Prashanthi Bulletin, July 22nd - July 31st, 2005

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Prashanthi Bulletin

Index of earlier Bulletins

July 31st, 2005 On Sunday evening - 31st July, 2005, the students of the 1st

year Post graduate classes, the MBA, MBA(Finance), MSc and MTech classes

presented a programme on the Theme of Seva entitled 'Sevanjali'. The programme

very well brought out the inner significance of the ideal of Service as

explained by Bhagavan on a number of occasions. It was a combination of dance,

songs, story depiction and sharing of experiences on the concept of Seva. The

two stories which were used to depict this were the story of Abu Ben Adhem and

an incident in the life of Shirdi Sai Baba. The story of Abu Ben Adhem -- Abu

whose only desire in life is to serve his fellow men does not find his name in

the list of angels of people who love God. But he is astonished to find his

name at the top of the list of those whom God loves. This stresses the fact

that God loves those who serve others and thus through them serve Him. The

Shirdi

Baba incident was the one where a merchant comes to Baba and prays for

Brahmajnana but he is not ready to part with five rupees required by Baba. Baba

tells him that it is only through sacrifice that one can attain immortality. How

can the one who cannot part with five rupees control the five indriyas (senses)

and the five bhootas (elements). Nature is the best example of selfless

servive. The river flows for the sake of others. The trees bear fruit for the

sake of others. The cow gives milk for the sake of others. The body is verily

for the sake of serving others. The drama concluded with the song 'Deen

Dukhiyon Se Prem Karo mera Sai Prasanna Hoga'. Bhagavan was very pleased with

the presentation and spoke with a few participants after the presentation

concluded. July 27th, 2005 Nowadays, Bhagawan has not been sitting onstage for

long - He has been going inside the interview room after sitting outside for a

few minutes, or going

on rounds in His car. But on the afternoon of Friday, the 27th of July, Bhagavan

blessed 4 speakers from the Prashanti Nilayam Campus of the Institute to address

the gathering in His divine Presence. The first speaker was Sri Sanjay

Mahalingam - a Research Scholar from the School of Business management of the

Institute. He emphasized the declaration of Bhagavan as the Teacher of Truth -

'Aham Satyabodhaka' and narrated a few experiences to highlight this statement.

The second speaker was Sri Karthik Ramesh - a student of the 1st MBA class of

the Institute. Karthik spoke about how he had pined and prayed to be a student

of Bhagavan over the past several years and after five unsuccessful attempts

for some reason or the other, he was able to get an admission to the MBA

programme this year. But the one truth was that during all this period of

turmoil Bhagavan had been guiding him through. Bhagavan blessed the speaker by

materializing a three diamond ring for him. The

third speaker was Sri B. Arvind - 1st year MBA Class of the Institute. He spoke

on the great good fortune we have of studying and being in the Divine Presence

of the very Avatar Himself. He too shared a few experiences to highlight this

truth. The last speaker was Sri Dinesh Talreja - 2nd year student of the MBA

(Finance) class of the Institute. Sri Dinesh elucidated on the fact that Love

and Service were the two wings of the bird of life and it was necessary to

fructify our lives by living these two ideals. To conclude the Vice Chancellor

Sri Anil Gokak expressed his gratitude to Bhagavan for giving the students an

opportunity to express their feelings in His Divine Presence. July 24th, 2005

As a befitting conclusion to the grand Guru Poornima celebrations at Prashanti

Nilayam, on Sunday morning - 24th July, 2005; the staff and students from the

Anantapur campus of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning organized

the

distribution of sewing machines and wet grinders for 84 women from many villages

of the Anantapur District. These women were from different backgrounds and

religions. This was done after a careful survey undertaken by them based on the

needs of the women and their abilities. These were distributed to empower them

and make them independent enough to earn their own livelihood. Those women who

were not physically capable of undertaking sewing jobs, were given wet grinders

so that they can earn their living through that means. This distribution was

done in the Divine Presence. Each of the 84 women offered a rose at the Lotus

Feet. They were all given new saris also. After the distribution was completed,

sisters from the Anantapur Campus rendered a musical offering - the Sai Katha.

It was perfectly complementary to the Rama Katha presented by the brothers from

the Prashanti Nilayam Campus of the Institute. Thus the glory of both the

Avatars - the Treta Avatar and the Kali Avatar

were sung during the Guru Poornima Celebrations in the Divine Presence. July

22nd, 2005 This day saw the proceedings of an Inter-faith conference at the Sai

Kulwant Hall. The proceedings began in the morning after Swami arrived at the

Sai Kulwant Hall, at 8.35 am. Dr. Michael Goldstein, Chairman of the Prashanthi

Council of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, introduced the speakers. The

speakers for the morning were from Islam and Buddhism; representatives of

Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism were slated to speak in the afternoon. The

first speaker was Maulana Wahid Uddin Khan - Islamic Scholar founder President

of the Islamic Centre in Delhi. The theme of his talk was 'Islam and the

Concept of Love & Peace'. He quoted many passages from the Koran and the Hadis

to illustrate how Islam is a religion of Love. The second speaker was Dr. A. T.

Aryaratna - founder of Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka and former President of

World Parliament of Religions. He opined that the more you study Religion in

depth, the more you discover that it is nothing but Love. The afternoon

proceedings started at 4 pm. Representing Christianity was Father Henry Faren

who expounds the universal tenets of Love of all religions on TV and radio.

After Father Henry was Rabbi David Zeller for Judaism, who has released the

healing CD "Let go, let God". The Rabbi wove several songs also into his talk.

The final speaker was P. S. J. Rama Shastrigal, Sanskrit pundit and scholar,

Asthana Vidwan of Padhuga Trust Madurai and Asthana Vidwan of Rajarajeswari

Alayam Ramnad Samsthanam. He spoke in Tamil, with a translator simultaneously

translating his talk into English.

You can see an illustrated version of happenings at Prashanthi Nilayam in the

Prashanthi Diary of our monthly e-Journal Heart to Heart. The previous issue of

Prashanthi Bulletin is available here. The Photo album contains photos of events

of past Prashanthi Bulletins. Index of past Prashanthi Bulletins... Source:

Radio Sai Global Harmony WebsiteAugust 1st,

2005http://radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm