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PRASHANTI
DIARY
Chronicles of Heaven on Earth
The months of September and
October are festive months in the Parthi Calendar. While the
Krishnajanmastami and the Ganesh Chaturthi festivals were
covered in the last issue, in this issue we bring a report on the
Dasara festival and the 'Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yagna'
that is conducted every year during this festival. While the
yagnam (or the ritual fire sacrifice) is performed in the
morning during the entire week, the evening too provides a rich fare
for the sincere seeker - the Prashanti Vidwan Maha Sabha.
The Prashanti Vidwan Mahasabha was started in 1972 wherein learned
pundits were invited to give discourses on various aspects of
spirituality to the congregation. In recent years however, the
speakers are drawn mostly from the staff and students of the
Institute and elder devotees.
Along with Dasara festival also
occurs the Grama Seva activities by the students of the SSSIHL,
where the students actually go and distribute food packets and
clothes to every individual household in villages in the 3
mandals (sub-districts) of Puttaparthi, Bukkapatnam, and
Kottacheruvu.
In this report we cover all these
functions. While these functions overlap and are intimately
intertwined as they happen almost simultaneously, for the sake of
clarity and comprehension we report them separately.
In a departure from our normal
chronological reporting of events, we bring alive for you first
(through photographs and a descriptive accompanying text) the major
cultural programs performed by the students during this past month,
before we go on to report on the Dassera and the Grama Seva
activities. top
CULTURAL PROGRAMMES
SEPTEMBER 25, 2005 : A BHANGRA
DANCE BY THE PRASHANTI NILAYAM CAMPUS
In the evening of Sept. 25th,
the students of the Prashanti Nilayam campus provided a visual treat
to the audience when they performed a vibrant and pulsating dance
form from the fertile valleys of the Punjab known as the bhangra.
The
bhangra dance is noted for its energetic almost martial
movements and pounds with abundant energy. The dance steps included
a display of rigorous acrobatics and gymnastics that had the
audience enthralled. The 'farmers' looked elegant in their rural
outfits and I heard that it took 12 minutes to tie the turban
(the head-dress) for each 'farmer'.
The dance focussed on the life of a
farmer, his routine, worries and the blessed moments of his life.
The dance told the story of how a typical Punjabi farmer thanks God
on waking for the fitful sleep and also seeks His grace for all
activities to be performed during the day. He then goes to till the
fields and begins work only after expressing a prayer to the tilling
instruments. top
The dance leads the audience through
the various stages of cultivation - tilling, sowing, weeding and so
on. After months of work, when the crops are almost grown, the
monsoon plays hide and seek and the poor farmer is in danger of
losing his entire crop.
When the farmers are bemoaning the
forthcoming loss, there enters a sage who tells them to pray to God
for showers. All of them then sing together and along expected lines
the rains pour profusely resulting in a bumper harvest.
The ecstatic farmers harvest the
fields and remove the wheat from the chaff in a joyous spirit of
celebration and thanksgiving. The wheat is then packed in large
sacks and trundled off to the market; with the farmers dancing and
singing all the way there and back and continually expressing their
love to God and thanking Him for providing everything for them.
The dance was choreographed by 2
devotees from Chandigarh - Mr. Desraj Singh and Mr. Bhupinder Singh;
they not only taught the students the dance steps but Mr Desraj also
played the dhol (the native Punjabi percussion instrument)
and sang the Punjabi song that provided the backdrop for this
unusual and unique cultural event. top
SEPTEMBER 28, 2005 : 'SATHYAM VADA, DHARMAM CHARA' - A
DRAMA BY THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
This standout drama entitled -
'Sathyam Vada, Dharmam Chara' meaning "Speak the Truth and
Perform Righteous Actions" was conducted by the high school students
in the classical language of Sanskrit to the astonishment and
wonderment of all present in Sai Kulwant Hall. Incidentally
'Sathyam Vada Dharmam Chara' is also the Institute motto.
The play (which started with an
introductory dance) was conducted in two parts. top
The
first part 'Sathyam Vada' details the story about a thief
Mahendra who promises a sage that he will speak the truth under all
circumstances. Mahendra on one of his stealing missions makes the
acquaintance of the king who occasionally went around his kingdom in
disguise to feel the pulse of the people.
They decide to rob the king's
treasury. Mahendra finds 3 huge diamonds in a chest in the king's
treasury and steals one and gives one to his "friend" - the king in
disguise. He leaves the 3rd one behind in spite of the king's
entreaties to steal it also.
The next morning the king, now out
of his disguise, asks his minister to check the treasury. The
minister reports that all the 3 diamonds are missing. The king
summons Mahendra to his court who confesses (truthfully in
accordance with his vow) that he stole only 2 diamonds from the
treasury. The king then finds the treasurer had kept the 3rd diamond
and hence sends him to jail and installs the truthful Mahendra in
his place.top
The second part of the play
'Dharmam Chara' tells the story of a sage Mahatapa, who has
accumulated great powers as a result of severe austerities. Once
angered at a bird he turns it to ashes with a glance since it left
its droppings on him. This sage then goes to the house of a chaste
woman to ask for alms. She angers him by asking him to wait till she
finishes serving her husband. When the sage shows his anger, the
woman mocks him by asking if she is a mere bird that he could reduce
to ashes. This astonishes the sage and the woman explains that she
got all her knowledge merely by the dharma of serving her
husband and not through sadhana or spiritual practice. She
asks him to go to Mithilapura and meet a butcher by name
Dharmavyadha.
When the sage reaches the butcher's
shop, he is asked by the butcher whether the chaste woman has sent
him to Mithilapura to meet him. Again being shocked at his knowledge
the sage wonders if the butcher has done tapas (severe
austerities) or sadhana to gain such powers. The butcher
explains that he is simply a devotee of his parents and offers all
he does to God. The sage tries to argue with the butcher about his
vocation and is in turn questioned whether what he did to the bird
was non-violence. The sage gets transformed and the boys bring the
drama to a close by singing a touching finale song for Swami.
top
OCT 12: A
DRAMA BY THE STUDENTS OF THE BRINDAVAN CAMPUS ON THE LIFE OF THE
POET-SAINT SURDAS
On the evening of October 12, after
the completion of the Poorna Ahuti or the concluding
session of the week-long yagna and also
after the completion of the grama seva activities, the
Brindavan students touched everyone's heart through a poignant
portrayal of episodes from the life of the blind saint Surdas.
Surdas is very popular as an
exemplar of the tradition of Bhakthi Yoga as he willingly chose to
live a life of darkness for he felt there was no sight worth seeing
other than the magnificent form of Lord Krishna.
In the opening scene the sage is
wandering through a village singing bhajans when his gaze
is attracted by a lissom lass in front of a hut. Surdas feels
miserable that worldly pleasures still bind him and so he plucks his
eyes out with thorns from a nearby bush, as these eyes had
distracted him away from God. He is then shown facing the ridicule
of the villagers for being a hypocrite and a show-off.
Surdas' life takes a turn for
the better when he gets a guiding light in the form of Guru
Vallabhacharya, who shows Surdas the right path of devotion to
Krishna. Surdas now intensifies his quest for the vision of Lord
Krishna, and this intensity is reflected in his pining songs. The
boys sing "Maili chadar…." very feelingly to the intense
delight of the crowd. top
Surdas settles in Braj and propagates the glorious leelas
of Krishna through his songs, which instilled in the common man a
sense of devotion for God. His immense popularity makes some jealous
people try to kill him by leading the blind Surdas to a deep well.
But Surdas is rescued by a cowherd
boy and Surdas soon realizes that it is the divine shepherd Himself
- his beloved Lord Krishna. So he begs Krishna for His Darshan
which Krishna grants him by restoring his sight. After the divine
darshan, in a moving scene, Surdas asks Krishna to take his eyes
back as he felt that there was nothing else worth seeing. The men
who tried to kill him were also witness to this scene, immediately
repent and sincerely seek Surdas' forgiveness. top
The closing scene shows Surdas who
after many long years of contemplation and service to Lord Krishna
has grown old physically but his passion for the Lord is still as
intense as ever. He now begins to see God in everyone and addresses
them as Krishna. He feels a sudden urge to leave his body and merge
with the Lord. The Lord then appears and in a touching scene He
tries to convince Surdas to remain for some more time in the world.
The sage pleads piteously to be allowed to reach His Lotus Feet and
the Lord finally relents…..
The boys brought the entire
story to life with their attractive costumes, soul lifting melodious
songs and realistic portrayal. The scene in which Surdas plucks his
eyes out was especially touching. Swami profusely blessed all the
actors and also spoke lovingly a few words with the boy who
portrayed the role of Surdas. top
GRAMA SEVA
- SERVING IN THE VILLAGES
OCT
4 TO 12 - A REPORT ON THE 2005 GRAMA SEVA ACTIVITIES
Ever since it's inception in the
year 2000, the grama seva or village service has been a
quintessential student activity. All the Institute and the High
School students during their Dassera Holidays distribute
food-packets, laddus, and clothes at the door-step of every
household in the 3 sub-districts of Puttaparthi, Bukkapatnam and
Kottacheruvu as messengers of Sai. This year the grama seva
activities lasted for 9 days (from Oct 4th to 12th ), so the
students could then prepare for their exams beginning from the 19th
of October.
It was quite
late - only on Oct 2 that Sri S.V. Giri, the former Vice-Chancellor
of the Institute, made a public announcement about the grama
seva at Swami's behest. Sri Giri further announced that
T-shirts and caps were going to be distributed that day to all the
students. Though the public announcement was made late, a lot of
planning and preparation had already taken place. top
All the ingredients for the food
preparation and the clothes that had to be distributed to each
household (apart from the T-shirts and caps for students) had
already been procured. The infrastructure to support this activity
like vehicles for transportation, communication systems so each
vehicle can keep in touch with the home base, police security to
accompany each truck, additional requirements of seva dal
etc. was already in place. God always works silently but most
efficiently.
After the announcement was made
things moved at a breakneck speed! A group of boys were sent to
Poornachandra to bring the bundles of T-shirts and caps which were
stacked in the Bhajan Hall. The T-shirts were then distributed to
each student by Sri S.V. Giri in the divine presence, as the warden
called out the name of each student.
The Anantapur (ATP) girls were not
forgotten. Swami also had saris distributed to them, and even gave
an audience to all the girl students and their teachers on October 4
inside the Bhajan Hall. In this private discourse, He told them that
character is the end (goal) of education. He asked them to remove
bad thoughts from their mind and avoid needless and unnecessary
talk. He emphasized that Namasmarana is the panacea for all
ills. top
Following the
public announcement about the Grama Seva, the organization
infrastructure was quickly put in place. Committees were formed and
group leaders identified. An initial distribution schedule was drawn
up and survey parties sent to the villages to evaluate the condition
of the roads as well as update the population count of the villages.
All the boys were divided into 6 groups with A and B batches, so
that the distribution schedule could be alternated between the 2
groups, providing some needed rest in between (however quite a few
boys distributed on all the days without any break). To support the
Dassera activities going on simultaneously the Vedam and
Bhajan boys were identified and exempted from the grama
seva. And all this was done within a mere 24 hours.
Meanwhile on the cooking front,
hectic and frenetic activity was taking place. Laddu making in
Parthi still remains a labour intensive activity (not being
mechanised in spite of the availability of laddu making machines) as
it provides a glorious seva opportunity for hundreds of
ashram ladies. The "laddu labour force" was mobilised and deployed
so that 30,000 laddus were ready for distribution by the wee hours
of the morning of the 4th and every day thereafter.top
Food Preparation During Grama Seva
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The preparation and
packing of the food-packets is so well organised that it perhaps
merits its own tale. A shed has been allotted for this purpose
behind the North blocks. In the back of this shed, are huge
cooking vessels where hundreds of kilos of rice are cooked
beginning at around 6 PM for the next day's distribution.
After a batch of rice is cooked, it is spread out to allow it
to cool fast. top
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After cooling the cooked white rice
is collected into a "white mountain". A pulihora
paste (spicy tamarind paste) is prepared separately by the
cooks. Now some ashram ladies and the ATP students and
teachers mix portions of the white rice scooped out from
the mountain with the spicy paste in big vessels. Once the
rice and paste is mixed into pulihora, the
packing activity begins.
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The packing usually
starts around 10 PM when the ATP students and teachers come
in, and goes on till 2 or 3 AM.
A group of 5 girls take
one big vessel of the mixed rice. They sit in a circle and
about 400 grams of rice is ladled into a 'packing leaf'.
This leaf is folded neatly and then wrapped in a newspaper
and held in place by 2 rubber bands. Viola - a food packet
is now ready!
On a given day an average
of about 27,000 food-packets are made daily for distribution
involving about 500 students and 250 seva dal
making up the support staff. top
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The prepared food-packets made
ready by the ATP students (see box) during the night are stacked
into crates (about 90 per) and these crates are in turn loaded into
the distribution trucks in the wee hours of the morning, according
to a loading schedule that depends on the population
and the number of households to be visited by that truck that day.
The distribution trucks are
numbered from 1 through 38 and designated to one of the 6 groups. In
addition there are 6 tractor trailers (one for each group) that are
used to transport additional food-packets, laddus and
clothes. Another additional 6 sport utility vehicles (SUMO trucks)
are used to provide field supervisory support as well as facilitate
quick inter and intra group transfer to deliver excess stock from
one area to another village that is experiencing a shortage.
On the morning of October 4th, the
anticipation in Sai Kulwant Hall (SKH) was high. The boys had all
dressed in their grama seva T-shirts and caps. Swami too
arrived with the contagious enthusiasm of a school-boy going on a
picnic. After all serving the poor is a cause closest to the Lord's
heart.
The day's distribution activity
follows a set pattern. After Swami's arrival to the Mandir, either
the Vice-Chancellor or the Brindavan Warden approach Swami for His
benediction to start the day's distribution. Swami beams and
immediately gives His blessings. Then 2 boys bring buckets of
tamarind rice and laddus so that the Lord can consecrate them into
prasadam by blessing them.
The boys then disperse
quickly, put on their shoes and get into their respective trucks.
All the 38 trucks are lined in order on the main road of the Ashram.
A head-count is taken, the food-packets, laddus and
clothing are counted to ensure the loading is correct as per plan
and the okay signal is given to the "home base" controller on the
wireless communication system. When all the trucks are ready the
convoy rolls out and the boys shout "Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babaji
Ki Jai" when each truck passes the SKH. top
In the past the grama seva
had always started with Puttaparthi on the first day and then moved
out from this centre. In a marked departure this time around, the
distribution started from the distant villages - the more difficult
to reach villages on the periphery (so that they are tackled first
when the boys are fresh) and then work their way towards the centre
of the distribution circle.
Here is the
personal account of the chronicler of Prashanthi Diary who went on
all days with the students to give us a first person account of the
whole service activity:
On the 8th of October I decided to
accompany the Grama Seva group. I joined Group 5 which was going to
distribute in the village of Brahmanapalli. Though relatively close
to Parthi if the distance is measured as the crow flies, yet it was
extremely remote, nestled as it was in the deepest recesses of the
hills lining the Valley of Peace. Though the path less travelled to
this remote outpost was just an apology for even a dirt track,
strewn with pebbles, stones and even boulders, the scenery was
stunning and mind-blowing. Intricate granite formations regularly
punctuated the undulating greenery. Multi-hued granite rocks lined
the top of the hills like the ramparts of a fort all ready to repel
foreign invasion. Boulders of innumerable sizes were strewn all
along the road's edge like a herd of buffaloes that had just come to
slake their thirst at a mountain stream.
After nearly 90 minutes of
travel, first along perhaps 20 kms of paved road and then about 8-10
kms on a uneven, bouncy track that a mountain goat would have
envied, we finally neared our destination. It was just 10:15 AM on
Saturday morning and Rahu Kalam, that inauspicious segment
of time lasted till 10:30 AM . So we stopped just a kilometre from
the village and decided to have our snacks and enter the village
after Rahu Kalam had made its exit.
top
The boys gingerly stepped out
mesmerised by the scenery. After the initial oohs and aahs, they got
down to the more serious business of feeding their hunger pangs. The
snack was a small but tasty 'veggie burger' washed down with a glass
of majjiga - spicy buttermilk. Then after posing for a few
pictures we triumphantly entered the village, perhaps their first
motorised vehicle in many weeks. top
Immediately we were surrounded
by the village children. The first item on the agenda, per Swami's
instruction, was nagarsankirtan - or singing the Lord's
name through the streets to elevate and spiritualise the atmosphere.
We asked the village children to join the group and they did so
eagerly clapping their hands in glee.
The village was laid out like
a capital 'T', so we went up till we reached the fork, went down one
end, returned and went all the way back to the other end, in just a
matter of minutes. Usually the nagarsankirtan is terminated
at the village temple if there is one. This relatively small village
did not have a temple and we suspect no school either.
This village had around 150 to 200 houses -
surprisingly well constructed perhaps as a protection against the
extreme winter chill in this elevated area. Due to the layout and
the smallness of the village, it was decided to distribute as 1
group rather than break-up into smaller groups.
top
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The distribution routine is always the same. Generally the
teacher in charge walks up to the home and greets them with a
cheery "Sai Ram" and informs them that we have been sent by
"Puttaparthi Sai Baba" to give them prasadam. Then we
ask how many inhabitants there are in the house and we give
enough food packets and laddus so that there is one for each
resident. Then the teacher or any other elder gives one sari
and one dhoti for each household along with a small picture of
Swami for them to cherish and worship. Then we take leave with
a namaste and a chorus of "Sai Rams" from all the
boys and move on to the next house.
The distribution moves fast since the houses are fairly
close to each other. Occasionally the boys cuddle a small goat
or scratch a calf behind the ears. City slickers getting their
rural education! All the village folk and their animals seem
to live in a harmony and rhythm that seem very natural far
away from the trappings of "civilisation". top
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Soon we are done and are
ready to leave. One of the villagers offers me a "peacock egg",
perhaps one of his most prized possessions. I do not know if he
meant it to be gourmet breakfast fare or he hoped that I would
incubate and rear the pea-chick as a pet. I think wistfully of
the reactions of the neighbours in my 6th floor flat and
politely decline his magnanimous offer and pat him gently on the
back to express my appreciation for his gesture.
And then we are off. On
the way we stop, perhaps a few hundred meters away, to
distribute to 3 houses lying in the outskirts. We learn that
there is a thanda - a tribal hamlet - a clutch of about
50 houses just a kilometre away.
It is a place so small
that it is not marked on any map but we have already exhausted
all our stocks. We return the way we had come on the bouncy
roads till we link up with the other buses close to the main
road. top |
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They have some excess
stock, so a confab takes place and the excess stock is
transferred to our truck. We decide to go back all the way to
serve the people of the thanda. The cartographers may
have forgotten them but God does not!
We reach the village to a
warm welcome even though the villagers did not expect us. The
village dogs, normally a friendly lot, growl menacingly at us
since they are so unused to strangers. We quickly befriend them
by giving them the broken bits and pieces of laddus.
We pray that Swami's
prasadam will bless them with human bodies in their next
lives. The boys are bone tired but go about spiritedly to do
Swami's work. We cheerfully do the nagarsankirtan and
then finish the distribution. It is a few minutes past 1 o'clock
when we wend our way back home. top |
On the way back we stop at a huge
granite boulder where another truck distributing in the vicinity
has also stopped. We exchange notes, make a little small talk
and have our lunch of the same pulihora and laddus
that we have distributed. But it is the water that is most
refreshing after the physical work on this hot, sultry day.
And we hurry back so that
we may have time to grab a quick shower and reach SKH before 4
PM and listen to Swami's discourse that evening as part of the
Prashanti Vidwan Mahasabha celebration.
In the 9 days of the
grama seva the students visited 145 villages in the 3
mandals and touched 50,000 households. Almost 2,70,000
food-packets and 3,00,000 laddus had been distributed
by the boys.
Though the statistics are
impressive, above all the grama seva is a love story.
It is a story of the love between the Lord and the most
destitute of His devotees. top |
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So though in this report we have tried to convey to you
the blessing that is the grama seva, still words are so
inadequate to express the deep-felt feelings.
How do we convey
the glow that lights up in the villagers' eyes when they see the
yellow Grama Seva bannered truck enter their village? How
do we express the hope that kindles in their breast and the tears of
gratitude that roll down their cheeks when they see that God has not
forgotten them but has sent us as His messengers? How do we describe
the sheer joy in the small children when we give them a tasty
laddu? And how to verbalize the deep feeling of satisfaction
when we distribute a food-packet because for some this small food
packet is perhaps their only meal of their day?
For as Sri S.V.
Giri said when he announced the grama seva on Oct 2, 2005,
that the grama seva has to be done in the spirit that there
are no givers and there are no takers, for it is only God who gives,
it is God who receives and it is eventually God as the inner fire
Who digests the food!
And my lingering memory of the 2005
grama seva is the sight of this elderly gentleman in
Obuladevarapalli village who was singing praises of Swami beside our
truck after we had finished our distribution and continued singing
even as our trucks pulled away enveloping him in the dust.
And all of us who had participated
also felt blessed. For all we did was distribute the food that God
had prepared. We distributed the clothes that He had bought. We were
transported in trucks that He had paid for. And we were the
beneficiaries of the praise and blessings that the villagers heaped
on us. Only God's love is so selfless, so encompassing, and so
universal!! top
DASARA CELEBRATIONS IN
PRASHANTHI NILAYAM
Oct 6 to
12: REPORT ON THE VEDA PURUSHA SAPTHAHA GNANA YAGNA
On October 6 was celebrated one
of the most popular festivals in the Prashanti Calendar - the
Dassera celebrations. The Dassera festival marks a period of
intense and sustained devotion for an entire week, a period that
is most conducive for a devotees' spiritual progress.
The morning programme during the
week long celebration is known as the Veda Purusha Saptaha Gnana
Yagna. The first days celebrations begin in Sai Kulwant Hall
where Swami gives the learned priests the clothes they will wear
to perform the ceremonies for the entire week.
The procession of priests led by
a richly caparisoned Sai Geeta, Swami's pet elephant, then start
for Poornachandra Auditorium after they have been blessed by
Swami. The procession is also followed by the Veda chanting
Institute students in their bright red dhotis and cream coloured
angavastram (upper cloth).top |
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After reaching Sai Kulwant
Hall the Yagna ceremony starts which will be repeated
for the next 6 days.
An additional item on the
first day is the traditional lighting of the fire by rubbing two
sticks to spark a fire which is then kept burning over the next
7 days.
A number of activities take
place simultaneously during the Yagna. The pride of
place at the centre of the dais is a sacrificial pit made of
bricks where the Rudra Homam is conducted by 3 or 4
priests reciting the Vedic hymns as they pour offerings of
clarified butter into the flames that has now been kindled.
top |
A number of priests sit at
the side and recite the Vedam while the Institute students also
contribute in the background.
On the left of the central
'sacrificial pit' a young priest performs the Suryanamaskar
or Sun Worship, circumambulating the offerings while chanting
hymns and then prostrating to it.
When Swami is present He first
offers Him a rose and the circumambulates Him, for after all He
is the very Source of the Vedas. top |
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Behind this priest doing
the suryanamaskar, there are 3 learned elderly
priests who continually read (parayana) from the
sacred epics like the Ramayana, the Mahabharatha, and the
Bhagavatham during the entire week.
This is to heighten the
spiritual atmosphere as well as to emphasize the central role
of reading the epics in a devotee's spiritual sadhana.top
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At the extreme a priest performs the
worship of the Sri Chakra, a mystic symbol representing the
Goddess Mother.
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Ceremonial Lighting of the Sacred Fire
The Yagna
traditionally begins with the ceremonial lighting of the Sacred
Fire, while the chanting of the Vedas is carried on in
the background. A spark is kindled by friction, when two priests
rotate a piece of wood to and fro against a stationary block of
wood exerting the necessary pressure so that the generated heat
ignites into a small spark and lights up the dry bundle of hay.
The small spark is nursed with expert care till the fire catches
on and very soon the sacrificial pit is transformed into a
merrily blazing fire which cannot be extinguished easily even by
a strong gust of wind.
Our spiritual sadhana is
similar. We have to use the name of the Lord - Namasmarana
to initially kindle the spark of devotion in our dry hearts.
The kindled spark has to then be nursed with care and
protected against the wind of maya only by recourse
again to His name. Once our bhakti has been kindled
to a merry blaze the billowing winds of maya cannot
extinguish it but only serve to make it burn brighter.top
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On the right of the stage
which the audience cannot see clearly, the worship of the Mother
Goddess is performed by the priest who normally performs the
ceremonies in Sai Kulwant Hall. This place is also reserved for
performing the daily Arati, which is taken whenever
directed by Swami.
This routine is the same on all
the days of the week-long Yagna. The last day is called
Vijayadasami and that is when the Poornahuti, or the
Valedictory offering, is made to the sacrificial fire. An
expectant and spiritual fervour pervades Poornachandra Hall as
everyone is expectantly waiting to see Baba, as the Veda
Purusha, accept the final offerings of the Yagna.
top |
Amidst the sonoric
chanting of the Vedic hymns, Swami seats Himself behind
the sacrificial fire and witnesses and blesses all the numerous
sacrifices offered to the fire by the priests, including fruits
and precious stones.
After the conclusion of
the yagna,the priests circumambulate Swami, and one by
one prostrate at His Feet in gratitude for the chance to
officiate in a Yagna conducted by God Himself!top |
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And then comes the event
that everyone has been waiting for. Swami comes down the stage
with a priest holding the sanctified water in a large silver
bowl. With a large brush, which Swami often dips in the bowl, He
whisks this sanctified water at the faces of everyone in the
aisle as a measure of blessing.
Bhagavan goes around the
hall sprinkling holy water and blessing the students and the
staff, the men and the women, seated in the front rows of
Poornachandra with this holy shower of Divine Grace! On
receiving this great blessing, the crowd becomes almost
delirious and prays fervently to be included in the blessing.
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And soon it is over. The
Veda Purusha Saptaha Gnana Yagna that had been conducted for an
entire week comes to a close. The crowd lingers on, reluctant to
leave. An announcement is then made that the students will be coming
to each room in the Ashram to distribute the prasadam as
part of the Grama Seva, for traditionally on this last day of
Vijayadasami the prasadam is distributed inside the Ashram
to bring the Grama Seva also to a close. And the crowd
slowly disperses, but the pleasant memories linger and the ears
still ring with the Vedic chants. top
Oct 06 - 12 EVENINGS: PRASHANTI
VIDWAN MAHASABHA
The Prashanti Vidwan Mahasabha is
conducted during the weeklong yagna celebrations. While the
ritualistic ceremonies are conducted in the mornings by the learned
priests, the evenings are devoted to speeches on Indian culture and
spirituality usually by the teachers and the students of the
Institute or perhaps elders blessed by Swami. Following this of
course, is the Divine Discourse on every day of the week.
The whole exercise has a 3 fold
mission: Veda poshana, Vidwa rakshana and
bhaktha rakshana (nurturing of the Vedas, propagation of
spiritual knowledge and guidance of devotees in their spiritual
pursuit).
These priceless divine discourses
are collected together and have been published as a book by the Sri
Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust over the years for the
benefit of devotees and mankind. This year too was no different.
There were speeches galore, perhaps 3 or 4 speakers before Swami
rose slowly to give His mesmerising message to humanity. This year
too there were a total of 18 speakers, each of whom gave a gem of a
speech before the nectarine divine discourse. Carrying all the 18
talks here will make this report very lengthy, you will agree, so,
off and on we will give the transcription of the talks in H2H
articles. top
Maybe, you have already heard the talks
on Radiosai as we have aired all the talks during the Dasara week.
We will be re-airing them again in a few days along with the Divine
Discourses of Bhagavan. Those of you who do not have Radio Sets can
listen on the internet, please go to our site
www.radiosai.org and click on
“web stream” button on the home page. top
A Glimpse of the Prashanthi Vidwan
Mahasabha
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We will bring here a gist of some of
Swami's discourses to give you a flavour of the range and profundity
of the topics discussed during this year's Prashanti Vidwan
Mahasabha.
On the 7th of October Swami chose to
speak on the ephemeral nature of life and the goal of Man. Swami
said,
"Man spends his life time
deeply enmeshed in pursuing ephemeral things. He is carried away
by unproductive thoughts depending upon the particular stage of
growth he is passing through. Ultimately he realises that, he
has, in fact, wasted his precious human birth in vain pursuits.
Is this the real nature of a human being? Is this what he has to
learn in life? These activities are momentary like water
bubbles. They cannot provide lasting happiness to man. It is
mere foolishness to spend one’s time in such futile pursuits".
top
Swami related the story
of the Pandavas to illustrate this point. He talked about the
demise of Krishna and how Arjuna lost all his power after the
passing away of the Lord and was unable to protect the queens
and Gopikas. He then went on to describe the scenes in the
court of Hastinapura when the news of Lord Krishna's passing
reached them. Queen Kunti immediately shed her mortal coil in
despair.
The Pandavas also
decided to start on their Northward journey after crowning
King Parikshit. Swami related how the Pandavas do all these 3
things simultaneously with the same equipoise and strength of
mind without any attachment to the body - cremating their
mother, crowning Parikshit as the emperor and making
preparations for their continuous Northward journey to the
Himalayas and the end of their sojourn on earth.
Then addressing the students,
Swami said,top
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"You are young and have a
long life ahead of you. Pariskhit was much younger to you when
he ascended the throne. However, he took up the challenge with
admirable courage and faith in God. He stood as an ideal to the
young generation. You too should develop such courage and
fortitude and strive for the welfare of society. That is the
true ideal.
Pray to God to bestow on you
the necessary strength to hold on to this ideal. The Pandavas
left the world long ago but their ideal is eternal and ever
fresh. You should cherish their ideal in your heart and try to
follow the same in letter and spirit".
On the 9th of October, Swami chose to
speak on developing purity of heart as being the true sadhana.
Swami said, top
"Divinity is manifest in
every living being. The same Atma Tattwa is present not only
in human beings, but in every living being in the universe.
But, one has to have a pure and selfless heart to realise this
truth. In order to realise this truth, every human being has
to constantly contemplate on God. By doing so, your heart will
become pure and peaceful. The moment you attain that stage,
God will surely perceptibly manifest in you. This must be your
Sadhana.
Everyone of you are
embodiments of divinity in reality. When you develop such a
firm conviction, you can visualise God in every human being.
It is only in keeping with this concept that the expression
Yad bhavam tad bhavati (as is the feeling, so is the result)
is asserted in the scriptures.
Lord Krishna declared once
while revealing His omnipresent divinity that there was none
other than Him in the entire universe. The same truth is
contained in the declaration Ekam Sath viprah bahudha vadanti
(truth is one, but the wise refer to it by various names). If
you wish to have the darshan of God, you must develop purity
of the heart. All kinds of sadhana are meant only to attain
purity. The moment you attain purity of the heart, the
omnipresent God will manifest right in front of you".
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On October 10, Swami talked about
educare. He said,
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"Good education is not
merely reading several books, gathering bookish knowledge and
teaching it to others. There is no use acquiring mere bookish
knowledge. By acquiring bookish knowledge, you may perhaps
become a book yourself. Real education is that which promotes
unity, equality and peaceful co-existence with fellow human
beings. Merely reading books and periodicals and acquiring
bookish knowledge is the so-called secular education. Real
education flows from the heart and is termed as ‘Educare’.
Educare is the basis and
foundation for all types of education. Educare is the adhara
(support) and education is the adheya (supported). All the
texts we read teach only education to us. But, this is totally
inadequate. We must pursue educare along with education".
He also related many interesting and absorbing stories from
the Ramayana to illustrate the practise of dharma."top
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During the conclusion of His
Discourse Swami made a very uplifting statement for these deeply
troubled times. He said,
"God loves every human
being. He does not hate anyone. The avataric mission is
meant to bring about a transformation in the hearts of human beings.
The global transformation of
human beings has already begun. Within a short period, you will
notice that the entire human community will come together and live
in peace and unity in keeping with the ideal cherished in the
Vedic prayer:
Let us live together, let
us grow together
Let us grow in intelligence together
Let us live in harmony with each other
I assure you that the golden
era is very near. The personal rivalries, differences and hatred
against fellowmen will become a thing of the past in Bharat and the
world at large".
On the 11th of October, Swami
brought the Prashanti Vidwan Mahasabha's divine discourses to a
close. In this discourse on the 11th, Swami talked about the mind
and made some very emphatic statements. He said, top
"It is only when man
develops faith in God that God will come to the rescue of man.
The same Atmatattwa that is residing in this body as the
indweller is present in every human being as well. Considering
the prapthi (deservedness) of the concerned individuals, God
interferes to bring about transformation in them. While doing
so, God will stick to His own discipline.
Transformation of
the human mind can not be brought about by a human being or by
chanting some manthra. It is only when God wills so, it is
possible. In keeping with the declaration
“EkamevaadvitheeyamBrahma” (Brahma is only one, without a
second). God does not change. God is truth, eternal and
unblemished. None can change such a Paramathma (supreme self).
It is very difficult to comprehend the nature of divinity".
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It was a supremely elevating week,
and perhaps a very tiring one for the Lord for He stayed till well
past 7PM every day during this week, to give His Divine Discourse
after the 3 or 4 speakers for the day had concluded. And after the
Divine Discourse had finished, He stayed on till prasadam
was distributed to all before He finally retired to Poornachandra
Hall. Truly the Lord's love knows no limits!
On
October 12 - Vijaya Dasami day, the Surdas drama was staged by the
Brindavan students (as reported earlier in the chronicles) to
formally bring the Prashanti Vidwan Mahasabha to a close.
On the 19th of October around 11:00
AM in the morning, Swami ("Love My uncertainty!", Swami
says) went to Brindavan, perhaps in response to the ardent prayers
of the devotees.
After spending time in Brindavan
giving immense pleasure to all devotees and moving in between them
during darshan, He returned back to Puttaparthi on the 20th
around 5:45 PM, in time for the evening arathi.
About 4000 balavikas children are now gathered here in
Parthi as we ready this chronicle for the current issue. This week
promises to be a fun-packed week and we will report all these
events, along with exclusive pictures, in our next issue.
So this brings to an end the
chronicles of a very interesting month here at Prashanti Nilayam.
Next month of course, is the big one - the 80th Birthday
Celebrations. Be sure to catch our reports and pictures of this
historic event in our issue dated the 1st of December, 2005 .
Till then, we wish you all the very
best and pray for Swami's blessings for all.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
.