Sai Ram All,

August 10, 2003







Afternoon Darshan.



Swami came in early: 3:40 p.m.  He got off the golfcart again at the pillar
on the ladies side. He walked to the veranda.  Then he called in five
different groups for interviews, one after the other.  It took one and a
half hours before He was finished with interviews.



At about 4:10 He came out and walked towards the front of the veranda.
Seven boys came up with large round trays of items for Him to bless.
Shortly thereafter He walked across the front of the veranda and … sat down.
Clapping.  Two or three times He called His assistant over to discuss
something.  Once He called a young man up who presented Him a letter.  Baba
unfolded it and read it.  The boy sat back down; in a minute or two Baba
returned the letter to Him.  Later, still from the chair, He reached out to
His right and took another letter, which this time He kept.  The best part
of this afternoon was that Baba remained seated, for 30 minutes!  He looked
out at the audience, first to the right, then straight ahead, and also to
the ladies side.  He sat there with His head leaning on the right hand, then
on the left hand, the left index on His cheek, the other index on His chin,
wiping His lips with His handkerchief, “writing” in the air, “raising the
energy”, and so forth.  But mainly just looking out at us.  In silence.  30
long minutes!  Incredible.

Dear Ones,



This afternoon darshan Swami stopped the golf cart halfway between the gate
and the veranda.  He got out and walked the rest of the way to the veranda,
unaided.  Before leaving the ladies section He took one or two letters.  On
the veranda He walked across the front, behind the guardrails (oh, by the
way, there are brass guardrails now at the front edge of the veranda at the
top of the steps, four sections with openings in between each section).  At
the front of the veranda He stopped and looked out into the audience.  Then
He continued across the veranda and into the area behind Ganesh.  There He
took a couple more letters.  There also He invited a man and his wife in for
an interview.  This was a pretty good darshan.



There is a group of Germans seated in front of the veranda this afternoon.
Mirjam says that they were scheduled to sing for Swami.  Yesterday she had
sat between the American and German ladies.  The Americans had had
interviews, the Germans now were anticipating interviews for themselves.
And yesterday Mirjam sat between them.  There are approximately 60 ladies
and 25 gents in this German group.  A small group of them were on the same
plane as we when we departed Frankfurt.  Those have now joined the larger
group.



Pause.



4:30 p.m. The Germans began their presentation.  They had good accompanists:
electric keyboard, flute.  Their singing was very lively, including Indian,
some English bhajans, and a couple of German songs.  The men led as a group,
the women followed, and vice versa.  The women sounded especially good and
strong.  The group sang really well for 30 minutes, everything smooth with
nice introductions with the keyboard and flute.  Then there was a pause.
The audience began to clap.  But Swami did not get up to go.  He wanted
more.  The next nearly 30 minutes must have been a trial for them.  These
songs were less polished, less confident.  In this observer’s eyes and ears,
it seemed they had prepared for only a performance of 30 minutes.  The
following songs did not have the nice introductions, and the starts were not
so crisp.  This morning I had seen what appeared to be a song sheet.  One
single sheet is surely not enough to hold songs for a one-hour performance.
Still they sang with love and brought tears to my eyes.



Finally at 4:57 Swami got up from His chair.  The German male leader got up
to have Swami light his arati lamp.  Before leaving, Swami stood at the
front and center of the veranda and blessed them.



Therefore, a word of caution.  If you plan to bring a group to sing for
Swami, have enough material for at least one hour.  And have some back-up
songs beyond that.  Yesterday’s performance lasted 50 minutes.





I feel like a reporter.  Rushing back to our room to bring you the latest
news.  I hope this is news-worthy.


Tony and Mirjam


From sainews egroup