In Las Vegas with Baba...

June 7, 2002

Shankaram Siva Shankaram

We spent 4 days in Las Vegas with Baba (May 30th – June 2nd) We were a group of about 30 people (Vidya’s parents, Latha’s parents, Ganesh Pattabhiraman, Aruna, Raji, Mani, Monica, Kiran, Anita, Pramod, Mamta, Sanjeev, Sunita, Raman, SriVidya and Nanditha, Sundar, Sangeetha and kids, Ganesh Shastrigal, Srinivas, Vasanthi and her mother, Ravi, Sree and myself)

Ganesh Pattabhi had rented a 6-bedroom home in Las Vegas where we all stayed together except for the night where some of us stayed in a hotel close by. It was a large and beautiful home, well furnished with cooking utensils, furniture, electrical appliances, indoor games, etc. The backyard had a beautiful vineyard with bunches of green grapes hanging down from it. Everyday, we would wake up in the morning, get dressed at the hotel and be at the home at about 8AM. Deepa Aunty(Vidya’s mom), Chandra Aunty(Latha’s mom) and Ramachandran Uncle took care of the cooking while we assisted them.

For the Homam, we’d bring grapes from the vineyard and beautiful roses from the garden and set up the altar for prayer. Homam usually began around 11AM. Vedas and Lord Vishnu’s Sahasranamam were chanted during the Homam. Dr. Swaroop, Vasanthi and Anita would sing melodious songs after the Homam. Then Baba would talk to us. All His speeches have been recorded… We would all sit spellbound and listen to Him hoping it would never end.

Around noon we would have lunch together (tasty food prepared by our Aunts) interspersed with Baba’s jokes... and get ready for some sightseeing.

On Friday, we had gone to Zion National Park in Utah. This park is a natural wonder containing sandstone cliffs among the highest in the world. We had a Shuttle service taking us around the park. It was simply enthralling to see the elegance of our Lord’s handwork. Baba mentioned that there are more captivating natural wonders in India near Thirupathi as one goes beyond Papanasam. Inside the bus we started singing Bhajans (Vasanthi leading, followed by the rest of us singing the chorus). Just when Vasanthi began singing a song on Lord Muruga, a Peahen walked infront of our bus and was gracefully leading the way for about a furlong or so.

Everyone in the bus enjoyed the Bhajans. One American was clapping his hands according to the ‘raagam’ of the songs. Baba taught us one English song…

God is here, God is there

God is there, everywhere

Rama here, Rama there

Rama, Rama, everywhere

God is Love, God is Love

God is there to love everyone

And so on for Krishna, Jesus, Allah and all God’s names. Everybody enjoyed this song very much. Our bus driver appreciated the time he had with us when we off-boarded the bus.

We usually spent the mornings at home with Baba and go for sightseeing in the evenings. We used to travel in about 4-5 cars/vans as a group. We went to different Casinos; saw some free shows and some impressive architectural designs within each Casino. Once our sightseeing for the day was done, we would wait at a roadside walkway for Ganesh, Mani, Srinivas, Sree, Pramod and others to get our cars from the parking lot to get back home. Baba would sit on one of the benches on the walkway with our Aunts and Uncles sitting beside Him. We would all sit beside His feet and start massaging His feet, neck, and so on... and sing Bhajans and Samratchana songs together. Passers-by would watch us in surprise and smile. Once, one passer-by exclaimed in awe, ‘Wow! What a life this guy has!’ in tune to Baba’s slogan, “Samratchana is world’s envy, God’s pride”.

We would come home, have dinner and then Baba would talk to us till late in the night telling us lighthearted humor and anecdotes in His life. Then we would all unwillingly go to sleep. Thus did those 4 days pass by reveling in the Lord’s love.

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