Anantapur: Different cultures, distinct paths, but one goal concept was witnessed at 10th World Conference of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations at Prasanthi Nilayam as part of 90th birth anniversary celebrations of Baba.
On the sidelines of the conference, two cultural presentations were organised in the evening at Pr-asanthi Nilayam. A Thai prayerful dance on Lord Buddha first was followed by a spiritually-uplifting ‘Worling Dervishes’ by the devotees from Turkey, Middle East, Gulf of SSIO.
The Thai 'traditional' dance, titled Thai Phuen, by the students of Sathya Sai School, Thailand, was a prayerful offering to Lord Buddha, beseeching the Lord for goodness, both individual and universal, achieving unity.
The Thai Sathya Sai School is one of the role model schools inculcating the un-ique Sai system of free ed-ucation with highly commendable standard upto 12th Grade.
SEMA, Sufi whirling is a physically active meditation of the Sufis, popularly practised by the Sufi Der-vishes of the Mevlevi ord-er from Turkey. The dance of the Whirling Dervishes known as Sema was born out of the inspiration of Mevlana Celaddiin-i Ru-mi, a 13th century Muslim Saint, known throughout the world for his exquisite poems and words of wisdom. Sema represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent. The presentation began with the first step involving a eulogy went through four distinct steps of prayers, before the 5th phase, Sema, representing man’s mystical jo-urney to spiritual ascent. The Dervishes began with holding arms crosswise, then moved onto spinning, gradually blooming.
Beginning with man's birth to Truth, his journey ends with him enthroning the throne, returning to his task, state of subservience. The entire programme was accompanied by soulful music, assisted by five musicians on various instruments, namely, Kanun, a Zither-like musical instrument with 72 strings, Tambur, an ancient form of flute, Ney, a reed flute played in Melvei music.
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
