Prashanthi Bulletin - August 24th to 27th, 2005

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Prashanthi Bulletin

Index of earlier Bulletins

August 27th, 2005 This day of Krishnashtami dawned with a cool and cloudy

morning. This year, Swami has permitted the procession of the cows from Gokulam

to Mandir, which was an annual feature in the recent past. Early in the morning,

all the cow procession boys got ready and proceeded to Gokulam. They had been

practicing handling the cows for the last two days. Bhagawan is very particular

that the cows must be handled very carefully without causing even the slightest

pain to them. In earlier years, Swami has explained how exactly one must handle

the noose that passes through the nostrils of the cow, controlling its movement.

A slightly harder tug at the noose can cause immense pain to the cow and Swami

is very sensitive about this - Master of all beings that He is! The Procession

from the Gokulam began at 7.30 a.m. Sai Gita, Bhagawan's pet elephant, in all

her finery led the procession. She was decked with all her

jewelry and the Naadaswaram group accompanied her. Behind Sai Gita were the

Vedam students chanting sacred hymns and charging the atmosphere with holy

vibrations. Behind them were the Bhajan boys and finally the long line of cows

accompanied by two cowherd students each. As the procession passed through the

streets of Parthi, all the people from the shops and houses came out to witness

the joyous occasion. The procession had crossed the Bus-stand and were nearing

the Mandir, when suddenly there was some commotion. People started running and

there was an indication that Swami's car may come out. However, what happened

inside was something else. Swami had come out for Darshan at 7.50 a.m. After

taking a full round of the Kulwant Hall in the car, Swami drove out into the

Ashram premises. The car went towards the Gayatri Mandir in front of the Round

Blocks. Adjacent to the Gayatri Mandir towards the Mandir Post Office, the car

parked and Swami's chair rolled out. The

occasion was the Bhoomi Puja of a Lakshmi Mandir to be built next to the Gayatri

Mandir. The concerned people had assembled there along with a priest. A spade

full of cement was brought to Swami and Bhagawan Blessed it. The cement was

then placed in the site where the temple was to come up. Having completed the

Bhoomi Puja, Swami returned to the Mandir. At 8.15 a.m. the procession entered

the Kulwant Hall and stood waiting for Bhagawan's arrival. In a few minutes,

Swami's car came into the Kulwant Hall. Even as the car moved into the Kulwant

Hall, dear Sai Gita was overjoyed and started raising her trunk to welcome her

Lord. When the car moved by, she tried to place her trunk on the car window to

attract her Lord's attention. Brother Satyajit was driving the car and after

taking a full round, the car moved onto the dais. Swami's chair rolled out and

He sat right at the centre of the dais, giving all of us a wonderful Darshan.

The Kulwant Hall was charged with a

vibrant feeling. Vedam chanting was on. We had Naadaswaram by the professionals

and by the students too. The Hall was decorated very well with Chinese red

lamps and other attractive buntings and garlands. Slowly the mahout brought Sai

Gita closer and closer to Swami. Meanwhile, Swami instructed the students to

distribute Prasadam. All of us received a tasty Adirasam (a sweet preparation)

as Prasadam. Two little school children dressed as Krishna and Balarama went

forward and sought Swami's Blessings. Swami interacted with them for some time.

At 8.45 a.m. Aarti was offered and Swami Blessed the bananas and apples that

were meant for feeding the cows and Sai Gita. How could Sai Gita watch this and

keep quiet? Would her Lord not feed her? Why was He not responding to her plea

now? Acknowledging these feelings that would have probably saturated Sai Gita's

heart, Swami signaled to her and she came moving majestically forward. Bhagawan

took an apple in His Hand. The chair was

moved forward and Sai Gita stood next to the brass railing. The brass railing

was no barrier for her long trunk. She extended her trunk to Swami's Hand and

received the Blessed apple! Swami fed her with some more apples even as tears

trickled down her wet eyes. Who can restrain from responding to God's Love!

Taking this as a green signal, several students came forward with a peacock,

two deer, a rabbit and two white doves for Blessings. Swami lovingly Blessed

all the beings and released the white doves into the freedom of the Sai Kulwant

Hall. As all these events took place, a big team walked into the Hall from the

Gopuram gate. Who were they, we wondered. Mr. Rajan - Convenor of the Books and

Publications Trust and Mr. C. Srinivas were leading a team of dignitaries and an

Arab in his traditional dress. We learnt later that he was a member of the Royal

Family of Dubai. He held the portfolio of the Minister of Education of the UAE

and is the President of the Zayeb University.

His name is Shaikh Nahyan. He was not the only VIP this morning. Sunil Mittal,

Group Managing Director and Chairman of the Bharti Group, his wife and his two

sons were also seated in the inner Portico waiting to have an audience with

Bhagawan. Swami called the Shaikh in for an interview that lasted for more than

an hour. Finally, at 10.30 a.m. Swami retired to His abode. In the evening,

Swami came out for Darshan at 3.15 p.m. The car moved over the dais and Swami

continued to sit inside the car for a long time. After some time, the Secretary

of the Central Trust, Mr. Chakravarthi got out from the car and talked to the

Warden of the Hostel. It looked like they were looking for some speakers for

the evening. The VC and the Warden discussed for some time and then informed

Swami about the speakers. At 3.45 p.m. Swami came out of the car and sat in the

centre of the stage. Vedam chanting was going on. At 4.00 p.m. Bhagawan Blessed

the Birthday boys and the School

boys who had got a Card to mark the festival celebration. After this Swami

indicated for the Vedam to stop. The Vice Chancellor after receiving

instructions from Swami asked the Music boys to commence their presentation.

Two main singers came forward and submitted a list of songs to Swami. They

began with the Sloka 'Vasudevasutam Devam....' Subsequently, Swami indicated to

them each time which song to sing. He would see the list and pick up one song in

the order of His Choice. We had Brahma Kadagina Padamu, Adharam Madhuram, Challa

Gaalilo, Madhura Mohana Ghana Shyama.... At 4.35 p.m., the Music Programme drew

to a close and Swami asked the VC to introduce the speakers for the evening.

The first speaker was Dr. M. Sainath, lecturer in the Department of Physics and

the second speaker was Sri Shashank Shah, a II Year M.Phil. student in the

School of Business Management. Dr. M. Sainath spoke about the journey from the

gross to the subtle, from the world without to the

world within and from the force to the Source, by recalling the analogy that

Swami had once given. We start with Dasoham - I am Your servant. Remove the

‘Da' and we are left with Soham - I am That (He) and finally when we remove

‘So' we are left with Ham - I am I. He elaborated on the evolutionary path of

humans as expounded by Bhagawan. We begin as animals devoid of any

discrimination or wisdom. We then move on to the Devil who is steeped in

infatuation and sensual pleasures. Finally we evolve to the human being who

adheres to Truth and Dharma. He narrated a very beautiful story from the life

of Sant Tukaram. When once his disciple asked him as to how he was so peaceful

and calm all the while, Sant Tukaram called his disciple and told him that he

(the disciple) had just seven days more to live in this world. The disciple was

shocked for he had come to seek an answer to a doubt and his guru was now giving

him such a rude shock. The first two days the disciple was

very disturbed and restless. But then realizing the inevitability of the

oncoming death, he gave away all his wealth, completed all his formalities and

then started thinking of the Lord and remained lost in His contemplation. On

the seventh day, Sant Tukaram called the disciple and asked him how he felt.

The disciple ecstatically described the peace and calm he was experiencing.

When questioned about the reason for this calm and peace, the disciple said

that when death was anyhow inevitable where was the need to be disturbed and

restless. Immediately Sant Tukaram told him that this was the secret of his

success too. Sant Tukaram was always aware of the transience of human existence

and hence was always in peace and calm. Dr. Sainath then spoke about the role of

a Guru in our life. He recalled Swami's example of the cotton and the sun. When

the cotton is exposed to the sun, it does not get burnt. However, if a convex

lens is used to focus the rays of the sun onto the

cotton, it immediately catches fire. This is the role of a Guru too, to

intensify the Grace of the Lord by cashing on the faith in the disciple. In our

case, the Guru and the Lord are one and the same. How fortunate are we! He

concluded with a beautiful anecdote relating to Samuel Sandweiss - the famous

psychiatrist devotee from USA. When he had completed writing a book, he wanted

to give it the title 'Man is God'. However, this was not acceptable to many

people and appeared as a sacrilege and blasphemy to many. But he was convinced

about this Advaitic teaching of Bhagawan. Finding no other way, He took the

book to Swami and sought His Blessings. Bhagawan very beautifully resolved his

dilemma by adding a line on the top, 'With Love - Man is God'. This solved the

problem. There is no doubt that Man is God but not without manifesting the

Divine Love within. At 5.05 p.m. brother Shashank Shah took over the stage. His

talk mainly revolved around the Leelas of Krishna

starting from His birth and moving on to the battle in Kurukshetra. Art several

points he drew parallels between Lord Krishna and our Swami by narrating

similar episodes in their lives - episodes where they had revealed their

Divinity to some devotees and where they had come to the rescue of their

Bhaktas. He gave the meaning of the word Govinda and Gopala as Go + Vinda and

Go + Pala. Go means the Jeevi and Pala or Vinda means the caretaker or the

Lord. Therefore, Govinda and Gopala means the Lord of all the Jeevis - the

entire world. Another symbolism the speaker highlighted was about the birth of

Lord Krishna in the prison. As soon as Krishna was born all the chains around

Vasudeva and Devaki fell off. So too when the Lord takes birth in the heart of

the devotee, all the shackles that binds us to this world fall off leading us

to liberation. At 5.25 p.m. we had Bhajans and Prasadam was distributed to all.

Aarti was offered at 5.50 p.m. and Bhagawan retired to the

Poornachandra Hall. As He was about to get into the car, Swami called Sunil

Mittal and his two sons and gave them group photographs. They were very happy

and sought Swami's Blessings. Thus the festival of Krishnashtami came to a

close leaving all of us ruminating over the Leelas of the Lord and the great

fortune that we had to be in the Presence of the very same Krishna in this age.

August 24th to 26th, 2005 Bhagawan went into the interview room after darshan on

these days, and there were no special programmes in Sai Kulwant Hall.

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 Website28th August, 2005http://radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm

[Guest guest]

My Humble pranam to lotus feet of MOTHER Sai,

I went to Prashanti nilayam on 14th aug and swami allowed me to stay till

21st.But i want to stay up to janmastami. But swamis permision is upto that

only.

 

I leaved prashanti nilayam in a very sad mood, i felt as if iam leaving home and going to hostel.

 

But Swami dont do anything without any reason. Immediately after ur return to

Home, ours sisters marriage was fixed.

 

Thanks a lot for this Bulletin, This mail made to feel as if aam in prashanti

nilayam. But i missed very much

 

sairam

regards

shanti