33rd weekly posting of Saudi SAI centers- Oct 5

[Guest guest]

Sai-Satsang in 4 centers continued

(week ending 5th Oct, Friday)

 

Sairam to all Children, Sisters and Sai Brothers

in all 4 Sai SatSanghs in Dammam, Jubail, Jeddah and

Riyadh.

 

We continue with the Thirty third (33) posting of the

activities of all 4 centers.

 

Summary:

1) Total Attendance all over Saudi above 110.

2) Eshwaramma day in Riyadh celebrated with

BalVikas program

3) Discipline and organizational matters

 

Details:

In Dammam the weekly satsangh was held on the evening

of Wednesday 3rd Oct at SAFCO compound in Khobar. The

attendance was by about 30 members with Aarthi taken

by Bro. Ramesh. This was followed by study circle

attended by about 10 members discussing “Satsangh”- Ch

9. Bro Prem provided the report. Thank you Prem.

 

Jubail center held the weekly Satsang on Thursday 27th

Sep at 7.30 pm attended by about 19 members at Bro

Wimal's residence who is the Bhajan coordinator.

Aarthi was taken by Bro Gopal. 3 members from Dammam

participated. Bro Wimal provided the report. Thank you

Wimal.

 

Bro Swamy Mahadevan informs us that his daughter Sai

Veena Swamy mahadevan successfully cleared the final

exams of BDS (Dental) with Distinction, by grace of Bhagwan.

Our congratulations and well wishes for her. He considers

it a personal miracle (of Baghvan) for his family. He

himself intends to go to Puttaparthi next month to

attend Swami’s birthday. He is taking possession of a

flat in Puttaparthi and wishes me to inform the Saudi

based devotees that it is available for being let out,

if they want to use it while they are there. (While on

the subject it may be a good idea to publicize

internally, contact details of all those who have

flats in Puttaparthi so that it may be leased in

advance by Saudi based devotees when they go there)

 

The Jeddah Sai Samithis members met Bro Gopi’s

residence on Thursday 4th Oct/2007 with an attendance

of about 24 members, Thought for the day was read out

by Bro Ashok and Aarthi was taken by Brother Gopi.

 

Jeddah Samiti also distributed once gain, more than

100 free meals as part of Narayana Seva at 3 Mosques

in Jeddah. Bro Gopi & Bro Ashok provided the report.

Thank you both.

 

Riyadh center celebrated Eswaramma day at a large

hired villa on 4th Oct Thursday, from 6 pm till 10 pm.

The successfully organized event was attended by an

estimated crowd of over 250 devotees, Balvikas

children and their parents.

 

The program started with an invocation Bharata Natyam

performance (Allaripu) by Kum. Anushka Shankari

Venkat. She is a student in 6th Std and performed the

dance with grace and poise. Her dance dress in pure

white was really stunning. We wish the little girl

well, in all her performances.

 

This was followed by a joint presentation by Bros Raj

Rajgopal and Ravi Chandran (SABIC) with extracts about

“SAI Value Parenting” workshop held last month in

Bahrain and attended by about 17 devotees from Saudi

Arabia. The total number of attendance in the work

shop conducted by Rita and Robert Bruce was over 300.

The presentation has already been posted on risnet by

Bro Raj Rajgopal. He can be contacted for any further

clarification.

 

Then followed a mega play “Aham Asmi Aham” (I am I)

that managed to include as many as 63 children from

Balvikas. Of this 40 children are from Sister Mythili

Sreenivasan’s class. The play was very good and it

conveyed the main message of Advaita at the end in a

novel way.

 

The brief story line (as far as I can recollect):

Various animals led by their King (Lion) meet and are

reflecting on their own good skills and qualities.

Meanwhile they identify “Humans” as being less than

kind in dealing with them and also not following God’s

messages in ways it was originally intended but still

claiming to be superior to animals. The King then

deputes the “wise” elephant to bring, a man, so that

he can be questioned. During this fair trail process,

the various animals used by Avatars as Vahanas

(Vehicles) such as Garuda for Vishnu etc were

presented as well as the animal forms taken by Lord

Vishnu during Dasawataram such as Fish, Turtle, Wild

Pig etc

 

At this point Narda Muni appears on the scene and

reminds the pig that actually it is Lord Indra who has

been cursed and asks him to repent and get back to

Indraloka. Everyone is astonished that Pig prefers

continue to be in its present animal state rather than

get back to divine form of Indra (presumably more

demanding and responsible role). So all present

including the animals, then realize that this is due

to Maya and man indeed is an aspect of divinity but

most men have not realized this “Obvious” truth. The

cause of this Agyna (ignorance) was then illustrated

due to “Modern Education” and a cure was shown in the

form of Sri Sathya SAI Educare in Human values taught

in BalVikas classes. Over a time, the humans have a

chance to realize that they too are divine by

discovering through self realization “I am I” (The

first “I” being the individual self with some Ego and

the second “I” being the universal consciousness-

Brahma)

 

All the children did their respective parts well and

the background voice was given effectively by a team

of adult devotees. The make up for so many students

was provided by Sister Renuka Patra who is a

beautician by training. The animal make ups (I am

told) were done by a Filipino professional. The stage

décor and management was very good and it was a wonder

that all the 63 children and the Compere (dressed in

her first saree) were all accommodated on the final

scene on one stage and were given gifts. The selfless

extraordinary team effort by volunteers over last one

month finally paid off. I learnt later that the same

play was performed in front of Swami by Mumbai based

Samiti and their CD was used to coach our children.

Well done Balvikas children. Keep it up.

 

After this Balvikas play, there was a melodious

musical program, performed by a group of 8 star

singers ably led by Bro Gops and supported on the

instruments by Bro Ravi Shankar on Organ and Bro

Karthik in Dholak.

 

The MahaArathi was done by Bro Packy who also welcomed

the guests earlier. The Vote of Thanks was read by Bro

Manishekar to repeated applause from audience. This

was followed by a sumptuous dinner.

 

Riyadh group held a Bhajan on Friday morning 5th Oct,

from 9.00 am till 10.30 am followed by study circle.

The Bhajan was attended by about 40 members, which was

good, considering that the previous night, most of

those who attended were busy till mid night with the

Eswaramma program. Bro. Karthik took the aarthi.

 

The Bhajan was followed by Study circle that was

coordinated by Bro Ravi Chandran (SABIC). In spite of

lower attendance of satsangh, there were still 11

members which is a good number for study circle. The

session reviewed for learning the key message from the

recent address of Swamy at the inaugural and

valedictory functions on 28 July 2007 (SAI World youth

conference). HIS main message was focused on “(Divine)

Love”. One of the EHV gurus raised a relevant point as

to how to explain the concept of “Love” to small

children as the word is now used mostly for romance in

TV & films. Devotees’ suggestions are welcome.

 

Bro Packy, National Chair Person, has posted a note

on Discipline that has to be observed. Sai Groups give

high priority to punctuality and orderly manner for

doing the Bhajans and other seva work. Many of you may

have read the note posted by some devotees how on last

Thursday, Baghvan intended to display Vishwarupa at

Airport in Puttaparthi but was prevented in doing so

by the disorderly behavior of the vast crowd who

mobbed him showing lack of self control.

 

All SAI devotees are requested to follow the

organizational rules in the administration of their

Samitis so that the benefits could reach all

effectively.

 

Pranams