Thursday, October 21, 2010

85th birthday of Swami

November 23rd of this year marks the 85th birthday of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, lovingly addressed as Swami by HIS followers. Swami is widely revered as an avatar or incarnation by millions around the globe. The less publicised facts about Swami are the amazing service projects that HE has undertaken, from providing free healthcare in the villages in and around Anatpur district in Andhra Pradesh, to providing clean drinking water to several villages to providing free education to bright students from kindergarten to Ph.D. to providing worldclass free healthcare in the super specialty hospitals in Bangalore and Prasanthinilayam - the service activities are amazing both in magnitude and quality. All this is carried out by highly qualified devout followers with spirituality and love as the undercurrent.

Born as Satyanarayana Raju in 1926 in the remote hamlet of Puttaparthi, Swami left HIS home to make the world HIS home on 20th October 1940 and declared that HE has come for the sake of humanity. HE established an ashram in Puttaparthi and named it Prasanthi Nilayam - the abode of supreme peace. Since then, HE has been as tireless as the earth in planning and executing a mind boggling range of service activities and been a great Teacher. A Teacher with a difference - since HE has always followed what HE has preached and thus been an inspiration for the millions around the globe.

There is an angle of mysticism about HIM in that HE creates things with a movement of hand. While that provides a curiosity which the scientific mind takes to be a mere trick, if one ever travels to Prasanthi Nilayam with an open mind, he will realize that there is much much more to Swami than magnificent materializations. HIS teachings are lucid, to the point and are saturated with love. HE addressed people as Premaswarupa which means embodiment of love.

Our friends at RadioSai have been doing a yeoman's service in spreading the message of LOVE and TEACHINGS of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. As part of the 85th year of the advent they have also created a video series that captures the life and teachings of Swami. I invite you to share the same with all of us. You can see that here: http://media.radiosai.org/www/

As I have figured out in my journey with SAI in the last 30 years or so in which time I have only a few times seen HIM up close, never spoken to HIM in person, yet I love listening to HIS discourses, HIS teachings, I follow HIS work and I have realized that there is something for everyone in HIS teachings - right from a tiny tot to an erudite scholar. Let the debating mind rest, please do open up to the life making teachings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

SaiRam.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

That Man Again...

Such cricket matches as you saw on that Tuesday afternoon demonstrate
the robustness of human heart. Millions of hearts in India as well as
Australia would have had a very tough time responding to the tension
and stress that the last one hour provided. And as we inched closer,
cricinfo servers froze, enhancing the stress levels further. All work
came to a standstill as we fervently hoped, wished, prayed that the
very very superb Mr. Laxman in partnership with Ishant pulls it off
for India. And they did to provide joy to a billion people.
Not for the first time, Laxman not only negated and navigated through
everything Kangaroos threw at him, he also scored at almost run a
ball! Those fantastic pulls, drives through cover and extra cover all
were there despite a dodgy back. The amazing ball by ball commentary
at Cricinfo stretched imagination as I visualized those shots. Later
in the evening when I caught up with the highlights, I was stunned to
see the calm, poise and determination in the face of Laxman. Dhoni ran
himself out. The way he got out also tells you how lost the usually
smart Dhoni was and perhaps low on belief. But Laxman seemed to think
it didn't matter. He seemed to tell his partners, I will do it with
you, without you or in spite of you! Ishant chose to be with him. If
you watched the highlights, you'll know why Dravid says 'nothing calms
you like Laxman'! And yet one of the enduring images of the match will
be Lax giving a mouthful to Ojha when the latter was lost in the
situation and didn't respond to a call for a run. Ojha was fortunate
to be not within striking distance of Laxman! That showed the
intensity which is usually clouded by his smile and ease of
strokeplay. Raina who was running for Laxman through out the innings
would benefit from closely watching the way Laxman dealt with bouncers
and short pitched stuff. There is little doubt that such calmness of
mind to weather a crisis comes also from a lot of discipline in life.
It is here that the Rohit Sharmas, Rainas and Yuvrajs need to learn
from the work ethic of Laxman as also of Sachin and Dravid. What is
common to these three modern greats is that their celebration of a
milestone ends with just raised arms and a look to the sky and kissing
the Indian flag. No pumping of fists, no chestbeating, no screams.
Those are perhaps for lesser mortals for whom achievement is an
accident!
The equal partner in this win was Ishant who looks capable of giving
batting tips to India's young brigade. He increasingly reminds me of
Jason Gillespie. I only hope he doesn't fall in the hands of Greg
Chappell! We can't afford to lose another talent like Irfan Pathan.
Ishant is still young and should work on his fitness.
So that was heart stopper indeed which reminded me the value of
insuring one's life! It was certainly not for the weak hearted -
neither to play, nor watch!
--
Sent from my mobile device
The Prayer of India:
సమస్త లోకా: సుఖినో భవంతు - May all the worlds live in peace.

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Love to blog. Every time I turn joyous or in extreme pain, I blog. Huge believer of 'charity begins at home'.