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BSOA 2008 Annual Report
Basava Pledge
Om Shri Guru Basava Lingaya Namah.
I take Basavanna as my Guru, Vachanas as constitution,
And believe that God is one;
Follow Astavarana, conduct in Panchachara and,
aim to attain all stages of Shatasthala;
Respect and treat everyone as equal, be kind to all creatures.
Be dedicated for the well being of the society
By following a Kayaka and Dasoha.
Om Basava.
Vision , Achievements & Highlights for the year
In June 2007 - Current Basava Samithi was elected under the presidentship of Shri Ravi Shankar.
The Committee was formed of the following members - Shri Ravi Nandi as Vice President, Smt Sunita Kore as Secretary,
Shri Nagaraj Navalgatti as Treasurer, Shri Nagaraj Dandagi as Public Relations Officer, Shri Vinod Pattan as Information Coordinator,
Smt Sharada Prasad as Cultural Coordinator, Shri Jagadish Tuppad as Education Coordinator, Smt Chetana Dharmareddy as Education Coordinator, Shri Chandrakanth Kore as Fund Raising Officer, Shri Prakash Banakar as Catering Coordinator, Shri Anand Sarwad as Committee Member, and Dr Malikarjun Malipatil as Trustee.
Each and every one attending the 2007 AGM appreciated the sumptuous Dasoha provided by volunteers and it was enjoyed by one and all. We at BSOA appreciate the ladies for coming forward to prepare yummy Dasoha at all times. The following snap is an evidence of members enjoying the Dasoha at 2007 AGM.
The Committee worked mainly concentrating on the following vision
To spread Basava Philosophy to a wider audience
Educate ourselves about Basava Philosophy
Educate our children on Basava philosophy in the language they understand
Increase involvement amongst members
To create syllabus for educating children about Basavanna’s principles & Philosophy
To build Basava Sadana
Basava Samithi has being holding Sharana Sangama every month, where children are taught about different Sharanas, Basava Philosophy, meaning and how by following small things can they make major changes in their life. Children are encouraged to attend the Basava Sangama as they get to hear stories in their language, sing songs, vachanas and celebrate their birthdays with their friends and families. Elders at the same time are having Vichara Vimarshe about Basavanna’s philosophy and vachanas to understand them better. We are very lucky to have Smt Girija Akaka amongst us to explain the meanings of vachanas – which sometimes though very simple to read have a very in-depth meaning behind it. Start of the Sharana Sangama is done by reciting prayers, Linga Pooja & meditation – we have had feed back from parents were some of our children have adopted doing Linga Pooja at home on a daily basis.
On 25th August 2007 - BSOA Samithi Snow Picnic was held at Mt Buller - The home to Olympic Winter Institute of Australia, with a great snow terrain. The bus was almost full to capacity with 47 members joining to enjoy the snow at Mt Buller. Overall it was a diverse group consisting of small kids to elders and each of them enjoyed the trip skiing, making snowman, playing toboggan or just throwing snow on each other.
On 26th January 2008 - Basava Samithi of Melbourne was welcomed to join the Australia Day Parade. It was a great honour to be involved in the great event. Participation of members for the Australia Day Parade was great, it gave us a platform to showcase that we not only share the Australian values and spirit but also gave an opportunity to show our culture, background, spiritual involvement and philosophical life that we lead in this busy life. Close to 50 of us gathered at Burke Street and were all ready and set to go by 11:15 am when the actual march started. We all looked very colourful with some wearing the white T-shirts with the Basava Samithi logo on it. Some ladies were dressed in colourful traditional sarees and salwars. Smt. Chetana Dharmareddy and Smt. Savitri Koppa lead the March holding the Basava Samithi Melbourne chapter banner. Next in line were the children waving there "Australia Day” Flag. The excitement and eagerness on their faces is just hard to describe. Men were holding Basavanna’s and "Thank you Australia..." banners. The ladies in their colourful sarees, salwars and T-shirts were followed by the men who shouted "Dharma Guru Basavanna Mahatmaki Jai". The best thing of all is the encouragement we received from the crowd.
There was a lot of clapping and cheering and plenty of photos taken by the crowd around us. It was overwhelming and a wonderful experience. The half an hour March which started at corner of Bourke Street and Swanston Street, ended at Alexander Garden. Stalls were set up on the way and water bottles and soft drinks were provided. We had dasoha at the Alexander gardens. A different variety of yummy dasoha provided by the ladies was delicious. Adults and kids enjoyed the Stalls that had been set up in the park for face painting. Art rides etc.
Shri Marol from Singapore Chapter, Shri Omkarswamy from Sydney Chapter, & Shri Kalburgi from New Zealand Chapter all were very appreciative of our achievements and stated that it was an innovative way of spreading the Basavanna’s Principles and philosophy to the western world. They all have sent emails encouraging us to take part in such activities in future.
This year Basava Samithi contributed $100 towards buying a specialised vehicle for 8 year old Anushka, daughter of Joseph & Wilma Fernandes – who is suffering with West Syndrome, epileptic, and suffers from severe intellectual disability, requiring 24 hour care. Basava Samithi’s Banner was displayed at the “Dinner & Dance Nite on 20th of Oct 2007” as an appreciation for the contribution made by the
Basava Samithi. Number of Basava Samithi members attended the Dinner & Dance Nite and were very appreciate of the program.
Logo Competition was held for children to design a logo to be used for future souvenirs to be made. The response was great and children’s imagination, creativity was very noteworthy.
Judges in unison stated one thing that it was a very difficult task for them to choose the best as all designs submitted were just beautiful & this was stated as well by the professional fabric designer who printed the logo for us on the T-shirts.
On 4th Nov 2007 – Spring picnic was held at Sugarloaf Reservoir Park, located in the spectacular Christmas hills. Sugarloaf Reservoir was developed during the late 1970's to help supplement Melbourne's domestic water supply. Unlike many other Reservoirs, which draw their water directly from protected forested catchments, Sugarloaf is fed by the Maroondah Aqueduct and the Yarra River. Though number of members attending the picnic was not very large but members who all attended enjoyed the long drive and had good time.
Shri Ravi Nandi was instrumental in developing the Syllabus for children to teach Basava Principles to our children in the mode that they understand as it was very difficult to get books and materials for children on Basava Principles. The main aim was educate our children in the language and the mode that they understand so that they don’t miss out due to lack of books and due to language barriers. Shri Ravi Nandi did not stop there but put in lot of thought in developing the Basava Pledge to affirm our allegiance to a belief we choose to follow.
These are just small steps to educate, develop and follow Basava Philosophy. First exam was held recently and children passed it with flying colors and are looking forward for the next lesson.
During the regular Sharana Sangama – we had lots of members asking us to participate in activities that are for the benefit of the larger community and not just for the Basava Samithi. One of the members suggested - every year we enjoy the beautiful parks in and around Victoria, why not take part in the Clean Up Day and help clean the environment by collecting and removing rubbish.
Based on that input – Basava Samithi nominated itself with the Clean Up Day Organiser’s to clean up at Sir William Fry Reserve, Bay Road, Highett on 2nd March 2008.
The attendance was very good and everybody from kids to elders were very enthusiastic about cleaning the park for the benefit of the wider community. We had Cr Greg Alabaster visiting us at the end of the Clean Up and Cr Greg was extremely surprised and very pleased at every member’s efforts and contribution towards keeping the environment clean. Greg was highly impressed by children’s involvement in the Clean Up activity and got a special photograph done with children to be published in the Kingston Council Newsletter. Greg handed out participation certificate & a small token to all members from Kingston Council as thanks for Basava Samithi’s contribution towards the larger Australian Community.
On 9th March 2008 – Shivaratri was celebrated during the Sharana Sangama under the guidance of Smt Girija Dharmareddy who guided us in performing the Ishtalinga pooja, spoke about the different Sharanas, Girijakka spoke about “Devaru” and all participated in Vachana Gayana and Bajan which was later followed by Mangala and Dasoha
On 24th March 2008 - Basava Samithi Convention was held at New Zealand. All together 30 Melbourne Chapter members attended & took part in all facets of the Convention, whether in discussion, song recital, or drama. Everybody acknowledged the participation by Melbourne Chapter and it was very well received by all attendees and dignitaries. Congrtas to New Zealand Chapter for an excellent Convention.
On 6th April 2008 - The Annual Basava Jayanthi function was held at the Oakleigh Hall. We were blessed by the divine presence of His Holiness Dr. Tontada Siddhalinga Maha Swamiji of Yedeyur Shri Jagadguru Tontadary Samsthana Math, Dambal – Gadag. The function was also graced by the presence of Prof. Gurunath Halyal whose speech brought new ideas and introduced us to a new magazine Lingayata Patrike. Shri Subhas Patil - Chairman of Basaveshwara Institute of Information and Technology (who sadly is not with us any more) shared his views about BSOA Melbourne’s activities. Smt. Girija Dharmareddy too made a thought proving speech. Swamiji’s Aservachanna was enlightening and guided us to be proud in our actions.
Swamiji was highly pleased and appreciative of our vision to have our own Basava Sadhana at Melbourne and contributed $500 towards building fund.
Gifts & Certificates of appreciation and participation were given to all children and awards were given to Gowri Dandagi & Arpita Shankar for their VCE results, Ketan Tuppad was awarded for his performance in logo competition at Kingston Council and awards were also given to Ketan Tuppad and Anisha Kore for Basava Logo Competition.
Gowri Dandagi, Arpita Shankar and Amruta Nandi were awarded for the Snow Man competition. Annual Jayanthi had variety of cultural programs performed by kids and adults.
On 25th May 2008 - Dr. Aralumallige Parthasarathy attended our Sharana Sangama and shared his knowledge about Basavanna, Shivasharanas & Vachana Sahitya. Dr. Aralumallige Parthasarathy stated that Basavanna’s thoughts from 11th century fulfill the needs of today.
He compared how Basavanna’s vachanas describe about managing stress in day to day life and how things should be managed without creating imbalance in the society.
Basava Samithi Committee is thankful to all volunteers for donations made as and when required, whether monetary, Dasoha or in any other way. This contribution, participation and effort by all members has enabled the committee to reduce the overall cost for the Samithi and has being able to raise $5,500 for Basava Sadhana which has being kept aside as a fixed deposit for the Basava Sadhana.
We at Basava Samithi Melbourne Chapter would like to thank each and everyone for their contribution, support and feedback (positive & negative) as it has definitely helped us to learn and work much better.
“Sharanu Sharanarthi”
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Melbourne Events
Monthly Meeting:
2nd Sunday of every month
Location: Clayton Hall, Clayton Rd., Clayton - VIC.
(near Clayton Railway Stn.)
Time: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. |
