January 11th, 2008(source:http://saistudents.org/alumni/home/news.php)

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January 11th, 2008

Today even the sun seemed to rise early with all vigour! Even before 7

am, a beautiful golden hue enveloped Puttaparthi. The Vidyagiri stadium

wore a festive look. People began filing into the venue of the 2008

Sports and Cultural Meet in thousands. The Sports Meet is a wonderful

conglomeration of feelings, actions and thoughts. For the students, it

is an opportunity to please their dear Swami and dedicate the day

specially for Him. For the parents, its a time to swell their chests in

pride seeing their children's capabilities. For thousands of devotees,

its an opportunity to witness another facet of the unique love-story

between the Lord and students. For the thousands of villagers, living

in and around Puttaparthi, it is what the Olympics is for the so-called

"developed" world - a venue to make them gape in awe and wonder.

 

The stadium seemed painted in millions of colours as the galleries

filled up much before Swami's arrival at 8:10 am. Swami too resembled

the golden sun in His Golden yellow robe! A thrill of joy seemed to

pulsate through the entire audience even with the mere sight of their

"Bangaru" Swami through the glass of the Porte car. The welcome song

went on the air and the brass bands from the Anantapur and Prashanti

Nilayam campuses struck the right chords. The zoom bikes thundered down

the road powerfully heralding Bhagawan's arrival. The motorcycle

escorts going wheel to wheel in front of the majestic horse escorts was

a sight to be seen. An arch of flags was formed through which Swami's

car passed and reached the dais. Swami got down and went on the lift

and now, any little difference that existed between the rising golden

sun and Swami was gone as Swami slowly rose up much to the gleeful

delight of all the assembled devotees. Lighting the lamp and throwing

open the Sports and Cultural Meet was the first thing that Swami did as

He came on stage. Then He went and took His position in the centre of

the stage.(like He always does in the centre of our hearts!)

 

The introductory offerings were made to Swami as the band struck up a

lively marching beat and the parade began. First it was the tiny tots

from the Primary school right in the front. They were followed by the

marching squads from the Higher Secondary School and the three campuses

of the Institute at Anantapur, Brindavan and Prashanti Nilayam. The

closing was by a special Athletic squad. The Sports Meet gains

significance for one very special reason. A few days after the Sports

Meet, on the 14th or 15th (depending on the calendar) is Sankranthi

when the sun begins the Uttarayanam(the northward movement). This is a

very auspicious day and the sun moving northwards is symbolic of the

mind and heart of man moving towards God. The legendary Bheeshma, the

grandsire from the Mahabharata who had the boon to live as long as he

wanted and could give up his body at will, waited for the northward

movement of the sun on a bed of arrows before giving up his body. He

was assured mergence with the Lord. That is the powerful significance

of the day. in ancient India, the period of a month or so before that

day would be spent entirely in the contemplation of the Lord. However,

in the current times, when it is so tough to keep the mind from

wandering, Swami has, in all His Love and wisdom, designed the Sports

Meet. Every student of His participates in the Meet and for a month or

so preceding the Sankranthi day thinks of only one thing - to make Him

happy. Swami occupies the time, energies and thoughts of the students

and everyone naturally benefits at the occurrence of the auspicious

moment. It is little wonder that once one is at His lotus feet, all his

spiritual welfare is taken care of.

 

After the march past was complete, if one allowed one's eyes to sweep

across the ground, one would get swept off one's feet! It was such an

awe inspiring and lovely sight to see all the squads arrayed in the

ground. It literally brought the simile of His armies set to conquer

the world to ones mind. The oath was rendered where each child promised

to his/her beloved lord that they would forever live with the spirit

that He had taught. The flag was brought in the ceremonial march and

Swami pressed the button that raised the University flag high on the

flagpole. He then lit the torch with the flame which would adorn the

stadium throughout the day. Releasing pigeons and balloons to mark the

occasion, Swami participated in and added colour and festivity to the

day. The flame was taken around the stadium and midway up the hill by

the students who had distinguished themselves as sportsmen in their

respective campuses. From there on, the torch vehicle, the flying

unicorn this time, carried the flame to the top of the hill. There was

an applause as the flame burst forth on top of the hill. As a

conclusion for the opening ceremonies, the brass bands from Anantapur

and Prashanthi Nilayam played brisks marches as they moved in front of

the dais saluting the chancellor.

 

Then the campus presentations began. The first was by the Anantapur

campus and representatives from that campus came up on stage to offer

their salutations and gratitude to Swami. The Anantapur display began

at 8.45 with graceful group dancing followed by a Far-Eastern group

item with parasols and hand-fans. A sports medley followed, presenting

hockey, tennis and volleyball movements in formation. Motorbike stunts

was the next item, including criss-crosses, various poses on bikes, a

breath-taking ramp-jump over 20 girls and a human pyramid of 38 girls

on 9 bikes. The ramp jump seemed to touch Swami a lot and He made some

observations about it to the people sitting beside Him. The bikes kept

zooming across the ground with the riders and others in various poses

and each of these stunts received applause from the audience - both

onstage and off it. The Anantapur students concluded their half-hour

presentation forming the words "We Love U" in a group formation as

their theme song was played. They joined in the singing and signed off

in devotion with Swami blessing them with the abhayahasta.

 

The Brindavan students then began with an equestrian show-jumping

demonstration. A marching band presentation brought up a display of

rolling in steel hoops and an aerobics exhibition. A sort of

timber-drill was the next item, with planks of wood being used in

imaginative ways to aid acrobatic feats. The Celestial Rhythms then

began with the spelling out of "We Love You" in a grid of students

suspended by a crane nearly 80 feet above the ground. The students made

a number of formations and they looked scintillating with the blue sky

as the back ground. As the Brindavan presentation concluded, Bhagawan

accepted Arati onstage and returned to the Mandir at 10 o'clock while

an announcement was made about the afternoon presentations. Swami

graciously granted group photographs for the Band groups of Anantapur

and Prasanthi Nilayam and also the motorcycle escorts before He went

into Yajur Mandir. He was so smiling and sweet and He seemed to be

eager to grant photos too!

 

Bhagawan arrived at 3.25 pm in the afternoon in a maroon robe riding in

His Mercedes sports convertible. On the Sports day, seeing the "sporty"

Swami, one was reminded of Swami's saying, "Among men, I am a man,

among women a woman, a child among children - alone I am God." In the

sportsfield, He is the most sportive and a sportsman!!As He reached the

stage, tiny tots from the Primary School brought up bouquets to Him and

began the afternoon's presentation. The hour-long Primary School

presentation was a joyful riot of colour as usual, beginning with a

"Ganesa" group dance by small boys. The Ganesha's were interspersed

with bears and tiny birds too. A classical mass-dance, hand-fans and

flowers formations, gymnastics, mass flower-dance, dance by small girls

with white wings and Mexican poncho dance followed in quick succession.

Children dressed as deer, tigers, bunnies and monkeys performed various

gymnastic feats on mats, ropes and poles. Their elder brothers and

sisters may do motorbike stunts, but the bicycle stunts by the Primary

School boys were just as eye-catching. Unicycle stunts were creative

and even a basketball match was played on unicycles. It was really a

fantastic feat as the children kept their balance and did not miss

pouching even a single basket! Then a rainbow dance brought a grander

splash of colours on field and led to their final dance, balancing

items on their heads, paying tribute to Bhagawan, the Light of Lights.

 

The students of the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School and the

Prasanthi Nilayam campus of Sri Sathya Sai University began their

hour-long performance at 4.30 pm with a striking mass item with

classical dancers in the foreground and patterns made from colourful

foldable discs forming a context for Krishna's beautiful Leelas -

"Adharam Madhuram...". The item was aptly named, "The conscious dots"

and resembles a giant screen where each pixel performed its role to

perfection to present a beautiful picture on the whole. They concluded

with a formation of a throbbing heart beating for their Lord. Gymnasts

on moving trucks then presented balancing feats with giant flags on

equally giant poles - fifty feet high. Some of them balanced the poles

on their elbows while others did it in their mouths! Gymnastic feats

including jumps over vehicles and acrobatics on moving trucks led to a

breathtaking display on ropes. The rope-acrobats, depicted a creative

"free-fall" of sorts with the rope wound around them and the highlight

of that item was a spectacular spin by a student on a rope suspended

more than 20 feet above the ground with absolutely no safety link

around him. He later came up on stage and presented a rose to Swami.

The rope structure was also used as a trapeze stage, as roller-bladers

scintillated on the ground below, ending their dramatic show with a

series of jumps over a van. A precision gun drill with amazing

synchronization was followed by a karate display which featured

breaking tiles and pots and also mass nan-chak and stick displays. As

the Prasanthi Nilayam campus came together for their final song,

Bhagawan expressed how pleased He was at His students' performance and

profusely blessed them before leaving for His residence. He also got it

announced that the next day, the students of Parthi campus would be

putting up a drama on the devotion of Hanuman at 5 pm in the Kulwant

hall.

January 5th, 2008

Today Swami had permitted multiple programs - by a group from USA and

by a Mahila wing of the youth group from Maharashtra and Goa. Swami

came out at about 4:30 pm. He completed a full darshan round and then

came out and sat on stage at about 5:00 pm. This evening had three

programmes, presented by the North Eastern region of the United States,

the Mahila youth wing of Maharashtra and Goa, and singers from Mumbai

respectively. The devotees from USA were the first to get the chance to

perform in front of Swami. Their musical presentation on Unity of

Faiths got underway in five minutes. They went through the songs

representing all the major religions of the world.

After listening to them for twenty minutes, Bhagawan asked for the

next programme to commence. The Mahila wing of the youth began a

presentation on the life of Meerabai. Meerabai's story was narrated in

dialogue form without any enaction. But all throughout, there was a

screen that was put up next to Swami to depict the various stages and

incidents in the life of Mirabai. Swami sat for about half an hour and

then told them to just sing the songs without the commentary in between

as there were some more people wanting to put up a programme.

 

Swami nevers disappoints anyone. He is the most practical and yet

whenever He tells someone to stop or cut short a part of their

programme, the sweet manner in which He says it itself brings a smile

on the faces of everyone. And then, the sweet and sensitive Sai did

something that thrilled all the girls. He first blessed Sri Raviraj

Nasery who was to perform next. As he went back and was taking

position, Swami told the girls to quickly sing another song! Were they

overjoyed!! They sang one more song and the volume had gone up a few

decibels. Sri Raviraj Nasery and party then presented a couple of

songs. They were full of "josh" and energy. Everyone were clapping in

rhythm as Bhagawan accepted Arati ten minutes past six and retired for

the day.

January 4th, 2008

The schedule of youth arrival in the new year began with youth from

Mumbai - the "stomach" of India as Swami had once alluded to it and

youth from Goa. The whole of Kulwant Hall seemed to wear orange

scarves. Swami had consented for a three day programme schedule that

they had come prepared with. These days, the way Swami smilingly

consents to every devotee's requests for programmes, one is reminded of

Swami's statement, "Saiki sarvam yes, yes, yes.(For Swami everything is

yes, yes, yes.)" No Avatar in the history of this universe would have

seen more programmes than the current Sathya Sai. So many times, the

programmes depict such similar things that people staying in

Puttaparthi for a few years say, "Hope these people put up something

new." But Swami! My God! He seems to find new joy every moment, every

programme. He knows not what is boredom. He knows only involvement and

inclusion. Living every moment to its fullest or as some people call

it, "realizing the power of Now" - one gets a feeling of what it is by

just seeing Swami.

 

At about 4:30pm, Swami came out for darshan. He went all around and one

could see the enthusiasm and joy that a mere glimpse of Him was

conferring on all assembled. He alighted in the portico and went into

the interview room. After a short while, He came and sat out and asked

for the programme to begin. Right in the beginning, as is the

Puttaparthi "tradition'', many members of the youth came up to Swami

and offered Him roses and cards and booklets. There was first a

procession that symbolically offered prostrations from the different

districts of Maharashtra and Goa at His feet. Youth members holding up

boards marched before Swami and bowed down to Him. After the

procession, the choir struck up the right chords. It was an offering of

songs in choir style! The background tunes and music had been

pre-recorded but the singing was live and lively too. They sang about

5-6 songs and Swami kept beat for most of them. The songs were in

varied tunes and had different beats and tempos. The songs concluded

and the next part of the programme was a small dance by tribals from

one of the remotest corners of the state, where "even sunlight found it

hard to reach" as the organisers claimed! With three drums providing

both the rhythm and tune, the dancers began. They danced in circles and

it was an energy filled 10 minute session. Swami blessed them as they

lat prostrate at the end of their dance. The next was a special kind of

"Aarthi" typical to temples in Goa. It began with a song in which all

the participants got very energetically involved. Some played customary

drums while others played custom-made drums. There were also cymbals

and drums played with sticks.

 

Then as that concluded, the "choir" continued. That concluded and then

Swami was requested whether "chain" bhajans could be sung. "Chain

bhajans" is a style of singing wherein there is no gap between bhajans.

The bhajans of similar tunes and beats are stiched almost seamlessly so

that it appears like one long bhajan sung in glory of all the Gods. The

transitions are so smooth and nice that it almost appears like the

shades of the sky in a painting or in real life itself! The whole

audience joined in this novel singing style and all were very happy and

clapping. Swami too sat enjoying the session. After that concluded,

Swami asked for Aarthi. Then He retired for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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