Sri Ramanavami 2009 Darshan Update

April 4, 2009

APRIL 2 2009: Om Sairam dearest Sai Family, Sri Rama Navami celebrations started in Prasanthi Nilayam with a beautiful programme by devotees of Orissa state, that state which was succumed to devasting floods in the year 2008. Swami out of His immense grace, showered lots of love and attention on this yet to be developed state. Orissa state has large number of illeterate tribal community. About 500 of them were here in Puttaparthi for Swami's darshan. As we all know, Swami last year announced Rehabilitation housing project to the flood victims. Today they were here to receive clothes and also keys to the DIVINE HOME gifted by our DIVINE LORD Himself.

The happiness on the faces of those people was clearly visible. Swami came around 4pm. All the devotees from Orissa were made to sit right across the dias in the middle of the hall.Before the programme started, Swami asked Mr.Srinivasan, All India President of Sathya Sai Organisations to distribute clothes to all of them. After that three little boys blew conch welcoming Swami and thanking Him for the kind gesture. Later there was a musical programme called "Pala" a popular folklore from the state of Orissa. The theme for today was the Relief and Rehabilitation programme taken up by Swami. The lead singer accompanied by5 others put up a beautiful performance.It s tarted with salutations to Swami and then they dug into the reasons behind the natural calamities like that one they experienced. Swami always says help ever hurt never, love all serve all but what did we do? we hurt mother earth, we even attacked the panchabhootas, so the natural calamities. Let us not do that in future.Later the lead singer, who was at his best, in pouring his emotions and expressions, said, just imagine what would have happened to us if Swami would not have come to our rescue. Who would shower this much love for us. The 30 minutes programme mostly in hindi and oriya was very emotional and even people who didnt understand the language felt the gratitude the people had towards Swami. Swami was very much impressed by the boy and he was called upon and in no time Swami materialised a beautiful golden chain to him and slipped around his neck. The whole troup was so touched by Swami's kind gesture and all seemed wonderstruck. Swami then granted pada namaskar to all of them and now there was one more beautiful programme in the offering. Shabaree ki Pratikshya,(Shabaree's long wait). Shabaree, a perfect example of an ideal devotee is talked about when ever one discusses about devotion and Rama. The drama was very well done and straight to the point. Young Shabaree was to be married. Before the wedding ceremony, the villagers wanted to have a party. There was music, dance and so on. Shabaree, was already a very devoted and spiritual lady being exposed to sacred teachings of Sage Matang. She sees a small goat by her house and out of curiosity ask her father, Father, the goat is so cute, would you mind if I take it with me when I go to my in-laws house, to which father says, no! the goat is kept for sacrifice to our Goddess and we all are going to have a feast, which shocks SATVIC Shabaree. She decides, to run away from home in order to avoid the killing of the goat.

She reaches Sage Matang's ashram and hiding from behind she witnesses all the spiritual practices performed in the ashram. Sage Matang impressed by her devotion says,you can stay in my ashram and avail herself of the glorious fortune of having Sri Rama's darshan.

Shabaree becomes old and bent down in years. Everyday she sweeps the path, removes thorns hoping that Lord Shri Rama would come. SHe would also taste the fruits and keep the sweeter ones aside so as to give it to Lord Rama. Finally the grand moment arrives and Rama and Lakshmana come to her ashram and Rama partakes the fruit given by Shabaree even though it was tasted and tounged by her.Rama says, whatever a devotee offers with love and devotion, I shall take it and all that matters is a pure heart.

Shabaree falls at His lotus feet and attains Moksha (liberation). The whole drama was beautifully enacted and Sai Rama was also impressed by the play and He came down from the dias and took photos with the group and also blessed them with padanamaskar.

3rd April 2009: This morning, Swami came around 9:30am but in yellow robe and made all of us very happy. After a short bhajan session Swami went back to His Physical Abode in the Car Chair. AFTERNOON DARSHAN: There was lot of confusion especially among pandits in Andhra Pradesh as when to celebrate Sri Rama Navami.Some said it is on 3rd and some on 4th. In Puttaparthi it was on 3rd April and in the afternoon Swami came around 4pm in His usual orange robe in the car chair. Swami took a full round in the hall, and then came on to the dias.Mr.Srinivasan, The All India President of Sai Organisation after taking blessings from Swami introduced the speakers to the august gathering. There were 2 speakers blessed this afternoon. The first speaker Mr. Ramesh Panda, an IAS officer from Orissa, spoke in Oriya for the benefit of the devotees from Orissa. He explained various service projects taken up by Swami and reminded how blessed they are that Swami has personally supervised the rehabilitation programme after the devasting floods in 2008 which not only left them homeless but also hopeless. He said, Swami has not just built house but a very strong house for them which will stand still inspite of any adverse climatic conditions. After about 30 minutes of talk Mr.Panda winded up his talk and Swami gifted him with another divine materialisation. The next speaker was Mr.Kondal Rao, very ardent devotee of Swami, an able engineer who has been a active instrument in every major project taken up by Swami. Manytimes, Swami said his name during discourses and many of us had the opportunity to see the blessed engineer for the first time.

Sri Kondal Rao gave the statistical data of the Orissa Flood Rehabilitation Housing Project and how Swami personally monitored the latest developments. The flood was so severe that 6700 villages were affected. About 50,000 houses were washed away.Swami was very much moved by the plight of the people there and immediately send a team of three consisting of Mr.Srinivasan, Mr.Ramakrishna and Mr.Kondal Rao

himself. After doing a thorough survey 14 villages were selected. The work started on 30 november 2008 and about 700 houses were constructed for the flood victims. Swami had clearly asked to keep the houses atleast 3 to 5 feet high just incase if floods do come again, the water doesn't get into houses.The suggestions by the locals were considered while building the houses and each house had 300 sq.ft plinth area with bathroom and toilet on the rear end. The colonies were also provided with lighting and water facilities by Swami.

After 30 minutes Sri KOndal Rao, thanked Swami for being the primal strength and source of inspiration. It was the turn of our beloved Lord now. Every one were eagerly anticipating the Sri Rama Navami Divine discourse. The mike was brought in, Mr.Narasimhamurthy the principal of Brindavan Campus was ready for translating and after everything was set, Swami sitting in His mobile throne delivered His hour long divine discourse. Swami started with a sweet verse, which He usually sings during Sri Rama Navami.. EXCERPTS FROM THE DIVINE DISCOURSE: Chekkara Kante teepi, Dari Saramu kante mrithymavuu, pempekkina tene kanna ati rithyamu.. notanu palku palkaga amrutame anipinchunu kana nithya mee chakkani danini smariyimpumu, Rama Namamu manasa... Sweeter than sugar, more tastier than curd, sweeter than honey, as you chant this name you will experience the divine nectar, O mind chant the name of Lord Rama. Swami then continued with another verse.. Kanda Kandanthara khyati narjinchina mahaneeyulanu kanna mathrubhoomi (this land of Bharath has has been the mother land of noble souls who had the continental recogisition), Paschathya veerula paradrolinchiyu swatantramunu kanna samarabhoomi (this land of Bharath is a battle field which has driven away foreign invaders and become independent) Sangeetha sahitya sastreeya vidyalandu dhee shakthi choopina punya bhoomi (this land of Bharath has scholarly excellence in the field of music,literature and fine arts) Being born in this holy land, it is the duty of you devotees to safeguard the spiritual riches of this country. Swami continued, People of Bharath have become like an elephant which does'nt understand its strength, Every body in India chant God's name.Even the names given to the children are divine. Every village in India has a small temple. If there is no temple, they make atleast a small hut and intall three stones and worship them as Rama Sita and Lakshmana. India since the bygone days has given importance to spirituality.That is why Indians are more happy than others. Inspite of experiencing poverty, they seem to be happy. Only because of spirituality, inspite of poverty, difficulties they get that strenght to face them all with bravery. Inspite of bomb

blasts here and there, all are depending on God. WHO EVER DEPENDS ON GOD will never face sorrow. difficulties come and go. Man has to die one day or other. No material is permanent.Atma is the only thing that is TRUE.

Look at Ramayana. Where was Rama born. Many have doubts about this. He was born in Ayodhya. It was not built by anyone. Viswakarma built it. Nobody could conquer Ayodhya. Rama in his life, faced many difficulties, even then, He was always smiling. Dasaratha had three wives. Kausalya also had a daughter who was sent to Roma rishi. Swami then narrated about the Putra Kamesthi yaga and the pudding episode and how Rama, Lakshmana, Bharatha and Sathrugna were born. Bharatha had no intention to take over the kingdom of Ayodhya . He knew it was his brother Rama who should be coronated. He even went to Rama to the forest requesting him to take over the kingdom. Rama replied you should obey father's command and only for that reason Iam here in the forest.Bharatha put a hut in Ayodhya and started living a simple life like his brother Rama. At one stage, not able to bear the separation, Bharatha wanted to die. Immediately Rama sent a word with Hanuman saying that He would be coming to Ayodhya.Hearing this news Bharatha was immensely happy. The whole of Ayodhya was gathered to see Rama,Sita and Lakshmana. All preparations were made for a grand welcome.All the streets were beautifully decorated with jewels made of pure gold. Pearls were kept ready inorder to shower on them. All the people were singing in joy and asking each other to come and see the grand welcome of the sons of the holy soil. (Swami sang a beautiful telugu song to depict the grand welcome,which needless to say was so sweet and not at all possible for an apt translation in english) when they finally arrived, all the people were wondering who is Rama, who is Lakshmana as it had been 14 years since they left Ayodhya. It was Bharatha alone, who recognised Rama and all the people were rejoicing after seeing them.

Swami continued to say, very little is mentioned about Lakshmana's wife, Urmila. When Lakshmana decided to go with Rama to the forest, Urmila said, how fortunate you are? You don't worry about me. Treat your brother as your parents. Lakshmana was very happy to hear this. Every character in Ramayana is worth mentioning. Every one had great virtues. So name of the Rama is sweeter than honey. All the scriptures speak truth. Sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa are the 5 qualities of a true man. Even if you lack one quality you cannot be a perfect human.There is no peace out side. Its all pieces. There is no love. Develop peace. Then love comes on it own. When we have love no one hates you. Treat all as brothers and sisters. This is the primary essence of Ramayana. Orissa has witnessed that pure love recently. The same loss which they experienced may be experienced by you. Same bliss will be enjoyable by you.. All should be united. LET US ALL BE UNITED AND LIVE UNITED. Be it in ashram or elsewhere, don't develop hatred. We have to forget the past. LOVE ONLY UNITES EVERYONE.So saying Swami sang His/ours favourite bhajan Prema Mudita. (all the contents mentioned are based on memory and my little knowledge in english has lots of shorcomings here and there and I sincerely apologise for all the mistakes) Prasadam was distributed to all and it was around 6:30pm that arathi was given to our beloved Lord, and Swami like in the morning preferred to go in the Car chair, giving another beautiful chance to have a close up darshan of our Lord.. Puttaparthi which was active with politicians seeking Swami's blessings now and then has become politically active now a days..., thanks to the recent delimitation of constituencies, Puttaparthi has now become a assembly constituency which means there will be lot of political activity going on. It is election season in India and in the past Puttaparthi was totally away from the political rallies and meetings, but unfortunately it is different story. Every day, there is a huge procession with the budding politicians who want to make thier presence felt. The crowd,many of them are drunk and lured by money to participate in the processions

are assigned the duty of praising the party and the leader and many times they make fun of passer by devotees especially foreigners. As the procession reaches the ashram premises, they seem to lose control over themselves. Many of them don't know what kind of place there are in and who Swami is and His teachings.To add to the noice, there are silencer less motor bikes running in streets making big noice and heavy crackers.It is total chaos here. I have no idea, as who got this idea to make Puttaparthi as a constituency.There are so many temple towns in India which are also constituencies but Puttaparthi is a place where our Lord is present in flesh and blood. Puttaparthi is a very special place. People from all over the world come here in search of peace.I hope politicians and concerned authorities will take a note of the dos and don'ts in Puttaparthi and PUT Puttaparthi away from noicy and RAJASIC political processions. Swami definitely wants His very own PUTTAPARTHI to be peaceful and wants all His chosen INVITEES who come here to be at peace and at ease With humble pranams at the lotus feet of our beloved Lord, R.Satish Naik... Jai Sai Ramsatish NaikBrahmanapalli Thanda villageNear PuttaparthiAnantapur Andhra PradeshIndia 515134Tel:91-8555-289327

MOB:9440857872