Parthi Update: 06th & 08th November 2004

[Guest guest]

Parthi Update

06-11-2004

This evening, students of II UG Prasanthinilayam Campus put up a very good

presentation on “Sri Kalahasti Mahima”. Sri Kalahasti is a very famous temple

in Andhra Pradesh, near Tirupati – a well known pilgrim center. The boys had

been practicing for this presentation since quite some time. The script had

been written by one of our newly joined faculty member from the English

Department. His name is Prof. Ramachandra Murthy. For your information, he is a

famous film director and has directed more than a dozen Telugu films and has

also scripted dialogues for quite a few films. He joined the English department

of the Brindavan Campus last year and since this June he is part of the

Prasanthinilayam Campus.

Swami had been making a lot of enquiries about this presentation since a few

days. He was very particular to know how the students would portray the

characters of the spider, snake and elephant. Again for your information, in

the word Sri Kalahasti, ‘Sri’ stands for a spider, ‘Kala’ stands for snake and

‘Hasti’ stands for elephant. In fact, the name Sri Kalahasti has come from

these very beings whose devotion was acknowledged by Lord Siva Himself.

The story goes like this. The scene started with a sage who comes with his

disciples to a Siva Lingam left abandoned in the forest. There he meets a

hunter named Tinna who is a great devotee of Lord Siva. Tinna seeks guidance

from the sage about the best way to reach Lord Siva. In this context the sage

narrates the story of how a spider, a snake and an elephant had won the heart

of Lord Siva. The story goes way back in time.

Once a group of spiders approach the Lingam. Among them one spider feels so

sorry to witness the Lingam left open in the forest that it decides to cover

the Lingam with it’s body. Meanwhile few snakes appear there, seeing which, the

other spiders run away to save their lives. But this single spider holds on to

the Lingam. Looking at this the snake fights with the spider and gets furious

to see the insect covering the sacred body of their Lord.

The snake brushes the spider away and decides to cover the Lingam and protect it

from the sun by spreading its hood over it. In the mean time some elephants come

that way. Looking at them, the other snakes rush away fearing that they would be

crushed under its feet. But one snake continues to spread its hood on the

Lingam.

The elephant gets wild with the arrogance of the snake and crushes it under its

feet. The snake in turn bites the elephant. Both of them claim their ownership

over the Lingam and wish to take the privilege to protect the Lingam. Finally

as all the three are on their death bed, each one realizes it’s folly and

determines to end it’s narrow thinking.

At this instant Lord Siva manifests Himself and Blesses all of them with a new

life. The Lord is so happy with them for each one of them was fighting just for

the sake of proximity to the Lord. Each one had the pure intention of serving

the Lord. Therefore, He Blesses them saying that this place would become a

great pilgrim center and would be henceforth known as Sri Kalahasti in their

honour.

The boys depicted the snakes, spiders and elephants in a very acceptable way by

wearing overcoats with symbols of the same and some makeup on their foreheads.

This was done because Swami was very particular that they should not deck

themselves as true spiders and snakes leading to a sense of humour and diluting

the whole message.

Hearing this story from the sage, Tinna gets inspired to offer himself to the

Lord. He goes along with the other hunters to the Siva Lingam. Suddenly, he

hears a voice saying, “I am hungry, feed me”. They realize that the voice is

coming from the Lingam. Immediately, they rush out to get food for their Lord.

Tinna gets animal meat and flesh and offers the same to the Lord – in all his

innocence. As they pray to the Lord to partake their offerings, they find that

the Lord does not respond. Tinna prays very hard and cries out to the Lord to

accept his offerings. He wonders what lacunae could there be in his offering

for which it is being rejected.

Finally, he decides to chant the name of the Lord thrice and if by the end of

it, Siva would not partake of the offerings, he would put an end to his life.

At that instant the food offered starts vanishing and Tinna feels so happy that

the Lord is consuming the food. But then what do they see? One eye of the Siva

Lingam starts bleeding!! There comes a cry, “Please help me. My eye is

paining.” Tinna sends his co-hunters to go and collect some herbs. They

disappear into the forest and over here the bleeding increases. Finally Tinna

decides to cut off his own eye and offer it to the Lord.

Having done so, Tinna feels contended but then he finds the other eye of the

Lingam also bleeding. Now he decides to cut off his second eye too. But then

once both his eyes would be ripped out, how would he be able to place the eye

in the correct position on the Lingam. In the actual story, the innocent Tinna

keeps the toe of his leg on the eye of the Lingam as a mark and then cuts his

second eye and places it over there. However, in the presentation, the boys

avoided the act of Tinna keeping his leg on the Lingam, as it would be

inappropriate in Bhagawan’s Presence.

When Tinna removes his second eye too, Lord Siva manifests Himself and blesses

Tinna saying that He was pleased with his innocent and pure devotion for the

Lord. He gives back both the eyes to Tinna.

Bhagawan was very happy with the presentation. Especially, the boy who played

the role of Tinna performed so well, with such feelings that we realized it was

not ‘acting’ but true genuine devotion. The audience gave them a loud applause

and Swami got up from the sofa and came all the way down the steps onto the

performing area and gave them photographs. He materialized a beautiful

Navaratna ring for the boy who acted as Tinna.

Meanwhile the golf cart made its way down, close to Swami. Swami was at one end

of the performing area and the cart was at the other end. In the middle the

actors sat down in two neat rows. Swami went walking between them blessing each

boy, patting him or tapping his head. It was a wonderful sight to watch!! Boys

were kneeling on both sides and therefore the brothers who assist Swami were

hidden. Hence, the scene was just like what we used to see in good old days,

when Swami would walk between boys and give them so much joy and Love!!

Bhagawan got into the golf cart and retired to the Poornachandra. The devotion

and love of Tinna for the Lord made its impact on every heart. With bubbling

inspiration in our hearts, we all moved out of the Kulwant Hall.

 

08-11-2004

This evening, Bhagawan was out very early. Even as we entered the Kulwant Hall,

forget the Brindavan boys because they come only at

4.00 p.m. after their classes; Swami had already started the programme for the

day. It was a Burra Katha on Swami’s life. Three boys dressed in the typical

costume of Burra Katha singers, commenced their presentation on the area in

front of Swami and the railings.

The lyrics of the songs and the tunes were very catchy. It talked about the

early days of Swami, right from the time of His birth. The Telugu script was so

powerful and so rhythmic that we all were literally swaying to the tunes. Prof.

Anil Kumar was sitting right in front of Swami and he was so enamored by the

programme that he kept on nodding his head in response. Swami was looking at

him and feeling so happy. In fact Swami kept on looking at the singers

throughout the presentation. He was absolutely one with them. Half way through,

He told brother Prusty something. Brother Prusty went inside the interview room

and brought Plastic covers with clothes for the singers.

The presentation ended at 4.15 p.m. amidst a very loud applause. Swami

profusely Blessed the three singers and gave them the clothes. He then gave

them photographs and stood holding the railings. The tunes were still playing

in our ears and I’m sure many in the audience were thirsty for more.

Swami asked the main singer to sing one more song and the boy readily did so.

After that, Bhagawan went into the interview room. He called them inside the

interview room and spent a long time with them, gave them watches and flooded

them with His Love and Grace!

Friday the 12th happens to be Deepavali and then the coming Monday is Ramadan.

The I and II PG students are preparing mega programs for both the occasions. On

the other side, Swami has already initiated the Convocation Drama and Sri B.N.

Narasimhamoorthy, the Warden of the Brindavan Campus is coordinating the drama

under the Divine guidance.

Dear brother, I would like to share a thrilling experience that I had just a day

before. It was 9.00 p.m. and I was going to the Music College to oversee the

practice session of the I MBA boys who were preparing a programme for

Deepavali. As I moved along the lane, just at the entrance of the Music

College, I found one group of boys preparing for a Hari Katha. They were

discussing some mythological stories from our scriptures. A little ahead, there

was a team which was planning out the steps for the dance in the Convocation

drama!

I move some more and there I find the I PG boys preparing a presentation on the

theme “Prajnanam Brahma”. A little further and there were the MBA boys

discussing the inner significance of Deepavali. They had compiled all the

Discourses of Swami about the significance of Deepavali. I come back to the

Hostel later and in C-Floor, II PG boys were busy unraveling the parallels

between Islam and Bharatiya culture and discovering the symbolism in Ramadan.

There in the Institute Auditorium the Convocation Drama boys were busy with

their preparation!!

I just sat back for a while and wondered what I had just witnessed! Is this not

a miracle of Bhagawan? Where else in the world can we find college students

spending their time in such a holy and sacred way. What we find so difficult to

achieve, Swami is able to do it with just one word of His. All He has to do is

ask the Warden, “Emi Programmu?” and the entire chain reaction gets triggered!!

This gives boys so much insight into the message of Bhagawan and goes a long way

in moulding their understanding and reinforcing their convictions! All this goes

on and they also study well and secure good grades! Truly this appears to be a

great miracle that’s happening right under our nose and we are truly not aware

of its great implications!!

Wishing you a very happy Deepavali and a Holy Ramadan, we take leave.

Sairam.

 

A Anantha VijayaManager (Sales & Mktg.) Dhara Vegetable Oil & Foods Company

LtdC/o National Dairy Development BoardNear Mahananda DairyWestern Express

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