57th Birthday Celebrations of Sri Swamiji, 21 Jun 1999
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Today was unique in the history of Avadhoota Datta Peetham. For the first time, a grand procession was conducted on the main streets of Mysore, starting from Balarama gate of the Mysore Palace and culminating at the Datta temple of Ashrama. The procession was led by two elephants carrying the Mantapam with the small stone idol of Lord Venkateswara
(found in the Machalipatnam seas).
Pujya Sri Swamiji himself led the procession in an open jeep. Various Tableaux containing Ganapati, Sri Rajarajeshwari, Sri Venkateswara, Sri Dattatreya along with tableaux of Ashram Bhajan party and Vedic Scholars chanting mantras were in the procession. A good number of folk artistes danced in joy in the procession. Thousands of devotees from the various parts of India and one hundred devotees of from various foreign countries like US, UK, Holland, Germany, West Indies, Switzerland, Malaysia participated in the procession which took about four and half hours to reach back the Ashrama.
Today the Adhivasa was conducted for the dieties. Sri Swamiji conducted Sri Chakra Puja in the evening at Garuda Mantapa and offered Purnahuti (final offering of the fire god) for Sudarsana Homa. In evening gospel Sri Swamiji spoke on the efficacy of service to god. whose grace only will relieve the seeker from the worldly problems and leads to salvation. The various services like procession of God and several decorations to the deity are the steps of spiritual practice according to the path of Yoga such procedure leads one from the Muladhara to Sahasrara (the first and the final spiritual plexus respectively) These Plexus are symbolised by the seven hills of Tirupati where the Famous Temple of Lord Venkateshwara is Established. After the Kakada Aarti, programmes concluded with the dance recital by Sridhar Jain and his young disciples.
