Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar in Puttaparthi - Page 2

Just saw the bit where Aishwarya touches his feet. Disgraceful. If she's such a Bharatiya naari who respects elders by touching their feet she should hve done that off camera instead of doing it at a formal even where he's there in his official capacity as the elected PM of the country. Maybe it was a moment of desperation, like having had to do Kajra Re in 2005. Or was she teasing him " Kyun be , Kaisa laga apun ka speech ". Lol

Originally posted by: WormikaGrubby

Yup. They still do. https://youtu.be/f0JVDLDKmWI?si=tdoSmglGTHA7r85F

Bhajans like this one are sung almost evey day. The daily session ends with Sarva Dharma Prarthana. You see pics of Jesus or framed verses from the Quran at the local centers across the country along with pics of Hindu deities. Christmas, Eid, Passover, Chinese New Year etc are celebrated.

That is the emblem of the Ashram. Pretty sure that made his blood boil lol.

It's not some woke utopia. The devotees aren't totally above prejudice . From what I've seen when I volunteered with them ,there is occasional friction but they do a very good job of rising above differences. it instead of indulging. The hospital provides free care to people from just about any background ,religion is never a criterion when they're shortlisted. . There could be things in Sathya Sai's teachings we can't agree with but regardless of where you stand on the 'miracles ' and his claim that he was an Avatar , it's commendable that the idea of Getting Along and respecting other people's faith is practised as a motto in their organisation.

The Hindu bits. They have rituals ,poojas homas artis all that . .Women get to take part . Women chant the gayatri and the Vedas. Women ,like ones from orthodox brahmin families who are otherwise forbidden from chanting the gayatri and are treated like shit by their husbands and in laws despite all the caste privilege they have in the outside world get to sit next to their husbands and chant stuff thats supposed to be exclusively the markers of male greatness. And ofcourse everyone regardless of caste is taught / welcome to chant mantras that ' lower ' castes were forbidden from chanting or had no access to. Also my favourite part - no period shaming. Women participate in bhajans /poojas , or light lamps even on ' those days '.

It might sound performative ; many of these devotees are probably not okay with their daughters marrying a Muslim or a Dalit , but in general it's good stuff as far as baby steps are concerned. It's the Hindu Rashtra Sanghis are scared of. Where conservative/ religious Hindus learn to say " Okay I don't agree with or like everything X religion says but I can see it's the same God they're trying to worship so why don't we just focus on that instead and try to Get Along. '. It's their worst nightmare because once that message catches on thered be no votes for them.

Somebody like you know who sitting at the dais in that hall where people of literally all castes religions and nationalities have sat next to each other in the same row for decades is a form of desecration.

Thank you for sharing all this information. I never knew about any of this. As a child, I remember my mom's friend talking about Sathya Sai Baba. She was a huge believer. I personally have a hard time believing and trusting any of these Gurus so never paid attention whatsoever to anything related to him. I do have to say though having reading all the info you provided, that I'm pleasantly surprised to know about the practices at his Ashram.

So now that he's no more, are they still continuing to follow these practices? Especially in the current times, it will be harder to do so if people don't have a strong leader to look upto.

Love the emblem as well. And @bold is such a simple concept. But alas!

Originally posted by: liberiangirl

Thank you for sharing all this information. I never knew about any of this. As a child, I remember my mom's friend talking about Sathya Sai Baba. She was a huge believer. I personally have a hard time believing and trusting any of these Gurus so never paid attention whatsoever to anything related to him. I do have to say though having reading all the info you provided, that I'm pleasantly surprised to know about the practices at his Ashram.

So now that he's no more, are they still continuing to follow these practices? Especially in the current times, it will be harder to do so if people don't have a strong leader to look upto.

Love the emblem as well. And @bold is such a simple concept. But alas!

Yes things carry on the same way ; it's been more than a decade since he passed. The only change at Puttaparthi as far as I know is some administerial വടംവലി , and some drama between the org and owners of flats within the premises The rest of it continues. tobe the same. Here at the local centre too. The lead singer is.a Catholic guy. The person. who is in charge of arranging meds for. the poor is a priest at a temple ( Tam Bram). . They had bhajans during Eid .

Now that you ask ,I did notice a tweet from the official handle of the ashram wishing this fellow on his birthday. But even if ' they' try, it would be impossible to push their agenda without appropriating all of SSB's teachings and that would be impossible because there are tons of books and vids where he speaks of religious harmony and the need to mind your own business instead of finding fault with others. They even have a no gossip rule which is occassionally broken by some aunty who has been holding things in lol. You know ,the" Inki beti unke bete ke saath ice cream parlours jaati hai, chup chup ke " sort of stuff.