Wednesday, Dec 25 2024
THE
U.S. EXPERIENCE - 1 SEPTEMBER 2003
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“Why fear when I am here. So says Sathya Sai
Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, my Lord.” This bhajan is
automatically played in my head whenever I feel nervous
or fearful about something.
I have been studying in the U.S, Rutgers University,
New Jersey for the past two years. There have been many
situations that I felt very fearful and lonely. It is
very natural to feel this way when you are in a new
environment and away from home. However, the fearful
feeling would go away whenever I sang this bhajan and
contemplated on Swami. Through this practical experience
I have realized that our Lord’s name is so powerful
that we should not let such feelings of fear come at
all.
Swami has always said that we should develop courage
and fortitude to overcome fear. We can get courage only
from God. For this, we have to develop faith in and
devotion to God. Constant contemplation in God is very
necessary for all of us. Swami has said, “You
have to face the world with courage. In the present
situation of the world, our true strength is in courage
and fortitude. When you cultivate devotion to God, you
can face the challenges of the world with confidence
and courage. Life is a Challenge, Meet it. Life is a
Game, Play it.” There were times when I felt discouraged
and really stressed out while I was in U.S. But by keeping
Swami in my thoughts, he constantly assured me that
everything would go fine. If we search within ourselves
through contemplation in God, we can even get the solution
to any problems we have.
In U.S, I couldn’t go to the Sai centre very often
because it was really far and the bhajan timings clashed
with my schedule. I was upset about this. I felt that
I couldn’t serve Swami as I used to in the Sai
Centre Katong. By Swami’s grace, I was introduced
to another organization, Hindu Students’ Council
(HSC) which is in my university. At the university,
weekly sessions are held to discus topics in spirituality
including the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita. This way
I was able to still continue with what I was doing here.
Apart from the ‘worldly’ education, I have
always been interested in Spiritual Education that Swami
wants us to receive. What does Swami mean by ‘Spiritual
Education’? He means that firstly we should learn
to pray to God and sing His glory. “Learn to live
with God and earn His Grace. This is the essence of
true education. What is the use of all your education
if you cannot know yourself? You have to know your own
truth before knowing everything else.”
Speaking about singing His glory, let me tell you an
experience I had in the U.S. As some of you may know
that I love singing bhajans and I used to be a regular
singer here. When I went to U.S, I thought that this
would stop as I was not attending bhajans in a Sai centre.
By Swami’s grace, I was able to do so in the weekly
pujas that Hindu Students Council had on Sundays. The
purpose of this puja was to allow students living on
campus to pray together as there was no temple on campus
for us to do puja together. So we would do puja together
and I would sing bhajans.
Last year we had Diwali puja, which is held every year
on our campus. We usually have 15 to 20 youths coming
for the puja. Most of the other youths will come after
puja when the puja is about to end. This time the president
of the council told me that I should sing bhajans as
some of them enjoy the bhajans that I sing during the
weekly puja. So I started singing our Sai bhajans, more
youths started coming into the hall. I realized this
when I heard the chorus getting louder. Even some Americans
who were outside came into the hall as they were enjoying
the sound of the bhajans. When the bhajans ended, I
looked behind and saw that the number of people had
increased from 20 to about 80. Many youths got interested
in bhajans as they felt really good vibrations. In my
heart I knew that this was all Swami’s doings.
He wanted me to realize that although I was not very
active in a Sai center in the U.S, he still acknowledges
the activities and my bhajan singing in Hindu Students
Council. I felt good that I had introduced the sadhana
of bhajan singing to these youths. I looked at it as
a form of seva. They never knew that bhajans could be
easy to follow and so spiritually elevating. Now, singing
bhajans is a regular activity that the organization
has. Furthermore, the number of people coming to the
puja has increased because of the bhajans.
I have learnt how to gain self-confidence while studying
in U.S. When we have self-confidence, we can overcome
challenges. By taking God’s name and having full
faith in Him will give you all the confidence you need
to face the challenge. We just have to remember Him
with pure love and we will feel Him in our heart. We
should become aware of this. By reminding myself that
“I am never alone as Swami is with me” made
me a more confident person.
There was another incident that made me realize that
Swami is watching what I am doing. We just had a Dharma
Conference in July, before I came to Singapore. We had
been preparing for this conference for one year. This
was big task for us youths of Hindu Students Council.
An event like this has not been organized by the youths
in U.S before. The main purpose of this conference was
to highlight the values of Dharma. We had distinguished
speakers from all faiths that believed in Dharma. We
had Dalai Lama and the president of India to address
us via video conferencing. We had distinguished Swamijis
from Chinmaya mission and Swami Dayananda Saraswati.
It was a big challenge to gather all of them for one
event. However, the biggest challenge that we had was
to attract the youths to come for this 3-day conference.
It is really difficult to get the youths interested
in spirituality. Our target was one thousand youths
should attend the event. During the preparation, we
heard many negative remarks about this conference. People
would tell us that this is impossible for the youths
to do. We lacked the power and money. We heard people
saying that this will be a failure. It was very discouraging
to hear such negative remarks. But I would not stop
working. In my heart I would remember Swami. I would
say, “Swami it is all up to You, to make this
conference a success. I am working hard but the result
I have left it up to You.” By Swami’s grace,
the conference was a very big success; we had more than
a thousand participants for the conference. This showed
that if we do our work with dedication and have confidence
in Him, He will take care of the result.
We are very fortunate that we have our Swami in this
world to guide us. He is the best living example to
follow. As a student I remind myself, by acquiring material
wealth we will not be the happiest person in the world.
I should adhere to the sacred path of life and put my
effort in realizing the truth. When we remember God,
He will guard and guide us in whatever we do. Swami
has said, “Install God in your heart. The vibrations
that emanate from the heart will elevate you spiritually
and confer divine wisdom on you.” Swami has defined
this wisdom as ‘Prajnana’ (Constant Integrated
Awareness).
We should always remember that God is the ultimate friend
in our lives. In my personal experience, I have learnt
that if we have total faith and confidence in Him, He
will take care of us. I urge all students and the adults
to always remember that God is the only one thing that
is constant in our lives. We should develop such faith
in Him to overcome fear in our lives. He is with us
no matter how far we are.
Jai Sai Ram
Sis Falguni
Young Adult
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