NEWSLETTER - 2nd Quarter 2022

            Sai Ram Jai Maruthi Jai Maruthi! This past quarter started off with Ram Navami, brought the scorching heat of Agni Nakshatram, and culminated with performances from a few our devotees! Love, happiness, positivity, and hope, continue to reverberate in our ashram!

            Ram Navami fell on April 10th. We celebrated this day at the Ram Darbar in our temple. The festivities included paal (milk) abishekam, followed by neermoru (buttermilk) and paanagam (jaggery water spiced with cardamom, ginger, and lemon) as prasadam. We celebrated this auspicious day with bhajans, which filled the air with joy and devotion!

            May brought Agni Nakshatram. The peak heat of the summer was finally here. The heat from the sunny skies mixed with the humidity, was simply overwhelming at times, and it felt like the heat would never ease. The upside of the lack of cool air was the plentiful mangoes in our ashram! So perhaps due to the abundance of these sweet fruits, it made the heat a little more bearable. As always, with so many mangoes in our ashram, we shared hundreds of mangoes with all devotees and we were sure to make lots of oorgai(achaar), and varieties of dishes made with the sweet and raw mangoes!

            On June 28th, a young devotee, Pranav Kaushik, from the US, performed his debut music recital in front of Maa and devotees. Accompanied by two artistes on mridangam and violin, Pranav performed a repertoire of well known Carnatic songs. Hearing a youth like him, render these pieces with such passion, was refreshing. With Maa’s and Baba’s blessings, the entire atmosphere was uplifted, listening to how beautifully Pranav’s voice and the accompanying artistes’ execution of their instruments, blended together.

            On Thursday, June 30th, Srimathy Mohan, disciple of Padmashree Professor Sudharani Raghupathy, and Founder-Director of Silambam Phoenix, presented a Bharatanatyam recital.  Srimathy, alongside her Natya-Guru, and two other disciples, performed in front of Baba, Maa, and all devotees. The epitome of grace, Smt. Sudharani, carried out all the pieces with such finesse, and her emotions could be felt by all in the audience. All the dancers performed beautifully, and their devotion, skill, and passion could be seen clearly throughout. We’re grateful to Smt. Sudharani Ragupathy for gracing the stage and showcasing her passion, as well as to Srimathy Mohan for her performance, and for organizing the event, all of course, with Maa’s and Baba’s blessings.

            On the charity front, Sri Sai Darshan Trust donated notebooks, stationery sets, and stainless steel plates to 136 underprivileged children from three schools in nearby villages. SSDT also donated 5 lakh rupees to Shankara Nethralaya, for the purpose of eye treatments and other eye surgeries for those in need. Seventeen free major eye surgeries were performed for a cumulative amount of 3 lakhs, while 2 lakhs were utilized for forty minor eye surgeries. SSDT donated 5 lakh rupees to the Cancer Institute of Chennai as well. This donation wenttowards the vaccination of approximately 400 young adolescent girls against the Humanpapilloma Virus (HPV) in the prevention of cervical cancer. With Baba’s grace we are blessed to be involved in supporting these noble causes.

            As always, it goes without saying that the Poornima pooja and Pradosham pooja, are taking place without fail. As many restrictions surrounding Covid and crowds have been lifted, the temple and Annadhanam are open to one and all, on Thursdays. However, safety precautions are being implemented, as necessary. Upcoming events in our next quarter include Guru Poornima, Janmashtami, and many more! We thank you all for your continuous support. Here’s to a wonderful quarter and year filled with love, happiness, and good health!

May Baba’s grace and Maa’s blessings be showered on us all!