Swami Gitananda Best Child and Youth Competition

March 4, 2007

THE SEVENTH SWAMI GITANANDA BEST CHILD AND YOUTH AWARDS 2006 The Pondicherry Yogasana Association , South India,(www.geocities.com/yognat2001/p_y_a) has for the past six years conducted a series of events in order to stimulate children and youth to take up the practice of Yoga as a wholistic lifestyle. One of the main tools in this endeavour is a competition that combines

within its structure, a situation and environment in which the creative and spiritual potential for children and youth is drawn out, and attitudes developed which enable the children and youth to realise the goal of wholistic living. The “Swami Gitananda Best Child and Youth Competition” which was conducted for the seventh consecutive year in Pondicherry recently has been ingeniously devised and evolved through the years into a creative educational exercise by Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani, president of the PYA, and Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, General Secretary of the PYA. The more than 300 persons who witnessed the Award Ceremonies recently at

the new hall of Yoganjali Natyalayam, including two dozen guests from a dozen foreign countries, could not believe their eyes as they witnessed the immense creativity, imagination, skill, discipline and Yoga knowledge of the young people who displayed mind boggling skills in Elocution, Yoga Asanas, Bharat Natyam, Fancy Dress, Team Asana Demonstrations, Novelty Items – all expounding profound Yoga concepts and skill. The Honourable Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the Govt of Pondicherry, Thiru E VALSARAJ Avl was the Chief Guest of the Awards Ceremony on February 21st 2007.

He was all praise for the amazing grace and skill of the young students who put on an excellent show of Yoga, dance and drama. The performances of Natya Karanas by RV Krithiga and Yogasanas with a lamp on her head by J Sangavi were the highlights of the cultural show by the winners of various events. Thiru Valsaraj Avl praised the efforts of Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani and Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani in bringing out the creative and spiritual best of their students. He assured the audience that Pondicherry health services would soon also include Yoga therapy as part of the Central

Govt’s AYUSH dept that deals with the Indian systems of medicine. Thiru Valsaraj Avl awarded the main prize of the evening to Miss RV KRITHIGA who was declared winner of the Swami Gitananda Best Youth Award 2006. Miss J SANGAVI and Miss VIBHA SRINIDY won the Swami Gitananda Best Child Awards 2006 in the above 10 and below 10 years categories respectively. All three are students of Yoganjali Natyalayam. The Honourable Health Minister also released the new edition of Yogamaharishi Dr Swami Gitananda Giri’s MUDRAS that has been completely revised and edited by Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani with numerous illustrations

and a new 12paged coloured photo section of various Mudras. Other Special Guests for the award ceremony were Thiru R Siva Avl MLA Orleanpet constituency, Thiru Om Shakti Sekar Avl MLA Nellithope constituency, Tmt D Anjali Devi, Councilor-Pudupalayam and Pulavar E Pattabhiraman, noted Tamil poet. Special eminent guests from abroad applauded the work of Amma and Dr. Ananda in showcasing the immense talent of Indian Youth in Yoga and Bharat Natyam in these creative and artistic presentations. the eminent guests from abroad at the Awards Ceremony included Swami Anandakapila of Australia; Yogacharini Dr Nalini Devi of Spain, Yogacharya Muralidharan Giri of Australia, Yogacharini Janita

Stenhouse of France, Yogacharini Leena Elo of Germany and Yogacharini Arja Miettinen Baumann of Germany who felicitated the winners for their excellent performances. Yogacharini Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani in her inaugural remarks said that such competitions were useful as educational tools. The team events fostered the ability to work in tandem with others. The elocution and essay events developed skill in organizing ideas and expressing them verbally. The novelty items, artistic skill, design and fancy dress competitions stimulated imaginative faculties. The quiz section assured that the youth understood the exquisite philosophical concepts underlying the Yogic science and developed the intellect. In presenting the items in the different categories, the young people learned to stand up in front of an audience with confidence. The

Yoga Asana displays showcased the proficiency in the practical, physical aspects of Asanas. In conclusion, Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani remarked, “Competition teacher the young ones to face the essential competition of life with courage and helps them to develop the proper Yogic attitude of mind which is best summed up in the ethos of The Bhagavad Gita. “Do your best and leave the rest.” Furthermore in these competitions, everyone is a winner, because, if you win, you win, but if you lose, you also win, because you learn.” The various competitions had been held over several weekends in December and January. This year was also special as a team of 10 members had participated from Cuddalore under the guidance of their Yoga teacher Mrs Prema. This was the first time PYA had allowed non Pondicherrians to participate in this event and it

is hoped that this will be a step in the future participation of competitors form all over in this unique event founded in memory of one of the greatest masters in the history of modern Yoga. Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani thanked the executive committee members of PYA and his senior students for their dedication, hard work and organizational skill in arranging the nine different categories of competition involving nearly 150 contestants in a very efficient manner. Yogacharya Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani Chairman : Yoganjali Natyalayam and ICYER Hon General Secretary, Pondicherry Yogasana Association 25, 2nd Cross,Iyyanar Nagar, Pondicherry, South India-605 013 Tel: +91-413 - 2622902 / +91-413 -3203314/+91-413 -2241561 Website: www.icyer.com www.geocities.com/yognat2001/ananda

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