Arise ! Awake ! Stop not, till the goal is reached.

Jan., Feb., Mar., 2017

Om Namo Narayanaya

Badarikashrama Diary

Navaratri Celebrations dominated the early days of October filling the

air with the worship of the Divine Mother through mantras,the

warmth of the havan’s samagree, Garba and bhajans. Early morning

recitation of Sri Durga Saptasatipaatha by Swami Vishnumayananadaji

was followed by Sri Durga Homa at 11:00 am. Many devotees gathered

daily for the homa to offer their prayers and salutations. Besides Sri

Lalitha Sahasranama Recitation, puja, and special events were held in

the evening. The first evening Mataki Chowki by Ma Durga Bhajan

Mandali was organized. Bhajans to the Divine Mother were sung with

fervent devotion by Suman and Sargam Shah on the subsequent even-

ing. On Sri Durga Astami Mataki Chowki was led by Harjeet Mendhi

with Sejal Mehta and group. Hundreds of devotees thronged the man-

dir with spirited participation. Ras Garba concluded the evening’s cele-

brations. Vijaya Dasami, the final day of the festival, brought devotees

to worship the Divine Mother through homa, puja, and Ras Garba. The

following Sunday, the 16th, was Sharad Poornima. Not only did the

ashrama conduct Sri Satyanarayana Swami Puja and Katha but we also

organized a Musical Tribute to Vidushi Veena Sahasrabuddhe who had

passed away in August, 2016. Her students and admirers gathered to

pay homage to a great representative of Indian Classical Music. A nar-

ration of her life was read with musical interludes by Anupama Chan-

dratraya, Sonya Dalal, Suparna Dangi, Vivek Datar, Manoj Tamahan-

kar,Arabhi Sundararajana, Preeti Tamhankar, and Tanmay Bichu. Video

clippings of her concerts were also shown.

The Deepavali Celebration ended the month of October beginning with

Mahalakshmi Homa conducted by Swami Vishnumayananadaji fol-

lowed by Bharatanatyan dancers for Kalajali Dances of India.

Na Me Bhakta Pranashyati My Devotee Never Perishes

Sandesha

Vande shambhum umaapatim suragurum vande

jagatkaaranam

Vande pannagabhooshanam mrigadharm vande

pashunaam patim

Vande surya shashaanka vahninayanam vande

mukundapriyam

Vande bhaktajanaashrayam cha varadam vande shivam

shankaram

I bow down to the Lord Shiva, who is the consort of Uma,

who is the Teacher of the celestials, who is the ultimate

cause of the universe, who is adorned with snakes, who

hold a deer, who is the Lord of beings, whose three eyes

are the sun, the moon, and the fire, who is dear to Vish-

nu, who is the refuge of devotees, who grants boons and

who is all auspiciousness and who bestows peace.

Om Nama Shivaya

Swamiji, Samuhika 108 Sri Satyanarayana Swami Puja

The preceeding Sunday the biannual Samuhika 108 Sri Satyana-rayana Swami Puja and Katha was led by Swami Omkaranandaji , beginning with bhajans by students of Rita Sahai. Suman and Sar-gam Shah also sang bhajans during the puja. Retelling the ka-tha ,Swamiji encouraged all to lead a life of ethics and morality. The several hundred devotees partook of mahaprasad prepared by Hamsa, Praveen, Vinay Solanki and family. In mid December Sri Sarada Devi Jayanti and Sister Nivedita’s 150th Birth Anniversary was noted. The day began with a 25 member bhajan group, Sri Ramakrishna Bhajan Mandali, led by Nantana Valiveti. Pravarajika Amaraprana, a senior nun from the Vedanta Society, San Francisco, spoke on “Holy Mother’s Clarion Call.” Using traditional literature and the life of Sri Sarada Devi she showed how many are called to spiritual life and awakening. She also intertwined the meeting of Sarada Devi and Sister Nivedita in her talk illustrating how they worked for the empowerment of women through education. She was accompanied by Pravarajika Virajaprana. Swamiji closed the function with remarks on these two great souls and their relationship with Vivekananda.

Shubhangi accompanied by Vivek on harmonium, Nikhil on tab-la , gave a tremendous concert on Christmas. They were joined by Isha and Seema on tampura and vocal backup. After an intricate khayal she sang a Marati abhanga. She concluded with a Sanskrit composition sung by the late Dr. Balamurali Krishna.These three talented artists were the perfect compliment to the International Vegetarian Dinner that followed after aarati. Swamiji talked about the work being done in the school in our center in Karnataka. He encouraged everyone to visit our center in Karnataka to see the important work being done for the rural population especially for the education of children. The year ended joyfully with the recitation of the Akanda Ramaya-na, Sri Ramacharita Manasa of Gowswami Tulsidas .

along with founder and director Katherine Kuniraman. A grand violin concert with the tremendous talents of S.N. Narasimhan, Raghav Narasimhan, Shubha Narasimhan on violins accompa-nied by Natarajan Srinivasan and Sudarshan Gopalakrishna on mridangams. Carnatic compositions by Dixshitar,Tyagaraja, Pu-randaradasa, and others were flawlessly rendered. The evening concluded with the lighting of Deepavali deepas by the young people who attended. November began with the monthly first Saturday, Sri Sundarakanda Ramayana of Gowswami Tulsidas. Swamiji ar-rived from our Madihalli ashrama on the 18th and on the 20th, Sunday talked about the progress at our Madihalli School and the upcoming Youth Festival with a Swami Vivekananda Essay Contest. The major focus of November was the annual Thanks-giving Concert and Dinner. It began with a stupendous concert by Srikanth Chary on veena and Shriram Brahamanandam on mridangam. Pieces were by Lalgudi Jayaraman, Dixshitar, Tyagaraja and a concluding Tillana by Dr. Balamurali Krishna dedicated to him by Srikanth , as he had just passed away. After aarati everyone feasted on many items prepared by numerous devotees. December continued in an uplifting spirit with Sri Bhagavad Gita Jayanti Celebration. Ram Saxena along with Bharti Bhakti, Vinodiniben Patel and Balaji Mahadeva on tabla, presented compositions of Pandit Dinanath Bhargava “Dinesh”, on the Bhagavad Gita in Hindi.

Pravarajika Amaraprana,Sarada Devi Jayanti

Nikhil Pandya,Seema,Shubhangi Sakalkhar, Isha, Vivek Datar

Thanksgiving Shriram Brahmanandam,Srikant Chary

Gandhi Jayanti was held on October 2nd starting with bhajans from teachers with children talking on the importance of the day. Teacher, Ravi, spoke on Gandhi’s childhood and his role in the Freedom Movement. Lata Mani sang a Gandhi Stuthi. Swamiji focused on Gandhiji’s simplicity and blessed the gathering. Chil-dren were fed at the close of the function. World Hand Washing Day was held on the 7th demonstating the importance of washing hands to prevent infections and maintaining hygiene for the stu-dents. On the VijayaDasami Day Swamiji performed the homa which was followed by Founder’s Day honoring Swamiji and also celebrating his 78 birthday. Valmiki Jayanti was commerated in the Vidyashala. Diwali was celebrated on the 30th with the fol-lowing day Mruthyunjaya homa conducted by Sri Yagnaratham from Chennai along with Suresh Ramachandra and friends. Kannada Rajyotsava , on November 1st, was noted by a cultur-al program by the students, many in fancy dress. Ibrahim Pa-sha,teacher, explained about the unification of Karnataka. During the month ,six standard students went on a field trip for one day to Vanivilasa Dam, Hiriyur, Chitradurga Fort, Sharadashrama,in Challakere along with teachers, Praveen Kumar,Umesh Poojari, and Brahmachari Krishna Chaitanya. The following week for Ka-naka Jayanti ,students were told about Kanakadasa’s life and lis-tened to bhajans sung by the teachers. An essay competition for the occasion of the Jayanti of

Swami Vivekananda was conducted on the 26th with 271 stu-dents from the 9th standard, participating from 30 high schools in Turuvekere Taluk. On December 4th PUC students also wrote an essay on Vive-kananda for the competition. Awards will be given in the Swami Vivekananda Jayanti and Youth Day being held in January, 28th and 29th, 2017.

The Annual Sports Day was held for LKG to 8th standard stu-dents in running races, kabbadi, volleyball, kho-kho, duck race, memory test, ball in the bucket, and frog race. After the com-pletion on December 10th, 7th and 8th standard students were taken to Mysore for an educational trip to Sri Ramakrishna Ash-rama Vidyashala, RIMSE, Mysore Palace, Chamundi Hills and Sri Rangapatna along with teachers Sowmya, Ibrahim and AHM Srinivasa. President of Mysore Ashrama addressed the children and teachers on the message of Swami Vivekananda and the value of education. Sarada Devi Jayanti and Geetha Jayanti were celebrated to-gether on the 17th. The Holy Mother’s photo was taken on a procession to Madihalli, adjacent to the school. Mata Yoganan-damayi from Davanagere addressed the gathering. Children chanted slokas from the Bhagavad Gita and teachers sang bha-jans on Sri Sarada Devi. Sri Parthasarthy and Kumudini Balaram attended the function. Parents of children also joined the func-tion.

News from Badarikashrama Madihalli

Kannada Rajyotsava, Vidyashala

Sarada Devi Jayanti,parade in Madihallipalya

Madihalli, Sarada Devi Jayanti Parade with photo

Vidyashala Field Trip to Vanivilas Dam

Badarikashrama 15602 Maubert Ave.

San Leandro CA, 94578

Email: badarik@pacbell.net

Website: www. badarikashrama.org

Jan. 2017

Calendar of Events Sat. 31st (2016) to

9:30 am Sri Akhanda Ramayana of Gowswami Tulsidas,Sri Ramacharita Manasa

Sun. 1st (2017) 1:00 pm Aarati & Mahaprasad

Sun. 8th 11:00 am Sri Satyanarayana Swami Puja & Kirtan

Sat. 14th 10:30 am Makara Sankranti (Sri Rudrabhisheka)

Sun. 15th 10:30 am Swami Vivekananda Jayanti , bhajans by Divya Ramesh & students, talk by Swami Vedanandaji

Sun. 22nd 11:00 am Sri Bhagavad Gita Talk & kirtan by Suman & Sargam Shah

Sun. 29th 10:00 am Sri Hari Dasa Day Celebration

Feb., 2017

Sat. 4th 2:30 pm Sri Sundarakanda Ramayana of Gowswami Tulsidas

Sun. 5th 10:00 am Sri Saraswathi Puja & Music, organized by Nataraja School of Dance, Sima Chakravorty

Sun. 12th 11:00 am Sri Satyanarayana Swami Puja & Kirtan

Sun. 19th 11:00 am Sri Ramanama Sankirtana & Meditation

Fri. 24th 6:00 pm to 12 pm MahaSivaratri Celebration (Puja & Music)

Sun. 26th 9:00 am “Sadhana Day”, Sri Mritunjaya Japa , 12 noon Homa

Mar. 2017

Sat. 4th 2:30 pm Sri Sundarakanda Ramayana of Gowswami Tulsidas

Sun. 5th 11:00 am Sri Bhagavad Gita Talk & kirtan by Suman & Sargam Shah

Sun. 12th 10:00 am Sri Satyanarayana Swami Puja, Holi (full moon)

Sun. 19th 2:00 pm Sri Ramakrishna Jayanti Celebration,talk by Swami Prasannatmanan-daji,Vedanta Society,Berkeley

Sun. 26th 11:00 am Sri Ramanama Sankirtana & Meditation

Apr. 2017

Sat. 1st. 6:30 pm Mataki Chowki

Sun. 2nd 10:30 am Sri Durga Homa (Chaitra Navaratri)

Sat. 8th 9:00 am –5pm Sri Ramanavami Celebration & Music Festival

Sun. 9th 9:00 am– 5pm With Karnatic Music Schools

San Leandro Ashrama Timings

Temple is open between the hours of 8am to 12:30 pm and 5pm to 8pm

Puja is conducted thrice daily at 7am, 12 noon and 6.30pm

Every Monday 6:30 pm: Sri Siva Puja & Aarti

Every Tuesday 6:30 pm: Sri Durga Puja & Aarti

Every Full Moon Day Sri Satyanarayana Puja & Katha at 7:30 pm