Index of earlier Bulletins

August 11, 2006

This morning, at 7:05 A.M, Swami came out of Yajur Mandir, much to the joy and satisfaction of thousands of devotees who were waiting from the early hours of the day. The hall was brightly lit and Bhagawan arrived amidst the chanting of Vedam and Nadaswaram recital. He alighted from the car at 7:12 A.M. Just then, Swami's primary school students joined in the chanting of Vedam. Swami cast His knowing look at them. He then walked to the portico and smiled at the Ritwiks seated in front. His face showed supreme contentment as He enacted the role of the witness to His own play. He sat on the sofa at 7:20 A.M and watched the €˜Panchamrutha Abhisheka performed to the Linga. The Linga, christened "Saieeshwara", is a representation of the Macrocosm, the Universe, which Bhagawan declares, is the manifestation of His own Divine will.

As the Abhishekam went on, Bhagawan sat observing the rituals. The Linga (Lord Siva) was glorified as €˜Bhaktha Priya (dear to His devotees),˜Parvathi Priya (Consort of Lord Siva, the Sakthi Principle) and Nandhi Vaahana. At 7:45, Swami out of His indescribable love for His students called the "Birthday boys" and blessed them one by one and accepted their letters.

€˜Rudra Parayanam started at 8:05 A.M and after a short while Swami went into the interview room. On chanting €˜Rudram once, which consists of €˜Namakam and Chamakam, Mangal Arathi was offered to the Lingam. Each day of the Yagnam this rendition is done 11 times. Bhagawan came out of the interview room at 8:50 A.M, exactly when the €˜Rudram was chanted for the 11th time. After the completion of the Rudra Parayanam,˜Maha Mangala Aarathi was performed to the Lingam. Following this, the €˜Rudra Homam started. Offerings were made to all the 11 Yagna Kundas (Sacrificial Pits) by 11 Ritwiks sitting around each of the Kundas. Quite unexpectedly the sliding roof above the Mandir was opened in order to allow the smoke from the Yagna Kundas to rise up. Swami has said, "The cosmic energy from the Mantras rise up with the smoke from the Yagna Kundas and spread to the world, cleansing it." Perhaps that was the reason behind the opening of the sliding roof. Bhagawan left for His residence at 10 A.M. The €˜Rudra Homam continued and thereafter €˜Sai Gayathri Homam took place and the morning session concluded with Mangala Arathi to Bhagawan at 10.50 A.M.

The Rithwiks had started the afternoon worship for Saieeshwara (the lingam) prior to 2:30pm. After the abhishekam (ceremonial bath) the head priest dressed the lingam with a silk-blue shawl and placed the third eye (which Swami had created) upon its forehead. He then beautifully decorated the lingam with jasmine and bilva braids. He placed a rose upon the lingam and did worship with myriad flowers in consonance to the vedic chants. He then performed worship with holy ash as the priests who were seated chanted excerpts from the Namakam.

It was 4:20pm when Swami's car glided out from the Yajur Mandir. Swami went around in the car along the ladies side, came over to the pandal under which the yagnam was performed and then took a round over the gents side before reaching the interview room via the verandah. He then walked down from the car to his throne. It was getting dark and the clouds had gathered but in contrast to all His surroundings Swami appeared bright and fresh as a newly blossomed flower. Swami was seated on His throne by 4:30pm. With Swami's blessings Sri Vinay Kumar introduced the speaker for the session, an erudite scholar, Veda Brahma Sri K G Subbaraya Sharma.

The learned speaker chose to speak on the topic, 'Dakshina Moorthy - an incarnation of Shiva'. He involved the entire audience in a chant invoking Swami's blessings. He then went on to speak about Dakshina Moorthy as the guru for the entire world, the panacea for the ills of worldly life and the treasure of true knowledge. The wise speaker quoted from the Upanishads, the Gita and the works of great scholars to convey the message that we must seek the treasure of knowledge from God and not transient benefits. Shiva is easily pleased and grants all boons but we must ask the right thing from God, opined the speaker. He then concluded with a prayer of auspiciousness but then Swami told him to continue about Dakshina Moorthy. The pundit was more than happy and continued. He gave a vivid description of how Dakshina Moorthy, who is a small boy, dispels the doubts of old people who are his students. Through the power of silence He shatters their ignorance. The widely read speaker quoted from the Mundakopanisad a beautiful verse which meant, The knowledge of the self dissolves the knots in the heart and the burden in the mind. All doubts are shattered into smithereens and all karma is burnt to ashes.€� We must ask the Guru for that self knowledge which the only way to redemption. The scholar then compared Swami to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the Parabrahman (supreme reality). That Supreme One, he said, is Truth, Wisdom and Infinity (Sathyam, Jnanam, Anantham). He then concluded his talk with a chant bestowing auspiciousness.

After his talk Swami was extremely pleased and spoke to him lovingly. He then gave him permission to sit by his side. Then came the bonanza for the evening. Kaliyuga Dakshina Moorthy condescended to speak for the sake of all of us who could not gauge the inherent message in His silence. At 5:00pm Swami signaled for the discourse table and held stage for thirty minutes discoursing on the glory of Dakshina Moorthy. The discourse is as follows:

"Mouli gulkedu Chandra Markanda kala toda...."

With thick forelocks of matted hair,
And the holy ganges tumbling down his head,
A huge vermillion mark upon his forehead,
And endowed with a face blooming like a lotus
Lord Shiva has manifested himself.

Everything in the world is a manifestation of Dakshina Moorthy. He is the reflection, reaction and resound that is seen around us. Dakshina Moorthy is a little boy, whose mystery is boundless. His mystery cannot be unraveled. It is the sacred story of God. He disseminates knowledge through silence. He embodies the unique trinity that is common to all of us. The one we think we are. The one others think we are, and the one we really are. The form (Moorthy) of Dakshina Moorthy is one of bliss, beauty and truth. From this truth emerges everything, and into this truth it all merges. There is no place without truth and this truth is changeless. Can anyone describe Dakshina Moorthy who is an embodiment of this truth? M S Subbalakshmi (a renowned singer and ardent devotee of Swami) always began her concerts with a prayer in praise of Dakshina Moorthy.

This Dakshina Moorthy that we speak of, where is He? He is everywhere. Sarvatha paanipadam tat sarvatokshshiromukam. His hands and feet are everywhere; every face is His; all forms are His. There is no place in this world where He is absent, no object in which He is not present. Today man has learnt to transform on object into another without realizing that the inherent divinity in all things is the same, just like the ornaments are many but the gold is one; the colours of cows are many but milk is one; or the beings are many but the inner being is one. We utter the names of Rama, Krishna, but we must realize that all these are the names that we have generated. In fact all of these names refer to only on being, Dakshina Moorthy. Dakshina Moorthy is consciousness (Chaitanya) but due to body attachment man is unable to see this. This attachment is of the body, the mind, the intellect and ego. Added to all this we have the arishad vargas (desire, anger, avarice, lust, pride and self aggrandizement). These are like the clouds that cover the brilliance of the sun. But they can be got rid of by chanting the name of God which is like the cool breeze that blows away all the clouds. We are not born with the arishad vargas but we acquire them as we grow. These bad qualities like the clouds start to coalesce from small particles.

With one bangle on the arm there is no sound but put another and there is a jingle. When man is born he is alone but then he grows up and acquires a spouse. On becomes two and that two becomes 12 (many children). These are all the appendages that man acquires and they are not God-given. This is the teaching of Dakshina Moorthy. He was a mere boy but unaffected by attachment or bondage. Man should learn to live like a human being.he must then move over o the next stage where he says to himself, I am not a human being, I am God€�. When you say 'this is my handkerchief' you are different from it. Similarly when you say 'this is my mind', 'my body' you are different from either of them. Then who are you? You must realize that,€YOU ARE YOU. But you are in bondage since you have acquired many appendages. When we eat paan (betel-nut, betel-leaf, lime) we notice that the colour (red) comes because of the combination of all the three ingredients in proper proportions. Everything has a limit in which it functions properly. If man not realizing this crosses his limits, he becomes a demon. Man in Sanskrit is MA - NA €- VA. Ma - refers to maya(illusion) and attachment. NA - means without. VA - varthinchu (to conduct). A true man conducts himself without attachment or illusion. This is the teaching of Dakshina Moorthy.

The important thing for man is love bestowed upon him by his Mother. God is that love and we must live in that love. There is none in this world who can exist a moment without love. In the world today we join gangs and groups and learn to hate each other. Everyone associates himself or herself with some group, though the level of the group may vary. Instead we must all learn to think of the divine. When we think of the divine we attain devotion. With devotion alone we become true human beings and then we can have the vision of god. Rama was considered ordinary until he conquered Ravana (symbolizing the arishad vargas). We too must realize that we are Nityanandam parama sukhadam kevalam jnana moorthim€(permanent bliss, happiness, embodiments of wisdom, beyond duality..). We must throw away bad qualities and realize that we are premaswaroopas (embodiments of love). There will be much more to be conveyed in the coming days.

Swami concluded his discourse at 5:30pm. He then retired into the interview room and the stage was set for a music programme by a renowned semi-classical singer, Sri O. S. Arun Kumar. Swami came back at 5:37pm and sat behind the discourse table that was still there. Swami then gave consent for the programme to begin. The singer started with a Ganesha prayer and a song, Gayiye Ganapathi jaga vandana€�. He then sang the Shiva Panchakshari mantram. With wonderful variations he held the audience in rapture. When he sang the phala sruthi (the reward for singing the song, which states that one attains the state of shiva) it appeared so true in Swami's presence. Meanwhile Swami called for a singer from the students' bhajan group. He spoke to him and sent word for a couple of other singers and instructed them to get ready with some songs. It was a pleasant surprise for them but they gathered the others and with their musical instruments got ready to do Swami's bidding. Meanwhile the noted singer on stage asked Swami his permission to conclude his performance with a bhajan. With Swami's consent he sang the bhajan, Jagata udharana Parthiviharana. All the audience joined him in singing,€"Jai Sai Ram Jai Sai Ram" which comes in one of the lines of the bhajan. He then finished with resounding applause and cleared the stage for the students. Just when we felt that we had seen and heard the best of music the first singer burst into a mellifluous tune and held everyone in awe with his song, "Shivasankari Shivanandalahari". His voice of the heavens, suffused with devotion and wielded with the expertise of an artist with years of experience. He was followed by the other two students with songs, "Om Nama Shivaya.."€� and a Telugu song "Deva namo Deva". They sang six songs much to the joy and amazement of the entire audience and were greeted with thundering applause at the end of each song.

The wonderful programme for the afternoon stretched to as late as 7:00pm but we never felt a trace of fatigue. Swami had filled the entire day with wonderful feelings in His own style. Each day seems to come bringing with it surprises and involving everyone in the audience. Swami retired to Yajur Mandir at 7:00pm.

Images from 11th August are available at the Book Trust site.

During the Ati Rudra Maha Yagnam, Radio Sai will be broadcasting special half-hour capsules daily: The schedule page lists this programme as "Sounds from the Ati Rudra Maha Yagnam being conducted at Prasanthi Nilayam."

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