back to main 80th birthday page
Swami's arrival in the morning & cheerful devotees -     Latest live report 1  -  Latest Photos large size

Pranams at the Lotus feet of our beloved Swamy....and sairam to the members of this Holy group

Amidst slight drizzle and fantastic climate, the birthday celebrations of our beloved lord started this morning in the Sathya Sai Hill view stadium. It rained heavily the last night, symbolising the birth of our Lord Sai Krishna. The rain calmed down, as the sun was rising. Thousands of devotees from 180 countries were eagerly waiting for this morning. The queues to the stadium started as early as 4am. The crowd was uncontrollable, even to the 2000+police force and equal number of Sevadals. The stadium was beautifully decorated with flowers and the flags of various countries displayed around the stadium, symbolizing ONE universe and ONE universal Lord. Balloons all over and on the top of the hill, near the mighty Hanuman statue were balloon palm trees, which looked very attractive. At least 15 cameras were seen all over. Swamy came around 7:30 am amidst cheers and prayers. Swamy, was clad in His beautiful spectacular white robe, wearing the most beautiful smile. There was not even a iota of pressure on His face, in spite of organising such a mighty task.
He was seated on the beautiful silver throne on the stage. Swamy was hardly visible to the devotees seated at the rear end of the stadium, but was very nice that two giant screens were put on, one on ladies’ side and one on gents’ side.
top

Another surprise was at least half a dozen of Indian cricketers attending the celebrations, including our MASTER BLASTER Sachin Tendulkar. One was surprised to see them, because there was only one day left (25th ) for the 4th one day match to be played in Eden gardens, Kolkata. All of them were seated on the floor, Sachin bit closer to Swamy.
The stadium was JAM packed with people from all over the world. I should say, the number would be at least 2lakhs(2 hundred thousand), every body on their toes to have a glance of Swamy. After Mr.Indulal Shah and Mr. Goldstein finished their talks, Swamy stood up to give His birthday discourse, which is always special. He started His divine discourse at 8:55am and went on for an hour
He started Prema Swaroopulara (embodiments of love) and again with the this verse
SATHYA DHARMA PREMA SHANTULU LEKUNNA
CHADUVU LANNI CHADIVI VILUVA SUNNA
(if truth, righteousness, peace and love are absent, all your wordly education is equal to a BIG zero)
SATHYA DHARMA PREMA SANTHULU LEKUNNA
BAHULA SATH KARYAMBULU VILUVA SUNNA
(all your sacred deeds are of no use)
SATHYA DHARMA PREMA SANTHULU LEKUNNA
PADAVULANU ELI VILUVA SUNNA
(all the exotic positions are of no use)
top
He continued, People say that they are doing social work, uplifting people but in reality, not social work but SHOW WORK. If any one comes to your door asking for alms, you scold them and sent them away. Man is not behaving like a man. Hatred and jealousy is ruling the day. there is no love for human beings, no love for parents.
You say, I'm praying to God, but God is not giving any thing to me rather ask what you are giving to God. What ever God has given to man kind, is pure, but human beings are making it impure and blaming God.
He gave on example, one devotee was worshipping Lord Siva. After some time, he didn’t experience peace of mind, so took the idol of Shiva and after keeping it in an alma rah, started to worship Krishna. Initially, he was enjoying Krishna’s company, but later his mind was again disturbed. After deciding that Krishna is no longer conferring the bliss, keeps the idol in the alimarah, and worships Rama. Again he had the same experience. One day, one lady suggested him to worship Goddess. Accordingly he started worshipping Goddess. One day, Goddess manifests and says, O foolish man, there is no need to change Gods or idols. What are these idols. They are made you (Man). Look inside, God is within you. Realise this TRUTH and you will be always happy. top

Swamy continued, Many people contemplate on God, only in old age. In child hood they play with kids, in adult hood, they spoil themselves with bad company. You run after temporal things like money, positions, worldly things. At the end, they say, I have got every thing in my life, exept PEACE OF MIND…where is this peace of mind… its within you….
Many people sow seeds when there is no rain and some people don’t sow seeds in spite of rains (interestingly when He was speaking about rains, it started raining of course not heavily, the ROMANTIC drizzle as we call locally)
This Human Body is like a water bubble. You don’t know when you will leave this body. This Human life is GOD’S GIFT. Make use of this body for noble purposes. Pleasure and Pain co-exist. There is happiness in pain and pain in happiness. A devotee should not be worried at all.
You have come here, after undergoing lot of trouble.I am very happy for you all. I will be much more happy, if you practice My teachings. That is true devotion. top

Swamy’s voice was very strong. HE was standing till He finished His discourse. At the end He said, IAM BLESSING ALL THE PEOPLE ASSEMBLED HERE WITH A LONG LIFE, HAPPY LIFE, PEACEFUL LIFE AND DIVINE LIFE.WITH THIS WORDS I BRING MY DISCOURSE TO AN END…
Swamy then sat on His Silver Thorne for more than 30 minutes while bhajans were sung on the back ground. Mean while prasadams were brought and Swamy blessed them and distributed the prasadams personally to dignitaries on the stage including cricketers. After that a Big birthday cake was placed in front of Swamy, and Swamy very graciously cut the cake with a long knife(while HE was still seated on the Throne). The dignitaries were standing beside Swamy. Sachin Tendulkar (whom we cricket fans call as Master Blaster) came forward to Swamy and got some advice from the Divine master, while He was holding Swamy’s hands. I first saw Sachin Tendulkar, when he came to play a match in puttaparth in 1997. He batted fantastically and Swamy with love slapped on His cheeks, and exactly after a month or so, He devasted the Australian bowling with two consecutive centuries in sharjah. One would not be surprised if he makes a century in Eden gardens, Kolkata on 25th Nov against South Africans.top

Prof. Anil Kumar, announced that Prasadam will be given to devotees with lunch at various FREE food counters in Mandir. Swamy then left the stadium in His TOYOTA PORTE car which has the automatic wheel chair. While leaving the stadium, the car went bit fast, with at least 15 men surrounding the tiny car amidst cheers from the vast gathering.
Over all it was a fantastic morning, to all those lucky devotees who could make it to Parthi to witness the 80th birthday celebrations. Some people sounded bit irritated with the crowd and sweared will never come to Parthi when such a big crowd is around, some said, it’s a different feeling and lots of FUN.. but the fact is its HIS will, when ever He calls you have to be here, even if you like it or dislike it…
May Swamy bless all of us with His choicest blessings to help us to know the divinity with in us and the courage and strength to fight the demonic qualities in us… top

Swamy YOU ARE BEYOND TIME AND SPACE.. YOU DON’T HAVE A DAY CALLED BIRTHDAY IN YOUR DIVINE DICTIONARY…BUT YOU HAVE GIVEN US THIS OPPORTUNITY JUST TO MAKE US HAPPY… THANK YOU VERY MUCH SWAMY….. WE LOVE YOU.. WE LOVE YOU… WE LOVE YOU…..  "
With Swamy from Puttaparthi group post SBOI

courtesy - online source: Photos: SBOI /sssbpt.org/puttaparthi.org/saibabaofindia.com - web layout & graphics saibabaofindia.com