New Moon Puja :: Fri, 1-Aug 2008 :: Harmony Here & Now

Let's mark down the date for the 7th Lunar month new-moon musical puja ::

Date : Fri, 1-Aug 2008

Time: 8.30pm - 10.00pm

Theme: "Harmony Here & Now"

Speaker: Bro. Daya

Brother N.B. Dayananda (Bro or Uncle Daya as he is more popularly known) hails from Penang, the only son of Sinhalese Buddhist parents. He had his education at St. Xavier’s Institution thee and did his HSC in Singapore. Here he was given a copy of the Kalama Sutta and upon reading it he “discovered” the Buddha Dhamma and has been living by it ever since. 1960 through 1963 he was involved with the Mahindarama Buddhist Temple and the setting up of its Sunday Pali School.

In 1964, he was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), married Ms W.A. Vimalawathi (another Sinhalese Buddhist Penangite who had trained as a Staff Nurse in Singapore) and raised two children – a daughter and a son. In 1978, Bro. Daya resigned his commission in the RMAF, having attained the rank of Squadron Leader, on a matter of principle. He next joined an American publishing house and worked his way to become the Company’s Manager, International Sales and HRD based in London and covering its entire operations in the Middle East and Pakistan. His work involved extensive travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and the Philippines and frequent visits to England, the U.S.A, Canada and Australia. Bro. Daya is a trainer in Sales & Marketing and a recognised professional speaker and motivator. He is currently engaged with another USA based multinational.

Bro. Dayananda successfully completed the recently organised, first ever Dhamma Speakers’ Course and has spoken at several Buddhist orgnisations whenever his busy work schedule has permitted him.

Musical performance by a group of youth from SJBAYS guided by Bro. Nee Wern.

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The last Full Moon Musical Puja was held on 17th July 2008 (Thursday). The M.C. of the evening was by Bro. Brian Lee and the Puja was lead by Bro. Wee Fah.

It was a blessing to see a nice turn out of the crowd, quite likely the 'bring friends along' effort proves to be fruitful. How wonderful to meet friends from Melaka and not forgetting old friends from past INCOVAR camps.

The speaker Bro. Trevor Lee gave short sharing about “Stress Management from a Buddhist Perspective” and everybody experienced the act of sending Metta thoughts to our entire body parts. This lead to some people feeling that we should not be taking our body for granted. Let the shoulder, the legs, the heart just relax and rest.

For the last segment of the evening, inspiration through music was brought by i.gemz! Most of the songs were led by bro. Daniel Kwok, with bro. NeeSern on guitar and bro. Wee Fah on another microphone. It was the first time I heard the unplugged version of 'Dhamma Shines in Me', very interesting. During the rendition of the soft and sweet Metta Metta song, the atmosphere became so peaceful.

The theme of this 6th Lunar month Full Moon was "Happiness @ Work” and true enough, this evening musical puja turned out to be an opportunity to relax, unwind and de-stress after a hard day’s work. In fact, it was also a good chance for everybody to catch up with everyone else! Some of them even continued their socializing after the musical puja by proceeding to ‘mamak’.

INSPIRING THE FUTURE
Buddhist Gem Fellowship