August 06, 2008

This morning, an auspicious shower preceded the change of Vice-Chancellor of the Sri Sathya Sai University at the Poornachandra Auditorium. As announced yesterday, the ceremony got underway at 10 o'clock with the students singing bhajans as Bhagawan arrived onstage. Swami sat there, flanked by the incumbent and outgoing VCs, with Mrs. Gokak beside her husband. Ten minutes of bhajans were followed by an invocatory Vedic hymn by the students. Mr. and Mrs. Gokak were garlanded by the principals of the Prasanthi Nilayam and Anantapur campuses respectively. Sri. Srinivasan Srirangarajan then gave a speech, outlining Mr. Gokak's term as VC, highlighting his transparency, helpful nature, and attention to detail. Sri. S. V. Giri, former Vice-Chancellor, spoke next, bringing out the contributions of both Sri. Anil Vinayak Gokak and his illustrious father, Dr. Vinayak Krishna Gokak, the first Vice-Chancellor of the Sri Sathya Sai University. Sri. Gokak spoke next, praying for Swami's blessings in his next endeavour, which is to organise the centenary celebrations of his late father. Bhagawan stood up to deliver His Divine message after Sri. Gokak's speech. Swami stressed that He is always with each and every one of us, and that with Him, there are no "goodbye"s, only "welcome"s. He urged all of us to remember that we are divine, though we use different names for our bodies for worldly convenience. After His 45 minute Discourse, Bhagawan asked the incumbent, Prof. Vishwanath Pundit, to speak. Prof. Pundit humbly stated in his short speech that he was only an instrument in the Divine Hands. Swami blessed Mr. and Mrs. Gokak with bracelets. The function concluded with Arati ten minutes past noon while prasadam was distributed. The Himachal youth had another musical presentation this evening. Bhagawan came onstage at 5.15 pm and the concert for the evening got underway. Ms. Sunanda Sharma sang in Hindustani classical style for an hour. Bhagawan then called her up and blessed her with a chain. The students sang a bhajan while the lady members of the Himachal group readied themselves for a musical presentation, with a couple of group songs. Bhagawan blessed the performers with clothes and chocolates while the students sang a couple of Bhajans till Arati at 6.50 pm.