Ramayana Month Celebration

17th and 18th July: marked the 1st and 2nd day of Ramayana month coinciding with the 1st and 2nd days of the month of Karkatakam. This year there was an extensive programme of two days in which well-known Ramayana devotees - Shri Chakrapani Warrier and Smt Suma, read through the whole of Ramayana. Sessions started from 8.30 in the morning and went on up to 6.30 in the evening, with short tea-lunch breaks. A number of local well-wishers took part in the parayanam session. It was a noble experience for some who had never had an opportunity to read the Ramayana fully. At the concluding programme Sri Chakrapani Warrier and Smt Suma were honoured by Sri R.M. Pavitran a close well wisher of Kendra.

As usual Kumari Bindu and her group have started visiting different houses for Ramayana Satsanga. This programme will continute for the entire month. In each house, the team read portions of Ramayana and involve the family members to take part in the puja and rituals. 

One Day Spiritual Retreat

Vivekananda Kendra offered bhiksha to Revered Swami Adhyatmanandaji of Sambodh Foundation, Thiruvananthapuram. He came with 45 students for whom he was conducting a spiritual study course for 51 days at a place called Moozhikolam, 39 km from Kodungallur. After the initial introduction, Swamiji addressed the gathering which included our local well-wishers also, on the importance of sadhana of formless truth as also the need for worshipping God in various forms. He used two stanzas from Bhagavad Gita chapters 7 and 9 to clarify points.

Following Swamiji’s talk Mananeeya Lakshmi Didi spoke on Swami Vivekananda’s message to the individual, to the Nation and to humanity at large. She used three imageries to emphasize the points, that of light man, of a sculpture and lastly how he released the world religions from the cages in which they were kept and allowed them to fly to the infinite freedom of truth.

All the participants were taken to Vishwa Bhanu Exhibition, wherein they were introduced to Swamis life and his visit to Kodungallur. Later on they all participated in Bhajan session.

GURUPOORNIMA CELEBRATION

On the auspicious occasion of Gurupoornima, a day long programme was arranged at Aandadham. Ganapathi Homam and Sri Chakra Puja were conducted in the Dakshina auditorium of Anandadham in the early morning. At 10 a.m. there was a get together of all the yoga varga members around eighteen of them, some of whom are working as yoga teachers in different schools in and around of Kodungallur. Mananeeya Lakshmi Didi explained about the significance of ‘Guru Parampara down the ages namely, Narayana, Padmabhuva, Vasistha, Saktrimaharshi, Parashara, Vyasa and Sukha and how during Vyasa’s time all the divine knowledge which the previous seers had passed on to their respective disciples orally, were codified into texts called vedas and later on puranas. It was on this day that the great sage Vyasa was said to have been born, hence this day is celebrated as Vyasa’s jayanthi all over India as a mark of respect for the great saint who is addressed as ‘Vishala buddhe’ in the Bhagavat Geeta. Chanting of the Guru Sloka and pushparchana were part of this two hour programme.

In the evening Adv. T.R.Ramanathan of Paravur, an advocate by profession and well-known for his profound knowledge and great oratory, spoke on ‘Guha Gurun Subrahmanya Swami’(Kartikeyan) and kept the audience spellbound. Nearly a hundred people attended.the programme.