The 18th Aradhana of the Mahaperiyava of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam was celebrated at the Sri VD Swami Auditorium on the 3rd of January, 2012 with the piety and religious fervour befitting the occasion. Delivering the welcome note Dr AR.Karthik, Fellow, Post DNB observed that it is the divine guiding force and Anugraha of Periyava that has made Sankara Nethralaya a premier institution today, he thanked devotional singer Shri Vijaya Shiva for accepting our invitation in short notice and making himself available for the occasion. The function began with an invocation song by Shri Vijaya Shiva followed by the chanting of Vidhyarthis by purohits from the Veda padasala. A token donation from Sankara Nethralaya employees was handed over to Dr. S.Bhaskaran, Chairman on the occasion
Dr Vasanthi Badrinath welcomed and introduced the day’s chief guest Srimathi Prema Krishnamurthy and recalled the long association that she and Dr SS.Badrinath had with her family. She highlighted the social and spiritual services of Srimathi Prema Krishanmurthi like providing food at cost to the underprivileged, spreading awareness on Sanatana dharma, giving free Sanskrit classes to anyone desirous of learning the ancient language or doing Namavali with village children, simple acts which upheld high values in the true tradition of the Mahaperiyava.
Chief Guest of the occasion Srimathi Prema Krishnamurthy delivered a most heart warming speech, a speech which as rightly pointed out by Dr. Karthik brought out her sheer command over Sanskrit, English, Hindi and Tamil. She observed that the fact that we lived during the time of the great sage of Kanchi was by itself a great blessing. Her speech touched on a broad spectrum of subjects from present societal values to the path to God, she underlined her points by drawing on simple and even humorous anecdotes from the life of the Mahaperiyava as witnessed in person by a bhaktha, which transformed the audience to another age and another world.
The Chief Guest’s address was followed by a poignant audio presentation of the Sage of Kanchi in various avatars and places with the playing of a soul stirring song rendered in his honour by late Srimathi Gowri Sivaraman an ex-employee of Sankara Nethralaya in the background. Dheepa Arathanai was performed to the accompaniment of the traditional Arathi song the Sankara Nethralaya Anthem. The function ended with the employees offering flowers and Namaskarams at the feet of Mahaperiyava and distribution of Prasadam.