October 30 2008 (source:http://saistudents.org/alumni/home/news.php)

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October 30 2008

The concluding programme of the devotees from Gujarat was based on real

life experiences at Navsari in Gujarat in a drama entitled "Vision of

the Divine". It was 5:10 pm when the programme began in the true sense

as Swami came out to grant darshan! As always, the central area was

kept empty and free and the backdrop stood majestic. Swami looked at it

as He slowly passed by it and it was wonderful moment - Swami looking

at a majestic backdrop that proclaimed, "Vision of the Divine".

Completing the round, Swami moved to the stage. Once again, there was a

parade of lucky souls who went upto Swami seeking blessings before the

programme proper. It's a great opportunity and everyone utilises it to

the full.Swami blessed all the people who came up the stage and then

the programme began.

The drama was themed on the cataract surgery seva activities

done in Navsari district of Gujarat. The region, being backward, was

infested with quacks who always attributed the eye problems of the

suffering masses to the curse of God for all the sins they had

commited. The story which was portrayed could have been the story of

any one of the hundred or so tribals treated and nursed by the doctors

and devotees of Swami. It showed how a poor man is deprived of his

sight by a cataract and of hope by a local "witch doctor" wielding

peacock feathers and chanting humbug. But it is firmly ingrained in him

that he has been cursed by God. When the volunteers from the Sai

Organisation arrive to help and treat the people of the area through

eye camps, everyone at first eyes them suspiciously.(Isn't it funny

that nowadays we accept selfishness as natural and are unable to

believe that selflessness exists? Else how can one explain the

amazement that we express and Swami's Love and Grace? As He aptly puts

it, "What is Aascharyam for you is Sahajam for me.")

The drama was very simple but powerful in showing how a little

care and love coupled with the Lord's grace can literally help

thousands to see more clearly! The drama was backed with the power of

Truth and though no 'flashy' or 'showy' miracles seemed to happen, the

miracle wherein the patients were blessed from seeing through the milky

fluid of the cataract to the clear fluid of grateful and joyous tears

was awe inspiring in itself. The eye camps in this region have been

vastly successful and have covered more than a hundred villages and

more than four thousand operations have been successfully conducted.

The drama was short and sweet and at the end of it as all the

participants gathered in a formation, Swami called the "tribal" who had

been "cursed" by God according to the "village quack" and blessed him

with a gold chain. Everyone burst in applause and Swami blessed the

participants with abhayahastha. He then told them all to sit in their

places and the next part of the evening's programme began.

Sri Devesh Dave sang some popular songs and bhajans. Before

the performance, he and the other artistes bowed to Swami and that

included a small boy who was to play the cymbals. Swami smilingly

kidded with the kid asking him, "Are you going to sing?" The smile was

returned by the apparently startled kid. The concert then began and

went on for about half an hour. At the end of it, Swami accepted

Aarthi. It was 6:30 pm and Swami started moving towards Yajur mandir in

the chair itself! Now this was a bonus for all the ladies and they

rejoiced at the close darshan. At Yajur Mandir, the security guards

prayed to Swami for group pictures as their shifts had been completed

and a new set of guards would be replacing them the next day. With a

sweet smile, Swami posed for photographs with them before retiring for

the day.

 

Click here to see photos of the event.

 

October 29 2008 Today

was the occasion of the Gujarati New year. The Gujarati New Year is

synonymous with sud ekam of the Kartik month - the first day of the

first month of Gujarati lunar calendar. Most other Hindus celebrate the

New Year in early spring, but the Gujarati farming community celebrates

the New Year after Diwali to mark the beginning of a new fiscal year.

More than 2500 devotees had arrived specially for this occasion from

Gujarat.

It was at about 4:30 pm that Swami arrived to the chanting of

the Vedas. The youth were seated in neat rows and were distinct by

their deep brown scarves. Swami took a complete darshan round and then

came on stage. He lit the lamp that had been decorated and placed for

the occasion. It is interesting to note that the drama they were about

to put up in a few minutes was called "Prema Jyoti" and here we had

"Prema" lighting the "Jyoti"! Lighting the lamp, Swami went into the

interview room for a short while. As soon as He came out on the stage

again, He asked for the programme to begin. The opening was a parade of

items for Swami to bless. Devotees from both the ladies and gents

sections moved up the stage with cards, a lamp, brochures of the Grama

Seva being done, fruit trays and even a cake. Swami slaked everyone's

thirst for His proximity and blessed them too. Then the programme

began.

There was a 10 minute singing of welcome songs and Gujarati

New Year songs. As that completed, the drama began. The drama portrayed

the manner in which the Organization in Gujarat went about organizing

the exhibition - Prema Jyoti. This exhibition had been inaugurated by

Swami during the Guru Poornima of 2007 and by His will travelled the

length and breadth of India conferring the joy of witnessing His Life

and work to millions. Like any other noble endeavour, the organising of

the exhibition too had its ups and downs but 'the Hand of God' was felt

in every aspect of the work. Experiences based on the actual

interaction of the volunteers on site with various people from the

different walks of life were shown dramatically in the drama. Dance and

music were embedded into the fabric of the plot. The conclusion was

with a song and dance sequence and all the participants gathered in the

centre and offered their prayers and pranaams to Swami.

Swami was so happy and moved during various portions of the

drama. In the beginning when the organisers are facing a very tough

situation with getting the arch and gateway ready in time for the

D-day, they surrender completely to Swami and are fully confident about

His Grace flowing on them for hasn't He said, "If you need me, you

deserve me." Swami seemed so charged during the course of the scene so

much so that when one of the characters pray falling on their knees,

"Swami only you have to help", Swami nodded His head and blessing Him

said, "Yes! I will help." At the end, Swami moved down and posed for

group photos with all the participants. As that was completed , many of

them gave letters to Swami. One little boy in particular, dig deep into

his pockets trying to extract a card that he had made for Swami. Swami

on His part, sat sweetly and patiently and accepted the extracted

letter! Then with a lovely smile and a gracious Abhayahastha, Swami

moved to the ladies section of the youth. He posed for photos with them

too before moving back to the stage. He then blessed Smt. Piu Sarkhel

to present Hindustani Classical songs. As the stage was being prepared

for her, Swami went into the interview room and came back with watches

for all the participants.

At this time, the lady began her songs and Swami noticed two

primary school children right up in the front. He called them on stage

and began to see through the card that they had made for Him for the

occasion of the Gujarati New Year. One of the boys also gave Swami an

invitation to the ground breaking ceremony of the land for his house.

Swami had a detailed look at it. He also played with the boys with

comments about the card that they had made. Blessing both of them, He

sent them to their places. Then again, as if like an afterthought,

Swami called both back on the stage and materialized vibhuti for them.

Putting spots on their foreheads, He put the remaining into their palms

and told them, "Eat it now itself!" And immediately, the boys stuffed

the vibhuti into their mouths much to the glee and amusement of all the

devotees assembled. Playfully patting them , Swami sent them back.

Smt. Piu Sarkhel then presented Hindustani classical songs and

bhajans onstage for half an hour. Swami blessed her and her group with

clothes and photographs, and Bhajans by the devotees commenced at six

o'clock. Ten minutes later, Swami asked the students to sing the 'Allah

ho Akbar' bhajan with alap, following with He accepted Arati and

returned to His residence.

 

October 28 2008

Diwali, the festival of lights as it is often called, arrives at a time

in India when the chills of the winter are spreading their tentacles

slowly over everything. It arrives as a warm thawing influence and

along with the lights and sweets, warm feelings and loving thoughts are

also distributed among all. Across many parts of India and Nepal, it is

the homecoming of Lord Ram of Ayodhya, after a 14-year exile in the

forest and his victory over the evil demon-king Ravan. In the legend,

the people of Ayodhya (the capital of his kingdom) welcomed Ram by

lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa), thus its name: Deepavali. Over

time, this word transformed into Diwali in Hindi and Tihar in Nepali,

but still retained its original form in South and East Indian

Languages. Celebrated as Narak Chaturdashi, one day before Diwali day,

it commemorates the killing of Narakasura, an evil demon who created

havoc, by Lord Krishna's wife Satyabhama. According to the Puranas, the

goddess of Wealth, Prosperity and Auspiciousness, Lakshmi was born from

the churning of the Milk Ocean, along with other magical beings and

objects on this day.

In Puttaparthi, Diwali is another occasion to celebrate! Any

occasion with the Lord is a reason to celebrate and so Puttaparthi has

no shortage of reasons for a celebration. The day at Puttaparthi saw

the confluence of people from various parts of India and the world,

especially from Gujarat as the Gujarati New Year also happens to fall

during this period. They had come prepared with programmes for three

days and Swami in all Love and Grace had permitted them to put it up in

His presence.

The 28th evening saw Swami go to the Vidyagiri stadium a

little after 4:00 pm. After having a look at the progress of the

preparations for the Yajna starting on the 15th of November, Swami

returned in about 25 minutes time. Since it was the day of Diwali, the

people from Gujarat had prepared two programmes. The first one was

based on the Ramayana. It compared the Sri Rama story with the Sai Rama

story and brought out the similarities between the two missions. The

drama focussed on the bridge building episode to highlight the power of

the name. It also highlighted the same with the example of the great

devotee Hanuman - how he crossed the ocean and overcame alll the

demonic forces to fill the Lord's heart with hope and thrill. He also

filled Lord Sai's heart with joy as Swami seemed to nostalgically

reminesce on the devotion and Love exhibited by this great devotee. It

had a song cum acting scene highlighting the dialogue between Ravana

and Mother Sita. As the war went on between the forces of good and the

evil, little Vaanaras (monkeys) arrived in clusters holding Swami's

picture. It concluded with all the children coming together in a

formation. It was like the aggregation of the forces of Sathya, Dharma,

Shanti and Prema.

That concluded and the children dispersed. Then a little boy

so perfectly dressed as the Father of the Nation - the Mahatma, came

and offered his salutations to Swami. Some more participants came up to

Swami with cards, pictures and a specially prepared brochure showing

the various seva activities being carried out in Gujarat. Two children

then brought a special card which showed symbolically all the children

contributing to the mission by rowing the boat of Sai's work. All the

photos of the participants adorned it and Swami blessed it. The

programme entitled, "The great souls meet" highlighted the various

religious conflicts taking place in the world and attempted to provide

solutions based on the teachings of all the great people of God -

Jesus, Adi Sankaracharya, Prophet Mohammed, Swami Vivekananda,

Confucious, Zarathushtra, Gautama Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham

Lincoln. It ended on a jubiliant note when the Lord's voice is heard

telling them not to worry for this time He Himself had arrived on earth

for the redemption of mankind.

As the final formation came into place, the children came to

the front and rolled out a blue velvet carpet and invited Swami to the

centre of the formation They also placed a lovely lotus cushion for

Swami to rest His tender feet on!Swami sweetly obliged them and moved

into their midst. After that, all the children moved back to let the

participants of the first programme have their share of the Lord's time

and Presence in their midst - but not before a quick padanamaskar or a

word with Swami. Swami was all smiles and He called the children of the

other group also to surround Him. After the photo session, Swami

blessed prasadam to be distributed to all and asked for bhajans to

begin. As bhajans were on, Swami went for a short while into the

interview room.

Coming out Swami asked for the Aarthi. Blessing everyone,

Swami moved towards the Yajur Mandir. There some school children, a few

teachers and some other devotees had gathered with some fireworks.

Swami so sweetly held out a sparkler and as it sizzled on, it appeared

so poignant and significant. It was absolutely significant of His life

- burning Himself away to lend light and joy to everyone around! He

then distributed sparklers and other crackers to some children and the

students. A 'garland' type cracker was lit and the sound it created was

such that all devotees gathered at the gate of the Yajur mandir. A lot

of smoke and sound was created. But again the sight there embodied what

Swami means to the devotees. They are ready to face any hardship for

even a glimpse of His beautiful form - and when you ask them why they

are ready to undergo anything, they just reply, "Who is undergoing

anything? We are so happy and Swami is so sweet and Loving." As the

lines of a famous song goes, "Where do I begin to tell the story of how

great a Love can be?"

Swami sat a while watching the small display of flowerpots and

the chakras on the ground. He advised everyone to be careful. He

pointed out towards the loose clothing of some people and advised them

to be at a safe distance from the lit lamps. Spending 15 minutes and

giving joy to all who had gathered there, He agreed for a second round

of Aarthi and also coconut breaking before retiring for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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