2012 Gita Day Shree Gurubhyo Namaha

Transcription

1 2012 Gita Day Shree Gurubhyo Namaha As is the tradition of SVBF, the longest Saturday of the year is devoted to the glorification of Srimad Bhagavad Gita. How better to do this than to encourage the talent of reciting the Gita! It is with this intent that SVBF holds its Annual Gita Day on the first Saturday after the summer solstice. This year, the Gita Day fell on June 23 rd, The focus for 2012 Gita Day was Chapter 16 (Daivasurasampad Vibhaga Yoga) & Chapter 17 (Sraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga). With a newly designed online registration form, that was active until 11:00 p.m. on June 22 nd, we had over 155 registrations for the competition. To encourage participation we had something for devotees of every age and every level of Gita learning. All in all, there were 8 categories to choose from: 1. Memorized recitation of verses 1-4 of chapter 16 for kids under age 5 2. Memorized recitation of verses 1-8 of chapter 16 for kids between ages 5 and 7 3. Memorized recitation of verses 1-12 of chapter 16 for kids between ages 8 and 9 4. Memorized recitation of chapter 16 for kids between ages 10 and Memorized recitation of chapter 16 and chapter 17 for contestants age 13 and over 6. Fluent reading of Chapters 16 and 17 for contestants over age Memorized recitation of the Entire Gita and one or more Shatkas 8. Gita Talk on verse 66 of Chapter 18 xéuéï kéqééïlméëuiréeré qééqéåmçü zéuhéç uéëeéç AWÇû iuéé xéuéïmééméåprééå qééå ÉÌrÉwrÉÉÍqÉ qéé zéñcéçè Notable Statistics To encourage participants to showcase their efforts, we allowed contestants to register across multiple categories. While this led to some scheduling challenges, it gave our young Gita aspirants to test out their limits. It gives us great pride in mentioning that a total of 152 participations were recorded across the 8 available categories. We had over 20 contestants registered across 2 categories, 4 contestants registered across 3 categories and 3 contestants registered in 4 different categories. The highest number of participations was recorded for the memorized recitation of Chapter 16 category with 36 contestants, followed by the fluent reading category with 33 participants. Our youngest participant, 3 year old Santhosh Thiagarajan, enthralled the judges with his rendition of 4 verses from Chapter 16. Due to the surge in registration entries on the final days leading to the competition and to be true to our mission statement of encouraging each participant, the organizing committee at the last moment had to split the participants in Chapter 16 recitation category into two groups. Similarly due to several registrations in the Chapter 16 and Chapter 17 recitation category, we split the category into an Under 18 and an Adult category. Many kids and their parents took to heart the message of Jagadguru Sri Sri Bharati Teertha Mahaswamiji and we had record breaking participation in the Entire Bhagavad Gita and Shatka competition recitation. Kudos to all the participants - Entire Bhagavad Gita Venkat Velamuri, Bharat Krishnamurthy, and Ashwath Subramanian

2 Two Shatkas recitation Sriram Srinivasan, Smruthi Srinivasan One Shatka recitation Suhas Jambhekar (Adult), Pranav Bhat, Pranav Swaminathan, and Anika Nerella Each one of these participants and their coaches deserve special recognition for the momentous effort. They inspire us through their efforts and show us that the task of memorizing the Gita is possible irrespective of age. We can be sure to expect one or more of the Shatka recitation participants to take part in the ultimate challenge next year. Judging and Ranking While the prime directive of the Gita Day is to encourage Gita awareness and regular chanting, we believe that a contest helps kinder the competitive spirit in each one of us. The most difficult task by far in this competition was judging and this was more of a challenge this year because of the number of the contestants, multiple participations across categories, and last but not the least- the quality of the renditions. All of the memorized recitation categories (except for Entire Bhagavad Gita and Shatka recitation), were judged individually. As always, for the memorized recitation categories the scored across the following areas Memory Pronunciation : The focus is on ensuring that the contestant is correctly enunciating the short / long vowel sounds, paying attention to aspirations, and distinguishing between voiced / unvoiced consonants, and clearly identify the fricatives in delivery Posture, attitude and concentration of the contestant were taken into consideration Lastly, bonus points were awarded for exceptional attention to the finer points of chanting such as attention to meter, uniformity of speed etc. For the fluent reading competition, groups of 4 or 5 participants were judged together with each contestant reading one sloka in a round-robin fashion. The emphasis was on pronunciation (as indicated above) and fluency. While the Entire Gita and Shatka recitation is judged based along the same guidelines as memorized recitation, there is more focus on memory. The judge quizzed the contestants to recite from a random starting point, on poignant details on a specific chapter such as the first/last sloka, and identification of the chapter from a particular sloka. The Gita Talk competition was judged based on the participant s originality of matter through which he/she explains the purport of the sloka, the cogency and structure of the delivery, and lastly presentation of the material. This was the first time that one of the participants (Sri. Vidyashankar Sundaresan) delivered the entire talk in Sanskrit, followed a synopsis in English. Again, the greatest emphasis in this area was to judge on how the contestant explains the context of the sloka within the Gita and how he/she draw relevance from everyday life to explain the practical significance of the sloka. In the spirit of encouraging as many aspirants as we can, we awarded only one prize to a contestant, irrespective of the number of categories he or she scored high marks in. Further, in spite of preset limit of 3 prizes per category, we awarded 6 prizes in the Chapter 16 recitation category and Chapter 16 & 17 recitation category.

3 Award distribution ceremony In the spirit of encouraging as many aspirants as we can, we awarded only one prize to a contestant, irrespective of the number of categories he or she scored high marks in. Further, in spite of preset limit of 3 prizes per category, the SVBF management in its magnanimity a warded additional prizes as required. For Chapter 16 recitation category alone more than 6 prizes were awarded. Every participant was awarded a certificate of participation. It is with immense pride, we say that the number of winners in this year's Gita Day competition exceeded 40. The names of all winners are listed below. It is also posted on SVBF website. That Gita Day is one of SVBF s most celebrated event is evident from the fact that SVBF s chairman, visionary, and our beloved Guru Sri Yegnasubramanian, landed at Newark from a hectic India trip earlier in day and drove directly over to Sringeri Sadhana Center from Newark airport. He arrived just in time for the prize distribution ceremony. Mani Mama s enthusiasm and pride was truly felt when he awarded a SVBF shawl, as a special prize, to Pranav Swaminathan, a 7 year old contestant from Delaware. Such is Pranav s command and mastery over Chapter 16 that he is able to recite the entire chapter forward and backward a truly remarkable achievement. Mani mama inspired the attendees by mentioning similar remarkable feats that he has witnessed in his travels a 10 year old, who can recite the entire Bhagavad Gita and also give the meaning of each sloka, another young boy who can recite the entire Bhagavad Gita forwards and backwards, and a gentleman whose mastery of the Gita has earned him the title of Gita Avadhani (scholar) from the Jagadguru himself. Concluding Remarks Events such as this not only bring out the competitive spirit but also the volunteering spirit within the community. Thanks to the many judges who volunteered their time for the event, for without them, this event would not have been possible. Due to the large number of participations, several judges had to spend over 6 hours examining candidates. Thanks to their service, we were able to accommodate every individual who expressed an interest to participate in the event. A full list of the Judges and the categories they judged is listed below. Many thanks to the volunteers who helped out with participant registration (three cheers to the Sharada Youth Volunteer team), coordinating the events at the different competition sites, and last but not the least, the entire kitchen volunteering team who kept all of us well hydrated and well fed. While the events went off successfully in many quarters, we sighted weakness in several others, the most severe of which was to not have all the participation certificates available. Our sincere apologies to every one we missed. We hope to repair this and improve upon some other area for the next year s event. Speaking of next year s event, it is never too early to start preparing for that Gita Day will focus on Chapter 18 - qééå ÉxÉlrÉÉxÉ rééåaéè

4 List of Judges Judges S. S. Iyer, Shivagiri Nallicheri, Krishnamurthy Rao Satish Karandikar, Sri Sharma Sr., Rajeshwar Rao Venkata Prakash, Vidyashankar Chandrasekar Somasundaram, Arvind Sarma Ram Ramachandran, Gopal Babu Srinivas Mallapragada, Srinivasan Natrajan, Radha Ramanathan, Chandrasekharan Raman Anjana Iyer, Chitra Chandrashekar Sreeprakash Rangarajan, Vanita Madoor Padma Iyer, Meera Dwarakanath Categories Gita Talk Entire Gita + Shatkas Chapters 16 & 17 (18& under) Chapters 16 & 17 (Adult) Ch 16 & 17, Fluent Reading Full Chapter 16 Ch 16, 12 Verses Ch 16, 8 Verses Ch 16, 4 Verses List of Winners GITA COMPETITION WINNERS Category Participant Name Prize ENTIRE GITA & SHATKA Entire Gita Ashwath Subramanian I Venkat Velamuri Special Mention Bharat Krishnamurthy Special Mention Shatka Competition Pranav Swaminathan I Anika Narella Joint II Pranav Bhat Joint II Sriram Srinivasan Special Mention Smruti Srinivasan Special Mention GITA TALK COMPETITION Gita Talk Youth Anaga Babu I Gita Talk Venkateswara Prasad Vootla I Venky Gopalakrishnan II S.Vidyashankar III

5 GITA COMPETITION WINNERS Category Participant Name Prize CHAPTER COMPETITION 4 Verses Pranathi Bhat I Tvisha Sriraman II Santhosh Thyagarajan III 8 Verses Praagna Pydimarri I Hansika Dorai II Mythili Pai III 12 Verses Megana Shankar I Vaishnavi Peyyety II Aravind D Chundu III Full Chapter - Team 1 Sravamti S. Manikonda I Ashok Vishwanathan Joint II Tarunya Mayil Vahanan Joint II Vishnu Bhaskar III Full Chapter - Team 2 Pranav Manikonda I Vandana Chundu II Srinidhi Mallapragada Joint III Hamsini Pokkunuri Joint III Shreya Shankar Joint III Chapter 16 and 17 Lalith Gannavaram I Gouttham Chandrasekar II Shaunak Diagambar III Both Chapters (Adults) Prasanna Raman I Usha Swaminathan II Dinesh Pai III Fluent Reading Vanitha Modoor I Radhakrishna Sharma II Geeta Bhaskar Joint III Srividya Monikonda Joint III Pushpalatha Bhat Joint III