Prasanthi Vidhwan Mahasabha… Friday, October 19th, 2012 Yajnas are not done here in a routine way, with any worldly expectations or goals; they are performed most selflessly for universal welfare, echoed Bhagawan when a discourse audio was relayed in the first evening of Prasanthi Vidwaan Mahasabha 2012 here in Prasanthi Nilayam. Earlier, the proceedings began with Veda chanting at 1630 hrs., lasted ten minutes, before tiny tots from the Primary School took over chanting Namakam for another ten minutes. In the first session of Prasanthi Vidhwaan Mahasabha, ensemble of learned speakers, there were two speakers sharing the podium enlightening the audience. The speakers were Sri Ruchir Desai, Asst. Professor, Brindavan Campus and Dr. Nori Surya Narayana Murthy, en erudite scholar in Sanskrit and Telugu.
Speaking with reference to Bhagawan’s Divine discourse on the occasion of first Prasanthi Vidwaan Mahasabha, half-a-century ago, Sri Ruchir Desai spoke about Yajna, Sacrifice and the purport of oblations quoting Bhagawan, summing up mentioning a personal story illustrating Bhagawan’s selfless love. Concluding his speech Sri Desai said, Bhagawan lived every moment for others, living His message ‘My Life Is My Message.” Dr. Nori Surya Narayana Murthy, the guest speaker for the day, spoke eloquently on the glory of ‘Sundara Kanda’ in the epic Ramayana. The speaker expounded the supreme virtues of Hanumanji which endeared him to Lord Rama and made him stand as a role model for the youth to emulate. Lastly Dr. Moorthy described Bhagawan as the reincarnation of Lord Ramachandra Who descended down to foster and protect Dharma. Dr. Murthy’s enlightening speech was entwined with beautiful poetic renderings singing glories to Lord, illustrating various stories. Thereafter, budding talents from the Brindavan Campus presented a soulful musical offering singing paeans to Bhagawan in His varied manifestations. Some of the numbers were “Aum Namah Shivaya…” and “Dorakuna Ituvanti Seva…” etc. Earlier Prof Anantaraman, currently Media Co-ordinator with Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, also a senior faculty with Dept. Of Management Studies, SSSIHL spoke on the legend and evolution of Prasanthi Vidwaan Mahasabha in the immediate Divine Presence. Beginning with a reference to the legend of Dasara festivity, Prof Anantaraman gave an overview of the evolution of the ‘archetype assembly’ of the highest Divine Abode, before narrating his personal experience with Bhagawan with reference to the Mahasabha. Sri Aman Jhaveri, Research Scholar with SSSIHL, Prasanthi Nilayam Campus performed the pleasant task of introducing the speakers to the august assembly. Even as bhajans continued the guest speaker was felicitated by Prof Sashidhara Prasad, VC, SSSIHL. Prasadam was distributed to the entire assembly and Mangala arathi was offered at 1910 hrs. II Samasta Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II Video Update: Bombay Srinivasan's Talk on Aug 26 2012 - Part1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCCqnYBSAKQ Sathya Sai with Students - Blog Update - Week 5 The 'Sathya Sai with Students' Blog Team is very glad to share that we have completed one month since we commenced the blog. In the last 30 days, our readership has increased to 30,000. Based on the feedback received, we now have a new interface for the blog, and have also introduced a search option to facilitate easy access of key terms. We present before you the new set of articles for Week 5 which include: 1. The Grandeur of the Bharatiya Culture - As we commence the 51st year of the Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna, we remind ourselves of the glory of our Bharatiya Culture as extolled by Bhagavan. 2. Brother Aswath Narayan shares his experiences about the omniscience of Bhagavan Baba. 3. Conversations with Bhagavan in the Prasanthi Nilayam portico on November 15, 1992, about the nature of God, devotion and His devotees. 4. Faced with the contemporary problems of corruption and the innumerable scandals that have rocked the global corporate world, we remind ourselves of Bhagavan's Message on 'The Role of Purity in Business' 5. Reminiscing the First Veda Purusha Saptaha Jnana Yajna at Prasanthi Nilayam. Click the link to read the full articles: http://sathyasaiwithstudents.blogspot.in/ Please forward the link to your class groups, friends, Sai devotees and Samiti members. You could suggest to them to enter their email address on the home page of the blog so that they would get an update every Thursday. We thank one and all for their encouragement. Happy Reading! Best Regards 'Sathya Sai with Students' Blog Team One night while bhajan was going on as usual in the prayer hall at Prasanthi Nilayam. I happened to sit near the throne of the Lord. But He was not present at the moment, in the form we know. A great light dawned upon my mind. What sublime happiness and peace, of the nature of bliss, I enjoyed while it lasted! It lasted only for one hour, if I well remember. Because of the new, sudden and unexpected nature of the impact, I could not endure the elevated state of mind I was in, longer. Undoubtedly it was the experience of the highest spiritual order. But it was so overwhelming that I was afraid of losing all sense of the world in which I live and to which I was deeply attached. It was this fear of losing what, in fact, I do not possess but still imagine that I possess, of losing what I do not enjoy in this illusive and deceptive world of sense perception, that caused me to take a false and unhappy step at that critical juncture of my life. What a shame! I do confess now that instead of, availing myself of the great opportunity to grasp what is real, I prayed to the Lord, at that fateful hour, to relieve me of His grace! The reason for this fall is the existence in me of unfulfilled earthly desires and aspirations. This clearly shows how, in the absence of self-renunciation, I was not fit for the spiritual elevation I enjoyed. After some time Swami came to one of the rooms of the Prasanthi Nilayam colony where I stayed and told me about the conversation that took place between Ravana and his wife regarding Sita when she was kept in Ashoka Vatika. Ravana’s wife, knowing that her husband can metamorphose himself at will into the form of any person, asked him why he was hesitating, in this respect, to adopt the easy method of assuming the form of Rama and make Sita fall into his trap. Ravana told her in reply, that to assume the form of Rama was to get rid of gunas or character traits that were the cause for his present immoderate behaviour! In the absence of these gunas the desire for Sita ceases to exist. Since then, I was in distress. Fate is sterner than what I thought at first. When I complained of my distress, one day, Baba said that if the sugarcane is not to go dry and its sugar contents are to last for some time, its juice must be extracted in time, after proper crushing and then boiled until it is made into jaggery or sugar. HE, like a goldsmith, tests our metal and throws it back into the red hot coals of spiritual fire, when not up to the mark, fans into flames, until He sifts the pure from the dross. __._,_.___ __,_._,___
