December 9, 2009 – “Sai Kiranaalu” drama by Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Vishakapatnam

The students from the Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar at Vishakapatnam had arrived to Prashanti Nilayam to celebrate the silver jubilee of their Alma mater with their almighty Mother! They had prepared a drama in Telugu and Swami had permitted it to be presented before Him on December 9. By 3:30 p.m., everything was ready and the backdrop was in place.

It was at about 4:55 p.m. that Swami came out for darshan and as He moved through the ladies' side, He saw the little girls holding the poornakumbham to welcome Him. He stopped and enquired from them twice or thrice too. There were other  groups too who had arrived to Puttaparthi and as Swami passed by the central backdrop, the members of the Singapore group that sat in the gents’ side prayed to Swami for a chance to put up their programme.

Swami completed the darshan rounds and via the portico, arrived on the stage. He spoke to a host of people as He moved through the portico. He enquired about the abysmal business from one and resoled the spiritual question of another. After a few moments of sitting and seeing the vast assemblage before Him as He stayed on the stage, Swami moved into the interview room.

Ten minutes later, Bhagavan was outside and He asked for the drama to begin after being announced. Mr. S. G. Challam, the chairman of the school’s managing committee, announced with great joy that the sapling that Swami had planted 25 years ago had been nourished with His love and blessings and was yielding ripened fruits.

With all the students appearing for the Public examinations graduating with distinction, the school humbly offered its salutations to Swami. The drama, "Sai Kiranaalu" then began.

There were announcements in English and Telugu by the students of the school before the drama commenced. The drama followed the lives of three alumni of the Sri Sathya Sai University as they face the trials and challenges of life. Each of them adheres to the human values and remains firm on the path of Truth and Righteousness in the face of great moral pressures.

In the process, they inspire the wrongdoers also into goodness. While one of them gives up a very good job for a life as a teacher to bring up children in the ideal manner, another one utilizes all his hard earned wealth for charity and helping others in distress. The third becomes an efficient and absolutely principled and non-corrupt government official.

The dialogues were all power packed and interspersed with many poems. The various poems sung out throughout the drama were all in Telugu and some of them had been Swami's own compositions too! Swami could be seen singing along with the various actors as some poems rented the air! Swami was moved by the nobility and good sentiments being portrayed.

The "dance" part of the dance-drama was constituted by 5 dances - one by the boys and the rest by girls of the school. They acted as the punctuation marks between the various scenes and were quite well choreographed. Swami was moved at many times during the drama and He nodded appreciatively especially when the stanzas were sung.

He would look at the students sitting in the front and convey His appreciation and the boys would just nod back in agreement. At the end, all the children sang out an English song which later had even Telugu parts. They sang out their love for Swami and at the end of it, Swami was so happy.

A few senior students from the school moved to Him with chocolates and an album. Swami materialized vibhuti and presented it personally to all of them. He even seemed to conduct a viva-voce. "What is the end of education?" He asked and the answer chorused, "Character!" He also told them that educare was more important than education.

Swami then moved down the stage to grant group pictures. He called one of the students sitting in the front and speaking with him, created a beautiful golden chain for him. Swami put it around his neck before posing for group pictures. He asked the photographers to spread out and take snaps from different sides as the group was huge and all had to be covered. Swami then moved up the stage and asked for bhajans to begin. Two bhajans later, He asked for the bhajan with alaap to be sung, "Shlokam" as He calls it.

As the bhajan began, He moved towards the interview room. Swami, however, told everyone that He would be back soon and all should await Him. As He came back, the picture of Him giving the chain was given to Him. He called the concerned boy and giving the photo to him said, "You and myself in this photo!" A broad smile lit up His face and that was soon transferred to the boy's face.

Swami then asked for aarthi after the ongoing bhajan. He received aarthi and blessing everyone, He said, "I am very happy. All of you must be hungry, paapam. Go and eat." In fact, he called one of the boys to the stage and asked him, “Are you feeling hungry?" Prasadam was distributed as Swami retired to the Yajur Mandir moving through the ladies on the chair itself.

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