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Report on Guru Poornima Celebrations 2004
“Acharya Devo
Bhava” declare the Upanishads, “Respect your preceptor as God”.
It is our great fortune that we have the Supreme Lord, Bhagavan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba Himself as our Sadguru in our midst, to
guide us on the spiritual path. Guru Poornima, also known as
Vyasa Poornima, is an occasion to remember the ancient sages who
have given us the legacy of the Vedas and other scriptures, and
laid down spiritual guidelines to help us on our journey towards
God. Though Guru Poornima was on the 2nd of July, the
festivities began much earlier, on the evening of 30th June.
30th June, Evening programme
The Bal-Vikas
children of Rajasthan staged a dance-drama on the theme –
‘Dashavatar,’ the glorious story of the ten
Avatars (incarnations) of Lord
Vishnu who protected the world from the clutches of the evil
forces and directed it on the path of Dharma (righteousness). The
drama held the audience captivated for close to an hour’s duration
with its pleasing music and excellent dance choreography. The
evening came to a close with mangalarati offered to the Avatar of
the Age, our dear Lord Sai.
30th June, Evening : Bhagawan
granting photographs to the participants of the play - Dashavatar
1st July, Evening programme
The Bal-Vikas
children from Haryana and Chandigarh presented a play – ‘The Power
of Devotion.’ The play brilliantly captured the power of steady
devotion to God as exemplified in the lives of Dhruva, Markandeya
and Prahlada. Though very young of age, by dint of their
earnestness, they won the everlasting Grace and Love of the Lord.
The presentation concluded on the note that in this modern age
when evil is so rampant in the world, the Sri Sathya Sai Bal-Vikas
movement will produce many such true devotees of the Lord who can
restore the practice of the fundamental values of Truth,
Righteousness, Peace, Love and Non-violence.
1st July, Evening : A scene from the
play - The Power of Devotion
2nd July, Morning programme
On the day of Guru
Purnima, Bhagawan arrived in the Sai Kulwant Hall at 6:50 a.m.,
welcomed by Vedic chants and
Panchavadyam music. After Bhagawan was seated, the students of
Bhagawan’s institutions sang stotrams (prayers) and songs offering
their obeisance to Bhagawan, their Lord, God and Master. After the
programme, Bhagawan graciously presented 22 physically-challenged
persons with specially-made tricycles and shawls. These fortunate
recipients of His grace from the Anantapur district can now pursue
their studies or vocations without having to depend on others.
2nd July, Morning :
Physically-challenged persons receiving tricycles in the Divine
Presence
Two eminent devotees
were blessed to address the gathering before Bhagawan’s Discourse-
Sri Indulal Shah and Dr. Michael Goldstein. The first speaker
reminded the audience of their great fortune of being in the
presence of Divinity in human form, which is indeed a rare
blessing. Quoting from Vishwamitra nadi and Suka Nadi granths
(ancient prophetic writings by the sages Vishwamitra and Suka), he
said that human minds can grasp only a fraction of His glory and
hence, rather than attempting to understand or explain the Avatar,
we should seek to benefit from His teachings and redeem our lives.
The second speaker began his talk by narrating an incident. Once
the speaker saw Bhagawan looking out of the window and innocently
he asked, “Swami, can I see the world through your eyes?” Bhagawan
smiled at him and replied “If you do so, you will not want your
job, your family or even your body!” Bhagawan sees only Divinity
in everything. Hence, we should follow Bhagawan’s example and
realize that we are not the body, but the Atma, he said.
Following this, Bhagawan rose up to deliver the much awaited ‘Guru
Poornima Sandesh.’ He began by exhorting everyone to cultivate
Sahanam (forbearance), adherence to Truth and Love in their
hearts. While physical love and attachments are aplenty in this
world, true selfless Love is available only with the Divine. This
love is not physical in nature, but ‘heart to heart’ and it this
Love alone that protects us at all times. Bhagawan then declared
that on this holy occasion of Guru Poornima, He was giving the
most precious gift to everyone - the gift of His Divine Love.
Without love, everything is but nought. Bhagawan concluded the
discourse with the Bhajan - ‘Prema muditha manase kaho…’
Thereafter, Bhagawan had it announced that we must pray to Him
only for His Love and not seek any other boons, for all other
blessings are subsumed in the supreme gift of Love.
Bhagawan then accepted arati and the morning programme came to a
happy conclusion.
2nd July, Evening programme
Bhagawan arrived in
the Sai Kulwant Hall at 3.30 p.m. and the first programme was a
play ‘God resides in all’ presented by the Bal-Vikas children from
Nepal. The play depicted how two children were ostracized in the
name of casteism by the
village elders and how everybody is transformed when Lord Buddha
appears before them and teaches them the lessons of love and
equality. The play highlighted the main cause for unrest in
today’s world - the inability of humans to see divinity in all
living and non-living things. The Nepalese programme concluded
with a dance entitled ‘Unity in Diversity’ that conveyed
Bhagawan’s teachings through lilting music, graceful movements and
colourful costumes.
2nd July, Evening : God resides in
All by Bal-Vikas children of Nepal
Next to follow was a
musical presentation by the Bal-Vikas children and members of Sai
Study Group from Indonesia entitled ‘From Humanness to Divinity.’
The presentation sought to recapitulate Bhagawan’s teachings of
Namasmarana (Chanting God’s name), Sense-control, Right-conduct,
Love, Service and Unity. The efficacy of Namasmarana was
beautifully depicted through a role play where Sage Narada seeks
to understand the power of reciting God’s name, and Lord Vishnu
directs him to go and ask a parrot, a cow, and a new-born prince
to chant the holy name. When the parrot chants the holy name, it
gives up its body and progressively takes higher births as a cow
and then as a noble prince. The prince then narrates this truth to
Narada and thus demonstrates the power of Namasmarana. Then,
through dance and dialogue, the children portrayed how the message
of Bhagawan comes as a lifeline at a time when the world is being
tossed about by the stormy forces of evil. At the end of their
presentation, Bhagawan granted photographs to the participants and
blessed them. The evening programme concluded with arati.
3rd July, Evening programme
The Bal-Vikas
children of the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh presented
a programme entitled “Madhur
Bhakti” based on an episode from the life of Lord Krishna. The
Gopikas, his companions during his childhood at Brindavan, are
unable to bear the long separation from him when He departs to the
city of Mathura. So, Krishna sends Uddhava, his close friend, who
is learned in the path of Jnana (Wisdom), to placate them. But,
Uddhava who had set out to teach the Gopikas to go beyond the
attachment to the Form, returns defeated when he sees their
selfless love and one-pointed devotion towards Krishna. The
programme ended with a prayer entreating Lord Sai Krishna to
instill such pure love and devotion towards Him in our hearts too.
3rd July, Evening : Madhur Bhakthi -
a play by Bal-Vikas children of Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh
The students of the
Anantapur campus of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning presented a music programme of Krithis (compositions) of
Saint Thyagaraja that were sung by Bhagawan and also some of
Bhagawan’s own compositions. They reminisced those olden days
during the 1960s, when Bhagawan used to sing Bhajans and krithis
in the mandir and immerse the devotees in ecstasy with His
divinely sweet voice. The students also sang some scintillating
‘thillanas’ in various ragas.
4th July, Morning programme
The students of the
Brindavan campus of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning presented, “Sai Katha” depicting some significant
instances from Bhagawan’s childhood. They started with the
incident when Sri Kondama Raju, the grandfather of Bhagawan’s
physical frame, gets a dream in which Sathyabhama, the consort of
Lord Sri Krishna, asks him to build a shelter for her. Thus, the
Sathyamma temple came to be constructed in the village of
Puttaparthi and stands there even to this day. In the next hour or
so, the students enacted many episodes that demonstrated how
Bhagawan, even from a very young age, was engaged in the task of
protecting His devotees and conferring Ananda (Bliss) on them.
4th July, Evening programme
The Bal-Vikas
children from the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal staged a
dance-drama on the theme – ‘Ganga
Avataran,’ the enchanting mythological story of the descent of the
River Ganga from the heavens through the herculean efforts of King
Bhagiratha. The story drove home the important lessons of the
‘3Ps’ that Bhagawan always stresses on – Purity, Patience and
Perseverance and also the need to preserve and maintain the
cleanliness and sanctity of the life-giving waters of the Ganges.
4th July, Evening : A scene from the
play - Ganga Avataran
5th July, Evening programme
The Bal-Vikas
children from Region-9 of USA presented a play – ‘Bloom where you
are planted’ that depicted the lives of three great American
personalities who lived their lives in accordance with the five
human values of Truth, Right-conduct,
Peace, Love and Non-violence. Their
hearts were filled with compassion towards the suffering, which
took the form of selfless service to their fellow-beings. The
first of them was a lady named Sojourner Truth who was born a
slave, but freed herself and later worked for the redemption of
other slaves. The next episode was from the life of Abraham
Lincoln who, though born in a poor family, rose to become the
President of the United States of America by sheer hard work and
self-confidence. He was exceptionally known for his honesty and
for abolishing slavery in America. The third person was Eleanor
Roosevelt who worked tirelessly to better the living conditions of
the working class, especially during the Great Depression. The
programme concluded with a song praying to Bhagawan for constant
guidance. Bhagawan graciously granted photographs to the
participants and distributed prasadam to them. After accepting
arati, Bhagawan retired to His residence.
5th July, Evening : A scene from the
play - Bloom where you are planted
Thus, the six
day-long Guru Poornima celebrations came to a conclusion leaving
everyone richer in love, devotion and wisdom.
Jai Sai Ram!
Source:
http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/Gurupurnima_04_report.htm
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