October 2017 to October 2018 marks the centenary year of Shirdi Sai Baba’s Mahasamadhi. To celebrate his life and teachings on this occasion, Shirdi Sai Sewa Sansthan Trust, Hyderabad in association with Shirdi Sai Global Foundation, Gurugram organized a two-day event in Hyderabad on 21 & 22 Dec in Hyderabad.

 

The first programme of the two-day event was conducted in DST Auditorium, University of Hyderabad, in the evening of 21st Dec 2017 with a focus on Reflections on Sai Path so far by a diverse set of devotees. The event was kick-started by the visually challenged cultural team from Viswa Durkh Foundation, Hyderabad, who rendered a beautiful musical tribute to Shirdi Sai Baba. This was followed by the speeches of Amar Alluri (Auckland, New Zealand), Kodandarami Reddy (Nellore, Andhra Pradesh), P V Sai (Hyderabad, Telangana), Kumkum Bhatia (Gurgaon, Haryana) and Prasanna Miapuram (Hosur, Tamil Nadu). These speeches were followed by an address by Dr. Chandra Bhanu Satpathy.

 

The second day of the event, the morning of 22nd Dec 2017, started with an International conference on Sai Philosophy and Global Sai Movement in. The chief guest, Dr. C B Satpathy and the guest of honor Dr. V K Saraswat, addressed the audience on the relevance of the conference and the importance of Sai philosophy in the present day.

The speakers that followed represented different countries across the world representing their communities in sharing the work that has been happening globally. Shri Aditya Kakumanu, Minnesota, US, spoke about the activities shaping up the temple in Minnesota. Shri Renuka Arun, Canada, spoke on the role of holy scriptures in the journey on Sai Path. Shri Anita Kandukuri dealt the various initiatives taken up by temples across Australia and New Zealand, highlighting the role of women in the process. Shri Manu Bajaj, London, UK elaborated the social activities taken up by the communities across UK & Europe.  Shri Rajeev Chandra Joshi, New Delhi, gave an overview of the philanthropic activities which have been taken up by various groups of people under the umbrella of and in association with Shirdi Sai Global Foundation. Dr. P Raghunadha Reddy, Tirupati, presented a diagnostic framework to understand how Sai Path influences societal change, through individual transformation.

 

The conference was followed by a mega cultural evening at Global Peace Auditorium, Gachibowli, Hyderabad. The programme comprised of a variety of speeches that involved eminent personalities such as Shri ESL Narasimhan (Governor of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh), Shri Akkineni Nagarjuna (veteran Telugu film actor), Shri Manikyalar Rao (Endowment Minister, Government of Andhra Pradesh) and Shri Harish Rao (Minister of Irrigation, Government of Telangana). Many prominent personalities including Shri Bandaru Dattatreya (MP), Shri Vishweshwar Reddy (MP) and a few MLAs and MPs. They took their turns in sharing their views on the global sai movement. The speeches by the dignitaries were followed by book releases of Sai Sakham (Telugu version of Age of Shirdi Sai), Shirdi Sai Bhaktula Prasnalu (Telugu translation of Baba Devotees Questions) and Kannada translation of the English book ‘Shirdi Sai Baba and other Perfect Masters, all three books written by Dr C B Satpathy. The rest of the evening consisted of Bharatanatyam dance performances by Rajweswari Sainath, Vyshnavie Sainath, and group, Kuchipudi dance performances by Nadia and group and a folk-dance performance by Lohita and group. A performance that followed depicted the pallaki Utsav as it used to happen in Shirdi during the times that Baba was alive, by Hari Mangalampalli, Neha Singh, and group. These performances enthralled the audience generating a vibe one of a kind.

 

This event is the second event in the series of celebrations planned across the globe, to celebrate Sai spirit and philosophy during the centenary year of Mahasamadhi, following the first event conducted at Siri Fort auditorium, Delhi on 15th Oct 2017 by Shirdi Sai Global Foundation.  The focus on creating a global consciousness and communication network among various Shirdi Sai temples and Organizations to carry out various philanthropic activities in a cooperative manner, and to reiterate the essence of the life of Shirdi Sai Baba has made the event memorable.