January 2, 2009 – Drama on Subhas Chandra Bose by the Sai Youth of Maharastra
and Goa
As the New Year Day festivities concluded on January 1, Puttaparthi saw an
increasing habitation by the Sai Youth from the states of Maharashtra and Goa.
Donning their orange scarves, they filled up large areas in the Mandir on
January 2nd, the day Swami had blessed them to put up their programmes in front
of Him. A huge curtain of the Tricolour (India’s national flag) hung from the
ceiling to the floor acting as the giant background. It was at about 5:30 p.m.
when Swami arrived for darshan. The most revered "Orange" wended its way
through the orange throngs and the youth rejoiced at the opportunity of close
darshan. He passed by the massive backdrops of the red fort and the curtain
into the gents’ side.
After completing the darshan rounds, Swami moved into the interview room.
Twenty minutes later, He came out and asked for the programme to begin. A train
of youth moved up to Swami with various offerings, and Swami patiently blessed
each and every one of them. He accepted roses, glanced at cards, observed
photos and permitted everyone to take padanamaskar. Then, Swami called the
coordinator and told him to make the announcement and begin the programme soon.
The introduction for the drama on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose was given, and
then the performance began. It started with the lighting of the Akhanda Jyothi.
27 lamps of divine light, which were lit from a single flame from the Divine
Precincts of Dharmakshetra, and which had traveled through 27 Districts of
Maharashtra, were presented at a beautiful ceremony in front of Swami. The 27
Jyotis merged into one in the Divine presence, and that was used to light a
candle, which Swami used to light the "Maha Jyothi" as they referred to it.
After that ceremony, the drama began.
Presenting the 27 jyothis to the Source of All Light Bhagavan lights
a candle to enlighten the Maha Jyothi
Subash Chandra Bose also called Netaji was a colossus amongst the brave men of
the world. He was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack as the ninth child among
the fourteen that Janakinath Bose, an advocate, and Prabhavati Devi, a pious
and God-fearing lady had. A brilliant student, he topped the matriculation
examination of Calcutta province and passed his B.A. in Philosophy from the
Presidency College in Calcutta. He was strongly influenced by Swami
Vivekananda's teachings and was known for his patriotic zeal as a student. It
was his parents’ insistence that kept him away from the freedom struggle but
not for long, as the passion for true "freedom" had been deeply embedded in
him. As he later wrote to his mother, he was not fighting only for independence
from British, for, the nation still had to be administered after that; he also
desired true freedom in its complete spiritual sense. The drama traced all the
major milestones in his life and it was an inspiring enactment. Swami too
watched the drama very keenly.
The drama featured the Spirit of the Earth who rejoiced in Netaji's
exploits Subash Chandra Bose in the drama depiction
As the drama concluded with the final song with Bose marching out with the INA
- the Indian National Army, the Tricolour was waved in thousands by all the
members of the audience from the organising states. Swami consented and moved
down the stage to grant the participants their cherished desire of a group
photo with Him. As He did that, He also spoke to many boys and accepted
letters. One particular boy almost broke down telling Swami that though he had
been studying and trying very hard, he was not getting a call to do MBA in
Bhagavan’s University. Swami took his application form and gave instructions
that the call letter be sent to that boy! When we are with God, the solutions
for problems crop up as fast, if not faster, than the rate at which the
problems arise!
All the audience was gifted with the Indian tricolour Swami poses
with the '3 Boses'
Then, moving towards the front, Swami called out for the three different-aged
‘Boses’! He took a picture with the three and said, "This is young Bose. He is
elder and that is the eldest one!" There were smiles all around. Prasadam was
then distributed as the youth started bhajans. Later, on Swami's command, the
bhajan singing was taken over by the current students of His University. It was
quite late in the evening by the time Swami received aarthi and retired to His
residence.
