A ‘Devotee Conclave’ was held from 18th Nov. 2011 and concluded on 20th Nov. 2011 on a glorious note at Jillellamudi. It was, in a way, a maiden attempt to hold such a conclave on such a scale. Following a proposal made by the Organizing Secretary Shri S Mohanakrishna, Sri Viswajanani Parishat (SVJP) decided to hold such a ‘long-overdue-conclave’.
The basic drawing-board plan for holding this historic conclave was prepared by Sri PSR Anjaneya Prasad, Editor of Telugu journal ‘Viswajanani’. The credit goes to all the Office bearers of SVJP and members who put in a lot of effort for the grand success of this rare event.
In order to make this ‘Sadassu’ (Seminar) meaningful, a sub committee was formed to chalk out the framework. This Sub committee came out with three important decisions.
First suggestion was to contact all those devotees who have a long association with Jillellamudi and had close contact with and had direct conversations or experiences with the Divine Mother, and request them to present papers on topics of their choice with a bearing on Amma’s philosophy or incidents which reflect Amma’s philosophy.
The second one was presenting awards in the names of some of the older devotee brothers who dedicated their lives in the service of Amma. These awards were instituted in the name of Sri Kondamudi Ramakrishna, Sri Adharapurapu Seshagiri Rao and Sri Tangirala Kesava Sarma who are not amongst us.
The third decision was the release of three books on Amma on each of the three days.
Responding to the call given by SVJP, many brothers submitted their papers to be presented during the seminar. There were as many as 21 papers that were presented during the three days. It is a pleasant coincidence that the number of papers presented in the conclave is the number of letters of Amma namam in Telugu “Jayaho matha Sree Anasuya Rajarajeswari Sree Paratpari”.
The inaugural session of the Seminar commenced on an auspicious note at 10 in the morning on 18th Nov ’11 with the lighting of the lamp by Sri Sri Siddheswarananda Bharati Swami of Courtalam (Tamilnadu) who also delivered the inaugural address. He said as we are living in the divine presence of Amma, we can derive fulfillment of our lives only through intense study of and contemplation on Amma Philosophy.
Mr Dinakar, President, SVJP during his speech said that we will derive benefits of such contemplation through this kind of Seminars where there is a confluence of people and sharing of views instead of doing it alone.
Mr Brahmandam Ravindra Rao, the second son of AMMA and the Patron of SVJP, recalling his childhood days said that Amma’s universal motherhood and divinity was recognized by some brothers even during the early years (1950s) and when viewed from this standpoint the contemplation on Amma’s philosophy started during those very days. In this context, he recalled the incident related to Gundel Rao of Guntur.
In his keynote address Mr Potturi Venkateswara Rao, former Chairman of Press Academy, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, who presided over the morning session emphasized that a study of Amma’s philosophy is as much a contemplation over the philosophy of ‘Atman’. He further asserted that, that is the true worship of Amma. The Guest of honor Sri B Raghuramaiah, an Industrialist from Chennai expressed immense happiness over the opportunity he got in attending this program.
During this session, Sri Siddheswarananda Bharati Swami released a reprint of the earlier Edition in Telugu titled Amma Amma Vakyalu (Amma Amma’s sayings) by Dr. Sripada Gopalakrishna Murthy.
Sri Mallapragada Srimannarayana Murthy, Lecturer in Matrusri Oriental College (MOC) presented a review of the Book. He said that Mother is the first Guru for a child, that there is no God greater than Mother and that this book brings out in an exquisite way the message given to Her children by this Mother, who is both Mother as well as Guru. He further said we are all deeply indebted to Dr. Sripada Gopalakrishna Murthy who compiled these gems of sayings that came out of the Divine Voice of Amma during the conversations with many devotee children.
The first paper of the seminar was presented by Dr. B.L. Suguna, Lecturer in Telugu in MOC. She spoke about the ‘Institution of Marriage’ and its sanctity, based on the detailed explanations and the message handed to us by Amma.
The afternoon session was presided over by Sri B Ramabrahmam, former President of SVJP. In his presidential remarks, he said that we are able to learn to some extent the philosophy of Amma only by Her grace while even the Vedas are unable to explain. He indicated that we have to strive through ‘Sadhana’ based on Amma’s philosophy of Love.
Dr. Sannidhanam Sudersana Sarma, Vice Chancellor, University of Vedas in Tirupathi was honored by Sri Siddheswarananda Bharati Swamy with Dr. Sripada Gopalakrishna Murthy award for service in the field of spirituality. While Dr. N. Subrahmanyeswara Sastry, Principal, MOC presented the citation to him, Dr. Sudarsana Sarma responded in a very appropriate way to the honor done to him.
Then Sri P. Anthony Swamy, Founder of Amma Seva Nilayam in Ponnur was honored with Sri Adharapurapu Seshagiri Rao Service award by Sri B. Ramabrahmam. In response, Sri Swamy gave a detailed account of the kind of service activities being done by him and thanked SVJP for choosing him to receive this honor. Sri Y.V.Srirama Murthy, General Secretary, SVJP presented him the citation.
As part of the paper presentation, while Dr. T.S. Sastry in his paper titled “Incredible events in the History of Amma’s Life” described some very significant and amazing events, Sri B.L.S.Sastry explained in detail the significance of amma’s statement in Telugu “Nenu Nanna Nenu” drawing reference from the Upanishads. Next, Sri TT Appa Rao presented his paper titled “The paths of Sadhana shown (suggested) by Amma” to achieve Atman’s experience.
The morning session on 19th was presided over by Dr. Potturi Venkateswara Rao and he said in his presidential remarks that recognizing the wide differences in the mental attitudes of persons who came to her has not given a message in a similar fashion to all. So, he said, it should prove very useful for people to gather at one place and share the essence of Amma’s message.
During this session Mr M.V.Ramana Sarma, Editor, Darsanam Magazine from Hyderabad who was chosen for ‘Sri Kondamudi Ramakrishna Award’ was honored by Dr. Venkateswara Rao. Mr V. Ramesh Babu, resident secretary, SVJP presented him with the citation. Then, a book titled ‘Amma-Maharshi’ originally written in Telugu by Dr. Sripada Gopalakrishna Murthy and rendered into English by Late Sri Indumukhi Seshagiri Rao and revised by Mr Mohanakrishna was released by Dr. Potturi. Sri V S R Murthi, ‘Spiritual scientist’ who came from Hyderabad reviewing the book gave an excellent exposition of comparative aspects of Amma and Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi.
Among the papers presented during the session were: (i) “Mahopadesam” (Great Teaching) by Smt. Brahmandam Vasundhara, (ii) “Mother for the Entire Living Beings”, by Sri I. Ramakrishna Rao, (iii) Sadhana through sincere devotion by Sri B.G.K. Sastry.
The afternoon session was presided over by Sri K B G Krishna Murthy, one of the Vice Presidents of SVJP. In his presidential remarks, he explained the love of Amma in expressing Her wish to see that one lakh people should have their meal at a time during Her Golden Jubilee Birthday celebrations in 1973 and Her Divine Grace in granting us that this objective is achieved. Then he released the book titled “Meditations on the Mother” by Prof. M. Sivaramkrishna. Mr M. Dinakar, President of SVJP presented a review of the Book.
Smt. Kusuma Chakravarty from Visakhapatnam presented a paper titled “Matru Swabhavam Marani Bhavam” (Motherly Nature – Unchanging view) and Mr G. Ramalingeswara Rao, a paper titled “Deena Bandhava Amma” (Amma the Champion of Destitutes). Dr. Jhansi Lakshmibai, former Reader in Sanskrit (MOC) shared her views and experiences through a paper titled “Mancini Minchina Mahimalu Levu” (No miracles are superior to the Goodness [in humans]), Sri MBR Sarma narrated his experiences and the incidents which helped in learning Amma’s philosophy to certain extent.
On 20th November Dr. Potturi Venkateswara Rao presided over the morning session. Two stalwarts in their respective fields were honored by Dr. Potturi and Mr. Valluri Prem Raju Dr. Kolluru Avatara Sarma of Kakinada with Sri Tangirala Kesava Sarma Spiritual Service Award and Sri P. Sriram of Karamchedu with Sri Valluri Panduranga Rao Award respectively. While Sri N. Lakshmana Rao, member of Executive Committee (SVJP) presented the citation to Dr. Avatara Sarma, Mr. Kondamudi Prem Kumar presented it to P. Sivaram. The awardees responding to the honor recalled the unbounded love of Amma and the Divinity they experienced. The Guest of Honour Sri Kuppa Venkatakrishna Murty, State Scholar of Datta Peetham (Mysore) spoke about the Glory of Amma in his inimitable style.
While one of the speakers Sri P. Vidyasagara Sarma spoke on ‘Amma’s Philosophy of Love’, Sri M. Dattatreya Sarma spoke about Her ‘Universal Motherhood’, citing several incidents as proof to his assertions. Similarly, while Mr. M.S.Saratchandrakumar chose to speak on “Amma as a Great Humanist”, Dr U. Varalakshmi dwelt on how Amma’s teachings help in personality development citing some examples. Recalling his first visit to Amma when he was only 12 years of age, Sri V.S.R. Murty of Hyderabad said that if we carefully watch Amma’s words and Amma’s behavior, we come to know that all the Upanishads have together assumed the physical form of Amma.
The concluding session of the ‘Sadassu’ was chaired by Sri V. Dharma Suri, one of the Vice Presidents of SVJP who asserted that we will be able to understand Amma’s philosophy only when we worship her as God and that continuous chanting of Her Naamam (Jayaho Matha Sri Anasuya Rajarajeswari Sree Paratpari) would help in such a worship. The chief guest Sri Krosuri Muralikrishna and the guest of honor Sri Prasada Sarma dwelt at length on the spiritual glory of Amma.
Smt. G. Ramatulasamma, who is prominent in the field of social service in Guntur was honored with sister Smt. Krishnavenamma Award by Dr. U. Varalakshmi who also presented her the citation. Sri Sitaram of ‘Mumukshujana Peetham’ of PedaMuthevi (Krishna Dist) exhorted that we should all strive at salvation through worshiping Amma and getting a grasp of Her philosophy.
While Sri Racharla Lakshminarayana emphatically said that Amma demolishes (clears) all doubts – both spiritual and those related to daily life in the physical world, Dr. Inaja Kumari who dedicated her life to the Medical service, described Amma as a ‘mine of scientific knowledge’. At the end Sri M.S.N. Murthy garu gave a review of the Sadassu during these three days and read out the messages from the devotee brothers Mr. Gordon – Westerlund (USA), Sonagiri (FRANCE), Dr. Timothy Convey (USA), Dr. P. Venkatanarayana and Sri K. Narasimha Murthy of Hyderabad.
During these three days of Sadassu Sri Ravuri Prasad of Hyderabad and Smt. Vijayasri provided soulful music, paying obeisance to Amma by singing devotional songs through their mellifluous voice.
Kudos to Sri PSR Anjaneya Prasad, Editor, Viswajanani for excellently conducting the proceedings during the three days along with Sri MSN Murthy (Mallapragada).
It is to the credit of all the students of MOC who rendered excellent service in a disciplined way contributing to the success of the Sadassu. The staff of both MOC and the High School supervised the service activities of the students.
The gratifying experience of the three-day Sadassu left an indelible impression in the hearts of all those who attended the event an evidence of Divine Grace of Amma.