Darshan News: November 9th, 2007

[Guest guest]

Darshan News November 9th, 2007 The Kulwant Hall today was bursting at its seams. People seemed to have flocked from everywhere to celebrate the festival of Lights with their beloved Swami. 10th November also happened to be the Gujarati New Year day and so the Gujarati bias in the crowd numbers can be forgiven!! Bhajans began at 9:00 am and it appeared as though Swami may not come out to grant darshan at all. At about 9:15 am, there was a tremendous wave of excitement. Swami came out and slowly moved through the people in the Porte. There were smiles everywhere and they blossomed like sunflowers do with the rising of the sun. The beautiful property of these sunflowers is that, they start the day facing the sun and keep moving along with the sun throughout the day and at the end of the day, they are still looking at him. Watching the devotees look at their beloved Swami, one

cannot but help thinking of the beautiful, bright and budding sunflowers!Swami completed the rounds and then descended near the interview room. He was about to go inside, but then He suddenly paused. Diwali morning must be lit up and what a better way to do that than grant more darshan! On the wheelchair sofa, Swami came slowly down the portico. He was beaming and smiling. Now the progression of the "sunflower blossoms" was very evident for one and all to see. From the portico, Swami went for another darshan round in the direction opposite to the standard one. He was collecting letters and looking at people on both the sides. The East Prashanti balconies began to swell with ladies, mostly with those too old to sit long hours on the floor. An aerial view of Swami! It must have been a very enchanting sight for the thrill was obvious on their faces. Swami moved through the gents side and the people were all so happy. Cutting through the students, Swami moved on to the

ladies side too. He granted darshan from close quarters and after going through the whole path, returned to the bhajan hall for the bhajans which concluded with Aarthi after a while.In the evening, a programme by the youth and Bal Vikas from the state of Gujarat was scheduled. Swami came out about 4:30 pm. He completed the darshan rounds and as soon as He got down near the interview room, He enquired from the Brindavan campus warden as to how much progress had been achieved on the Convocation drama front. He took him and a few other boys to the interview room to guide them for the drama. At 5:35 pm, Swami came out and sat and asked for the programme to begin. The formalities (actually great chances in disguise) of the flowers and card offerings were completed. A cake was also brought up to Swami and He cut it. The first programme was a song by the youth. After the song was completed, there was a dance on the glory of Bharat. It was very a colourful and grand

spectacle.The final presentation was a combo effort by the Bal Vikas and youth. It was a drama on the right way to do service and more importantly, it brought out the true meaning of independence. India has become free in the political sense. But everybody are still slaves to the six vices of desire, anger, greed, attachment, pride and envy. True freedom can only be achieved when these are overcome. The drama portrayed how an NGO plans to shift its focus of activities from the village to the city in order to get more visibility. But when a flood destroys the village, the plight of the villagers moves the concerned people. Further, the inspiration from the Sai Seva Dal who do service, opens their eyes to the true meaning of service. Service needs no visibility and when done in the true sense, it escapes nobody's attention.The drama was filled with many popular songs and the dances were all well choreographed. The final song and dance drew appreciative

applause from the audience and the grand appreciation from Swami when He materialized a gold chain for the actor playing the role of "Man". Swami then very graciously walked down to pose for group photographs with the Gujarat youth and Bal Vikas children. After the pictures were taken, Swami blessed prasadam to be given to all present and finally granted His benediction in the form of the Abhayahasta. After that, He received Aarthi and retired.Courtesy: http://www.saistudents.org