Baba celebrates 79th birthday

November 23, 2004

"Deccan Herald" Section National 23 November 2004

FROM ROOPA RAO DH NEWS SERVICE, PUTTAPARTHI:

The day-long celebrations will include a discourse by Baba followed by book

releases, speeches and cultural programmes.

Prashanthi Nilayam is bustling with a happy sense of anticipation. Thousands

of devotees await the onset of dawn on Tuesday, as they wait patiently for the

79th birthday of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

The ashram authorities insist that this year the celebrations will be

low-key, adding, the 80th birthday next year, will be a grand affair. But for

the ardent devotee of the Baba, any birthday is a special one, an event in

itself. The Baba, who is believed to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva and

Shirdi Sai Baba, was born under the star Arudra on November 23, 1926, eight

years after Shirdi Sai Baba attained samadhi.

Several VIPs including Maharashtra Minister for Major Industries Ashok

Chavan, and his cabinet colleague minister for Finance Jayant Patil and Andhra

Pradesh Tourism minister of Geeta Reddy would participate in the celebrations

that will begin at 7 am on Tuesday. Families of cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and

Erapalli Prasanna have also checked in and will participate in the

celebrations. The Governor of Andhra Pradesh Sushil Kumar Shinde is expected to

arrive on Tuesday afternoon to seek Baba’s blessings.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made for Tuesday’s function. The

police force is on hand to keep a check on the law and order situation. In

addition, there are any number of Seva Dal volunteers ready to offer help. More

crowds are expected as the day-long birthday celebrations will feature a

discourse by Baba followed by book releases, speeches and cultural programmes.

SSIHL convocation

Every year on the eve of Baba’s birthday, the convocation of Sri Sathya Sai

Institute of Higher Learning (SSIHL) is held. This sets off the birthday

celebrations. This year, Sri Maharaj Krishna Rastogi, former foreign secretary,

delivered the keynote address of the 23rd convocation while Baba gave away gold

medals and certificates to the outgoing graduates.

Another highlight of the day was the ‘Gram Seva’ program in which over 3,000

students from colleges in Anantapur, SSSIHL in Prashanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi

and Whitefield, Bangalore partcipated. The students distributed food packets

and clothes to the residents of 74 villages in the surrounding areas.

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