Christmas Eve in Prasanthi Nilayam – 24 Dec 2009
Joy knows no bounds when you sing your heart in praise of His Glory. On
the auspicious Christmas Eve after an hour-long singing of His Glory in His
immediate Divine Presence, the International Choir had an unusual word of
appreciation, from none other than The Lord on whom, to whom "they" sung.
Towards the end of the session, calling one of his students, Bhagawan asked him
to announce that the songs sung by the choir were touching and made Him very
happy. ..And after a two hour long session, the International Choir walked out
of the hall with joy in their hearts that knew no bounds!
Prasanthi Nilayam, the Abode of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, brings to
light a diverse perspective of the festivity called Christmas. As rightly
echoed by Bhagawan in one of His Christmas Divine Discourses, the festivity is
celebrated in its truest sense in Prasanthi Nilayam.Bhagawan, addressing a huge
concourse of devotees from around the world during the 1998 edition of the
celebration, exhorted: "True Christmas is celebrated only in Prasanthi
Nilayam". "Elsewhere people drink, eat nonâ€`vegetarian food and make merry in
the name of Christmas. But Christmas in Prasanthi Nilayam is celebrated in a
holy atmosphere".
Christmas in Prasanthi Nilayam is unique not only because people of all
religions join together to celebrate it, but also because it is celebrated in
the true spirit of Christ in the Divine Presence of the Avatar, Bhagawan Sri
Sathya Sai Baba. That is why people from United Nations across the globe
assemble in large numbers to celebrate Christmas in Prasanthi Nilayam.
International Choir:
Christmas Eve finds a greater mention in the Christmas legend. The Eve
traditions vary from country to country and region to region. The greater
anticipation of the holy birth and its preparatory run make the eve a momentous
one in the history of the festivity.
…and the Christmas Eve in Prasanthi Nilayam is distinctive over the years
with a unique choir comprising representation of united nations singing His
glory in His immediate Divine Presence. The overseas choir has been a part of
the Christmas celebrations for over a decade ever since the wonderfully
graceful Sylvia Alden from the United States was given the mantle by Bhagawan
to conduct the show.
This unique choir for this year had over 950 voices singing a spirited
collection of songs on His, of His Love….
Once Sylvia Alden took over presenting the programme to Bhagawan, the
choir sang 18 hymns, precisely for an hour, presenting a disciplined devotional
show of Love for their Beloved Bhagawan. Singing their hearts out, the choir
used all the available adjectives heralding the glory of the "Born Little
Divine".
As sonorous notes from an array of musical instruments rendered the air,
with hundreds singing in chorus, the sun in the western horizon slowly fading
off giving way to a beautiful twilight, they sang…"Joyful, joyful, we adore
Thee God of glory…" The choir sang and made it a befitting evening paying
homage to the Master of masters while remembering His chosen son, anticipating
yet another Divine Advent…a glorious Christmas 2009!!!
The compositions sung were, Christmas in Prasanthi Nilayam, Carol of the
Bells, Silent Night, O Come all Ye Faithful, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Away
in a Manger, Sanctus (Italian), Here I am the Lord, Jesus Born on this Day,
Jesus What a Wonderful Child, Angels We Have Heard on High, When a Child is
born, Glory Hallelujah, Turn Your Eyes, We Love You Bhagawan, Joyful, Joyful We
adore Thee, Amen -Hallelujah and O Holy Night.
The Choir that was conducted by Sylvia Alden from the United States was
ably supported by graceful Gisela Sebastian from Germany, whose glorious voice
truly inspires the ladies to reach even greater crescendo. Gisela who has
composed many a song for Bhagawan, lovingly went through the pieces, note by
note, chord by chord and semi-breve by semi-breve while training the choir
singers. The artiste who has been involved with music in Prasanthi for the past
29 years, whose demeanour talks about her greater love for God was involved in
training sopranos (refers to the female singing voice range) for ladies and
tenors (refers to range of men) for gents.
The choir that consisted of sopranos and altos for ladies, tenors and
bass for gents was also assisted by various musical instruments, namely,
harmonium, violins, saxophone, santoor, flutes, chello, guitars, box-drum,
trumpet, drum-kit and accordians apart from tablas and naal and an electronic
key-board. A unique instrument in the shape of a bird was used to produce
typical bird-sound, that was generated while blowing "air-through", perfectly
matching the joyous occasion of His Advent, while singing the song, "Sai Baba
You have come on earth…."
Some of the prominent names behind the instruments were, Gisela Sebastian
(Ger) on Harmonium, Stanislav (Ger) and Golbert on Violin, Peter (Den) on
Key-Board, Prem on Saxophone, Martina (Ger) on Santoor, Shira Taylor (Can) on
Flute, Dorothea (Swiss) on Chello, Douglas Sanders (Newzealand) on Guitar, Adam
on Drum-Kit, Sergio on Box-Drum, Mano on "Bird-Sound" etc.
The choristers had only ten days to familiarize themselves with 18
musical pieces – 17 of them in English and one in Italian – and many of the
devotees do not have English as their first language. In addition, there were
over 45 musicians and to add a final twist of complexity to this ambitious
undertaking, most of the people involved were not professional singers or
musicians. The troupe with their greater determination and love for Bhagawan
has been practising 5-6 hours a day for ten days, skipping darshan sessions.
Additional sessions for sopranos and tenors were also conducted fine tuning the
entire show to make a perfect offering at His Divine Lotus Feet.
A beaming Sylvia Alden had limited words to share after a most successful
venture of conducting a perfect show, under most testing circumstances, wherein
she had to train these vocal cords, from varied cultural and racial and
linguistic backgrounds, numbering over 900 in just about ten days. She said,
upon reacting to our quest about her share of experience for the evening, "Sai,
You are The Light of our lives" reaffirming the credit to the Master Beloved.
…and the climax came when Bhagawan called the student to announce that
the songs that were sung by the choir were touching and made Him very happy… It
was kind of "Oh! Ghosh! Does He really want a student to tell us that He is
happy with our singing" was the reaction many of the choir members who
exclaimed that the entire show was a "Perfect Show of Love". Indeed the
appreciation that came along most unexpectedly was received with awe and
greater excitement and it would take time for these choir members to sink in
with this ecstatic feeling.
The third block that was occupied by white clad men and women of
International Choir was the reflection of this pure love, wherein their surge
of emotional and devotional ecstasy was contained in their folded palms, fixed
glare and glances that talked about their musings from within, Love for The
Lord! The student was commanded to express grateful thanks to the International
Choir on behalf of the University for their wonderful "conduct". The student
while praying for their turn on the Christmas morning for singing as well as
their regular band display prayed that Bhagawan should bless them to come up
with the best of their performance as was done by the International Choir.
Earlier, Bhagawan arrived to a fully packed Sai Kulwant Hall just after
16:30 Hrs. Wetting many eyes, filling and fulfilling many hearts, the gracious
Lord moved through the assemblage of devotees in the ladies side to take a
detour to ascend the dais. Soon after ascending the dais, the Lord lighted the
special candles to officially inaugurate the Christmas celebrations. The entire
Sai Kulwant Hall was aesthetically decorated with a specialised group of
devotees from the US, from the Atlanta centre, working meticulously on the same
for many days in the run up to the festivity.
Christmas Celebrations International Co-ordinator, John Behner was asked
to announce the three-day Christmas Programme. While the Christmas morning
programme would commence at 9 am. in His immediate Divine Presence the evening
programme would be having two – three speakers including himself, who would be
reading the report delivering vote of thanks to various hands involved in the
entire Christmas preparations and the third day afternoon would feature an
International Choir conducted by Alma Badings followed by a Drama on Life and
Love of Jesus Christ, by name "Jesus comes to our Hearts" by Children from
Latin American countries.
After the entire show that lasted for more than two hours, members of the
International Choir walked out of Sai Kulwant Hall, gracefully, with joy in
their hearts that knew no bounds.
The programme was a dance depiction of Bhagawan's oft quoted maxim, Daiva
Preethi, Paapa Bheeti, Sangha Neeti – Love for God, Fear of Sin and Morality in
Society, presented through Bhagawan's own compositions (poems) intertwined and
linked with tales of yore, picks from epics, namely, Bhagavata, Ramayana etc.
Entitled "Sathya Vaani – Nrithya Baani", the programme had picks from
rich spiritual and cultural heritage of Bharat. Dancing with dexterity, sense
of devotion, with a touch of aestheticism the folk danced to the compositions
of Bhakta Jayadeva, Bhakta Ramdas, starting with a Vishnu Stuthi after Ganesha
Vandana, through Shuklambaradharam Vishnum, sailing through the Dasavathara
Stuthi, depicting the crux of the stories from the ten Avatars through steps
suffused with emotive expressions. Story of Lord Sri Ramachandra through Bhakta
Ramadas composition, a tillana depicting the tale Bhagavata featuring Gajendra
Moksha were some of the other numbers before singing a mangalam song for Lord
Sai "Sri Sai Ramanikku Jaya Mangalam, Parthi Nivasinikku Shubha Mangalam".
The inspirational story of this five year old dance troupe began dating
back to year 2005 when a talented, well trained student by name Ganesh was
given an opportunity to perform a solo dance during one of the cultural
programmes. Impressed by the boy's talent, Bhagawan had words of appreciation
and encouragement and opined that "there is ample space; will be nice if more
boys join". Six more boys, pick of best of dancing talents from the entire
Prasanthi Nilayam campus joined and they had the first group dance programme in
the Divine presence.
The group was slowly evolving as, in 2006, Bhagawan asked Ganesh to train
pick of talents from the Prasanthi Nilayam campus. The troupe's onward journey
was inspirational. "Swami used to guide us on the kind of songs, encouraging us
to practice rigorously to perfection. Often Swami would indicate us to get
ready before major programmes", says Ganesh who has done M.Sc, MBA and a Post
Graduate Diploma in Indian Culture and Spirituality.
The troupe would dance in white dress without any costumes in the
beginning. When Swami started enquiring about costumes, the troupe had the
first opportunity to have a "full-fledged" dance programme during the Ati Rudra
Maha Yajna in Aug 2006. Ganesh, who has been a trained dancer in Bharat Natyam,
Kuchipudi and Folk forms for the past eleven years have trained more than forty
boys over the past 4-5 years.
The 23rd evening programme featured 25 students of the University,
ranging from under-graduate to doctoral programmes. The hype and importance of
the event was very well evident, when Bhagawan asked Prof. Anil Kumar to
announce the programme, detailing academic background, place each student hails
from etc.
After the programme the entire troupe was blessed with a coveted group
photo session. Loving Mother Sai is, He asked them to go, eat and sleep well.
Earlier, before the commencement of the programme Bhagawan blessed the entire
contingent with "Divine pep-up talk", bringing and building confidence in His
wards.
The same group had offered a huge anniversary card to Bhagawan on the
previous evening while praying to stage "their" commemorative show. Bhagawan
was gracious enough to bless new anklets and dandiya sticks while blessing them
to stage the programme.
At a time when Christmas preparations are gearing up, with a sizeable
western populace camping in the holy township, the dance programme served as a
pointer substantiating Bhagawan's view on Bharat's rich spiritual and cultural
heritage.
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