Jeevasiri, the 50th book by Vasundhara Bhupati, a well-known writer and social activist, will be released at Dr. Joladarashi Doddanagouda Rangamandir here on Sunday at 5.30 p.m.

S.G. Siddaramaiah, former Chairman of Kannada Book Authority, will release the book, while Nadoja Belagal Veeranna, Chairman Karnataka Bylaata and Yakshagana Academy and president of Sri Ramanjaneya Togalu Bombe Mela Trust, Ballari, who has organised the programme, will preside over the function.

A lecture on mental health would be delivered by C.R. Chandrashekar, psychiatrist. Sumangala Mummigatti, writer, Siddaram Kalmath, president, district unit of Kannada Sahitya Parishat, Gangadhar Pattar, poet, B. Nagaraj, Assistant Director, Kannada and Culture, S. Nagesh, publisher, would be among the guests.

Folk songs would be rendered by Jeevansab Walikar and troupe and a documentary on Dr. Vasundhara Bhupati would be screened.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Ballari – March 18th, 2016

Mysuru :

Indian Federation of Spiritual Scientists, along with Vijay Foundation and Rotary Mysore, will be hosting the 23rd National Congress of Spiritual Scientists in city, under the leadership of Brahmarshi Patriji, Founder of Pyramid Spiritual Societies Movement.

The Spiritual Congress will be held on Mar. 26 and 27 at Rotary High School auditorium, next to Mandovi Motors, KRS Road, Mysuru.

Aravind Jatti, President, Basava Samithi, Bengaluru, will be the chief guest and also deliver the keynote address. As many as 13 renowned Spiritual Scientists from all over India will address the Congress.

The speakers include Maharshi Sri Surya Narayan Pande, one of the foremost experts on Yoga Sutras, Dr. T.M. Srinivasan, an Electron Physicist and a global pioneer in Energy Medicine, S.K. Rajan, the Vice-Chairman of Indian Federation of Spiritual Scientists, Girija Rajan, who has conducted 28 Spirituality episodes on National TV, Dr. Mohandas Hegde, Director of Centre for Research, Education, Sadhana & Training (CREST), Purneema, Past-Life Regression Therapist, Prem Kumar, Vice-President of Pyramid Dhyana Prachara Trust, Prof. Varahamurthy, renowned Anapanasati Meditationist, Dr. Jeevandhar Ketappanavar, an expert on Kabirdas and Basavanna and Dr. B.R. Pai, well-known engineer-industrialist and Wellness propagator from Mysuru.

Four books — ABC of Life (a compilation of Osho’s talks), Who Am I? (thoughts of Sri Ramana Maharshi), Energy Medicine (Ancient Wisdom and Wellness Trends) and Total Wellness Management (TWM) — are to be released as part of the Congress.

The book release function will be presided over by Srinivas Arka, Founder of Centre of Conscious Awareness and the Founder of Arka Meditation.

The highlight of the event will be a Flute Music Meditation by Brahmarshi Patriji.

All those with an inclination towards Spirituality and Science will benefit. Those interested may register their names before Mar. 20 for an early bird discount.

For registration, contact Vijay Foundation on Mob: 78295-55513 or 0821-2412284.

Profile of Spiritual Scientists

• Brahmarshi Patriji is a great realised Master of our times who is spreading the message of spiritual and vegetarian living to all of humanity. He realised the power of meditation through his profound experiences early in his life and attained enlightenment in 1979. His approach has been completely scientific and secular without invoking any religious symbolism. He founded the Pyramid Spiritual Societies Movement in the year 1990. He encourages the use of Pyramids for meditation as they have been considered as storehouses of energy. He has established pyramid centres throughout the country and abroad.

• Maharshi Sri Nagaraja Surya Narayana Pande studied the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita at various ashrams like Ramakrishna Mission – Mumbai, Nityananda Ashram – Mumbai, Sandipini Educational Institute for Vedas, Mahesh Yogi Institute etc. He has authored many books on Upanishads and Yoga Sutras. He is one of the very few speakers who can talk authoritatively on Yoga Sutras.

• Srinivas Arka from Mysuru is a widely travelled philosopher, author, inspirational speaker and developer of human positive potential programmes. He is known for his work and service to communities around the world. He is the author of best selling books ‘Petals of the Heart’ and ‘Adventures of Self Discovery.’ Srinivas Arka has founded centres in India, UK, Spain, Canada, New Zealand among other countries.

• Aravind Jatti, son of former President B.D. Jatti, is an engineer by profession and is proficient in the teachings of Basaveshwara, the great spiritual and revolutionary guru. He studied the Vachanas of Basavanna and took great interest in propagating his ideas and philosophy for the benefit of humanity. As the head of the Basava Samithi, he has contributed immensely towards enabling spiritual ideas to be imbibed by the members.

• Dr. B.R. Pai, a philanthropist and Wellness practitioner with many other professional degrees and a Doctor of Honours from Colombo, is the CMD of VWF Industries Limited, Mysuru. He has been conducting health & wellness, spiritual and social activities through his non-profit organisation Vijay Foundation. Dr. Pai has authored a book ‘Total Wellness Management.’ He has also developed many concepts like ‘Swasthya Yoga’ and ‘Corporate Wellness Programme.’

• Dr. T.M. Srinivasan, a Ph.D holder in Electron Physics from Goteborg, Sweden, returned to his native India to help set up a Biomedical Engineering Department at Chennai. During 1977-78, he was in charge of the Institute of Yoga, studying prevention and cure through yoga. He served as Chairman of the International Conference on Energy Medicine at Chennai during March 1987, the papers from which are reported in his book ‘Energy Medicine around the World.’

• S.K. Rajan is the Vice-Chairman of Indian Federation of Spiritual Scientists and a Global Ambassador of PSSM. He has established centres for teaching meditation and imparting spiritual knowledge in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He has helped conduct over 9,000 sessions throughout India and abroad in the last eighteen years.

• Girija Rajan is the Chief Editor of the bi-monthly Tamil journal of the Pyramid Spiritual Societies Movement – Pyramid Dhyana Tamilazham. She was invited by National TV – Doordarshan to conduct 28 episodes on various Spiritual topics. She believes and follows Patriji’s concept “No Doctor – No Medicine” and has not taken any drugs in the past 16 years. She has been awarded ‘Dhyana Vidwan Mani’ for her contribution to spirituality by Brahmarshi Patriji.

• Dr. Mohandas Hegde is the Director of Centre for Research, Education Sadhana and Training – CREST (recognised by University of Mysore), Bengaluru. He worked as an Economics Science Professor for 16 years in Educational institutions affiliated to Cambridge University and Indian Educational Institution, Dubai. He did his Ph.D (HR & Spirituality) on “Spiritual Input in Effective Human Resource Development for Corporate Management.”

• Purneema, Past Life Regression Therapist, specialises in the therapy for children and is also a tarot card reader. She is the author of two books on spirituality. She conducts workshops in past-life regression at ‘Soul Trends,’ the spiritual store in HSR Layout in Bengaluru.

• Prem Kumar is the Vice-President of Pyramid Dhyana Prachara Trust (Karnataka). He is a voracious reader and regularly speaks at leading institutions. He is the author of highly acclaimed book ‘Zero to Hero’ and ‘Khali Cup’ in Kannada and ‘The Empty Cup.’

• Prof. Varahamurthy is presently serving as the President of Karnataka Pyramid Dhyana Prachara Trust, Bengaluru. He has been preaching Anapanasati meditation for the past nine years in different places at Karnataka.

• Dr. Jeevandhar Ketappanavar is a meditator who after his introduction to Patriji in 2000, started devoting his time for propagating spiritual wisdom in Hindi and Kannada. He has a doctorate in Hindi. He has immense knowledge of the spiritual contribution of many great masters like Kabirdas, Basavanna etc. He has translated many spiritual books from English to Kannada and Hindi.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / March 18th, 2016

In the right hands, the strident twangs of the mouth organ can be tamed into a riveting melody. In the 1980s, the harmonica, as it is also called, started losing ground to guitars and keyboards in popular culture. But the instrument is once again being patronised by the Kannada film industry. In the last five years, nearly 50 songs in more than a dozen films have relied on the mouth organ for its distinctive sound.

The latest to join the ranks will be Jessie — expected to be released later this month — where music director Anoop Seelin has generously relied on the harmonica for the song ‘Male Bantu’. Some music directors like Sameer Kulkarni have used the harmonica not just in individual compositions, but also in the background score to convey a range of emotions. Kireeta (2015) is one such film. In Munjaane(2012), director S. Narayan used the harmonica for some inventive compositions.

“The harmonica, just as the santoor, sarangi and the shehnai lost ground to the keyboard and guitar,” says Mr. Seelin whose passion for the mouth organ can be traced to his childhood. “I grew up appreciating the ingenuity of the renowned Naushad, Hamsalekha, Rajan Nagendra and Upendra Kumar, and the way they creatively merged the harmonica in their compositions. I believe in live orchestras with different time-honoured instruments, not in keyboard simulations,” says Mr. Seelin who has 16 films to his credit.

One of the reasons for this resurgence is that an increasing number of youth in Bengaluru is rediscovering the twangy depths of the mouth organ. The city is home to nearly 500 amateur and professionals who experiment with the mouth organ in different genres as rock, blues, jazz, gospel and Carnatic.

Riding on this wave of popularity, Carnatic musician Saitejas Chandrashekar and professional organist Avinash Kulkarni recently published a book ‘The Joy of Harmonica Playing’ to guide young musicians. “The intention was to see people getting lessons in Indian swaras so that the harmonica gets a push,” said Saitejas.

But the shift from a hobby to recording for films involves a huge leap. It is tricky to be a recording artiste as the reflexes to follow the music director with notations have to be instantaneous, points out multi-instrument concert and record artiste S.J. Prasanna. “Only trained musical ears can bring them all.”

He’s one of a handful of professional harmonica recording artistes in Bengaluru and has played the harmonica for Anoop Seelin’s song Ellello Oduva Manase in the 2012 drama Sidlingu and Male Haniyein the film Madarangi, among other recent hits.

For now, the harmonica’s reassertion in Sandalwood is a pleasant change from the usual offerings, but only time will tell if its a comeback or a passing fad.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ranjani Govind /Bengaluru – March 13th, 2016