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Like Shibir, we have Prabhat feri in Swargarohan. But here they have two -
one in the morning and one in the evening.
After the prahbat feri we went to the prayer hall. Maa also came and were
about to begin Pranam session.
One ben was dusting on the side to keep some dust away. Maa looked around
and saw something was not right. She told everyone to go out for about 10
minutes. Mean while, the youths cleaned up the entire hall. Fans were
turned on, windows were opened,
sheets
were taken out and shaken to take out the dust from them; the floor was
mopped; Agarbatti were lighted and
sheets
were placed again. Now the hall looked much better. Maa does not like
tardiness. It was learning lesson for everyone. The whole place was
cleaned up in matter of minutes. Maa also told everyone to chant 'Om
Yogeshwarai Namah' - through out this cleaning task. Even while working we
should not forget God, was the message many of us got here!
Maa was not mad or anything, she just showed us how we
should
keep things clean -
especially our Pranam area. Then the Pranam will reach Prabhu quickly!
Today was Anna Vitran Day - distribution of foodgrains
to the poor. Snehal and Hemal - Maa's most prominent youths had done
considerable work to make this day successful. Both had travelled
along
with devotees from abroad to the nearby villages to call
out people who were truly poor, had no other means of earning livelihood;
who
were underprivileged. They
went
to each family's house and after identifying that they truly require
help, youths
gave
them Card with their name on it with the date and location of Anna Vitaran
Day (Day when foodgrain
would be donated). After days of work,
they managed to give out 250 passes (cards) to the needy.
Even though time for food distribution was at 12:30
pm,
people started gathering
outside
the gates of Swargarohan
from early
morning!
One doctor, a new sadhak from Bombay was main donor in today's program.
His family had donated all the Juwar (like wheat) bags for today. Maa said
the donors should donate themselves so they see where their money
is going.
The doctor and his entire family donated big bags of Juwar/Bajari to each
person. All the poor people were sitting on the floor and the donors went
from person to person and after giving bag of Juwar/Bajari folded their
hands to them.
All the devotees from overseas also gave clothes to everyone.
Bhagwanjibhai donated
sheets (chadar)
to everyone. Prabhudasbhai gave 50 rupees to each person.
Devotees
from
Panama distributed Nasto bags to everyone.
Jagdipbhai and Naynaben gave sweets to everyone.
Today is Arjun's birthday and he wanted to give something to the poor
people. Maa
suggested for
ice cream to everyone,
so
ice cream
with cones were donated by Arjun and his family. As Arjun gave ice
cream to everyone I saw that one person did not get it. I went to that
person and saw that he did get the ice cream, but he had placed it in his
bag. I told the poor man to take out the ice cream and eat it right now.
He was saving
it for later. I told him
to
eat it right away otherwise it will melt. When I looked around, it was sad
to see that it was the same plight for many people here!!
Most people had never seen ice scream in their life.
So other
devotees quickly came to their aid. They helped them open the wrapper
around the ice
cream cone and told them to eat the ice cream. One lady was taking the
chocolate coating
out thinking it was paper or something. We told them it's not a paper; eat
it and the cone as well. Boys
talk about height of poverty! India,
though advancing very rapidly in the area of technology, still has a
lot
to move ahead
to educate the poor and remove their poverty. As
Mahatma
Gandhi had said, India's biggest sin is it's poverty. One of his dreams was
to eradicate poverty from the nation. After
watching
Maa's effort
in
helping those
Daridra Narayan, it seems that those Indians
- whether NRI or not - if they are well off, it becomes their duty to look
after their not so well off brethrens. As Vivekananda had said India's cry
is not religion but bread.
Many devotees especial from abroad had for the first time witnessed other
side of India. They were
deeply moved and
were
also very thankful to Maa for showing
them
where to donate.
After the donation, Om Yogeshwarai Nama dhoon and mantra gaan was chanted
loudly thanking Prahbu for giving
and opportunity to serve.
Maa told devotees,
'we
had Devu
(debt). Can
any one tell what Devu we had? Everyone gave different reply but none gave
what Maa had in mind. Maa said we had Devu. Devu of 5 days of feast in
Karpurvan
(Kapura).
i.e. We had feast in Kapura for 5 days. Today we were free from that Karma
by giving away food to the needy.
There is a lesson to learn here too!
After this program, devotees helped the poor people carry out the donated
items! News had spread that food was distributed so there was gathering at
the entrance gate. Some food was given to them also.
In the evening Maa called everyone to her residence on the second floor of
the Yogdhaam. Sri Kalolabhai was asked to speak. He speech, as always was
very interesting. Maa asked PK from Toronto to speak. He spoke of his
acquaintance with Maa. Ambubhai from Toronto also spoke, how their family
now see Sai baba in Maa. Yashmin, a muslim lady also from Toronto, had
come especially to attend Sannidhi Parava. She had come to know about Maa
from Hansaben and Ambubhai. She enjoys morning walks and when Maa came to
Toronto, she
was fortunate
to participate in
morning walk with
Maa. She had some problems with
her air
booking and was afraid she might not be able to make
herself
to India,
but
things turned out
well and
she got booking on time. She
was
very
grateful
and thankful to Maa for everything. Bhavnaben from LA also spoke. Her
message was to youth
- 'When
you take out time from your busy schedule and use it for Maa, whether it's
for play or anything form Maa, it is the most important thing you can do in
your life'. Ushaben,
who
is a qualified nurse
also said she was very pleased with Annaa/Vastra Vitran (two days of
donations to the poor program) and wishes to offer her services at future
Medical Camps at Swargarohan.
Maa also recognized outstanding work of Manoj and Appu. They were the
pillar of the success of the Kapura Sannidhi Parva. They were on their
guards through
out, helping Jagdipbhai with practically everything. Maa gave them bags of
gifts. Naynaben, also thank these two youths. They had hardly slept in
Sannidhi Parava. On the night before start of the Kapura Parva, everything
was setup
but
something was not right on the
stage.
So Manoj asked what would make the stage right. Naynaben said, there
are
no flowers. If some flowers were set
on
the stage,
it
would look attractive. Manoj, immediately went to Mali (flower man) in the
middle of
the
night and woke him
up
at 3:00am
and
got the stage decorated!
Maa mentioned about Yatra to Haridwar. Even though it's very cold, she said
we should not deter from our goal. Snehal had brought a newspaper, which
reported that there was snow and ice in Northern India
-
Haridwar
side.
54 people died as
a
result of that
extreme cold. Maa said that parent with very small children should be
cautious and think about it carefully as there are no doctor at the place
where we will be staying.
So now, we are looking forward to Haridwar Yatra.
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