Jayanthi Celebrations, 1st Jan'10 at Nithyananda Vedic Temple , Redmond

The 10-day Brahmotsav at the Vedic Temple in Seattle concluded with the grand celebration of Nithyananda Jayanthi, Swamiji's birthday. On this day - the first of January - we celebrate not just his birth, but also his enlightenment; for on this day in 2000, at the age of 22, Swamiji was fully enlightened. The celebrations started on the evening of December 31st. The temple looked festive with orange, red and yellow decorative ribbons streaming across the ceiling. The murtis dazzled with special alankaram. Devotees, young and old, enjoyed playing games and danced blissfully into the night. At midnight the celebrations ended with a maha aarati. Jayanthi day started with an emotional guru puja by all devotees. Throughout the day, milk abhishekam was conducted for the murthis by all attending devotees. The day ended with a special guru puja in the evening which featured neivedyam with 108 items.

Following are some of the pictures taken on this occassion.