Christmas in Prashanti Nilayam - Lovingly shared by a Sai Devotee

[Guest guest]

25 December 2008

Christmas morning in Prashanti Nilayam

You know, after so many years of bhajans in Sanskrit here in Prashanti Nilayam, I never thought the day would come when I would hear "How Great Thou Art" being sung here in Prashanti Nilayam. It was magnificent. The Choir were excellent; they sang a lovely medley of songs ancient and new. As my eyes wandered over the choir, I had to laugh; you see, several days ago, for some mysterious reason, two deaf fellows, one from West Bengal and one from Lithuania, sat beside me in Morning Darshan. The Lithuanian fellow was totally deaf and had little, if any speech. I got some comments through to him in sign language, and the fellow from West Bengal, who had no English whatsoever, followed me perfectly! Anyway, why did I laugh? That tall Lithuanian fellow was sitting in the choir!

Mind you, many people asked me to join the choir, and I told them all that Swami has told me often, in many different ways, not to sing... so I turned down those requests to join the choir. Looking over to the ladies side, I could see dear Dot from Sathya Sai U-Turn, one of the senior ladies Seva Dal and coordinator, organising the choir. The students put on a play after the choir had sung; it was excellent.

We had not one, but TWO santa claus running around the darshan hall this morning!Sathya Sai came wearing white this morning, in a chair that somewhat resembles a golden throne. Lot of bliss all over the place. A procession came in before Swami, and the members of the choir and those in the play came also. The play was about the three wise men who found the new-born babe of Bethlehem.

The darshan hall was full, it was a bit hot and sticky inside there at the end, and prasadum was given out to all.

The darshan hall. Hmm, lets start with the Mandir - on the left hand side is the 'garage' doors; they are decorated; two of those roller-doors have a grey cover and a huge green holly with red bow. The centre door, (the big one) , you know, the one that chariot is behind, had a full length painting of blue, clouds, a full length Sathya Sai and Jesus holding a lamb; its a huge painting and looks magnificent.

You know that Krishna form on the back wall of the mandir, the one the brahmins arrive at after Nagasankirtan? Each side of that are full length paintings, one of the Star of Bethlehem, the other of the Magi following the star.

Now, upstairs is a Christmas tree with a big star on the first floor. That band of gandharvas and decorations which goes around the full lenght of the porch roof has been covered by red bunting; top and bottom with green christmas decorations, and sprinkling down are little fairy lights in tubes, which change colour.

In the middle of the porch overhang, right at the front, above where Swami sits, is a large, illuminated silver and white star. It arrived from the airport last night.

The mandir windows are covered by two madonnas, one a Raphelite kind of Madonna, the other a Byzantine icon. Hanging from the chandliers and in between are green and red balls, and muticoloured balls, and other christmas decorations. The three gold-topped domes above the porch are draped in these fairy light tubes which change colour and give all colours of the spectrum.

Each side of the Ganesh idol in the middle of the porch is a huge golden sheet with an embossed Christmas star; the devotees of Southern California and Nevada were certainly busy making all these decorations.

Then, you know that walkway which goes down to the Gopuram Gate? Hanging from the ceiling on each side are huge paintings, 60¡ì high, and about 100 feet long, one has a trio of angels surrounded by clouds; they are looking down towards the earth; the other has about nine angels all flying around the celestial clouds singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo.

And so, we have a holy atmosphere here for a Holy Christmas. Oh, and there are about twenty christmas trees all with gaily coloured decorations and boxes right outside the door to Yajur Mandir; and Yajur Mandir (Swami's House) has been decorated by the USA devotees also, they have these lightshows shining on that mandir which change colours and go right through the colour spectrum.Christmas afternoon in Prashanti Nilayam

Hmm, I decided to enter the darshan hall by the top gate, and I was going to wander down to the back of the hall; an old Seva Dal pointed to me to go and sit somewhere at the front; I said, "No, I am going down the back" , and he said "No, you go and sit there only".

Well, I went and found the foreigners sitting and went and sat in an open space, about three rows from front line. Some people told me it was the space for the canteen volunteers and a seva dal told me to move. And another seva dal told me to go back and sit down. So I did, three rows from the front, closest I have been to the front on the men's side.

The atmosphere and energy in the darshan hall was gay, in the original sense of the word; it was joyful, it was happy, there was a humdrum of conversation, and we were waiting for Sai Baba to come. Happy devotees from every country, I had people from Scotland and South America around me, and children everywhere. Apparently I was sitting nearby the Children's Choir.

Swami arrived around 4.30pm; there were about five people walking behind Swami, and he stopped and spoke to members of the Ladies Choir; also stopped and spoke to some men, immediately he arrived on the mens's side, and took letters. Swami: I was close, how to describe?

Well, that chair moves slowly, and Swami looks left and right; his hair is just so; his robe shows the ironing creases, he sits and looks right across the men as he passes; hands go up in pranams; did our eyes meet? I think so, but I was three rows back. A sere smile on his face, hands raised in blessing as he passes by. Yes, Swami looked very happy as he passed us by. At the top of the walkway before he turns right to go across the front of the Mandir, he paused and spoke to some of the old students, who were seated there; Swami was talking for quite some time before he moved across and around to the other side of the Mandir, where he pauses for a long time in front of the primary school children; quite some conversation there. Then Swami came to the front of the porch and there was silence. John Behner kneels beside Swami and gives him details of the afternoon program.

John Behner, Coordinator from Latin America, introduced the afternoon's proceedings. He spoke of the teams who had prepared the Darshan Hall, the devotees from South California, Nevada, and so on. The group of 200 Indonesians, who prepared the prasadum, the 160 ladies involved in sewing and decorations, the containers from China, the planning for the Christmas decorations. All planning had been submitted to Swami, and Swami had personally seen and approved all the decorations. The canteen and their work, decorations and the Christmas meal; the choir and their 9 days of preparation. Last, but not least, the men who did the dirty work were acknowledged. Big round of applause.

FIrst speaker is Mrs Geesje Sebastian of Germany, a Human Values teacher, Regional Coordinator, SSE Teacher. Mrs Sebastian spoke in slow, careful English and told the story of her coming to Swami, how she did not know who or where this Sai Baba was, and how he entered her life and saved her eyesight. Mrs Sebastian finished with a beautiful song.

Second speaker was Ted Henry, a retired TV Broadcaster from Cleveland OHIO, and Ted has been interviewing people for many years, and making videos. Ted told that the fruit of all this was not the change in the people he was interviewing, nor the change he had hoped for in those who might view his interviews on Radio Sai Global Harmony; no, the real changes came in Ted himself, it was his heart that was pierced with Love. Ted is a great speaker.

Then silence. John Behner went to Swami, knelt and spoke and then got up and went back to his place. We all looked at Swami. Swami turned his head, and looked around, then an imperceptible nod; there was going to be a divine discourse, and a great round of applause burst out.

I have never seen Swami sit and give a discourse before, but, you know, it was really no different; Anil Kumar was beside Swami, always turning his head to Swami and waiting for him to finish before looking up and translating. AK took the microphone from the stand and held it in his hand (he gave up writing, as usual).

Swami spoke in English a lot. He never said Sathyam, Sathya, shanti, he spoke in English a lot. Swami told (in my inaccurate recall) (these are the English bits)

 

 

The body is a container, we have to look after it Truth is God; Truth is Love, Truth is the basis of the Universe

 

God is above you, below you, around you, in you (all in English)

 

Hurt Never, Help Ever

 

Love is everything, give love, only love

 

You are three people, the one you think you are, the one others think you are, and the One God sees

 

I,I,I, don't say I am this, I am that, say I am God

 

People ask "Who are you, don't say I am the body, don't give body-name, say I am God, and tell them YOU ARE GOD TOO, (all in English) (tremendous applause)

 

Swami spoke about Jesus on the Cross, and Mother Mary at the foot of the Cross, weeping, crying; Jesus told Mother Mary not to weep, all this was fore-ordained

 

Swami spoke about the mind, he never said manas or tapas, he kept on speaking in English, Mind is a bundle of thoughts, master the mind, do not think you are the mind, do not think you are the body. Swami really spoke a lot about the body and how it has to be taken care of so we can do service.

And that is about all I can recall now. Then Swami sang Prema Muditha Manasa Kaho (Chant the name of the Lord with Love) ... then he began Bhajana bina sukha shanti nahi .. it was really funny, we all sang the first line with Swami with both of those bhajans, just the first line, it was a teriffic feeling to be singing that so softly and sweetly with Swami ...

After singing, Swami spoke again and lauded the singing of the Choir, and said something like their effort was blessed and pure and of wondrous quality. He really praised the Choir and we all gave them a round of applause.

It was dark, now, around 6.50pm, and a magnificent singer sang some strophes, and then into two bhajans, they were marvellous, Swami blessed the prasad and students ran out to collect and distribute; then the pujari stood and gave arathi, and I could see Dorothy of the UTurn school waving the arati flame along with one or two other ladies, on the ladies side. It was dark now, and Swami left in his car, a most blessed Christmas in Prashanti Nilayam. Lovingly shared by a Sai Devoteehttp://saieditor.com/spirit/?m=200812