I am reliably informed by some University students that Swami will come to Hillview Stadium at 4PM this afternoon. As I walked down towards Hillview Stadium, I observed that the gates to the Ashram were closed, and I intuited that Swami would go the “back way” to Hillview Stadium.

The “back way” for those of you who don’t know, is up the pathway behind the Ganesh Temple to Meditation Tree Road, across the front of the Shirdi Sai Baba Idol to the General Hospital, then across the front of the Hospital to Deer Park, across Deer Park to Hillview Stadium. And so the Lord arrived, with an escort of motorcycles -flagbearers, and a another phalanx of escort motorcycles.

The Puttaparthi afternoon is brilliant sunshine, with the occasional breeze. It is hot, but after a time, we get used to the climate, and watch from the bleachers. We watched students in bright blue tracksuits preceed Swami’s car doing cartwheels. They looked impressive. Shortly thereafter, we could see Swami seated in the Shanti Vedika pavilion.

Immediately some girls dressed in red and gold came out and performed:

The lads in the blue tracksuits returned and delivered an acrobatics display:

Then what appeared to be High School students (or boarders) came out with green wings, plant stalks and heads, and did a very attractive performance.

Seva Dals threaded their way through the bleachers giving out Wall Calendars.

At the same time, students dressed in blue and white with large fan-like canopies performed.

Somebody asked me what this was all about, “Why all these performers?” I thought about that while I watched the Seva Dals come back, several rows down, and distribute more calendars.

I replied, that Swami is the finest educator in the world. Meanwhile, more students came out dressed in red and pink and performed with, I was too far away, they could have been matching fans of a kind…

Anyway, we continued the conversation, and I told that there are many intelligences, not just head stuff and the ratio-logical intelligence. Swami provides Educare, which employs and stimulates all the intelligences these students have. Girls came out with ribbons, and they were good!

They raised a lot of dust, too!

Anyway, I turned the camera off for a minute and explained to my friend that there were multiple intelligences, kinaestheic, spatial, emotional, moral, musical, ratio-logical and spiritual intelligence. Meanwhile, I grabbed a calendar from a Seva Dal and gave it to the little boy sitting next to me. Said to him in Telugu, “Take it home to Mother”; He nodded and said, “Amma, Acha” with a bright smile.

A devotee nearby me unrolled his calendar and proudly displayed it. “Swami and Me!”, he said.

Look at the feet of yonder boys in yellow tracksuits and helmets; they are on roller blades, and performed some very interesting moves with the blades, in front of Shanti Vedika.

Swami is all attention on the performers.

There were these skeleton arches which the students climbed up on and did acrobatic numbers.

Headstands, too!

Students gathered behind the shamina, awaiting their turn

More gymnastics on the skeleton arches

Then they rolled them around…

Girls came out with pink tubes and performed. Meanwhile, back to the discussion, I explained that this meet was a formal activity of all the campuses of the the Sai University, and participation here would probably be credited towards academic results.

Boys from the primary school and high school ran to the balloon tent and collected their balloons. On with the conversation… I told that Swami often speaks of true humanness in his discourses, and true humanness is achieved by developing the multiple intelligences…

The sun is finally beginning to move behind Hanuman Hill, and I start getting decent photographs. Here, girls in red with pink fans perform.

A Seva Dal fills cups of water and distributes to thirsty devotees. These Seva Dal worked all morning and afternoon, and their seva was muchly appreciated!

The girls with fans have moved forward, and the boys with their balloons run behind.

More and more boys run out with gaily coloured balloons.

Students fill the ground in front of Shanti Vedhika

A song is played, its very catchy, and I though at first it was “Truth needs a Hero” but it was some other number. Very catchy tune; balloons go skywards

After the balloons were let off, there was a smoke display nearby the Eagle and the Shiva Lingham

up, up and away, with my beautiful, my beautiful balloon!!!!

We finished the conversation, believe it or not. I told that the practice of human values, duty, discrimination and detachment, employ all the multiple intelligences stimulated by Educare, and all the facilities provided by Swami in his role as Educator. There were the music colleges, singing, recitals, public speaking, academic subjects, and sports and cultural activities like these. Planning and preparation, rehearsal and performance all takes in multiple intelligences and develops the full human person on all domains of the personality, the physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual domains. Thus, educare elicits that which is within.

Finale; the pujari clothed in bright orange can be seen standing on the right of Shanti Vedika; Swami is a small orange form in the centre, as the students commence Om Jai Jagadeesha Hare, and the crowd stand. I finished the conversation by saying,”Look up the motto of all the Sathya Sai Schools worldwide. Human Excellence. All the Sathya Sai Schools do likewise and develop all the domains of the human person.”

The sun has finally set behind Lord Hanuman, the immortal servant of the Lord Kosala, Sri Rama. The crowd get up and leave. I move along down Main Road through Vidya Giri, and take a photo of the crowd exiting Hillview Stadium. (Swami went home the “back way”!)

Sai Ram from the Annual Sports and Cultural Meet at Prashanti Nilayam.

All morning, there is a continuous stream of devotees pouring out of the ashram and making their way down to Hillview Stadium. I join them for the brisk walk down to the stadium. All the food carts which ususally come out to Main Road (in the evenings) are down there on each side of the road past the archway, all doing a brisk trade. There is no traffic on Main Road, the road is given over to devotees for safety.

Enter the stadium, and memory comes back to me; I recall the construction of the stands back in 1998 and the shaminas, yes, there are large shaminas for food distribution under the bleachers. Up the steps into the stadium and every seat is taken, men are standing everywhere. Look around, there is another shamina at the Northern end of the sportsground, for the ladies lunches. Far away at the end of the stadium, I spy the Lord sitting in Shanti Vedika, the building constructed by the ever-humble Subramanium Stapathi, who frequently consulted Swami at every step of the construction. Subramanium Stapathi went to Swami at the finish; he did not know how many golden spires to put on the top, and Swami asked him, “What do you want to put?” Subramanium, a truly humble Puttaparthi man, (he is a very,very sweet fellow; I have met him) … confessed he did not know. Swami asked him again, “What do you want to put?” (Mind you, Subramanium Stapathi has built all the domes atop the mandir and all the other temples around Prashanti Nilayam) … again deferred to Swami’s wish. Finally, Swami told, “You can put five gold spires” … and that is the story of the spires atop Shanti Vedika.

So much history comes to me when I visit the Hillview Stadium; Sai Gita used to join the boys in soccer here, true! The students are massed within the green fence, where Kasturirangan and EAS Prasanna constructed an international class four pitch cricket ground. I met with them frequently when they were doing this, and I will never forget Kasturirangan telling me “Swami asks very difficult questions!”

So they are there and all their props, right there on the International class cricket oval. It is a cool morning with a pleasant breeze and fluffy white clouds waft across the blue skies. Ladies one side (on the Hanuman Hill side), men the other side in the bleachers. Children everywhere. Seva Dals move around with water tanks strapped to their backs distributing water.

The stadium is quiet, there are loudspeakers at the other end, and we can hear the narration clearly. This is a very tightly scripted presentation, I can see motorcyclists in Yellow and Black, with similarly coloured motorcycles; more motorcyclists wear red and black, with similarly coloured motorcycles. They have Kawasaki Racing bikes!

There are a number of pavillions adjacent Shanti Vedika; all the official guests and veranda staff sit down there, ditto the ladies side. Swami visible in the centre of Shanti Vedika with an archway behind him. Students dressed in green are doing something down there, I can see people moving in circles. Event after event takes place in that ground immediately in front of Shanti Vedika, girls dressed in white do a dance; girls dressed in green run around; there two, what will I call it, “contraption” looking something like a carnival wheel ride which spins around like a circular yo-yo with students inside doing some acrobatic acts.

Looking up to Hanuman Hill, next to Hanuman I can see the Sai University Flag, and the dish with the Unity Flame is alight and smoke is billowing from the flame. Dotted all around the stadium are large billboards with Swami’s face, and the script “Glory to our Lord, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai”, these are colour coordinated with Swami’s robe, and all very tastefully executed.

Now I see the motorcycles take some laps, at high speed. They do some circular patterns in the middle of the sports ground. Then some huge yellow hoops with two students inside each wheel past Shanti Vedika, they go around several times. Then what must have been 400 lady students dressed tastefully in white and silver sarees come forward and do a presentation. Thereafter, students wearing jungle-green army trousers and grey tshirts come forward and perform some exercises. All the students from all the campuses must be here. My attention keeps returning to the small white Swami, way down there, clearly visible on the Throne Chair, in white.

The motorcyclists perform some stunts on ramps, the ramps are moved, and they race towards each other in perfect synchronicity going across the ramps alternately. Then the ramps are moved into a cross formation and the motorcyclists race towards the ramps and cross alternately left and right in perfect synchronicity. Loud applause from the crowds. Those boys were getting up to nearly 80kph on their bikes.

Seva Dals continue to move through the crowds; they are distributing small packets of food, laddu, burfi, anand, and little boys crowd around them. They put the boxes on their heads and move up to the stands, going row by row, patiently distributing snacks and water to all in the stands. Police and other seva dal try to encourage (albeit lovingly) men standing behind the fence to sit. Not much luck, although they get quite a few to sit.

Out on the sports ground, there is a huge Eagle, on a red ball all of 150 feet high; the red ball has what appears to me to be Chinese decorations. About 200 motorcycles, many bearing green or yellow flags, all these black, red and yellow motorcycles all move forward and do intricate formation riding as the Eagle is brought forward. A song is played over the Public Address. The eagle moves to the side of the ground and a large black Siva lingam mounted on a pedestal is moved forward. The Himalaya Mountains form a backdrop and about 70 Seva Dal push the Lingam and the Himalayas forward. About 150 ladies dressed in Red and Yellow clothing with headdress come forward and dance before the Lingam as it is brought forward. The Public Address plays Om Namah Sivaya as the Ladies dance.

Behind them are all these black auto-rickshaws; each auto-rickshaw has a sporting symbol (all the sports are represented—running, jumping, weightlifting, swimming, ball sports) painted on the back. These come forward in formation and do some formation turning. It looks quite good.

I see Swami has gone somewhere (as He usually does from time to time) so I take my leave and come back to post this for you; I will go back and take the camera and chance my luck.

Sai Ram from Hillview Stadium.

Prashanti Nilayam was awash with buses today. Bus after bus honked its way down Main Road; the red and silver APRTC buses, tour buses, Ayappa Yatra buses, Big modern DELUXE buses with pictures of Swami stuck on the front window with 1,2,3, next to Swami’s picture, etc. All going into the Ashram. The ashram crowd is building up quickly for the Sports and Cultural Meet tomorrow.

Afternoon Darshan, the Ganesh Gate is awash with humanity pouring in and out; inside, I can hear bhajans going. Kick off my chappals and move to the walkway beside East Prashanti, I can’t see down there for people everywhere. Move down slowly, people are stacked 5,6,7 deep looking into the darshan hall; I glance in, Swami is there on the porch. The hall itself is not that full (in my expert glance) and I move down to enter inside.

Once inside, looking up the hall, the veranda and porch are chockers, the space in front of the garage is full, students sit directly in front of the porch, and the Anantapur Ladies sit on the right hand side of the porch in their customary area. Swami is seated at the front of the porch. Amazingly, I thread my way towards the front and get quite close. “Why do they all stand outside?”, I wonder to myself.

Bhajans go on, I spend a long time just concentrating on Swami and his form. Little boys get up and look around. Sporadically, more devotees arrive. Bhajans are crisp, clear, devotees clapping along. I can see students heads moving in time with the clapping. More bhajans, and I drift back into concentrating on Swami’s form, right at the front of the porch with the lights shining down on Him, making his robe a brilliant orange.

Swami dabs his lips from time to time, and occasionally looks over the men’s side. One man stands up with his hands joined in pranams as Swami looks over, and is ‘encouraged’ to sit down by a Seva Dal! Continue the focus on Swami, the bhajans fade into the background as I simply sit and focus.

Silence, an inner silence comes, and my vision seems to darken at the edges as I keep the focus on Swami.

A long time, focussed on Swami, in silence. I am brought back by the clanging of the Arathi bell. Swami remains on the porch right through Om Jai Jagadeesha Hare, the Narayana verses, the Samasta Loka. Some jaikars start up and Anil Kumar interrupts with a loud OM SRI SAI RAM! An important announcement! Anil Kumar advises us that the Sathya Sai University and associated campuses and colleges invites us all to attend the Sports and Cultural Meet at Hillview Stadium tomorrow, and all please be seated by 8AM! Anil Kumar repeats the message in Telugu (I think) and the crowd get up and leave. Swami moves towards the car, which has reversed back into the veranda.

As I collect my chappals, I spot students running past at the speed of light. Then some ladies come running past; more devotees run out to the Ganesh Gate, and I guess that Swami is on his way to Hillview Stadium. More students run past. A large crowd surges at the Ganesh Gate (I can’t see a thing); I hear the whoop-whoop of the Police siren, and see rose buds fly through the air. Make my way out of the gate to see Seva Dals running holding their ropes. Yes, Swami is on his way down to Hillview Stadium to look over the arrangements.

Shortly after, I return to the ashram, and have to stand out of the way as tractor after tractor laden with packaged food and boxes of fruit (and Seva Dal all over the back) trundle along East Prashanti and out of the ashram. More tractors move up the walkway beside East Prashanti and are loaded with boxes of Anand, Oranges, Apples. Seems Swami is taking care of every need on the morrow.

Walk past the darshan hall, there are Seva Dal in there hanging up huge red balls, I count about six or seven of these red balls hanging from the ceiling. Several more of these red balls are on the ground waiting to be hung up. Many more decorations have been put up, Orange, green and silver streamers hang from the ceiling, the porch has more decorations, green and red steamers are dangling near the porch, and I wonder, is this for the Sports Meet or for Independence Day? (Sankranti, comes the answer on the inner level…)

Further down and around the corner, I pass by devotees who kick off their chappals and pray at the Sita-Ram shrine at the rear of the darshan hall. Families are seated opposite on that small space nearby the Gopuram Gate.

As I look through the dark, I see the lights in Canteen Avenue, it appears like it did on New Year’s Day, queues everywhere, families gathered, Seva Dals going upstairs for their dinner, crowds walking peacefully, long queue of men waiting to go in. Excited children’s voices. Thankfully, no vehicles moving through the crowds. I turn and go down towards the Post Office and see children running around, the lights are on in the Gayathri Temple. Women sit inside and offer puja; a crowd of men out the front praying. I join them for a moment, and children with their hands joined in pranams rush around the temple and run up to the lady handing out sweets. A sweet for each pradakshina! The children are eager. I kick of my chappals and chant the Gayathri mantra as I take the pradakshina route. The lady throws me a sweet as I arrive back at the front to collect my chappals.

The (Devi?) temple adjacent (it has a black idol), there are ladies doing pradakshina, circumambulating that temple. Other ladies are offering Arathi to the idol, and chanting prayers. I walk down towards the North buildings at the far end of the ashram and wonder at how this ashram has been set up to house thousands upon thousands. Walk around the North buildings, see Seva Dals walking around with sticks looking for snakes! They don’t like those snakes!

I arrive back at the Western Canteen via a detour and there are crowds out the front; no queue, so I enter to check the fare, the canteen is chockers with devotees, long queues inside, every table full, so I leave to come back later. Well, not too much later.

A small meal is taken in the happy canteen. Afterwards, I walk up to the pathway behind South 1, the coloured lights are blinking on and off under Ganesha’s umbrella. On past the Workshop, no welding tonight, all the equipment has been taken down to the Hillview Stadium; the workshop’s task is complete. Along the pathway in front of the South Block, there are devotees streaming back from the Supermarket, and I arrive back at the front of the ashram to see more tractors with bundles of food wrapped up, and Seva Dals on the back. It’s gonna be a long night for the Seva Dals at Hillview Stadium, I think to myself.