The Annual General Body Meeting of the Ramana Bhakta Mandali was held on 19/04/2014 at the residence of our member Sri D R Sharma at Hyderabad. The following members were present at the meeting.
- Sri D Venkayya
- Sri D V S Shastri
- Sri K M Sarma
- Sri C L Giridhar
- Sri D B K Murthy
- Sri D R Sarma
- Smt C Vijayalakshmi
- Sri C S S S Prasad
- Sri D B V Narasiah
- Sri D Naresh Babu
- Sri D B V Avadhani
- Sri D Narasayya
- Sri D Chaitanya
- Sri D Maruti
Earlier in the morning, a Puja was performed to Bhagavan Sri Ramana
Maharshi by Sri Naresh Babu. The Annual General Body Meeting started at 10.30 A.M. Sri D R Sarma welcomed all the delegates to
the AGM. He also welcomed the Chief Guest Sri D Venkayya to the meeting. The
dignitaries were welcomed to the Dias. They were requested to participate in
the lamp lightning ceremony as a token of invoking the all pervading Light. Smt D Varalakshmi then sang the Invocation
Song as per the custom followed in our meetings.
The formal welcome address was given by the Organizing Secretary Sri D
Narasayya. The President Sri D V S Sastri gave his Presidential address. He
welcomed all the delegates and stated that the all the office bearers should
perform the functions given to them with active interest. He also stated that
all the members should remit the annual subscription without any reminder. He
urged all the members to actively participate in the Satsangs especially on
Sundays. The house was presented with the minutes of the previous AGM which
were adopted unanimously. The General Secretary, Sri C L Giridhar, then
presented his report on the activities of the trust. Sri DBV Narasiah,
Accountant then presented the books of accounts to the house. The copies of the
Secretary’s report, the audited financial statements of the trust and the
auditor’s report were given to all the members for their perusal and further
deliberations.
Sri C L Giridhar in his address asked all the members to actively participate
in the affairs of the trust. He further stated that as decided in the previous
year’s AGM, all the activities of the trust were aimed at the publication of
the book ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’ in the current year. He stated that the release
of the first copy of the book by Sri Ramanasramam was a cherished moment for
the trust. He further stated that the book is a jewel in the crown amongst all
the publications of the trust. He specially thanked the members namely Sri D
Narasayya, Sri D B V Narasiah and Sri D B V Avadhani who had contributed
specifically for the publication of ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’.
The accountant Sri DBV Narasiah stated that the reason for the excess of
expenditure over the income for the current year was due to the huge cost
incurred by the trust in the publication of ‘Guru Vachaka Kovai’. He thanked
all the members for their contributions but stated that in the coming year, the
members need to contribute generously for the forthcoming publications. He
appealed to all members to do the same in the current year and also to pay
their annual subscriptions without any reminders.
Deliberating on the audited statements, Sri D B K Murthy wanted to know
as to why the cost of purchase of Calendars was
not shown in the books of
accounts for which Sri C L Giridhar stated that the bills have not yet been
accounted and the same would be done in the current year. Sri D Narasayya asked
as to why be the audit fees provision was less than the last year. Sri C L
Giridhar explained that the fee was not yet paid and the same would be
reflected in the next year’s accounts.
The General Body then unanimously adopted the General Secretary's Report
and the Financial Statements for the year 2013-2014. The proposal for
appointment of Sri Ravikumar of M/s Ravi Kumar K and Associates as the auditors
by for the financial year 2013 -2014 was
also unanimously agreed by the house in view the good service provided by them.
Sri D Venkayya then
addressed the gathering and stated that the trust should have a single point
focus on devotion to Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi. He asserted that Ramanasrama
Yatra should be compulsory
on the agenda of the trust and other activities should be given the least
importance. He also stated all the members should compulsorily participate in
the tele- Satsangs being organized by the trust. He praised the organizing
committee for the activities done by
them during the last year and appreciated the fact that the tele- Satsangs were being held for almost
three years without any break. Sri C L Giridhar then explained that in light of
the bye laws of the trust, the conducting of AGM is necessary. He also stated that
due to the practical issues involved in the participation of most of the
members like leave, travel, accommodation and other arrangements, conduct of
meetings at Sri Ramanasramam was not being done.
The house then
deliberated on the organizational matters. Speaking on the subject, Sri K M
Sarma stated that one meeting of the trust should be held in Tiruvannamalai
based on the earlier suggestion given by Sri D Venkayya and the venues of the
all the three meetings should be decided in advance for all the three meetings
namely the AGM, Advent Day Celebrations and Ramana Jayanthi Celebrations. He
also promised that now that he has been transferred to Ongole, he would be
actively participating in the affairs of the trust. Sri CSSS Prasad also agreed
to the view that Ramanasrama Yatra should be made compulsory for at least one meeting. The President
assured that every effort will be made to hold the meetings at Thiruvannamalai
as far as possible.
After the
deliberations, the elections for the executive committee for the year 2014-15
were held and the following executive committee was elected unanimously.
- Sri DVS Sastri -President
- Sri KM Sarma - Vice President
- Sri C.L.Giridhar - Managing Trustee and General Secretary
- Sri D.Narasayya - Organizing Secretary
- Sri DBV Narasiah - Accountant
- Sri DBV Avadhani - Treasurer
- Smt C Vijayalakshmi - Office Secretary
After the meeting, a Satsang was held at the same premises. The Satsang was started with a song sung by Smt D Varalakshmi. Sri K. M. Sarma spoke on the subject Mahaprasthanamu. Ramana Panasa and Ramana Vijaya Ganamu were recited by some members. Devotional songs were sung on the occasion by Sri K M Sarma and others.
Smt Vasantha wife of Sri D R Sharma narrated her vision of her seeing Sri D Venkayya Garu attending a Puja of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba and how he explained to her that both Sri Sai Baba and Ramana Maharshi were Siva Swarupas. She explained that as soon as her dream was over, she got the news of their hosting the AGM at their residence. She stated that this coincidence is nothing but a miracle of Lord Ishwara.
A token book release of the trust’s next publication Atma Samvadalu was done and the brief about the book was read by Sri D Naresh Babu. The house was then addressed by Sri D Venkayya who spoke on the subject ‘Saranagati’. Sri D V S Shastri spoke on the subject ‘Silence’ and Mangalam was sung by Sri D Narasayya. Concluding the session, the vote of thanks was proposed by Sri D R Sarma. He thanked all for attending the meeting and also thanked the executive committee for giving him an opportunity to host the event at his residence. The meeting concluded with the distribution of Prasadam.
Some of the photographs taken at the function can be viewed by clicking the following link.
https://plus.google.com/photos/105306407743597441081/albums/6010516833297212513?authkey=CPTQyojAr97SngE
