I am also pleased to report that all the events of the past twelve months were very successful, and very well attended. Many a times, I wondered if we are short of space, despite the large sizes of our temple and auditorium.

In my last report I had a question in my mind, whether we will be able to meet or surpass the previous years , performance at the Dipawali Music Festival. I am proud that we did that. Along with Sangeet Martandya Padma Bhushan Pandit Jasraj the following artists participated in the performance, vocalist Sanjay Abhyankar, Amaan Ali Bangash on Sarod, Rahul Sharma on Santoor, Flutist Rakesh Chorasia, sitarist Niladri Kumar, Anuradha Pal on Tabla and Vocalist Shruti Kale. Both the days the auditorium was fully packed. Audience wanted some of the artists to repeat their performances during this program. H.H. Gurumaa announced the formation of 1000 Sri Sri Acharya Vishwanath Dev Sarma Music Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to promote the Indian Classical art in young people under the age of 25 years. In the beginning it will start with music and the expand to other arts.

The initial competition was held on 21st December 1998 on the Death Anniversary of Sri Sri Gurudev Acharya Vishwanath Dev Sarma in Mumbai, India and the final competition will be held at our forthcoming 1999 Dipawali celebration at New York. Four of the artists who were selected in December 1998 are coming to New York this year on November 12th and 13th along with Pdt. Jasraj, Niladri Kumar, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Aayan Bangash, Kala Ramnath and Rupande Shah. Unfortunately there was no selection in dance category. The judges for the competition in India were Pdt. Jasraj, Shivkumar Sharma and others. First and second winner in the competition will be awarded a cash prize of Rs. 25,000 and Rs. 11,000 respectively.

Other major positive development for this year was with our sister organization in India. Our plan to build an Ashram in India (near Delhi) started facing a lot of difficulties because of the land problems. Our new plans are to develop it at Lonavala, ideally located between Pune and Bombay. We already have acquired most of the land and remaining will be acquired as we get funding to make the outstanding payments.

We started the year with Shiv Ratri and Mataji Chowki events. Then, we celebrated Holi. This year we missed the presence of H.H. Gurumaa as she had not yet returned from India. I myself had just landed from India. This year there were so many applications for the participants that some of them had to be disappointed. The function went of till 1AM. The success of the whole program was due to the effort and the hard work of Mrs. Rachana Sarang, Mrs. Renu Jain and other members of the board of trustees. This time Sangeeta Lunavat prepared theThandai and people really cherished it. The judges for the competition were Dinesh, Payal and Anil.

Hanuman Jayanti was celebrated over the last two days of March. H.H.Gurumaa was back in New York by that time. Sindoori Baba ,s chola was changed and the devotees with great fervor took the pieces of the old chola. Baba’s Pichhavaye was changed and was taken by Kusum Gupta at auction. Kalindi and Pranay Lunawat and Dr. Jagdish Thakur sponsored Baba’s Sringar for 1st night and 2nd harmony. Surajbhai who came from India, played Shehnai for Baba and the audience on the first day of the two day celebration. At midnight as usual, 108 Akhand Hanuman Chalisa path started. Then in the morning after Baba’s Puja and Hawan, H.H.Gurumaa and others broke their 21 days fast.

On July 27th, Guru Purnima was celebrated. In spite of it being a weekday the largest ever crowd of over 1,000 people gathered to celebrate the day dedicated to the Gurus. Rajendra Jain, wizard of folk music and classical vocalist Kankana Banerji came from India for this occasion. After the Puja, Mahabhog was distributed. Mahabhog contained 21 kind of sweets offered by Kusum Gupta and many other varieties of mouth watering food items prepared by Nitu Malhotra and family.

From August 7th to August 28th, twenty-one days Akhand Ram Charitra Manas Path took place. This year few people had to cancel their paths , because of the family emergencies. The end there were so many people who wanted to do the path , but there were only limited days and some of them were disappointed. I hope they book their Ramayan path for Year 2000 early to avoid the disappointment. On popular demand, Pdt. Chandraprakash Kaushik from Gaziabad India, was invited to give discourses on Ram Charitra Manas. Lots of people came every day to attend his discourse.

This year’s Dipawali celebration is coming up in November. I wish, and am sure, that this will surpass all past year’s successes, with blessings from Baba and Her Holiness GuruMaa. I would like to thank my co-trustees, directors and sevaks for assisting me during the last twelve months, and helping us complete one more successful year of spreading our Guru’s message and sharing Baba’s blessings.

Jai Sri Hanuman!