Tragedy strikes Kerala devotee

[Guest guest]

Sairam brothers and sisters,

 

Good is always followed up by something bad. God's name and meditation alone

saves one from the jaw of perils that await us at each moment of our sojurn on

this earth.

 

Thus it is with a sad feeling of loss that I now write to inform you all about

tragedy striking one of the devotee troupe that was returning to Kerala from

Bangalore in a van.

 

It appears that the van in which a lot of devotees were travelling towards

Kerala fell down 20 feet when the Driver who is also a seva Dal momentarily

slept, and lost control.

The outcome was, many were injured but one Office bearer of the Sri sathyasai

Organisation from Kerala by the name of Shri Chandrasekhar had to sacrifice his

life.

 

How fortunate he must have been. Even during death, which took him by surprise,

he must have carried the sweet and loving memories of darshan of his chosen

Lord. May we all pray for his soul to rest in peace with our dear Bhagavan.

 

I could not post this update yesterday due to computer problem. Darshan in the

morning on Friday was earlier than usual and Swami arrived at 7.25 AM, changing

the previous routine. He walked as usual amongst the students and devotees, for

about 20 minutes before choosing to get into the car and leave for Trayee

Brindavan. Ofcourse He left His entire team of devotees very very very happy.

 

The afternoon session was very nice with lovely bhajans being sung by the

college students. Swami enjoyed the bhajans often swaying to the music. He

looked hard at some of the boys singing the bhajans. Couple of times He

glanced at the ladies side.

 

After about 30 minutes He got up and took Aarti and left. Thus ended the Friday.

 

With the departure of Kerala youth it is very noticeable that the crowds have

reduced. It was like a fair when the Kerala team was here.

 

Afternoon session yesterday was also like the morning on Friday. Swami arrived

around 4.15 PM and sat for about 30 minutes. For the first time, in long

years, I was fortunate to get a seat somewhere near, and I could see Swami

clearly.

He looked magnificient. After about 30 minutes, Swami took Aarti and left via the back stage.

 

Today at the store I saw that they have introduced paper bags in place of

plastic, to carry the stores items purchased. This was quite a good move to be

environment friendly and was very well appreciated by the International

Devotees. When I enquired further I was given to understand that number of ex

students of the Sathyasai Institutes have joined together to train the rural

folks making these paper covers as a seva project so that they could earn an

income and the waste paper be recycled in the bargain. The covers were

expected to take up to 4 Kg weight.

 

Lovely lillies and lotus decorate the Book center and stores area. These are a

sight to watch and enjoy.

 

The Kerala Youth conference discourse by Swami was selling like hot cake today.

Almost everyone was purchasing a cassette. Now we await the release of Swami's

speech on the 15th in cassette form. It should come out in a day or two as

per the Stores Staff.

 

A new audio CD was found at the store titled "Sai Baba". This I am given to

understand consists of all the Telugu Compositions of Swami in His yester

Years. I was told that an Italian devotee has set music to the singing of

Telugu poems by Swami and many International devotees were observed to purchase

this.

 

I also heard couple of devotees enquiring from the staff to recommend a set of

CD-ROMs/VCDs that would be considered useful for families back home, when they

went back. I heard the staff recommending to purchase "My Life - My Message",

"The Quest", "Life is a game" and "Chinna Katha Vol I and Vol II" as the

package that is strongly recommended for each family. The package cost without

shipping costs would be around 1500 in Indian Rupees.

 

Some of the items which were very popular with the Russian devotees in

particular was "Chyawanprash" one of the excellent health tonics made in India

by a company. It was observed that the Russian devotees were carrying two per

head atleast.

 

Saturday turned out to be calm day, except that the Sun has begun to show His

might once again. Days are fairly hot now once again in Bangalore. Swami came

in around 8.15 AM and walked His usual area, before getting into the car and

going away.

 

The afternoon session was also similar like the previous day with Swami sitting

for about half hour. However there was a distraction today, with one older

devotee falling down unconscious and creating problems for the

Admininistration.

Swami kept looking at that disturbance, and so followed the devotees assembled inside.

 

Luckily to the relief of all, the older devotee revived and we all saw Swami

raising His right hand in Abhaya and blessing the devotee. Swami stayed for

around half hour and left via the back stage.

 

Next update on Sunday follows tomorrow.

 

Until then, Jai sairam

 

regards to each and everyone of you.

 

 

Raja

 

PS: Pl forgive my typos as I do not have time to re-check. There may be many spelling errors.