Atheist Meeting at our Ashram in Vrindavan

I have already told you about the event of yesterday and day before yesterday, a meeting of atheists. During the preparations we didn’t know yet how many people would come on Friday or Saturday. Today I can say it was a full success on every level, making it possible that many like-minded people could finally meet!

The program was scheduled for Friday and Saturday but the first guests started arriving on Thursday. No wonder – some had come from very far away! It was more than 70 people from 13 different states of India! Not only from our own state of Uttar Pradesh or the relatively close Delhi but also from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra and Jammu Kashmir!

At this time of the year, we don’t usually have a lot of guests at the Ashram and also now, it was only one. That’s how we could accommodate people at our Ashram but also rented a guest house close-by and even used the school’s classrooms for sleeping in night. In this way, everyone was accommodated for the nights. In daytime, we all enjoyed at the Ashram!

On Friday, we showed everyone our school. They met the children and the teachers and saw with their own eyes what they had been seeing on photos online for a long time! After that I took them to visit Ammaji’s, our Ayurvedic Restaurant in the making.

While we had time in the afternoon to get to know each other, we also had an introduction round on Friday evening, telling each other of different views and our feelings on atheism, followed by wonderful music, guitar-play and singing.

Yesterday, on Saturday, we all got information on how we can donate our bodies to medicine after our death. My father and grandmother both also filled forms to donate their bodies – and obviously this program was followed by discussions about the obstacles that religion puts in the way of such good causes!

Finally, the highlight and peak of the program was the dance party to celebrate life yesterday evening! We danced like crazy and had heaps of fun – which some religious people obviously think you cannot have if you don’t believe in god! Today, we all bid each other farewell as our guests spread out again across India.

For me, it was a very special weekend. Meeting so many like-minded people, having intelligent discussions, sharing views, feelings and thoughts – it was wonderful. I would love to provide the platform, the space for atheists, non-believers and rational thinkers to meet and exchange in future as well!

Here you can see photos of our atheist meeting