IN GHTAn Insight into Sai through Glance, Heart and Thought

VOL 2, ISSUE 7

MUDDENAHALLI CAMPUS

90

|SEPTEMBER 2015

Years of Divine Guidance

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

PUBLISHED BYMUDDENAHALLI CAMPUSSRI SATHYA SAI INSTITUTE OF HIGHER LEARNING

SAI SAMBHASHAN

Once 20 students of the Brindavancampus accompanied Swami from Brindavanto Prashanthi Nilayam. After a while Swami asked them…

Swami: How many people have come? Students: 20 of us came, Swami!Swami: And what about Swami?Students: Sorry Swami, 21 is the right answer.Swami: Really? Am I not within each one of you?Students: Yes Swami! So 41 you say?Swami: Not at all, All are one. SO ONLY ONE CAME.In such a simple way Swami explained the philosophies of Dwaita, VishishtaDwaita and Adwaita.

DR SAYEE MANOHARSRI S SAI MANOHARSRI V BHASKARANSRI CHANDRASHEKARSRI S MOHANSRI SATHEESHAN STANISSRI VENKATRAMANA

ContentsSEPTEMBER 2015 VOLUME 02 \ ISSUE 07

QUICKNAVIGATOR

05

08

16

19

07

TALES OF SAI- 4

SHAPING THE FUTURE

THE FRIEND, GUIDE AND PHILOSOPHER- LORD GANESHA

THE DIVINE CALL

A TALE OF TWO FRIENDS

06DUTY

39

23

25

41

LIFE IS A GAME PLAY IT

GANESHA CHATURTHI

KRISHNA JANMASHTAMI

THE MECHANICS OF BREATHING

THE PLAYER OF ALL TIMES – Michael Jordan35

ANNUAL SPORTS AND CULTURAL MEET

29

21 PAROPAKARE PUNYAYA

Lord Ganesha, extolled as theelephant headed God who canvanquish all obstacles that comeour way, is an Ishta Devathawho is dear to all, old andyoung, rich and poor, materialand spiritual. He is adored forseveral aspects that heembodies. His large bellysignifies the equanimity tostomach everything gracefully ina world of duality, his large earspoints to the need to be a goodlistener, his single tuskemphasizes the importance ofone-pointed focus on anyendeavor which is thefundamental requirement for theintelligence he bestows.The festival of Ganesh Chaturthiis celebrated in all glory andgaiety in India. However, thecelebrations take a glorious hue

in Bhagavan’s Sannidhi. Ganeshaand Bhagavan have a uniquebond. He is the Lord to whommost turn to when Bhagavan isnot responding or speaking tothem. He is believed to besomeone who could representour case to our Swami. Thereare several students in ourcampuses who befriend Ganeshato win our Bhagavan’s grace!Such sweet stories galore!The celebration of GaneshChaturthi and the finalimmersion of the Lord in waterhave a profound significance.The Lord, though essentiallyformless, takes a form for us tovisualize and relate to him. Whilewith us, he receives ouradoration, enthuses us todecorate him, worship him andadore him. After which, we also

painstakingly build a vehicle forhis apparent final journey.However, the separation is notone of grief, but rather that ofjoy, where the Lord having re-established the inner bond thathe came to restore with each ofus, assumes his true formlessnature.The lessons that one couldimbibe from Lord Ganesha areinnumerable. Even if wecontemplate on any one aspectof his grandeur and majesty, ofwhich, Bhagavan says we are aspark and essentially notdifferent, we will be walking theroyal road to self-discovery andVigneshwara’s Grace willcertainly clear all the obstaclesin this path to Him!

- Faculty Desk

Let us always remember,Let us repeatedly speak out,Our duty is to do good to humanity.

Let us not focus on material pleasures,Nor lay in the lap of luxury.Let us be awakened always that,Our duty is to do good to humanity.

Let us not enumerate our sorrows,Nor constantly reflect on our happiness.Let us step up to take action,Our duty is to do good to humanity.

We must sail over oceans of misery,We must scale mountains of difficulty.While roaming through the jungle of adversity,Our duty is to do good to humanity.

It may be dense forest of extreme darkness,Or we may be surrounded by kith and kin.When we traverse these paths,Our duty remains - to do good to humanity.

Courtesy: Sri Sai Vinod Sir

Duty

From thy abode I was far

Thy pulled me near, I know not why

From that cage behind the bar

To the place where I can fly

Behind the bar is the world,

Where I lay unnoticed and hurt

And in Thy land, Thy mould

Nourished with virtues, I sprout

The time when I feel sepulchral

You bring me the reason for exuberance.

At the time of disparity and struggle,

You rise as the reason for my existence.

When I knew not of Thee,

I was lurching, rather stagnant

Yonder beneath your roof of mercy,

I am liberated from all evils and radiant.

In front I stand and down I bow,

With all my zest I’ll work and wouldn’t rip.

WITH ALL MY LOVE, I make a vow…

“I wait till I snuggle into the shroud of perennial sleep”.

- Rakesh Luwagun (I BBA)

- Sri. Sundararajan Mohan

Tales of SAI-4

Sri Shirdi Sai’s Mission can besaid to have started from 1858when He arrived in Shirdi for thesecond time in His life. Prior tothis, His life was more in theform of a preparation and a kindof reconnaissance of how theland lay, so to speak. Heexperimented with His multi-faithapproaches in the place whereHe grew up. Both the religiouscommunities were perplexed byHis behavior. He would reciteSanskrit mantras in the localmasjid and would recite theQuran in Hindu temples. In thesubsequent period of His stay atHis Guru Venkusa’s Ashram, Hewas primarily a model student

and worked diligently much tothe delight of His Guru, andmuch to the chagrin and jealousyof His fellow ashramites. He didcome to Shirdi sometime in 1850or so and simply sat under theNeem tree. He did not interactwith anyone although somepeople felt inclined to offer Himfood which He never refused.However, in 1858, when He camewith the marriage party, Heobviously came for good andnever left Shirdi for the next 60years.

Sri Sathya Sai, on the otherhand, was born and grew up inPuttaparthi. He had to move outto Uravakonda for His schooling

but ultimately returned toPuttaparthi to reside and carryout His Mission primarily fromthere. He commenced HisMission formally in October 1940when He threw away His booksand moved out of His parentalhome. Progressively Heestablished an Ashram whichbecame the focal point of HisMission. He did travel extensivelyacross India and once abroad,but always returned to Parthi tocontinue His Mission. His Missionin Parthi covered a period of alittle over 70 years.

The circumstances and timeswere radically different for thetwo Sai Avatars. In 1858, Great

Both in Shirdi and Puttaparthi, Sai started the process of His Mission by first gathering Hisdevotees to His fold.

GATHERING THE DEVOTEES- PHASE I

Britain had just declared HerSuzerainty over nearly the wholeof the Indian sub-continent. Theperiod of Sri Shirdi Sai’s life atShirdi saw the consolidation ofBritish rule over India and thecreation of a new system ofrules, procedures, laws, andrevenue collection andadministration. This period sawthe outbreak of Hindu-Muslimconflicts in many parts of thecountry, many times aided andabetted by the British rulers.Very broadly, the Britishapproach was three-pronged;one was to incite and provokereligious intolerance and thushorizontally divide society;secondly, the British werealarmed that they were aminiscule minority in the vastcountry and its teemingpopulation, and so they createda British Indian army drawnfrom the local residents totallyloyal to the British rulers.

Thirdly, they created a newadministrative and judicialsystem based on the Englishlanguage to supplant theexisting systems and tried toannihilate the ancienteducational systems thatexisted. It is remarkable thatalmost coincidentally with thisprocess, Sri Shirdi Sai had madeHis appearance with the unity ofreligions as His primaryMessage. When Sri Shirdi Saiattained Mahasamadhi in 1918,Gandhiji had already entered theIndian National Congress andwas beginning to talk openlyabout the possibility ofIndependence for India.

In the case of Sri Sathya Sai,in 1940, India was on the brinkof gaining independence and theBritish were on the verge of amajor attack on their country byGermany with all its attendantcosts and tribulations. As theMission of Sri Sathya Sai

evolved, India not only becamefree but became progressivelyunited politically with the freeacceptance of all religions as animportant motto. From difficultbeginnings, the country grewgradually more and moreeconomically sound and strong.India became self-sufficient infood and milk, steel andconsumer items.

One can say that Sri ShirdiSai came to give India a newidentity when its personality wasbeing trampled upon. Sri SathyaSai has blessed India to becomeself-sufficient and economicallysound. One is tempted to thinkthat the third Sai Avatar mayvery well bless India to becomenot only the most powerfulcountry in the world, but make itthe proponent of the message ofpeace, harmony and love.

Thus the SAI identity wasestablished during the time of

of Sri Shirdi Sai. This Sai identityis the key to the future welfareof mankind. It is through the SaiIdentitythat the concept of aCompassionate Universal DivinePrinciple has got established allover the world. During the lifetime of Sri Shirdi Sai, too muchwas not known about Himalthough the work wasbeginning. During the life time ofSri Sathya Sai, however, theconcept of Sai has gotestablished all over the world.During the life time of the PremaSai Avatar, the concept ofUniversality, Unity and Love willbe ACCEPTED by the wholeworld.

In the case of both theAvatars, the identification andgathering of devotees can besaid to have been in at leastthree phases. The first phase ofdevotees were the firstacquaintances and followers who

selflessly provided crucialservices to the Avatarirrespective of the reactions ofother people. The second phaseincluded people from outside theambit of the physical locationwho got attracted throughspecial circumstances or onhearing from others. The thirdphase was a massive descent ofdevotees from many places asthe name and the news ofmiraculous events spread farand wide.

In the case of Sri Shirdi Sai,the very first people to come intouch with Him were ChandSaheb and Mhalasapathi. ChandSaheb sought His help to find hishorse and got to see somemiracles which astonished himand made him invite Sai to visithim at his home at Dhoop andlater made Him accompanyChand’s family for a wedding atShirdi. Mhalasapathi, who wasthe priest at the Khandoba

temple at Shirdi, recognized Himfrom His earlier visit in 1850 andwelcomed Him as ‘SAI’.Mhalasapathi stayed devoted toSai all through his life. Saibegged for food at a few selecthouses in Shirdi. One was thehouse of Lakshmi Bai and herhusband Ganapatrao and theirson Tatya, who became veryclose to Sai as the years passed.If Baba did not come for food onany day, Lakshmi Bai assumedthat He had gone to theadjoining fields. She would takefood for Him and search Him outand make Him sit down and eatfrom a leaf.

Another lady from whom Saiwould beg food was calledLakshmi Bai Shinde. For manyyears Baba would go at noonand stand outside her door andwait for the food. If she wasbusy cooking, He would go tothe fields and later return to thehouse for food.In later years,she

started to take the food to themasjid. Gradually the system ofbegging for food came to an end.It was to this Lakshmi Bai Shindethat He gave nine silver coins asHis last gesture of love beforegiving up His body in 1918.

One of His close associates ofthe early years was MadhavraoDeshpande whom Heaffectionately called Shama.Madhavrao Deshpande came toknow about Sai almost from themoment that He started stayingin the masjid. He was with Himfor the next five decades. He wasa teacher in a school adjacent tothe masjid and was the earliestliterate devotee of Sai.

Baba described Hisrelationship with these earlydevotees as one of‘Rinanusambandham’ or anassociation from a previous lifewhere something remained to becleared up. In the case ofShama, He explicitly mentioned

to him that they had beenclosely related in 7 earlierincarnations. He was full of loveand concern for Tatya, Shama,Mhalasapathi and Lakshmi Bai.He enjoyed His conversationswith Ganapatrao with whom Heoccasionally travelled to nearbyRahata and Nimgaon. During theearly years, He was also close totwo Muslim fakirs, Rohilla andNanavalli. Rohilla was a toweringelderly man who kept shouting‘Allah Ho Akbar!’. People weredisturbed and complained toBaba but He always asked themto disregard Rohilla because hewas only performing his ownsAdhanA. Nanavalli was adifferent type of person andserved Baba sincerely for manyyears.

In the same way, in the caseof Swami also, there were someearly devotees who were totallydevoted to Him. The earliestperson to identify His Divinity

was His grandfather Sri KondamaRaju. He lived separately andeven when Swami was living inthe house of Karnam Subbammaor in His own little Ashram,Swami would go over to Hisgrandfather’s house and preparefood for him. There was anaffinity, a relationship and lovebetween the two which wasindefinable. It was a specialunderstanding which must havecome from some past life. Thesame was the case with KarnamSubbamma. Like Lakshmi Bai inShirdi, she was always botheredabout Swami’s welfare and Hisfood needs. It was she whoprovided shelter to Swami whenHe left His home and it was shewho provided the land ultimatelywhere His first Ashram wasconstructed.It was known as OldMandir and now a KalyanaMantapam.

One of the earliest people tocome in touch with Swami’s Divi

nity was his own elder brotherSri Seshama Raju. It was to himthat the education of Swami wasvouchsafed and it was he thatquestioned Swami’s authenticitythe most. However, the more hequestioned the more the proofsthat were adduced that Swamiwas identical to Shirdi Sai, andin fact, to God Himself. SriSeshama Raju was blessed tosee Swami in the sanctumsanctorum of the VirupakshaTemple at Hampi. He, of course,doubted what he saw, so hecame running out of the templeonly to find Swami standingoutside, leaning against a walland gazing at the horizon.

In the early years of Hisschooling at Uravakonda, two ofHis classmates were veryattached to Him. They could notbear separation from Him whenHe returned to Parthi. SwamiHimself revealed years later thattwo dogs whom He called Jack

and Jill were none other thanthose friends of His fromUravakonda who pined away andgave up their bodies and werereborn as His pet dogs.

Another early devotee wasthe Excise Inspector SriAnjaneyulu at Uravakonda. Hewas truly devoted to the littleboy and would go to all sorts ofextents to look after Hiscomforts. It was on a rock in SriAnjaneyulu’s garden that Swamisat to lead His first bhajan,‘Manasa Bhajare Guru Charanam…’.

His parents, Sri PeddaVenkappa Raju and SmtEaswaramma were, needless tosay, His earliest devotees. Theyinitially viewed Him as their sononly but as time and eventsunfolded in their life, they cameto accept that He was uniqueand divine. Ultimately Hismother referred to Him as‘Swami’. His father continued to

call Him ‘ Nayana’.

His Parents

Swami with His elder brother Sri SeshamaRaju and his wife.

So it will be observed that inboth Sai Avatars, in theearliest phase of theirmission, only a handful ofdevotees were involvedintimately with them. In thecase of Shirdi Sai, two ofthem, Mhalasapathi andMadhav Rao Deshpande(Shama) stayed with Him forHis whole life at Shirdi andwere incessantly involved inHis service. In the case of SriSathya Sai, the earliestdevotees gradually fadedaway into the backgroundand it was probably only SriN Kasturi who came in thesecond phase, who stayed apretty long time in Hisservice.This is because in Shirdi,Baba unfolded His Missionvery slowly and the numbersof people who were attractedto Him increased very slowly.In Parthi, on the other hand,

Swami would travelextensively even as a youngboy and contacted hundredsof people wherever He wentand the Mission unfoldedvery rapidly and by leapsand bounds. The strategiesof the two Sais were,therefore, different. That iswhy someone has said thatthe Shirdi Avatar was in theform of a reconnaissancesurvey where the Lord wastesting the waters, as itwere, and creating theconcept of SAI in the mortalworld. In the case of SriSathya Sai, the world wasready for major revelationsand upsurges and changes.The major instruments ofchange were His studentsand they will have to beready to perform their dutywhen He appears as SriPrema Sai.

Mother Easwarammaanointing Him on His Birthday

Karnam subbamma

“When I left Uravakonda,Kameswar Rao was theheadmaster. Everyone includinghim cried. But I cared for none.Will I submit Myself to all this?The next day they asked anotherboy to lead the prayer in Myplace. The prayer too had beencomposed by Me. That boy, whowas a Mohammedan, was a goodsinger. He walked up to the stagebut could not sing, rememberingMe, he broke down. The prayerwas stopped and a holidaydeclared. Without Raju, Rameshand Suresh refused to sit on thebench or stay in the classroom.Ramesh ran and jumped into awell giving up his life. Sureshkept crying, "Raju, have you leftus! Raju, have you left us!" Hebecame mad and was admittedto the mental hospital inBangalore. His parents prayed to

Me to go and see him once.Swami told them, "The presentSuresh is different from theearlier one. There is no point inMy coming to see him." After afew days, he too died.I had two dogs, Lilly and Billy inthe Old Mandir. Jack and Jill wereborn to Lilly. The two were noneother than Ramesh and Sureshcome again to stay near Me. Onewould sleep at my head and theother at My feet. They used toget up at My slightestmovement. One day the Queenof Mysore came for Swami'sDarshan. She was very orthodox.She got down from her car atKarnatakanagepalli and walkedup to Puttaparthi. After hisdinner, the driver had to go backto the car. It was dark and he didnot know the way. I ordered Jackto show him the way and thedriver followed it. The driverslept in the car while Jack slept

under the car. The next morningwhen the driver started the car,he ran over Jack's spine. Fromthere, Jack dragged itselfthrough the river towards theMandir. The washerman,Subbanna, who used to lookafter the Mandir, told me that forsome reason Jack was comingwhining. I replied that I knewand walked up to the Mandirgate. Crying aloud, Jack fell atMy feet and gave up its life. Jackwas buried behind the Mandir. Jilltoo passed away after a fewdays. I built a Samadhi for themand planted a Tulasi plant overit. It remained for a long time.When I was at Bangalorerecently, in order to extend theKalyana Mandapam, theengineers razed it. Thus afterspending their next lives asdogs, they finally merged in Me.Those who believe in Me shallhave no dearth of anything."

Sai Baba said in his Dasara Discourse on October 1st 2000:-

“Sow an action, it reaps a habit;Sow a habit, it reaps a character;

Sow a character, it reaps a destiny!”

Topic:

SHAPING THE FUTURE

I

The crowd roared with fury. All they wanted was vengeance. They felt no remorse hitting Uttam

Kumba. He wailed in pain, “I am still the minister. I can help you.” But he was barely heard. His breath

stopped slowly and the faces in the crowd beamed in joy.`

- VIKRAM G N ( II BBM )

IIHe squirmed in pain, scrambled and cried, “God! Help me”

“Hahaha!” chortled a fierce voice. The place was devoid of light.“Who are you?” shouted Uttam, shuddering.

“People fear what they don’t understand. What they don’t understand is the knowledge they don’t possess.The knowledge they fail to possess is the wisdom lost. Of course, I mean the people who are fretful of theirfuture. They take the wrong path, face the repercussions, and finally console themselves telling its God’swill. Maybe it is partly true, nevertheless, man is the architect of his future. He shapes his destiny.These people are fascinated with secrets, with intelligence work. Secrets are about empowering theprocess of discovery. Secrets may or may not be powerful, but they give a sense of power. These peoplefeel that a secret can change their life.Now, I, Hypnos, the Greek God of Sleep, shall gift these people the real secret of life.”

Voice: You call me, and then yell like this? That’s impudent.

Uttam: You’re God?

Voice: Yes, I am. You are. And everybody.

Uttam: Yaya… I’ve heard this. Where am I? Am I dead?

Voice: You tell me. What do you feel?

Uttam: Purgatory, maybe. Listen, enough of this. If you are really God…

Voice: OK. I see where this is leading to. You can re-write one action in your life. I grant you this boon.

III

“Is this really true? I am back in my cabin, alive”, Uttam was rapturous.

He immediately fired the worker responsible for complaining about the bribes he had taken, and who

would ruin his future.

He felt a sense of accomplishment. After a few days, he started demanding bribes again. He thought

that since he had evaded his ramifications, he was invincible. Because of him, his government was

corrupt.

After a few years, yet again a similar disaster occurred in his life.

IV

He was back in the same place with the same voice. He was startled.

Voice: I gave you a chance. You didn’t make use of it properly.

Uttam: I don’t understand. I thought I had written a new happy script for my life.

Voice: You made a mistake. You should have gone back to the day you first accepted a bribe, and

rejected that. In the place you travelled back to, your soul was already affected. From the first action

of taking the bribe very hesitantly, you had altered a lot. This particular action developed into a habit

of yours, over a period of time it evolved, altered a part of yourself and merged with your character.

Didn’t you hear of these lines?

“If money is lost, nothing is lost;If health is lost, something is lost;But if character is lost, everything is lost!”

Your character decides your destiny.

Uttam: Now I understand. But it’s of no use. I’m going to end up in Hell.

Voice: I never said you were dead.

The voice once again chortled.V

Uttam opened his eyes. He was at his desk about to accept his first bribe.

“I don’t take bribes!” bawled Uttam.

A cascade of water fell over him. His mom said, “Go chant Suprabhatam, then study. I don’t take

bribes? If you continue studying like this, you can only dream of leading the nation. And this occasion

to scream those lines will never arise.”

Uttam was completely pale. But he knew he had learnt one lesson for life:

“Sow an action, it reaps a habit;Sow a habit, it reaps a character;Sow a character, it reaps a destiny!”

On the busy streets of a city, there lived many

beggars. Two friends Ramu and Gopi were among that

beggar population who had a hard time trying to fill

their bellies, but managed to spare a few smiles and

friendly gestures at each other, to fill their hearts.

They had known each other since childhood and

frequently they would remind themselves how they

met as kids about twelve years ago.

One day, as usual, as they were waiting outside a

temple along with a line full of pairs of competing

eyes, Ramu said to Gopi, “Hey! Why don’t we just

pick some man’s wallet instead of waiting for him to

give? Don’t you think it is a good idea?”

However, Gopi had busied himself by trying to

read a pamphlet which had fallen down. Ramu knew

that Gopi would never have said a yes, and he had

already put down Ramu quite some times for this

thought. This time Ramu was a desperately serious

young beggar who felt he needed some money.

As Gopi was engrossed in trying his level best to

read the pamphlet, Ramu saw his chance and slowly

and very deftly flicked out a wallet from a man who

was walking past. Looking at the crisp currency notes,

he exclaimed, “That was easy! I can be a rich man in

no time!”

Gopi, however, was utterly enchanted by his new

discovery that he could read the first few words

written on the leaflet.

After this experience, Ramu and Gopi would sit

outside the class window of an elementary school,

and as Gopi would get busy catching what the teacher

taught his students, Ramu would get busy on the road

outside, waiting for his victims. And they did not do

too badly. Both of them found great joy as well as

progress.

A Tale Of Two Friends

This went on for weeks and then one day Ramu

realized that if Gopi would know about his thieving,

which had by then gone to robbery, he would have to

share the money. So he decided to create a fight and

break away. As he wanted, it happened. Their twelve

year bond broke and they were on their own paths,

to meet their own destinies.

In the coming four years, Gopi learnt to read and

write and finally qualified to enroll in a law college.

Eight years later, he had become a successful lawyer.

One day, he was seated in his office, when a call

came from the police station. It was the Station

Superintendent and he wanted Gopi to talk to a

convict who had been caught in a murder case. The

voice was breaking and Gopi could hardly make out

what the man was saying. He quickly gathered that

he was asking for help. He grabbed his briefcase and

went to the police station. It was Ramu who had been

caught in a place where a murder had taken place.

Gopi bitterly remembered what he had told Ramu

on the day they parted.

“Sow a thought, reap an action;

Sow an action, reap a habit;

Sow a habit, reap a character;

Sow a character, reap a destiny!”

So it had come to pass. It took all of Gopi’s skill

as a lawyer to extricate his friend from the calamity

which was awaiting him. He believed Ramu when he

stoutly declared that he had only meant to rob the

dead man. When the man had resisted and tried to

attack him, he had hit out in self-defence. With a

detailed analysis, Gopi proved to the court that it was

not murder with a deliberate motive to kill. Ramu was

given an extended term of imprisonment.

got to meet a friend calledRudraksh, who was very rich andhad everything at the snap of hisfingers. I got introduced to himthrough another friend of mine.He was a cool, lavish andhandsome guy. All his life wasaround parties, friends and cars.He was once upon a time a kidwho used all his money on hisfriends for the worldly pleasureshe could seek, until one day ……

That day, he happened to rushto his friend’s house in theevening. It was his friend’sbirthday. After a lavish birthdaybash, all the friends decided to hitthe streets late at night. That

night, as they were about to neara junction, Abhijeet with his carovertook our protagonist,Rudraksh, and overlooked anauto coming from his left.

“Screech!!!” Abhijeet hit theauto but escaped with no injuries.All four men in Abhijeet’s car gotdown assisted by Rudraksh andhis friend. As they were busylooking after their welfare,Rudraksh, just out of thegoodness latent in him, turnedback to see the overturned autorickshaw. He, along with hisfriends, ran to help the autorickshaw driver. There he saw asmall girl fallen unconscious. Withall his power, he lifted the autorickshaw and after clearing the

damage on the road, parking therickshaw aside, he saw that thegirl was profusely bleeding from aleg wound. As everyone was in adilemma about what had to bedone, a voice in Rudraksh’s headseemed to say,“Take the girl to a hospital!”

He didn’t know who had saidit, but he proceeded to follow theinstruction.

At the hospital, Rudrakshhimself took the girl by his handsto the Emergency ward. He cameto know that the girl’s leg wasbroken and if not operated, wouldparalyze her forever. He thencalled up people and used hisinfluence in getting the operationdone and immediately.

I

PAROPAKARA PUNYAYA- R.M.V. Sri Krishna PARAMAHAMSA (II BBM)

Money was never his

concern. His dad himself paid

for all that it cost for the girl’s

welfare. He had no sleep for

two days. All that he cared

was about the girl’s welfare.

Two days later he received a

phone call informing him that

the girl would gain

consciousness in a few

minutes. He rushed to the

hospital.

When he reached the ward,

the girl was still sleeping. As

she gained consciousness, she

was told that Rudraksh was

her life saver. The girl just

smiled. Her smile was worth a

billion dollars to him. She

smiled in a way that cleared

his mind. Her smile gave him

the difference between

happiness and pleasure. He

was ready to do whatever it

cost to see a smile like that.

His money, friends, parties

didn’t matter.

That day he sowed a

thought of helping the children

of the poor. He didn’t start an

NGO. He just funded an

orphanage. He helped the

children get fees to study and

the one’s with any ailment

were given their freedom to

achieve what they wanted.

Dreams were being fulfilled by

him. He went behind

happiness. He got a good

response from his friends too.

He was selfish, selfish in

serving these children. He

sowed a habit of meeting

these children any day

possible. This habit of helping

these children turned him into

a son who was admired by his

father. He reaped a great

character. And after finishing

his studies, he built a school

for the poor and he took all

the care that they needed.

Though he may have turned

out to be an aimless son; his

destiny turned him into a great

philanthropist.

HEALTH TIPS- Sri C. Praveen Kumar

The Mechanics Of

Breathing

Do you know how air is drawn into your lungs?

You know that it happens, but do you know why? This is important, because if you understand how you breathe, then you will know how to correct improper breathing habits.

The breathing process functions briefly as follows. Consider the lungs to be two very flexible and strong bags which can be inflated or deflated as air flows in or out of them during inhalation and exhalation respectively.

The lungs have the ability to expand greatly and also can be contracted into a small space. The lungs are surrounded at the top and sides by the thorax or the ribcage, and at the bottom by a very important flat muscle called the diaphragm. The diaphragm separates the abdomen from the lungs. The lungs are not fixed to the diaphragm or the ribcage but they nevertheless closely follow any change in shape of this enclosure.

HEA

LTH TIPS- Sri C.

Praveen Kumar

If the ribs expand and the diaphragm moves downwards due to muscular action then there is a tendency for a vacuum to be created between the outside of the lungs and the enclosure. Since a vacuum is not normallytolerated in nature the lungs automatically expand to fill it. They expand in such a way as to assume the same shape as the enclosure. In this way air is drawn into the lungs and inhalation takes place. Similarly, when the ribscontract and the diaphragm

moves upwards due to release of muscular contraction, then the lungs are squeezed. This pushes air out of the lungs.

Exhalation takes place.

This is the operation of breathing. The more the lungs are expanded and contracted, the deeper will be the breathing. It is to this subject that we turn next.

B

Happy Breathing !!!!

JAI SAI RAM..

ANNUAL SPORTS AND CULTURAL MEET

Individual Events

Short Story Writing:The concept of story writing is very

interesting as the challenge is to convey the messagein a nutshell. The topic was, “As you sow, so youreap”. It was good experience for all of us. All theparticipants gave their best. It was a toughcompetition.

Swami has always emphasized on the importance of participating in games and culturalevents, and these events are woven into the curricula of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of HigherLearning. As part of the Cultural events many events such as short story writing, model making,poster making, painting and sketching, vocal and instrumentals, mono-acting, and group eventslike orchestra and general quiz were held. The students were very enthusiastic and took part in allthe events and offered their talents to Swami.

Painting:

Painting is the art of depicting images through wet

colors. It requires immense patience and a good handling

of paintbrush. One wrong move and the whole painting

gets destroyed.

The winners are:1st- Vikram G.N – II BBM2nd- Siva Ramakrishna Naidu – I BBA3rd- Sri Krishna Paramahamsa – IIBBM

The winners of this beautiful art are:1st- Ashik Rai – III BCA2nd- Sai Shyam Sundar – II BBM3rd- Rahul Chaudary – I BBA

Model Making:

This event brought out the latent creativity in all of us. The innovator in us was awakened and ideas bloomed as we pondered over the topic -“Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle”. The quest for waste materials in the hostel began and participants enthusiastically collected all the waste materials they could. Although the topic was straight forward, the approach towards the topic was unique by each participant. The chosen models were:1st - Mayank Gandhi – III BBM2nd -M. Adithya Krishna – II BBM3rd - Shanmukh Rao Ponnada – II BBM

Poster Making:

It was a new venture in our campus and it was a big hit. A very large number of students participated in this competition. There was time crunch but still students managed to participate. The theme was “Bharatiya Samskriti”. It evoked patriotic feelings in all of us and all strived to portray a holistic picture of “Bharatiya Samskriti”. The winners are:1st - M. Adithya Krishna – II BBM2nd - Ajay Mukund - I BCA3rd - Shyam Sundar – II BBM

Vocal and Instrumental:It was a wonderful morning filled with excitement. The

finalists of the vocals and instrumental competition offered their talentat the lotus feet of Naada Brahmam Himself. There were twelvefinalists, six for the vocal competition, and six for instrumentalcompetition. It was a neck-to-neck situation where the participantsexhibited the best of their talent. Even the judges, Sri Abhishek, SriAnand and Sri Shivakumar were baffled. It was an enchantingexperience for all. The audience were lost in the ecstasy of music.

Vocals:1st- Ashish Bisunke - III BBM2nd- Geeth Govind - II BBM3rd- Rakesh Luwagun - I BBA

Instrumentals:1st- Mayank Gandhi - III BBM2nd- Vinayak Narayan Kumar – II BBM3rd- Abhishek. G - III BCA

Mono Acting:

Dramatics is an integral part of our system. Swami encouraged

students to stage Dramas, play different roles and sometimes He

Himself would teach the students how to act certain roles. He was a

perfectionist and expected His students to reach the level which He has

set.

Mono acting is yet another platform were actors develop their

talent and progress. There was an overwhelming response from the

students. Nearly twenty students participated. Many budding actors

offered their talent to Swami and prayed that He would help them reach

his expectation. Many social and mythological characters were

portrayed. It was really amazing to see the involvement of students.

They were totally into their roles and played them perfectly like

professionals.

The Oscar winners are:

1st- M. Adithya Krishna – II BBM

2nd- Siva Rama Krishna Naidu – I BBA

3rd- T. Akshay Kalal - I BBA

The six grammy winners are:

Group Events

General Quiz:It is one of the most anticipated events in the campus. There was excitement everywhere. The

house captains gave a pep talk to their team and wished them luck. Both the teams eagerly awaited forthe quiz to begin. Initially the rounds were easier but the difficulty increased as the game progressed.Both the teams were equally good and gave tough competition to each other. Till the end it was difficult topredict the winner. Finally Ananda won and there was huge applause from the crowd. Both teamscongratulated each other for their performances.

Orchestra:Swami loved music and he had a soft corner for music boys. Swami encouraged students to

stage Orchestra performances. He even trained his students and purchased costly instruments for them.Today we see the Prashanti Brass Band in its full glory, but it is the sprout of the seed which Swami hadsown many years ago.

In the melancholy of the night, the music which came out of all theinstruments sounded like the enchanting voice of the lord which comfortedand filled us with bliss. Although the topic was same for both teams, themusic was different. The innovative ways in which music was created reallyamused the audience. The creativity of both the teams were appreciated bythe judges as well the audience. The judges were amazed at the ways inwhich new instruments were used as substitutes, and the standard ofperformance. It is indeed true that, “Life without music is a mistake”. It wasquite a tough competition and the judges had quite a tough time selectingthe winner. Finally Ananda was declared the winners of the Orchestracompetition.

Life is a Game Play It!- MANOJ RAMASWAMY (MCA II)We are all very

enthusiastic about sports andgames. Even if there is a publicexam tomorrow, we will notmiss to watch the Live Cricketmatch today. Sometimes whilewatching the game we evenscream and shout encouragingthe teams. At times, we pray,“Oh Lord Please help India towin the match.” However,unfortunately in the next ball ifSachin is out just when he isone run away from century, weget angry or become sad.

The only difference betweenwatching this game and thegame of life is that, we are theplayers and this game is beingtelecast live and is beingwatched by none other than

God himself.I believe that God is not only

the spectator of the game buthe is also our coach in thisgame. Every time we need, heresponds to us and gives usguidance as to how to play thegame.Now, the question is about howGod is going to talk to us andguide us.

We might have variousdoubts about how Swami willtalk to us now. Is not the so-called inner voice doubtful?How can we be sure about theinner voice?

Once an old devotee askedSwami, “Baba says thatconscience is God’s voice. But,how could that be? Millions of

people have been killed in areligious massacre, and theinner voice of conscience tellsthe person to do the killing thatwhat they are doing is right?”

To this Swami replied, “Notso. In such cases, an idea orconcept from outside has beenaccepted. If the individualwould stop and discard all ideasand concept from other people,turn inward and ask hisconscience then a true answerwould be forthcoming.”

In all the games how muchever we practice, in the finalgame there would arise asituation, which would be newto us.

Similarly even in the game oflife we would face manyuncertain and unexpectedsituations. Moreover, we will

surely find ourselves inproblems in which we would bepuzzled. In such situationsSwami says that we may bequiet for a while and think ofHim with all intensity for 10 to15 minutes; then put ourquestion to Him. Swami assuresthat he would respond to usand clear our mind of allanxieties and worries.

If we ask ourselves sincerely,each of us must haveexperienced it number of times.Especially, during exams whenwe start studying in the 11th

hour.When we start studying early

in the morning for the exam at9:30 A.M., we skip thequestions, which are long. Wemay feel that the question isimportant and when we come

to the exam, we brush asidethat thought and go ahead withthe idea of skipping.

At last when we are doomedbecause the same long questionappears on the question paperwe start cursing ourselves fornot studying.

goalkeeper who waits for theball at the goal post, we tooneed to have a lot of patienceto receive an answer from Godbecause He responds to us inHis own way and He takes hisown time.

Talking about patience, wemust take inspiration from lordRama.

When the Demon KingRavana abducted Mother Sita,Sugreeva told Rama that hecould help Rama in his searchfor Sita and he could help himfight against the mighty LankanArmy. Nevertheless, he putforward one condition and thecondition was that Rama musthelp him defeat Vali, his elderbrother. After Rama killed Valiand won back Sugreeva’sKingdom, Sugreeva completelyforgot about his promise toRama. However, Rama patiently

waited for Sugreeva. Even whenLakshmana became furious andstarted threatening Sugreeva,Rama advised him not to do so.Instead, Rama politely remindedSugreeva of his promise. Suchwas Rama’s patience.

In this connection, I wouldlike to share an experience thatreally helped me developpatience.

I belong to the phonedepartment. My sojourn in thedepartment is right from thebeginning in the year 2011. Ihave been a part of theevolution of the phonedepartment since then.

In the beginning in 2011, wecould call hardly for 3 to 5minutes or so. By the time yousay, “Hello, mom how are you?”and before she replies timewould be up.

Today, each of us gets at least

Here, the point is that theAlmighty gave us a hint but wecould not grasp it.

Exactly as the batsman in thetest match who needs to standon the crease for extendedtime with patience and like the

10 minutes to talk on phone.However, from last 5 years

when I ask our brother toreturn the phone, I get thesame reply in different waysand that is: “Brother, pleasegive me 2 more minutes.”

When I tell them time is up,they start complaining aboutvarious issues. On the otherend there will be 10 to 15brothers waiting for a phoneand they would be telling,“Brother, please give us phonefast.”

At last, I understood thatour situation is like that ofMount Mandara being pulledbetween the Devas andAsuras.

Great patience is extremelynecessary to handle thissituation. This was how Swamitaught me patience.

Now coming back to thegame of life we must notforget to notice that unity isextremely important in agame. Let it be Cricket,Basketball, Football or anyother team game Teamworkand Unity are extremelyimportant.

Moreover, this is where weneed to follow Fayols principlesof ‘Unity of Command’.

In the Ramayana, if anarmy of monkeys won againstthe mighty Asura army ofRavana then it was onlybecause of the unity amongstthe monkeys and theirobedience and faith in LordRama.

Even in Mahabharata if thePandavas won against thehuge army of Kauravas it wasbecause of the unity and

understanding amongst the 5brothers and their obedienceto Lord Krishna.

Even a thing likeprogramming for a softwareneeds unity amongst the teammembers.

Therefore, in order to farewell in our lives we must all beunited because we are allSwami’s children and we mustalso be obedient to Swami.

At the end of this game, weget a score. In addition, Godmaintains a ledger, whichaccounts our good and badperformance in the game. Inaddition, he does not have abalance sheet.

What he does is verysimple, if we have played a fairgame by doing good then wetoo receive good much morethan the good we have done.

And if we have not played a fairgame and we have done somebad we have to face itsconsequences. Whatsoever, Godis very kind because he givesus many opportunities toimprove. He coaches us, trainsus, guides us, and gives us anopportunity to play a very fairgame.

Many of us think that oncewe lose an opportunity we loseit forever. I believe it’s not thecase with our Swami becausehe gives us a number ofopportunities to correct theflaws in us and make us betterhuman beings. Yes, if we do notrecognize an opportunity andlose it we only delay our chanceto go closer to Him.

I would like to narrate anexperience of mine, whichproved to me that Swami

listens to us and gives us theopportunity we ask for.

It was the day of Onam inthe year 2011 and I was in myfirst UG. We were there inPrashanthi Nilayam. During themorning celebrations, all of usbrothers from Kerala weresitting in the third block and Iwas sitting in the first row.When the arathi started, Ifound that none of our brothersfrom Kerala got the chance foroffering arathi and at thatmoment I thought, “Swami, thisis such a Holy day of Onam.Today is so special for us. Still,none of our brothers are gettinga chance to offer arathi to youBhagawan? Is this fair? ”

This was all I thought whichcrossed my mind and as theday went on, I completelyforgot about it. The real fun

started during the evening programme. In theevening I was sitting almost in the last row, nearthe bell. Some of my brothers of our batch weresitting along with me. When the Bhajans weregoing on and suddenly one brother of the altardepartment approached us and he said, “SairamBrothers, we want one of you from Muddenahallicampus to offer aarthi to Swami.” I thought oneof my batch mate brothers would go for it but,the interesting thing was that all the other 8were not wearing full shirt. However, I was theonly one who was wearing full shirt and wasdecent enough to offer arathi and therefore Iwent along with the brother from the altardepartment.

After offering arathi when I returned back itstruck me and it struck me very hard that in themorning I had told Swami that at least one ourboys must get the Arathi chance and He madesure that I got the chance without my evenpraying to Him.

As I conclude, I would like to say that we areall standing on the crease like the batsman andas the batsman faces the bowler we too need toface the challenges, difficulties and troubles. And

to play this game we need to have the skills weneed to practice values such as: Patience andUnity. We must take help of our coach Swamiand listen to Him.

Swami says, “Life is a game Play It! Goodthoughts, Good speech and Good actions are thedisciplines required in this game.”

Therefore, when we play the game let us playby following all the disciplines and with properpractice only we will get the eternal liberationfrom the cycle of birth and death.

His first debut in NBA wasin the year 1984. Hequickly became a fanfavorite even in opposingteams and appeared onthe cover of SportsIllustrated with theheading "A Star Is Born"just over a month into hisprofessional career.Jordan was also voted inas an All-Star starter bythe fans in his rookieseason.

MJ was a very importantasset for the bulls(Chicago Bulls).When the match was onMJ was everything for the

team.He was the coach. He wasthe captain. Every playerin the team lookedforward to him and hisinstructions. Even theopponent team knew hewas a destructive playerand no one could stophim. They knew that hewould take that one mosttrusted shot; they didtheir best, yet they failed.Two men were on him atthe most crucial last10sec which would decidethe match. He deliveredas usual.

THE PLAYER OF ALL TIMES – Michael Jordan

“MJ” (Michael Jeffrey Jordan)

was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of

Deloris who worked in

banking, and Jamnes.R.Jordan. He started playing

basketball at a young age. He played for the

Laney High School varsity basketball team in 1979-80.

- SANJOG KARKI (III BBM)

He inspires saying “I'vemissed more than 9000shots in my career. I've lostalmost 300 games, 26times, I've been trusted totake the game winning shotand missed. I've failed overand over and over again inmy life. And that is why Isucceed”.

He has converted manyshoots closing his eyes. Hesays “when you thinkpositive … positive thingshappen (your shoot convert)when you think negative…negative things happen…….”“If you accept theexpectations of others,especially negative ones,then you never will changethe outcome”.

He has been renownedand admired for his versatilegameplay. He holds both

scoring and defensiverecords and titles; hislegendary leaping abilityearned him the nicknames“Air Jordan” and “HisAirness”

He says “The game ofbasketball has beeneverything to me. My placeof refuge, the place I'vealways gone where I neededcomfort and peace. It's beenthe site of intense pain andthe most intense feelings ofjoy and satisfaction. It's arelationship that has evolvedover time, given me thegreatest respect and love forthe game”. It’s the samestory with every one of uswho have fallen in love withthis incredible gamebasketball.

His individual awards and accomplishments include:-

Five Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards.

Ten All-NBA First Team designations.

Nine All-Defensive First Team honors.Fourteen NBA All-Star Game appearances.

Three All-Star Game MVP Awards.Ten scoring titles, three steals titles.

Six NBA Finals MVP Awards.

1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.

(First player in NBA history to win three straight Finals MVP awards)

He made Chicago Bulls win the NBA Championship 6 times (3 times consecutively 1991-93); later he left NBA when his father expired. He returned back to NBA in1995 and then played for his father. Bulls dominated the league, starting the season 41–3 and eventually finishing with the best regular season record in NBA history: 72–10. Jordan led the league in scoring with 30.4 in the year 1991.History repeated 3 consecutive NBA championships from Bulls (1995-98.).

Some of his quotes are:-

Limits, like fear, is often an illusion.

Be true to the game, because the game will be

true to you. If you try to shortcut the game,

then the game will shortcut you. If you put forth

the effort, good things will be bestowed upon

you. That's truly about the game, and in some

ways that's about life too.

My attitude is that if you push me towards

something that you think is a weakness, then I

will turn that perceived weakness into a

strength.

Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into

a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out

how to climb it, go through it, or work around it

The best caption of the August edition:

Caption Contest:

People who have hemoprotein of Tri-colour.

- Vinay Krishna (III BBM)

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the most awaited festival of Hindus, and

regarded as one the holiest of the days in the Hindu calendar. It is said

that on this day Lord Ganesh was born to mother Parvati and Lord Shiva.

On this auspicious occasion devotees all around the world bring Ganesh

idols to their house and worship it for 3-7 days before its immersion.

On 17th of September, here at Muddenahalli, four beautiful Ganesh

idols were brought into this heavenly palace and were offered the king’s

throne. These Ganesh idols were given royal treatment by the students.

Various offerings such as clothes, vedam, stotrams, food, songs, dance,

martial arts etc. were made. In the next two days students of each year

tucked in their shirts and began making chariots for the Ganesh idols in

full swing. By working day and night the students succeeded in making

beautiful chariots for Lord Ganesh. The procession of Lord Ganesh moved

through the village of Muddenahalli where many people made offerings to

Lord Ganesh. These idols were finally immersed in a nearby pond.

The immersion of Ganesh idol signifies that nothing in this world is

permanent. Whatever comes into this world goes back to its source and

hence one should be detached. It also signifies that the world is a cycle of

birth and death, and thus we look forward to next year’s Ganesh

Chaturthi when we’ll be able to serve our Sai Ganesha again.

Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna is celebrated in full swing across

India. On this day people try to relive the days Krishna had in his childhood and

Muddenahalli is no exception. As in Brindavan, where everyone lived as one big family, here

in Muddenahalli we too live as one big Sai family. The people of Brindavan loved Krishna

from the core of their hearts, we too love our Sai Krishna immensely. In those days cows

were worshipped, even here in this campus the cows were worshipped and offered food.

On this day various games are played in memory of Krishna hence in the afternoon we

had the MKL (Muddenahalli Kabaddi League) and the very famous pot breaking ceremony.

Altogether it was an enjoyable day which included lots of fun and frolic. In the evening an

offering of music and stotrams was made with a special offering made with the flute. In the

night a drama(Jagannatakam Jagatiki Sandesam) was presented by the 3rd years which

depicted how one can follow the path of Krishna in this Kaliyuga. Thus ended the

celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami.