My name is Vishruth. My parents are from  Halebeedu. I am 12 years old boy, currently living in California. On August 1, 2023, I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to share a stage with our beloved Guruji Dr. Shivamurthy Shivacharya Mahaswamiji, Sirigere, and participated in releasing the new Vachana website and an Android App to U.S. devotees at Balaji Temple, San Jose. Our Guruji gave me a wonderful opportunity to showcase his new "Shiva-Sharanara Vachana Samputa" App and website: http://vachana.taralabalu.in/ in California. 

This is the story of how it all began. The Guru-Darshana event was scheduled from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, August 1, 2023. I had a basketball class scheduled at the same time of the event which I did not want to miss, but my parents were very eager to take me to get Guruji’s blessings. My parents told me that I had an opportunity to meet Guruji when I was two years old when he visited the Bay Area in 2013, which I only know from my pictures with Guruji. They still talk about it to this day and made me curious as well. We all started driving to Balaji Temple around 5:30 p.m  to welcome Guruji and to get his blessings. After we arrived at the temple, I helped others in getting the area ready and we were eagerly waiting to welcome Guruji. Soon enough, Guruji came and we gave him a warm welcome.

For the first half hour, I was not sure what to expect, I was spending some time casually talking to my parents and eating some snacks. But when Guruji started talking, it was very informative and educative so it got my full attention. He talked about his Air India flight experience of how passengers do not attentively listen to the safety announcements made by the air hostess like the naughty boys to the teachers in a classroom. I could not stop laughing and some people around me also burst into laughter. 

After some time, Guruji asked a youth volunteer to come on the stage to help with something. Initially, I was curious and at the same time a bit hesitant since I did not know why Guruji was inviting a youth and what he expects to do on the stage. My parents were also encouraging me to join as it was a great opportunity to meet Guruji so I decided to volunteer. 

Once I was on the stage, Guruji told me I was going to be helping him reveal the new Vachana App called “Shiva-Sharanara Vachana Samputa”  and website in the United States (Sri Taralabalu Jagadguru Brihanmath, Sirigere). Guruji showed me how to use the Vachana App and to navigate the various features. With Guruji’s help, I was able to demonstrate  how to search, translate, and transliterate the vachanas. I also successfully demonstrated the Vachanas both in English and in Kannada and also in various other languages like Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, etc. One can play and listen to the Vachana songs directly from the website, which I think is a cool feature! 

The most impressive thing though is that there are around 22,000 Vachanas at your fingertip and it is completely free. The "Vachana Samputa" App can also be downloaded from Play-Store for Android phones. The App and the website are very easy to use and navigate. I will definitely use it when I need to practice Vachanas. 

I was fortunate to get this opportunity and was super excited to demonstrate all the features of the App to all the attended devotees. Although I was initially nervous  but got encouragement from all the people, which helped me to successfully demonstrate and reveal all the features. It was a great experience and I felt really good that I did not miss the event. When I came down the stage, everyone was clapping and so many people told me that I was fortunate to get this opportunity. 

Thank you very much Guruji for this magnificent opportunity to share the stage with you and to release the App/Website in the United States. Now if you have any other Apps in the future, please let me know.  I am always ready to help release it.  Thank you for visiting the Bay Area and blessing us all.

- Sincerely,
Vishruth Halebeedu
Union City, California, USA