul Maraj, “Big Mai”, largely through unremitting toil and sacrifices of the monks and devotees of Hindu dharm; and it is an even greater miracle to witness what is achieved from extremely little resources at the Ashram.
The environment is kept scrupulously clean by a handful of very dedicated and committed adherents of Hinduism who have followed their religion’s precepts of service to mankind without expectation of reward.