Sai Satsangh- posting 10- week ending 13 Apr

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Sai-Satsang in 3 centers continued

(week ending 13th April, Friday)

 

Sairam to all Children, Sisters and Sai Brothers

in all 3 Sai SatSanghs in Jubail, Dammam and Riyadh.

 

We continue with the tenth (10) posting of the

activities of all 3 centers.

 

Summary:

1) Ganapathi Homam in Riyadh with good participation

from Dammam.

2) Sarvajit- Tamil Happy New Year messages

3) Brief note on Largest Hindu temple in Europe.

Details:

 

In Dammam the weekly satsang was held on the evening

of Wednesday 11th April, at the residence of Bro.

Kaladeepan. The attendance was by about 15 members

starting punctually at 7.30 pm. Aarti was taken by Bro

Jayaraman. No Study circle was held. The Tamil

Sangam program in the next 2 days as well as a large

group leaving for Riyadh the next day morning

reportedly affected the attendance. The next Bhajan

will be at Bro Ganesh (SAFCO).

 

Bro Vinod Menon, on behalf of the group of 21 members

who traveled by Van to Riyadh for Ganapathi Homam on

Friday 13th April morning, described the event as

“Unique experience”. He praised the unity of Riyadh

samithi as well as excellent decoration, preparation,

the traditional manner of conducting the Homam and

hospitality. Riyadh Samithi also thanks the Dammam

members for attending in such good numbers.

 

Jubail center held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 12th

April at 7.30 pm that was attended by about 15 members

at Bro Gopi’s residence. Aarthi was taken by Bro

Gopal. Study circle coordinated by Bro Gopalakrishnan

is likely to be held on 17th April at Bro. Rathish’s

residence.

 

Riyadh group held the weekly Bhajan on Friday 13th

April from 6.00 am (morning) till about 12.00 noon.

It was attended by about 65 members. Singers rendered

all bhajans dedicated to Lord Ganesha on the occasion

of Ganapathi Homam performed earlier in the morning.

Brief summary of the report posted by Bro Ravi is

below:

 

Maha Ganapathi Homam was performed at Riyadh Sai

center on Friday, April 13, 2007. The Homam was

started at 6:10AM after chanting Sai Subrapatham and

finished at 8:25AM. Brother (Veda) Narayanan and six

other member-purohits, performed the Homam. It was

attended by 70 devotees including 20 from Dammam

/Khobar. After the Homam, seven special songs on Sri

Maha Ganapati were sung by the devotees.

After a small break regular bhajan on Fridy morning

was held. The aarthi was performed by Bro. Vedam

Narayanan.

 

The new Tamil year is named as Sarvajit, Our Baba in

message on this occasion said “This means “Victory all

Over” ,in every action, be it business, agriculture,

education. There will be lot of development in all

fields. Always think of God. This will protect you in

all walks of life. Why fear when I am here. Its my

Duty to take care of you. This is a sacred year. Be

happy, blissful with out quarrels. Thank You Sai Baba.

 

 

Meanwhile for those wishing to buy a flat in

Puttaparthi, here is a contact address: Builder Name:

Sadik Vali, Contact Address: Sai Prem Apartments, 1st

Right Cross, Chitravathi Road, Puttaparthy. Contact

Number: (0)- 9440194286 (Mobile). Email Address:

rama_mohansai@ . Pl note that I have no

personal interest in this matter and Pl check the

financial transactions with due care. Caveat emptor.

 

The above reports were filed with inputs from

different members as I was not personally present in

Riyadh.

 

I was in London last week where I was fortunate to

meet with Mr. Madhava who was an active member in

Jeddah Sai Samithi during 2000. Mr. Madhava is an

outstanding spiritual person himself apart from being

a top IT specialist. I was lucky that he was at home,

as he travels around the world frequently, not only on

business but also acts as Vedic purohit for several

functions such as Hindu marriages in Malta etc. His

knowledge of our vedanta as well as vedic rituals is

extraordinary for a man of his age (he is 35). He

lives in Alperton in London which has many Indian

residents as you can make out from the number of

vegetarian Indian restaurants on the main road (more

than 10).

 

He was good enough to take me to nearby Hindu temple

which (as per the administrators) is the largest

traditional Hindu Mandir of stone built on 1.5 acres,

with height of 70 feet, width 75 feet, and length 175

feet (British use feet for measurement of length -

divide by 3 to get it meters. Incidentally, they have

switched over to metric system for weights- do not ask

me why)

 

The Swami Narayan temple http://www.mandir.org/ is

simply beautiful with all the exterior from Bulgarian

limestone and all interior in White Italian marble. It

has a Haveli attached for social functions and the

interior is wood work of more than 30,000 sq ft (3,000

sq mtrs), the largest such Hindu haveli in the world

with such extraordinary wood work. I have their

brochure and those who wish to look at it can see it

on this Thursday 19th April. The temple was built in

1995.

 

It also has a permanent exhibition on Hinduism but I

could not see it because it closed at 6 pm. However I

have the book on the exhibition which is very

informative. I hope to post extracts from it in

future postings. I very much recommend a visit to this

Mandir for those visiting London. It is easy to get

there and as I said earlier veg food is no problem

there. There are also other temples in that area

including a Murugan temple but I did not visit them

this time (I was there last time).

 

The Swami Narayan temple trust is being well managed

by Gujarathis. Their present Guru is Pramukh Swami

Maharaj.

 

Sairam and Pranams to all.

P.B.V.Rajan