WHEREVER MY GLORY IS SUNG...

"Wherever my devotees sing My glory, I install myself there”, Lord Krishna declared in the Bhagavad Gita. The devotees of New Zealand experienced the truth of this statement on Akhand Bhajan Day this year held on the 13th and 14th of November at Auckland.

The Bhajan began at 6.00pm on Saturday evening, the 13th of November, and went through until 6.00pm Sunday, the 14th. Nine centres from the Auckland area took part with another 3 smaller groups joining in as well, and each centre/group had a time slot for singing.

The singing was excellent throughout the whole period, as there seemed to be a special energy on this occasion – so much so that devotees stayed much longer, even after their given singing slot, and the quiet period that normally seems to happen during the early hours of Sunday morning did not eventuate. The majority of the crowd of 400 plus devotees stayed for the total 24 hours.

Many singers and musicians stayed on and helped the smaller centres when it was their turn, which resulted in continuous, high quality singing throughout the period. There was also a wonderful feeling of unity and love which certainly helped in maintaining the quality of the singing and the choice of Bhajans.

The session that took up the final hour between 5pm and 6 pm on the Sunday evening, was performed by the Youth Group, and during this hour all of the songs were sung in either English or Maori with at least half sung as unison.

During this final session a devotee was praying hard, throughout, for Swami to somehow show that He was present even though we could not see His physical form.

The session finished with Aarthi and the Vibhutti song, after which people sat quietly in peaceful meditation for a few minutes before cleaning up began. Suddenly, there was a loud cry as a devotee who had began to pack up the altar, noticed that one of the large candles which had been burning throughout the 24 hour period had dropped wax onto a orange cloth which had been placed beside Swami’s chair.

The wax had formed an almost perfect “AUM” sign which showed to all the devotees present there that even though they may not see Swami in His physical form, He definitely is always with them whatever they may be doing and here was the proof for all to see!

Glory be to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba!