Samskrita Bharati-Greater Boston (SBGB) is an active chapter of Samskrita Bharati USA*. It runs Samskritam classes and programs at several locations in New-England region.

SBGB is organizing its 13^th annual “Samskritam Shloka-Recitation Competition” for Children on Saturday Feb 4, 2017 from 3 pm to 5:30 pm at Sadhu Vaswani Centre, 1827 Bridge Street, Dracut, MA 01826. Registration is free and anyone is welcome to participate. This is a fun and a beneficial recitation competition for children to expose and inculcate the wonderful heritage of Samskritam. Learning verses of moral conduct and understanding their meaning will evoke children’s curiosity and interest to know more about our culture and heritage.

For registration: http://tinyurl.com/2016-BSC

Email: boston@samskritabharatiusa.org

* Samskrita Bharati USA, a non-profit organization, is primarily dedicated to the mission of popularizing Sanskrit as a spoken language. Moving beyond veneration of Sanskrit as a classical or exotic language, Samskrita Bharati USA (SBU) seeks to make this a contemporary language whose everyday usage becomes customary and widespread.

This goal is being gradually realized with steady progress in the escalating numbers of Sanskrit speakers globally, increase in Sanskrit speaking families worldwide, and even a rise in Sanskrit spoken villages in India. Such preliminary success has served as a powerful catalyst to effect further change, and initiate a potent cultural renaissance movement.

As a language, Sanskrit is the cultural backbone of India. It holds the key to India's timeless, rich, cultural heritage. Knowledge of Sanskrit opens new vistas in areas such as Indian Philosophy, Yoga, Ayurveda, Mathematics, etc. By restoring Sanskrit to its rightful place in the cultural legacy of India, it is believed that the fate of India's cultural heritage will also be secured. Besides being a treasure trove of knowledge, Sanskrit has the power to unify India. The language of Sanskrit holds no boundaries. The appeal is widespread across people from all walks of life, different generations, religious backgrounds, and regional affiliations.

Samskrita Bharati USA has created and expanded Samskritam programs in various spheres including schools, universities, temples and community centers in 36 cities spread across 23 states in the US and in 3 centers in Canada.

In the past year:

o    Nearly 2800 people attended more than 45 programs

o    Approximately 700 people attended the four residential camps

o    The Distance Learning Program (DLP) has seen an exponential growth with more than 400 people opting to take the exams in 2016.

·         Highlights from SBU children programs:

o    With the goal of developing families that converse in Samskritam, started independent Samskrta-Bālakendram, in some of our centers. Nearly 1000 children and their parents attend these weekly classes. In addition, another 400 children attend weekly classes volunteers conduct in collaboration with other organizations.

·         Highlights from SBU youth programs:

o    With the enrollment of nearly 200 students, our Samskritam As a Foreign Language (SAFL) program for students in grades 8-12 saw more than 30% growth last year.

o    The SAFL program attained a milestone this year when it secured accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Schools of Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), which is one of the official academic bodies responsible for accreditation of educational institutions in the US.

o    To meet the need for Samskritam learning by university students, created Campus Samskritam Network (CSN). CSN provides an avenue for growing SAFL graduates to have a life-long association with Samskritam and enables an opportunity for new students.

For information and audio/text files: www.samskritabharatiusa.org

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