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The decent of the Avatar is the greatest event in the history of mankind, for it signifies the descent of the Avatar in human form, so that he may lift mankind to sublime heights. On November 23, 1926 Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba came down to earth with love to transform mankind, so that we may expand our consciousness and realise our divinity.

Eighty two years he has been with us serving as a beacon-light, teaching and guiding us, to help us realise our divinity. Swami often tells us that we are sparks of the Supreme Athma. To realise this he says we must practice unconditional love, and selfless service as part of our Sadhana.

The process of evolution from inner matter, through plant and animal life and man to God, may spread over many births, depending on our effort and urge to merge with the divine. It is due to our karma that we are unable to attain our goal, we are given many spans of life till we reach the goal.

Blinded by worldly desires and ignorance man spins a web around himself, and his consciousness is sealed by a lid of ignorance, making him unable to raise his mind to higher planes of peace and purity. His urge for pleasure has become so deep rooted that he finds it difficult to uproot it.

Today we are fortunate that the Sai Avatar is here to guide us and expand our consciousness towards the Godward path. Bhagavan has provided us with an organisation, so that we can work together, strengthen our faith and realise our innate divinity.

The divine assumes a form for the salvation of mankind. Swami says “I have come to light the lamp of love in your hearts, so that it shines day by day with added luster”. Bhagavan has come with a weapon of love to transform us, and bring greater and deeper understanding of our life and purpose.

Bhagavan says “Expansion is the key to happiness and love is the key to expansion”. What a privilege to be part of an organisation founded by the Avatar himself. Drawing inspiration from Bhagavan’s teachings and implementing it in our day to day life, we should expand our consciousness. The true strength for this expansion can be acquired only through love.

Ego is the biggest obstacle that confronts us on our journey. Ego has to be tamed and transformed through a process of self examination and self expansion. Therefore we must inquire in what manner we should conduct ourselves and what we should do to get God’s grace.

When we invoke the aid of Bhagavan, by prayer and concentration, with his grace our nature gets spiritualised and we begin to aspire for the divine.

Aspiration for the divine is the first step. There should be a constant seeking in our being for a change or expansion of consciousness. Aspiration must originate from the soul. While this transition is taking place, we must be vigilant against our old habits creeping in.

If we turn our gaze inwards with unflinching and unquestioned faith and surrender ourselves totally, he will guide us in our quest for transformation and expansion. Now God’s presence will be felt in every act of our life. We must visualise the Lord enshrined in our hearts, and offer our life’s success and failure to God, and we are prepared to accept whatever happens as Gods will.

Our love for the world should be sublimated with love for all beings, and no lower thought should enter our mind. All thoughts must be directed to the elevation of our consciousness. It is the evolution in the individual consciousness that will bring about the dawn of the golden age.

Swami says “When one’s reaction and agitation are transmuted into the divine, all that one experiences through the senses, the mind and intellect takes the divine lusters reveal their divine core, and man is shaped in the mould of love”.

Right conduct, right feeling with right thoughts and right action that conduses the growth of Godward aspiration is a must.

To nuture our spiritual growth and to expand our consciousness Swami has provided us with an easy formula, the nine point code of conduct when practised we will be able to build a beautiful inner life.

Let us take the first Sadhana, daily meditation and prayer. Without inner peace no Sadhana is possible. The state of inner peace can be got with one pointed concentration.

When there is mastery over the mind and senses, there is no place for false sense of values. When we make meditation a regular part of our day to day life it develops in us the power of discrimination between the right and wrong. Increase the will power and strength to pursue our spiritual goal with determination.

Now we expand our Sadhana to members of the family. Transformation starts with the individual, it grows through the family, society and thereby to the world at large. Singing bhajans with devotion and love will put the heart in touch with God.

Swami tells us “You have been given a body in order to serve others and the service is the highest Sadhana. When you serve others, until you finally see God in them, your service becomes worship. To serve others, there must be love in your heart. Love is inherent in man.

Love means service, which means Sadhana and expansion. Starting from the “I”, we go on expanding our consciousness to embrace our family, friends, community and country through service and we go a step further in our journey to share the joys and sorrow of our fellow men and expand our consciousness.

As we undertake seva more and more our consciousness expands and deepens, and our atmic reality is clearly known. Through these activities we are able to arouse the divine consciousness that is latent in us.

When spiritual energy is purified with selfless service and expansion of love, we find ourselves moving from selfishness to selflessness. Selfless love is a proof of progress in spiritual life. Because without goodwill, without change of heart, without inner transformation there can be no expansion.

Regular study of Sai literature, attending satsang purifies and strengthens our devotion. The transforming power of Bhagavan, through his speeches has awakened millions of people.

As devotees of Bhagavan, there must be co-ordination in our thought, word and deed, to improve our quality of lives and uplift our consciousness. Today the word one speaks and the actual thought behind are miles apart. All the grief, agony, and sorrow of man proceed from the tongue. Speaking ill of others in their absence and hurting others hampers the fulfilments of our supreme desire of elevating our consciousness.

Simple living and high thinking should be our motto, to continue our journey towards God. We must learn to overcome desire by realising through reason and discrimination. Unless we control our desires, we cannot make any spiritual progress. Lord Krishna said “The man of self-control roaming among material objects with subjugated senses and devoid of attraction and repulsion attains an unshakable inner calmness.”

The hazards of our inward journey will be smooth, if the aspirant overcomes desire with contentment. Also practising ceiling on desires, we are performing a spiritual Sadhana, which will expand our consciousness. Thus by practising the nine point code of conduct we are able to enlarge our love, enrich our emotions, enable our actions and thereby expand our consciousness.

We have traversed a long way, at the end of the long journey of evolution, through many obstacles and dark tunnels we are able to see the light. Complete transformation takes place and final destination of ever lasting peace and happiness is reached.

We are only different droplets in the vast ocean, different manifestation of that same spark of life. Swami is guiding all of us to attain self realisation through each of us, though we are in different stages of spiritual development. So let us not falter and shatter, but shatter the veil of ignorance at the Lotus Feet. What greater gift can we present to our Lord on this occasion, other than expand our consciousness and transform ourselves and make us his worthy instruments.

Jai Sai Ram

The 82nd birthday of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

In the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ it is said that an Avatar appears in this world at a time “when dharma declines and adharma prevails.” In fact, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has manifested himself at a time when the very foundation of dharmic life is crumbling. He has proclaimed that his mission is to restore dharma through the revival of the powerful spiritual forces of truth and love.

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was born in a small village called Puttaparthi in the backwoods of the then Madras presidency now Andra Pradesh in South India on November 23, 1926. Indeed, strange things happened at his birth.

The musical instruments in the house started playing automatically, a cobra was found under his clothes. Even as a child, he identified himself with all the living beings. He abhored the killing of birds and animals for food and refused to eat meat. Further, he revealed exceptional qualities of wisdom, compassion and magnanimity and his life has been a constant manifestation of his divinity.

Regional Central co-ordinator of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation (Sri Lanka branch) is seen with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Babu.

At the age of 14, on the October 20, 1940 Baba announced that he was Sid Baba as his devotees were calling and left his home and family. Thus started his Divine Mission of global spiritual regeneration.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba could be described as a pure, selfless, love personified, the embodiment of prefect peace and bliss, the essence of all goodness. He manifests every noble human quality that mankind admires and he incorporates every divine quality that is characteristic of an avatar.

Baba requires of his devotees that they practise his teachings in their daily life. It is only practice of his teachings that will bestow upon a person that status of a devotee, otherwise it will be a misnomer signifying nothing.

In fact, the hub of all his activities is ‘Prashanthi Nilayam’, the abode of peace, built and opened on November 23, 1950. From this day onwards rapid development of his activities took place. People from all over the world, from all walks of life - devotees, seekers, adherents of all religions find their way to Prasanthi Nilayam, driven by an irresistible urge to see the avatar, experiencing his loving kindness and receive his Dharshan (Blessings).

Even as a child, Sri Sathya Sai Baba has performed miracles to the devotees. But, in fact, he does not attach much importance to these miracles. What Baba values most is the transformation in the minds and hearts of devotees which make them better human beings devoid of the defilement of hatred, anger, jealousy, prejudice etc and enable them to lead a more meaningful and purposeful life.

According to him “the integration of the world community can only be possible if we integrate our own lives in the first instance. In other words, spirituality has to become an integral part of our living. The essence of this to practise the spiritual life. His salient teachings are love all, serve all, respect all religions, practise harmony in thoughts, word and deed, seek the dissolution of the ego, realise the divinity within, believe in the unity of faiths, practise spirituality in daily life and live the life of love.

Furthermore, Sri Sathya Sai Baba says that love has tremendous power. It can bring you all what you want.

Selfless service to mankind is the higher spiritual discipline, his inspiration, guidance and ceaseless effort have resulted in the formation of thousands of service organisations all over the world. Further, he does not seek popularity by addressing the audience in the language they prefer. He says that there is only one language - the language of the heart. The language of the heart communicates by virtue of spiritual qualities namely friendliness, sympathy, understanding of others, good humour and honesty.

The prime objective of all service activities in the Sai organisation is the spiritual uplift of the participant. In one of his discourses Sri Sathya Sai Baba says, “if you want happiness and peace, you must give love. Only through love, one could find inner peace.”

In fact, the third Sri Sathya Sai World Youth Conference in India was held last year and more than 6,000 youths from 97 countries participated at this conference.

The theme of this conference was ‘Ideal Sai Youth - messengers of Sai Love’. The objective of this conference was to inspire and guide Sai youth to serve society and at the same time to gain a deeper understanding of Bhagavan’s Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings.

Vaishnava Saint: Kulesekarar

Chola Nadu in South India was also known as Malainadu - the land of mountains. That was than a prosperous country, ruled by very famous and powerful kings. In that kingly clan was born a child called Thidavirathan. When he became a king he was a scholar of no mean repute. He was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. He was a generous king, and ruled fairly.

He was blessed with a beautiful son. The elders after consulting the stars advised the king to name his son “Kulasekaran”.

When the child was five years the king handed him over to a learned guru to teach him all forms of art and also to learn marshal arts. He excelled in his studies in both Tamil and Sanskrit. When he came of age, his father thought he was fit to rule and crowned him king while he himself sought a spiritual life.

King Kulasekaran was a just and fair king like his father and well educated that he won the respect of all the kings of the neighbouring States. His popularity annoyed the Chola and Pandya kings and they declared war on him. Kulasekaran won the battle and brought the Chola and Pandya kingdoms under him and became an emperor of Tamil Nadu.

The Pandya King appreciated his valour and prowess and got his daughter married to him. Kulasekaran was a deeply religious king and he devoted his time praying to Lord Vishnu.

Once he was listening to a pundit gave a talk on Ramayana. The speaker eloquently described all the incidents from Rama’s birth to his fight with Ravana’s army and he was so worked up and highly involved in the events, that he commanded his ministers to bring all the four divisions of his army.

The ministers didn’t know against whom he was going to fight. Very soon they understood his mentality of aiding Rama, to fight against Ravana’s army. His devotion to Sri Ramayan incarnation of Vishnu was such that he thought Rama needed his help to fight against Ravana’s formidable army. They got down the Pundit who was reciting the history of Rama.

The Pandit concluded his speech saying how Rama and Laxman destroyed the entire Ravana clan and rescued Sita. When he heard this King Kulasekaran was pacified and ordered the ministers to send the army back to their barracks. Such was his deep devotion to Lord Vishnu.

The ministers thought that the king was behaving so due to the influence of the Vaishnavaites and decided to wean him from those Vaishnavaites. Now king Kulasekaran when performing pooja to Lord Vishnu, decks him with the garland of precious stones and other such jewels.

The ministers hid the most precious chain made of the nine gems. When the king prepared for the pooja he found to his dismay the special chain missing. He informed the ministers who in turn told him that only the Vaishanavaites come there regularly and it was possible one of them might have removed it.

The king refused to believe this saying they were men of mettle and wouldn’t do such a thing. He said he would make the ministers realise the truth and asked them to bring a cobra in a pot.

The ministers thought he would punish them by asking them to put their hand in the pot and take an cath. Anyway they managed to get a snake charmer to get the cobra in a pot. King Kulasekaran prayed to Lord Vishnu, “Lord if what I said about Your devotees is true - that they wouldn’t have taken the chain, let not the snake sting me,” and he put his hand in the pot. The cobra shrank away and didn’t harm him. The snake crawled out of the pot and worshipped the king and swayed for a time and was taken back to its habitat.

The ministers realised their folly and begged the king to forgive them. The king addressed the ministers saying that they thought this illusory life on earth was the truth and indulged in mundane pleasures.

He accused them of trying to drag him into the mire of worthless worldly life. After advising them the king decided to crown his son and after instructing him on good governance left his palace on a spiritual journey.

Kulasekaran was an ardent devotee of Sri Rama and avatar of Lord Vishnu and was in a State of ecstasy whenever he hears Rama’s life story. He would fall into a trance. He was therefore called ‘Perumal’ or Kulasekara Perumal’. All his compositions were collectively called “Perumal

Thiruvandhi” - sacred words of Perumal. He sang ten Pasurams in each of the compositions.

The birth anniversary of Sri Narayana Guru Swami was celebrated by Sri Narayana Guru Society at Sri Narayan Guru Memorial Malayalee Hall recently. Here a section of the audience and Prakash, the President of Sri Narayan Guru Society, M.K. Rahulan, President Sri Lanka Narayan Guru Society and the General Secretary K. Jeyakumar addressing the gathering. Picture by Aruna Ponnambalam - Kotagala Group Corr.

Craig Estate Lower Division Kovil Kumbavashegam festival was held recently at Craig estate ‘Sri Muthu Mari Amman Kovil’. This kovil was built in 1940. Here (on right) Lighting of the traditional oil lamp by the Divisional Secretary Bandarawela Indra Dissanayake, along with Superintendent Craig Estate, the Principal and Managing Directors Pubudu Enterprise, George Enterprise, Chandani Bakery and Kovil Hindu priest. (On left): the invitees at the kovil, just after the pooja.


The first year anniversary of ‘Thamilosai’ web radio was celebrated recently at Thamil Sangam, Colombo 6. Here Sithambaram Thiyagarajah, famous spiritual singer and Iyyappa Swamy devotee being honoured with a shawl by Governor of Western Province Alavi Mowlana.	A special Hindu Religious Programme was conducted by ‘Thamilaruvi’ Sivakumaran (Vavuniya) at Sri Kathiresan Swamy Temple, Colombo-11, to mark the Kanda Sasti Viratha Pooja recently. The event was organised by the Kovil trustees, board committee and Sri Vidya International Hindu Peedam. Picture by A. Maduraveeran

Expansion and elevation of consciousness

Jai Sai Ram

The 82nd birthday of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

Vaishnava Saint: Kulesekarar