Brindavan Blossoms

April 29, 2006

23rd April 2006

Swami Started from Kodai at 7.30AM, motored to Madurai and flew to Bangalore. Reaching at 12.45PM Swami took the party accompanying Him to Mr. Balaram’s house for lunch and arrived at Brindavan at 3.20PM.

24th April 2006 - Swami blesses students with Trayee session

In the evening Swami came out for bhajan at exactly 4PM. Bhajans went on till 4.50PM. Then came The Call. Swami called all the students inside for a Trayee session. It was indeed the most unexpected but fondly prayed for boon. Swami came in as soon as all the students had taken their seat. He walked up to the jhoola and sat down. We filled our eyes with this delightful vision, which had eluded us for the last 3 years! Swami asked the students who had been privileged to accompany Him to Kodai,"Is Bangalore better or Kodai" They answered "Both" Swami asked "how ?"."Swami you are with us (in both these places). Swami then asked "food? (where is it better?)" The students said "Kodaikanal Swami".

Swami accepted a letter from one of the students read it and asked,"What are you studying now? When he replied that he was in 3rd year B.Sc. Physics Swami remarked 'Physics is tough' and advised him to do M.Sc, in Physics. Swami then asked some students in the front their names and what they were studying. To a commerce student who prayed for guidance for his future studies Swami said "Do C.A.- Chartered accountancy. You can then be independent. To another He said, "you are weak in accountancy .In fact your hand shivers when you write the exam"! When Swami asked the Principal whether what He had said was right, he said " Swami he is very scared of accountancy". Swami told the student "do not be afraid. Be brave and face the exam". Swami then created a ring (green stone) and put it on his finger exorcising once and for all his fear of accountancy! Swami then spoke to some more boys. When another student wanted to know what to study next, Swami asked him what are you doing

now? B.Sc Chemistry Swami. Swami said "Chemistry kashtam" (chemistry is difficult) and advised him to do M.Sc (Chemistry). Swami even allowed those in the front to do padaseva and it was for some of them a first time experience. One boy confessed later that he got this chance only because during his last holidays when his mother was ill, he had pressed her feet and she had blessed him saying " you will earn a lot of Swami's grace for serving me so lovingly'. Swami then called the principal Sanjay Sahani and asked him to speak. Mr.Sanjay then narrated a number of experiences showing the concern of the Chancellor for His students and the personal interest He takes in their welfare. At the end of his speech Swami told the principal to tell the students that time is very precious and they should try to convey their thoughts in the minimum of words. Swami then accepted aarathi and retired. It was 6 PM.

25th. April 2006 Tuesday.

Swami did not come for darshan in the morning. In the evening at exactly 4PM the chandlier came on indicating that Swami had come out of Trayee. Swami sat in the Bhajan in Sai Ramesh Hall till 5 PM and then accepting aarathi,went inside. Swami then sent word for the boys who had accompanied Him to Kodaikanal recently and spoke to them.

26th. April 2006 - Trayee- A Paradise on Earth

Today in the morning the strains of music from the mangalavadyam filled the air, reminding us that it was Trayee’s birthday.The students had worked the whole of last night to design a ‘Garden of love ’ on the lawns of Trayee. There were beautiful arches with a forest backdrop, three types of peacocks made of flowers and a cake in the middle of the garden There was a lso a Krishna idol to complete the picture. Since last night itself the Trayee building and the garden surrounding it were lit up with series bulbs and focus lamps. In fact all the bushes sprouted little bulbs and the Ashoka trees were lit up with focus lamps of various hues. The awnings of Trayee were also lit up .

At 8.15 AM the chandelier in shantivedika came on signaling that Swami had come out for darshan. When Swami came near the lawns students went forward and prayed that Swami should enter the ‘Garden of love’. Swami said ‘What is (novel)there ? you have only shifted the pillars made for the drama (Adikavi valmiki) here. It was astounding that at one glance Swami was able to identify the pillars (supporting the arches) and trace their origin! One of the students said “Swami there were peacocks made out of flowers..“ But Swami went forward for darshan. After aarathi when Swami was returning from Sai Ramesh Kishan hall, however, He entered the garden of love and keenly looked around at the entire arrangement. He looked keenly at the peacocks made of flowers. When the students prayed for a group photograph, Swami readily consented. As he was going out Swami asked one of the students “Are you happy? Me aanandame naa aanandamu“. (Twenty two years back when Swami inaugurated the

Trayee,one of the press reporters asked Swami for a message . Swami had then said the same sentence ‘Me aanandame naa aanandamu’. Swami’s entire life is devoted to securing for each of us a life filled with aanada!)

Swami sat in the Sai Ramesh Hall for about 35 minutes. After aarathi, prasadam was distributed and an announcement was made that there would be a public meeting at 4P.M.

In the evening the ladies of the Brindavan bhajan group had prayed for and secured Swami’s permission for a music programme. The evening session commenced with bhajans. As Swami walked to the front and sat on the sofa a sister went up and offered the programme sheet to Bhagavan. What followed was an excellent music program with songs sung in a number of languages - hindi, telugu, tamil, Sanskrit, marati, kannada, Malayalam to name a few. The accompaniments were also excellent. Swami was keenly reading the programme sheet as each song was being rendered. Even after the songs in the sheet were exhausted Swami kept sitting giving them a chance to sing some more songs after that they switched over to bhajans. It was at 5.25PM that Swami indicated that aarthi be taken. Swami had listened to the songs for 70 minutes. Aarathi was offered both by a student and a sister from the ladies side.

Since it was already so late, the chance of Swami calling us to Trayee looked slender. But call He did! As we entered Trayee slowly-since it had rained we had been instructed to come slowly- imagine our surprise and delight to see Swami was already seated on the Porte car sofa and keenly watching each of us as we entered. After all of us had taken our seat, Swami enquired “how was the (music) program? When the students in one voice said “nice Swami“. He smiled and said “No, it was rough ! They sang songs in so many languages… (and added with a mischievous smile) ..“not in English“. He then said “today was ladies day. It is already late. I will speak tomorrow“. Swami then asked all of us to sing a song together. We all sang ‘payooji maine’ Swami asked for one more and we sang ‘Mathura mohana’. As the song was being sung Swami was conveying its meaning by action to the students in the front (for instance when the line ‘ninu poojinchaleni karamulelano’ Swami would indicate

His hands and pout His lips and so on…) After spending about half an hour, Swami asked for aarathi to be taken and retired. When we came out of Trayee to receive prasadam we noticed that there were thousands of lamps which had been lit all over the place. Devotees, all of them-young and old - were joyfully taking part in the activity of lighting the lamps. Around 6.50 PM there was a stir and devotees were rushing towards Trayee. Swami had come out on the balcony of the building to see the beautiful spectacle of Brindavan - lit up with thousands of lamps.

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