Wednesday, the 12th November 2003, was a blessed day. It witnessed a unique of dharma chakra pravartana, the spreading of the saying Gospel of Love and Hope by the Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi who rode out to the nooks and corners of Tamilnadu in a gaily decorated chariot. The Holy Mother had spent about a month and a half in Tamilnadu in 1911 but then she was little known. Now she is meeting a larger section of the people in Tamilnadu by undertaking the Rathotsavam. The holy tour of the Mother was well planned on a grand scale and was keenly awaited by the devotees.

Two Rathams were made ready, one for Tamil Nadu - Pondicherry Rathotsavam and the other for Chennai City Celebrations. These were made to stand near the entrance of the temple facing Sri Ramakrishna inside the temple. Both the images in the rathams were made of fibre glass. The first one was of 4.5 ft and the second one was 2 ft height.

The convoy of Tamil Nadu Ratham consists 6 vehicles- a Pilot van, Ratham, Exhibition van (This has large pictures depicting a few important incidents in Mother’s life and a few colour photos of Mother), Book sale van, Passenger van and finally a car.

The starting day of the Rathotsavam began at 4:45 am with Nadaswaram, Mangala Arati, Sri Sarada Suprabhatam, Vedic Chanting and Bhajans. A Mother’s photo was specially decorated in the temple for the occasion. Special puja to Mother was performed here. This was followed by Chandi Path, Chandi Homa and Arati. Two flower garlands and Deepam were specially arranged before Mother which were taken to Ratham symbolically invoking the Mother’s presence in the Ratham.

The Public Meeting in the Ramakrishnananda Auditorium began at 8:30 am. Swami Gautamanandaji presided. Sri T.S. Santhanam and Sri Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetti, both well known industrialists, delivered short speeches. The following special publications were released to mark the occasion: 1. Photographs of Sri Ramakrishna-Sarada Devi 2. Photographs of Sri Ramakrishna-Sarada Devi (Tamil) 3. Special number of “Sri Ramakrishna Vijayam” 4. Special number of “The Vedanta Kesari” 5. Special number of “Sri Ramakrishna Prabha” 6. CD of Mother’s Life (Produced and Published by Sarada Vidyalaya, T.Nagar)

After the public meeting the special garlands and Deepam were brought in procession circumambulating in the temple with Vedic Chanting and Bhajan. Nearly 4000 devotees took part. The procession ended near the Rathams. The special garlands were put on the Mother in the Ratham and the Deepam offered to her. The swamis and dignitaries offered flowers to Mother and Arati was performed. To commemorate Mother’s 150th Anniversary 150 balloons were released and the Ratham was flagged off by Swami Gautamanandaji.

It was a sight to see. The swamis and thousands of devotees went in procession to see off Mother till Mandaveli. First in the procession was Nadaswaram, then pilot van, Swamis, Ratham, Vedic chanting, devotees then the rest of the convoy followed. Then Prasad was distributed to all the devotees. They were thrilled by the artistic way in which the whole function was planned and executed. Jai Ma!