Foundation Day Celebrations
Date: March 22nd, 2018
Timings: 4.30 pm-7.00 pm
Yogoda Satsanga Dhyana Kendra, Bengaluru conducted a special event on March 22nd from 4.30 pm am to 7.00 pm, on the occasion of Foundation day of YSS. The first session started at 4:30 pm, this was followed by Arati, opening prayer: Brahmanandam and chant: “I am Aum” were sung. After which the devotees meditated for 20 minutes.
In the next session, the leader read out few major things to outline significant events in the life of YSS India. He first read out excerpts from the book: “Autobiography of Yogi” by our Gurudeva Paramahansa Yogananda, to mark the beginning of the organisation:
Founding of a Yoga school at Ranchi
“The ideal of an all-sided education for youth had always been close to my heart. I saw clearly the arid results of ordinary instruction, aimed only at the development of body and intellect. Moral and spiritual values, without whose appreciation no man can approach happiness, were yet lacking in the formal curriculum. I determined to found a school where young boys could develop to the full stature of manhood. My first step in that direction was made with seven children at Dihika, a small country site in Bengal. A year later, in 1918, through the generosity of Sir Manindra Chandra Nundy, the Maharaja of Kasimbazar, I was able to transfer my fast- growing group to Ranchi. This town in Bihar, about two hundred miles from Calcutta, is blessed with one of the most healthful climates in India. The Kasimbazar Palace at Ranchi was transformed into the headquarters for the new school, which I called Brahmacharya Vidyalaya in accordance with the educational ideals of the rishis. Their forest ashrams had been the ancient seats of learning, secular and divine, for the youth of India. At Ranchi I organized an educational program for both grammar and high school grades. It included agricultural, industrial, commercial, and academic subjects.
The students were also taught yoga concentration and meditation, and a unique system of physical development, “Yogoda,” whose principles I had discovered in 1916. Realizing that man’s body is like an electric battery, I reasoned tha it could be recharged with energy through the direct agency of the human will. As no action, slight or large, is possible without willing, man can avail himself of his prime mover, will, to renew his bodily tissues without burdensome apparatus or mechanical exercises. I therefore taught the Ranchi students my simple “Yogoda” techniques by which the life force, centred in man’s medulla oblongata, can be consciously and instantly recharged from the unlimited supply of cosmic energy. The boys responded wonderfully to this training, developing extraordinary ability to shift the life energy from one part of the body to another part, and to sit in perfect poise in difficult body postures. They performed feats of strength and endurance which many powerful adults could not equal”.
India’s Prime Minister Releases Stamp Commemorating YSS Centennial
The Prime Minister of India, the Honorable Sri Narendra Modi, paid tribute to the lifework of Paramahansa Yogananda during a special ceremony in New Delhi on March 7, 2017. The occasion was the release of a postage stamp (shown at left) by the Government of India commemorating the 100th anniversary of Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS—the name by which Paramahansa Yogananda’s work is known in India). The date was chosen to honor the anniversary of Paramahansaji’s mahasamadhi, which took place on March 7, 1952.
Yogoda Satsanga Society of India had its beginning in a small ashram and boys’ school founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in Dihika, India, in March 1917. Today YSS has some 200 meditation centers and groups throughout India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister unveiled the new stamp before an assemblage of more than 1,500 government officials and YSS members and admirers, in the spacious main hall of Vigyan Bhavan, the government’s convention center for official events. He then delivered an inspired address in Hindi, in which he characterized Paramahansaji as one of India’s greatest yogis and t eachers—one whose life and work demonstrated for the world the tremendous value of India’s spirituality—and praised YSS for successfully maintaining the legacy and spirit of its founder in sharing India’s ancient heritage in the modern world.
A Message From Sri Mrinalini Mata
Sri Mrinalini Mata stated in her message: “India’s greatest wealth and strength—today as throughout her long history—lies in her cherishing and actively expressing the eternal spiritual truths that her seers have perceived and bequeathed to humanity....That the Government of India has chosen today to honor the lifework of one such exemplary divine personage is a profound source of hope and inspiration not only for India, but for the millions worldwide who look to her for spiritual light in these troubled times.”
President of India Visits YSS Ranchi Ashram
On November 15, 2017, the Honorable President of India, Sri Ram Nath Kovind, visited Yogoda Satsanga Society of India’s Ranchi Ashram in honour of the official release of the Hindi translation of Paramahansa Yogananda’s God Talks With Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita. Accompanying Sri Kovind were the Governor of Jharkhand, Srimati Draupadi Murmu; the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Sri Raghubar Das (see photo right), as well as several other dignitaries. Swami Chidanandaji, president of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India/Self-Realization Fellowship, led the contingent of YSS and SRF monastics who hosted the honoured guests. Additionally, nearly 3,000 YSS members and friends gathered for the occasion, which took place during the 2017 YSS Sharad Sangam honouring the society’s centenary (1917-2017).
The President of India’s Address
Next, President Kovind addressed the audience in Hindi. He began by saying how impressed he had been walking through the ashram grounds, which he felt had a unique combination of natural beauty and spirituality. Acknowledging the presence of devotees from all parts of India and other countries, he warmly expressed in English his appreciation for their path of meditation and extended his greetings to them all.
After the reading, the chant: “ Guru ka dhyaan karo” was sung with utmost devotion. This was followed by meditation. Afterwhich session concluded with praying for others, healing prayer and closing prayer.
Concluding session:
An official announcement of YSS Bengaluru Kendra’s entry into digital media platforms: Facebook and Twitter was made. Our senior devotee: Sri Hariputran Ji who also celebrated his 94th birthday one the day, inaugurated the first Facebook post and the Tweet.
The announcement was made urging devotees to follow Kendra’s FB account, to get updates on events, inspiring quotations:
>https://www.facebook.com/ysdkbengaluru
>And Twitter account on: https://twitter.com/ysdkbengaluru
Devotees were requested to share posts, retweet the tweets with their family, friends and neighbours. This was followed by Pronami with the chant “ Madhur madhur naam, Guru naam Guru Naam” sung in the background and prasad was distributed.
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“Everything else can wait, but your search for God cannot wait”.
- Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda
