LATEST PHOTOS & DARSHAN UPDATES FROM PUTTPARTHI - PRASANTHI NILAYAM

October 8, 2008

http://www..com/sai_baba_latest_darshan_news_photos_updates.htmNavarathri in its direct sense means nine nights. But Nava also stands for " new " . It is this meaning that also finds equal fruition if not greater with Swami. Swami continued in His beautiful flights of loving uncertainty and thrilled everyone filling them with eager anticipation and joyous guessing. The third and fourth days of the Vedapurusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna were beautiful and fulfilling.

On the morning of the 5th, all had assembled in the Kulwant hall while the Yajna proceedings began in the Poornachandra auditorium. Informed decision makers, speculators, gamblers and spectators are not only the people who play at the stock markets - they are very much present in Puttaparthi too playing the guessing game as to what Swami's next move will be. And so, while some people continue to sit in Kulwant hall, some of them move out to occupy vantage positions in the auditorium! Today morning, it paid off for those who had laid their bets on the auditorium as Swami went straight there out of Yajur Mandir! He arrived on the stage and saw the proceedings for a while. In the meantime, the priest performing the physical exercise of the suryanamaskars moved to Swami and offered the rose. This priest has the privilege of performing one pradakshina and offerings directly to Swami whenever Swami is physically present on the stage- on other occasions he does it to the Swami that is omnipresent! As the priest fell flat in full prostrations, Swami accepted his rose and blessed him. Then He moved to the ladies corner of the stage where the head priest and his wife were engaged in worship. Behind Him all the other priests also gathered and chanted out aloud. Swami received Aarthi there and as the camphor was waved He smiled at all the devotees and priests. All the ladies outside the auditorium heaped on each other and craned and strained to catch a glimpse of that sweet smiling face. Swami then returned to the gents corner of the stage.

As we wrote, those devotees who placed their bets on the auditorium had their payoff, but with Swami there is nothing like the losing side. Once you are on God's side, you are always on the winning side. Those who had held on to sitting in the Kulwant hall also won as Swami moved at blistering pace from the auditorium into the darshan grounds. The hall was now quite empty and thus the devotees who had held on and remained too had the opportunity to get wonderful darshan blessings. Swami completed a full round and then moved into the portico via the gents side. The Union Home minister, Sri Shivaraj Patil had arrived and Swami blessed him with an interview. After the interview was complete, Swami came out and sat listening to the chanting of the Rudram that was on. He listened to one complete cycle of the Rudram and that in itself takes more than 30 minutes.

The students have a tendency - to slowly move closer and closer to Swami as they sit near Him and who would not do so given the chance! As Swami wanted all the Veda-knowing students in the front, the block was literally bursting at its seams and the students were seated almost till His lotus feet! He called a few students and then asked them what they had for breakfast? He collected letters and interacted with many more students. He enquired into the well being of some of the members of the staff too. He interacted with the students some more, asked one of the students to demonstrate the Jaikar, and returned to His residence at 10.45 after some more Jaikars from the assembled devotees. It was a wonderful session which concluded with Aarti and Jaijaikars to the Lord.

The evening session was again marked by a beautiful round of darshan after which Swami commanded Mr. Ajit Popat to speak. The next 40 minutes or so was an energetic and enthusiastic outpouring of love and devotion for the Lord by Mr.Popat in his characteristic style. He urged everyone to make the best of the Lord's availability and become dear to Him not by just touching Him in the physical sense but by touching His heart! " When the Ganges is flowing by our homes, why do we choose to bathe in our narrow bathrooms? " , he questioned out aloud. As he concluded his talk, Swami blessed him and asked for the bhajans to begin. The bhajans began in the bhajan hall and soon after, Swami made His way to the bhajan hall. The day concluded with the waving of the holy fire to the Lord.

The 6th morning was again another display of the wonder and beauty of His uncertainty. All the devotees assembled in the Kulwant hall and Poornachandra auditorium for the " holy sighting " or darshan as it is called in daily parlance. It was about 10:15 am when Swami arrived to Kulwant hall for darshan. Completing a full round, Swami went to the interview room. Swami was desirous of distributing sarees to some of the ladies. He did so as He moved from the Kulwant hall towards the Poornachandra auditorium and the ones thus blessed accepted the gifts of Love with joy and gratitude. Once in the auditorium, Swami sat on the stage witnessing the Yajna. It is an amazing sight to see the way Swami sits at the ceremonies. The word " witness " is so apt to describe it. He is neither elated nor down but seems to be in a state of steady serenity! And that serenity radiates to everyone in His physical ambit. Devotees seem to forget everything and everyone sits calmly and reverentially as long as He is there. The magic of His presence proves that truly it is The Presence - like one is sitting face to face with ones' innermost Self!

After a while, Swami moved to the western end of the stage and blessed all the priests there. He received Aarthi to mark the conclusion of the day's quota of the yajnam. Having done that, He again distributed sarees to many of the priests wives and to few other ladies. Sitting on top, Swami continued to distribute as the ladies gratefully accepted the sarees and had the privilege of padanamaskar as His feet were easily accessible at their head level almost! Then Swami retired to Yajur Mandir.

In the evening, Swami came to the Bhajan hall just before 5.30 on completing His darshan round. As the Vedam went on, He made two rounds down the aisle, distributing more sarees. These 9 days are dedicated to the Devi and it was so apt that Swami continued to distribute sarees. The students from the Anantapur campus of the University seated in the bhajan hall were all joy as they got bonus darshan blessings and Swami accepted letters from some of them. At 5.50pm, He asked for the Bhajans to begin and sat there for half an hour before accepting Arati. But as He moved out, His eye met the eyes of the warden of the Brindavan campus, Sri. B.N.Narasimhamoorthy. With a twinkle Swami told him, " I will come out soon. Be ready to speak! "

And so when the whole Kulwant hall was expecting Him to retire for the day at 6:00pm, Swami called the warden and told him to speak. The warden requested, " Swami it will be Shrama (difficulty) for you as it has already been a long day. " Swami replied, " Shrama Kaadhu, Prema. (Its not difficulty, its Love!) " He had a twinkle in the eyes as He came out and asked for the mike and podium to be placed for the speaker. The speaker then for the next 35 minutes spontaneously poured out his feelings of Love and gratitude to the divine mother. The climax of his sppech was an incident where Swami had told him exactly the same words as today. In the summer of 2000 when he had been rendered almost immobile due to a severe backache, Swami had walked all the way to his room in the hostel climbing the steep steps! The warden had then asked Swami as to why had He taken so much " Shrama " and pat Swami had replied the same, " Its not Shrama dear, its Prema! "

He concluded his talk and everyone seemed overcome with emotion. When the glories of the Lord are relived and related, everyone is overcome with emotion. Only those that have transcended the realms of the world and have entered the higher planes of consciousness are untouched by emotion. Even those that are heartless by nature seem to find that noble organ within them and it wells with Love and emotion! As the speaker concluded, Swami blessed him and quickly moved back to the car and retired for the evening.

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