FESTEJO DE GURU PURNIMA EN PRASHANTI NILAYAM

Om Sairam dearest Sai Family

What a beautiful Gurupoornima it was!!! Festivity and gaiety, happiness and bliss, peace and tranquility all over. This is what Prasanthi Nilayam stands for. The ashram was very beautifully decorated. There were so many devotees thronging into the holy abode right from morning. Ganesha idol in the main gate was beautifully decorated with Turmeric and nice decoration on His stomach and with a fitting turban on the head. The number of people circambulating  were suddenly doubled or may be tripled being a festival morning. 

The path leading to the Sai Kulwanth hall was also beautifully decorated with various triangular shape colour hangings. The Sai Kulwanth Hall was looking like a bride with so many colorful and beautiful floral decorations. 

The programme like always started with Veda chantings and a special musical programme by Students " Guruvandana" and a fantastic instrumental music session.. The songs were really soul stirring. This Gurupoornima morning, There were  three speakers. 

The first speaker of the day was brother Satyajit Salian whom we all know for His physical proximity to Swami. Brother Satyajit after offering salutations to Swami, remembered the first talk that he gave in Sai Kulwanth Hall in the year 1996 which coincidentally was on this very Guru poornima day.  Remembering that beautiful day, he said, Swami patted him on his head and said, " Chaala baga matladavu" ( You spoke very well). He later on  highlighted the progress of the Vidya Vahini Project which he is heading. Brother Satyajit shared some anecdotes, some behind the scene incidents before this project went live. Swami was very particular about the content and apparently He said, " Pillalaku artham ayye tatlu undali" ( Make sure it is understandable to children). When they all went to Swami to pick the name with few options, Swami chose "Vidya Vahini". After choosing, Swami asks, do you know, there is a book by this name? Brother Satyajit, highlighting Swami's simplicity and down to earth nature, said, "Vidya Vahini" was written by Swami but He never said, Do you know about the book that I have written but very innocently asked " Do you know there is a book by this name?"  That is why Swami is loved by millions around the world.

The project which was officially announced on 85th Birthday of Bhagawan in 2010, with collaboration with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) seems to be going in the right direction. Brother Satyajit shared how even Non-Sai Schools are  coming forward with action plans and showing interest in the concept. He also expressed his heart felt gratitude to Sri.Ratan Tata who has been playing a key role since its inception. He continued to say, just recently, Sri.Ratan Tata, promised to be part of this project for another 5 years which just shows his devotion to Swami. 

 He also thanked the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust for extending their full support and also for providing necessary equipment particularly for the rural schools. 

He also thanked the Alumni of Sri Sathya Sai University who are the pillars of this project. 

Brother Satyajit later asked Sri.Chakravarthi to release the specially designed students work book and Teachers' hand book . Sri. Siva Ramakrishna, the principal of Smt.Eswaramma High School was called up to accept the books and there was also one invitation for a representative from Swami's primary school to come and accept the book. 
Here was the icing on the cake of this morning's programme and a perfect example to show how much values have been instilled in these tiny tots from Swami's primary school.

Representing the primary school two tiny tots came over and Sri.Chakravarthi was ready in the middle to hand over the first copy of the books to them.  These boys, instead of going to him, directly went up to Swami's Mahasamadhi, bowed down and then accepted the first copy of the book. With the books they went back to Swami and took His blessings.. By then every one in Sai Kulwanth Hall put their hands together for this fantastic show of gratitude and respect to Swami, our Jagathguru by these tiny tots. 

The second speaker of the day was Sri.Srikanth Sola, Cardiologist presently serving in Sri Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital in Whitefield. A student introduced today's speakers and when he was introducing Dr.Sola, he would have taken atleast 3 -4 minutes to read out all his degrees, awards and achievements.. Before he even came on to the dais, I just prayed to Swami thanking Him for blessing such expert doctors to be part of His  "Temple of Healing". 

Dr.Srikanth Sola highlighting Swami's 4 Fs, Follow the Master, Face the devil, Fight till the end, Finish the game said it is enough if we just practice the first F,  follow the Master. Comparing the Sai Students who used to watch Swami's every minute move, rush to finish the task and then be calm and composed as if nothing happened, he said this is the best example of the word " Follow the Master" . Just follow His words and don't let your ego enter into the scene.

Dr.Srikanth who had a very successful academic record narrated how he studied for nearly 17 hours in a day preparing for his exams. In the exams all his hard work paid off and he stood first in the history of his college and also in the history of that particular exam. He was congratulated by all quarters of the society for this stupendous achievement and just when he was thinking it was all his hard work, Swami came into his dream and said, It was Me who made you achieve this"  Another reminder to " Follow the Master". 

Quoting a recent example of how the hospital management were in a fix when they were planning to get the latest state of of the art CT scan machine. Dr.Srikanth, who was also the member of the panel which was looking into the purchase of the CT scan machines (for both the hospitals)  said, they had this budget which was in Rupees and all the manufacturers were charging in Dollars. Due to the recent plunge in Dollar Rupee exchange, the price that was quoted by the companies were very high. The doctors on one hand were remembering Swami's words where He said, Not even a paise should  be misused or wasted because it is devotees' money and on the other hand, when Swami inaugurated the Super Specialty hospital, He was very particular to get the very latest CT Scan machine . Dr.Srikanth Sola said the latest machines were costing around Rs.2.5 crores which would be the cost of doing few hundreds of  heart operations. 

Just when they were in this " Cross roads" the CT scanner company came up to them and said, OK, we understand your situation and your noble work that you do for the society. We will supply you the two CT Scan machines for the price that we never gave to any one and it is within your budget. The whole Sai Kulwanth hall gave a huge round of applause on Swami's timely intervention. Just when ever one finished clapping all of a sudden the coloured triangular hangings which were tied to Sai Kulwanth Hall and East Prasanthi started flapping so loudly as if another 20,000 devotees were clapping. Swami was very much present in the Sai Kulwanth Hall confirming His timely help in this particular incident.

Dr.Sola went on to say how every doctor would want to participate in all the International Medical conferences to learn any new techniques and also to discuss the complicated cases in their particular field. To surprise of every one, the participants in the Medical Conferences are more keen to listen from the doctors of Sri Sathya Sai Hospital and their success stories. This is how much high respect the " Temple of Healing" bears in the society.

Dr.Sola was very good in his narration, looked very calm, composed and straight to the point. This kind of narration is very apt especially when you are addressing a heterogeneous audience most of them who haven't seen Swami in the Physical form. It is only Swami's grace and part of the Divine Plan that such highly qualified, efficient doctors are working for His Temple of Healing and as Dr.Sola mentioned, if every doctor, staff member follows the first "F", Follow the Master, they would be serving this institution till their last breath in spite of all the luring from the outside world where this profession just means " minting money" and also peer rivalry( if any). Let us all pray to Swami so that we will have some highly efficient, service minded doctors, as these institutions set up by Swami are the last hope to the thousands of poor who can't afford the expensive treatment else where..

The Third speaker of this morning was Shri. Dalto Amorim from Brazil. He spoke on the great job done by the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation in various countries and how Swami won every one's hearts irrespective of their caste, religion or colour. His talk was very touching and inspiring where he highlighted the social welfare activities taken up  at various countries where there were few natural calamities. He also spoke on the value based education system imparted by the Sri Sathya Sai Schools in various countries. He ended with  Asatoma Sadgamaya, Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya.. ,

Later a recorded Video of Swami's divine discourse was played on the big screen. Swami in that particular video spoke on breath control, So.... Ham. He said the breath has to be closely watched. One nostril is to inhale and the other to exhale. There is one state of retention in between these two process. Swami said, we should maintain equanimity in inhalation, retention and exhalation. 

Later He also spoke on eating habits. He said one has to be very calm before eating and shouldn't talk while eating failing which the digestive system is disturbed. ( Contrary to this, Many of us have a mini parliament session and all our family meetings always happen at the dining table). Hopefully from this Gurupoornima we will not talk while eating and have our meeting after lunch/dinner.

AFTERNOON SESSION:

Afternoon session started with Veda chants and there were three speakers who addressed the gathering this evening. 

The first one was Sri.Hemanth Patel who spoke on 9 point code of conduct and how we are ignoring them in spite of reading, studying about them. He said it is time for all of us to practice Swami's teachings and take His mission forward and He is with us constantly guiding us and guarding us.

The second speaker was Sister Divya Tyagi who spoke on the grand success of Balvikas programme especially in India. The programme which started with just 1000 students has now about 300000 students in more than 16000 centers with close to 19000 Gurus. She said, Balvikas is backed with one million Alumni who are going to take Swami's teachings into the society. She urged every one to make every house a Balvikas Center and let every mother be a Balvikas Guru leading from the front. Commemorating the Golden Jubilee celebrations, there are plans to have a " Walk for Values" programme in all parts of India on December 15, 2013

The third speaker was Sri.Sundar Anantaraman who spoke on the various social activities taken up by the Sri Sathya Sai Organisations. He said SSSO has been very actively participating in various activities and has built close to 700 houses in the flood affected Odhisha, 36 mobile hospital services in Maharashtra and Goa, about 1100 villages adopted and on Swami's Aradhana day this year 45000 people were fed in one day in Bangalore. 

He said, for any one who wants to do seva, they need to have this 3 qualities as stated by Bhagawan. 1. Our looks should be as cool as the Moon 2. Our talk as sweet as honey 3. Heart as soft as butter. With these 3 qualities no matter where we go and what we do we will be doing His work in His style..

Not sure how many know that Karnataka Sai Organisation has taken up the sevadal services in Swami's Super speciality hospital in Whitefield since inception.. Right through out the year, you will only find sevadals from Karnataka and it was a promise given to Swami which they are fulfilling even to this day. Sri. Sundar narrated how about 100 employees of various software companies completely new to Sai fold and never visited Parthi but are volunteering to serve in Swami's hospitals.

He reminded Swami's words where He said, " I can do any thing with My sankalpa, but I am giving you an opportunity to be part of My mission" How true these words are.. We all claim to be His instruments, His sevadals but it is only His grace that He made us worthy of doing this..

The evening programme ended with the musical programme by Smt.Soumya Srinivasan. The musical programme was very good but it was bit lengthy one and the day ended after 7 PM with Subramanyam Subramanyam Bhajan sung by Swami..

On a different note, the second phase of Sri Sathya Sai Water Supply project, as mentioned earlier is going on as scheduled. The L&T company out of gratitude, respect for Swami had promised to give water to 5 villages for Gurupoornima and they kept their promise. Here is a photo of the water being supplied to villagers of Vemuleti Palli about 30 minutes from Parthi

Sri.Kondal Rao along with engineers from L&T Company, is seen opening the Tap as villagers watch joyfully

This Gurupoornima was one of its kind. There was so much of happiness in the air. The Sai Kulwanth Hall was jam packed and many devotees had to stand out side. All the major leaders of Sai Organisation were present to pay their respect to Jagath Guru Sri Sathya Sai Baba. It was a moment of joy. There are series of programmes planned from tomorrow by few overseas devotees.

(Please note this is a personal work and if there were any short comings in this report they were not intentional and please don't take it seriously)

Photo Courtesy: Radio Sai

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Offering humble pranams at the Lotus Feet of our beloved Lord,

R.Satish Naik

Guru Poornima Celebrations (Evening Program)

Today at 7:30am · · Taken at Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthy

 

Radiosai presents some glimpse of Guru Poornima Celebration (Evening program at Sai Kulwant hall, 22 July) The program started with veda recital, talks by Sri Hemant Patel (Gujarat), Ms. Divya Tyagi (New Delhi), Sri Sundar Anantaraman (Karnataka), concluding with Musical presentation by Smt. Soumya Srinivasan.