Chinese New Year in Prasanthi. Saturday, February 16th, 2013 HOPING for greater insistence and practice of Filial Piety, respect and reverence for parents, hundreds of devotees from South East Asian Chinese speaking countries namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore assembled in Prasanthi celebrating the advent of the 4013th Lunar Chinese New Year this evening here in Prasanthi Nilayam. This year’s Chinese New Year is the year of the snake and Chinese all over the world celebrated the advent last week, on Saturday, 9 February with raucous celebrations.
H..O..P..E..Honouring Of Parents Everyday was the theme of this year’s New Year and speaking on the occasion Mr Billy Fong, coordinator for the celebrations, from Malaysia, stressed on the greater significance of ‘filial piety’, honouring parents as practised in the Chinese culture and tradition. Earlier, the programme commenced with holy Rudram chanting by the ‘chinese’ that was followed by traditional offering of delicacies, to Bhagawan, by children from Indonesia and Malaysia. Holy Tibetan chantings continued before Mr Billy Fong from Malaysia took over speaking on the significance of Chinese culture and tradition, stressing on Filial Piety. Speaking on the theme, recalling quotes from Confucius, he invited the Regional Chair of SSSSO Dr Ravindran to release a compilation of teachings of Bhagawan on the theme Filial Piety at Bhagawan’s Lotus Feet. A burst of songs in Mandarin Chinese and English followed that ended with a combined Mandarin – English piece on the joy and bliss of the advent of Happy New Year. A surprise item was to follow, a Carnatic rendering by one of the Chinese speaking youth who was trained by Padmabhushan Dr BK Pattammal. Singing “Rama Ninnu Namina…”, , the young singer rose to the expectations of the capacity audience receiving rounds of applause. Even as participants were felicitated bhajans continued and ended with Mangala Arathi at 1830 hrs. The 2- day Chinese New Year celebrations would continue tomorrow. II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavnatu II sourced: http://www.theprasanthireporter.org/2013/02/chinese-new-year-in-prasanthi/ True Transformation… Saturday, February 16th, 2013 True transformation doesn’t make you feel elated by praise, or depressed by blame, nor affected by profit or loss. Instead, you maintain equanimity says Prof Anil Kumar, Bhagawan’s longtime translator and author of repute elucidating on the topic. Extracted from one of Anil Kumar’s talks… Madam Indira Gandhi once requested Brahmanand Panda to run for election, to become a Member of Parliament. Do you know what Panda said? “Madam, to be a Sai devotee is far…far greater than being a Member of Parliament.” This is transformation! In another example, a former Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, Parthasarathy, was invited to give a talk. Do you know what he said? “People introduce me as the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. I am sorry, but I have not come here in that capacity. On the day when Swami told me that I would be the President of the Sathya Sai Organisation, I was more joyful than when I was nominated as Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court.” That is transformation! As long as we crave for power, name, and fame and such, it is not transformation. When my head is full of information, it is not transformation. The spiritual journey confers an experience that leads to a phenomenal inner change without our knowledge. So, what is true transformation? True transformation is egolessness, absence of jealousy, absence of pride, not craving for power, and no arrogance. There are some people, who say, “Anil Kumar, after coming to Swami, I stopped eating brinjal curry.” That is not transformation! Somebody said, “Anil Kumar, I have undergone transformation, because I stopped eating bitter gourd.” I said, “You don’t like it anyway, so that is not transformation!” Some people also say, “Once a month, I don’t take food on a Thursday.” I tell them, “Not eating once a month is still not enough. It is not transformation.” Others say, “Thursday is Baba’s day, so I don’t eat. Saturday is Venkateshwara’s day (or Tuesday, Hanuman’s day), so I don’t eat.” I say, “Please stop eating. That will be your day — the final day!” Such statements are not transformations. Giving up an item at the breakfast table or at the dining table is not transformation. Baba said in a poem: When you have had a fight with your wife, you don’t want to eat that night in order to express your anger. But, then you cannot say the next morning, “I have been fasting.” Fighting with your wife is not religious transformation! By playing cards on Sivaratri, all night long, you cannot say that you have been vigilant. Whom are you cheating? sourced: http://www.theprasanthireporter.org/2013/02/true-transformation/ Aum Sri Sai Ram -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "saimsg" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
