Swami walks....

[Guest guest]

COLOR: green; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB"> This morning, Swami

came out around 9.30 a.m., sat for a Bhajan and then went out again on the

chair. He went along the gents devotees, hand picked up a big group for

interview and was inside the interview room talking to them until 10.30 a.m.

In the evening, Swami came out for Darshan at 4.30 p.m. He took a full round

and went into the interview room. At 5.00 p.m. Swami emerged from the interview

room and there was loud clapping. What could it be, we were wondering. There was

Swami, not on the chair, but walking with just one

brother holding His Hand. Swami went straight into the Bhajan Hall and sat down

on the throne. Wow! After such a long time, one could see Swami sitting on the

throne. He spent around 15 minutes talking to some boys acting in the Drama

to be presented on the 11th of January evening. He also spoke to Sri S.V. Giri,

our former Vice-Chancellor. Then He stood up and came out walking, once again

amidst loud applause. We hoped with all our hearts that He would come onto the

dais so that all of us could see Him walking. How could He not answer the

prayers of so many people? We were getting more

and more excited as all the students sitting on the extreme corner, who could

see Him near the interview room, were smiling with Bliss radiating from their

faces. Within minutes, Bhagawan stepped onto the dais. Brother Divij was

holding Swami's right Hand and Swami came walking so smoothly, with hardly any

limp. He was radiating with joy and Bliss and was holding letters in His left

Hand that kept tapping on His left thigh - as though keeping beat to some

silent Cosmic rhythm. He walked so fast and so nicely that we were taken back

in time to those good old days - a few years

back......Those days must come back again!!! He walked all along the dais and

approached the other end. Over there, He stood and asked - How is drama? Of

course after a while, Prof. Sudhir Bhaskar did come and give

an update of the drama practice going on. But the way He asked, it appeared as

though He was referring to His drama...Who can understand God's Drama - it is

all a mystery. We all pray and hope that a new phase begins in this drama,

wherein we see our Lord walking hale and hearty, filling our hearts with joy

and Bliss. After this brief conversation with Prof. Sudhir Bhaskar about the

'drama', Swami walked further up the slope onto the middle Portico and went

walking adjacent the VIPs seated over there. He spoke to a few devotees and

then went into the Bhajan Hall. He again sat on the throne even for the

Bhajans. It’s truly a dream come true for all devotees. After Aarti, we could

see Swami coming out walking. The chair was placed near the interview room. He

sat down and then the usual pattern – the chair going into the Porte and

driving back to PC. 27-12-2005

center" align="center"> This evening, Swami was out by 4.00 p.m. He took a full

round and just like yesterday went into the interview room. However, minutes

later, He was out again and moving on His chair along the middle Portico, He

slowly emerged onto the dais and sat down in the centre giving beautiful

Darshan to one and all. Vedam chanting was on in full swing. After sitting for

10 minutes or so, He went out the other way towards the interview room, but

surprisingly, instead of moving into the room, He asked the boys to take Him

onto the Ladies side. Wow! It was a bonanza this evening for the lady

devotees. He went slowly, moving along the path on their side. As He moved

along, He talked to a few devotees and signaled to a number of overseas lady

devotees, asking them to go into the interview room. Most of them were part of

yesterday’s singing group. This went on for quite some time and Swami had taken

a full round on the Ladies side coming back towards the dais and then completing

a circle by going towards the interview room. He took all of them into the

interview room.

TEXT-ALIGN: justify"> While those who went in would have been ecstatic, even

those who did not were overjoyed, for after such a long time, they had a real

close-up Darshan of our beloved Lord! Hence, it turned out to be a win-win

situation! Typical of everything that He does! The lucky devotees were in for a

real long time and came out only at 5.15 p.m. Bhajans had already started. Swami

went into the Bhajan Hall and sat for a few Bhajans before He took Aarti at 5.30

p.m. He got into the Porte and proceeded towards PC. 26-12-2005 Sairam. Let

us wish all our Jewish brothers

and sisters a very Happy and Merry Hannukah. Hannukah as we know is the Festival

of Lights or the Festival of Dedication. The festival is observed in Jewish

homes by the kindling of lights on each of the festival's eight nights, one on

the first night, two on the second night and so on. The word 'Hanukkah' means

"dedication." Spiritually, Hanukkah commemorates the Miracle of the Oil. At the

re-dedication of the Temple in

maroon">Jerusalem, following the victory of the Maccabees over the Selucids,

there was only enough consecrated olive oil to fuel the eternal flame in the

Temple for one day. Miraculously, the oil burned for eight days - which was the

length of time it took to press, prepare and consecrate new oil. This

evening, Swami came out at 4.05 p.m. for Darshan. He took a full round and went

straight into the interview room. The devotees from California and

maroon">Hawaii were seated right in front of the dais with several music

instruments. We guessed that there was going to be some Music Programme. This

was confirmed when we received booklets about the Music Programme to be

presented by the Sathya Sai Singers from Southern California and Hawaii –

titled “Life is a Song – Sing it”.

Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI"> At 4.15 p.m. the interview room door opened and

Swami’s chair came out. A few feet away, the chair stopped and Swami stood up.

With the help of brother Nitin, He started walking towards the dais. Overjoyed,

all the devotees started clapping. He came to the centre of the dais and stood

for a while holding the railings. Then He sat down and signaled for the

programme to begin. At the outset a lady devotee - a Jew, came forward and

offered a card to Swami. With Swami’s Blessings, she conducted a prayer song –

Shalom. The Hebrew word Shalom is understood around the world to mean peace.

But peace is only one small part of the meaning of the word Shalom. A word

study in the New King James version for Shalom says: Completeness, wholeness,

health, peace,

welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest,

harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. It was a very melodious

rendering. Subsequently, the lady conductor for the rest of the songs got up

and went to Swami. She sought Bhagawan’s Blessings and commenced the singing.

Strangely, the songs they sang were not the usual Christmas Carols but they

were a very beautiful collection of prayers written by different people. Some

of them adored the almighty Lord while the others sang in praise of Mother

Earth with an appeal to save the planet from

the onslaught of the modern man. They sang with all their heart for the next

45 minutes. The music was very soothing and the lyrics were very meaningful and

pregnant with wisdom. It calmed our minds and lifted our souls. Swami was very

much involved in their singing. He kept beat with His Hand and had a Blissful

smile on His face throughout. This filled our hearts with thrill and joy. At

5.00 p.m. the singing came to a close.

COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI"> The lady conductor

turned around, bowed to Swami and taking a deep breath went to take her seat.

One could witness how involved she was in conducting the singing by her

___expression of satisfaction and joy at the end. After she sat down on her

chair, Swami called her front and stood up Himself. Even as He was standing, He

rotated His right Hand and created a chain for her. Our brothers next to Swami

helped in unhooking the chain and placing it around her neck and Swami gave it

the final tug to put it in place! The lady was overjoyed and with a beaming

smile retreated to her seat.

11pt; COLOR: maroon; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-bidi-language: HI"> Swami then

asked them to sing Bhajans. They started with some English Bhajans and then

went on to sing our normal Hindi / Sanskrit Bhajans rendering the lyrics so

well that one could hardly make out that they were overseas devotees singing

our Bhajans. In the course of their singing, Swami went inside the interview

room and came out. Then He sat outside but now more towards the Primary School

children. He kept beat with His Hand and at times was lost in Bliss with His

eyes closed and face radiating with an inexplicably peaceful smile! This sent a

powerful vibration across the Hall merging all of us in His eternal joy and

Bliss! The clapping became louder, the singing more powerful and all this led

us to a

different world altogether! All good things have to come to an end. At 6.00

p.m. after about an hour of Bhajan singing, which included Hindi, Sanskrit and

even English Bhajans, Swami took Aarti and retired for the day.

for Good - Make a difference this year.