Thursday, May 20, 1976 to Wednesday, June 9, 1976
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| Sri Sathya Sai with Students of the Summer Course at Ooty - 1976 |
The Summer Course on Indian Culture and Spirituality was held from 20th May to 4th June 1976 at Swami’s residence, Nandanavanam, at Ooty. This year, students from Sri Sathya Sai Educational Institutions alone were selected to participate in the course. Over 200 students and 20 teachers attended the course. Swami hoisted the Prashanti Flag and inaugurated the Summer Course at Nandanavanam on 20th May. The Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu High Court, Sri Kailasam, was the Chief Guest for the function. Following the address of the Chief Guest, Swami delivered His Inaugural Address.
Topics from the Mahabharata were chosen by Swami as the course content. Swami in His Discourses in the evenings elaborated on the role that Lord Krishna chose to play in the Mahabharata. He revealed to the students the exact dates of a few great events in the Mahabharata. The discourses can be accessed here.
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| Swami Chinmayananda addressing the Sathya Sai Summer Course Students |
Eminent speakers from different walks of life and the staff members of the Sri Sathya Sai College spoke to the students during the course. They were Swami Chinmayananda, Anima Mukherjee (Principal of Jaipur College); Sri Narendra (Principal of Brindavan Campus); Smt Jayamma and Smt. Pushpa Ramanna from Anantapur College; Dr. Lakshminarasimham, Sri Nanjundaiah and Sri Sudarshan from Brindavan College; Sri Shiv Pandit; Dr. S. Bhagavantam, Smt. Soundaram Kailasam, Smt. Chakravarthi; Prof. N. Kasturi, and Sri Sohanlal.
Sri Anoop Jalota, the renowned musician from Bombay, participated in the camp for a few days, and sang during evening Bhajans. Sri Challa Subbarayudu, Minister for Muncipal Administration, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, attended the entire course with lot of enthusiasm.
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| Sri Sathya Sai with the Summer Course Students and Staff at Ooty - 1976 |
The final session of the course on 4th June was addressed by Sri Challa Subbarayudu and General Cariappa in the evening. Swami then delivered His Valedictory Message to the students. He gave certificates to all the participants of the summer course. The Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust had initiated a Diploma in Sathya Sai Education that would be awarded to the students who were the beneficiaries of a number of summer courses. Swami blessed such students, 17 of them, with the coveted Diploma on that day. He also gave special prizes to many among the student speakers.
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| Sri Sathya Sai with the medallion on the future of the Sai Organisations in His hand |
Swami had a very close session with the students on 5th June, where He narrated details of His early school days, highlighting the ideals of a good life that He upheld by the precept and example in those primitive years. Swami also materialised a medallion type unique map of India in which the future 46 years of Swami’s earthly sojourn and events and achievements of the Sai era were engraved in Sanskrit verses. Swami also declared that He would live to see 96 years in this body, and mentioned that 18 important institutions would be established by Him all over India in the remaining 46 years.
In the map of India materialized by Bhagavan were engraved the 18 institutions that would take shape in the next 50 years of the Avataric sojourn. Not only that, the medal also carried in microscopic Devanagari script, the important ‘achievements’ which would be accomplished in the future by Swami’s Sankalpa (Will). It was truly an epoch-making hour in the history of mankind. Providence predicting the unfoldment of Its Almighty Will!
I attended Ooty Summer Course as a second year student in Brindavan. The photo of Swami Chinmayananda addressing the students does not look like our Ooty Summer course lecture. Two reasons :
ReplyDelete1.He did not sit open chested as Swami was there as well as Anantapur girls students.
2. We all sat down cross-legged on the floor and not on desks/benches as seen in the photo.