|
Index of earlier Bulletins
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.
|
