SPREADING SWAMI'S MESSAGES: THE DIGITAL DIMENSION

[Guest guest]

The 23rd of this November is the fourth birthday of Radio Sai. On this happy

occasion, we take you down memory lane and recount the progress that has been

achieved till now by the grace of Swami.

SPREADING HIS MESSAGE: THE DIGITAL DIMENSION.

In the Inaugural Issue, we wrote that things are beginning to happen that we

never dreamt of. This article will take you behind the scenes and tell you how

the Lord makes things happen, and quietly too, all in His own way of course.

And there is a message behind it, which is that things will happen only when

Samayam and Sandarpam are right, meaning the time and the circumstances must be

right.

Many years ago, a devotee from America brought a team of about seven or eight

people. The members of the team seemed to be important, judging from the

attention given to them in veranda seating! They of course also got an

Interview. At that time, we did not know anything else; it was only later we

learnt that the group had come with a view to persuade Swami to give His

blessings to put up a radio station here in Prashanti Nilayam, as a part of a

chain of radio stations the world over, spreading religious and spiritual

teachings. We don’t know if the general idea took off, but this we do know; no

radio station came up in Prashanti following this visit, which means that Swami

ignored the idea of a radio station at that time.

Meanwhile, there were constant attempts to “talk Swami into” agreeing to have a

web site and make that the vehicle for the dissemination of His Message. People

said, “Swami, this web business is a great thing. All spiritual organisations

have it. You must bless one for us also.” Swami just smiled. But Internet

addicts would not take the hint; they started their own web sites, many of

which often became gossip and rumour sites! So much so, in one Discourse, Swami

went to the extent of saying what we need is INNERNET and not Internet.

Many grumbled saying, “Swami does not understand how useful the Internet is. Why

is He so much against computers?” Is Swami against computers as such? If so, how

come there are so many computers in His hospitals? How come the Central Trust

uses computers extensively for its administrative and accounting work? Would

these computers be there without His permission? How come there is even a

Master of Technology [M.Tech] Course on Computer Science in Swami’s University,

the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning? The answer is loud and clear.

Swami is not against computers as such but their irrational and irrelevant use.

 

We come now to September, 2001. One afternoon that month, a group of four people

came from Bangalore for Darshan. Two were from overseas and two were from India.

They seemed like important people because they were seated right in the front.

Swami came out for Darshan, and these people were duly granted an Interview.

Nothing very special in that, since this sort of thing happens from time to

time. But this time, there was something different. That became known a few

days later when Bhagavan Baba announced that one of those who came earlier was

Dr. Samara, Chairman of the World Space Corporation, and that he had offered

free a radio channel on his satellite Asiastar, for digital broadcast of

Swami’s Message, 24 hours a day. It happened just like that – no one here asked

for it or even dreamt about it, and yet it happened because the time had come!

It was decided that the radio service would be up on Birthday, 2001, and that

Swami would inaugurate the service that morning. All this was fine but no one

here knew anything about broadcasting, and much less digital radio broadcasting

via satellite! But now, we had to know all that and there was so little time

left! That is how He always tests us; as He says, “Test is taste for God!” We

sure know what that means here!

So a radio team was hurriedly formed with just two people to start with, and

hardly any equipment dedicated for this purpose. But living in Prashanti, we

know how to improvise and come up with something or the other in the last

minute. And thus it was on 23rd November 2001, RADIO SAI came on the air for

the first time when Bhagavan pressed a button in Sai Kulwant Hall, as a part of

the Birthday celebrations. When Swami pressed the button, a message was flashed

from the Mandir to Melbourne in Australia by cell phone – we had two cell

phones just in case one of them failed! – and the person in the Melbourne

uplink station of World Space switched on the computer which then started

sending a pre-recorded programme to the satellite. That programme was received

by a receiver we had set up in the Mandir, and this signal was fed to the

public address system. Thanks to all this, the people assembled in the Sai

Kulwant Hall heard the

inaugural programme, which lasted seven minutes – we had arrived! By the way,

when Swami pressed the switch, a big board that was kept in the Hall lit up and

that was the symbolic inauguration.

In spite of all the announcements made, few really understood that the programme

that they heard that morning actually came via satellite from Melbourne and that

it was a Radio Sai broadcast. In fact, even after a year or so, many still did

not have the foggiest idea about Radio Sai, though they had witnessed the

inaugural function.

Going on the air seemed difficult, but once we were up, that looked like child’s

play; it was staying on the air 24 hours a day that proved difficult. In those

days, we did not have a studio for recording or even proper microphones, and

many would not believe that we managed by using just a tie clip mike! But we

went past this seemingly impossible difficulty of staying continuously on the

air, and believe it or not, to celebrate our 100th day, we had a marathon 20

hour programme covering Swami’s entire Life. This programme was entitled

“Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram” and Swami heard a part of it on the radio installed

in His chamber, the

African trip, to be precise!

Looking back it all seems amazing and unbelievable, even to us. It just goes to

show, that somehow things fall into place and start happening, though we do not

know how.

We now move to the summer of 2002, and Swami in His own way, was bringing some

of His other instruments into the picture. The instrument that helped us to

take a giant leap forward was Mr. Gopal Srinivasan, Director, TVS Electronics,

a leading hardware manufacturing company in India. Brother Gopal is not only an

ardent devotee of Bhagavan, but also an audio-video buff, and blessed with a

keen desire to make his knowledge and resources available for the benefit of

Swami’s Mission. God has a way of recognising selfless desire calculated to

bring Ananda to all, and pretty soon, with Swami’s blessing, the building

previously known as the EHV Building [where Mr. Hejmadi had his office and

morning talks used to be given], was taken over for conversion into a modern

digital studio.

Gopal and his dynamic team now swung into action. During the whole of the summer

while Bhagavan was away in Brindavan, carpenters, electricians, air-condition

mechanics, sound engineers and what have you, transformed the old EHV Building

into not a just modern but a dream studio! And we, who had worked earlier with

just one computer and two tie clip mikes, were knocked out flat.

You wouldn’t believe this; once a listener asked us, “Why don’t you give a

postal address? Some of us do not have computers, e-mail and all that. How do

we communicate with you?” We replied by saying, “Sir, even people here do not

know we exist! We have no room of our own. If we give a postal address, the

postman would not be able to find us!” We don’t know if the listener was

satisfied with the answer, but that was the truth!

On 29th August, all that changed. At last, thanks to Brother Gopal, Radio Sai

had a home! In the morning, after Darshan, Swami accompanied by Gopal, drove to

the new Studio. There He was lovingly and ceremoniously received, and walking up

the entrance, Swami set His Divine Feet in the Studio premises. We felt truly

blessed, and it was a wonderful moment for all of us. We can’t exactly convey

to you how exactly we all felt, but you can get an idea of how happy we must

have been by looking at the pictures that accompany this story. Swami was so

relaxed and happy! He took His time to tour the facilities, asking questions

here and there, and patiently saw all the

things we were eager to show Him. It was funny, when you come to think of it –

He it was who had made it all happen; and yet here we were trying to show Him

what “we had done”! The Lord in His Infinite Love puts up with all this and

allows us to imagine we are the doers!

After walking round, Swami went to the main recording hall where He sat down on

a chair that had been specially placed for Him. He then conversed in a most

leisurely manner with one and all, in the process drawing attention to how Mr.

Gopal had worked tirelessly to create these wonderful facilities. All this was

being done in order to spread Ananda; spreading Love and Ananda must be the aim

of one and all, and Gopal had shown how everyone can use their skills and

endowments in their own way to be part of the Lord’s Mission. As a sign of

Divine Blessing, Bhagavan then materialised a Rolex watch for Brother Gopal!

Some more remarks and advice, and it was time for Arathi and departure. Swami

had spent a full forty minutes but it seemed like just forty seconds!

So finally, we had a wonderful Studio. With Swami’s blessings, it was named the

Prashanti Digital Studio. Nice place, wonderful air-conditioning and

facilities. But we could not relax! More work and more challenges lay ahead!

The Birthday was fast approaching, and it was decided that we would broadcast

live for the first time on 23rd November 2002, the first anniversary of Radio

Sai! When we decided to go live on the Birthday, we had little idea of the

problems involved. Gopal and his team worked closely with us, as did Mr.

Venugopal and his team from World Space and Mr. Madhava Murthy and his team

from S.N. Informatics

[with whose help we are running the Radio Sai web site and our audio download

cum streaming service].

Many things did not quite go the way we wanted, and our BP was going up all the

time. We prayed furiously of course, but glitches kept popping up. On the

morning of 22nd November, things seemed to work out well, and we did a

successful trial “live” broadcast. But that afternoon, when we went live with

the Convocation Function, the broadcast had hiccups; it was not 100 % OK. A

sleepless night followed, even as phone calls flew all over the place; from

here to Bangalore, from Bangalore to Melbourne and to other places.

Birthday morning. We assembled in the Mandir, where the Bhajan Hall had become

our studio. 6.15 a.m. and the hiccups were still there. Swami was due shortly

and how we could we have this problem when He was giving His Discourse? We

simply did not know what caused the problem, much less the way of fixing it. We

just prayed. Swami came, gave Darshan and went to the dais. He started speaking.

Believe it or not, the broadcast went through perfectly, not one single problem!

Truly, it was miracle! The world simply did not know how thrilled we all were!!

More miracles followed and are still happening. Radio Sai now has two

satellites; Asiastar and Afristar, beaming Swami’s Message to Europe, Asia and

Africa. And for the American continent, where the World Space digital signal

cannot be received and for others who do not have the satellite radio, we have

a web radio at www.radiosai.org. In effect, you can listen to Radio Sai

wherever you are in the world!

Then there is this monthly e-journal Heart to Heart. Started in August 2003,

this e-magazine has become immensely popular with Sai devotees all over the

world.

On the Sivarathri of 2004, by Swami’s Grace, the Studio along with TVS

Electronics, brought Swami’s Message live to millions of people in India on the

Sanskar television channel (did you read the article that appeared in Vol. 2

Issue 6, Prashanti Diary?). Sanskar channel also carries videos of the latest

events at Prashanti Nilayam and other rare footage of Bhagavan three days a

week. We hear that things really come to a standstill in Sai devotees’ homes,

when these programmes are on the air! Now, other popular TV firms too are vying

to telecast Swami’s Message on their channels! The idiot box, at last, is being

put to some good use!

Recently, TVS Electronics has helped the Studio to expand and created a new

facility exclusively for video recording, editing and live broadcasting of

events from Prashanti Nilayam. Swami has most graciously consented to visit the

new facility and all of us at the Studio are eagerly awaiting our Divine Lord to

sanctify this place.

There are several other projects in the pipeline that are aimed at taking

Swami’s Message of Love to every nook and corner of the world by His 80th

birthday.

Blessed are all of us here on the SGH Team, who have been given a chance to be

associated with all these momentous events. We offer our reverential and most

grateful salutations to our Beloved Swami for blessing all of us in this manner

and giving us all a chance to serve the world in many different ways, using the

tools of modern technology.

Jai Sai Ram. SGH TEAM.

With Sai love from Sai brothers - ''

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