Parthi Update: 06th & 08th November 2004

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Parthi Update

 

06-11-2004

 

This evening, students of II UG Prasanthinilayam Campus put up a very

good presentation on "Sri Kalahasti Mahima". Sri Kalahasti is a very

famous temple in Andhra Pradesh, near Tirupati – a well known pilgrim

center. The boys had been practicing for this presentation since

quite some time. The script had been written by one of our newly

joined faculty member from the English Department. His name is Prof.

Ramachandra Murthy. For your information, he is a famous film

director and has directed more than a dozen Telugu films and has also

scripted dialogues for quite a few films. He joined the English

department of the Brindavan Campus last year and since this June he

is part of the Prasanthinilayam Campus.

 

Swami had been making a lot of enquiries about this presentation

since a few days. He was very particular to know how the students

would portray the characters of the spider, snake and elephant. Again

for your information, in the word Sri Kalahasti, `Sri' stands for a

spider, `Kala' stands for snake and `Hasti' stands for elephant. In

fact, the name Sri Kalahasti has come from these very beings whose

devotion was acknowledged by Lord Siva Himself.

 

The story goes like this. The scene started with a sage who comes

with his disciples to a Siva Lingam left abandoned in the forest.

There he meets a hunter named Tinna who is a great devotee of Lord

Siva. Tinna seeks guidance from the sage about the best way to reach

Lord Siva. In this context the sage narrates the story of how a

spider, a snake and an elephant had won the heart of Lord Siva. The

story goes way back in time.

 

Once a group of spiders approach the Lingam. Among them one spider

feels so sorry to witness the Lingam left open in the forest that it

decides to cover the Lingam with it's body. Meanwhile few snakes

appear there, seeing which, the other spiders run away to save their

lives. But this single spider holds on to the Lingam. Looking at this

the snake fights with the spider and gets furious to see the insect

covering the sacred body of their Lord.

 

The snake brushes the spider away and decides to cover the Lingam and

protect it from the sun by spreading its hood over it. In the mean

time some elephants come that way. Looking at them, the other snakes

rush away fearing that they would be crushed under its feet. But one

snake continues to spread its hood on the Lingam.

 

The elephant gets wild with the arrogance of the snake and crushes it

under its feet. The snake in turn bites the elephant. Both of them

claim their ownership over the Lingam and wish to take the privilege

to protect the Lingam. Finally as all the three are on their death

bed, each one realizes it's folly and determines to end it's narrow

thinking.

 

At this instant Lord Siva manifests Himself and Blesses all of them

with a new life. The Lord is so happy with them for each one of them

was fighting just for the sake of proximity to the Lord. Each one had

the pure intention of serving the Lord. Therefore, He Blesses them

saying that this place would become a great pilgrim center and would

be henceforth known as Sri Kalahasti in their honour.

 

The boys depicted the snakes, spiders and elephants in a very

acceptable way by wearing overcoats with symbols of the same and some

makeup on their foreheads. This was done because Swami was very

particular that they should not deck themselves as true spiders and

snakes leading to a sense of humour and diluting the whole message.

 

Hearing this story from the sage, Tinna gets inspired to offer

himself to the Lord. He goes along with the other hunters to the Siva

Lingam. Suddenly, he hears a voice saying, "I am hungry, feed me".

They realize that the voice is coming from the Lingam. Immediately,

they rush out to get food for their Lord. Tinna gets animal meat and

flesh and offers the same to the Lord – in all his innocence. As they

pray to the Lord to partake their offerings, they find that the Lord

does not respond. Tinna prays very hard and cries out to the Lord to

accept his offerings. He wonders what lacunae could there be in his

offering for which it is being rejected.

 

Finally, he decides to chant the name of the Lord thrice and if by

the end of it, Siva would not partake of the offerings, he would put

an end to his life. At that instant the food offered starts vanishing

and Tinna feels so happy that the Lord is consuming the food. But

then what do they see? One eye of the Siva Lingam starts bleeding!!

There comes a cry, "Please help me. My eye is paining." Tinna sends

his co-hunters to go and collect some herbs. They disappear into the

forest and over here the bleeding increases. Finally Tinna decides to

cut off his own eye and offer it to the Lord.

 

Having done so, Tinna feels contended but then he finds the other eye

of the Lingam also bleeding. Now he decides to cut off his second eye

too. But then once both his eyes would be ripped out, how would he be

able to place the eye in the correct position on the Lingam. In the

actual story, the innocent Tinna keeps the toe of his leg on the eye

of the Lingam as a mark and then cuts his second eye and places it

over there. However, in the presentation, the boys avoided the act of

Tinna keeping his leg on the Lingam, as it would be inappropriate in

Bhagawan's Presence.

 

When Tinna removes his second eye too, Lord Siva manifests Himself

and blesses Tinna saying that He was pleased with his innocent and

pure devotion for the Lord. He gives back both the eyes to Tinna.

 

Bhagawan was very happy with the presentation. Especially, the boy

who played the role of Tinna performed so well, with such feelings

that we realized it was not `acting' but true genuine devotion. The

audience gave them a loud applause and Swami got up from the sofa and

came all the way down the steps onto the performing area and gave

them photographs. He materialized a beautiful Navaratna ring for the

boy who acted as Tinna.

 

Meanwhile the golf cart made its way down, close to Swami. Swami was

at one end of the performing area and the cart was at the other end.

In the middle the actors sat down in two neat rows. Swami went

walking between them blessing each boy, patting him or tapping his

head. It was a wonderful sight to watch!! Boys were kneeling on both

sides and therefore the brothers who assist Swami were hidden. Hence,

the scene was just like what we used to see in good old days, when

Swami would walk between boys and give them so much joy and Love!!

 

Bhagawan got into the golf cart and retired to the Poornachandra. The

devotion and love of Tinna for the Lord made its impact on every

heart. With bubbling inspiration in our hearts, we all moved out of

the Kulwant Hall.

 

 

08-11-2004

 

This evening, Bhagawan was out very early. Even as we entered the

Kulwant Hall, forget the Brindavan boys because they come only at

4.00 p.m. after their classes; Swami had already started the

programme for the day. It was a Burra Katha on Swami's life. Three

boys dressed in the typical costume of Burra Katha singers, commenced

their presentation on the area in front of Swami and the railings.

 

The lyrics of the songs and the tunes were very catchy. It talked

about the early days of Swami, right from the time of His birth. The

Telugu script was so powerful and so rhythmic that we all were

literally swaying to the tunes. Prof. Anil Kumar was sitting right in

front of Swami and he was so enamored by the programme that he kept

on nodding his head in response. Swami was looking at him and feeling

so happy. In fact Swami kept on looking at the singers throughout the

presentation. He was absolutely one with them. Half way through, He

told brother Prusty something. Brother Prusty went inside the

interview room and brought Plastic covers with clothes for the

singers.

 

The presentation ended at 4.15 p.m. amidst a very loud applause.

Swami profusely Blessed the three singers and gave them the clothes.

He then gave them photographs and stood holding the railings. The

tunes were still playing in our ears and I'm sure many in the

audience were thirsty for more. Swami asked the main singer to sing

one more song and the boy readily did so. After that, Bhagawan went

into the interview room. He called them inside the interview room and

spent a long time with them, gave them watches and flooded them with

His Love and Grace!

 

Friday the 12th happens to be Deepavali and then the coming Monday is

Ramadan. The I and II PG students are preparing mega programs for

both the occasions. On the other side, Swami has already initiated

the Convocation Drama and Sri B.N. Narasimhamoorthy, the Warden of

the Brindavan Campus is coordinating the drama under the Divine

guidance.

 

Dear brother, I would like to share a thrilling experience that I had

just a day before. It was 9.00 p.m. and I was going to the Music

College to oversee the practice session of the I MBA boys who were

preparing a programme for Deepavali. As I moved along the lane, just

at the entrance of the Music College, I found one group of boys

preparing for a Hari Katha. They were discussing some mythological

stories from our scriptures. A little ahead, there was a team which

was planning out the steps for the dance in the Convocation drama!

 

I move some more and there I find the I PG boys preparing a

presentation on the theme "Prajnanam Brahma". A little further and

there were the MBA boys discussing the inner significance of

Deepavali. They had compiled all the Discourses of Swami about the

significance of Deepavali. I come back to the Hostel later and in C-

Floor, II PG boys were busy unraveling the parallels between Islam

and Bharatiya culture and discovering the symbolism in Ramadan. There

in the Institute Auditorium the Convocation Drama boys were busy with

their preparation!!

 

I just sat back for a while and wondered what I had just witnessed!

Is this not a miracle of Bhagawan? Where else in the world can we

find college students spending their time in such a holy and sacred

way. What we find so difficult to achieve, Swami is able to do it

with just one word of His. All He has to do is ask the Warden, "Emi

Programmu?" and the entire chain reaction gets triggered!! This gives

boys so much insight into the message of Bhagawan and goes a long way

in moulding their understanding and reinforcing their convictions!

All this goes on and they also study well and secure good grades!

Truly this appears to be a great miracle that's happening right under

our nose and we are truly not aware of its great implications!!

 

Wishing you a very happy Deepavali and a Holy Ramadan, we take leave.

 

 

Sairam.