November 19 2002

Day's Event

Karthika Deepam, Karthikai Vilakkidu or Thrikarthika is a festival of lights that is observed by Hindus of Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and Kerala. It falls in the month of Kārttikai (mid-November to mid-December) as per Tamil calendar. This occurs on the day when the moon is in conjunction with the constellation Karthigai (Pleiades) and pournami. This constellation appears as a group of six stars in the firmament in the shape of a pendant from the ear. In Kerala, this festival is known as Thrikkarthika, celebrate to welcome Goddess Shakti. In the rest of India, a related festival called Kartik Purnima is celebrated in a different date. It is celebrated in the name of 'Lakshabba' in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.

On this day, HDH organized a yatra (a travel for the purpose of spiritual enrichment and socio-spiritual activities)to Thiruvannamalai in order to celebrate this grand occasion in the place where the festival originated . HDH himself organized the travel method, with three vans and the itinerary of the whole day including making stops for food, cooking and serving the meal which the whole group will have, educating them on the context of Karthika Deepam and the spiritual benefit of observing this occasion and offering the traditional rituals and worship during the Karthika Deepam celebrations. The group traveled 203.6 km from Bengaluru, Karnataka to Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, South India, after which HDH cooked and served them a traditional meal. In the evening, HDH lead the ritualistic offerings, the arathi (lighting of the lamp) to the Sacred Arunachala Hill, the embodiment of Paramshiva (the primordial divinity) Himself.

First Documented Photographs of HDH doing Annadhaan

19 November 2002 was the earliest record of the Nithyananda Annalaya, the temple for the service of free nutritious meals. The place was Pavazha Kundru, where HDH had His enlightenment experience at the age of 11 1/2. HDH personally cooked and served food for each of the devotees on the traditional banana leaf as they sat and ate inside the building is the first monastery built by HDH's Gurus for Him here.

Today, Nithyananda Annalaya serves free food to the public in 600 locations all over the world. It was started by HDH when He was merely 24 years old with the vision for, "No hungry person in the world". With over 1 billion meals served, the Nithyananda Annalaya continues its ever burning stove.