Sai Darshan News: April 13, 2008 - Sai Students

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April 13, 2008 India is a land of rich diversity. As a famous saying goes,"The diversity seen in Bharat covers the diversity that one can see the world over!" According to Census of India of 2001, 29 languages are spoken by more than a million native speakers, 122 by more than 10,000! Add to these the dialects and sub dialects and the array gets bewildering. So it is small wonder that every other day is a "New Year Day" for some section of the people or the other. To ensure that everyday remains a "holy day" and does not convert into a "holiday", the Government has standardised on some New Year days! And one of them is the Tamil New Year day and it dawned with the sweet chirping of birds in Puttaparthi.The Tamil Nadu devotees had thronged the precincts of Prashanti Nilayam. The devotees also included thespian Rajnikanth who had arrived quite early. In the eyes of the world, it seems like a big and grand event when

people who have achieved much in their worldy life come to Swami. For Swami, each devotee is as dear as the other and there is absolutely no difference between the "common" people and the "achievers". Being at His feet is the greatest achievement and there cannot be someone who is greater or someone who is lesser once anyone is at His feet! And so all were ready to greet their New Year with the Lord.Swami arrived at the decorated Sai Kulwant Hall at 8.45 am to the music of Nadaswaram and the Vedic chants. He was looking so bright and brilliant. After a round of Sai Kulwant Hall in His chair, Swami came to the verandah and went around there before moving to the stage area. These days are really so wonderful in terms of the "nearness" of darshan available. Swami goes around every available path and with thin crowds, the combination is really so perfect for close darshan. The Vedam chanting stopped in a few minutes, and Mahila singers from Tamil Nadu began with

devotional songs. After a couple of songs, Bhagawan asked the students to continue with Bhajans. One wondered as to why Swami so suddenly had the bhajans started. As the first bhajan began, things became so evident. While the devotees assembled were appreciative of the songs being sung, they could experience the thrill of participation once the bhajans began.Swami has always exhorted on the importance of group effort in any field of activity, more so in spiritual activity. The bhajans picked up tempo and gusto as minutes ticked by. Swami sat in a sort of trance for the bhajans. But it was like the "calm before the storm", as the usage goes. And what a storm it turned out to be! One that was saturated with showers divine! About half an hour into the bhajans, Prof. Anil Kumar was asked by Swami to announce that this evening, Bhagawan would bless the gathering with His Divine Message. This was received with thunderous applause. At about 9.45am Swami accepted Arati and

returned to Yajur Mandir.In the evening, Bhagawan arrived for darshan in His chair at 4.10 pm. All the devotees were like eager beavers what with Swami promising a shower of the divine discourse. A big backdrop with a beautiful painting of a smiling Swami adorned the back end of the marble block. Children from the Sri Vishwa Vidyalaya sat in front in full costumes. Swami's face lit up as He saw the tiny tots and He kept looking at them as He crossed the marble region. After a round of the Hall Swami came on stage and the proceedings got underway with an introduction by Sri.V.Srinivasan, the all-India President of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations. The speakers to follow him were Justice Ramasubramanyam of the Madras High Court, and Dr. V. Mohan, Convenor of Tamil Nadu State Trust. Both spoke of their experiences in their respective fields where they could feel Swami's presence always conducting what the world calls as miracles. After their speeches which

recollected many Sai experiences, Bhagawan rose to speak.Swami said that the speakers that preceded Him spoke of experiences, but those were relevant to the world. True Aadhyatmikam (spirituality) lay in recognizing one's true Self and that was in the Truth of "I am I" alone. He said it was high time that the divinity present in all be recognised and that alone will confer peace and bliss. Swami continued by mentioning the greatness of Bharat, with its many perennial rivers. Unfortunately, in spite of all these, men today struggle to fill their bellies and slake their thirst. Feelings of mine and thine are responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs. Selfishness is on the rise. After stressing the oneness of all creation, Bhagawan moved to the Ramayana story, to commemorate Ramanavami festival which was just a few hours away. He spoke on His "favourite" portion of the Ramayana - the birth and childhood of Rama culminating in the marriage with Mother Seeta.

The stories of bravery of the young princes, the parental devotion of Shravan Kumar and the greatness and goodness of the three wives, Kausalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi were brought alive in front of an audience that was lapping up every word being said. Bringing out the ideals exhibited by the characters in the Ramayana, Bhagawan concluded His hour-long Discourse by mentioning that the Ramanama (sweet name of Lord Rama) was the panacea for everything. And that is why, in every village in India, Rama is revered. As Swami sat down at the conclusion of the hour long discourse, He looked a bit tired but immensely satisfied. He announced, "There is drama now being put up by children from Tamil Nadu."Children really have that innocence and hence the ability to win the Lord's heart. Swami had just delivered a discourse and had spent about two hours nearly in the hot afternoon but still He wanted the drama. No doubt, the sight of those little children sitting with all their

costumes and make up on in the hot sun melted His tender heart. That was a really 'drama'tic announcement and immediately the marble block area was cleared and space created for the actors to move in. The drama that was to be put up was entitled, "Prema Vahini" and it exuded the fragrance of gratitude the Chennaites felt for the water project that Swami had gifted. It is an inspiration in itself to know the background and the story of the children and the school that was putting up the drama. You can read that story of the magic of Swami's love and His students' devotion in the Heart2Heart cover story for the month of April. The drama "Prema Vahini" then got underway. It began with the "Burrakatha" - a traditional mode of musical story telling in Telugu, which Swami loves a lot.The drama presented the story of the Chennai Water project as seen by one of the managers of

the construction team. A tiny village in the outskirts of Chennai is struggling with the lack of water. And this is just a tiny dot in the vast landscape of acute water scarcity that is facing the citizens there. The struggle of people to get water was compared as equivalent to the struggle that sage Bhagiratha had to undergo to make the river Ganga descend on to earth. And the depiction of that episode was done crisply aided with wonderful background music. Swami's face erupted with smiles when He saw tiny tots in the depiction once or twice. The water problem reaches its heights when people in an old age home almost face death due to lack of pure drinking water. At this point, the powerful statement that Swami made at the inauguration of the Bangalore SSSIHMS (hospital) was played and it was received with thunderous applause. Swami too seemed deeply touched in nostalgia. The hero, Ramesh, is blessed to be a team leader in the construction of the Kandaleru-Poondi canal.

The drama was punctuated with a Burra-Katha on mother Easwaramma which Swami loved a lot and a Tamil song depicting a well choreographed rejoicing of the citizens of Chennai at the joy of receiving pure Sai Ganga water. The grand finale came with the song, "Gangamma Talli" (meaning,"Oh Lord! You have brought mother Ganga to our doorstep). As the song was nearing the end, Swami remarked, "Now the drama is about to get over!" As the drama concluded, Swami spontaneously raised both His hands in Love and benediction. All were thrilled at this and there was another burst of applause. After the 45 minute drama, Swami accepted Arati and returned to His residence after 6.30 pm. Click here to view pictures of the programme. Source: http://www.saistudents.org/alumni/home/news.php