PRASANTHI DIARY UPDATE:Special Blessing for Sai University Alumni

January 3, 2010 – Special Blessing for Sai University Alumni This day was the official "final" day for the alumni who had gathered at Prashanti Nilayam. Emotions had run very high the previous day evening to the extent that discipline gave front seat to pining devotion. On Jan 3rd, that seemed to have calmed a bit and though many alumni had already left Puttaparthi, quite a few were still staying on for a final darshan. It was at about 4:50 p.m. that Swami arrived for darshan. He moved through the ladies' side and when He came in between the students, He asked for a path to be made. He cut through between the students and moved to the front. Turning then towards the Primary School block, Swami moved to the interview room. He called one member of the alumni for an interview along with his wife. The interview lasted about ten minutes and in the meanwhile bhajans had begun. Swami arrived on the stage and sat for the bhajans. He kept looking to His far right where the alumni were seated. Then, calling a student by His side He told him to call all the "old boys" to join the students for bhajans! A tidal wave of devotion and energy seemed to sweep the hall as they arrived and quickly sat along with the students. Next, Swami told them to sing bhajans! This was a bonus! The singers and instrumentalists from among them quickly got up and came forward to occupy the privileged positions. Then the first bhajan was sung by the alumnus Ajnish whose popular album "O Sai Maa" is present in almost every devotee's music collection. It had been years since he had darshan and the pining to see the Lord and the joy of seeing Him were both echoed in his soulful bhajan. As he sang, Swami kept seeing him. Even as he completed singing, Swami called him and spoke to him. What was once a regular routine was on that day for him the opportunity of a lifetime. He had no words to say and Swami further struck him dumb as He began to wave His palm in circles. He materialized a beautiful golden chain with a pendant and Ajnish broke down, unable to bear the gush of joy that was surging from within.  Swami lovingly put the chain around his neck and sent him back. The blessed singer continued to sob in joy and the bhajans went on. Now Swami told one of the students to sing the Aalaap bhajan, "Sri Raghavam…". That was done as per His command. Swami seemed a little dissatisfied and after the bhajan called the singer and told him something. The same bhajan was sung once more! An encore! Only that, it appeared as if Swami wanted an encore not because it was superlative but because some corrections had to be incorporated. Whatever be the reason, everyone enjoyed this divine play. After that bhajan, Swami asked two more singers to sing Aalaap bhajans and it was a delight to hear so many special bhajans rendered at the same time in the Divine Presence.  In the meanwhile, Swami called two school students who were holding a huge card to invite Him to the practise sessions for the Sports Meet. Swami saw through the card in full detail. It had small dolls representing various items that the Prashanti Nilayam campus had planned to put up. Soon the bhajans concluded and Swami was given aarthi. After the aarthi, Swami raised both His hands in abhayahastha to everyone and then retired January 2, 2010 – Poorna Chandra Session for Sai University Alumni Swami had answered the prayers of the alumni for a special session with Him. All the alumni had been told to assemble in the Poorna Chandra Auditorium by 3:45 p.m. that day. As a bonus surprise, Swami later sent instructions that they could bring in even their family members! So there was celebration and excitement and the auditorium was filled by 4:00 p.m. A stage had been erected for Swami and everyone awaited His arrival. Swami soon arrived and He was welcomed with Poorna Kumbham and Veda chanting. At the outset, Mr. K. Chakravarthi, Secretary, Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, introduced the two speakers for the session. The speakers were Prof. G. Venkataraman, formerly Vice Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai University, and Mr. V. Srinivasan, President, All India Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations. Prof. Venkataraman, in his erudite talk, traced the launch and progress of the Hospital project and Swami's Orissa Housing Project. He was ably assisted by his team with videos that brought alive the compassion and passion of Swami to serve humanity. His talk was mostly through these videos and lasted about half an hour. On a personal note, He also narrated a recent miracle. In the wake of the news that Worldspace has gone bankrupt and was on the block, The Radio Sai Team was getting a flurry of mails expressing concern about the continuation of the services and before even the Professor could send his prayers to Bhagavan, WorldSpace announced the shutting down of the India operations. All fingers were crossed as to whether the services would be anymore available beyond the midnight of December 31.  "Believe it or not, from 31st December onwards the only channel that was made available on Worldspace was Radio Sai…", said a beaming Professor Venkataraman to rounds of applause from the audience.  "…before even we could pray, Bhagavan has done it" added the Professor with an apparent reference to Bhagavan's mysterious indulgence in the matter. The next speaker began with praises for the students. Many of the former students have taken up responsible positions as office bearers in the Sai Organization. "It is my earnest prayer that soon, a former student of Bhagavan should take over as All India President of Sathya Sai Seva Organisation", said Sri V. Srinivasan reposing greater faith in the fraternity. He narrated experiences which proved that God was the greatest insurance that one could ever dream of - experiences that showed that Swami's reach is far beyond human comprehension. He then made a presentation on the growth and development of the Organisation and also wanted the students to play active roles in it. His 50 minutes talk concluded after which different sets of alumni moved forward to Swami, one by one, seeking His blessings. Swami interacted with them and spoke to them lovingly. He slowly went through the albums they showed and advised them on the projects they had taken up. Then, Swami consented to the request of the alumni and decided to move around in lines! Immediately the excitement levels in the hall went up ten fold! Everyone dashed to the nearest path so that they could get to see Him from close and manage a touch or a few words if possible. Letters by the hundreds were forwarded to Him and Swami so patiently and lovingly accepted all of them. He moved almost the entire length of the area where boys were seated twice. So many wonderful things would have happened in those 15-20 minutes. Each member of the alumni would have a story to tell about how Swami gave Himself completely to him! Swami moved around for a while and it was almost 7:00 p.m. The bhajans in Sai Kulwant Hall had been going on from 5:00 p.m. Swami moved to the hall and granting darshan to the thirsting crowds, came up the stage. After a couple of bhajans, He received aarthi and then moved back to Yajur Mandir. radiosai.org