Dr. Satpathy enthralled the audience at Dallas

On June 25th, Dr. Satpathy inaugurated the “St. Shirdi Sai Spiritual Retreat” at Dallas, organized by Sai American Foundation in collaboration with Shirdi Sai Global Foundation. The program began with the felicitation of  Dr. Satpathy by Justice John Patton. He honored Dr. Satpathy on the occasion of the 1st anniversary of Dr. Satpathy’s speech as a Guest Chaplain in the US Congress’s House of Representatives. This followed by an Odissi Dance performance titled ‘Hiranya Garbha’ by Aparajita Mishra and Nivedina Sharma. Next, the audience were entertained by an enchanting dance drama titled ‘Sai Mere’ performed by local kids.

Addressing the audience, Dr. Satpathy  admired Sai American Foundation (SAF) for organizing the event and mentioned how SAF which had a very humble beginning as an “Odia” diaspora have grown in stature to organize the spiritual retreat where close to 500 delegates from all over the world from countries such as New Zealand, UK, Canada, India, etc., have assembled. He mentioned that “People who truly love Baba have gathered here for a common cause.”

Following is an excerpt from Dr. Satpathy’s keynote speech:

“The spirit behind any movement is the willingness to be together to work for the cause without friction. If there is any friction, there must be in-built systems to remove the friction. If you don’t remove the friction, then there would “heat & temperature”, and the organization would never take off or the progress might be delayed. It has been our endeavor to have a friction-less, chaos-less system where we all can grow.”

“All saints of the world have taught us that only ‘Empathy’, ‘Love’, and ‘Understanding’ can be the solutions for all aberrations of human minds. There can’t be any other solution. All other support systems, be it economic, political, or any other will not bring in a permanent solution. And if these key facets are missing from our value system, then a temple is just a “museum”, a building with an idol inside it. We don’t want museums of god, we want living presence of the saint.”

Religions may be different across the globe, but Spiritualism is the same. “Spiritualism is the expansion of the spirit of human beings to absorb others, and being absorbed by others, and to grow.” Many of you might be thinking, “It’s plausible but not possible. If you give it a try, the plausible becomes possible”. The saint or a spiritual master, due to the universal acceptance of his kindness and virtue, has become a role model for the society. Everybody needs a role model to follow in his or her life. Hence, human beings created the biggest role model – God.

In the “stone age”,  where there was no concept of God, and there were no technology advancements, yet, human civilization survived, as their thought process was simpler. “They meant what they said, and were able to accommodate each other”. When Baba was alive, devotees followed him as he made their life simpler, didn’t have many ethical standards. What he practiced was “Humane Standard”. Humaneness is the essence of any movement, spiritual or other. In the most difficult of time of Indian political history, it was an uphill task for anyone to hold together the masses of Hindu, Muslim, and Christians. Shirdi sai baba was able to achieve this unbelievable feat due to the loftiness and kindness of his character and hence is a model for us.

“Shirdi Sai Baba taught us to move away from outdated, slow-moving, rituals, which have clouded our mind as we are following them from our childhood without checking their veracity.”

“Dear Shirdi Sai devotees, wherever you are assimilate and help your local community. What can we say about the spirit, which doesn’t expand and doesn’t go beyond himself? So, merging with the community is the most essential thing in the path of spiritualism. Stand by people in distress. Don’t be extravagant with rituals and ceremonies, instead use those resources to help needy and poor people. Stop thinking yourself as the center of Universe, you are just a tiny particle in the whole system.”

During this occasion, Dr. Satpathy launched “Shri Guru Bhagavat”, Vol. 4 in Bengali, and “Shri Guru Bhagavat Prashnottari” (Questions and Answers on Shri Guru Bhagavat), in Oriya language. Also, Dr. Satpathy inaugurated the print version of “Sai Divine” magazine, Vol. 5.

On the second day of the event (26th June), Dr. P Raghunadha Reddy spoke on the relevance of Shri Guru Bhagavat in day-to-day life. Dr. Reddy mentioned that Shri Guru Bhagavat contains the answers to all the questions arises in our mind while carrying out the various duties in our daily life. “It is one of the best Reference Text”. He stated this to be his own experience and the experience of other devotees he has interacted in the past. Also, he quoted from Shri Sai Satcharita , where Baba had invited everyone to come, take and carry away ‘cart loads’ of treasure from his inexhaustible treasure house. Dr. Reddy said that Shri Guru Bhagavat is one such treasure house where everyone would find loads of precious gems. He encouraged the audience to read Shri Guru Bhagavat regularly, reflect on the teachings and retain the advice and answers provided in this unparalleled creation by Dr. Satpathy.

Eminent Odissi singer Dr. Sudha Mishra did a soulful rendition of Shri Guru Bhagavat during the event. Also, the audience witnessed a captivating Bhajan performance by Antara Chakrabarty, Dr. Sudha Mishra, Pravat Singh and Konark Sarangi.

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