Memorial services begin

The Sri Sathya Sai Aradhana Mahotsavam, marking the death anniversary/Mahasamadhi of godman Sathya Sai Baba, commenced here at Prashanthi Nilayam on Monday.

The morning programme began with S Rangarajan’s talk on how difficult it is to accept the reality that “Baba has changed from the physical to the omnipresence and all-pervading.”
Rangarajan, registrar of the Sathya Sai University and a devotee, termed the year that had gone by tough and one that challenged the devotees to refocus on Baba’s subtler dimensions of eternal existence. He was succeeded by other speakers talking on the theme: “Experiencing the Divine–From the Form to the Formless.”

Samuel Sandweiss, a long-time devotee and eminent practising psychiatrist from San Diego, California, USA and Swami Suddhananda Giri of Yogoda Satsanga Society then delivered his talk.

Elucidating on the theme, Sandweiss spoke on the subject based on his own experience with Baba, spanning over four decades. About the aspect of “formlessness”, he said: “My understanding of the formless is that it is infinite silence, eternal peace, emptiness of desires and attachments: pure love, which is everything.”

Quoting Baba he said: “Everything is nothing and nothing is everything.” The speaker claimed that there was no separation here, there was  only one and that ‘One’ was everything. He then took the aid of a couple of “real-life” stories and video clips to present his theories on Baba’s omnipresence. Suddhananda Giri’s speech was centered around the subject of how difficult the phase was to deal with after Paramahamsa Yogananda’s (his godman guru) physical departure.

“Invisible, impersonal god can be projected in a personal form by devotion…however, it is foolish to limit god in a form and forget His omnipresence,” he said. Sharing anecdotes and experiences of Yogananda’s followers, Giri exuded confidence that Baba’s devotees would find it easy to cross over from the form to the formless.