"When God is with you, even if the whole world is against you, you will still be the winner. If you have the sunshine of God’s love, all the insects of Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha, Mada, Matsarya will run away. Therefore, open the doors of your heart, let God be inside with you all the time and develop only one desire – desire for God. And then He will do everything that is good for you. Develop such friendship, such Sneha Sambandham. If God (one) is with you, all zeroes will get value. Otherwise, it will remain zero, as many as you add."
-Baba
With the Blessings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we are delighted to present our Sixty fourth issue of Ananda Vahini. The weekly newsletter includes interesting musings and short excerpts from the week's events.
In this issue, we bring you the first part of Bhagawan's visit to the Sri Sathya Sai Sharadaniketanam, Mandya Campus between February 21, 2017 and February 23, 2017, where the Lord inaugurated the Sri Sathya Sai Saraswati High School and Sai Hrudayam Prayer Hall on February 22, 2017.
In this week's INNER VIEW, Brother Madhusudan Naidu shares an interesting moment between the Lord and Sri B N Narasimha Murthy.
Wishing everyone a happy and an auspicious Maha Shivaratri!!
- Sathya Sai Grama Communications Team
INNER VIEW
- By Sri Madhusudan Naidu
'Be like Prahalada'
While travelling in the car from Muddenahalli to Mandya on February 21, 2017, Swami asked Narasimha Murthy Sir about the various programmes that were to take place at Mandya. Murthy Sir replied with the details of all the planned programmes, when one particular event caught Swami's attention, a play on the life of the child devotee Dhruva that was to be staged by the students of the Mandya Campus.
Swami said, "Four types of devotees come to God, namely, Arthis (stricken with physical or mental suffering), Arthaarthis (desirous of fame and prosperity), Jignasu (seekers of truth) and Jnanis (the wise ones). All of them desire for something or the other, but the highest of them all is a Jnani, the wise one who seeks God for God's sake and none else." Then Swami went on to explain that out of the four child devotees prominent in the Puranas, Markandeya was an Arthi, as he sought the refuge of Lord Shiva to defeat death. Dhruva was Arthaarthi for he sought the seat, on the lap of His physical father. Nachiketa was a Jignansu, who was neither afraid of death nor was desirous of his father's favours. But the highest of them all was Prahalada, a demon by birth, but divine in his conduct and character. Prahalada didn't give in to the threats of death from his demonic father Hiranyakashipu, nor desired the throne as a inheritance. He had no curiosity about the nature and existence of God either, for he firmly believed that Lord Narayana was everywhere, and thus sought only the love of the Lord and nothing else!"
I had never heard such a poignant interpretation of these four, most often quoted child characters from history, and it was Swami alone who could have explained it so simply and clearly.
He then turned around and said, "Be like Prahalada". It took the rest of the journey for this command to sink in!
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DIVINE VISIT - MANDYA - FEBRUARY 21, 2017
The morning was exciting as devotees from several countries joined Swami's entourage to Mandya for the inauguration of the new school building, uniquely designed as a Sarva Dharma symbol, at the Sri Sathya Sai Sharadaniketanam, Mandya campus.
The grand school building with five petal shaped wings, houses a circular central Bhajan hall, "Sai Hrudayam", the heart of Sai. Words were poor conduits of the beauty and majesty of this edifice of love and service, so the devotees joined the trip to see it for themselves and believe it!
Swami's deep maroon Jaguar glided down the Anandam hill, at half past eight in the morning as several cars and two buses full of devotees waited below. With the shouts of Jaikars, the Divine pilgrimage to the land of Prema Sai began. This unique convoy that followed the Lord, comprised of devotees from Singapore, United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Greece, Middle East and of course India!
After a short snack break mid-way to Mandya, Swami's car sped away through the highways and hills, farms and fields, towns and villages to reach Mandya, a little past one in the afternoon.
The new grand arch gate was waiting to welcome the Lord, as the students chanted auspicious hymns from the Vedas and invoked the blessings of the Divine. The eager little hearts had waited for the arrival of their Swami for many days, and were thrilled at the first glance of Swami's car turning in to the gate. The double road amidst the coconut grove flanked by lush green coconuts trees on either....
Entrance of Sri Sathya Sai Sharadaniketanam, Mandya
Students welcoming Bhagawan amidst Vedic Chants
The magnificent labour of love and service - Sri Sathya Sai Saraswati High School
View of the school and 'Sai Hrudayam' prayer hall in the centre
Bhagawan talking to His loving children
Top view of the new school and prayer hall, with its five petal shaped wings, uniquely designed as a Sarva Dharma symbol
Statue of Saint Chennabasappa installed at the Gavi Siddeshwara temple at the Mandya campus
The enormous structure of the Lingam and Nandi in the temple
View of Sri Sathya Sai Saraswati High School and Sai Hridayam Prayer Hall
Sai Hrudayam Prayer Hall
A view of Swami's room from inside the Sai Hrudayam Prayer Hall
Idols of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati along with Kalasams installed for the Puja
DIVINE BOOKLETS
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has been travelling all over the world in the Subtle to keep His promise of visiting the countries. Below is the link to the Google Drive library of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s divine visits overseas.
If you would like to subscribe to receive the new Booklets of Bhagawan’s overseas travels in 2016, as soon as they are available, kindly email bhagawanspeaksglobal@gmail.com.
And as Swami continues travelling in 2016 and beyond, and new Booklets are created, they will be added to the Google Drive Library.
DIVINE DISCOURSE SUMMARY
FEBRUARY 16, 2017
Who is a True Devotee?
God is beyond all dualities. The Divine principle is nothing but the principle of oneness or complete unity. A true devotee is one who sees complete unity in the diversity of the world. A true devotee should worship God with the feeling and attitude of complete oneness after recognising the same divinity in everyone. When we look outside, naturally, we will see diversity. But if you turn your mind and vision inward, you will see that everything is one and the same, it is one. When you enter a room full of mirrors, you see as many reflections as the number of mirrors. If you enquire whether there are as many human beings as there are reflections in the room, you know that it is not so. Only man who can attain this wisdom can recognise the unity of all existence; it is not possible for animals.
Vidya means to know that. You cannot get rid of your ignorance by knowing only worldly facts or science and technology. Only when you can learn spiritual wisdom, you will experience for yourself the oneness of all existence. In our educational institutions, the children learn the great lesson that only externally there are different bodies and different minds but internally all are one. Religions are many but the path is one; the cotton plants may be different but the thread is one and the same; jewels are many, gold is one; the colour of cows may be different but milk is one. First and foremost, we should learn that whomever we serve, we are not serving others; we are serving ourselves. Salutation to any of the beings will reach God...
A person without purity of heart will not realise the Atmic principle. The Atmic principle can be realised only by a very pure-hearted, pure-minded person. If you want to realise the Atma without controlling your mind and senses, without turning your mind inward, it is impossible. There are three things that can attain with only great difficulty. The first is the human body, the second is desire for liberation, and the third is the company of a great, noble, Divine soul. It is not enough if you have only Thyaga or sacrifice; you should also have detachment, Vairagya.
Adi Sankara taught that unless you achieve the following four things you cannot achieve self realisation. First is discrimination. What is discrimination? Discrimination is not to distinguish between what is cold, what is warm, what is white and what is black. True discrimination is to distinguish between what is truth and what is untruth, what is temporary, what is permanent, what is pleasant and looks good to me but what is really good for me – that is the real discrimination. Only in the company of the good and godly people, we can develop this kind of discrimination. Next, is Vairagya or the power of detachment. True Vairagya is the will power to hold on to the right things and give up the wrong things. Therefore, along with discrimination, we should also develop Vairagya or detachment. Just these two qualities are not enough. Further, there are six kinds of qualities or traits (Shadsampatti) one has to develop. First is Shama. What is Shama? To keep the mind steady is Shama. Second is Dama....
Sanathana Vani is a platform to invite, associate, speak, listen, contemplate, seek, practise and realise the truth, taught by all the great beings that ever walked the face of our planet.
A new show 'My Lord and I’has been launched, which is a series of stimulating conversations, cutting across boundaries and barriers. Sweet stories of the Lord and His devotees from different walks of life, which are refreshing, inspiring and scintillating will be On Air every week. These will be a beautiful amalgamation of an individual’s journey from 'I' to 'We' to 'He'.
Come, let’s listen, contemplate and bask in the divine bliss of the Voice Eternal, every Thursday at 1500 hrs IST and repeat at 2200 hrs IST. This week our guests on show is Mr Cass Smith from United States of America(Part II),sharing his experiences with his Lord.
A repeat broadcast of the interview with Mr Cass Smith from United States of America(Part I), will be aired on Monday, February 27, 2017 at 0900 hrs IST and 1900 hrs IST.
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Amruta Vahini also features the series, 'Sri Sathya Sai Divya Anandam', the continuing biography of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the subtle form, by Sri B N Narasimha Murthy.
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