CHRISTMAS DISCOURSE

26/12/07

Swami arrived in the evening at 5 pm, as all devotees patiently waited for His discourse. He asked a professor to speak for sometime. At around 5.30 he got up, with a beaming smile, ever ready to bless all of us. Here are a few excerpts from His divine discourse.

• Anger is the cause of failure. It leads to commit many sins.
• All conflicts arise due to lack of love. All problems, difficulties are nothing but our own imagination. There’s nothing like restlessness in the world. There’s Shanti everywhere. Peace within your heart will get reflected in peace around you. Everything is governed by the principle of “reflection, reaction, resound.”
• (Swami asked a boy) “What is your name?”(he replied “vikas”). No, you are not Vikas. You are Brahman. If you ask God “what is your name?” he will reply “Aham Brahmasmi”
• You are not one but three (one you think you are, others think you are…)What others think you are is a matter of imagination. The true self is “I” which is common to all of you. Christians worship this “I”
• One is not born with the name. It’s just for the sake of identity.
• All beings take birth by the Will of God. (At this point, Swami materialized a chain and placed it on the mike.) We run after materialistic things which are nothing but shadows (maya). The shadow changes according to the position of sunlight but the object remains same. The object is the Brahman.
• Love is the basis for faith. LOVE, the first letter stands for Lord. Everything arises from the Lord. Without creator, there’s no creation.

Swami discussed in detail about the life of Jesus.

• Jesus was a son of a carpenter named Joseph. Joseph loved a girl in his village. After sometime, he noticed she was pregnant. It was election time then. So, they had to return to their native village. There was no transport available, so they had to ride on a donkey. When they reached the village, they found all houses were occupied. They went to a place nearby where donkeys were kept and spent the night. Mary had labor pains, but Joseph thought it was because of long hours of travel. On that holy night, Mary delivered a baby boy
  

• Jesus grew up under the care of his mother. One day there was a function in Jerusalem. Jesus went to the function and got separated in the crowd. His parents thought their son was lost and cried in despair. But He returned back at night, much to the relief of his parents. He told them that he had joined a gathering in listening to the speeches of wise elders in village. The pundits said that there is only one truth, which is the self. Later on, contemplating n this truth, Jesus went around mountains near the village. He came down by the riverside and met Peter, a boatman. Peter introduced himself and his father to Jesus. He told Jesus that they were not able to catch any fish in the river anymore. Jesus pointed out a place and asked them to go and fish there. To their amazement, they found plenty of fish. All the fishermen thanked Jesus and accepted Him as their master.
  

• Seeing this popularity of Jesus, some people were jealous of Him. They decided to conspire against him. (Swami narrated episodes of how Judas betrayed Jesus and how Jesus was crucified). When Jesus was about to be crucified, Mother Mary came to him and cried. Jesus pacified her saying body is just a water bubble, the true self can never die. But she said that she couldn’t bear such torture to her son. Jesus replied “I am not anybody’s son. All are my children”
  

• The next day Jesus appeared for the supper. The king was surprised and asked how he could come here. Jesus said, “I can go anywhere, at my Will. I am God. None can kill me” These words moved the king and he decided to bow down to Jesus.

• There’s nothing beyond the Will of God. Any person having complete faith in these words will be protected. Faith is most important. Today, people have lost the two eyes of faith and have become blind. With faith and love, one can achieve anything. Faith grows in love.
  

• Many foreigners have faith, but sometimes love is missing. Both are like +ve and -ve forces. Develop this “Master Faith” in the Lord. If you strengthen faith, you can achieve anything.
  

• Bhagwan isn’t ordinary. The mistake of such thought lies in your vision. Swami’s happiness is in you. You are not separate from Him. This is the fundamental truth.
  

• Bhagwan makes you work like instruments. He wants you to become ideal instruments in His mission. With Jnaana, Vijanaana and Sujnaana, Swami wants all of you to become powerful instruments.
  

• You think your qualifications make you succeed in life. There are so many educated people in this world. In fact, educated people are the ones who ruin the world today. Thus, with secular education, a spiritual life is very much essential.
  

• Students, you are ripe fruits. But fruit must have the sweet juice (of love), otherwise it will be discarded. You are not here merely for learning, but to learn from Swami. Have strong faith, grow your love. Believe in the principle of oneness.
  

• (Swami sang the bhajan “Hari bhajan bina sukh shanti nahin...”) Bhajan alone gives you true peace. You may earn your degrees, but do not forget the chanting of Lord’s name. It is the easiest way to attain moksha, be it a tiny tot or an old man.

Swami later put the chain around the neck of a student. After a bhajan, aarati was given. He sat through he entire aarati. It was 6.45 when he returned to Yajur Mandir. It was the longest discourse given by Swami in recent times, but we just couldn’t figure out how time passed by so soon!

A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Things seem to be getting better in mandir day by day. As Swami started coming late for darshans since last month, His interaction with us was limited to a few occasions. Christmas has truly brought the yonder days back. I’ve already discussed about the drama episode before.

A couple of days before, Swami asked a boy whether students are practicing any carols for Christmas. He was enquiring as to what songs were being practised for the 25^th. The boy replied that Christmas programme was ready and mentioned the various carols. He said even the Jingle Bells song was ready. Swami was pleased.

On the Christmas morning, all of us were ready and seated in Kulwant hall by 7 am. However, Swami arrived only at 8.30. In the beginning, there was a violin recital by a group of kids from Primary School. The boys played three beautiful pieces including the jingle bells song. As soon as that piece began, four tiny tots dressed as Santa appeared. They went to Swami and got their sacks blessed. Swami was very amused; He even joined them in throwing the chocolates to the students!

Soon after, there was a programme by the Institute Band group followed by carols sung by students. Swami was indeed enjoying the music and songs; He patiently waited till 10.00 am so that students could sing all the songs.

The evening session was no less exciting. Though Swami came a bit late at 5pm, the programme went on as planned. There were four speeches, first being a talk given by a youth wing member from Argentina. She narrated experiences from her life and how Swami brought her back into His fold. Swami was pleased with her and materialized a chain. The next speaker was another youth, originally hailing from Fiji, now settled in Mumbai. He too spoke on similar lines and His talk was interspersed with some melodious songs. Later, there were a couple of speeches by senior overseas devotees. First was Mrs. Hilcott who spoke about the various episodes in Prasanthi Nilayam during Christmas in the past. Her talk was very interesting and transported us to those wonderful days of the seventies and eighties.

After the four speeches, the master of ceremonies requested Swami to give His Christmas message. It was already 6.30 in the evening, so Swami said that devotees have been sitting for long, He does not want to trouble them more. However, He consented to give His discourse the next day.

This year’s Christmas was special for more than one reason. The huge gathering of devotees made the environment look as if it was Sivaratri. The decorations in mandir were fantastic. There was a special huge candle brought from Georgia, a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe besides many other fancy items. The mood of Swami was something that struck me the most; because of late, there were hardly any interactions with Him to talk about. Today, he looked like a proud father celebrating His son’s birthday. The bottomline remains; we are all truly merry this Christmas.

Christmas Gifts from Sai

It’s been quite a dreadful time for me in the past few weeks. To meet the project deadlines, we (MBA) boys were cutting all corners out, even to the extent of going late for darshans at times. Our Mother Sai knows it all, for He has changed the darshan timings these days. It’s all His grace that made us complete our projects on time.

Though He arrives late, Swami makes it a point to bless all of us, sometimes by spending time in the portico or watching the programmes put up by the various groups of devotees. Parthi always seems crowded as every other day, new groups of devotees land here. Though it’s Christmas time now, the huge crowds make us feel it’s Swami’s birthday festival coming soon!!!

For the past one week, Swami had been enquiring as to what the boys were doing, why they were not putting up any programme. “So many groups put up drama, when will our boys present one?” he remarked. Therefore, a Burrakatha (folk song) was presented by three boys few days back.

As Christmas is a couple of days away, the decorations in Kulwant hall have already begun. Yesterday, Swami sat in the portico for an hour and blessed us all. He asked a professor to give a speech in telugu. There is a statue of an angel kept near portico along with other decoration items. Swami kept looking at it (with an expressionless face), turned towards a student and asked, “what is all this? Is Christmas round the corner?” In matters of humour, none can beat Him.

Some boys showed a card to Swami yesterday, regarding the drama. He was pleased and consented to see it the next day. I can say He was more than just pleased because He kept on enquiring today afternoon whether the actors are ready. The Vice Chancellor came running to Kulwant hall and told the boys, “Swami is waiting for you. Get your make up done as soon as possible.” Our lord finally arrived at 5 pm and went straight to the bhajan mandir where the actors were waiting. He said, “I was waiting all this while for you to get ready. Is your make up over?” He spent quite sometime talking to the actors and then came to the portico.

At this juncture, I must mention about one of the actors. This boy was initially dejected when he got a small role (as Sravankumar’s father). He was praying desperately that Swami should look at Him. As Swami sat in Bhajan mandir before drama, a boy pointed out the main roles of Rama, Lakshmana, Sita etc. Swami looked at Him and replied, “ But where is Sravankumar’s father?” That actor’s happiness knew no bounds. Since he was also one of the few who could speak telugu, Swami preferred to ask him most of the questions too.

The drama was very brief and very beautifully enacted. It had incidents from Ramayana like the devotion of Sravankumar, Shabari and Guha. The songs were well sung, which was one of the main reasons that made Him happy. After the programme, Swami blessed all actors with photographs. He materialized vibhuti and surprisingly, rolled it in his palms to make a lump before giving it to every boy. He materialized a chain and gave it to the student who acted as Shabari. Swami looked very happy and stayed on till Aarati was given to Him. He said, “I am very happy with your drama. You should have portrayed how Sravankumar’s parents curse Dasaratha after knowing about their son’s death. Anyway, next time, I want you to put up this drama in Poornachandra Auditorium with all the sets and costumes. I will personally come and direct it.”

Well, that’s our Director Divine, the Will behind Ramayana as also behind each of our lives. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!