Six months of labour of love in the name of Bhagawan found its fulfillment on 30th Jan 2010 when the Hyderabad Youth were profusely blessed by Bhagawan with a an exclusive Divine Discourse at the Poornachandra Auditorium that lasted for more than 90 minutes. Encouraging the folks for their selfless service activities changing lives of many, Bhagawan advised them to continue the good work following the dictates of their conscience.
Starting off in His inimitable style making a mention of the illustrious life of Savitri, who with her unsullied devotion could win back the life of her husband Sathyavan from the hands of the Lord of death, Bhagawan narrated the illustrious sacrificial story of Chandramathi and Harischandra bringing home the point that Truth wins in the long run. Everything comes out of Truth and Truth alone comes to our rescue in the long run and finally everything merges back into Truth, exhorted Bhagawan.
None can escape the consequences of one’s own actions. Pain and pleasure do not persist for long. Everything is the result of reaction, reflection and resound. One should do good and remain to be good added Bhagawan, pressing the point that God is beyond any desire and is the eternal witness.
Touching upon the Upanishadic Truth that consciousness within is the Self – the Aham Brahmasmi principle, Tat Tvam Asi and Ayam Atman Brahma, Bhagawan said that none are born with any name; names are given by parents after birth; all are essentially Atman. Atma has no definite form. The So-hum, the process of inhalation and exhalation, goes on throughout one’s life which indicates that one is supreme consciousness itself.
Dwelling upon the relationships on the physical terrain, Bhagawan said, relationships are born out of illusion. In fact, there is only one remains and He is the One, the Supreme Consciousness. Referring to an incident during the visit of Kanchana Mala, veteran film actor from early Tollywood, over forty years ago, Bhagawan drew home the point that the whole world is nothing, but an illusory puppet show. Kanchana Mala who observed long silence wanted to merge back into the Divine. She openly declared that she was one with the Divine and thus could not afford to be associated with anyone anymore. She merged back into the Divine ten days after her departure from Puttaparthi. Life is a puppet show organized and witnessed in the physical terrain, said Bhagawan openly declaring that Bhagawan is not separate from others and He cannot be without us and we cannot be without Him.
Bhagawan further spoke about the mind, its monkey nature, meditation, God figures came out of painter’s imagination etc. before calling upon the two youth speakers for the session to interact with them on the dais.
Taking cue from what He spoke just before, upon calling the second speaker from the Hyderabad Youth, Ravi Kiran, Bhagawan asked about his name. Chiding the speaker lovingly for his ‘routine worldly’ answer Bhagawan said that the name Ravi Kiran was given by his parents for the body and his true name is Atma. Interacting closely with the speaker Bhagawan materialized a chain for Ravi Kiran blessing him profusely. “Time waste is life waste, do not waste time”. “Do not have any more illusion; do not have too many thoughts of activities, know by yourself the reality and concentrate on the principles of reaction, reflection and resound. Your own words will come back to you; action is bound to have reaction” said Bhagawan interacting with the speaker, apparently advising the assembled youth brigade.
The other speaker for the evening, Sai Gollapudi, was also called on stage and Bhagawan repeated the same question about his name. This time, having learnt from the ‘previous’ experience the speaker chose to give a wise answer. He replied: “Sai Prasad”, literally meaning the same. Upon hearing his full name “Sai Prasad Gollapudi” Bhagawan repeated the same advice given to the previous speaker telling that these are names given by parents to the temporal body and the real eternal name is “Atma” alone. He further assured the youth, “Call me by any name, I will respond…there is no difference between names….forms are based on the paintings done by Ravi Varma. To the speaker’s prayer for benediction to continue his activities with much more vigour, Bhagawan advised the youngster to go by His conscience as Swami is always there.
Earlier the session started at 4 pm with Prof. Anil Kumar starting the proceedings with his eloquent speech in Telugu that lasted for over 90 minutes until Bhagawan arrived at 5:30 pm.
Anil Kumar who had a distinguished career in the educational field, served as faculty in Andhra Christian College for 25 years. Later from 1989 to 1995, he served in the Brindavan Campus of Sri Sathya Sai University (then Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning) as Principal and afterwards is serving as faculty of Biosciences in Prasanthi Nilayam Campus. He was introduced as the dynamic speaker and above all as the translator of Bhagawan’s Discourses. He has written dozens of books on Swami and travelled across the globe and interacted with over lakhs of devotees.
He began speaking about the predicament of different people coming to Prasanthi Nilayam. Our visit to Prasanthi Nilayam is not like the planned visits we make to other places. People who made elaborate arrangements to visit Prasanthi Nilayam could not do so due to some other preoccupations at the last moment. At the same time, people who did not have any travel plans to visit this place were drawn to this place. Our visit to this place is neither our effort nor election nor nomination, but Swami’s selection, said the learned speaker. Sri Anil Kumar said that it is the 46th year of his teaching profession. Please don’t think otherwise, “A teacher has no retirement. A teacher is an evergreen hero. A teacher needs to update himself constantly. When he does so, he becomes dear to students.”
Speaking on what is true education, Sri Anil Kumar said, “If one follows the teachings of Baba, that will suffice, one need not browse through various books nor listen to speeches by scholars. Once a hamlet, which did not have even a school or a primary health centre, has now a university, a super speciality hospital, an airport, and all these has been achieved by a single individual. Now this place, Puttaparthi is internationally acclaimed. Only one person is responsible for all this – Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Baba led an ideal life right from His childhood. He is a role model for all students. One should lead a simple life, and not a luxurious life in the student days. This will surely help him in later life. An Avatar incarnates to show by His own example, how an ideal life should be led, said the reputed speaker.
The erudite speaker further elaborated on Bhagawan’s life and how His life is a message for the entire humanity. Sri Anil Kumar said that Bhagawan exhorts us to run away from bad company and have the company of the good and noble to make our life ideal. Bhagawan’s life is a saga of love, we too should lead a life of love, said the speaker. Seriousness is sickness, so lead a happy life full of bliss. Religion is love, religion is celebration. Become recipients of His grace, said Sri Anil Kumar.
Though the speaker dilated at length for almost one and a half hours, the students and the dignitaries alike were captivated by the speaker’s unique style of narration of various events and they listened in rapt attention all through his speech.
Bhagawan Arrives…
Bhagawan arrived at 5:30 pm to the accompaniment of Vedic chanting. The first speaker for the session was Sai Gollapudi, who completed his higher secondary education from Easwaramma School and Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Hyderabad. Holding a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, Sai was a member of Scientific Staff at Nortel and had been heading the R & D Team, Nokia, until 2007. He is currently pursuing his doctoral programme in Cognitive Science at IIIT, Hyderabad.
The speaker, divulging in detail about the initiatives taken to organize and motivate the youth, was categorical in expressing his grateful thanks to Bhagawan on behalf of the Hyderabad Youth. For all that Swami has given the Youth wanted to share the joy and love with the society. Motivated by the Hyderabad Youth, the youth who were called in for the preliminary camp were co-operative and willing to listen, said Gollapudi praying to Swami for further blessings and guidance. The saga of greater effort that spanned for over six months with canvassing the youth from various educational institutions, pooling over seven to eight thousand youth, bringing them under one fold imparting awareness about value based education and service that finally culminated at the Lotus Feet with bringing over 1300 Youth were explained in detail by the speaker.
The next speaker was Sri Ravi Kiran Sripada, an MBA from Illinois University, US and the Youth co-ordinator of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Hyderabad. Sri Ravi Kiran spoke about the Sri Sathya Sai Reprogramming Lives programme, an initiative by the Sri Sathya Sai Youth of Hyderabad. Over eight hundred students have been trained with right skills and thus have been benefitted by earning secured jobs under the scheme. Sai Youth working with various MNCs would assemble at Shivam Bhajan Hall at 6 pm to conduct the training programme till 9 in the night. Divulging inspiring anecdote from the lives of beneficiaries Ravi Kiran highlighted the moral transformation in many lives that have come into affect once the Reprogramming programme was initiated. Graduation Ceremony, a new concept that would motivate these almost forlorn, neglected by the society had greater impact, said the speaker narrating some heart-touching incidents in the lives of some of the beneficiaries.
The Educationists’ Conclave as it was christened, the evening session was attended by eight Vice Chancellors from various universities from Andhra Pradesh along with scores of senior administrators from various Andhra based educational Institutions.
Bhagawan, upon coming into the Venue at 5:30 went amidst the Vice Chancellors for a brief interaction blessing them all. All the Vice Chancellors greeted Bhagawan with Roses as token of their love and reverence.
The three day Youth programme had other lecture sessions with various research scholars and faculties from Sri Sathya Sai University addressing the congregation. The speakers for the 29th evening were Sri Srinivas Srirangarajan, the Controller of Examinations, Sri Sathya Sai University, Sri Amey Deshpande and Sri Jagdish Chandra, both research scholars, and the speakers for 30th January were Sri Sanjay Sahni, Principal, Sri Sathya Sai College, Brindavan, Sri Shashank Shah and Sri Sai Giridhar, both research scholars.
On the 31st January morning, the youth were taken to the Chaitanya Jyothi Musuem giving them a visual experience of many things they have heard over the months.
In the evening, the Youth wound up their three day pilgrimage with a bouquet of songs entitled “Sri Sathya Sai Sangeeta Vibhavari”, that contained eight numbers including a patriotic mix. This was followed by an array of bhajans, typical of Hyderabad Youth flavor. Bhagawan blessed the youth brigade giving away safari pieces to all the Youth members. Bhagawan also blessed Y. Srinivas, Convener, Sri Sathya Sai Grama Seva Trust with a materialized ring.
Bhagawan inaugurates Sai Manonmani Nurses’ Residential Complex
Earlier Bhagawan inaugurated the second phase of the Sai Manonmani Nurses’ Residential Complex, built as an extension to the existing residential complex adjacent to the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prasanthigram. The second phase, a three story block, has 48 quarters meant for inhabiting nurses and technicians.
Bhagawan arrived at the Venue at 4:10 pm on the 20th evening officially inaugurating the block by unveiling the plaque with a remote device. Later Bhagawan went around the ground floor block blessing the personnel involved in the Mission before retiring after spending around forty-five minutes. The extension block is a loving offering from Dr. VKPillay and Family. Dr. VK Pillay is a renowned Orthopedic Surgeon and a long time devotee of Bhagawan based in Singapore. The first phase of the Complex was inaugurated in opened in 2004.
