Dance Drama by Bal Vikas and Youth from Ranga Reddy District, Andhra Pradesh
Posted at 15:15 Hrs.IST on 27th July 2009
More than three thousand devotees from Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh have come on a Parthi Yatra, pilgrimage to Prasanthi Nilayam from 25th to 27th July 2009. Ubiquitous presence of devotees wearing light blue scarf is seen in the precincts of Prasanthi Nilayam for the last three days.
A beautiful backdrop of Sri Ananthapadmanabha Swami temple at Ananthagiri forming the setting for a dance drama welcomed Bhagawan on the evening of 26th July, scheduled day for the presentation by the Balvikas and Youth from the district. After His full round of darshan, Bhgawan lighted the Jyoti (sacred lamp) to formally commence the proceedings for the evening. Before the commencement of the programme, a few of the cast of the presentation sought Bhagawan’s blessings.
A “repeat” of the drama “Radha’s Ananya Bhakti”, enacted by the students of Sri Sathya Sai University during the 60th Birthday celebrations in 1985, the evening’s musical drama presentation, “Radha Krishna” was a depiction of Radha’s unsullied devotion to Bhagawan Sri Krishna. In 1985, Bhagawan had taken personal care, overseeing minute details making the drama a grand success.
The drama began with tiny tots dancing to a song saluting the compassionate Divine Mother. The Gopis and Gopalas are agog with excitement on hearing the news that their Krishna was coming to Repalle the next day to be amidst them. It was indeed a sacred opportunity. The Gopis and Gopalas make elaborate plans to welcome Him with all grandeur. Radha too is very happy about Krishna’s visit. The two consorts of Lord Krishna, Rukmini and Sathyabhama converse with each other of Krishna’s visit to Repalle, as to whether Radha would be present then. Sathyabhama feels that Krishna does not care for her as He bestows more attention on Radha. She feels left alone. At this point of time, Narada enters the scene and opines that Lord Krishna makes one happy, while another is immersed in grief. That is His Leela (divine play). He talks high of the devotion of Radha for Krishna. There is no Krishna without Radha and no Radha without Krishna, says Narada.
The drama was punctuated by beautiful dances of small girls in colourful costumes. In the next scene, it is shown that people feel jealous of Radha and try to harm her. A person hits and breaks the earthen pot carried by Radha with a stick, but on the contrary he gets harmed and suffers a paralytic stroke in his hand. They narrate all that happened to Narada. Narada immediately asks the affected person to ask forgiveness from Radha. When the person does so, he is relieved of the ailment.
As Krishna enters Repalle, He enquires about the whereabouts of Radha. He sees a house and asks them whether Radha stays in that house. The people accompanying Krishna lie to Him that she has left the house and gone out of Repalle. The all-knowing Krishna then tells Rukmini of people’s cunningness to hoodwink even Him. Rukmini eulogises the devotion of Radha for Krishna.
At this moment, Radha enters the scene and entreats Krishna to have mercy for her. Then Krishna tells Radha, “I am giving Myself to you, what more do you want!” At this high note, the drama comes to a close.
The cast of the drama express gratitude to Swami for granting them this wonderful opportunity to stage this drama in His presence. Radha was the paragon of virtues. Her devotion was unparalleled. Let us also cultivate such devotion. They pray to Swami to instill such devotion in them. Let us also offer ourselves to You like Radha offered herself to Krishna, they pray in unison. The drama ended with another lively dance. As all the cast converged, praying to Bhagawan, He went amidst them, posed for photographs and also gave clothes to all the participants with His own hands. Prasadam was distributed to everyone present in the Hall. Arati was offered to Bhagawan at 7.10 p.m.
Earlier, on the 25th evening, the group of over 3000 took out a rally outside the ashram, a customary procession showcasing cultural traditions enriched with devotional fervour. Jazzed up with Bonalu, traditional folk festival popular in the Telengana region, the procession that started bit late, due to the overlapping of the programme in the mandir, at the old mandir near the Kalyana Mandapam ended at the Ganesh Gate granting the onlookers a feel of age old traditions of the state. Normally during the festival, `Ghatams' or decorated pots that are filled with flowers would be carried by female dancers in procession accompanied by men playing drums.
Continuing the trend of offering of rose by senior honorary staff to Bhagawan, this evening it was the turn of Sri Ram Murthy, who has been doing selfless dedicated selfless leading the South Indian Canteen operations. After offering the rose to Bhagawan, he offered his tears of gratitude for this wonderful opportunity bestowed on him.
