Prashanthi Bulletin - August 13th to 18th, 2005

[Guest guest]

Prashanthi Bulletin

Index of earlier Bulletins

August 18th, 2005 Bhagawan arrived at 7.45 am for morning darshan. After sitting

onstage listening to the Vedic chants for around half an hour, Bhagawan moved

towards some delegates to the Education conference who had some books on

Value-based Education. Bhagawan blessed the books and went through them for

nearly twenty minutes! Then the Brindavan Warden and faculty presented an 80th

Birthday souvenir volume. Bhagawan blessed the souvenir also, and then went to

the interview room. This evening saw the concluding session of the

international Education conference. The Chief Guest for the occassion was Smt.

Kumud Bansal, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Elementary

education and Literacy. Bhagawan came onstage at 3.30 pm after ensuring that

the Chief Guest was seated at the centre of the dais, and the proceedings began

shortly thereafter. The first to speak was the Vice-Chancellor, Sri Gokak,

who welcomed the Chief Guest. Then Sri Sanjay Sahani, Principal of the Brindavan

campus of the Institute, introduced the speakers for the session. Two students

presented summaries of the conference proceedings. Two student speakers,

Research Scholar Sanjay Mahalingam and Jagdish Chandra of the M.Phil. class,

followed. Thereafter was an address by the former Vice-chancellor Sri S. V.

Giri. Then the Chief Guest Smt. Kumud Bansal presented her views. The

Vice-Chancellor Sri Gokak wound up the proceedings by presenting a report of

the conclusions of the conference. Bhajans were sung for a few minutes while

prasadam was distributed to all, following which Bhagawan returned to His abode

after Arati. August 17th, 2005 The Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

is hosting an International Conference of eminent educators entitled 'Education

in the 21st century - Education to Educare'. This morning was the inaugural

session of the

conference in Sai Kulwant Hall. The Chief Guest was Justice Venkatachallaiah,

former Chief Justice of India and National Human Rights Commission chairmain.

Bhagawan, who is the Chancellor of the Institute, arrived at 8 o'clock and the

proceedings got underway after He came to the dais at 8.15 am. The

Vice-Chancellor, Sri Anil Vinayak Gokak, made some introductory remarks,

introduced some of the eminent participants and welcomed them. This was

followed by the Chief Guest's address. Bhagawan then gave His Divine Message.

After Bhagawan's Discourse, He asked for the Vedam chanting to resume and

laddoo prasadam was distributed. At 10.15 am, Arati was offered and Swami left

for His abode. The conference continued with it's next session at the

Administrative Block of the Institute. In the afernoon, Bhagawan sat onstage

listening to the Vedam chanting after His darshan round at 3.15 pm. At 3.40 pm,

the Vice-Chancellor announced the commencement of the evening's

programme. Two students summarised the day's conference proceedings, and then

there was a presentation entitled 'There is only one caste, the caste of

Humanity; there is only one religion, the religion of Love' by the students.

The essential Unity of all faiths was portrayed through skits relating to

Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. After the presentation, Bhagawan

had group photos with the participants, prasadam was distributed, and Bhagawan

returned to His abode accepting the Arati. August 15th, 2005 The students

assembled in the Sai Kulwant Hall this morning after attending the Independence

Day flag hoisting ceremonies in their respective institutions. After His Darshan

round, Bhagawan came onto the verandah and had a long interaction with Sri

Indulal Shah and a couple of other guests. They were showing Bhagawan various

architectural drawings. This 'outdoor interview' went on for around half an

hour, concluding a

few minutes before Bhajans began at nine o'clock. In the evening, the senior

students of the Institute put up a drama with the Independence Day theme. The

historic speeches given by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subash Chandra

Bose and others were incorported in the drama. The drama concluded with the

message that Bharat has to get 'Swaaraajya' - the rule of the Eternal Spirit -

and not mere political independence. All rose for the National Anthem, after

which Bhagawan returned to His abode accepting the Arati. August 14th, 2005

This is a "long weekend" in India - Monday is Independence Day, a National

Holiday - and the Sai Kulwant Hall was full. In the evening, the students of

the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School were ready with a program, 'Sai

Sandesh' - the message of Sai. After sitting onstage for an hour, Bhagawan came

inside the Bhajan Hall where the students were assembled with their costumes.

After some

interaction with them, Swami asked them to start the programme and went inside

the interview room. A few minutes after the drama began, Swami came to the

verandah and sat there to watch. The message of 'Matr Devo Bhava, Pitr Devo

Bhava, Acharya Devo Bhava, Atithi Devo Bhava' - treat the parents, teacher and

guest as God - was conveyed in the drama through the lives of two boys Nithin

and Akash. Nithin teaches values to Akash by recalling the stories of Shravan

Kumar, Pundarika and so on, which were acted out. The concluding part of the

drama had a song incorporating Bhagawan's social service activities - educare,

medicare and sociocare - represented in tableaux. The human values of Sathya,

Dharma, Shanthi and Prema - depicted as characters - find a new hope at

Prashanthi Nilayam, at Bhagawan's lotus feet. August 13th, 2005 This evening,

Bhagawan went for an extra long round in His car outside the Ashram, 2.45 pm to

4 pm.

After spending twenty minutes in the interview room, Bhagawan went to the Bhajan

Hall and remained there till bhajans at 5 pm.

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 Website18th August, 2005http://radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm