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and Ladies Day, November 2000
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and Ladies Day, November 2000
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Akhanda Bhajans
Akhanda Bhajans were powerful from start to finish in Prashanti Nilayam. Beautiful voices from both the men and women singers and musicians were extraordinary. Inside the Mandir itself, the energy was intense the whole 24 hours. And whenever Baba walked inside, it would raise to a fever pitch and then, when he walked outside into the Kulwant Hall,heads suddenly would grow tall and singers would suddenly blurt out songs they may only have been mumbling. The roar of voices singing would become deafening with the echo and accoustics.
The colors in the Mandir were so beautiful. Everything was painted and bright with pastel colors of Love intensely shining under the light of the hundreds of crystal chandeliers...
At the conclusion, prasad was served to everyone in Sai Kulwant Hall. It was a verifiable Indian feast, served by the students to everyone attending. Such sacred food it was, having been charged by 24 hours of continuous devotional singing.
Love was everywhere evident; the crowds were huge and the hall was full... every few minutes one would get up and move from the crowd and the entire hall would literally move with the wave of floating heads moving forward to close the gaps through encouragement of Seva Dals with endless encouraging "Sai Ram, Please! Move forward..." In order to get the crowds into the hall.
Ladies Day
On the 13th of November, Baba announced at the morning bhajans that in the afternoon he would hold a special darshan just for the Ladies and would be giving out Saris to everyone. Baba came out early (around 2:00 P.M.), which lead to a mad scramble for everyone to get seated and the carpets out for him to walk on. Baba distributed the saris, and in the beginning it was organized chaos, which only got worse as Baba walked through the Ladies side.
After distributing to about 10-20% of the people in the hall, Baba walked up to the dais, the women stood up on the Ladies side. Baba came out of the hall and started distributing saris.
Women waited outside of Sai Kulwant Hall to get in. The boys were moved out of the way so they could start moving Ladies out that had already received these. In the end there were a lot of ladies that did not get any and still a crowd waiting to get in... Many Ladies in the back just wanted out... some said, "I came for Baba's love not for some dress..." and just waited for about 4 hours until the crowds died down so that they could get out. The sari's flowed endlessly out of the Mandir.
Finally, Baba just said that's enough ..., and the rest just had to do without. The Sai Kulwant Hall was as full with women at the end as it was at the beginning. Even after 4 hours of distributing and ushering those served out
Darshan after Ladies Day
This morning, the 14th, the darshan was fantastic. Baba came out at 7:00 a.m. to the sounds of beautiful music and the lovely morning air... After passing around the women's and men's side he walked up onto the dais and continued the darshan to everyone. The boys all stood up, and they sang sanskrit slokas and bhajans as they walked around the Mandir and walked out the front entrance going on to their classes.
After they left, all was silent, and Baba was still out. Minutes passed, and Baba just stared at the crowd waving his hands in blessings and filling the entire hall with love. As the minutes rolled on he continued. Everyone was blessed from every direction. He'd turn and continue sending his love... twenty, maybe thirty minutes passed, and He just continued. It was absolutely wonderful.
The 15th and 16th
Last Night (15th), Baba came out and the darshan was tremendous. Both last night and this morning Baba again distributed clothing to both men and women.
This morning we had an hour long darshan and Baba came not only through Sai Kulwant Hall but also walked out of the hall to bless all who could not get in. Daily the crowds are growing. There are TV monitors all over the ashram to accomodate the crowds that cannot get in to the hall for the darshan. Baba is extemely attentive and is coming out often between darshan and bhajans.