Saturday, November 19, 1994
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| P.V. Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India with Sri Sathya Sai at the Concert in Prasanthi Nilayam |
A three-day programme of music and dance, ‘Spirit of Unity Concerts,’ had been arranged at Prashanti Nilayam by the Bharat Cultural Integration Committee. This was the 23rd programmme organised by the committee since its inception, with Bhagavan’s blessings in 1981. Smt. M. S. Subbulakshmi, one of the foremost carnatic musicians of South India, presented the inaugural concert.
Bhagavan addressed the evening meetings at Poornchandra Auditorium on all the three days. Sri B. D. Jatti, President of the Bharat Cultural Integration Committee, Sri T. V. K. Sastri, Sri T. N. Seshan, Chief Election Commissioner, Sri K. P. Singh Deo, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sri Shivaraj Patil, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sri Arjun Singh, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Sri P. V. Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister of India, and Sri Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, addressed the devotees during the three day festival.
Bhimsen Joshi, Birju Maharaj, Ustad Mohammad Dilshad Khan, Begum Parveen Sultana, Lalgudi Jayaraman, Pandit Jasraj and Sri Anup Jalota presented musical programmes at the festival.
Bhagavan, in His Valedictory Address, described Bharat as a great country that has given birth to great saints and sages, who have in turn given the world a rich legacy of fine arts, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and literature, of a high degree of excellence, and produced many intellectual giants. Bhagavan also stated that it is the responsibility of the present generation to protect Bharat’s sacred traditions and culture.
Bhagavan addressed the evening meetings at Poornchandra Auditorium on all the three days. Sri B. D. Jatti, President of the Bharat Cultural Integration Committee, Sri T. V. K. Sastri, Sri T. N. Seshan, Chief Election Commissioner, Sri K. P. Singh Deo, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sri Shivaraj Patil, Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sri Arjun Singh, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Sri P. V. Narasimha Rao, the Prime Minister of India, and Sri Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, addressed the devotees during the three day festival.
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| A rare photo of Sri Sathya Sai with leading musicians from North and South India (Including Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Yesudas, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Anup Jalota) |
Bhagavan, in His Valedictory Address, described Bharat as a great country that has given birth to great saints and sages, who have in turn given the world a rich legacy of fine arts, music, dance, painting, sculpture, and literature, of a high degree of excellence, and produced many intellectual giants. Bhagavan also stated that it is the responsibility of the present generation to protect Bharat’s sacred traditions and culture.
Sairam SSwS Team...When these concerts were going on I think at a certain point of time Swami also insisted that he would come in television very soon...Later on when Shri AB Vajpayee became PM during 1997-98 the programme was being telecasted in National channel "Doordarshan" inbetween 10 AM to 11AM which we were eagerly waiting to watch titled as "Unity of Spirit Concert" Title music by A.R. Rehman...Later on regular programmes were also shown "Sanskar TV" channel on every Tuesday,Thursday & Saturday from 9 PM to 9:30PM which we were also eagerly waiting to watch...Anyhow these are all sweet childhood memories...SaiLove
ReplyDeleteI was lucky and blessed to be there during these concerts. It was an exhilarating experience.
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