MEDIA

DIVYA DESAMS

YAJNASALA

The routine: The day’s program today started with chanting of the ashta:kshari manthra from 6:30 am to 7:30 am followed by se:va:ka:lam and ya:gam at around 9:30 am. Pu:rna:huthi was completed by 1 pm.

Divya Desam deities’ consecration: The rest of the 20 deities which were in Adivasa mandapam were consecrated today in divya desams. This marks the completion of consecration of all deities in Divya Desams.

PRAVACHANA MANDAPAM / MAIN STAGE

Note: National Level Artist events – To Be Added.

HON’BLE PRESIDENT OF INDIA GRACES THE STAGE.

The day began at 10:30 am with devotees performing Para Va:sudeva Ashottharasathana:ma pooja – a devotional worship to the Para Va:sudeva form of the Supreme Lord with His consorts Sri Devi, Bhoomi Devi and Neela Devi, under the aegis of Ubhaya Vedantha Sri Krishnacharya Swamy.

Prajna and Manogna sisters rendered wonderful compositions of Sri Thayagaraja – few of their songs – ‘marugelara O raghava’, ‘thusali dalamu che santhoshamuga’, ‘seethamma maayamma’ was a feast to the ears of the audience!

The first citizen of the country, his excellency Hon.President of India, Sri Ram Nath Kovind ji, amidst tight security, arrangements and a royal welcome graced the event. Today is the auspicious day when Bhagavad Ramanuja’s nithya a:ra:dhana murthi, made of 120 kgs of gold was unveiled by the President of India Sriman Ramnath Kovind ji. After unveiling the Swarna murthi at about 4 PM, the convoy of Mr.President reached Pravachana mandapam at about 4:30 PM. Other dignitaries included the Governor of Telangana Smt Tamilisai Soundararajan garu, a representative of Telangana State government – Sriman Talasani Srinivas Yadav garu, minister of Animal Husbandary, Fisheries and Cinematography  and the trust members of Sri Ramanuja Sahasrabdi Trust including Sriman Dr. J Rameswara Rao garu. HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji made a brief speech about statue of equality and requested the President to address the gathering of devotees.

President’s address (4:45 PM)

Mr.President mentioned how Swami Ramanujacharya stood for equality and how he represented unity of people. He also spoke about how Gandhiji was influenced by the thought process of Sri Ramanuja and mentioned that when he served a sentence in 1923, he studied about the life and times of Swami Ramanuja and was very influenced by his vision. Sriman Ramnath Kovind ji also recollected a famous slo:ka, which is often chanted by the scholars of northern parts of India. In that verse, the forms of A:di Se:sha in various yugas are mentioned – Se:sh Nag in Krutha yuga, Lakshmana in Thre:tha yuga, Balara:ma in Dwa:para and Swami Ra:ma:nuja in Kali yuga. He also said that the magnanimous statue of equality is not just a statue made of five metals, but represents the values of all respected saints of India.

The President left the venue shortly after his speech. The Central minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sriman Anurag Thakur ji arrived at about 6 PM and participated with great enthusiasm and devotion in rest of the program.

Visually challenged students of Nethra college demonstrated a couple of innovative products designed by them to Sriman Anurag Thakur ji. He also released a digital library of sacred texts in the form of SriKosam.org.

• Smart Stick – to be used by visually impaired people. It gives out a sound signal when there is any object or obstruction in its way.
• Smart dustbin -which opens the lid when we go near that, so that we can dispose the waste correctly in the bin.

A few of the subsequent cultural programs that started around 7:30 pm are as follows:

• Musical concert by Sriman Ghantasala Sathya Sai garu. He played a percussion instrument called Morsing (Jaw Harp). He had earlier performed in 142 countries. He is a Guinness record holder for playing Morsing instrument for 27.5 hours continuously.  He performed at various prestigious institutions like Supreme Court of India too. Morsing is the only percussion instrument where the air is taken inside, by the performer to produce the sounds.
• Dance performance by students of Little Scholars School, R K Puram enthralled the audience.

THADIYA:RADHANA

• Today, for ba:la bho:gam (Breakfast) 40,000 people were served Tomato rice, chutney and Boondi (sweet).
• Ra:ja bho:gam (Lunch) was served to over 2,00,000 people until 3 PM. Menu included along with upma, tomato dal, potato-tomato curry, capsicum curry, sambar, chutney, coconut burfi for sweet, curd rice, and butter milk.
• For evening snacks 25,000 people were served Mirchi Bajji and Tea.
• Alpa:ha:ram (Dinner) was served to nearly 40,000 people until 10 PM. Menu included rice, tomato bath, rice, potato curry, tomato dal, sambar, pickle, Papad, Vadiyalu, Pa:yasam, chutney, mirchi bajji, jalebi and butter milk. More than of 35 volunteers were fully involved in serving everyone while following covid norms.