Page 2 - May 2018 Newsletter
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From The Editor’s Desk
Dear Members, sahasranamams, Valmiki Ramayana, all
Sri Balambika in Her temple abode in Ma- follow anushtup chandaha. Gayatri
lur is forever looking for an opportunity to mantram is gayatri chandaha, and some
enjoy festivities with Her ardent devotees, verses from Devi Mahatmyam are jagati
and to enthuse and invigorate them with chandaha. This clever yet simple trick for
Her benevolent kataksham. And, as several memorizing poetry in vedas and puranas,
of us Balambika Divya Sangam members with its self-correcting ability to catch
celebrated our cultural new year in the past missed syllables preserved the content that
months, some of us may have also experi- we, eons later can still chant without losing
enced a spiritual awakening, and pledged a a beat! So, as a salute to the intelligence
solemn prayer to follow a more devout way and fervor of the composers of yore, when
of life. Our unfailing scriptures have always we chant our slokas in future, let us all
guided us in every way possible, to reach take time to enunciate the syllables that
our final goal - the lotus feet of God. To this were set to a specific meter, and experience
end, sahasranamas, namavalis, ashtakams, the pure satisfaction of chanting to the beat
stutis, sooktams and such similar prose and rhythm of the chandah.
and poetry have been created and are a On the Sangam activity front, please do
part of our puranams, vedas and so on. stay tuned to the upcoming Sri Bala
While some have written documentation, Thirunakshatram gala event on the day of
others have been passed on through gener- vaikasi vishakam – the 28 th of May. One
ations relying solely on oral and auditory can only imagine the extent of the festivity
skills. How is it that these works have pre- that seems to outdo itself every time! We
served their authenticity despite the ravag- thank you for your continued support and
es of time and tide? patronage, and hope to deliver the best
In today’s signal communications, we have services on the spiritual and social front.
error-correction codes that strive to We look forward to your encouragements,
maintain the legitimacy of the information suggestions and comments, so do lend us
communicated between transmitters and your ideas as we move forward.
receivers. Back in the day, this simple
system fidelity technique was achieved by Sarvejana Sukhino Bhavantu.
the use of chandas, or the metric meter
while chanting poetry. We ourselves are all
too familiar with the names of a few of the
chandas – anushtup chandah (32 syllable),
gayatri chandah (24 syllables), jagati
chandah (48 syllables) and several such
others. Our famous Vishnu, Lalitha, Bala
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