As part of Canada’s 150th birthday celebrations, we as a Sai community wished to contribute to the success, happiness and peace of our Country. Thus, at a National level, we implemented a project of 150 hours of continuous Gayatri chanting with participation invited across the country starting on June 24th 2017 and concluding on July 1st 2017, a total of 150 hours. With Swami’s grace, we accomplished this through the path of prayer for unity, harmony, respect and safety for all Canadians. This project was welcomed with enthusiasm by the Sai devotees across our land. From the east coast to the west coast of the country, 664 Sai devotees participated. Although it was planned initially to keep the chanting for 150 hours, due to the overwhelming response from the devotees we increased the number of hours of chanting and the Gayatri Mantra was chanted continuously for 235 hours starting from 1am on the 24th of June until midnight of 1st July. The Gayatri Mantra is a Sanskrit Universal Prayer for the upliftment of the individual and of the society. The power of collective group prayer is well known. As Swami says in the series “Sathya Sai Speaks”:

The Gayatri Mantra is a sacred chant that demonstrates the unity that underlies manifoldness in creation. It is through the recognition of this unity that we can understand the multiplicity. Clay is one and the same thing, though pots of different shapes and sizes can be made from it. Gold is one, though gold ornaments can be multifarious. The Atma is one, though the embodied forms in which it resides may be many. Whatever the colour of the cow, the milk is always white.
[‘Sathya Sai Speaks’, vol 16.6: March, 17, 1983]

To put it in perspective, our calculation shows that on an average four Gayatri mantras are chanted per minute = 240 per hour. We have collectively chanted 240 x235 hours x 664 devotees = 37,449,600~ 37.5 million Gayatri Mantras that have permeated the atmosphere surrounding our country and the world! These mantras will bring peace to the individual, the family, the society, to our nation and ultimately the whole world and the universe. We humbly bow at the divine feet of our beloved Lord to have blessed us with the strength and dedication to chant this mantra with love and faith and continue to benefit from chanting the Gayatri Mantra everyday of our lives.

Jai Sai Ram!