Every year, Rama Navami is celebrated by the entire fraternity of GOD across the country in a unique manner – through ‘Mahamantra Likhita Japa’ – Mahamantra Writing Contest.
The contest is opened out to all ages weeks before Rama Navami and closes a few weeks after Rama Navami. The most lavish ‘Mahamantra Writers’ among the young ones are chosen and rewarded.
This year too, the Mahamantra writing contest began a few weeks before Rama Navami and ended on April 23rd. And this year’s contest set new benchmarks and beat record of sorts!
- For the first time, we had children and adults from Canada participate as well!
- Age of youngest child to write Mahamantra : 3
- Number of children that participated in the contest: 100+
- Number of GOD Centers that participated: 8
- Total Number of Mahamantra that was written in a span of 8 weeks: 31000+
While kids were over-enthusiastic to write Nama, adults were not left behind. We had a record number of Nama written by adults this year.
The consolidated summary of Nama Counts by City are in the table below:
| GOD Center | # Participants | #Children | Age of Youngest Writer | Total Nama Counts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta, GA, USA | 9 | 6 | 5 | 4500 |
| Boston, MA, USA | 36 | 32 | 4 | 2663 |
| Glen Allen, VA, USA | 17 | 17 | 3 | 227 |
| Toronto,ON,Canada | 7 | 5 | 5 | 427 |
| Orlando, FL, USA | 4 | 4 | 6 | 279 |
| Seattle, WA, USA | 18 | 16 | 3 | 1130 |
| Dallas,TX, USA | 43 | 40 | 4 | 22244 |
| Detroit, MI, USA | 4 | 4 | 4 | 200 |
| Summary Counts | 138 | 124 | 3 | 31670 |
The individual prize-winners by age are mentioned below.
| Age | Name | City / State | #Nama | Place/Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | ||||
| Gurudas Muthukaruppan | Seattle, WA, USA | 10 | 1st | |
| SriMedha | Glen Allen, VA, USA | 2 | 2nd | |
| Nithya | Glen Allen, VA, USA | 2 | 2nd | |
| 4 | ||||
| Prahlad Shankar | Seattle, WA, USA | 44 | 1st | |
| Anindith | Dallas,TX, USA | 38 | 2nd | |
| Nheel | Detroit, MI, USA | 13 | 3rd | |
| 5 | ||||
| Om Avanish | Boston, MA, USA | 56 | 1st | |
| Shrish Moorthi | Boston, MA, USA | 50 | 2nd | |
| Harini | Boston, MA, USA | 38 | 3rd | |
| 6 | ||||
| Dhruv Jujare | Orlando, FL, USA | 153 | 1st | |
| Sai Pravakshaa | Dallas,TX, USA | 112 | 2nd | |
| Srinidhi Nenmeni | Atlanta, GA, USA | 42 | 3rd | |
| 7 | ||||
| Gurunarayan Balaji | Atlanta, GA, USA | 295 | 1st | |
| Hari Charan | Boston, MA, USA | 160 | 2nd | |
| Akshara Ramji | Atlanta, GA, USA | 129 | 3rd | |
| 8 | ||||
| Jairam | Boston, MA, USA | 240 | 1st | |
| Sahasra Bhargavi | Boston, MA, USA | 200 | 2nd | |
| Rashmika | Boston, MA, USA | 200 | 2nd | |
| 9 | ||||
| Shravan Narayanan | Dallas,TX, USA | 240 | 1st | |
| Sai P | Boston, MA, USA | 41 | 2nd | |
| Pratishta | Boston, MA, USA | 28 | 3rd | |
| 10 | ||||
| Thaegeswi Balaji | Atlanta, GA, USA | 504 | 1st | |
| Vaishnavi Sundaram | Seattle, WA, USA | 140 | 2nd | |
| HariCharane Jhagen | Detroit, MI, USA | 120 | 3rd | |
| 11-17 | ||||
| Harini Swaminathan | Seattle, WA, USA | 148 | 1st | |
| Sanjana Anand | Seattle, WA, USA | 129 | 2nd | |
| Vishal Balaji | Orlando, FL, USA | 42 | 3rd |
The prizes in each region will be distributed during the Annual Year End Discourse Series that will be held in the Fall Season.
A complete list of all the ‘Nama Writers’ can be found here.
GOD congratulates all the Nama Writers and winners for their exemplary performance and encourages them to write and chant more!
Please add me to this group. Thank you.