Sai Darshan News: September 12, 2008 - Sai Students

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September 12 2008 The Kerala festival of Onam dawned in Parthi with a lot of expectations from the devotees. Swami had been showering so much love on these devotees for the past two days and everyone expected a grand closing ceremony for the festival period! A procession had been arranged from the Yajur Mandir. Traditional posts in black wood for holding lamps had been erected at various places in the Nilayam and one decorated even the main stage. The mainstage lions had been housed in bamboo and floral decorations covered the roof and floor of the mandir. The Pookalam, the traditional flower decoration, adorned the marble floor in the centre. As Swami came out, the procession began. A band and the Vedic contingent led Swami into the Kulwant hall where small girls with lamps in the hand flanked both sides of

the royal path through which the Lord was being welcomed. Swami was not collecting letters but was all the while raising His hands in benediction to the thousands who had thronged the ashram to be with Him for the most important festival of their year. He completed the darshan rounds and then moved on to the stage. There He lit the lamp to mark the formal beginning of the celebrations for the day. As the Veda chanting subsided, Swami blessed three gifted singers, Sri Kavalam Sreekumar, Sri Yogesh Sharma and Sri Sankaran Namboothiri to sing on the occasion. The first among them has been a regular singer during Onam at Puttaparthi and he seemed to mesmerise the music lovers with his honeyed voice and near perfect rendition of Carnatic songs in the praise of the Lord Vishnu. Sri Sankaran Namboothiri, a child prodigy, was all fervour and grace as he seemed to almost dance to the tunes of his notes! Sri Yogesh Sharma, specialising in Kannada songs,

thrilled the audience with songs of a fast rhythm and power. Swami also pointed out to the people by his side that the songs were in Kannada. He seemed to pay attention to every word being sung and as He swayed His hands in that divine manner, it seemed as if He was drinking deep into the meaning of the songs. As the songs concluded and Aarthi was sung, Swami threw in HIs surprise gift for Onam! He had it announced that in the afternoon He would be addressing everyone in the Kulwant hall. As the whole hall burst into applause, Swami asked the students to sing two bhajans. The now famous and popular numbers, "Sri Raghunandana" and "Ram Hare" were then sung to the energetic clapping and singing of all the devotees gathered. Swami then moved back to Yajur Mandir. In the afternoon, as per His instructions, the Veda class began at 4:00pm. In ten minutes time, Swami made His appearance. It need hardly be said that the chanting levels went up

at least two notches! Perfection is what comes in the presence of Perfection. After the day's "vedic tuition", if we may call it that way, the sole speaker for the day before Swami was introduced. A student from the Sri Sathya Sai Vidyapeeth, Sri Sailam, spoke about his great fortune for about five minutes. And then, to the greatest joy of everyone, Swami rose to deliver His divine discourse, which you can read by clicking here.As Swami completed the discourse, all the students cleared the performing area for the drama. The drama began and moved along the lines of the story that Swami had already narrated. It had an impressive opening dance sequence with Shiva and Parvati. Then the story began. Savitri chooses Satyavan as her husband knowing fully well that he has only an year of life on earth left. She performs penance and when the fateful moment

comes, she bravely follows Yama, the Lord of death, almost till His abode. She selflessly asks of boons to benefit everyone and finally when Yama wants her to leave He asks her to ask one last wish. She very intelligently prays, "Lord, may I be blessed with righteous children." Yama gets outwitted as He grants that boon for the childless Savitri could not bear children without Satyavan coming alive! The whole drama was well interspersed with beautiful and graceful dances. Everyone in the hall celebrated the joy of Savitri and Swami blessed all the children who participated in the drama with clothes. As bhajans went on, prasadam was distributed and finally, Swami received Aarthi and retired. Click here to see short videos of the Onam festival, and click here to see a report with

images.

 

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