10th weekly posting of Saudi Sai activities-9th Mach 2008

March 9, 2008

Dear Sai Maa,

Our humble salutations at your Divine Lotus Feet. We offer this posting at your Lotus Feet Sai Maa.

Sairam dear Sai Children, Sai Sisters and Sai Brothers of all 4 Sai SatSanghs in Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah and Riyadh.

Here we begin our 10th posting of 2008—

Summary: 1. Total Attendance all over Saudi was above 230. Wow, a record number indeed!

2. Maha Sivaratri celebration in Riyadh, Khobar and Jeddah.

3. Riyadh Sai Centre celebrates Maha Sivaratri for 12 hours at a stretch.

Details:

This week Jubail center did not have any separate bhajan as they joined with Khobar & Dammam Maha Shivarathri programme.

Dammam- Khobar center celebrated Maha-Shivarathri in the house of Brother Jagannathan at Khobar along with participants from Jubail Samiti on Thursday, March 5, 2008. Initially, an elaborate 11-course maha abhishegam(concluding with Kalash-Ganga water which was brought from India) for Lord Shiva, Lord Ganapathi and other deities took place for 3 hours from 3.45 p.m. to 6.45 p.m. in which around 70 devotees participated. The Abhishekam was done by Brother Jagannathan and the Vedic mantras were chanted by 3 learned Vedic pundits from Khobar-Dammam Area. Subsequently, after a break of 90 minutes, the Sai Bhajan was conducted in the Community Center Hall which was attended by more than 120 devotees from Khobar, Dammam, Jubail, and also from Saudi Aramco. The Bhajan commenced around 8.30 p.m. and got over by 12.midnight. More than 55 songs were sung in praise of Lord Ganapathi, Lord Shiva, Goddess Lakshmi, and in Praise of our Beloved Bhagwan Saibaba. The Bhajan songs were very nicely rendered by the devotees even without any rehearsal of any of the songs sung by the devotees. A huge lingam (they are using this for last 4 years) adorned the place . It was an excellent program and very well conceived, planned, organized and conducted. The Aarthi was taken by Brother Varadarajan who performed Archana also. The devotees who had observed fasting were given special dinner and those who did not do any fasting, were treated to a sumptuous dinner. Thus, this year's Maha Shivarathri Program went off very well. The report was provided by Bro.Jayaraman & Bro.Jagannathan Thank you both for the detailed report.

Jeddah samiti celebrated Sivaratri on Friday, 7th March. In the day time they carried out narayan seva by distributing 100 lunch packets. In the evening they chanted Sai Sahasranamavali (1008 names) at Bro. Gopi's residence. Then bhajans followed. There were 35 devotees attended the session.Aarthi was taken by Bro.Rajan. Significance of Sivaratri was read by Bro. Ravi Menon. The report was given by Bro. Ashok kumar. Thank you Bro.Ashok Kumar.

Riyadh report-----

To begin with, I congratulate our National Chair Person Bro.Packy on the grand success of Maha Sivaratri event

Of Riyadh Sai Center.

We Riyadh Sai Family bow at the lotus feet of Swami & thank Swami for blessing us a wonderful person like

YOU-BRO.PACKY….to our center…

Riyadh Sai Center celebrated Maha-Sivaratri in a unique way. For the first time we celebrated for 12 hours at a stretch—Thursday, (March 5.2008) 6 p.m to Friday 6 a.m.More than 75 devotees attended the event. We celebrated this in our SAi –Majlis situated in the terrace of our center. When we entered the Sai –Majlis, we were spell bound by the gorgeous decoration rendered by some of our brothers & sisters. With all my humility I thank them for this dedicated job. It took about 2 months for all the preparation.

A stage has been raised. In the centre stood with all its beauty- Swami's huge photograph lined with hand made golden coloured paper Shiva lingams. On the right side of Swami's photograph, was Swami's throne. But this time it was a swing, decorated magnificently. On the left side,huge Shivalinga (hand made) elevated the beauty of the place. Beside stood the splendid Nandi, Trishul, Damaru...A big tray with heap of fruits, 4feet tall electronic deepam at both sides, hangings, garlands………... At the centre was the Shiva lingam and other necessary things ready for abhisekam. The walls of the majlis were also lined with paper-made Shivalingas. The whole place was A TREAT FOR THE EYES.

The programme started sharply at 6p.m. with 3 Aums, then Vedam chanting, then Sai Ashtotharam.Then bhajans started. The first bhajan "Maha Ganapathey Namastuthey.."was sung by the melodious voice of Gops. We continued our bhajan session till 7.30p.m. Then Bro. Ravichandran read the significance of Sivarathri. Then we continued with our bhajans till 8.50p.m. Here Chrislyn read "Kaaraikkal Ammaiyaar. It was followed by 1 hour long devotional songs. Sharp at 10 p.m pooja, multi-course abhisekam, vedic chanting done one after the other. Every individual devotee starting from the juniormost devotee to seniormost devotee did the Abhisekam personally. 12 learned Vedic pundits led by Bro.Narayan chanted the mantras non stop for 4 and half hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was A TREAT FOR THE EARS!

Kaushik (elder son our Riyadh Chairman Bro Mani Shekhar) read"Thirugnana Sambandhar".

Shiva Slokas continued for 1 hour, then again bhajans.The last bhajan was sung by our bhajan guru Bro.Ravi Shankar"Subrhamanyam subrhamanyam…" We also chanted Shiva Astothrashata Namavali, Bilvaashtakam, Shivastahkam, Shiva Shadakshara Stotram, Aditya Hridayam, Shiva Thandava Stotram & Shiva Mangalaashtakam…..

About 100 bhajans were sung. Most of them were Lord Shiva Bhajans.

Aarathi was taken by our National Chair Person Bro.Packy.

The 12 hour programme was nicely organized in every respect. The agenda of the programme was followed strictly dot on time.

A lots of arrangement was done for the whole programme. Small to small things were also taken care of. Bilva leaves were brought from India as well as Bahrain.

A group of ladies were continuously on their foot for the whole night managing the dining room & kitchen in the first floor. Sumptuous home made food was served for dinner. Every hour they served us tea, coffee, ginger-honey water, bournvita for kids, even they did not forget to take care of diabetic devotees with sugar free beverages! It was A TREAT FOR THE TONGUE. Bhanu Mani Shekhar was standing beside the stage with peeled eyes to give anything they need for pooja. Riyadh chairman Bro. Mani Shekhar was very alert all the time in controlling the voice of lead singers as well as chorus. Our National chair person Bro.Packy throughout the programme was standing beside the audio controlling system, managing the sound level. Even the booklet

was very impressive & systematic (starting from the first page which was a pleasant Lord Shiva photograph,agenda,bhajans with lead singers name…all slokas…..). We Riyadh Sai Family thank you-all …..

It was too well organized & at the moment I feel it is really difficult to pen everything (which has taken 2 long months of arrangement)…….

To summarize the whole programme was A TREAT FOR THE MIND

AS WELL AS HEART !!!

We end our 9th posting for 2008 here with these DivineWords----

There are some ignorant persons who laugh at " Bhajans " and other acts of worship and consider them a waste of valuable time. Those persons might laugh at your pouring bags of paddy seeds on a slushy field and condemn that act too as waste of valuable food-material. But you know that, for every bag of paddy-seed, Mother Earth will give back grain tenfold or even twenty fold, in a few weeks. Time spent in contemplation of God or adoration of the Divine is indeed well spent, for it rewards you with a rich harvest of mental peace and courage.

- Swami

I apologize in advance for any unintentional omissions & mistakes.

With lots of regards

Renuka Patra

Riyadh sai centre

-- Renuka PatraRiyadhSaudi Arabia