The 346th Shri Raghavendra Swami Aradhana Mahotsava was celebrated on Aug 12, 2017 at Sadhu Vaswani center in Dracut by New England Shri Raghavendra Swami (NE SRS) Brundavan. NE SRS Brundavan is affiliated to the famous shrine at Mantralayam that is dedicated to this saint and is supported and guided by the current pontiff H.H Shri Subhudendra Theertha as part of a global reach program. The mission of this program is to establish prarthana mandirs all over the globe so that devotees have access to their beloved Guru, no matter where they are in the globe.

Shri Raghavendra Swami belongs in the lineage of Shri Madhwacharya and lived in the 16th century. In addition to many scholarly treatises that he authored, this saint provided frameworks for the common man to lead a pious and moral life making the shastra- based life available to all. He entered Jeeva Samadhi at Mantralayam in Andhra Pradesh and is believed to live in a metaphysical form for 700 years - Devotees continue to feel his presence and many miracles are regularly reported and his guidance and benevolence are lovingly experienced. For this reason, this saint is considered to be the Kalpavruksh or Kamadhenu of the Kaliyug.

Raghavendra swami (fondly called Rayaru) has a huge following all over the world and it was evident by the turnout at this event as well - Over 600 people attended the event and just over 75 volunteers ran every aspect of the event. The format of the event was traditional and comprehensive and started with chanting of various suktas and stotras by the Sukta Dhama group and setting the divine tone for the event. Devotees had plenty of opportunities to participate in the sevas like paduka puja, Ashttotara Guru puja and the Ksheerabhdi seva where 108 brass kalashas of milk were offered to the saint. The celebrations also included a grand pallaki procession with a resplendent and bejeweled Prahallada (Shri Raghavendra Swami is considered to be an incarnation of Prahallada) and the religious festivities concluded with an Oonjal seva or a Jhoola. Both the Pallaki and the Jhoola were beautifully handcrafted by local devotees in wood and were fine expressions of craftsmanship and passionate devotion. A priest was specially flown in to lead the sevas and pujas of the Aradhana.

Another unique aspect of the Aradhana is the Ashtavadana seva where the saint is offered a chanting of the 4 vedas, the Ramayana, Bhagavata, Stotra, Harikathamruthasara, music, dance etc. For the stotra presentation, students of the Gnana Kalpavruksha classes did a debut recitation of the Venkatesh stotra and impressed the attendees with their memory and the clarity of pronunciation after only a couple weeks of learning this piece. The age range of the kids who performed this segment was 4-12 years old. More details on the Gnana kalpavruksha classes can be found here - http://ne-srsbrundavan.org/classes/

In his time, Guru Raghavendra Swami appealed to the masses by relaxing exclusivity around castes and inviting one and all for free lunches at the temple and monastery everyday. Keeping this spirit, an impressive aspect of the aradhana is the free theertha prasada or lunch for all that is cooked onsite by volunteers. An elaborate and traditional meal was served on banana leaf by men in dhotis and was a spectacle in itself and reminiscent of weddings and temple celebrations in South India. Over 600 people were served over 3 batches on 2 floors this year and was a herculean effort on the part of the volunteers. All devotees also received the special ‘parimala prasada’ that is unique to the main shrine of this saint in Mantralaya along with the sacred rice or mantrakshate blessed and sent by the current swamiji of Mantralaya. Seva sponsors also received special tokens to take home along with fruits and other prasada.

This is only the second year that NE SRS Brundavan celebrated the Aradhana Mahotsava and the organization has maintained a razor sharp focus on individual devotion and is fueled by the organic coming together of the community. In this short time, the community that has responded to this mission has grown leaps and bounds as exemplified by the packed halls at this event.

NE SRS Brundavan too has accelerated in an unprecedented manner and taken a leap into their next phase by making a major announcement about the inauguration of their prayer center in Lowell on vijayadashami day, Sept 30, 2017. The prayer center will be located at 1519 Middlesex St. Lowell MA Unit #5. In anticipation of this interim facility and a potential purchase of property, the Guru Raghavendra Samarpana Fund was launched and the community has raised over 30K in under 3 months. The organization ran a pledge drive at the event towards a target of a monthly community commitment of 5K to run and sustain the prayer hall in Lowell. This pledge drive is still open and big or small contributions can be made here - https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MjE3MzA=

For more information, contact info@ne-srsbrundavan.org or join their mailing list by visiting the website - http://ne-srsbrundavan.org/. You can also find NE SRS Brundavan on Facebook.

Join the Rayarhood and welcome Rayaru to town!