Puttaparthi to get total makeover

Puttaparthi to get total makeover
Express News Service
First Published : 26 Feb 2010 05:10:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Puttaparthi will get a new makeover as the State Government is gearing up to take up works worth about Rs 5 crore before commencement of the 85th birthday celebrations of Sri Sathya Sai Baba on November 23. Chief Minister K Rosaiah today directed various departments to speed up works pertaining to roads, drainages, drinking water supply and other beautification works at the earliest in coordination with the Puttaparthi Urban Development Authority.

The works to be taken up include repair and maintenance of roads worth Rs 3 crore by the Roads and Buildings Department, completion of Rs 1.64 crore worth road works by the Panchayat Raj Department and completion of the drinking water supply scheme at a cost of Rs 75 lakh by the Rural Water Supply Department. The Tourism Department will take up beautification of bunds around the Chitravati river and other works. All these works will be completed before the 85th birthday celebration of Sri Satya Sai Baba on November 23, keeping in view of large number of devotees including foreigners visiting Puttaparthi on the occasion.

Tourism and Information Minister J Geetha Reddy, Roads and Buildings Minister Galla Aruna, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Anam R a m n a r ay a n Re d d y, Panchayat Raj Minister Botsa Satyanarayana and other officials were present.

Express Buzz Reference

Merry Christmas From The SathyaSaiBaba Blog

Merry Christmas From The SathyaSaiBaba Blog

Merry Sai Christmas

The three stages of Jesus’ life
Jesus was kaarana-janma, a Master born with a purpose, the mission of restoring love, charity and compassion in the heart of man. He had no attachment to the self, nor paid any heed to joy or sorrow, loss or gain. He had a heart that responded to the call of anguish, and he went about the land preaching the lesson of love. His life was a libation for the upliftment of humanity.

Like most seekers, he first searched for the Divine · in the objective world. But he soon realised that the world is a kaleidoscopic picture created by one’s own imagination, and sought to find God within himself. His stay in the Himaalayan monasteries in Kashmir and in other centres of eastern asceticism and philosophical inquiry, gave him greater awareness. From the attitude of being a Messenger of God, he could now call himself the Son of Clod. The bond of relationship increased: the ‘I’ was no more some distant light or entity; the light became a part of the “I.” With the body-consciousness predominant, he was a messenger. With the heart-consciousness in the ascendant, he-felt a greater nearness and dearness, and so the son-father bond seems natural at this stage.

Later as the Aathman-consciousness was established, Jesus could declare, “I and My Father are One.” The three stages may be described as: “I was in the Light,” “The Light was in me,” and “I am the light,” and may be compared to the Dhwaitha (dualism), Visishtaadhwaitha (qualified non-dualism) and Adhwaitha (non-dualism) stages as described in Vedhic philosophy. The final stage is the one when all duality has been shed. This is the essence of all religious disciplines and teachings.

Jesus’ original name was Isa
Jesus was honoured by the populace as Christ, for they found in his thoughts, words and deeds, no trace of ego. He had no envy or hatred, and was full of love and charity, humility and sympathy. Jesus’ original name was Isa which, when repeated, is Sai. Isa and Sai, both mean Ishwara (God), the Eternal Absolute, the Sath-Chith-Aanandha (Being-Awareness-Bliss). In the Tibetan manuscript, at the monastery where Isa spent some years, his name is written as Isha, which means the Lord of all living beings.

When Jesus proclaimed that he was the Messenger of God, he wanted to emphasise that every one is a messenger of God and has to speak, act and think like one. This is the true Karma- Kaanda (branch dealing with action and its reaction) of the Vedhas: saadhana (discipline) of karma (work), japa (prayer), seva (service) and dhyaana (meditation). When progress is furthered, Jesus asserted, each one can recognise all as Sons of God, Children of God, brothers and sisters of oneself, and so, deserving of worship. The Upaasana Kaanda (branch of Vedhas dealing with contemplation) is the scripture in Sanaathana Dharma (Eternal Universal Religion) for this stage. Finally, knowledge ripens into wisdom and’ the goal of Jnaana Kaanda (branch of Vedhas dealing with spiritual wisdom) is reached, when each one realises, “I and my Father are One.”

With love for the Baba

With love for the Baba

A grand event was staged to celebrate Puttaparthi Sathya Sai Baba‘s 84th birthday.

To celebrate the 84th birthday of Puttaparthi Sri Satya Sai Baba, a five-day festival of music was organised. Several associations of his devotees, followers and members of the city seva samithi in association with the pupils and teachers of Sri Satya Sai Vidya Vihar in MVP Colony, organised the festival of music, dance and drama.

The ballet Sree Paadaalu scripted and directed by M. Prakasa Rao, staged on the penultimate evening on last Sunday was the highlight of the festival.

Enacted by about five scores of pupils of the Sri Satya Sai Vidya Vihara on the imposing stage, attracted a very large gathering. It depicted the story, how a very prideful scientist who was an atheist got totally reformed after coming to know about Sathya Sai Baba from one of his staunch devotees whom he came across by chance.

As was advised by the devotee, he went along with him on a pilgrimage to get ethically worthy enough to visit Prasanthi Nilayam, the abode of Sathya SaiBaba at Puttaparthi and fall on his feet to get blessed by him for deliverance from the ill effects of the sinful life that he had led.

Visualisation as to how his desire gets fulfilled marked the grand finale of the ballet. All dialogues in prose and lyrical form for all the dramatis-personae were perfectly rendered by professionals (evocatively, musically, melodiously and aesthetically) and were pre-recorded. Makeup, sound and stage management were admirably accomplished. No wonder, watching the ballet, spell bindingly turned out to be an enthralling and elated experience.

The Hindu Reference

Bharathanjali: Senior personalities in the art field felicitated

Bharathanjali: Senior personalities in the art field felicitated

It was Sri Sathya Sai Baba‘s 84th birthday this Monday and it is a ritual by Acharya Choodamani Anitha Guha where she felicitates and honors exponents in the field of arts for their commendable contribution. The awards were conferred upon by Dr.Pappu Venugopala Rao, Secretary, Music Academy and Prof. Sudharani Raghupathy, Founder, Director, Bharathalaya. What started as honoring young artists 8 years ago has now turned to the older people. Says the ever-smiling Anitha Guha, “Being an ardent Sathya Sai Baba devotee, I try following his saying ‘Love all, Serve all’. This is something that I can do to my artistic family from my side and it is not an award function. It is just a thanksgiving function from Bharathanjali to the doyens of the art field.”

This year being the completion of 20 years of Bharathanjali and 10 years of Bharathanjali trust, around 8 personalities like Yagna Raman, Former Secretary, Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Karthik Rajagopal, Founder-Secretary, Vice President, Karthik Fine Arts, D.S.Ramanujam, Former Secretary, Karthik Fine Arts, Leela Sekar, Chairperson, I.D.A, R.Srinivasan, Senior Executive IOC (Retd.), Member, LAC, TTD, Chennai, Nandini Ramani, Bharatanatyam Exponent, Managing Trustee- Dr.V.Raghavan Centre for Performing Arts, K.Hariprasad, Lecturer in Vocal Music, Kalakshetra, Dr.Gayatri Kannan, Principal of Nrithyodaya. The title given to each awardee was uniquely titled by Anitha Guha herself like Sathya Parama Kala Poshaka Sundaram, Sathya Gandharva Gana Sundaram and Sathya Gana Kokila Sundaram. “These people have been with us helping with our productions from time immemorial and that is why I thought of felicitating them.”

Coming to Anitha Guha’s function and going back home without seeing a dance performance from Bharathanjali sounds ridiculous. Students with the perfect Nritha and Abhinaya gave a few performances which kept the audience in rapt attention. One fact what quite evident and true, Anitha Guha is definitely a boon to the artistic community as she has groomed her students very well.

Chennai Online Reference

Break Free Of Rituals And Abstractions

Break Free Of Rituals And Abstractions
Shammi Paranjape
23 November 2009, 12:00am IST

The Srimad Bhagavatam lit a new path to the Divine, free from binding ritual and esoteric abstractions. On the one hand, it portrayed the majesty and might, the mahatmya of the Supreme Being. On the other, it revealed the tantalising possibility of blissful communion with Him in a loving relationship. In doing so, the Bhagavatam introduced the liberating and transcendental gospel of bhakti yoga.

Nothing pleases God as much as devotion. How dear bhaktas or devotees and their bhakti or devotion are to the Lord can be gleaned from the declaration in the Srimad Bhagavatam, that it is for the love of devotees that God takes form from time to time. Sathya Sai Baba says:

“The Avatar or Form Incarnate on earth is only the concretisation of the yearning of seekers. They are the prime cause. The cow secretes milk for the sustenance of the calf. It is the chief beneficiary. But others too benefit from that milk. So along with the sustenance of the bhaktas, other incidental benefits also accrue, such as fostering of dharma.” ~Sathya Sai Baba

Srimad Bhagavatam belongs to the class of Hindu scriptures known as the Puranas, and enlightens humanity on the sacred mystery of incarnations. The mystical life of the divine enchanter Krishna is finely detailed in the Bhagavatam, inspiring devotion in human hearts. Though the concept of devotion is as old as the Vedas, the Bhagavatam introduced the concept of a personal god with countless attributes who could be adored and worshipped as ‘one’s own’, in the form of child, parent, master, friend, or beloved.

The word ‘bhakti’ is derived from the root ‘bhaj’, which has several meanings to serve, to honour, to love, to adore. According to Narada, the great theoretician of bhakti, it is the wholehearted and supreme love of God, obtaining which the devotee feels he has gained the highest attainment in life, as also unalloyed bliss. Sandilya has expressed bhakti as ‘unabated and unslackening attachment to God.’

The Bhagavatam expands the frontiers of bhakti and states, ”When all energies of mind, organs of knowledge and of action become concentrated as a unified mental mode, directed to the Supreme Being, spontaneous like an instinct and devoid of any extraneous motives, the resulting state of mind is bhakti. It is superior even to mukti. Like fire it burns away the soul’s sheath of ignorance.”

Bhakti is divine engagement with the Supreme; it draws upon the highest energies of the soul. It calls for incessant yearning from a purified heart, soaked in devotion. Krishna said of the gopis, blessed souls who attained to this state and whose total devotion for Krishna is at the centre of the Bhagavatam: “They never learnt the Vedas, they never served any teacher, they practised no austerity, but by association with holiness and love alone they attained to Me.”

Sathya Sai Baba says:

“Devotion is the supreme state that man can attain. It is bhakti that proves the eternal truth, Tat Twam Asi Thou Art That that the devotee and God are one.” ~ Sathya Sai Baba

The Bhagavatam too declares bhakti to be the highest gift of God, bestowed on aspirants more rarely than mukti itself. No wonder then that the bhakta is ready to forego even the pleasures of Vaikuntha and the goal of mukti itself, for the ineffable delight of loving his Lord.

Today is Sathya Sai Baba’s birthday.

Times Of India Reference

Parents must set the best example

Parents must set the best example

Sai Reflections
Published: 18 Nov 2009

The following words (author unknown) are worth pondering over:

If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
he learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love. Praise is good, but don’t overdo it: It has at last been realised that a child does need some encouragement and praise but, like most things, this can be overdone. Give praise when it is due, but don’t shower praise on shoddy work and half-baked efforts. Your child is no fool, and knows perfectly well that it could have done much better, and so loses respect for your judgement if you are too easily satisfied. It is much more helpful to examine the work carefully (whether picture, homework, sandcastle, or anything else) praise the good parts, then give constructive hints on how it could be improved.

In that way, the child will appreciate that you have shown genuine interest, while, at the same time, being encouraged to do better. One needs to build the child’s self confidence, but giving praise where it is not due can produce the opposite result. The child can become addicted to praise and, when it is not forthcoming, a feeling of insurmountable inadequacy then often takes over. The need for ideals: Our aim should always be to prepare our children for life. This means giving them ideals, self-confidence, adherence to values, consideration for others, and the courage to face difficulties. But this also implies that you, yourselves, must practice these virtues. Sathya Sai Baba: “People want happiness in the family, but they fail to lead exemplary lives. The fault lies with both the husband and the wife. If children have taken to wrong paths these days, the parents alone are responsible, as they are not exemplary in their behaviour either.”

Children learn by example: As Sathya Sai Baba says elsewhere, “Parents must set good examples for their children. Parents talk of honesty, but they utter lies in the presence of their children, and even encourage them to speak falsehood. The father, while at home, asks the child to tell the unwelcome visitor that he is not at home! The child is thus taught his first lesson in prevarication by the father himself. There is no use blaming the child if he grows into a social menace.” It is natural for children to imitate the grown-ups around them; that is how they learn. It is no use scolding your child for using some four-letter word that you, yourself, use at every turn. By all means correct the child, but say also that you realise that you must correct yourself as well; you can even ask him to help you correct yourself—he will be very good at it, and you might even succeed in breaking the habit! Sathya Sai Baba: “You should have proper control over your children, but first of all you must have control over yourself. Only when the father is good, can he expect his son to be good. Is it possible for him to keep his son at home if he, himself, roams about as he pleases and goes to places that he should avoid?”

Compiled by Sathya Sai Institute of Education West Indies.

Trinibad And Tobago Guardian Reference

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Sai Baba birthday celebrations

The Sai Nilayam at No. 113, New Chetty Street, Colombo 13 will celebrate the 84th birthday of Sri Sathya Sai Baba on November 23. The program will commence at 5 a.m. The inter-religious flag hoisting ceremony will commence at 9 a.m. and special poojas and bajan will be held the full day. A Sai Chariot Procession will be held on the November 22 at 6 p.m.

Daily News Reference

Sathya Sai Music Fest From Tomorrow

Sathya Sai Music Fest From Tomorrow
Express News Service
First Published : 17 Nov 2009 01:53:00 AM IST

KOCHI: The 19th Sri Sathya Sai Sangeetholsavam organised by Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithy, Vaikom, in connection with the 84th birthday celebrations of Sathya Sai Baba will begin on November 18. Renowned musicians will perform at the sixday classical music festival.

K G Raju, Director, Department of Cooperation, will inaugurate the festival.

Fr Francis Arikal, director, Welfare Group of Institutions and vicar of Nadel Church and Vaikom P K Nandana Varma, president, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithy Organisation, will speak at the inaugural function. Vaikom P S Venugopal, director, Kshetra Kalapeedam, Vaikom, will preside over the function.

The inaugural session will be followed by a sopana sangeetham performance and a vocal concert by Babu M Marar and a devotional music concert by Ambili and party.

Vocalists Babu M Marar, K J Chakrapani, Thenkarai Maharajan, Harirag Nandan, Aluva Gopakumar, Thamarakkad Krishnan Namboodiri, Muthu Krishna Moorthy, Changanassery Madhavan Namboodiri, Thoppur Sairam and Vaikom T V Jayachandran will perform at the festival.

Express Buzz Reference

From Puttaparthi – Raja Reddy Incidents

Sathya Sai Baba At The Chitravathi

From Puttaparthi – Raja Reddy Incidents

Among the few fortunate devotees, who came to Sathya Sai Baba in the early years of His avatharhood, Mr Raja Reddy is exceptional. He was one of the most privileged who came to Bhagavan as a teenager and continued to stay in the Divine Presence enjoying His blissful divine proximity for nearly three decades. In his words:

Once I had a difference of opinion with Baba – you know ego coming out! We were stationed in Bangalore – in one devotees’ place. And I took it so much to heart that I thought I must back off! And in fact, I did back off. I took a 3 hour bus journey to return to my home.

But half way through the journey, as I was having a snack in a way-side hotel, I don’t know what happened! My whole heart was being wrung like a wet towel. I could not stand it! Automatically tears started flowing from my eyes unendingly.

So much so that the other inmates at the hotel thought: ‘Poor fellow; he must be suffering from some agony!’ The tears would not stop. It was a ceaseless flow. I could not stand it anymore; I was finished! I took the next bus to Bangalore and said, “Come what may, I am going back to Baba!”

When I reached, I saw Sathya Sai Baba sitting quietly on the bed, writing a letter to me! Yes! He was writing: “Where will you leave me and go?”

From then on I decided – He is the supreme indweller! And nothing can be done without His permission. When He has your heart under His control, you can’t do anything! You’re finished. Your brain doesn’t work. So that’s how it happened and that’s when I decided: “I will not go anywhere without Your Will – it can’t be done!”

He knows absolutely everything; it was something fantastic! And you know all the rest of it – whenever a thought rises in the mind of any one of the devotees sitting there, it at once gets registered there in Sathya Sai Baba’s Solar Consciousness; so much so that He reacts immediately!

For instance, my wife, and my son – they have also had such experiences. Once Satya Sai Baba was giving an interview; and He called my wife too. There were some rich people around Him. Then she had a faint thought in her mind: ‘He gives special attention to rich people!’

Sathya SaiBaba was talking then about something else, but He immediately turned to her as if following her thought and said: “Why? Because under them there are so many other people who are working; and they will all be benefited by it!” Everybody working under the rich person can get influenced!!! So many people will be benefited if one at the helm is corrected. Naturally, His heart goes out to other people also; so they also stand to benefit. So, instead of catching every small ant, catch hold of the queen ant! That’s what Sathya Sai Baba is doing; and that’s what Swami Vivekananda used to do too.

Gradually he put me in bhajans and in driving His car and looking to His various duties; getting His bath ready and His bed, and so many other opportunities! He has been immensely graceful to me – giving me all those chances to do seva, and so it went on.

It was in Ooty and Baba was relaxing on a cot; only we two were there in the room. Sathya Sai Baba said: “If you are a devotee of Vishnu, you will see the parama-jyoti (Supreme light) coming from my heart; if you are a devotee of Shiva, you will see it from my forehead – where the third eye or the Jnana netra (eye of wisdom) is located.” I, of course, saw a jyoti (Divine light) in the heart area, as I have been a devotee of Lord Krishna right from the very beginning.

I told you I am a born skeptic! I wouldn’t yield that easily; I have an ego too! After Sathya Sai Baba went out of the room, I took His torch which He had kept under the rug. I thought: ‘Will it give me the same effect? Let me try it!’

Immediately Sathya Baba caught me red-handed! He came inside and said: “What shall I do to make you believe?”

Heart 2 Heart Reference

Divine Experience Of Late Shri Kutumba Rao

Sathya Sai Baba 1944

Divine Experience Of Late Shri Kutumba Rao

Late Kutumba Rao was an ardent devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, he came to Parthi in late 40s to see who this wonder kid is. After being impressed and convinced by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba he stayed back and did a great service at various levels in the Trust and passed away in 1989 .

Well, this happened in 1950 when Shri Kutumba Rao came to Parthi for Dharshan enroute to Tirupathi. His intentions were to stay at Parthi for 3 days and from there to go to Tirupathi for a couple of day’s stay. As he spent time at Parthi, attended a few sessions of Chitravathi, bhajans he forgot the time. He only realized the time when his money coffers became empty. With full faith he prayed to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for the success of his remaining part of the tour. As a response to that he heard a message in the evening that Sathya Sai Baba would be leaving for Brindavan by late evening, which means that he lost the opportunity to talk to Bhagawan in the next morning.

The determined Kutumba Rao prayed and stayed. A few hours passed and Sai Baba left for Brindavan. Shri Kutumba Rao was completely at lost as he left with penniless to go home or continue his journey. When he was in that dilemma a person came in search of Shri Kutumba Rao and asked him “Are you Mr. Kutumba Rao”. After hearing in affirmative the stranger put a pocket in Kutmba Rao’s hand, to his pleasant surprise, told him, Sathya Sai Baba asked me to give you. Shri Kutumba Rao opened and found a set of currency notes in that packet.

The overjoyed devotee thanked the omniscient Lord and pursued his journey. He never counted how much money was there in that pocket. As the Lord sent, it should have sufficient money to take care of his journey. As he started spending money to his delight he kept on getting money. He reached home and after spending some time with family he went inside the Pooja room to open the packet to count the money.

To his Surprise, there was only a Rupee note left in that.

This note is still in the Pooja room of the family members of Shri Kutumba Rao. That was the faith and that was the response of Lord.

New Year 2009 At The Sathya Sai Baba Ashram

Old And The New

2009 New Year Morning Darshan At Prashanti Nilayam, Sathya Sai Baba Ashram

- New Year Celebrations At Prashanti, 01 Jan 2009, Pictures

Curtesty SaiEditor:
The darshan hall is quiet, the flag-bearers await Swami, the procession and band wait quietly outside Yajur Mandir. The darshan hall is chock-a-block full of waiting devotees. Primary school children enter the darshan hall, in their bright orange vests; parents wait for their children to pass and get a glimpse. Classes carrying New Year Cards and Greetings to Swami; some are quite large.

Silence; waiting for the Lord. My mind wanders and I wonder if Swami is waiting for Muhurtam, a most auspicious time for giving of grace, blessing and Love, Love, Love. At 9.45am, the procession enters the darshan hall – Flag bearers, students dressed as brahmins in ochre robes with white shawls enter next, chanting slokas, among all of that I hear the Sai Gayathri, and then Swami enters, dressed in white, in the gold throne chair, with umbrella following him.

A slow procession across the darshan hall, then across the very front of the porch, up to the veranda.

The porch cover is draped in bunting, green boughs and there is a floral arch atop with Happy New Year. Swami’s face is beaming, almost a radiant, golden face, he has a smile and moves slowly across the front of the porch to traverse the length of the veranda where cards and cakes are presented by the various classes and schools.

Swami then arrives at the front of the porch, where he lights two lamps; there is applause as Swami lights the lamps. The brahmin students continue to chant slokas. Swami turns and faces the darshan hall. Looking down the darshan hall, I can see men standing at the back, the crowd is impassable, there are men on the steps, men have climbed the iron fencing itself to obtain darshan.

Up the front, cameras flash. Students kneel in front of Swami; there is some conversation and the morning’s program is presented to Swami.

Enfin, the Brahmin students chant Shanti, Shanti Shantihi.

Silence.

First is an orchestral presentation … orchestral music, trumpets, drums, electric piano, tuba, oompha, more drums, cymbals, it is grand to listen to. There is loud applause as the Music College students finish their numbers.

One student arises, takes padnamaskar and speaks. He talks about the difference Swami makes to this world, every sunrise, every day, every breath of wind, all of creation is graced by all of His love. His integrity, his grace and above all, His love, makes our lives pristine, pure and a holy offering. On behalf of all of us present, and devotees everywhere, he greets Swami on this auspicious new year day.

The violins play a catchy tune, and there is a song, very uplifting about the glory of Sai Baba. The next song is pure magic. It is a song to Sai Maa, with western backing, it grabs the very heart and soul and lifts the emotions, all of who you are up with each refrain to Sai Maa. Swami is reading the program. A pause; more of this marvellous song:

Sai Maa,
Sai Maa,
Atma Maa,
Atmaswarupa Maa,
SAI MAA

And that last Sai Maaaaaa just about blows the roof of the darshan hall. Marvellous.
The oboe plays a solo number; serenity pervades the darshan hall.

Students then sing a composition called Sai Prema Govinda, those voices are of the quality I recall of the great singers of classical ragas. They are fabulous voices. There is a twist, a very nice song with a strong catchy drum support about “Surrender to you, Sai Prema Maa”, and I realise its the same song, Sai Maa with a catchy rock beat behind it; they sing of the glories of Shirdi, the glories of Parthi. Then Sai Govinda, beloved of the Gopees.

Students approach Swami, kneel and offer the next part of the program to Swami. One of them gives a talk and towards the end of the talk, the electric piano starts up accompanied by flute, and a lovely song, the crowd sing along and clap, “Everybody loves Sai”. A very catchy song, sung bhajan style. Crowd joins in enthusiastically. Its a mixture of blues, rock, very appealing and parts of it remind me of Frank Sinatra singing! That causes me to pause a bit and ponder the skillbase of these students — they have certainly acquired a vast repertoire of musical ability; this reminds me of what Swami told me one day, “What I look for in people is capacity”.

Swami, wearing a white robe, is seated at the front of the darshan hall on the golden throne-chair, (I don’t think this one is a car seat, somehow) (although it could well be) … and he dabs his lips often, and keeps referring to the program. A troupe of students wearing gaily coloured headbands approach the front of the porch and begin dancing and singing Nacho, Nacho, Nandalala, and they move through several different types of dance as they sing; a Radhe-Gopala bhajan, and then Govinda Krishna Jai which everybody joins in, singing and clapping. They did it really well.

Another student gets up and gives a talk; students then approach Swami with bowls of prasadam which Swami blesses. Electric piano and flute lead the bhajans as the students begin to thread their way through the darshan distributing prasadam to all present.

And that was the morning darshan for New Year Day. The Lord Sai was captured prisoner by the love and devotion and presentations of the students and assembled devotees on this New Year’s Morn.

Courtesy: http://saieditor. com/spirit/

Curtesy RadioSai
Thursday, January 1, 2009

The Sai Students – alumni of Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan – were ready to escort Bhagawan from His residence to Sai Kulwant Hall in a procession with flag marchers and Poornakumbham with Vedam. Swami arrived just before 10 am in a dazzling white robe seated on a golden chair, granting New Year darshan to the devotees who filled and surrounded Sai Kulwant Hall. When He reached the verandah, Bhagawan blessed the cakes there and came onstage to begin the programme arranged by the Sai Students. A band programme with symphonic and vocal accompaniment was followed by songs composed for the occasion by the Sai Students. The whole programme was interspersed with short speeches by the alumni, reliving their days with Sai. A bhajan medley formed the score for a short dance programme too. Swami blessed the participants who came up to Him one by one, and after prasadam was distributed, accepted Arati at 11.35 am.

Bhagawan arrived in the evening for darshan clad in a deep red robe. When He came onstage just before 5.30 pm, He blessed the brass band of the University to perform, and they played a couple of pieces with brief introductions. Songs by the students followed. Swami called up some of the alumni singers and asked them to sing, and they sang some of the group songs which used to be sung by the students in the mid-90s. After 45 minutes of music, Bhagawan delivered His Divine Message. Bhagawan’s emphasised the message of Advaita, stressing the point that there is nothing in this world which is not divine, and that we should conduct ourselves bearing this in mind. After speaking for more than 70 minutes, Bhagawan asked for Bhajans to begin at 7.25 pm. Prasadam was distributed, and Swami accepted Arati at 7.45 before returning to His residence.

Also see:
- Happy New Year 2009 From The SathyaSaiBaba WordPress Blog