NEWSLETTER - 2nd Quarter 2023

Sai Ram Jai Maruthi Jai Maruthi! Never is there a day where the feeling of happiness, positivity, love, and spirituality wavers, here in our ashram! This quarter started off with Maa’s Nakshatra celebration, brought the heat of peak summer, the very pleasant welcome of mangoes, and ended with Guru Purnima celebrations. Overall, this quarter was a mix of serenity and festivity! 

Maa’s Nakashtra Jayanthi celebrations fell on April 14th, this year. Following the celebrations on Maa’s calendar birthday on March 31st, Sri Malola Kannan performed a Kalasha Puja along with Lakshmi Ashtotrarchana for our dear Gurumaa in honor of her Nakashatra birthday celebrations. The love and devotion felt for Maa was tangible in the air! 

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 sweet mangoes, it made the heat a little more bearable. As always, with so many mangoes in our ashram, we were sure to make lots and lots of oorgai(achaar), and varieties of dishes made with the sweet and raw mangoes!

July started off with Guru Purnima on the 3rd. The morning began with Shivaabishekam while chanting the Rudram & Chamakam, all leading up to a Devi puja in the evening which was done while chanting Lalitha Sahasranama. Both the Shivaabhishekam and the Devi puja are usually performed for the Swayambu Shivashakti Lingam, which is worshipped only once a month during Purnima. Vyasa Puja, Ganapathy and Aavahanthi homams were also performed during the day, followed by Noon Aarti. Continuing an annual tradition, the bag of rice was changed symbolizing great abundance. As always, we made our Guru Purnima function complete by performing the Padha Puja for our dear Maa. The day was full of earnestness and devotion!

On the charitable front, Sri Sai Darshan donated 25,000 rupees towards a young adult’s college tuition fees. In the upcoming months we can look forward to many more festivals including Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navarathri and more! 

As always, our regular monthly projects continue-including the medical camps, weekly annadhanam, Purnima Puja, and Pradosham Puja. We look forward to lots of love, happiness, and festivities in the upcoming quarters.

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

Jai Sai Ram Jai Maruthi Jai Maruthi!