A Report
Devotees from U.S.A., U.K., and Poland jointly presented a musical performance to our beloved Lord Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on 11th September, 2004. The people from the three groups joined hands and created a musical program that highlighted the ‘Unity in Diversity’ aspect of Swami’s teachings.
There were many challenges to creating a program for Swami at short notice. Challenges ranged from finding the required instruments to gaining the approval with the rigid standards of the music academy, from finding suitable practice locations to dealing with the uncertainties of Swami’s schedule. With single-minded devotion and faith, the team worked diligently and patiently to overcome every obstacle thrown in its way.
It all started in an interview on 9th September, when Swami asked the leaders of the U.S.A. group about the musical program and told the group to perform on the 11th of September—a day of significance for devotees from the western hemisphere.
The united team held rigorous and ongoing practice sessions to meet the standards and approval of the music academy. It was indeed a miracle how the whole program came into form with just three days of practice so that it could be placed at the lotus feet of our Lord.
On that day, just after the afternoon darshan, the united group—U.K., U.S.A., and Poland—presented a beautiful program to Swami in the Sai Kulwant Hall. The hall was packed with devotees. The musical program commenced with a Hebrew prayer, an invocation to Lord Ganesha and consisted of a wonderful mix of Polish poems, odes from different faiths and several languages, bhajans rendered in Hindi and English, and instrumental music. Swami watched very intently and listened with full concentration.
Later He expressed His happiness about the program when he granted an interview to the women of the U.K. and U.S.A. group. He stated that in the future, too, devotees should work together in a united manner for such programs and seva [service] activities.
The program was followed by a few devotional songs rendered by the college students and arati [the closing rite] performed by the leaders of the U.S.A. and U.K. group of devotees.
This event is yet another example of how Swami’s unseen hand helps us when we set out to accomplish something with faith, devotion, and unity.
~Ramesh K. and Sheela Nayak, USA
~Daksha and Pradip Trivedi, UK
