When the nation celebrated 60 years of Republic of India with great patriotic and national fervour, Prasanthi Nilayam echoed a greater call for religious harmony that help redeeming the world from any impending disaster.
On the Republic Day evening, the Students from Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School put up a drama presentation entitled, SAI – THE SAVIOUR declaring in no uncertain terms that He alone is the savior for a world that is caught in the mire of confusion.
Set in the backdrop of a religious conference aiming at redeeming the world, the drama had pointers from various religious heads hailing their respective religion to be the lone solution for the world facing impending disaster.
While Archbishop Williams representing Christianity had the glorious tales of love and compassion of Jesus Christ reminding about the promise of the son of God that the Father who had sent him would come in flesh and blood, the representative of Buddhism had the inspiring tale of transformation of Angulimala, the dacoit turned seeker of Truth. The dacoit’s heinous explorations in the forest, his meeting up with the Buddha and the story of transformation followed by King Prasanjith’s visit to the Buddha seeking protection from the dacoit were depicted driving home the point that Love alone is the most potent weapon that can bring in effective transformation. As the adjudicator went on inviting various religious leaders for their opinion, Maulana Meer Khasim Sahib, quoting scriptural inscriptions from his religion, had revealing statements about the advent of the Holy Saviour.
Pt. Rama Sastry from Banares, representing Hinduism spoke about the plight of the world that is limping with prevailing unrighteousness. Quoting Markandeya’s prophecy to Dharmaraja about the coming of the Avatar in Kali Yuga, the Pandit, dispelling doubts of the adjudicator with the help of an anecdote from Emperor Akbar’s story involving his minister Birbal, drove home the point that God alone would come in flesh and blood at times of impending global catastrophe.
At the climax scene, four more invitees of the conference, all well educated, holding esteemed positions in the society took the stage talking about a living master supposedly the Saviour of the world. Prof. Chaturvedi, an esteemed scientist from Kanchi, hinting at the advent of the Master was a delightful face while sharing his joy of being with the Master. Richard James, Director of World Bank, talking next quoting Christianity, spoke about the features of the would be Saviour whom he spelt out as the most compassionate being on earth, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, a secret that he had never shared with his Christian community.
Substantiating the statements by Prof. Chaturvedi and Mr. Richard James, Dr. Abdul Rahman, an eminent cardiac surgeon, quoting the Islamic Religious Book in Arabic, “Ocean of Light”, spelt out the features of the would be Saviour that matches with Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. His Excellency, Justice Anand Vardhan from International Court of Law, had his claims based on Buddhistic scriptures leading to the coming of the supremely enlightened one, the would be Saviour as Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Buddha’s declaration that he is not the single Buddha and many more Buddha’s will come in future was yet another pointer towards the coming of the Saviour.
The final scene was the story of Kalpagiri, the notorious criminal turned spiritual persona, depicting Bhagawan’s way of transformation. The notorious criminal in the guise of a saint tried to escape the law of the land. He was advised by Bhagawan to accept punishment for his crimes as none could escape the law of Karma. Kalpagiri, taking refuge in His words, obeying Him implicitly, went back to the prison wherein his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and finally got released on the grounds of exemplary behavior in the jail.
Towards the end the four invitees declared that they are the alumni of Sri Sathya Sai University, who were lucky to have education based on human values at the portals of the Sri Sathya Sai University, directly under Bhagawan.
Emphatic declarations by various religious leaders on the Advent of Bhagawan as the Supreme Commander of Universe reverberated the Sai Kulwant Hall marking the grand finale of the drama.
This was followed by an extensive session of interaction between Bhagawan and the cast. Coming down the dais, Bhagawan posed for photographs, interacted with many, gave away Vibhuti Prasadam to all and even materialized rings for two of the participating boys.
The boys from the Higher Secondary School, the blooming buds of Sathya Sai Educational System, get a single chance in the whole of the year to perform as an independent group. Capitalising the opportunity, the boys, raising to the occasion, spelt out the Truth through a thematic presentation that had nothing less than His own story, the story of His Advent!
The Drama had interposes with songs and dance sequences blending the story till the end. Earlier Bhagawan came out at 3:50 pm driving outside for a round. Upon returning, Bhagawan blessed the crew inside the bhajan hall after which He came onstage commencing the proceedings.
Arathi was offered at 6 pm before Bhagawan retired to Yajur Mandiram.
