Prasanthi Bulletin - February 20th-21st, 2006

[Guest guest]

women folk from Ooty - the Badagas - as the community is called. They wear only

white saris and drape them in a different way from the conventional style. They

were overjoyed when they saw Swami approaching them in the car with the boys

running behind with the saris. Bhagawan personally supervised the distribution

of the saris. The car then moved along forward, but once again bypassed the

gents and went straight near the interview room. Swami went in at 4.30 p.m. A

little while later, the Badaga gents and ladies were called into the Bhajan

Hall. Swami also went in and spent some time interacting with them. After some

time, they started singing Bhajans inside. Though the mikes were not switched

on, we could hear the Bhajans that were being sung with full vigour. At 5.25

p.m., Swami took Aarti and retired for the day. February 20th, 2006 Bhagawan

gave morning Darshan today. In the evening, He was out by 3.00 p.m. and He

went straight into the Bhajan Hall to interact with the final year undergraduate

students who had assembled there to pray to Swami for Blessing their programme.

Swami spent a few minutes inside the Bhajan Hall speaking to the boys and

seeing their cards and letters. At 3.20 p.m., He came out and signalled to the

boys also to come out and get ready for their presentation. As the boys got

into their places in the Kulwant Hall and set everything for starting their

play, Swami Blessed the birthday boys and others seated in front. There were

almost a dozen boys waiting in a line and Swami Blessed each boy with a smile

and a few words too. At 3.30 p.m. the students began their presentation. This

is an annual affair, wherein the final year students both of the undergraduate

and postgraduate section make a presentation in the Divine Presence towards the

end of their academic year, expressing their deep sense of gratitude to their

Divine Mother and Father for all the Love and

Grace showered by Him on them and their families. This evening, it was the turn

of the undergraduate boys. The theme was Educare & Education. The programme was

designed as a series of songs intercepted by short skits and commentaries. The

first song was Hum Tere Hein Sai... In this first module, the virtue of duty as

expounded by Educare was highlighted. The aspect of duty was illustrated by the

example of Bharatha who comes to the forest to plead with Rama to return to

Ayodhya. But when the sage Vashishta tells Bharatha that his prime duty was to

obey the command of Lord Rama, he agrees to return to Ayodhya taking the

sandals of Lord Rama to represent the seat of monarchy. The next song was Enta

Manchee Teepu.... The second virtue bestowed by Educare was Understanding. A

student narrated the story of two brothers, one with a family and another a

bachelor. Each one was so concerned about the other that they kept sharing bags

of rice between them without their own

knowledge. The married brother would feel that his bachelor brother had no one

to take care of him in his old days. Therefore, he would carry a bag of rice

from his share of the harvest and empty it into his brothers granary. The

bachelor brother would feel that his married brother had so many family

responsibilities and more expenditure and hence would carry a bag of rice from

his share of harvest and empty the same into the married brother's granary.

This was the pure love and understanding they had between themselves. The third

module began with the song Kaise Jeeyun Mein Tere Bin Tu Jo Nahin To.... The

virtue highlighted was Love and Compassion. The story narrated was that of

Siddhartha who saves a bird wounded by a hunter. The hunter claims his

ownership over the bird but then finally Siddhartha proves his ownership over

it. The one who saves life has greater authority than the one who takes it

away. Another beautiful story of compassion was about a young

student from Hassan district, Karnataka who had a great ambition to become a

medical doctor. However, his financial condition prevented him from taking up

medical studies. To add to that he developed a serious heart ailment.

Incidentally, he approached the Super Specialty Hospital in Bangalore and was

treated for the ailment. He was so impressed by all the love showered on him by

the doctors and the nurses that he vowed to become a doctor and serve the needy.

But how could he get into the medical college? The e-journal Heart-to-Heart of

Radio Sai, wrote an article about this patient and how he was touched by the

treatment in the hospital. An Australian devotee who read all about this was so

struck that he flew down to Bangalore, procured the address of the patient from

the Hospital and then contacted the young man and got him admission into a

Medical College, promising him that he would take care of all the expenses!

What an act of Love prompted by our Lord! The

subsequent module talked about Nishkama Karma. A short skit was enacted showing

how a young man who was commanded by his father to get bananas for the Puja,

went out to the shop to procure the same. However, on the way finding a poor

hungry man, he gives away all the bananas and comes empty handed. The father

gets furious, but the Pujari explains that even without performing the Puja,

the family has gained the merit of the prayers because of this selfless deed of

their sacred son. Maa Prana Daivam Nija Divya Matru Roopam.... song followed.

Then came the virtue of Reverence. Yudhishtira was the role model. Even on the

battle field, he walked across the strip separating the two armies and bowed

down to his Acharya Bheeshma. Bheehsma is thus obliged to bless him with

victory though being on the enemies side. The song Marichitivemo Madilo Mammu

Sainatha.... filled the air. Each time a new module began; one student would

sit on a small platform resting against the cut out

of a tree facing Bhagawan, with a black robe and eyes tied with a blindfold. He

represented the blind man of today who was blind to the wisdom of educare and

was lost in mere education. As all the virtues are revealed one by one, finally

this man throws off his black robe and unfolds the blind covering his eyes. This

is symbolic of his enlightenment. The programme concluded at 4.45 p.m.

Throughout the presentation, Swami was very much involved. He was smiling,

making some comments and later even spoke at length to the boys who came

forward to hand over the scripts of the songs and roses, when the group singing

went on. He enquired many details with some students and even materialized a

ring for one. All the boys were overjoyed with the abundant Love and Grace

showered by Swami on all of them. At 4.50 p.m., Swami took Aarti and retired to

PC. One may say farewell to Parthi but one can never leave the Parthivaasa, for

He is always with us and in us. This feeling

permeated each one's heart as we walked out of the Kulwant Hall. January 30th to

February 18th, 2006 The last three weeks of Bhagawan's stay at Brindavan is

detailed here. 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://www.radiosai.org/pages/PB.htm