Seventy percent of the land-locked southern African country of Botswana is desert – the great Kalahari, 350,000 sq miles of yellow grasslands and dry, sandy plains. This arid savannah is home to mobs of meerkats and cackles of hyenas, and one weekend each year, they witness the arrival of a different sort of animal – the off-road racer.
“The Toyota Desert Race is the toughest challenge of its kind in southern Africa and it’s the round of the national championship we all want to win,” said Glyn Hall, principal of Castrol Team Toyota. “For [us], it’s particularly important because it’s sponsored by Toyota, for the past 32 years. This brings with it a certain amount of extra pressure for the team, so we have prepared accordingly.”
The village of Kumakwane serves as home base for the race, including the start/finish line and service park. Competitors that survive qualification will kick off bright and early on 22 June to run two loops, each about 230km,broken up by a 15-minute compulsory stop at the service park at Kumakwane. Survivors return Sunday morning to repeat the process. And the route, which is 90% new this year, is no mere country drive.
“The Saturday and Sunday routes offer technical tight sections, two rocky mountain passes, thick bush, sandy river beds and some spectacular river bank driving,” said race organizer Alan Reid. “It is a course that also includes everything else teams have come to expect. This is a race that always tests man and machine to the limit and this year will be no exception.”
 From left: 2012 race winners Duncan Vos and Rob Howie (Toyota South Africa)
 Imperial Toyota's race-winning team (from left): Duncan Vos, Anthony Taylor Chris Birkin and Rob Howie (Toyota South Africa)
1.Sahasra namam
Prayers which recite 1000 names of various Gods is a very popular form in stotra literature. There are Sahasra Namam( thousand names) for almost all important Gods. Most of the Sahasra Namams are from the different Puranas. But nowadays [eople do compose Sahasranama . I have translated four Sahasra Namams. They are:-
1.Vishnu Sahasranamam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/v1.htm
2.Lalitha Saharanamam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g7.htm
2.a. Phala Sruthi of Lalitha Sahasranamam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g8.htm
3.Lakshmi Sahasranamam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g120.htm
4.Shiva Sahasranam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/s1.htm
2.Suprabatham
Though there is a sloka in Valmiki Ramayana requesting Rama to wake up from sleep and do his duties, there are no references to any Suprabatha Stotras in Puranas. The oldest such works are found in Tamil and are called Thirupalliyezhuchi. The first famous Suprabatham is that of Lord Venkateswara. I have translated 7 such Suprabathams including two Thirupalliyezhuchi s from Tamil. They are
1.Venkateswara Suprabatham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/v26.htm
2.Ayyappa Suprabatham(Malayalam) http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/a1.htm
3.Sathya Sai Suprabatham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/o27.htm
4.Ganesa Suprabatham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/p21.htm
5.Kamakshi Suprabatham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g49.htm
6.Viswanadha Suprabatham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/s38.htm
7.Guruvayupuresaya Suprabatham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/k17.htm
8.Thiruppalliyezhchi of Manikkavasagar http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/s42.htm
9.Thirupalliyezhuchi of THondaradipodi Azhvar http://www.hindupedia.com/en/Thirupalliyezhuchi_of_Thondar_adi_podi_Azhwar
3.Sthavaraja
These are the king of stotras and are very rarely available . I have translated sthavarajas of various Gods. They are :-
1.Vishnu Sthavaraja http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/v58.htm
2.Krishna Sthava raja http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/k30.htm
3. Rama Sthavaraja http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/ra21.htm
4.Lalitha Sthavaraja http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g140.htm
5.Shanaischara Sthavaraja http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/n30.htm
3. Books
I have translated several books of prayers in to English verse. They are :-
1.Bhagwad Gita in verse http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/pm2.htm
2.Devi Mahatmyam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/pm1.htm
3. Soundarya Lahari http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g13.htm
4.Shivananda Lahari http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/s5.htm
5.Narayaneeyam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/in25.htm
6.Jnana pana http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/o3.htm
7. Sri Ramo Dantham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/pm3.htm
8.Sri Narada Bhakthi Suthram http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/o5.htm
9. Sundara Kandam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/in24.htm
10.Krishna Karnamritham http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/k31.htm
11.Abhirami Andathi(Tamil) http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g2.htm
12. Sri Pada Sapthathi http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/g81.htm
13.Kandhar Anubhoothi http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/m8.htm
14.Kandhar Alankaram http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/m15.htm
15.Pasurappadi Ramayanam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/pm5.htm
16.Rudram http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/ve2.htm
17.Chamakam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/ve3.htm
18.Yaksha Prasnam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/pm4.htm
19.Gayathri Ramayanam http://stotraratna.sathyasaibababrotherhood.org/pm32.htm |
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