Sunday, Nov 24 2024  

JOURNEY TOWARDS DIVINITY (PART 2) - 29 DECEMBER 2003

My humble pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Sai ram Uncles, Aunties, Gurus, Brothers and Sisters. My name is Charanya and I am from the Young Adults. Today I will be sharing my humble experience of performing a drama in the Divine presence.

In Nov 2003, as part of Swami's 78 th birthday celebrations, the SSEHV Children of Singapore were blessed with the opportunity to put up a cultural performance entitled 'A Journey towards Divinity'. Our performance was held on 20 th November, a Thursday. We had only one and half months to prepare for this divine drama. Hence to prepare for the performance, we had close to 40 rehearsals packed within the limited time frame. Everyday, all of us, the participants and the gurus used to return home close to midnight after going through the dance and drama, over and over again so as to perfect every single action of ours. The rehearsals were very tiring but we did not want to give up as we wanted to put up a good performance in front of Swami. The gurus and our parents further helped to inspire and remind us that Swami would be very happy with our hard work. Finally with Swami in our hearts, after one month of hard practice, we set off on our real Journey towards Divinity.

At Parthi, we still tried to grab hold of as many opportunities we could, to practice. Moreover, prior to our performance, many other centers like the Balvikas children of Kerala and Delhi , put up performances in front of Swami. We observed their dramas and learned from them many ways in which we could improve ourselves.

On the afternoon of Nov 2003, it was time for us to present ourselves in front of Swami's Divine Physical presence. We were very nervous. Our programme was scheduled to be at 4pm . However, we were ready with all our costumes and make-up by 2 pm and were seated in Sai Kulwant hall, awaiting Swami's arrival. Surprisingly, Swami came at 3.30 pm itself. As Swami's students recited Vedic chants, Swami drove up in a red car, and got out with the help of two of His aides. He did not sit down immediately but continued to stand and kept swirling His Hand in the air. Then, much to our delight, Swami actually blessed all of us with both His Hands, a form of blessing that we know as Abhayahastha. He then sat down and signaled for the chanting to stop. Following this, two of our performers went up to Swami and presented Him with flowers and the invitation to view our drama. Swami blessed the children and signaled for the drama to begin.

Swami sat through the entire performance, watching every single performer carefully. He even tapped His Hand on the arm rest of His chair during the dances. The time soon came for me to go up and do my narration in front of Swami, I was in jitters. But Swami made me feel at ease. Our gurus had told us to try and look at Swami all the time. So, i did the same and there were many times when Swami actually made eye contact with me. I was honestly overjoyed.

At the end of our performance, all of us were waiting in front of Swami. Dr Ravi, the regional convener, then asked Swami whether He could take a photograph with us. Swami knowing what was best for us, decided otherwise. Instead He asked one of His students to help take a photo of the cast. Following this, we all returned to our seats and we continued to watch Swami at such close proximity for another hour or so, as Swami sat through a musical performance following our play.

In conclusion, this Journey towards Divinity has indeed proved to be a very enriching experience for all of us. It gave us an opportunity to perform right in front of Swami and experience His Divine presence. Moreover, in the course of preparing for the play, we had many good principles like punctuality, discipline, and perfection instilled in us. I indeed feel very blessed to have been given this rare chance to perform in front of the Divine Lord and hope more such opportunities come our way.

Om Sai Ram

Sis Charanya
Young Adult