Saudi Sai center activities- 21st weekly posting

[Guest guest]

Sai-Satsang in 4 centers continued

(week ending 29th June, Friday)

 

Sairam to all Children, Sisters and Sai Brothers

in all 4 Sai SatSanghs in Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah and

Riyadh.

 

We continue with the Twnetyfirst (21) posting of the

activities of all 4 centers.

 

Summary:

1) Total Attendance all over Saudi over 110.

2) Fourth Note on Atma (study circle)

 

Details:

 

In Dammam the weekly satsang was held on the evening

of Wednesday 27th June at Bro. Shastri’s residence at

Rezayat compound. The attendance was by about 35

members starting at 7.30 pm. Aarthi was taken by Bro.

Jayaraman. Next week Bhajan is scheduled at Bro.

Kannan’s residence. Study circle was held later and

attended by about 15 members. One of the notable books

“AnandaDai” – by Sister Kannama (an elderly devotee of

Swami) was reviewed by the group. Library books were

exchanged.

 

Jubail center held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 28th

June at 7.30 pm attended by about 25 members at Bro

Kosla’s residence. Aarthi was taken by Bro Devdas who

was one of the 7 members who attended from Dammam.

Study circle was held during the week at Bro

Gopalakrishnan’s house.

 

Jeddah Group held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 28th

June at 7.30 pm attended by about 10 members at Bro

Ashok’s residence. Aarthi was done by the lady of the

house Ms. Nandini Ashok.

 

Riyadh group held the weekly Bhajan on Friday 29th

June Morning from 9.00 am till about 12 noon. It was

attended by about 45 members. The aarthi was taken by

Bro Shivaji who is leaving the Kingdom with his family

on a new assignment in Qatar. We wish them all the

Best and Swami’s Blessings. Similarly Aparna, Kamakshi

and AlRajhi Shankar are also leaving Saudi on 3rd July

on a new assignment in Jordon. They have been

prominent in the Bhajans and their presence will be

missed in cultural items.

Subsequently a study circle was held coordinated by

Bro Ravi (SABIC). About 15 members attended.

 

On the subject, of Atma = Brahman, a further

discussion took place. This time the discussion became

a bit contentious because one or two members expressed

an opinion that all the discussion in the study circle

is not important and we should aim to reach

“God/Swami” directly. (I am only mentioning this to

avoid similar controversies in other 3 study circles).

 

Study circle is a discussion group coordinated by a

senior member. This practice exists in most centers

and is not exclusively done only in Riyadh. The

procedure for conducting study circle is also

reasonably standardized. In Riyadh, Bro. Sabic Ravi is

the study circle co-ordinator. His main success is in

getting it organized in the first place. Earlier there

were no regular sessions. Now the usual attendance is

between 15-20 which is a good number. The level of

discussion in the study circle is also good.

 

However study circle does not claim to offer the

Golden key to direct Moksha. I do not think that

anyone is attending the session with this objective of

some magic wand as it were, which if waived, gets us

“Moksha”. It is essentially a step by step learning

process on how the spiritual world is organized (as

described in SAI organization which closely follows

our traditional Vedanta in terminology and approach)

and how to make progress possibly one step at a time

and may be, more steps for those willing to do more

sadhanas. It is useful for those sharing these

objectives. It is also entirely voluntary and no

compulsion to attend it.

 

In today’s session an important concept of Atma was

discussed which are popularly described (by Swami) as

3 “C”s. Conscious, Conscience and Consciousness. The

basic concept is that all human are conscious of

external environments and this is (spiritually

speaking) due the presence of conscience within the

person (that is lacking in animals and inanimate

objects) and this “individual conscience” (often

termed as Atma) is part of the Total Consciousness

pervading the whole universe which is Brahman.

 

Sounds simple, but humans find it hard to comprehend

it. This is because of the power of Maya (as per our

Vedanta) which veils true knowledge and projects

ignorance- the classic case of “mistaking rope for a

snake”. The way to remove this veil of ignorance is

either by Knowledge or Bhakthi or Service. Usually a

Guru is recommended for this process because the path

is not so obvious. In our case, the Guru as well as

ultimate destination is Swami.

 

At this point it may be better for a short recap of

the earlier 3 pages which we discussed in last 3

sessions. In first page we learnt that there are

indeed two paths to reach Brahman, the Outer path

(which we are taking now) and the Inner path (based on

self-enquiry). In the second page we discuss about

“God within (each of us)” and how we are composed of

inanimate atoms but suddenly there is “life” which is

consciousness. In the third page, we discuss about

“mind” which is not really physical but seem to have

its own way as defined by Gunas which vary from person

to person. Swami says clearly that Humans are below

Gunas and Avatar is above Gunas.

 

So, this is the fine line that divides us and stops or

delays us from reaching “Moksha”. We have to overcome

our Gunas. Since most humans are by nature (as created

by GOD) hardwired or inborn with some Gunas this

process is not simple or straight forward.

 

Our day to day experience is in surviving in this

world or in making progress. This makes us go away

from this ideal of overcoming our gunas. This is why

Swami says that “Perform all actions without

attachment and give the results to God, so you will

not be bound by the effects of Karma”. However this

is not an easy task because it is not inherently

natural to humans. We need some spiritual orientation

to start and then progress. Study circle is helpful in

this respect. However as the saying goes, one can take

the horse to the water, but cannot make it drink. The

effort has to come from the individual themselves. No

one else can do it for them.

 

For teenage children who are having summer vacation, I

advise them to read a book on “History of nearly

everything” by Bill Bryson. It will encourage them to

expand their horizons. They may then realize that

what they study now and take for granted was not there

even a century ago. There was a lot of experimentation

and research and many people contributed to growth of

knowledge as it was not then available easily in a

book, as now.

 

Sairam and Pranams to all.

P.B.V.Rajan