Letters from India

8. Life At Prasanthi Nilayam - Dec 1984

Life At Prasanthi

December 15-16, 1984

Prasanthi Nilayam

Dear Letter-Receivers,

Well, here this body is in the sacred land of India, in the most sacred of all places, Prasanthi Nilayam. I will give you a day in the life of a visitor/resident here.

The day starts for some at 3:30 AM. You get up and at 4 AM go to the Mandir. You circle the Mandir one, three or more times (nine for many Indians). Then you get in a single-file line to wait for Omkar. At 4:45 AM they start letting the lines in (not number-picking, but first come, first in). You sit in the Mandir and at 5 AM the lights are turned off and OM is chanted 21 times. Then the morning prayer Suprabhatam is sung. Then out, and you line up for Nagarsankirtin – singing bhajans walking slowly around the whole ashram

It’s about 6 or 6:15 AM and then and you have a few minutes for meditation or going back to your room, before breakfast at 6:30 AM or 7 AM.

After breakfast you go to the Mandir again, for the morning puja. People come and go for this, so there’s always room.

Puja goes on till 8:30 AM, but everyone leaves around 8 or 8:15 AM to line up for Darshan.

You line up in single-file lines of about 37-40 people each. During and after the Conference I counted 27 lines; now the normal is 16. You pick the numbers (number one goes in first, etc) and line by line goes in, then wait for Sai to come out and walk around where the devotees are sitting.

After Darshan, around 9 AM, I usually go to the lecture hall and meditate until 9:30 AM when the talk begins. The “lecture hall” is also the “reading room” in the afternoons and is specified by Sai to be for foreigners only.

The talk is over at 10:30 AM and you go to the Darshan grounds or back of the Mandir (on the porch) to wait for bhajans at 11 AM. If you get a good place in back of the Mandir (unlikely) or a good place under the 1st or 2nd arch (impossible unless you’re fast immediately after Darshan and claim your space), or outside the grounds, directly behind the 1st or 2nd arch, then you can see a part of Baba’s chair inside the Mandir, where He sits during bhajans.

It’s different every day how long Sai is there – sometimes He’ll come on the 3rd or 4th bhajan, sometimes He’ll talk to people on the verandah or look at us watching in front of the Mandir, for awhile before He goes in. sometimes He’ll walk outside and a car will be waiting. He’ll drive off somewhere and won't be there for bhajans at all.

Bhajans last ½ hour and then arathi is done. Everyone inside the Mandir stands for it but us outside don’t (maybe because it would be too much of a commotion).

After bhajans, at 11:30 AM, you have lunch. Then you have 1 ½ hour break, which goes lightening fast. You have time to do shopping, take a shower, write letters, organize yourself, take a nap, etc. At 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM is a bhajan-leaders class for foreigners. At 2:30 – 3:30 PM is bhajan class for foreigners. 3:30 PM is evening Darshan line-up.

We’re in at 4 PM and Sai comes out sometime between 4-5 PM. Usually in the afternoon He has us wait longer than in the mornings. After Darshan you either stay where you are outside the Mandir for bhajans, or go around to the back of the Mandir and line up to try to get inside the Mandir for bhajans.

In at 5 to 5:30 PM. Bhajans start at 5:30 PM, but many times Sai will come and talk to His boys sitting in front for awhile. Usually 10-15 minutes before the bhajans they’ll have flute or sitar music by the boys in front. Sai is lured in by the music a lot, and stays swaying to it. He goes out when bhajans (and ‘Om’ at the beginning) starts, then returns sometime during the bhajans.