Sri Jayanthi Celebrations and Fund Raiser Event in New Jersey on Aug 17th 2008 -- Detailed Report Inside !!

August 19, 2008

Sri:

Sri Ranga Ramanuja Maha Desikaya namaha:

Dear Devotees,

With the blessings of divine couple, Sri Rukmini Sathyabhama Sametha Sri Venugopala Perumal, Sri Yoga Nrusimhar, Sri Chakrathazhwar, Sri Ramanujar and all the purvacharyas, yesterday we witnessed one of the grand celebrations in the recent memory in New Jersey on the occasion of Sri Krishna Jayanthi and Fund raiser for a proposed temple in New Jersey.

Prior to the event, we had a 7 day nithya divya prabhandha parayana uthsavam reciting the glory of Sri Venkateswara Perumal and Sri Venugopala Perumal. This was done through a tele-bridge conference. There was a lot of excitement and eager participation from sevarthis leading upto the event. On the day of the function, Perumal with full parivaram reached the mandapam y'day morning @ 8 AM and was received with full honors. Preparations started immediately thereafter to commence the function. It started off sharp at 8:30 AM with traditional seva kalam recitations. At 9 AM, perumal prepared Himself with His full parivaram to enjoy the thirumanjanam arranged for Him. Panca suktham with Taittriya upanishad and other important sri sookthis along with divya prabhandham were recited with full fervor to befit the occasion. The devotees assembled in the hall were blessed to witness the thirumanjanam which concluded about 11 AM.

Preparations were in full swing to start off Sri Sudarshana Homam which commenced around 10:30 AM. About 7 bhagavatha ghoshti with full swaroopam were fortunate to perform the homam along with the priest. The chanting of Sudarshana mantra by the ghoshti created a holy atmosphere within the premises and devotees present there received full blessings from Sri Chakrathazhwar with their eager participation by reciting Sri Sudarsanashtakam. The homam concluded by 11:30 AM with purnahuti.

Maha sankalpam for Thirukkalyana uthsavam started with every bhagavatha with their family taking sankalpam on the occasion. All of us witnessed a grand Kalyanam for perumal with full maryadhais. A special maryadhai was performed by Sri Ranganatha Temple priests on this occasion. Prathi sambhavana was offered by Sri Ramanuja Mission to Sri Ranganatha Temple to befit the occasion. Kalyana batchanams were prepared by devotees with bhakti and dedication and offered to perumal as "seer".

Paduka Aradhanam was performed for all the 11 Acharyas of Srimath Andavan Ashramam. Periya Sathumurai (Vedam and Prabhandham) along with Acharya sambhavana for all the acharyas of Srimath Andavan Ashramam was performed and concluded by 2 PM. Theertha ghoshti started about the same time and perumal theertham along with paduka theertham for all the acharyas was distributed to more than 100 sevarthis assembled at that time. A grand feast prepared by Sri Ranganatha Temple cook was serverd to all the devotees after theertha ghoshti. The day long event concluded with a beautiful dance presentation by Smt. Ramya Ramnarayanan and her troupe of young kids whose brilliant performance mesmerized the enthralled audience assembled in the hall.

With the blessings of Perumal and our Acharya, Srimath Andavan, we have almost reached our target of 458 units of $1008 each towards bhoomi dhanam which will be used to purchase the land. We are pleased to share with you the good news that we have got great support from various bhagavathas like you and have received contributions for 427 units of bhoomi dhaanam as of today. We have just about 31 units left to achieve the target of $461,000 for the land purchase. We request you to consider participating in this rare opportunity. Please click http://www..org/general1.php?id1=4 & id2=1 to contribute towards the bhoomi dhanam. our only hope is that with generous contributions from devotees like you, we will be able to raise a permanent abode for our Perumal very very soon. Please spread the message to

all of your family relatives and friends so that they get a chance to contribute towards this noble cause.

Namo Narayana !!

Srimath Andavan Thiruvadi,

Venkat SreenivasanOn behalf of Sri Ramanuja Mission of Srirangam Srimath Andavan Ashramam