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Prashanthi Bullettin -
January 11th, 2006
Sports Meet....
January 11th, 2006
The long awaited Sports day dawns, bringing to fruition the
tireless efforts of all students of Bhagawan. The students
have just one objective in mind – to please their Lord.
Bhagawan too reciprocates with the same intensity. Even last
evening, with just a night to go for the Sports Meet, Swami
had come out for a round. He first went to the College
Auditorium, sat there for a few minutes. The participants,
who were taken by surprise, started donning their costumes
immediately.
However, after a few minutes, Swami said that He would come
back again and proceeded towards the Shanti Vedika stadium.
There, He took a full round watching the rehearsals going on
and returned to Mandir in time for Bhajans. After Aarti an
announcement was made that the Sports Meet would begin the
next day morning in Shanti Vedika grounds at 8.00 a.m.
This morning, even as the students assembled for the March
Past in the grounds at 7.00 a.m., the galleries and stands
were full to their capacity. The weather was very pleasant –
neither too cold nor hot. Flags of various Nations adorned
the gallery tops – just as it had been done for the Birthday
Celebrations.
At 7.45 a.m. Music was played on the Public Address system
starting with the Vedic chanting of Ganaanaam Tva. Bhagawan
made His entry at sharp 8.00 a.m. At 8.05 a.m., the Brass
Band of the Anantapur Campus was heard playing at the rear
end of the Shanti Vedika grounds welcoming Bhagawan at the
entry point near the Primary School. A few seconds later,
the Escorts students were seen leading the procession.
Behind them, were all the captains of various squads
offering their salute to their Divine Chancellor.
Swami was sitting in the special car – which He used for the
Birthday – the Mercedes sports convertible. As the car moved
ahead on the road along the Ladies side, the Institute Brass
Band took over with the Slow March welcoming Bhagawan.
Behind the Slow Marching boys and in front of Swami’s car
were the Lions of Prasanthi marching majestically. (The Lion
dance had been performed earlier by the Prasanthi Nilayam
Campus a few years back. The same coaches from Singapore
were back again to train the students in this Chinese art
form of dance). Leading the pack of lions were the three
huge flags exhibiting the Institute logo and the Silver
Jubilee insignia.
At 8.15 a.m. the Vice Chancellor welcomed Bhagawan as the
car entered into the D-circle in front of the stage. After a
while, Bhagawan emerged in His yellow robe looking radiant
and got onto the lift. Brother Satyajit was next to Swami,
helping Him to move onto the lift. As the lift rose up, more
and more of Swami’s physical Form could be seen by the
audience and then there He was standing on the stage.
Bhagawan lit the ceremonial lamp and went walking to take
His Chair at the center of the stage. After Swami sat down
on the Chair, three young boys and three girls from the
Primary School – tiny tots – were seen walking past the
ground towards Swami with Bouquets and cards in their hands.
As they approached Swami on the stage, Bhagawan very
lovingly received all their offerings.
At 8.25 a.m. the March Past began. The waterfall from the
Hanuman statue was shining in the morning sunlight in the
rear. Dear Sai Gita who actually led the entire procession
during the welcome, stood next to the Shamiyana set up for
the students at the Hostel end. She stood there decked
gorgeously with all her ornaments and was grazing away to
glory, thanks to the lush green grass on the cricket
stadium!
The March Past went on as usual – starting with most
colourful squads from the Primary School, followed by the
Anantapur Campus of the Institute and the Anantapur Junior
College. Then came the Higher Secondary School boys with
their bright coloured T-shirts culminating with the
Brindavan and Parthi men students. The final squad to sign
off was the Athletic squad consisting of all medal winners,
wearing white pants with tucked in red coloured shirts.
After all the squads had assembled on the grounds, the
Institute Flag was brought in ceremoniously with a special
marching team. After the Physical Directors of the Brindavan
and Parthi campuses respectively, tied the flag to the pole,
one of them went over to the stage and handed over the
remote button to Bhagawan. Swami pressed the remote switch
and hoisted the flag on its mast. Then we had the oath
taking ceremony. The Institute captain administered the oath
to all the students.
The next item was the torch lighting ceremony. Swami lit the
torch which was carried by pairs of students in a relay to
the mountain top. Meanwhile, Swami stood up from the chair
to release the white pigeons and the balloons. In the
background, one could see the peacock – the mascot for the
Sports Meet this year, carrying the torch to the top of the
hill. Once the peacock reached the hill top, the main torch
of the Sports Meet was lit. It was 8.45 a.m. when the squads
dispersed, giving way to the Prasanthi Nilayam campus to
begin its presentation.
At 9.00 a.m. the Parthi Campus made its entry in a grand
manner with a huge structure – a rotating pillar with Duty,
Devotion, Discipline, Purity, Patience, Perseverance,
written on its various sides. Right at the top was a swan
around whose neck was a disc with the numbers 25 shining on
it, marking the Silver Jubilee of the Institute. On either
sides of this structure, were the cutouts with Swami’s
photographs on them. Between all these were giant models –
15 feet high and around 15 kgs in weight - of ‘Sai Students’
dressed up as Vedam chanting students, some in whites and
some in the Convocation dress. These models were specially
designed and built for this occasion by professionals from
Mangalore and they were designed on the lines of the Rama
Leela festival held in the North. The uniqueness of these
statues was that they were very light in weight and a single
student could easily lift a model on his head and move
around.
After they all took their position, the Opening Ceremony
song began. Groups of students danced to the tune depicting
a mix of the East and the West, symbolizing a blend of
spiritual and secular knowledge that is the hallmark of the
Institute. The second item was one of the main items of the
Campus. The Lion dance. 30 lions barged into the ground
dancing vigorously and exhibited a number of stunts on
tables, poles and even did bamboo walking. The next item was
a display of Rhythm on poles done by the School students,
followed by another eycatching item – the Giant Wheels. Two
Giant Wheels, 35 feet in height were mounted just in front
of the ladies gallery to the left of the stage. Students
performed wonderful feats on these revolving wheels.
Subsequently came the Gymnasts displaying their mettle,
performing all types of jumps – over fire, through rings and
finally even over a Maruti Van! Following this were the
drummers playing their rhythmic beats on 25 Chinese drums
that were specially flown in from Singapore for this event.
The impact was very good and the Giant Flags displaying
their show in the background added to the beauty.
The Delta Force came in next. Tough guys working unitedly to
show what can be done with huge logs of wood, displayed
synchronized movements ending with the real tough guys
climbing upon the logs held vertically. Then came in another
round of the Giant Wheels with the students exhibiting their
skills further, performing head stands right at the top.
Acrobatics by the School children was the next item. A brief
dance by Lord Shiva who actually passed on the science of
Yoga to humanity, was followed by wonderful Asanas performed
in a very coordinated and harmonious manner.
The final item of the Prasanthi Nilayam campus was a Fun on
the Run game involving a number of competitive games between
two teams. Shooting balloons with catapults, basketing balls
after running through an obstacle course, pyramid formation
and so on. The presentation came to a close with all staff
and students coming into a closing ceremony formation with a
special closing song being played in the background.
At 10.00 a.m., the Anantapur students began their
presentation. The theme of their presentation was
Unity-Purity-Divinity. They began with a dance followed by
wonderful, breathtaking Asanas performed atop moving Jeeps.
Following this was a butterfly dance - a mass item with a
hundred plus girls with butterfly wings that turned shining
silver and bright gold as they changed sides. It looked very
good. After this, there was another mass dance item using
rings covered with shining pink material. By 10.25 a.m. they
concluded their very crisp and gripping presentation and
moved on for the Closing Ceremony.
Around 10.30 a.m. Swami took Aarti and retired for the
morning.
In the evening, Swami arrived in the ground at 4.05 p.m. The
Escorts on the bikes led Bhagawan’s Porte car. Swami was in
His orange robe. The leading bike held the flag bearing the
Silver Jubilee logo with the two wings of Sathya and Dharma.
The second in line held the flag with the Institute logo
having a blue background specially designed for the Silver
Jubilee celebrations.
As Bhagawan’s car approached the dais, the Primary School
gymnasts in orange suits welcomed Swami with a crawl on
their hands. By 4.15 p.m. Swami ascended the dais using the
lift. Two young Primary School girls decked in green and two
boys in yellow marched across the grounds to offer their
bouquets and card to Bhagawan. After Swami received their
offerings, the presentation began with a dance to the song –
Prasanthi Vaasa Swagatam, Puttaparthi Purisha Swagatam,
Susswagatam….
Following this was a dance by young boys dressed as Vanaras.
There were a hundred plus boys, all Vanaras dancing to a
fast beat song. In the course of the song, Lord Rama and
Lakshmana come in and the monkeys help them building the
bridge across the ocean. It was very well depicted.
Then it was the turn of the gymnasts to display their solid
talent. No doubt they stole the show. Then there were mass
dances, one of them by girls dressed in blue looking like
waves interspersed with other girls holding silver and gold
coloured rings. It looked very attractive. As this item got
over, the Roller Skates boys rolled in and performed a
number of feats in front of the dais. Then came the malkhamb
drill on tall vertical poles erected on the ground. This too
was very well planned and executed by the young boys.
A few more dances by large numbers of girls and then we had
drills on the ropes again by the boys. They performed
extremely well, displaying their skills on the ropes. At
5.10 p.m. all the children entered together like a wave
offering their Pranaams to Swami.
At 5.20 p.m. the children of the Deenajanodarana Pathakam
made a 15 minute brief presentation showing a war between
good and bad symbolized by white and black dresses
symbolically presented on a giant chessboard.
At 5.35 p.m., the Brindavan students commenced their
presentation. The opening spectacular item was the Dragon
dance followed by Martial Arts. Almost all the students
participated in the Martial Arts item displaying various
forms of this art. They presented the mace fight, war with
sword and shield, Karate, Nan Chaku, Spears and even stick
fights. All this went on synchronized with music in the
background. They concluded with the breathtaking items like
braking pots, blazing tiles, etc.
At 5.55 p.m. all the Brindavan students came forward towards
the dais to offer their gratitude to Bhagawan. Swami took
Aarti and retired by 6.00 p.m. Thus the curtain closed on
this year’s Annual Sports and Cultural Meet.
Source:
http://radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm
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