August 12, 2010 – Distribution of Implements to the Needy and Music Programme by Turkish Devotees

There were two programmes slotted for August 12. And both were by the devotees from region 94 of the Sathya Sai Organizations. These were devotees from the United Arab Emirates. The center of the Sai Kulwant Hall was filled with sewing machines, tricycles and solar lamps. These devotees had pooled resources together and had also identified needy people from Puttaparthi and the neighbouring villages. These beneficiaries were seated in the hall. Also the members of the Turkish choir were seated on both the ladies’ and gents’ side and they would begin their singing once the distribution concluded.

The Veda chanting concluded at 5:30 p.m. and soon restarted as Swami arrived for darshan. Swami moved through the ladies’ side and interacted with some of the girls from the Primary School, blessing them as He passed by. As He moved through the centre, He looked at all the essential items arrayed for distribution there. Completing the darshan round in the gents’ side, Swami moved through the students. Some of the students showed Him a brochure for an International Conference on the Frontiers in Diabetes Research. Swami saw through it and blessed them.

Moving through the portico, Swami arrived on the stage. As He arrived, He looked at the three members of the Region 94 who were seated there with green scarves. He called one of them and spoke something to him before coming to His place on the stage.

The Veda chanting was stopped after a few minutes and then one of the representatives spoke. The speaker seemed overwhelmed right from the beginning and his speech was laced with tears. Swami seemed to tell him not to get that emotional but it seemed of no avail. The speaker thanked Swami for the wonderful opportunity to be an instrument in His hand and prayed for His continuous Grace and Love. After that speech, Prof. Anil Kumar took over.

He announced the names of the various beneficiaries. A few representatives came forward and bowed to Swami. Due to the practical infeasibility of hundreds coming and bowing to Him, the others bowed from their places itself as their names were read. Speaking on the uniqueness of the service endeavours of Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Prof. Anil Kumar explained the 'guidelines' for the beneficiaries.

Implements, namely, solar lamps, sewing machines, tricycles, water filters and mixers were distributed. The whole exercise took about 20 minutes and Swami sat as the silent spectator receiving the silent salutations and watching the space in front of Him get blank as the volunteers cleared all the items for distribution.

Once it was complete, permission was sought from Swami for the singers of the Turkish group to come and occupy the front places. Swami agreed and soon the marbled block was filled with people in green scarves. The chief orchestrator who would play on a multi-stringed santoor like instrument moved up to Swami and offered a rose.

Swami blessed him and then a lady too who offered a rose to Him. He blessed the programme to begin. Starting with three Omkars followed by a Ganesha Bhajan, the troupe sang almost a dozen songs for the next fifty minutes before winding up with a melodious number with an infectious refrain "Sai Ram Baba... Om Sai Ram".

Most of the songs were very slow and had a mournful refrain. They were mostly in glory of Allah. The Turkish flavour to the music was present in ample amount as the different instruments played on. The time was almost 7 p.m. when Swami asked for the priest and aarthi. Aarthi was taken after which Swami asked the students to sing the Samastha Loka chant for a second time.

Swami then got multicolored sarees for the ladies and safari pieces for the gents. Calling two members each from the ladies and from the gents, He told them to distribute to all the members. They were overwhelmed and the lady was in tears as she took up the bundle of sarees and moved to the group. The prasadam of dry fruits was blessed for distribution. Swami now asked for aarthi again and for the first time, “Samastha Loka” was chanted for the third time in an evening at Prashanti! Blessing everyone and conferring smiles to the members of the group, Swami retired for the evening.

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