A play-for the Lord of the
Universe
Article by Vimala Narasimhan, Sai World Student Reporter,
attends and leads bhajans at the SSBC's of Encinitas and San
Diego, California. She is 13 years old.
Imagine…..Just let
your imagination run free for a moment. Imagine you are in
Whitefield preparing for a play that will be presented to the Lord
of the Universe. Your palms begin to sweat profusely as you
approach the stage. The hours upon hours of practice that you put
into the play seem to fade away and you simply live in the moment,
forgetting everything else except the stage and the Lord watching
you. For 50 children from Texas, this was something that they did
not have to imagine, since they were given the chance to
experience this joyous bliss first hand. I was fortunate to have
the opportunity to interview a young lady who had just come back
from Whitefield with some very insightful experiences.
I
interviewed Devi Natarajan, a Young Adult from the Sathya Sai
Center of Dallas. Though Devi had not taken part in the play
herself, she was in Whitefield with the children who had taken
part and had firsthand accounts of the entire program. Devi said
that the entire center had been deeply involved in seva right from
the start of their trip. Their typical day consisted of waking up
and going to nagarsankeerthan, then going to the hall for Darshan
and meditation afterwards. Once they were done with that, they
went for seva till lunchtime. The members of the center were given
a chance to do bathroom clean up, make goody bags, clean up trash,
help in the canteen, and do several other forms of seva, which was
a great opportunity to serve the Lord at His abode. After
lunchtime, Swami would send two speakers to talk to the
congregation, and when the speakers were finished, the group went
back to do more seva. Once they were done with seva, the youth
would go off to practice bhajans while the rest of the children
and adults would go to practice for the play. Finally, they would
all meet at dinner and then everyone was free to do whatever they
liked.
Devi also gave me a
very detailed explanation of the exciting preparation that went on
for the play. Swami had said that the play would be performed on
Thursday and the children immediately set to work practicing
harder than ever. They were now given the chance to practice in
the shed behind the hall, as opposed to the small room that they
were using.
When the day of the
performance came, everyone was taken by surprise since Swami
wanted them to perform in the morning! The Young Adults were also
given a chance to sing two songs as Swami came out in a golf cart,
his first Darshan after about 25 days. Two boys from the center
then came up to Swami and asked him to bless the program, which He
gladly did. One of the boys apparently reported seeing a bright
light when he was blessed. Swami sat through the entire program
and constantly asked one of the center members who was the best
actor, all the while knowing which one was best!!
After
the program, the children came down from the stage and Swami
created vibhuti and blew it on them. He also materialised a
necklace to a girl who was about 5 years old and commented that
she had been in Parthi on her 3rd birthday, a fact that surprised
almost everyone in the hall. Another boy asked Swami if he could
study at Swami's school, but Swami simply told him that it was not
the time for him to study at the school. So, the boy asked if he
could study medicine, to which Swami replied "Yes."
Once the excitement of the play was over, all of the centers from
the region got together to share their experiences. Suddenly, a
man came over to deliver a card to one of the actresses. The card
said "My love and blessings to all," which really was a message
for all of the centers.
I was so caught up with the excitement while interviewing Devi. I
could just imagine the thrill the kids must have felt when Swami
was standing so close to them! Devi closed the interview with a
sigh and said that while the trip and the excitement had come to a
close, not one person from those centers would ever forget the
thrilling feeling of presenting a play in front of Swami and the
few magical weeks they spent in the abode of the Lord of the
Universe.
Source:
Radio Sai
E-Magazine, 15th October 2003
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/04OCT15/TenderHearts/A_Play.htm
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