Monday, February 23, 2009
Bhagawan arrived this Shivarathri morning at 7.30 am in the special
golden raised chair. After His darshan round, He blessed the cakes on the
verandah and moved to the interview room. After half an hour, He emerged and
came onstage. For a while, He listed to the Vedam being chanted by the students
and the youth from Karnataka. He asked for those with mics to stop so that He
could hear the 1000-strong group chanting in unision. Wall calendars and
prasadam was distributed to all after being Blessed by Bhagawan. Swami accepted
Arati just after 9 am before returning to His residence in the chair.
In the evening, the Sai Kulwant Hall was not enough to hold all the
devotees, and the Poornachandra auditorium was also opened to accomodate them.
Screens with projectors were installed in the Poornachandra and the Sai Kulwant
Hall so that the eager thousands could see the proceedings. Bhagawan arrived
for darshan at 4.30 pm, moving first to the Poornachandra to grant darshan to
the devotees there, and then coming to the Sai Kulwant Hall in a procession led
by the University brass band. Bhagawan was resplendent in a yellow robe, seated
on the golden raised chair, and just behind Him, an ice lingam more than a
metre high was wheeled into the Hall and placed near the stage. Swami sat
onstage as the Vedam chanting went on, and at 4.50 pm, asked Prof Anil Kumar to
introduce the speakers for the day. Sri S. V. Giri, former Vice Chancellor of
Sri Sathya Sai University, Sri. V. Srinivasan, the All India Sai Organisations
President, and Sri Ajit Popat from the United Kingdom spoke before Bhagawan's
Shivarathri message.
Bhagawan spoke for an hour, stressing that Hari and Hara are essentially
formless, and that we should imprint the form of our choice in our heart so
that all the time, we are in the Divine Presence. After Bhagawan's Discourse
concluded at seven o'clock, the night long bhajans commenced in the Sai Kulwant
Hall. Bhagawan returned to His residence after fifteen minutes, and the group
bhajans continued into the night after 7.30 pm.
