 Offering
humble pranams at the lotus feet of our beloved Lord,Hearty Janmastami wishes to all
the Krishna devotees all over the world... The holy birthday of Lord Krishna was
celebrated with devotion, faith and happiness. the main part of the festival was in
the afternoon where in Swami had lot to give and make our hearts dance in the
Krishna leela....Puttaparthi witnessed yet again huge crowd about 7000 devotees are
here from Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh and few thousands less from Vizag.....
Swami blessed the devotees by permitting them to perform in His immediate
presence...As thousands were waiting for Sai Krishna,Swami out of His immense mercy
emerged from His physical abode at 3:45pm in His dazzling orange robe.. Giving due
consideration to the huge crowd, Swami preferred to come in His Mobile throne right
from His abode, thus Sai -giving a clear view even to the last person seated in the
Sai Kulwant hall...
Swami took few letters from the ladies' side and
also some in the gents side.. There was a huge cutout in the centre of the hall
signaling a probable play..As Swami came on the dias He came directly to the center
of the stage instead of going into the interview room.The Sri Sathya Sai University
brass band was ready with their instruments. There was a very short play on baby
Krishna as the brass band rendered two bhajans on Krishna...Now it was the time of
Nalgonda district kids to perform before Swami... After taking blessings from Swami
the play started. The play was about a handicapped boy who with his devotion and
dedication supported his family and rendered few devotional songs and also changes a
stubborn and proud father into a noble man.. The whole play was well written and the
only draw back if at all was the language. The play was well written but non telugu
speakers would not have understood. Now a days very rarely we are seeing regional
language plays in Parthi... It was 5pm by then and devotees from Nalgonda started
singing bhajans.. While the bhajan was going on the bhajan group boys were seen
bringing their instruments and after the first bhajan the students started their
bhajans.. As all the devotees were immersed in the bhajan and just when many of us
were thinking, so there is no divine discourse today, our sweet Lord, asked the boys
to bring the discourse table... In few minutes the bhajan stopped. After a very
short visit to the interview room Swami came out to the dias.....There was a pin
drop silence in the hall, Swami slowly sipped few drops of water from His tumbler
and slowly rose from His throne.. Prof.Anil Kumar, in no time got next to Swami..
After a brief talk with Swami both were ready as thousands of pairs of eyes were
focused and equal number of ears eagerly waiting for the sweet nectarine voice Swami
started His Janmastami (Krishnashtami) discourse with a sweet verse...Highlights
from the discourse:(Based on memory... I sincerely apologies for any grammatical
mistakes) Sathyambu nandude sarvambu shrustinche, (Every thing is born out of
truth)Sathyambu nandanage sarva shrusti (everything merges in God)Sathya mahima leni
stalamedi kanugonna sudha satwa midiye choodarayya There is no place without
truth... and this is the pure and unsullied truth) Every thing in this world is born
out of truth... Truth is all pervasive. Its present in every one of us.. Truth is
one and not two. All the swarna lingams(golden lingams) I manifest are TRUTH.. (at
this stage I had a strong feeling that there would be some manifestation because
Swami started
 with the same verse on the
closing ceremony of youth conference and materialised Golden lingam by waving His
hands. I was very attentively glaring at His hands and in no time.. the right hand
of Swami rose a bit and after two small circular motions emerged a dazzling Golden
lingam, twice the size of a normal egg. As all the devotees joined their hands,
Swami continued.. THIS IS THE TRUTH...Depending upon the time, God has been
manifesting in Human form to teach this truth.. In the Krita Yuga it was Lord
Vishnu. In Treta yuga it was Lord Rama and in Dwapara yuga it was Lord Krishna who
came in human form in this world to correct the man kind...Many misunderstand the
love of Lord Krishna.. They think He was after Gopikas all the time.. Does any one
know how old was Krishna when He started performing leelas with Gopikas? Only 7
years old.. Many Gopikas were elder to Him. They enjoyed Krishna's company and so
did Krishna. That is pure love. He had more than 16000 Gopikas around Him. The role
of Sathya bhama was also a significant one. Krishna wanted to tell the world how
devoted she was and thats why she had to come into His life...Swami then narrated
about Rama and He almost narrated the entire Ramayana in a very simple and easy way
and I'm sure any one who are not acquaint with Ramayana now are aware of this holy
epic....Rama was also another avatar who always adhered to truth.. Rama stood for
truth and love. Rama's father Dasaratha was also a devoted man. What is Dasaratha.
The one with 10 chariots. He had 10 senses. Kausalya was his first wife. As she
didn't conceive Dasaratha decided to marry another queen. In those days, the husband
used to take permission from the wife to marry someone else. Kausalya was a noble
and pious lady. She gave permission and thus Sumitra came into Dasaratha's life. Su-
Mitra (a good friend).. As the name, she was a very friendly person. There is very
less mentioned in Ramayana about her. There are no words to describe her devotion.
Dasaratha then decided to marry Kaikeyi. Kaikeyi was the daughter of King Kaika, the
present Kashmir. Since the king already had 2 wives, Kaikeyi's father had second
thoughts about the marriage. He put one condition to Dasaratha. Since you are
marrying my daughter for a heir to your kingdom, I will give my daughter in marriage
in one condition. You should give your kingdom to the son of Kaikeyi and not your
other wives' children.The king after due consultation with his queens agreed to the
condition. Dasartha along with his three wives performed Putra kamisti yaga. the
priests after the yagna gave Payasam(rice pudding) as prasad and asked the three to
partake the prasadam. The prasadam was divided into three equal parts in three
bowls...
Swami continued.."In those days there were no fans or electric hair driers. So
Sumitra climbed the terrace to dry her hair. She put the bowl with the pudding on
the terrace wall and was adjusting her hair. In no time there came a eagle and took
away the bowl.
Sumitra ran down and narrated the incident to her two in-laws. In those days in laws
were not like the present day in laws. They were very friendly and co-operative.
They both contributed half share of their pudding to Sumitra and three of them
partook the prasadam.
In no time Kausalya gave birth to Rama and Kaikeyi gave birth to Satrugna and
Sumitra gave birth to Lakshmana and Bharata. Since she had shared the pudding with
both, Lakshmana was close to Rama and BHARAT was close to Satrugna....Sita, who
married Lord Rama was woman of character. Even after being abducted she always
had Rama's name in her mind. They had to go to exile in the forest. Greed came in
the form of a golden deer. The moment she saw the golden deer, in spite of knowing
that it just can't be a deer as there is no deer made of gold in this universe, her
mind started to ask for the deer. Lord Rama, obliged because, that was for the first
time that Sita asked for something. Since she came all the way with Him to the
forest, setting aside all the royal comforts, Rama wanted to make her happy. The
moment she had desires, her husband went far away from her.. In the same way THE
MOMENT YOU HAVE DESIRES... GOD DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM YOU.. Less luggage more
comfort..make travel a pleasure.
It was more than 30 mins since Swami was speaking and now He got back to His throne
and continued "As Rama went in search of the golden deer, Lakshmana stayed with
Sita.As Rama didn't return back, Sita got worried and asked Lakshmana to go search
for Him. Lakshmana was bit hesitant to leave her as his brother had ordered him to
stay with Sita till He returns. Not knowing what to do, Lakshmana drew a line with
his arrow (very popularly known as Lakshman Rekha(line)) and says to Sita not to
cross the line come what may...In no time comes the demon Ravana in the form of a
poor beggar. Sita goes inside and gets some food grains and tries to give it to him
standing within the line but the poor priest pleads to come out and give and Sita
pitying at his condition obliges and in no time Ravana abducts Sita....Swami then
narrated how Hanuman and party helped Rama to free Sita from Lanka and how Hanuman
saved the life of Lakshmana by bringing the Sanjeevini from the mountain..Swami
continued..Just to let know the whole world how pure and true Sita was, He asked her
to jump into the fire. All the people of Ayodhya were very happy to see Lord Rama
after more than 15 years of exile... They all sang and danced.. so saying Swami sang
the bhajan... Rama Kodanda Rama... (Rama with the bow and arrow) Rama Pattabhi
Rama(Rama, the coronated King) Rama Kalayana Rama... Raghava....Swami sang the whole
bhajan...and as I was wondering today is Krishnastami and how come a discourse on
Lord Rama.. Our Lord Sai, who is residing as ATMA RAMA,in us continued, Today is
Krishnastami. Krishna and Rama are one and the same... Always chant the name of Rama
and it will confer you bliss and happiness. You can achieve anything by merely
chanting His name.. Where ever you are, what ever you are doing, chant His name..
Swami further continued, amidst loud applauds, If you have more love for Sai, chant
Sai Rama or Sai Krishna.. Always sing the glory of the Lord and it will give all
that you want... After saying so, Swami touched everyone's heart by enquiring "Am I
giving you trouble?.. Am I straining you?" for which there was a big NO from the
devotees...Swami then asked for Bhajans while He blessed the prasadam. After fully
satisfied with the
prasad distribution, Swami asked for Arathi around 5:50 pm... After bowing down and
thanking Swami for letting me witness yet another beautiful day of His glory, I
waited for the car to reach the Abode and then I left the hall....Thus ended another beautiful day of my Prasanthi dairy....
R.Satish Naik - Member
SBOI-Group
from Kaliyuga Mathura PUTTAPARTHI.....
SRI KRISHNA
ASHTAMI CELEBRATIONS
Prasanthi Nilayam, 4th September 2007
It is but a rare moment in the history of time when one gets the privilege and merit
of celebrating the birthday of one Poorna Avatar in the presence of another Poorna
Avatar. But we, in this Kali Yuga, born as contemporaries of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai
Baba have been blessed with this boon. September 4th this year was one such
momentous occasion where thousands congregated in Sai Kulwant Hall to celebrate Sri
Krishna Ashtami in the Divine Presence of Bhagawan Baba.
At 8.15 am, Bhagawan arrived in Sai Kulwant Hall clad in beautiful yellow robe – the
Pithambara (yellow garment), characteristic of Lord Krishna. The Hall reverberated
with the chant of Narayana Suktam and other Vedic hymns in propitiation of Lord
Narayana. Bhagawan then alighted from His car and, as is the usual custom of Krishna
Ashtami celebrations at Prasanthi Nilayam, fed His pet baby elephant Krishna Geetha
and cows from the Gokulam Dairy. Bhagawan then came on to the dais and was seated
there listening to Veda chanting. Two students from the Sri Sathya Sai Higher
Secondary School dressed as Sri Krishna and His brother Sri Balarama went to
Bhagawan and got the Prasadam blessed and few other students went with pigeons that
were graciously released by Bhagawan. The morning programme concluded with Arati.
In the evening, Bhagawan granted Darshan at 3.40 pm. The first programme was a drama
presentation by the Sri Sathya Sai University Men’s Brass Band on the story of Lord
Krishna’s birth and childhood to the accompaniment of Bhajans with western fusion
music. Thereafter, Bhagawan permitted the Balvikas children of Nalgonda District,
Andhra Pradesh to stage a drama entitled ‘Prema Baata’ (The Path of Love). The story
revolved around a virtuous but economically backward and handicapped youth Sri Hari
who brings about a transformation in his community and leads many people – young and
old, rich and poor on the path of righteousness as espoused by Bhagawan Sri Sathya
Sai Baba. The drama that lasted for around 30 minutes was packed with powerful
dialogues and was interspersed with dances and melodious songs. Following this,
heeding to the prayers of everyone seated in the hall, Bhagawan rose up to give His
Divine Discourse.
Bhagawan began His discourse with a Telugu verse that stated that the whole creation
is born out of Truth, is sustained by Truth and merges back in to Truth. There is no
place in this entire cosmos where Truth is not found. This is the pure, unsullied
Truth. Then, with the characteristic wave of His hand, Bhagawan materialized a
golden lingam - ‘Hiranyagarbha’ and declared that the Hiranyagarbha is the very form
of Shuddha Satvam (Pure and unsullied Truth). This Truth incarnates from age to age
for a specific cause. In the Tretha Yuga, it took the form of Lord Sri Rama and in
the Dwapara Yuga it took the form of Lord Sri Krishna. Bhagawan then narrated
stories from the Mahabharata and the Ramayana in great detail and explained that the
Rama Tatwa (Principle of Rama) and Krishna Tatwa (Principle of Krishna) are one and
the same. In conclusion, Bhagawan said that the sacred name of Lord Sri Rama
contains the essence of all the stories of the Lord, and He exhorted everyone to
constantly chant the glorious name of Rama as this would take us across all
difficulties and ensure our wellbeing.
After accepting Arati, Bhagawan retired to His residence at 6.20 pm.
Jai Sai Ram!
|
