Sri Gurubhyo Namaha! Sri Maatre Namaha!
Wishing everyone a very happy, healthy and progressive New Year 2020!
With our Gurunathas blessings and all of your support and best wishes, we had a very active and blessed 2019. The year was lined with a set of Chandi homams, Kumbhabhishekams and Classes throughout the year. We started 2019 with the release of the audio recording of the Devi Mahatmyam Parayanam along with the Durga Saptashati Parayana Krama Ebook in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English. To enable devotees from across the globe to participate in the chanting for Chandi homams, we used technology effectively be it Google Forms, hangouts, Facebook or youtube live.
Under the spiritual guidance of Sri Gnanananda Teertha Swamigal and Sri K.R. Yegnarathnam Deekshitar and Sri Ramesh Kutticad (Sri Atmanandanatha), we conducted the Kumbhabhishekams in Sri Devipuram in Feb 2019 and Sri Subha Siddhi Vinayaka Mandir in New Delhi in March 2019 and recently Shiva Linga Pratishta for Nandalala Mission, Chennai. We are thankful to Sri K.S. Sriram Deekshidar and the core team of Chennai Ashram for coordinating all these events. Many devotees from across the globe joined us to be part of these blissful events.
Toronto Disciples started the Summer 2019 events with Sri Vidya Navavarana Homam and Shata Chandi Yagnam in June 2019 at Sri Bhuvaneswari Amman Temple in Brampton Ontario. The 100 Parayanams were done invoking the Adhyaya Devata with each of the 700 mantras of Devi Mahatmyam and Ahutis to the Adhyaya Devata were offered with every mantra during the Homam.
Our Guru Sri Vimarshananda Nathendra Swamigal insisted on reciting the Lalitha Sahasranama every day as the most effective form of Devi worship. What better day to do this Maha Sankalpam for the Lalitha Sahasranama Koti Archana than the auspicious day of Guru Poornima! In July 2019, on the Guru Purnima, Bhaskara Prakasha Ashram disciples, with Paradevata’s blessings, took the Sankalpam to complete Koti Archana of Lalitha Sahasranamam in Summer 2020. Sri Yegnarathnam Deekshidar conducted the Maha Sankalpam following which the first session of Lalitha Sahasranama Archana was performed. To facilitate everyone to perform this Archana on a daily basis, we published the Lalitha Sahasranamam Namavali book in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and English. Also, audio resources for performing the Puja is published to enable devotees to chant along with the audio recording. We are very happy to say that we have completed almost 70% of the target of 10,000 archanas, and this could not have been possible without the dedication of devotees across the globe.
In August 2019, With the grace of our Guru and Goddess Chandika Mahalakshmi, we successfully completed the first ever Sahasra Chandi Maha Yagna Mahotsava at the Sanatana Dharma Kendra, San Jose, CA in the Western United States with the active support of Sri Kumaraswamy Joshi. Through a span of 10 days, Chandi Avarana puja, Devi Mahatmyam Parayanam, Lalitha Sahasranama and Trishati parayanam were performed on a daily basis. The event also featured Hindustani and Carnatic musical concerts performed by leading Bay Area artistes. We concluded the summer programs with the Shata Chandi Yagnam in Chicago and New Jersey.
Sri Sarada Navaratri is one of the busiest times for Ashram disciples across the globe. Sri. K.R.Yegnarathnam Deekshidar gave daily talks on Devi Mahatmyam during this time. When the disciples volunteered to translate his speech into English, making the discourse reach more people transcending language, country borders, the spirit of Devi and the grace of Gurus was unmistakable.
Smt. Sivashakthi from the Chennai Ashram started the Devi Mahatmyam class in our chennai Ashram premises which was also published live in our Facebook page. The session concluded on Dec 25th with the Anugraha Bhashanam by Sri Yegnarathnam Deekshidar. The class is being received so well by our disciples and the kind of positive impact being created with children learning the classes is very encouraging. Please stay tuned for details on second session of Devi Mahatmyam classes that are going to start in New Year.
The growing number of disciples pondered us to see ways we can make their learning and their path to Sri Vidya more streamlined. So we introduced Bhaskara Prakasha Ashram (BPA) Curriculum in late Sep 2019, which guides the disciples with a reasonable structured approach to learn and practice the content that we have on the website & You Tube. This is a self paced curriculum, where students are advised to complete the classes and most importantly, incorporate comfortably into their daily routine. We have divided the entire learning into multiple levels starting with 101. We have released successfully Level 101 and Level 201 of the curriculum so far. It means a lot when very, very senior disciples of Swamigal decide to enroll in the curriculum.
To help the students, some of our disciples are stepping up to being Teaching Assistants, conducting online classes as well. Starting January 11, 2020, every weekend they will be conducting live sessions for the curriculum registrants to review and practice the contents of the Sri Vidya texts from our curriculum. Please register at shorturl.at/ezRT3 to be part of our study group.
As we are coming to a close on 2019, a big THANK YOU to all of the disciples who participated in all the events this year very enthusiastically. Our heartfelt gratitude to all the volunteers who worked across the globe with tight deadlines to make the learning materials available for everyone. As we look back, while a lot of things could have gone wrong, the fact none did and every event went well beyond our expectations, points to the grace of our Gurunathas and the Parashakti.
As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions to fulfill your aspirations in this divine activity.
We pray to our Guru and Maha Shodasi to bless all of us with a healthy and prosperous New Year 2020!
For Bhaskara Prakasha Ashram
Raghu Y Ranganathan
