April 14, 2008 and April 13, 2008 (source: http://saistudents.org/alumni/home/news.php)

[Guest guest]

April 14, 2008

A traditional altar had been placed in the centre of Sai Kulwant Hall

on the occasion of Vishu, the New Year for the people of Kerala. In the

morning, the central marble block had been adorned with the "Pookalam"

(the flower art) as it is called. Swami sent message that bhajans

should begin at 9:00 am and as per His instructions, bhajans began.

Again at 9:45 am message was sent that Aarthi be taken and the same was

done.

 

Bhagawan arrived for darshan at 4.40 pm. He was on the chair and that

brought smiles on every face assembled. This summer has been bonanza

time in Puttaparthi. Except on a solitary occasion, Swami has come out

every time in the chair. And more than that, on every single occasion,

He has moved through every alleyway and path that exists in Kulwant

Hall. As the phrase goes, "When it rains, it showers." And today, as

the devotees from Kerala packed every inch of available space in the

hall, it was no different. A decorative and screened stage had been put

up for the drama on Bhadrachala Ramdas that was to be staged in the

evening. It was very apt as today also was Rama Navami. Swami went

around the entire hall and moving in front of the last few tiny tots of

the Primary school, came onstage.

 

As soon as He came on the stage, He settled on the ladies' side of the

stage. After a few moments, He wanted to seat on the gents side of the

stage. The Vedam chanting ceased and the programme for the evening got

underway. The drama centered mainly around the incident in the saint's

life where he uses the money collected as tax to renovate the temple of

Lord Rama. Ramdas feels rightly that doing something for the Lord who

has done everything for all is no big deal. But the king is furious for

he feels that his authority has been undermined. He metes out the

harshest treatments to Ramdas and when he sees that Ramdas is

absolutely unaffected and blissfully immersed in the Lord, his fury

grows even more. Finally, Lord Rama and Lakshmana themselves come to

the king and pay off the tax amount.

 

It was such a touching scene to witness Rama become Ramadasadas (the

dasa or servant of Ramadasa!) And Swami too was apparently very moved

by the Love and devotion of Ramadas. As the actors came to their final

formation with the Mangalam song, Bhagawan Blessed the boy who played

Ramdas' role with a chain. And then Sairama too descended down to the

stage level at the request and prayers of Ramadas! He came down from

the stage and blessed the group with photographs. After He moved back

to the stage, He went to the interview room and returned with clothes

for the participants. He then asked them to sing a Bhajan. After that,

Swami sprung a beautiful surprise. He said, "Rama, Lakshmana and Seeta,

come up." The "lords" made their way up the stage. Swami beamed as He

posed for special pictures with them. As this was on, He even asked the

photographer to ensure that everyone is clearly seen in the frame!

After that, Swami received aarthi and retired for the day.

Click here to view pictures of the programme.

 

April 13, 2008

India is a land of rich diversity. As a famous saying goes,"The

diversity seen in Bharat covers the diversity that one can see the

world over!" According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are

spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000!

Add to these the dialects and sub dialects and the array gets

bewildering. So it is small wonder that every other day is a "New Year

Day" for some section of the people or the other. To ensure that

everyday remains a "holy day" and does not convert into a "holiday",

the Government has standardised on some New Year days! And one of them

is the Tamil New Year day and it dawned with the sweet chirping of

birds in Puttaparthi.

 

The Tamil Nadu devotees had thronged the precincts of Prashanti

Nilayam. The devotees also included thespian Rajnikanth who had arrived

quite early. In the eyes of the world, it seems like a big and grand

event when people who have achieved much in their worldy life come to

Swami. For Swami, each devotee is as dear as the other and there is

absolutely no difference between the "common" people and the

"achievers". Being at His feet is the greatest achievement and there

cannot be someone who is greater or someone who is lesser once anyone

is at His feet! And so all were ready to greet their New Year with the

Lord.

 

Swami arrived at the decorated Sai Kulwant Hall at 8.45 am to the music

of Nadaswaram and the Vedic chants. He was looking so bright and

brilliant. After a round of Sai Kulwant Hall in His chair, Swami came

to the verandah and went around there before moving to the stage area.

These days are really so wonderful in terms of the "nearness" of

darshan available. Swami goes around every available path and with thin

crowds, the combination is really so perfect for close darshan. The

Vedam chanting stopped in a few minutes, and Mahila singers from Tamil

Nadu began with devotional songs. After a couple of songs, Bhagawan

asked the students to continue with Bhajans. One wondered as to why

Swami so suddenly had the bhajans started. As the first bhajan began,

things became so evident. While the devotees assembled were

appreciative of the songs being sung, they could experience the thrill

of participation once the bhajans began.

 

Swami has always exhorted on the importance of group effort in any

field of activity, more so in spiritual activity. The bhajans picked up

tempo and gusto as minutes ticked by. Swami sat in a sort of trance for

the bhajans. But it was like the "calm before the storm", as the usage

goes. And what a storm it turned out to be! One that was saturated with

showers divine! About half an hour into the bhajans, Prof. Anil Kumar

was asked by Swami to announce that this evening, Bhagawan would bless

the gathering with His Divine Message. This was received with

thunderous applause. At about 9.45am Swami accepted Arati and returned

to Yajur Mandir.

 

In the evening, Bhagawan arrived for darshan in His chair at 4.10 pm.

All the devotees were like eager beavers what with Swami promising a

shower of the divine discourse. A big backdrop with a beautiful

painting of a smiling Swami adorned the back end of the marble block.

Children from the Sri Vishwa Vidyalaya sat in front in full costumes.

Swami's face lit up as He saw the tiny tots and He kept looking at them

as He crossed the marble region. After a round of the Hall Swami came

on stage and the proceedings got underway with an introduction by

Sri.V.Srinivasan, the all-India President of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva

Organisations. The speakers to follow him were Justice Ramasubramanyam

of the Madras High Court, and Dr. V. Mohan, Convenor of Tamil Nadu

State Trust. Both spoke of their experiences in their respective fields

where they could feel Swami's presence always conducting what the world

calls as miracles. After their speeches which recollected many Sai

experiences, Bhagawan rose to speak.

 

Swami said that the speakers that preceded Him spoke of experiences,

but those were relevant to the world. True Aadhyatmikam (spirituality)

lay in recognizing one's true Self and that was in the Truth of "I am

I" alone. He said it was high time that the divinity present in all be

recognised and that alone will confer peace and bliss. Swami continued

by mentioning the greatness of Bharat, with its many perennial rivers.

Unfortunately, in spite of all these, men today struggle to fill their

bellies and slake their thirst. Feelings of mine and thine are

responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs. Selfishness is on

the rise. After stressing the oneness of all creation, Bhagawan moved

to the Ramayana story, to commemorate Ramanavami festival which was

just a few hours away. He spoke on His "favourite" portion of the

Ramayana - the birth and childhood of Rama culminating in the marriage

with Mother Seeta. The stories of bravery of the young princes, the

parental devotion of Shravan Kumar and the greatness and goodness of

the three wives, Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi were brought alive in

front of an audience that was lapping up every word being said.

Bringing out the ideals exhibited by the characters in the Ramayana,

Bhagawan concluded His hour-long Discourse by mentioning that the

Ramanama (sweet name of Lord Rama) was the panacea for everything. And

that is why, in every village in India, Rama is revered. As Swami sat

down at the conclusion of the hour long discourse, He looked a bit

tired but immensely satisfied. He announced, "There is drama now being

put up by children from Tamil Nadu."

 

Children really have that innocence and hence the ability to win the

Lord's heart. Swami had just delivered a discourse and had spent about

two hours nearly in the hot afternoon but still He wanted the drama. No

doubt, the sight of those little children sitting with all their

costumes and make up on in the hot sun melted His tender heart. That

was a really 'drama'tic announcement and immediately the marble block

area was cleared and space created for the actors to move in. The drama

that was to be put up was entitled, "Prema Vahini" and it exuded the

fragrance of gratitude the Chennaites felt for the water project that

Swami had gifted. It is an inspiration in itself to know the background

and the story of the children and the school that was putting up the

drama. You can read that story of the magic of Swami's love and His

students' devotion in the Heart2Heart cover story for the month of April.

 

 

The drama "Prema Vahini" then got underway. It began with the

"Burrakatha" - a traditional mode of musical story telling in Telugu,

which Swami loves a lot.The drama presented the story of the Chennai

Water project as seen by one of the managers of the construction team.

A tiny village in the outskirts of Chennai is struggling with the lack

of water. And this is just a tiny dot in the vast landscape of acute

water scarcity that is facing the citizens there. The struggle of

people to get water was compared as equivalent to the struggle that

sage Bhagiratha had to undergo to make the river Ganga descend on to

earth. And the depiction of that episode was done crisply aided with

wonderful background music. Swami's face erupted with smiles when He

saw tiny tots in the depiction once or twice. The water problem reaches

its heights when people in an old age home almost face death due to

lack of pure drinking water. At this point, the powerful statement that

Swami made at the inauguration of the Bangalore SSSIHMS (hospital) was

played and it was received with thunderous applause. Swami too seemed

deeply touched in nostalgia. The hero, Ramesh, is blessed to be a team

leader in the construction of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal. The drama was

punctuated with a Burra-Katha on mother Easwaramma which Swami loved a

lot and a Tamil song depicting a well choreographed rejoicing of the

citizens of Chennai at the joy of receiving pure Sai Ganga water. The

grand finale came with the song, "Gangamma Talli" (meaning,"Oh Lord!

You have brought mother Ganga to our doorstep). As the song was nearing

the end, Swami remarked, "Now the drama is about to get over!" As the

drama concluded, Swami spontaneously raised both His hands in Love and

benediction. All were thrilled at this and there was another burst of

applause. After the 45 minute drama, Swami accepted Arati and returned

to His residence after 6.30 pm.

Click here to view pictures of the programme.

 

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