Sai Baba update 31 July 2008

Thursday, July 31, 2008 Thursdays, of late have become days of great joy at Parthi , especially among the gents. With Swami frequently choosing to take a shortcut to the interview room just after the ladies side, the gents devotees are starved of close darshan. And so, Thursdays become so important. Not only because of the fact that Swami, since childhood, has assigned special importance to it, but also because the primary school children come for darshan! So?....So, the gap between the ladies and gents is filled up by the children and this seems to "force" Swami to make the complete darshan rounds! And when Swami came out at 4:15pm, He did exactly that as He took a complete round of the ladies and gents side on the chair and everyone were happy. Very often, it is said, "God is everywhere. All we need is a pure heart and a clean mind to feel Him." Whatever be the statement or the Truth, ask anyone who has just had the privilege of seeing Swami from up close. The thrill that shoots through ones being at being so close to His Being is something out of the world! His darshan seems to fill the entire body-mind-soul apparatus with sublime joy and pure bliss. That effect seems more divine and profound especially when one has been starved of it for many days! It is not simply that the sages and saints, who were ever immersed in the divine, also got dumbed into ecstatic silence at the mere sight of that same Divine. When the Lord descends as an Avatar, His darshan is something that one must experience. And for those who swear by the "God is felt everywhere" philosophy, please, sit for a moment at a yard's distance from Him and feel the difference yourselves!

Today, Swami was all "randomness" if we can give another name for His famed "uncertainty" ! He moved towards the interview room, but then moved along the upper portico and interacted with the devotees there.. He also materialised a gold chain for a devotee seated there. Moving down, He went towards the primary school block. He blessed chocolates to be distributed to all the children and this raised the excitement levels- slightly in the whole mandir and to extreme levels in the children's portion of it.. As the chocolates were distributed, another treat too was readied and choco-cream biscuits soon followed suit, only that this time the beneficiaries were everyone and not the children alone. Swami slowly travelled down the slope along the primary school students. He collected letters and blessed the kids as the Veda chanting among them reached "sonic boom" levels. He retraced the same path and granted the children a bonus 'double'. Through the veranda, He moved out to the gents side and this time gave the privileged 'double' to the Higher Secondary School and Institute students. As He neared the area where the birthday boys were seated, He told them in a joking- admonishing tone,"Ay I already blessed you all!" He moved to the interview room and then blessed the group from the United Kingdom to put up the musical programme they had prepared. Quickly, the marble block was cleared and the group to perform were seated. Hurriedly, a lamp for Swami to light was prepared. However, Swami came and straight sat facing the devotees and asked for the programme to begin.

Photos: July 31, 2008

A person went up to Swami and offered a rose to mark the beginning of the programme. Beginning with "Brahmaanandam Parama Sukhadam", the group sang five songs in different styles and different moods. The final song was a powerful one that had the catch phrase, "onward, forward, godward". As they completed their five songs, Swami told them to sing bhajans. The youth from the United Kingdom had come on this visit to Parthi as part of their sadhana camp! They began bhajans and five bhajans later, Swami had Aarthi and then retired to Yajur Mandir. click here to see photos- sai Baba Darshan July 2008