Yoga Bharati SFO Bay area chapter organized YIC 2011 inauguration on March 27, 2011 at Sunnyvale Temple auditorium in a grand way!

The chief guest for the occasion was Acharya Prabodh Chaitanyaji of Chinmaya Mission. More than 120 people gathered on Sunday afternoon to inaugurate YIC2011. The event was kicked off around 4: PM by a chanting of the AUMs and the starting prayer “Sahana Vavatu” that created an atmosphere of peace all around! The event was formally inaugurated by the lighting of the lamp by Acharyaji against a background of chanting of “Asatoma Sadga Maya…” by the children along with the audience. This was followed by a minute of silence in honor of all those fellow humans in Japan who lost their lives in the recent Tsunami and earthquake. Savitha.Nanjangud, the MC of the program then announced the agenda and began the program.

What followed was a delight to the creative senses! The children of Yoga Bharati presented a Ganesha Vanadana/Gayatri Mantra (Vedanth/Sushanth), a Bharatnatyam performance(Ankita Jain), Hindustani Classical songs (Chinmay Surpur)and a beautiful yoga dance/formations(all the children of the Yoga Bharati kids yoga classes)!

Anil Surpur welcomed the new batch and gave a brief overview of Yoga Bharati and its achievements. Sharat Joshi introduced the chief guest, Acharya Prabodh Chaitanya, to the audience.

Acharyaji addressed the audience and gave ‘Ashirvachana’ to YICC2011 students at this point. He took the opportunity to beautifully sketch out the role of the Guru and a good student with a brief explanation of the ‘guru-shishya parampara’! He inspired the incoming students with what would be their role in the process of learning and at the same time clarified how each one of us was always a student learning from everything around us. He spoke about how the Bhagavad Gita could be adopted in this context and also in our daily life! The audience was simply thrilled at these words of wisdom and to be in his presence! After the talk, Acharyaji answered questions from the audience about how to apply spiritual knowledge in everyday life and about how to judge what progress we have made in our journey towards our individual goals.

After Acharyaji’s address, the president of Yoga Bharati, Anil Surpur honored Acharyaji with a fruit basket and a humble contribution to Sandeepani building. This was followed by the certificate award ceremony to the recent YICC graduates. Shailesh Basani briefed the students with YIC information and also introduced the faculty for 2011.

The vote of thanks was given by Venkat Reddy and he concluded the session with a prayer, which was later followed by a sumptuous healthy dinner.