Dasara Programme at Puttaparthi has various activities like Vedic chanting, worship of Divine Mothers, feeding the poor, drama, music, Harikathas, reading moral epics, lectures on scriptural text, etc. All these are designed for good reasons, which are not superficially evident. You might think this is but customary and traditional. No! Each activity has a deeper significance; intended to bring a definite benefit. Vedas are for all mankind; Vedic recitation promotes world peace and human welfare, subjugating the anger of the elements and of human communities; they invoke the forces of nature to be calm and beneficent. For those who derive joy when the Lord’s names are recited, each name evoking one facet of the splendour of God, we have the pujas (ritual worships). For those thirsting for direction along the path of Sadhana, we have the discourses by experts. Musical recitations, dramas and discourses relate the essential lessons and scriptural wisdom in pleasant palatable ways. All these unfold the petals of the human heart!

- Divine Discourse, Oct 17, 1966.