30 NEW PHOTOS: Sai Baba distributing Saris to devotees from overseas & Bhagavatha Saptaham

[Guest guest]

All good things in life come in pairs they say. We referred to the Akhanda Bhajans as the "Kalpavriksha Day". It seemed as if that too comes in pairs! As part of the grand yet sublime celebrations for the Sahasra Poorna Chandra Darshanam Yajnam(SPCDY) the Bhagawatha Parayanam was to begin on the 10th. The Bhagawatham is the collection of the leelas and mahimas of Lord Mahavishnu with special emphasis on His glories as Lord Krishna. King Pareekshith had been cursed to meet death in 7 days and he made the correct choice to listen to the Srimad Bhagawatham in the last week of his life. Death approached him but it was immortality that embraced him as he was freed forever from the tyranny of the flesh. The power of this is such because as Swami says, the Name equals the Form. What then do we say when the name and form come together? Cutting the suspense, what was the "Kalpavriksha Day" part 2 all about? Well it was something that

many of the westerners, the ladies actually, will cherish throughout their lives. Lets go through the beautiful day without hurrying, in the order in which the events unfolded for this is the best order - hasn't it been ordained by Swami Himself? The idol of Sri Venugopalaswami( Lord Krishna) had been installed and decorated with all jewels and flowers at the centre stage.

There were priests attending on to the Lord in idol form at all times. At about 10:30 am, Swami arrived for the installation and first Aarthi that was performed in Kulwant hall. The hall was empty as the morning session had just concluded and everyone had given up the thought of Swami coming out in the morning. But well, as He came, many of the students who were still around, rushed in and were lucky to witness what happened. Since the hall was almost devoid of the full strength Seva dal volunteers, the gates were quickly closed to prevent the excited and charged devotees from rushing in. Swami blessed all the priests all those on stage seemed to be intent on just falling prostrate at His feet.

The priests and organisers are all part of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam. Receiving Aarthi and blessing all the priests, Swami made another round to the Vidyagiri stadium where the work now has taken on a feverish pace and one can already feel the magnificence and grandeur of the upcoming event. From there, Swami drove back to the Yajur Mandir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Come the evening and Swami came out for darshan as usual - only today it would not be that usual! Swami's darshan is never the same or "usual" in the way we use the term. New and refreshing things keep happening. It is only on a few fortunate occasions that we come to know what is happening or at least what happened! Today, Swami completed the darshan rounds and all expected Him to come on the stage. What does the Lord do instead?

He moves to the ladies side for a second round and in what seems like a random choice, starts picking up ladies and tells them to move towards bhajan hall.

"Is it an interview? But...wait. An interview will not be for 30 people! And Swami is simply picking up people from everywhere? The only thing common among all of them (other than their Love and devotion to Him of course) was that they were all westerners or shall we say non-Indians. "

 

Swami then went into the bhajan hall and the ladies sat, overwhelmed and happy. Swami spoke to a few of them as to where they had come from. Then He said, "Two Russian ladies...they run behind Swami's car always... call them." These two ladies have been so persistent and tireless in their pursuit of God that not only the all-knowing one but almost all those in Parthi for quite some time know them! They were immediately brought to His presence and Swami gifted them a smile. He moved up and down the aisle and gave a command, "Call all the foriegners." As people hurried to put His command into action, He gently moved around the hall bringing tears from many eyes. To those lost in the Love of God,(and who is not?

Many who have claimed and even paraded themselves as atheists have sobbed and wept in front of Him as children for apparently no reason whatsoever.) there seem to be tears always. When they cannot see their Lord, their tears speak of their agony and when they see Him, it is the tears again that speak of the unspeakable joy. Tears! Those salty droplets that carry with them the sweetest of feelings!

 

When the bhajan hall ladies' side was filled to its capacity, Swami began the distribution. Distribution? Of what? When the Bhagawatha Parayanam begins, it is customary to do Vasthradaanam (distribution of clothes). Boxes of brown silk sarees were opened and lovingly Swami began to distriute these to the ladies who had assembled. As He gave away the sarees, many of the ladies spoke to Him in their native tongues. There was so much that each wanted to tell Him and there seemed to be so little time. To top it all, this opportunity had arrived as a pleasant bolt in the blues and no one seemed prepared with what they wanted to tell Him. And that shows the importance of living every moment of life occupied with those thoughts and feelings that we cherish the most for at such sudden times, only they surface in the mind and get rendered out by the tongue. Swami's response to the multitude of languages being showered on Him was in a language

that all know and understand - that of the heart. His smile seemed to have a magical calming effect on all and His Abhayahastha seemed a satisfactory enough answer to all the travails and tribulations of every heart.

There were mothers with their babies, grandmothers who had difficulty standing such that Swami had chairs arranged for them to sit and young women beginning their journey of Life receiving the gifts of Love from His hands. Swami advised one of the women to eat well and have porridge and milk. To another He enquired whether she was happy and she replied loudly, "Very happy Swami. Very, very, very happy." All the babies inside were blessed and the mothers were so pleased with that. Swami went on this way for about 1 whole hour and it was only after He had personally distributed sarees to everyone inside (that is atleast 250 of them) that He moved back into the interview room. In that one hour, He had spread happiness to various parts of the globe even with His physical frame as the grateful and joyous recipients spread it through word of mouth and the scientific technology of the cell phone and the internet. As Swami moved out of the

bhajan hall, one of the boys there told Him, "Swami how you shower so much Ananda on all!" Swami just seemed to shrug it away for what seems as extraordinary for us is so natural for Him. And it was so apt also.

The story of Krishna is sweetest when He is doing His divine leelas as a child among the gopikas. Sai Krishna seems to have gopikas from all the nations of the world and what we witnessed before the Bhagawatha Parayanam was the ceaseless flow of love that exists between Sai Krishna and His gopikas, the Lord and His beloved devotees. Practicals even before the theory class if we can call it so!

 

 

Swami then quickly moved to the stage where the Saptaham was to commence. The priests did a brief ceremony and Swami moved across the stage to observe the Idol.

After a short introduction in Telugu, Brahmasri Dr. Nagaphani Sharma took the stage with his Bhagavatha narration. Interspersed with songs and poems, the scholar described the glory of Sai in mellifluous Telugu for an hour. The speaker, an orator par excellence, had a mridangam and harmonium supporting him as he spoke and sang. Swami seemed very happy and touched with his rendition. So lost was he in the glories of Sai, that it truly became a Sai Bhagawatham Parayanam. Swami blessed him profusely and patted him while posing for pictures with him. Then as He moved into the car, He raised both His hands in a smiling benediction for all.

There were gasps of delight from everyone who saw the beautiful scene. It was 7:30pm when Swami retired into Yajurmandir.

The 11th of November saw a sort of repeat of the previous day in the sense that Swami came out at the same 10:30am or so and after a brief stint with the installed idols, made His way to the grounds. The grand stage looked wonderful once the supporting scaffolding was removed. It looked so inviting that it will not be a surprise if very soon Swami ascends the stage once again to do the final checks.

Swami then moved back into Yajur mandir.

The evening saw the continuation of the talks on the Bhagawatham. Swami came for darshan at about 5:15pm and took the detour that the narrow passage after the Primary school block afforded Him. He came on stage and the priests did the brief ceremony. Swami blessed one of the priests to introduce the speaker of the day. He did so with such force and vigour beginning with the glory of Lord Sai that one who doesn't understand could have very much mistaken him to be the speaker of the evening! The speaker today was Garikapati Narasimha Rao, a renowned scholar and excellent orator. He spoke to an enthralled crowd for about an hour and fifteen minutes.

 

Though the speaker was excellent and flawless in his rendition, it was only Swami's presence that kept the entire crowd in order. There is the scientific law of entropy that states that with passage of time, the randomness or disorderliness increases unless energy is spent to maintain order. BUt in the Divine presence, this law gets reversed. With passage of time, more and more orderliness sets in and perfect unity and harmony gets achieved at that too apparently effortlessly! But that just speaks of Swami as the greatest generator of godly energy! This got demonstrated when Swami went briefly into the interview room. People started getting up and relaxing their muscles and moving around a bit maybe to refresh the blood circulation in their tired legs! Some even began to get up and file out. Five minutes later, Swami arrived and then it was all back to perfect order! It must be said that the speaker did a really fantastic job and

narrated the Bhagawatham from Pareekshith' s curse and dilemma till the Varaha Avatar of Lord Vishnu. The talk was peppered with examples from day to day life and sprinkled liberally with humour. For instance, the speaker said that worries were like Government buses - they arrive 5-6 in a row and after that for the next 3-4 hours there are none! So when in worry remember that trouble free days are coming soon. Its a pity that each language has its own unique speciality that cannot be properly translated into other languages! It suffices to say that it was a Telugu person's delight to hear Sri Narasimha Garu.

At the end of his speech, at about 6:45pm, Swami materialised a beautiful gold necklace for him and lovingly put it around his neck. He also blessed him with silk clothes - dhoti and angavastram. The Aarthi to Swami and the idols were simultaneously performed and Swami blessing everyone retired for the day. __

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