Join hands with major faiths groups to come together and express gratitude during the Thanksgiving season in form of prayers.

 

Objective – to express our gratitude during Thanksgiving season

SSIO Canada in partnership with various faith groups in the country will host prayer sessions to express our gratitude for all the blessings in our lives. This is a national Public Outreach event.

The celebration will include a food drive that will be organized in the Sai Centres and the Interfaith groups. All non perishable food collected will be donated to the local food bank.

We request all regions and centres in the country to hold prayer sessions in the month of October in partnership with your local community and various faith groups.

 

Format:

The prayer session will be for a maximum of two hours. Each of the major faith representatives will be allocated time slots within the session for offering their prayers of gratitude. The others can participate by repeating/chanting together if they know the prayers or by tuning into the vibrations of the offering in silence.

 

Guidelines:

Sai organization in the region will be the over all coordinator of the event.

• Organize the session for a maximum of two hours and choose a date, day and venue that is convenient for all faith groups including SSIO members to participate.
• Select a suitable location that will encourage various faith groups to participate in the offering. Example: community halls/council chambers, etc. You can also host this in your own centre if it is appropriate.
• Establish the number of faith groups that are participating and allocate equal time for each of them to lead their respective prayers of gratitude and well being.
• Encourage all participants to join in the offering for the entire session.
• No requirement to set up any specific altar — you can have altar with the Sarva Dharma symbol or teaching from major religion or a candle and flowers.
• SSIO can offer multi faith prayers, Sarva Dharma or English bhajans as appropriate for the offering.
• Arrange for a food drive along with the prayer session and food collected to be given to the local food bank. Please record and report the quantity of food collected under this offering. Interfaith organization can either participate in your food drive or organize on their own and donate it to the local food bank. We encourage the centres to start the food drive ahead of the event date and can conclude on the day of offering.
• Depending on the time of the event you many arrange to give some refreshments — this is optional.

The session for Regions 1 and 2 is currently being finalized and the information will be shared in the coming weeks.

If you have questions related to organizing the event please feel free to contact:

• Kala Balasubramaniam (publicmeetings@sathyasai.ca) or
• Mohana Thirukesan (publicoutreach@sathyasai.ca).

We pray to Sathya Sai Baba to continue to guide and inspire us to make this offering a success!

With Love and Light

Public Out Reach Committee