|
Prashanthi Bullettin -
August 24th to 27th, 2005
August 27th, 2005
This day of Krishnashtami dawned with a cool and cloudy
morning. This year, Swami has permitted the procession of
the cows from Gokulam to Mandir, which was an annual feature
in the recent past. Early in the morning, all the cow
procession boys got ready and proceeded to Gokulam. They had
been practicing handling the cows for the last two days.
Bhagawan is very particular that the cows must be handled
very carefully without causing even the slightest pain to
them. In earlier years, Swami has explained how exactly one
must handle the noose that passes through the nostrils of
the cow, controlling its movement. A slightly harder tug at
the noose can cause immense pain to the cow and Swami is
very sensitive about this - Master of all beings that He is!
The Procession from the Gokulam began at 7.30 a.m. Sai Gita,
Bhagawan's pet elephant, in all her finery led the
procession. She was decked with all her jewelry and the
Naadaswaram group accompanied her. Behind Sai Gita were the
Vedam students chanting sacred hymns and charging the
atmosphere with holy vibrations. Behind them were the Bhajan
boys and finally the long line of cows accompanied by two
cowherd students each. As the procession passed through the
streets of Parthi, all the people from the shops and houses
came out to witness the joyous occasion. The procession had
crossed the Bus-stand and were nearing the Mandir, when
suddenly there was some commotion. People started running
and there was an indication that Swami's car may come out.
However, what happened inside was something else. Swami had
come out for Darshan at 7.50 a.m. After taking a full round
of the Kulwant Hall in the car, Swami drove out into the
Ashram premises. The car went towards the Gayatri Mandir in
front of the Round Blocks. Adjacent to the Gayatri Mandir
towards the Mandir Post Office, the car parked and Swami's
chair rolled out.
The occasion was the Bhoomi Puja of a Lakshmi Mandir to be
built next to the Gayatri Mandir. The concerned people had
assembled there along with a priest. A spade full of cement
was brought to Swami and Bhagawan Blessed it. The cement was
then placed in the site where the temple was to come up.
Having completed the Bhoomi Puja, Swami returned to the
Mandir.
At 8.15 a.m. the procession entered the Kulwant Hall and
stood waiting for Bhagawan's arrival. In a few minutes,
Swami's car came into the Kulwant Hall. Even as the car
moved into the Kulwant Hall, dear Sai Gita was overjoyed and
started raising her trunk to welcome her Lord. When the car
moved by, she tried to place her trunk on the car window to
attract her Lord's attention. Brother Satyajit was driving
the car and after taking a full round, the car moved onto
the dais. Swami's chair rolled out and He sat right at the
centre of the dais, giving all of us a wonderful Darshan.
The Kulwant Hall was charged with a vibrant feeling. Vedam
chanting was on. We had Naadaswaram by the professionals and
by the students too. The Hall was decorated very well with
Chinese red lamps and other attractive buntings and
garlands. Slowly the mahout brought Sai Gita closer and
closer to Swami. Meanwhile, Swami instructed the students to
distribute Prasadam. All of us received a tasty Adirasam (a
sweet preparation) as Prasadam. Two little school children
dressed as Krishna and Balarama went forward and sought
Swami's Blessings. Swami interacted with them for some time.
At 8.45 a.m. Aarti was offered and Swami Blessed the bananas
and apples that were meant for feeding the cows and Sai
Gita.
How could Sai Gita watch this and keep quiet? Would her Lord
not feed her? Why was He not responding to her plea now?
Acknowledging these feelings that would have probably
saturated Sai Gita's heart, Swami signaled to her and she
came moving majestically forward. Bhagawan took an apple in
His Hand. The chair was moved forward and Sai Gita stood
next to the brass railing. The brass railing was no barrier
for her long trunk. She extended her trunk to Swami's Hand
and received the Blessed apple! Swami fed her with some more
apples even as tears trickled down her wet eyes. Who can
restrain from responding to God's Love!
Taking this as a green signal, several students came forward
with a peacock, two deer, a rabbit and two white doves for
Blessings. Swami lovingly Blessed all the beings and
released the white doves into the freedom of the Sai Kulwant
Hall. As all these events took place, a big team walked into
the Hall from the Gopuram gate. Who were they, we wondered.
Mr. Rajan - Convenor of the Books and Publications Trust and
Mr. C. Srinivas were leading a team of dignitaries and an
Arab in his traditional dress. We learnt later that he was a
member of the Royal Family of Dubai. He held the portfolio
of the Minister of Education of the UAE and is the President
of the Zayeb University. His name is Shaikh Nahyan.
He was not the only VIP this morning. Sunil Mittal, Group
Managing Director and Chairman of the Bharti Group, his wife
and his two sons were also seated in the inner Portico
waiting to have an audience with Bhagawan. Swami called the
Shaikh in for an interview that lasted for more than an
hour. Finally, at 10.30 a.m. Swami retired to His abode.
In the evening, Swami came out for Darshan at 3.15 p.m. The
car moved over the dais and Swami continued to sit inside
the car for a long time. After some time, the Secretary of
the Central Trust, Mr. Chakravarthi got out from the car and
talked to the Warden of the Hostel. It looked like they were
looking for some speakers for the evening. The VC and the
Warden discussed for some time and then informed Swami about
the speakers.
At 3.45 p.m. Swami came out of the car and sat in the centre
of the stage. Vedam chanting was going on. At 4.00 p.m.
Bhagawan Blessed the Birthday boys and the School boys who
had got a Card to mark the festival celebration. After this
Swami indicated for the Vedam to stop. The Vice Chancellor
after receiving instructions from Swami asked the Music boys
to commence their presentation. Two main singers came
forward and submitted a list of songs to Swami. They began
with the Sloka 'Vasudevasutam Devam....' Subsequently, Swami
indicated to them each time which song to sing. He would see
the list and pick up one song in the order of His Choice. We
had Brahma Kadagina Padamu, Adharam Madhuram, Challa
Gaalilo, Madhura Mohana Ghana Shyama....
At 4.35 p.m., the Music Programme drew to a close and Swami
asked the VC to introduce the speakers for the evening. The
first speaker was Dr. M. Sainath, lecturer in the Department
of Physics and the second speaker was Sri Shashank Shah, a
II Year M.Phil. student in the School of Business
Management.
Dr. M. Sainath spoke about the journey from the gross to the
subtle, from the world without to the world within and from
the force to the Source, by recalling the analogy that Swami
had once given. We start with Dasoham - I am Your servant.
Remove the ?Da' and we are left with Soham - I am That (He)
and finally when we remove ?So' we are left with Ham - I am
I.
He elaborated on the evolutionary path of humans as
expounded by Bhagawan. We begin as animals devoid of any
discrimination or wisdom. We then move on to the Devil who
is steeped in infatuation and sensual pleasures. Finally we
evolve to the human being who adheres to Truth and Dharma.
He narrated a very beautiful story from the life of Sant
Tukaram. When once his disciple asked him as to how he was
so peaceful and calm all the while, Sant Tukaram called his
disciple and told him that he (the disciple) had just seven
days more to live in this world. The disciple was shocked
for he had come to seek an answer to a doubt and his guru
was now giving him such a rude shock. The first two days the
disciple was very disturbed and restless. But then realizing
the inevitability of the oncoming death, he gave away all
his wealth, completed all his formalities and then started
thinking of the Lord and remained lost in His contemplation.
On the seventh day, Sant Tukaram called the disciple and
asked him how he felt. The disciple ecstatically described
the peace and calm he was experiencing. When questioned
about the reason for this calm and peace, the disciple said
that when death was anyhow inevitable where was the need to
be disturbed and restless. Immediately Sant Tukaram told him
that this was the secret of his success too. Sant Tukaram
was always aware of the transience of human existence and
hence was always in peace and calm.
Dr. Sainath then spoke about the role of a Guru in our life.
He recalled Swami's example of the cotton and the sun. When
the cotton is exposed to the sun, it does not get burnt.
However, if a convex lens is used to focus the rays of the
sun onto the cotton, it immediately catches fire. This is
the role of a Guru too, to intensify the Grace of the Lord
by cashing on the faith in the disciple. In our case, the
Guru and the Lord are one and the same. How fortunate are
we!
He concluded with a beautiful anecdote relating to Samuel
Sandweiss - the famous psychiatrist devotee from USA. When
he had completed writing a book, he wanted to give it the
title 'Man is God'. However, this was not acceptable to many
people and appeared as a sacrilege and blasphemy to many.
But he was convinced about this Advaitic teaching of
Bhagawan. Finding no other way, He took the book to Swami
and sought His Blessings. Bhagawan very beautifully resolved
his dilemma by adding a line on the top, 'With Love - Man is
God'. This solved the problem. There is no doubt that Man is
God but not without manifesting the Divine Love within.
At 5.05 p.m. brother Shashank Shah took over the stage. His
talk mainly revolved around the Leelas of Krishna starting
from His birth and moving on to the battle in Kurukshetra.
Art several points he drew parallels between Lord Krishna
and our Swami by narrating similar episodes in their lives -
episodes where they had revealed their Divinity to some
devotees and where they had come to the rescue of their
Bhaktas.
He gave the meaning of the word Govinda and Gopala as Go +
Vinda and Go + Pala. Go means the Jeevi and Pala or Vinda
means the caretaker or the Lord. Therefore, Govinda and
Gopala means the Lord of all the Jeevis - the entire world.
Another symbolism the speaker highlighted was about the
birth of Lord Krishna in the prison. As soon as Krishna was
born all the chains around Vasudeva and Devaki fell off. So
too when the Lord takes birth in the heart of the devotee,
all the shackles that binds us to this world fall off
leading us to liberation.
At 5.25 p.m. we had Bhajans and Prasadam was distributed to
all. Aarti was offered at 5.50 p.m. and Bhagawan retired to
the Poornachandra Hall. As He was about to get into the car,
Swami called Sunil Mittal and his two sons and gave them
group photographs. They were very happy and sought Swami's
Blessings.
Thus the festival of Krishnashtami came to a close leaving
all of us ruminating over the Leelas of the Lord and the
great fortune that we had to be in the Presence of the very
same Krishna in this age.
August 24th to 26th, 2005
Bhagawan went into the interview room after darshan on these
days, and there were no special programmes in Sai Kulwant
Hall.
Source:
http://radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm
|