SRI THIRUPPAVAI MAHOTSAVAM and SRI ANDAL KALYANOTSAVAM - 2nd Day
10th September 2009

Posted at 12:40 hrs. on 11th Sept 2009

The proceedings of the second day of this Mahotsavam started in the morning at 7.30 with puja and parayana of 11-20 pasurams of Thiruppavai. This was followed by collective chanting of Sri Sathya Sai Sahasranama (1008 names) Archana (worship). After Bhajan and Arati, the morning session concluded.

The programme for the evening started with Nithya Puja. Bhagawan came at 17:10 Hrs. showering benediction on the vast concourse of devotees. And onstage, the sight of the deity, Lord Ranganatha, in reclining posture bedecked with golden ornaments and Godly attire, as "Divinity deserves", was a sight to behold! The Lord was shining in splendour!

Coming onstage, Bhagawan blessed Sri Srikanta Rao to introduce the guest speaker for the day, Dr. Mylavaram Srinivas Rao from Guntur. Dr. Srinivas Rao worked as Principal in his profession and has given speeches on varied occasions to the Telugu audience on the inner significance of Ramayana, Bhagavata, Lalita Sahasranama, Margasira Masa, etc. He regularly appears in programmes for Maa TV, Doordarshan, ETV, etc. He is also credited for introducing the Ramayana and the Mahabharata to the overseas audience.  

Dr. Srinivas Rao began his speech by saying that he was offering his salutations to Sri Ranganatha, who has come in the form of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The task at hand for the erudite speaker was explaining the 11-20 pasurams of Thiruppavai. In the 11th pasuram, Sri Andal exhorts people to get up early in the morning and sing the name of the Lord. Personifying the eyes, ears, speech, feet, she says, “Oh chakshus (eyes), get up to have the darshan of the Lord, oh ears, listen to the glory of God, oh faculty of speech, sing the name of God, oh feet, go and chant the Lord’s name. Oh Gopikas, why are you still asleep, get up to sing the praises of the Lord.”

Comparing the body to an anthill, the speaker said that the body should be used to chant God’s name. Rain or shine, the anthill remains intact. The anthill of body is the outer casing that enshrines the precious Atma. So, the body should be put to good use. It is considered auspicious to pour milk on the pit of an anthill on the day of Sashti in the month of Margasira. We should consider that the act of pouring milk is to improve our Jnana (wisdom). The learned speaker said that we should not cause grief to anyone. Oh Krishna, please dance on our heads as You did to Kaliya, the serpent to vanquish its ego. May our evil qualities be eradicated! Samasta Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu (May all the beings of all the worlds be happy!) was the motto of Goda Devi. She wanted everyone to sing the name of the Lord and attain His grace.

It is only symbolic to sing Suprabhatam to wake up the Lord. In fact, the Lord never sleeps. It is only that we are waking up our inner consciousness, said Dr. Srinivas Rao. 16,000 gopikas were with Krishna, the vanaras were with Sri Rama, we are indeed fortunate to be with Bhagawan and have His darshan (sight), sparshan (touch) and sambhashan (speech). Sri Andal coaxes the gopikas sweetly, “Oh gopikas! Get up from your slumber, we are going to wake up Sri Mahavishnu by singing His name.” In the 14th parsuram, Sri Andal says that we are going to have the darshan of Kannan (Lord Krishna) in His beauteous form of Shanka (conch) and Chakra (discus) on His two hands. She again exhorts the gopikas not to be slack. Sri Andal’s devotion to the Lord cannot be matched by words. She pines repeatedly to have the darshan of the Lord.

The speaker said that we sing the glory of God early in the morning so that our whole day would be spent in the contemplation of God in spite of our busy schedule going through our daily rigmaroles. Dr. Mylavaram Srinivas Rao ended his speech by again offering his salutations to Bhagawan and saying that the remaining 21-30 pasurams would be explained tomorrow.

Prasadam was distributed to all the devotees. It was the turn of Sri Sukumaran Nair from Sri Sathya Sai Sadhana Trust, Publications Division to offer rose to Bhagawan this evening. Arati was offered to Bhagawan at 6.55 p.m. after which Bhagawan retired to Yajur Mandir for the day.