On the 130th birth anniversary of Jagadguru Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, day-long celebrations were held at the Yogoda Satsanga Society of India’s (YSS) ashram in Ranchi. Yoganandaji’s Janmotsav celebrations began with a special commemorative group meditation in the morning, followed by the Guru puja at the Shiv Mandir located inside the ashram campus. The highlight of the day was a bhandara for devotees as well as people from the city of Ranchi and neighbouring villages. Around 10,000 people were served bhandara prasad this year. The celebrations concluded with a meditation in the evening.
The spiritual organization founded by Paramahansa Yoganandaji marks his Janmotsav every year with meditation, kirtans, and this bhandara. Due to the challenging circumstances of the past two and half years, this bhandara had not been held on January 5. But, this year, it drew locals and other visitors who got to know about it through word-of-mouth and participated in large numbers. From around 12 noon onwards, long queues started forming at the gate of the ashram leading to a huge maidan inside where scores of YSS devotees eagerly served prasad of khichdi, chutney and laddoo to the guests. This continued till around late afternoon, and around 10,000 persons were served Guru prasad through this bhandara.
On 4th, the ashram also conducted seva activities to honour the Guru by distributing food and blankets to the poor and needy in the Leprosy Colonies in Ranchi.
YSS was founded by Yoganandaji in 1917, to make available, in India and neighbouring countries, the universal teachings of Kriya Yoga, a sacred spiritual science originating millennia ago in India. Further info.: yssi.org