Prasanthi Bulletin - February 5th, 2006

[Guest guest]

Swami got up from the chair and indicated that He wanted to go down amongst the

devotees. Swami made His way towards the lift, came down, walked a few steps to

where Sri H.D. Deve Gowda, the former Deputy PM of India, was standing, blessed

him, and started walking amidst the students. Watching Swami walk was thrilling

as this was the first session when Swami actually walked amidst the devotees

during this visit. Swami crossed the first block, then turned left and crossed

over on to the ladies’ side, all the while accepting letters from the devotees.

Two brothers had the blessed opportunity to support Swami throughout. Once He

reached the end of the first block on the ladies’ side He turned to the left

and made His way back onto the stage. Only when He reached on-stage did He sit

down on the chair. There were few more Bhajans after which Swami asked for the

Arati to be performed and then retired to Trayee Brindavan. The whole session

lasted almost an hour and there

was so much of Love radiating from Him and the whole audience was reverberating

with joy. In the evening, the Seva Dal Bhajans were going on and Swami arrived

at 5:30 p.m. He came walking onto the stage and sat down on the chair. The

Brindavan Hostel boys had prepared a cultural programme. As soon as He sat

down, He indicated to the students assembled in the front that they could

begin. As soon as Swami gave them the permission, two boys ran up the stage

with a huge card, seeking His blessings. The programme titled “Ocean of

Devotion” was based on the Nine types of Devotion: Shravanam, Keertanam,

Vishnusmaranam, Padasevanam, Vandanam, Archanam, Dasyam, Sneham, Atmanivedanam;

and how the great devotees of all times had used these different types of

devotion to merge with the Lord. Parikshit had used Shravanam to reach the

Lord, whereas Meera Bai and Thyagaraja had used Kirtanam and so on. There were

anchors for each form of devotion and they explained the

significance of each type of devotion, and gave examples of the devotees of the

Lord who followed that form of Bhakthi. The presentation was interspersed with

beautiful songs, all chosen appropriately to that form of devotion. During the

programme, the Hon’ble Vice-President of India Sri Bhairon Singh Shekawat and

the Hon’ble Governor of Karnataka Sri T.N. Chaturvedi arrived. They were seated

near the stage and sat through the remainder of the programme. There was so much

feeling in the songs being sung that Swami appeared moved by the programme.

After the programme Swami took Arati, got up, walked behind the stage and

retired to Trayee Brindavan. You can see an illustrated version of

happenings at Prasanthi Nilayam in the Prasanthi Diary of our monthly e-Journal

Heart to Heart. The previous issue of Prasanthi Bulletin is available here. The

Photo album contains photos of events of past Prasanthi Bulletins. Index of

past Prasanthi Bulletins... Source: Radio Sai

Websitehttp://radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm