Buddha poornima in Saudi- 13th Sai samiti posting

[Guest guest]

Sai-Satsang in 3 centers continued

(week ending 4th May, Friday)

 

Sairam to all Children, Sisters and Sai Brothers

in all 3 Sai SatSanghs in Jubail, Dammam and Riyadh.

 

We continue with the thirteenth (13) posting of the

activities of all 3 centers.

 

Summary:

1) Attendance all over Saudi continues to be over 100.

2) Special night Program in Riyadh on Buddha Poornima

3) Note on Buddha and Buddhist Fag

 

Details:

 

In Dammam the weekly satsang was held on the evening

of Wednesday 2nd May, at the residence of Bro.

Jaganathan, the Chapter’s Main coordinator. The

attendance was by about 35 members starting at 7.30 pm

with aarthi taken by him. Uncle R.S.Mani and his wife

were thanked by the audience for sharing their divine

experiences with Swami, as they were leaving Saudi

shortly. Tabla was played by Master Tejas and

harmonium by Bro Srikumar. Study circle was preponed

to Monday 30th April and held at Bro Vinod Chandra’s

residence.

 

Jubail center held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 3rd

May at 7.30 pm attended by about 15 members at Bro

Gopi’s residence. Aarthi was taken by Bro Jayaraman,

one of the 4 member Dammam devotees who attended. The

Jubail members’ attendance was below normal because of

vacation as per Bro Vimal, the spiritual coordinator.

 

Riyadh group held the weekly Bhajan with special

features for Buddha Poornima on Thursday 4th May from

6.00 am till about 10.00pm. It was attended by about

70 members including 6 from Dammam. Most of the

Bhajans were on Sarvadharma. Abishekam of Buddha idol

was done by all devotees with backdrop of Buddhist

chanting in Pali “Buddham Charanam Gachami”

reverberating in the air. In the audience were 2

Buddhists from Dammam. Aarthi was taken by Bro Kham

(born Buddhist) who is the spiritual coordinator.

Buddha Poornima is celebrated at Puttaparthy each

year.

 

Sister Rama read from Shirdi Sai Charithra that has

now become a regular item in Bhajans.

The starting point for the event’s description must

naturally be the “Altar”. It was re-decorated

specifically for the occasion. Since great efforts

were taken for such decor, I describe it, a bit in

detail. As most of those who attend the Bhajans are

aware, there is an empty chair on the left side (for

Swami) and a large standing pose photo of HIM on the

right side. In between this, about 10 feet is the

space for main photo of Swamy’s smiling face within a

frame of crimson velvet drapery window furnishing as a

background with a pelmet at the top. At the top is a

wall hanging of the Kaba in Makkah and just below it

is Swami’s smiling face photo that now had a new

garland of white pearl beads and red corals

interspersed.

 

Now over this window pelmet frame, we had a Dharma

wheel with 8 spokes. On the two partings, there were

two lovely golden deers cutouts and just below on

either side were Mudhras (fingers in specific

postures) of Budhha.

 

To the right of this décor, there was a beautifully

painted meditating statue of Buddha with the wheel of

enlightenment spinning behind. The background picture

was Bodha Gaya tree. There were two illuminated lights

on either side with 3 decks each. Below it was the

small metallic clay idol of Budhha over which all

devotees performed “abishekam” from a spoon kept

adjacent.

 

In the main hall the top was covered with Saffron

cloth running on all 4 sides with 7 Chinese lanterns

hung from the top. In the 4 corners were, hand painted

square lanterns with letter B (for Buddha) written in

Sinhalese and other sides showing the Dharma wheel and

mudhras. On each side of the walls there were 3 small

posters stuck of Dharma wheel, outline of Buddha in

meditation and a Buddha Flag of 5 colors (designed by

an American Col Olcott explained in the note towards

the end).

 

The Bhajan session was followed by a Children’s’ drama

(on the terrace) on life and teachings of Lord Buddha

followed by a devotional music by a group of talented

seniors. This was a celebration for Buddha Poornima

which actually was on Wednesday 3rd May. Buddha

Jayanti as is known in India and Vesak as it is known

in Sri Lanka is really “3-in-one” celebration. Buddha

was not only born on this full moon day of Chithrai

(first month of solar calendar) but also attained

enlightenment on 36th year on the same day and reached

Samadhi at age of 80 on the same full moon day.

 

On the terrace, there was a big wall paper of a tree

that was the background. There were about 12 lanterns

which gave the terrace a festive atmosphere. With a

full moon shining in the sky and the night weather

being cooperative, the scene was a wonderful setting

for what was to follow.

 

The Children’s Drama started at 7.45 pm and finished

at 9 pm. It was performed by a group of 10 children.

Baby Aparna Kamatchi Shankar enacted the main role of

Lord Buddha starting as Prince Siddhartha. All the

costumes were well done and due credit must be given

for the parents as well as the manager of the Green

room (Mrs. Renuka Patra).

 

The drama depicted the birth of Lord Buddha as Prince

Siddhartha in Kapilavastu, a Himalayan Kingdom and

being brought up in a royal household as a privileged

prince who has never known “sorrow, aging, sickness or

death”. However as a teenager when he encounters them

on the city streets, he starts to brood about the

cause of human suffering. A marriage to a beautiful

princess and birth of a son does not prevent him from

deserting the palace at the age of 29. He wanders

throughout north India (in what is now Bihar and UP)

and finally below a Bhodh Gaya tree receives

enlightenment.

 

He then becomes a preacher and soon initiated 5 monks

as followers. Gradually the 5 spread his message

around India and Buddhism as a religion was born about

2,500 years back. Buddha’s teachings and examples of

how he guides kings and people were depicted well.

This includes his main teachings such as acceptance of

death (for every one), Ahimsa, Sacrifice, adherence to

truth and Dharma, suffering resulting from past karma

even in previous births etc. He reaches Samadhi or

“Nirvana” at the age of 80.

 

After the drama, Gops and Co entertained us with

spiritual melodies for an hour. This was followed by

Bhojan- courtesy Mahila Samiti contribution. Bro

Packy, the National coordinator distributed prizes to

all 10 children and Bro. Venugopal (SABIC) proposed a

vote of Thanks. I am restrained from naming the

several contributors to the event as Riyadh Samiti

prefers the general description of “Sai volunteers”.

Suffice to say the event would require several hundred

hours of man-woman hours and of course with much

talent and devotion to SAI.

 

For sake of Balvikas children, a bit of General

Knowledge on Lord Buddha. Buddha was one of the

world’s first non-violent, human rights, successful

revolutionary (like Mahatma Gandhi whom most of us

know). He did not claim to have started a new religion

and he did not want to be worshipped as a GOD or a

Prophet (unlike Prophet Mohammed). In fact he was an

agnostic (non believer in GOD) and advised people not

to pray to idols or read traditional scriptures (like

Vedas). His theory was “people are inherently capable

of being good to themselves and to each other and this

can be done peacefully and observing the human laws

that are same for all people”. He created a new

society with a different constitution than the

traditional “God-King-Priest-warrior” society

prevalent at that time. Even after 2,500 years, his

ideas and teachings are held in high esteem by western

philosophers as a visionary for his thinking ahead of

time.

 

However in the eastern world, he himself has been made

into a GOD and is revered as an idol with several

stories and practices added later with many Tantrik

practices from Hinduism. Tibet was once the foremost

capital of Buddhism and subsequently (after Mongol

conquest of China) spread to China, Indo China (Burma,

Thailand, Cambodia, Laos Vietnam etc) and to Japan.

The Buddhism in Sri Lanka is altogether a different

branch of Buddhism. Now in this century, there are an

estimated 600 million practicing Buddhists in the

world (without counting all the Chinese). It is also a

positive aspect of Hinduism, that it accepted the

sainthood of Buddha although he preached against it.

 

 

Finally, about the 6 color Buddhist flag

from

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/b_flag.htm

 

The Buddhist flag, a modern creation, was jointly

designed by Mr J.R. de Silva and Colonel Henry S.

Olcott to mark the revival of Buddhism in Ceylon in

1880. It was accepted as the International Buddhist

Flag by the 1952 World Buddhist Congress.

 

Colonel Olcott designed a flag from the six colors of

the aura that he believed shone around the head of the

Buddha after His Enlightenment. The sixth color is a

conglomeration of the five, but for the design, it has

been separated into its constituent colors.

 

The colonel's flag later came to symbolize the unity

of Buddhists. Thereafter, it has been used worldwide

and has been used in nearly 60 countries during

Buddhist festive seasons, particularly during the

Vesak celebrations.

 

Colonel Olcott was one of the greatest American

Buddhists who dedicated his later life entirely to the

people of Asia. He is known as the father of the

Buddhist education movement since he initiated the

establishment of close to 400 Buddhist schools and

colleges in Sri Lanka.

 

Sairam and Pranams to all.

P.B.V.Rajan