Issue 72 - May 20, 2018
Inspirational Note...
In a 2017 Satsang  held in Malaysia, a devotee asked Swami about the purpose of evil. Here is an excerpt from Swami’s answer:

I did not create evil or good; I created the Universe, which is always good. As long as everybody follows the rules of this game called life, everything is good.
I will give an example: Let us say you are playing a game of football. In football, there must be two teams to play the game. How can it be a game if the same person kicks the ball, runs with the ball and makes the goal? He cannot. Somebody must oppose him. There must be two teams – one on this side and one on that side. Both play with a good spirit of the game. There is no evil. The losing team cannot call the other team evil because they are opposing the team which is scoring the goal.
Conversely, the winning team cannot call the other team evil because they are trying to win the game. It is a game. One who understands this thoroughly, will not see evil or good, only two opposite forces, which are part of the game. When the teams continue playing according to the rules, according to the law, there is definitely no problem. However, if one team starts playing foul, breaking the rules and doing things not permitted, that is when bad or evil begins. When one becomes selfish and tries to gain at the cost of others, then the game gets spoilt.
God has created everything in an equal way. The selfishness arose within when man started using the faculty of his mind, by identifying himself with only the limited existence of body and mind. That is when all the rules were completely broken, and difficulties began. God then comes like a referee and reminds you that what you are doing is wrong and should not be done like that.
Service Updates
Divine Music at Nectar of Love
Summary of youth Seva over the last month

  • Youth in Cyprus distributed 800 meals, personal hygiene items and other necessities to families in need.
  • Music concert with 10 musicians at ‘Nectar of Love’ (the Seva centre in Greece)
  • Created two shower spaces in the bathrooms of the Seva centre, mainly for guests
  • Packaged and distributed boxes filled with dry food, cleaning products and basic household items to approximately 60 families. Furthermore, the youth have started regularly giving clothes to these families.
  • Narayana Seva – 3,000 meals served to the homeless
  • The youth are currently working on transcriptions, translations and design for the Divine Booklet of Swami’s visit to Greece.
  • Weekly Mantra & Veda study sessions, mainly for the youth.
  • Translation – the translation team are finishing the In Design layout of “The Story Divine” by Madhusudan Naidu, and are translating the Uvacha series Three.
Transformation
The True Meaning of Darshan
After having had the good fortune of being a Sai student from first standard to 12th standard in the Prashanti Nilayam campus I visited Muddenahalli   in November 2017. This article describes my experience of it all -- of how it took me 36 years to truly understand what the word  Darshan really means.
“ Darshan . Why call it that? Darshan literally means to see. If Swami is in the subtle why call it Darshan when you can’t see Him?”
 
I ignored even this thought and continued praying. Darshan started from behind the stage. In all my naivety, I expected to see Swami, or at least some form of a sign. But all I saw was Madhusudan. My mind increased the volume of it’s antics. I continued to ignore it and increased the volume of my prayer. Darshan took about a half hour before Madhusudan stopped right in front of me. Talking to a youth from England sitting two rows behind me Madhusudan said, “Father is with Me” followed by a penetrating glance straight into my eyes and then He moved on. I was thinking “What was that all about?” and continued insisting with my prayer (see video below). Madhusudan then went on stage followed by Narasimha Murthy Sir (the Chief Advisor of the Trust)...
Facebook ‌ YouTube ‌