Ugadi celebrations in sai kulwant hall - 30 Mar'06 - part 2

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(...Continued) MARCH 30TH:

UGADI CELEBRATIONS IN SAI KULWANT HALL

 

Part-2

The Lords New Home!

If one truck cleared the way,The next would just arrive.Also, so many

people,Carrying flowers,Carrying chairs, cloth and incense.

It was around 5.30 in the morning.

This new year - Ugadi was special, The Lord was to move to His new Home!

There were spectacular lights,Colorful and soothing,Also focusing and

dancing,Elaborate floral decoration,And the festive mango leaves.

So many people,All working in their own capacities.Each one doing his or her

best,All, very happy to be of some use,To feel a part of the group,To do

something for the Lord.

About a furlong away,Sitting all by herself,In the shadows of the trucks and

people,On a step with her legs stretched out,Was an old lady.

I was just wondering how she got there,Could she even walk without support?

And when the sun would rise,And the Lord would came out,She would have by then

gone back home,Not being able to crane her neck,To push her way,Or to sit on

the floor.

She was ecstatic,She was beaming,She was crying,She was enjoying the moment.

As I went past her,She took courage,And called me.

“My Swami is getting a new home,And a big nice one too!He is going to be very

comfortable there,I am so happy, I am so happy.”

She was trying to jump in joy,Her heart was soaring in the skies,Her spirit was

dynamic as youth,Her eyes were bright, filled with light,And she continued to

sit there.

One can never build a home,For the Lord,With bricks, with concrete,One can never

attract the Lord,With lights and pomp,It is the heart,It is the love,It is the

innocence.

At that moment I felt,The Lord’s home was now complete!

Some rituals are intricately intertwined with Ugadi. One is the eating of a

“pacchadi” or a pudding made of Bevu (neem) and Bella (jaggery). The neem,

though it tastes bitter in taste is good for health. It is also used in

cosmetics, toothpaste, soaps, cow fodder, manure, oil and others products due

to its high medicinal content. It is also useful for patients having diabetes

and skin diseases. Jaggery increases the hemoglobin in the blood and provides

additional energy for the body. But the inner significance of eating this

bitter-sweet mixture is to indicate that life itself is a mixture of good and

bad, joy and sorrow, success and disappointment, and all of them have to be

treated alike. All experiences have to be treated with equanimity. Everyone

should resolve to face calmly whatever happens in this New Year, accepting it

with good grace.

The celebration of Ugadi is thus marked not only by religious zeal but also with

social merriment as people make use of the holiday to visit friends and

relatives. Special “must make” dishes for this occasion in Andhra Pradesh are

eatables such as "pulihora", "bobbatlu" and preparations made with raw mango.

In Karnataka too, similar preparations are made but are called "puliogure" and

"holige".

In keeping with this tradition, the luncheon menu included not only the Ugadi

pacchadi and pulihora but also a variety of sweets that are popular with the

Andhras. Rice forms the staple diet in South India and the menu also included

vegetables prepared in the traditional style. Everyone partook of this prasadam

from the Lord with reverence and awe for their unexpected good fortune of

ushering in the New Year in this most auspicious fashion.

Cutting the Ugadi cake

In the evening, after Swami came into Sai Kulwant Hall, He blessed the boys of

the Institute to put up their small skit which they had specially prepared to

explain to everyone the tradition and rituals connected with the Ugadi

festival. They thus explained that this day was celebrated as the day on which

Brahma created the cosmos. It is thus special not only to the people of Andhra

Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra but also to the Sindhis.

They explained the significance of the Ugadi pacchadi and also brought out the

inner significance of another intricate ritual called the Panchanga Shravanam.

People listen to Panchanga (or Panchanga Shravana - the traditional recital of

the almanac highlighting the important effects and assurances of the New Year)

on Ugadi. The economy of the Southern states are mostly agrarian and hence

these panchanga meetings are usually held in the village square and experts

forecast rain, crop, storms, crop prices and other relevant things of interest

to the rural farmer in the year to come; but with the onset of modern

technology, one can get to hear the priest-scholar on cable television sitting

in comfort in one's own living room!

The boys in their skit explained that pancha anga (the 5 limbs) actually refers

to the five senses and shravanam is the first step on the nine fold path of

bhakthi towards the Lord. Hence they said that after controlling the senses,

one must take the first step towards the Lord to achieve the purpose of life.

Panchanga Shravanam in the boys' skit

The boys then did an authentic reading of the almanac, in keeping with the Ugadi

tradition, to the wonderment of the whole crowd. They said that Guru (the planet

Jupiter) is the king of this year. Guru is the Lord of rains and commerce. Hence

a general prosperity in all these areas can be expected. However, Shukra (the

planet Venus) as the minister of the year can exhibit adverse effects on the

Indian political scene. The programme also highlighted the proportion of

expenses to income and the proportion of insults to praises that various zodiac

signs can expect this year. Thus people belonging to the Vrishaba (Taurus)

Zodiac can expect Rs. 14 in expenses for Rs. 5 in income and also in this New

Year they would be praised 5 times for every 4 insults they had to bear. In

conclusion, they reminded everyone that no planet, however powerful, can ever

exert its influence on all those who seek refuge in the love of Sai; for His

love is the mightiest and most benevolent of all.

In the last act the boys used an example of a man who had troubles with the boss

at work to show that the world is tinted depending on the colour of the glasses

that you wear. Thus they said that we should always see good and do good for

that is the way to God.

At the conclusion of this well written, topical and thoroughly enjoyable skit,

Swami signaled that His table be brought for He wanted to give His Divine

discourse to the immense pleasure of the crowd. In His discourse, Swami talked

about the Pandavas and the lessons to be learnt from their lives. Bhagavan

related how Arjuna shot a fish with his arrow and so fulfilled the test put

forward by the King to win the hand of Draupadi. Then He said,

“They (the Pandavas) were staying at the house of a poor Brahmin. They saw Kunti

inside with the door bolted and said, “Mother we have brought a valuable fruit

with us”. She replied “Such a valuable fruit should be shared by all of you.”

The world looks tinted with tinted glasses

Children should follow strictly the command of the Mother. They went inside,

prostrated at her feet and promised to follow her wish. Thus since that time

Draupadi was known as Panchali – the wife of five people.

But how can worldly minds accept this? It is the duty of children to follow

their mother irrespective of others’ opinions. Thus people understood the

significance and reconciled themselves to this course".

Swami also talked about anger, a disease that all of us suffer from. He said that

"Anger is necessary for man but you should not express anger on an unnecessary

matter but only when it is needed. For anger can be very destructive causing

one to lose wealth, the affection of one’s near and dear ones and it can even

ruin one’s entire life. One should always love children and never be angry with

them."

Along the same lines, the Lord also lovingly gave guidelines for a Dharmic life. He said,

"Whom should we hate? Should we hate the one we dislike, the one who harms us,

or our enemy – No! We should hate those who interfere with us on the path of

Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema. We should like those who encourage us on this

path.

The Divine Discourse

Has God given good and bad? No, He has not given these. Each one conducts

himself in his life and God is the Witness. He does not give grief and pleasure

- these are the results of our actions. If we speak sweetly we will have a sweet

reply. If we speak harshly so will be the reply. As is the action so is the

reaction. Reaction, reflection and resound are the result of our own actions,

like a mirror. Whatever we speak comes back to us. Reflection means that our

inner thoughts will express themselves outwardly. Therefore it is necessary to

find out the good and bad in all actions. If one finds an action is bad it

should be given up immediately. If we are determined to follow this we will be

successful in life. Good and bad are based on inner feelings and they are

mixed. It is not possible to separate them. The moment good comes the bad

disappears. Therefore you do not have to remove the bad separately.

Students you have completed one academic year and are now going on vacation.

Tomorrow you will be going through the newspapers reading the numbers to find

your name there.

You will never find your number if you want to find it. Instead you should

enquire within: ‘Have I written well? If so, I am bound to pass.’ If you have

not written well, then the number is not important. The number does not matter

– you should be ‘number one man in this world’!

You should always remain peaceful. Let people accuse you but remain at peace.

You should think, 'Only the tongue is scolding me; I am separate you are

separate.' If you go on taking insults you will lose your balance."

Blessing the prasadam

Thus ended a historic memorable month in Prashanti Nilayam. We hope you have

enjoyed reading this rather long account of the chronicles of this month's

events. And as summer is upon us, and schools close and everyone heads for a

vacation, do take time everyday to think of God.

So till next time, we wish you the very best.

- Heart2Heart Team

(source:

http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_04/01APR06/prashanthi-diary.htm

www.radiosai.org)