Children Move Audience to Standing Ovation and Tears
In First Regional Play “Harriet Tubman”
In the grand finale, about 100 Bal Vikas students representing nearly all Sai Baba Centers in the Mid-Atlantic Region stood on the stage at Camp Akiba, clapping and singing from their hearts, “Come on up, I have a lifeline. Come on up to this train of mine.” With their arms stretched high, they concluded the song, “Come on up!” There was an electrifying silence as the energy of love poured out from the children to more than 600 people in the room. Then came a standing ovation from the audience and they cheered loudly, “Om Sai Ram! Om Sai Ram.” The joy we all felt will never be forgotten. At that moment we are all one.
In February 1995, Bernice Mead, our National Bal Vikas Coordinator, sent me a letter asking that our region write and produce a play based on an American folk hero, to be presented to Swami on His 70th birthday. We Chose Harriet Tubman, a slave born in the United States in the early 1800s. She risked her life to help slaves from the South escape to the North. She had a deep and sincere love for the faith in God and her fellow men. Throughout her life, Harriet exemplified the values of courage, determination and selflessness, all values that Swami teaches us. She also acted on her conviction and belief that all men should be free, and thus she practiced unity of thought, word, and deed.
The Bal Vikas students exemplified the same values in preparing the play. A core group of 23 students attended two practices prior to the retreat. Then at the retreat, they joined 77 other students and persevered through hours of work on positioning, choreography, lines, and songs. This required patience, courage, selflessness and love for Swami. Sai Baba says that children should study the lives of great people so that they too can strive for excellence. He also says, “The hearts and minds of the children are very tender, and what is taught to them at this tender age will get imprinted on their hearts and will form the foundation of their later life. These young children have certain capacities which will not be possessed by grownups. In their tender hearts and minds, there is the potentiality by which we can make them go close to God with such devotion and attachment that you will not find paralleled in grownups.” Indeed, everyone was moved by the love and devotion they felt coming from the Bal Vikas Students’
The Play was a miracle of Swami’s. It was only on the actual day of the performance that we went the entire play for the first time. The last scene was changed at the last minute. In my years of knowing Baba and serving Him, l have learned that last-minute changes are His way of taking over the directing. This change was dramatic and exactly what was needed in the play. “Why fear when I am here?” He asks us. It would be easy to get entangled in all the worries of what can go wrong. During our last practice run of the play two of our key people were lying down, not feeling well. Yet through it all, the most amazing thing was that everyone had a deep conviction that we were doing our best and that Swami would take over in the end. And He did!!
Swami says, “Cooperation, not operation.” It was the cooperative effort of so many Sai devotees in the region, professionals in their own fields, that made this play so outstanding. I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the work of all Bal Vikas coordinators, organizers, and assistants who worked with children, without whom the play would not have been possible; those who helped me write the play and who gave advice and support; the artists who spent many hours making the most incredible sets our region has seen (their sets brought cheers from the audience); the guitarist and singers and trainers; those who did stage management and the stage hands who were so busy moving sets on and off the stage as the children sang; the videotaping crew; those who designed and made costumes; and the incredible work of the sound man—for the first time at a regional cultural program, people in the back of the large hall could hear the children speak. My thanks also to our regional officers who helped with publicity, and to Bal Vikas parents who gave selflessly of their time and energy to bring the children to practices and to make their costumes. The Bal Vikas students themselves are to be congratulated for a magnificent performance. It is they who brought alive the inspiring life of Harriet Tubman. They spoke and sang with such love and devotion that the audience was moved to tears.
We are all grateful to our beloved Lord Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who was the true director of the play and who is also the director of the play of our lives. Sai Ram!
~Cathy Daub
Bal Vikas Coordinator of the Mid-Atlantic Region
