Satsang and Festival

In India there was a major occasion with speakers and ceromonies and such, but before it all began, there was Satsang.

Hundreds of people participated in 'Stand up, speak out,' a pledge taking ceremony organised by the Art of Living Community in Mangalore in association with United Nations Millennium Campaign against poverty and for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium campaign that kicked off at the UN's Millennium Summit in September, 2000 aims at a prosperous, safer and equitable world by year 2015.

The 'Stand up, Speak Out' campaign adopted by Art of Living attempts to impart the sense of responsibility to all citizens towards this goal. As part of this campaign, the pledge taking ceremony was organised in more than 194 countries across the globe on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In Mangalore, the members of AoL community assembled at Canara Girls High School grounds in Dongerkery on Wednesday evening to make their pledge for a better world. They held their hands together, leaving out none and repeated the pledge dictated by Mr B N R Rao. Former district-in-charge minister B Nagaraj Shetty made his presence during the ceremony. The ceremony was preceded by a satsang which took a peppy turn after the pledge.