June 29, 2009 – Parthi Yatra of East and West Godavari Districts – Day Three

June 29, 2009 happened to be the final day of the Parthi pilgrimage of the devotees and tribal people from East and West Godavari district. In the evening as Swami arrived for darshan, a gentle smile danced on His face. Swami, of late, has a new surprise in His treasury of uncertainty. He arrives from Yajur Mandir with little Vibhuti packets. As He is moving through the devotees, He throws a packet or two to those whom He knows need it and there is such a joyous surprise. And Swami, for the past few days, has been giving these packets to little kids who seem to carry the burden of their whole families in the letters they hold in their tiny palms! When Swami smiles at them and lovingly throws the Vibhuti packets, they rush to Him, give the letters and taking a quick padanamaskar, return to their place. It’s a very sweet scene and must be witnessed to experience it completely. On that day too, three kids were recipients of this ‘Vibhuti Grace’.

Moving through the ladies side, Swami reached the marbled area of the Mandir. This had been completely occupied by the tribal folk. Swami collected letters from many devotees on the gents’ side and completing the rounds, reached the stage. As He arrived on the stage, He was chanting the Vedas along with all the students! As soon as He was seated in the centre of the stage, He asked a student nearby as to what the programme for the day was. He told that there was "temple-key distribution" followed by speeches. Swami asked immediately for the speeches to begin.

. Swami knew, of course, that the speakers were the tribals who were not used to facing a huge gathering, definitely not a crowd of this proportion. So He did something so sweet and lovely. The mike was placed before the speaker and he began to speak looking at Swami. He expressed his gratitude at all that Swami was doing, and the Lord on His part kept nodding and reciprocating to the person. In this manner, what was to be a speech transformed into a heart to heart conversation between Lord and devotee! Swami said that He would take care of all the unfulfilled aspirations and granted His abhayahastha.

The next 'speaker' was a tribal woman, Nagamani. The word speech has been put in between apostrophes for she spoke in the language of music! She sang a song that she had specially composed on the bountiful Grace Swami had showered on the Godavari villages. It was moving and the students began to play the harmonium and tabla too as accompaniments. As she concluded her 'speech' of five minutes, Swami beckoned her to the stage and materialized a gold chain for her. He also presented a saree to her as a token of His Grace. Swami then asked for the other part of the programme to commence. Mr. P. Vardhana Rao, Education Wing co-ordinator for SSSVIP, East Godavari District listed out the achievements of the Organisation under the Project, making a mention of the eight fold service scheme.
		Nagamani offers her sweet music to her dear Sai

He prayed to Swami to hand over the keys for the four Integrated Village Service Centres, five Rama temples, one Shiva temple and a mini rice mill that had been constructed for the villagers. At this time, another beautiful scene took place. The devotees who had sponsored and initiated the construction activities were all staunch devotees of Swami and Bhagavan became nostalgic as He heard their names being announced.

Mr. Dandamudi Venkata Rama Rao who had constructed the temple at village Mareedumilli was a dedicated devotee about whom Swami had once written in a letter, "Ramarao is a blessed soul who has taken birth only due to some karmic balance. He has a pure mind, heart and intellect. His relationship with Swami is at the Atmic level." Mr. Ramarao's son came up to receive the keys along with the tribals' chief when Swami 'recognised' him and said that He had named him when he was small! The family of Mr. Seetharamaiah, the first superintendent at the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital at Puttaparthi, had initiated temple building at the village G. M. Valasa. Similarly Mr. Sai Ravi Sekhar from village Madicherla, and Thuraga Rama Murthy from the village Gunjigudem were the blessed names to be read out.

Mr. P. Vardhana Rao conducted the distribution ceremony with elan		Sai was only too eager to give, give and give

As the announcements were on, people came up to Swami and collected the keys. Swami immensely blessed every one of them and gifted them with lovely smiles. At the end of the distribution, Swami asked the students to sing bhajans.

There was something so special in the bhajans rendered that day. And that was due to the communion of the flavours of simple devotion that seemed laden heavily in the air and that of Divine grace. Swami seemed lost in a trance as some of the bhajans were sung and the devotees were in a clapping and singing frenzy. In between the bhajans, Swami was given a photograph of Him gifting the golden chain to the tribal woman Nagamani. Swami called the lady and gave her the picture. She was so happy and fell at Swami's feet before returning to her place. The wonderful bhajan session went on for about 35-40 minutes as prasadam was blessed and distributed to all assembled. Swami assured all the girijans (mountain dwellers) that He would complete any of the remaining works. Then, blessing everyone, Swami received aarthi and retired to Yajur Mandir.

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