The Festival of Gudhi Padwa brings immense joy for many as it is the New Year for millions of Indians. It is the first day of Chaitra month that marks the beginning of the New Year according to Hindu calendar. It has many names such as Samvatsar Padvo, Yugadi (in Karnataka), Ugadi(in Andhra Pradesh), Cheti Chand (by Sindhis), Rongali Bihu (in Assam)and Navreh (by Kashmiri Pandits). Our Foundation always celebrates this special day with great energy and this year’s celebration was no exception. Rather, this was one of the different kind of a celebration of the NEW YEAR. A new venue for the NAV-VARSHA SANDHYA and that was Asmita Vidyalaya, Jogeshwari (East), Mumbai. Param Pujya Sadguruji was received in a traditional way and with enthusiasm. A LEZIM team was ready to welcome Him when He arrived at the hall. The atmosphere was full of joy and positive vibrations…. people had gathered in traditional and colourful costumes. One more feature of the evening was many people in the audience had worn Foundation's new T-Shirts in red colour... thereby giving the vibrant message of unity & energy!! The mood was very festive and awesome. Sadguruji was welcomed with the traditional Arati. HE performed Guru Pujan and blessed all present with his AASHIRVAAD! Revered Sadguruji was felicitated by Kriyaban Dr Usha Kumar & Kriyaban Saraswathi Vasudevan. It was a case of double celebration for us as revered Sadguruji was recently honoured with GTI Yoga Ratan Award 2018 just a few days back. He was also appointed as President of Mumbai Yoga Cultural Association. There was thunderous applause from the audience. Hearty Congratulations Sadguruji! And wishing you more laurels. The bhajan mandali presented various melodious bhajans. The team consisting of Anugraha Yederi, Gauri Thatte, Varun Raval, Shilpa Samant, Devayani Bidvai, and Sandeep Yederi did a stupendous job. Add to it, the fabulous brother duo of Baligas who enthralled the audience with superb saath sangat on Flute, Tabla & Keyboard. Much more surprises were in store. The melodious bhajans was followed by some graceful dance performance by dear Mahima, Arundhati & Mithila. A fabulous dance presentation was given by them in the form of Ganesh Stuti!! Followed next was a rare site of musical performance of Father-Son combination!! Revered Sadguruji (on Harmonium) along with darling Shubham (on Tabla) mesmarised the audience with their musical skills. It was honour to see both them performing on auspicious Gudhi Padwa day & both of them were brilliant. Jai ho!! As Sadguruji says that Student in him is always alive & willing to learn new things; it was truly evident in this performance. Little Shubham also performed wonderfully well on Tabla and the combination was supreme. Thank You Gurudev!! The concept this time for GUDHI PADWA celebrations was our social cause of "Eye Pledge We Pledge"! It was a unique concept and a beautiful musical skit named ANTARJYOTI was presented by Kriyabans of the Foundation depicting how the colourless life of a little girl becomes colourful as she gets her eye-sight back because of eye-donation by someone. This theme was indeed well demonstrated by the artistes and it also had an EYE PLEDGE WE PLEDGE Anthem penned by Sadguruji Himself. A beautiful drama with all elements in it & a great social message!! This was a perfect kind of celebration as we march to the journey of completing 50 Lakh Eye Pledge registrations. All the members in the audience were given a unique lamp. The entire auditorium was bathed in this wonderful glow. It was like spreading the special message of "Jyot se Jyot jagate chalo..."! It was a divine scene! Then arrived the moment which everyone was waiting for – Param Pujya Sadguruji’s Aashirvachan! In HIS mesmerizing speech, HE talked about the significance of Gudhi Padwa (known by different names in the various parts of India), the importance of positivity & enthusiasm. He talked about this mega campaign of Eye Pledge We Pledge & also re-iterated that His vision is to eradicate Corneal Blindness from India. He mentioned that the campaign of EPWP was getting humongous response! And sometime in future we will be listening to the people who have actually got their vision back due to such drives. Sadguruji mentioned that the importance of light can only be felt when there is darkness, hence our eye donation will go a long way in helping the needy. This entire programme was telecasted live by our technical team lead by Rameshraj Maddu, so that all outstation people can enjoy the celebrations. Heeraji's lucid “Nivedan” was very apt and she really anchored the evening very well! Sadguruji appreciated the efforts of all the performers. He also applauded the enthusiasm of all the participants. He said wherever there is Energy & Enthusiasm, dullness and darkness can never come. All in all, a wonderful evening. New Year could not have started on a better note. It was an evening to cherish for a long time. The Mahasatsang concluded with Vote of Thanks by Rajeev Raval, Hon President of the Foundation. Thanks to the untiring efforts of all the volunteers for this beautiful programme. Special mention is must of Rajeev Raval & Archana Manglore who worked on a beautiful theme & executed it so well. The prasadam was sponsored by Goregaon Centre. Kudos to all involved for making this a grand show. And we all join together & offer our humble gratitude to Sadguru Devata for giving us such lovely moments and also a new target to work on. Pranams Sadguruji. We all are truly blessed and fortunate. Jai ho. Jai Gurudev. Wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!