It was in the year 1979, Amma made Her devotee children to perform A Koti Namarchana with Lalitha Sahasram, something very grand and special during those days, as Lalitha was not very much recited then, not as much as is being recited now. In those days, there was a taboo, that ladies should not recite Lalitha Sahasram. As we all know, Mother allowed all, ladies, gents, anyone, men and women of all castes, children of various religions, to recite Lalitha Sahasram. It happened on Sri Hyma’s Birthday, during 1979 and now, Lalitha Sahasram is very popular, prevalent, people of various castes are reciting Lalitha. And we never hear the objection “ladies should not recite”
I had a close relative by the name Smt. Susheela, we call her Susheela Pinni. She was reciting Lalitha regularly. I asked her “from when did you start reciting Lalitha?” “Around the 80s” she replied. “Why not earlier?” I asked her. “I don’t know. In those days, people used to say ladies should not recite Lalitha”. How the world opened up to Lalitha after 1979?
My brother-in-law came back from America, 2 years back, after residing there for nearly 25 years, and was telling us about the famous Raja Rajeswari temple at Rochester, United States. So many grand homams they performed in the temple – I doubt whether we in India perform so many great homams. The spiritual master there was called “Babu garu”, he was a man of infinite compassion and intense Tapas. It appears, he declared in 1980, “Now Divine Mother’s sanction has come. Everyone can recite Lalitha Sahasram, no restrictions whatsoever”.
A sanction from Amma at Jillellamudi was the signal received by the pious minds across the globe. Once Amma said “Why do you think I am confined to the four walls of this room?” On another occasion She said “What happens here, happens everywhere.”
With this Divine Assurance, we started our efforts for increased applications of Solar Energy a few years back -we installed solar street lights. In fact our first solar application was much earlier, a 1000 liter capacity solar water heater atop Madras guest House. It is functioning exceptionally well till date. It all started very slowly, I happened to see a stall in the Industrial Exhibition very close to Amma’s stall, exhibiting all solar applications. I took their telephone numbers, brought their literature and shared the information with Mr. Dinakar and Sri Rama Murthy garu, both of whom were sitting in Amma’s stall. Our initial interest was in Solar street lights. After sometime, we called the supplier to my Office, and along with brothers Mallannayya and Prem Gopal, negotiated with him, for solar street lights, and ultimately installed 5 solar street lights, one by one. The installation started around 2 years back, and every one of the lights is functioning very well till now. Night lighting in Jillellamudi is a problem if current fails, and it does fail every now and then. Apart from all the men women and children going round, number of snakes also go round. Though people like me, theoretically call them Nanangaru, I am really afraid to be too close to the snakes. Unfailing night lighting is not only helpful, it is very much necessary at Jillellamudi. Recently, a sister came and spent 10 days at Jillellamudi. One night, she got up at one am, to find a deadly viper cozy coiled up and sleeping on the threshold of her room. Peaceful coexistence of course – but subject to our care and circumspection.
We installed a number of current operated inverters. They work for a maximum of 4 hours at a stretch. After that the generator fails, and we start using diesel operated generators. Due to intense power cuts. Jillellamudi is experiencing an 8 hour power cut extending upto 12 hours.
After that, we installed one solar water heater for Annapurnalayam. Earlier, we were receiving cold water into a steel cubicle, applying Liquified Petroleum Gas to boil water and generate steam, and then proceed with steam cooking. After installing a solar water heater, mineral water goes into the solar heaters, and the steel cubicle in Annapurna layam receives water at 80°C. Definitely, gas consumption comes down and it has to come down. Next time you visit Jillellamudi, if the geyser in your room does not function, go to Annapurnalayam. A bucket of hot water will give you 2 and a half buckets of water warm enough for bathing purposes. Now Annapurnalayam utensils are being cleaned with hot water! Voters of cleanliness are happy!
Thereafter, we proceeded to install 2 solar power packs of 2 kw., capacity each. One is for the temple complex, installed in June, 2012. Another is for Vatsalyalayam and house of all ground floor portions, installed in November, 2012. The units are functioning pretty well. One kw., power plant costing Rs.4.4 lacs is donated by one Individual devotee of Amma, another one is from collections.
We need a lot of solar energy applications in Jillellamudi. The paradox in Jillellamudi, state of AP and our country is, we witness the worst power crisis during Summer day time. It is the exact period of the month, wherein maximum solar energy is available. If places and Ashrams/temples like Jillellamudi go for solar power, all temples/mosques/churches, political party offices, government offices go for solar power, pressure on normal electric supply comes down, helping the small scale and other industries. The upper middle class people can easily go for solar power, as they have the purchasing capacity. I was pleasantly surprised to read the other day that Tamil Nadu is going for vigorous solar power projects. Vijayawada is declared as a solar city.
We can expand further. We need more solar street lights. We need at least an additional 10 kW., of solar power to meet the needs of all our institutions at Jillellamudi. We also need Solar water heaters for our college, for Gayatri Bhavan, for everyone’s house. We need a solar cooker, costing at least Rs.10.00 lacs, excluding subsidy. Solar energy is not “a solution” for Jillellamudi, or for that matter, the state or the country. It is the solution”.
If you are interested in contributing to the funds, please send your amounts to Sri Viswajanani Parishat – specifying that the donation is for solar energy. As we strengthen our solar applications, the world will follow Amma’s footsteps, slowly but steadily and ultimately, we will need neither the all polluting thermal power, nor the very dangerous nuclear power. Let Amma show us the way!
JAYAHO MATHA