June 15- 19th Posting on Saudi SAI centers activities

[Guest guest]

Sai-Satsang in 4 centers continued

(week ending 15th 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 Nineteenth (19) posting of the

activities of all 4 centers.

 

Summary:

1) Total Attendance all over Saudi over 100.

2) Third Note on Atma (study circle)

3) Special posting for Children of SAI-

Balvikas in Saudi

 

Details:

 

In Dammam the weekly satsang was held on the evening

of Wednesday 13th June at Bro. Jaggu’s residence. 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. Kaladeepan’s residence.

Study circle was held later and attended by about 15

members.

 

Jubail center held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 24th

May at 7.30 pm attended by about 13 members at Bro

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

Only one member attended from Dammam.

 

I did not receive any report from Jeddah at the time

of posting.

 

Riyadh group held the weekly Bhajan on Friday 15th

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

attended by about 45 members. The aarthi was taken by

Bro Packy who was celebrating (privately) his wedding

anniversary on which occasion his wife Sathyabama

joined him in Riyadh. He later introduced all of us to

her. We wish them many more Happy Anniversaries.

 

Subsequently a study circle was held coordinated by

Bro Ravi (SABIC). Uncle Shankar (father of Sister

Sujatha Raj Rajagopal) participated actively and

shared several stories and examples of practice of

Baba’s teachings. About 20 members attended.

 

On the subject, of Atma = Brahman, a further

discussion took place. This time there was some

discussion on the “Control of the mind” and how Swami

(as Omnipresent Brahman) “surrounds all of us”. An

example was given of ice cubes floating in a water

glass and all claiming to be different when they were

all water and surrounded by water. This was from the

book by Gen Chibber who has written a book on

Leadership (with Blessings of Baba).

 

There was discussion on how much we must eat with

Shankar uncle mentioning that hunger is disease and

food is the medicine. Just as we do not consume too

much medicine for any disease, so also we should not

consume too much food. Relevant advice in Saudi where

everyone gains weight!

 

In a nutshell, our Indian Vedanta (Advaita version)

holds that there is only one Brahman (Consciousness)

and it is SAT-Chit-Ananda = Truth, Knowledge and

Bliss. This one Brahman split itself into two (as it

were) and thus the process of creation started with

Souls or jiva (little drops of Brahman consciousness)

and Nature (Prakarti) which is seemingly inanimate but

also created from the same consciousness. That is why

Swami repeatedly mentions that “I surround you”.

 

If this is indeed so, why then we have this

perception, we are different from each other and also

separate from GOD-Brahman? The theory is, this is due

to play of Maya and this has the power of concealing

our “Mind” which is the ultimate sensory organ in

human beings (other organs such as eyes, ear, nose,

tongue, skin etc are only sensors but the recognition

and decision is taken by mind complex.

 

It is called a “complex” because it has different

components such as a) Interface with sensory organs b)

memory to store such inputs c) intelligent

Discrimination (to differentiate between favorable and

unfavorable) d) personal preferences which makes the

mind waver (alternate between one and another) mainly

driven by Gunas and e) EGO which is the underlying

cause for differentiation of “self” from others. So if

somehow (d) and (e) can be overcome, we humans would

realize that we- all of us- are just from one Brahman

source and there would be no conflicts but only

“Love”.

 

However so far this is not the case and hence efforts

such as the study circle tend to “clear the doubts”

and lead us (gently) towards realization of “self”

(that it is same as all others and all of it is just

Brahman). This process known as Sadhana is usually a

“Guided” process and needs correct attitude, effort

and knowledge. It also needs the Grace of Brahman for

one to realize oneself. Otherwise one is

“re-processed” over several births and it is known as

“Samsara” (wheel of life) where there is both joy and

sorrow, Life and Death. In such a state, there are

several human “emotions” that further cloud one’s

thinking and reinforce individual ego.

 

I procured a book (from UK SAI center) especially

written for the Children (Balvikas) and wish to post a

story a week from it. I also request the Balvikas

Gurus to send their inputs about their students and

study materials as then it can be shared with members

of other centers such as in Dammam, Jubail and Jeddah

(now only Riyadh has Balvikas classes going)

 

The story is about a Scottish King Robert Bruce who

was defeated several times in battles with the English

Kings. Once he was taking refuge in a cave and saw a

spider attempting to weave a web. It failed several

times mostly at the end and he thought the spider

would just give up and go away. However he did notice

that finally Spider completed successfully the web and

could catch the insects and thus survive. This gave

him the inspiration and he fought one more battle and

then won his Kingdom back.

 

There are of course different versions of the same

story with different Kings but the moral of the story

is “Steadfastness” and being defiant in adversity. All

of us are likely to suffer some reverses at one time

or other and those who persevere finally succeed.

 

Finally to lighten your mood let me give you the link

to our Indian Bollywood event in UK celebrating

International Indian Film academy awards which

happened while I was in UK last week.

http://www.thelondonpaper.com/galleries/bollywood/

 

Sairam and Pranams to all.

P.B.V.Rajan