15th Weekly posting on 4 SAI centers in Saudi-May 18

[Guest guest]

Sai-Satsang in 4 (including Jeddah) centers continued

(week ending 18th May, Friday)

 

Sairam to all Children, Sisters and Sai Brothers

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

Riyadh.

 

We continue with the fifteenth (15) posting of the

activities of all 3 centers.

 

Summary:

1) Total Attendance all over Saudi over 120.

2) Jeddah center activities brought into weekly

reports

3) Note on Bahrain

 

Details:

 

In Dammam the weekly satsang was held on the evening

of Wednesday 16th May, at the residence of Bro. Suresh

Menon. The attendance was by about 30 members starting

at 7.30 pm. Aarthi taken by Hemant, son of Mr. Suresh

Menon, leaving the Kingdom to India for higher

studies.

 

Study circle was held later and attended by about 20

members. Bro Raj Rajgopal from the Riyadh center

participated. In the session, Chapter 6 on Discipline

was discussed with active participation. The Library a

good initiative, is handled by Vinod Chandra, study

circle coordinator, who carries the books personally

to each Bhajan and displays it for members to choose

and benefit. Volunteers are requested to contact him,

who can read and summarize each book, in one or two

pages of synopsis so that others can decide more

easily about borrowing the titles. Members are also

encouraged to donate new books to be brought from

India during their visit on return.

 

Jubail center held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 17th

May at 7.30 pm attended by about 26 members at Bro

Vimal’s (Bhajan coordinator) residence. Aarthi was

taken by Bro Aramco Anand, one of the 6 members Dammam

devotees who attended. Bro Vimal, the spiritual

coordinator informs that study circle is scheduled for

22nd May at Bro Swamy Mahadevan’s residence.

 

Jeddah circle held their weekly Bhajan on Thursday

17th May at 7.30 pm. It was held in AlRehab at

residence of Bro K.P.Rajan and was attended by about

20 members. Rajesh Kumar (Fuji) performed the aarthi

after “Thought for the day” was read out. Study circle

need to be organized in Jeddah.

 

I do not visit personally Dammam, Jubail or Jeddah

each week as I am based in Riyadh. I get the reports

by telephone in Dammam from Bro Vinod Chandra

(0504-806-227) or in Jubail from Bro Vimal

(0507-967-593) or from Bro K.P. Rajan in Jeddah

(0504-387-283) . If any Dammam, Jubail or Jeddah

members wish to add anything relevant to the weekly

reports, they can contact the relevant three numbers

above.

 

Riyadh group held the weekly Bhajan on Thursday 17th

May evening from 7.00 pm till about 8.30 pm. It was a

Mahila Bhajan in which only ladies and Balvikas

children sing Bhajans. It was heartening to see half

the Bhajan sung by children and teenagers. It was

attended by about 45 members. The aarthi was taken by

Sister Dr Laxmi Ravi Chandran. Her Daughter Janani

read the weekly extracts from Shirdi Sai SatCharitha.

 

I was in Bahrain on business during the week and wish

to share my observations with Saudi based SAI Samiti

members. To begin with the previous Riyadh Samiti

coordinator Bro C.S. Ravisekar (Mob+973-397-66-770) is

now based in Bahrain and can be helpful. He was kind

enough to pick me and take to his home. I learnt from

him that in Bahrain there are three Sai centers

(Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram) and they are all active.

However they do not have an equivalent

like risnet or dasnet. His 2 children Ragita and

Raghav are studying in India. I also heard from

another member that in one of the Bahrain devotes (Bro

Selvaraj) Vibudhi comes from even walls in large

quantities, with grace of Baba.

 

Bahrain is a liberal country where there are several

temples for Lord Krishna, Iyyapa, Shiva, Durga etc. I

visited a Krishna mandir at the Manama city center

(Bab Al Bahrain) run by Gujarathis. There are

naturally lots of vegetarian restaurants and Gold

shops adjacent to it.

 

I met a large Indian owned company (Bramco) who have

built a big Devi temple in their workers’ compound

that on each Tuesday evening attracts as many as 1,500

devotees. It is about 25 Kms from City center but I

did not visit it during this trip. I can provide the

address to those interested.

 

Perhaps it may be a good experiment to organize a

regional retreat at Bahrain due to various

restrictions in Saudi that are not there in Bahrain.

 

Apart from the spiritual dimension, I also found

Bahrain to be economically active in the sense that a

number of sky scrappers (like Dubai, but more

tasteful) are coming up. I was staying in a hotel

opposite to Bahrain Financial Harbor and it was indeed

elegant. It was inaugurated on May 2 by their King.

 

I also could visit the newly built Formula 1 track

named as “Bahrain International circuit”

(www.bahraingp.com) Tel: +973-1745-0000 There are many

events there going on all the time and is good tourist

site. I got a ride in Hummer (the civilian version of

Humvee used by GIs in Iraq) courtesy- “Hummer Academy”

where they teach you for 2 days how to drive Hummer.

It is a wonderful off-the-road vehicle which has the

capacity to go up or down a steep incline as much as

70 degrees without having to operate the brake because

the engine is “smart”. I guess all of us need a

spiritual Hummer to help climb this Samsara (worldly

life) and SAI centers are the best ones for us.

 

Sairam and Pranams to all.

P.B.V.Rajan