Jai sairam to brothers and sisters,

Nowadays Extraordinary days are the "normal" type of days, here at Brindavan.
Today was no exception. I was under the impression that Tamil New Year day was
tomorrow and Vishu was today. This was based on the assumption that the Kerala
devotees have come for 3 days and so, immediately on completion of Vishu , ie.,
Malayalam New Year day, the Tamil New Year's day would follow.

As I reached Brindavan today, I was amazed to see that the place outside the
Asram was literally buzzing with activity as if it was 7 PM in the evening.
Hotels were making good income from devotees.

Inside the asram, there were huge festoons in Ramesh Hall, lot of Swami's
sayings, beautifully decorated in the form of banners, and Sarva Dharma symbol
banners decorated the entire Ramesh Hall. The sanctum sanctorum itself where
Swami normally sits was very beautifully and tastefully decorated.

Crowds were managed beautifully today. All Tamil speaking people were given
preference to sit as much in the front as possible. The rest of the place was
filled up by the Kerala Youth. Remember I had mentioned that nearly 3000 kerala
devotees have arrived here.

Swami came in around 8.15AM and got down from the car and walked up via the
ladies wing to students block and VIP block where possibly he spoke with
"Governor of Karnataka ?
Thereafter Swami went up the stage and took His seat, and the Bhajans by
Sundaram Group, Chennai started. They sang the Bhajans beautifully. After
sometime, Swami took leave, took Aarti and left. So everyone's hope of
listerning to Swami in the form of a discourse did not fructify. There was no
discourse today morning.

The Tamil group from Chennai have put up an excellent Books show along with the
Brindavan Books center.

Long queues were observed both at Coffee shop and Snacks Shop besides the
Stores. More people had enquired about registering their names for receiving
information pertaining to books and CD-ROMs/ VCDs. I am constantly bringing
this point to brother and sister devotees around the globe so that they too can
take benefit of what the Asram at Brindavan has to offer. Incase you have not
yet registered your email ID, then please do so, by sending an email to
mailto:srisathyasaisociety (AT) yahoo (DOT) co.in or
mailto:srisathyasaisociety (AT) lovelyindia (DOT) com You will get the catalogue direct
from the Asram.

I saw the demo of "Chinna Katha" today. Excellent for young children so that
their minds can be moulded easily to the system that Swami recommends. Both
the multimedia CD-ROMs are priceless possessions. Details about this must have
been received by all those who already registered their names. I received the
information, on CD-ROMs few days ago.

Swami arrived around 4.15 PM, for afternoon darshan. As soon as he came,
Ganesha bhajan was sung by Sundaram Group. Then two young boys, recited Slokas
from Upanishads and also gave the english translation. Swami blessed the
Children. Then Sundaram group gave an excellent music extravaganza. It was
superb. Swami just like the presentation by Kerala group, was in deep bliss.

One of the song sung by the group was about "Sai Bhaktas wanting to be with
Swami" irrespective of the number of times that they took birth. The song
prayer stated that let there be any number of births, but on being born, one
should be granted the previlege of being a Sai Bhakta.

The second song was about, how one could only see "SAI, SAI and SAI"
irrespective of which God the devotee worshipped. Sai Roopam was the only one
that the devotee could see.

There was a short musical interlude (Instruments only) more in the style of
"Jugalbandi" and this was fantastic. This was followed by "Aum Namaschivaya"
sloka.

A time came when possibly the Group did not cater for a long program and had to
stop and the Tamilnadu President had to tell Swami. Swami did not show the
least interest in getting up and leaving. But Aarti was given, without Swami
getting up from His seat, and Swami left with lot of reluctance from the
stage. Atleast it appeared so!

And there was no discourse in the evening too, and everyone was dejected. Thus
ended the Tamil New Year day.

Preparations are on war footing for Kerala (Malayalam) New Year day, and huge
decorations were being built by seva dal from Kerala. Tomorrow we are in for a
grand treat, if we were to go by last year's standards.

I did not adequately cover the Kerala program yesterday and adequate justice was
not done. Possibly it was "Sreekumar" famous film back singer who presented
yesterday. His singing is well known and Swami always blesses him. Melody
coupled with devotion is Sreekumar's style and with an super voice. Devotees
and visitors were spell bound. Even though Swami left the stage, He told him to
continue yesterday. This was something unusual.

Wait for the Vishu update. Sorry I am unable to put up the discourse of
yesterday. It is not yet ready. If the cassette is ready tomorrow, I shall
try and put up the update.

sai pranams.

Raja