Sai News: December 20th, 2007

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December 20th 8:00 pm - Cultural programs by Sai Youth from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This evening Sathya Sai Baba came to Sai Kulwant Hall at 5:45 pm. There were preparations for a program by the Sai Youth from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Swami after arriving on the veranda gave permission to the devotees to go ahead with the program. And soon after that the programs began. First was a dance drama and the theme of the drama was "Manava Seva, Madava Seva". "Service to Mankind is Service to God". The drama starts at a temple in Varanasi where devotees are doing pooja. After the pooja devotees are

surprised to find a Gold plate in the temple with the engraving in it saying, "this plate is for the best devotee of Lord". So the purohit (priest) of the temple says I am the best devotee of the lord, I do pooja to Lord every day, so I should get the gold plate. But once he takes the plate into his hands the plate turn into a clay plate. So he returns it back and says may be I am not the best devotee here. So let every one in this temple touch the plate and see who is the best devotee and when the plate stays gold even after their touch he will be the best devotee. Many devotees come and touch the plate and days pass by still they have not found the best devotee. But one of the devotee from the temple

notices that there is a person in white dress helping all the beggars outside the temple. So they go and ask him what he was doing there and why he was not going into the temple to touch the plate and see if he was the best devotee. He tells them that he is there to help the poor he doesn't need the gold plate or know that he is the best devotee. He tells that God loves poor people and if we help poor people it will make God happy. What else does a devotee need? All the other devotees keep insisting that he should try and touch the plate so that at least they could know if he was the best devotee or not. After their numerous requests the devotee reluctantly touches the plate. And it stays gold even after his touch, all the devotee are stunned and ask him how he came to realize such a seva would make God happy. Then that devotee explains that he is the member of the Sai Youth Wing and these were the teaching of his Divine Lord Sathya Sai Baba. All the devotees in Sai

Kulwant Hall gave a huge applause for this. He says that Swami through his life has shown that Help Ever Hurt Never. And has built many hospitals, water projects and done many Grama seva's etc. Swami's Life is His message to His devotees. All the performers offer their pranams to Swami. They end the drama with a beautiful song and dance. After the drama there was a music program of bhajans. A singer from that part of the region and a student of a well-known music artist sang some nice bhajans. After his bhajans Swami called the singer and presented him with a ring. The singer returned to his seat wiping tear of joy from his face. Then bhajans began and prasadam was distributed to all the devotees

in Sai Kulwant Hall. As this was happening Swami called one of the performers from the dance program and blessed him also with a ring. The event ended with aarathi at 6:50 pm and after taking pictures with the performers Swami returned to Yajur Mandir (swami's home). Pictures of the program by Sai Youth from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh December 19th 9:00 pm - Burra Katha by students in Puttaparthi Its been raining in Puttaparthi all day long. But Sai Kulwant Hall was full as usual. What a performance by the students of Sri Sathya Sai Higher Learning. It was a performance of traditional Story telling from this part of the region called Burra Katha. The language was Telugu, they told the story of Swami's mother Easwaramma. This evening after the bhajans and aarathi, Swami gave permission to the students to perform Burra Katha. Three students dressed in traditional costumes and with musical instruments began the performance. Three other students garlanded

them, which is a ritual during these performances. They first sang a wonderful song about Swami and then began their performance. They started the story by telling that Swami's Grandfather built a Shiva Temple and after the birth of Swami's mother she was appropriately named after Lord Shiva and was called Easwaramma. They sang songs telling how kind and wonderful Easwaramma was as a child. After her Marriage to Pedda Venkama Raju, few years passed and on one Divine day of Nov 23 1926, Swami was born. They explained her joy and happiness to see her son help devotees and her sadness as mother when her son had no time to eat food. All these were told in beautiful songs. Then they told about the demise of Easwaramma and how Divine a life she had giving birth to Swami. On that day Swami declared May 6th as Easwaramma Day. They also talked about a wonderful lady called Karanam Subbamma, And she used to take care of Swami in His childhood/younger days. They also

told about how Swami's mother once asked Swami 4 wishes, which were to build a school, hospital and bring water to the region. The last wish was to never abandon Puttaparthi. As promised to his mother Swami has built the schools, hospitals and started big water project. Swami is still staying in Puttaparthi even after numerous requests from devotees to come and stay in their cities. They ended their performance singing a song in which they asked Easwaramma to take birth again to see the Puttaparthi she loved so much. And how it has transformed by the miracles of his Son and our Divine Swami. After the program Swami blessed them and devotees in Sai Kulwant Hall gave a huge applause for their wonderful performance. Then after aarathi Swami left for Yajur Mandir (swami's home). It was 7:00 pm by the time the events ended. December 17th 7:00 pm - Prasadam distribution and Speech this evening in Sai Kulwant Hall This evening Swami came to Sai Kulwant at 5:15 pm and gave darshan in car to all the devotees who filled the Sai Kulwant Hall. Swami stayed on the veranda during the bhajans giving all the devotees a good darshan. As the bhajans were going on Swami blessed devotees and also blessed prasadam, which was distributed to all the devotees in Sai Kulwant Hall. The bhajans ended and there was a speech by a devotee. The speech was very nice with some very nice messages. He started the speech offering pranams to Swami. He said that devotees from all over the world have gathered in Sai Kulwant Hall. None of them received any invitation to come here, but still we all have come to Puttaparthi. Every year more and more devotees seem to join the Christmas celebrations here in Puttaparthi in Swami's presence.

Why are they coming, they are coming because they can see the real spirit of Jesus Christ and Christmas here. He said many were wasting time in shopping malls during Christmas rather than praying to God. He said that we should at least find some time in our day to pray to GOD. We should all strive to become close to Divine. He said some people say that we have monkey brains and can't dedicate our minds to God. Then he pointed out that how in Hill View Stadium, Hanuman is on top of the hill above, all the statues of Gods like Krishna, Shiridi etc. That shows how even though being in monkey's form Hanuman became Divine by praying to Lord Rama. Similarly we too should also strive become closer to God and spread the message of Love. After the speech, students chanted Vedas for a while and at 6:30 pm aarathi began ending the events. December 16th 8:00 pm - Prasadam was distributed this evening in Sai Kulwant Hall Swami came to Sai Kulwant Hall this evening at 5:15 pm giving darshan to all the devotees. Swami took letters from devotees while giving darshan from car. As the bhajans were going on students distributed prasadam to all the devotees in Sai Kulwant Hall, prasadam was fruits. Bhajans ended with aarathi and Sathya Sai Baba left for Yajur Mandir (swami's

home) at 6:45 pm ending the events for the day. December 15th 7:45 pm - Sathya Sai Baba gives discourse this evening in Sai Kulwant Hall This evening in Sai Kulwant Hall overseas devotees sang bhajans. And prasadam was distributed to all the devotees after bhajans. Then after aarathi Swami gave a discourse, which was a pleasant surprise to all the devotees. It was 7:00 pm by the time the events ended this evening in Sai Kulwant Hall. Courtesy: http://www.puttaparthilive.com