A Divine Ladies Day Offering by the National Ladies Program of Australia

A special offering of a sadhana was completed over the months leading up to Ladies Day by members of the Ladies Program around Australia. This comprised of regular reading of the 18 chapters of Tapovanam, a book dedicated to the life of Sathya Sai Baba. The experiences of the sadhana were inspiration and connection, both with Sai and the sharing sister.

In May 2024 the National SSSIO Ladies Program of Australia explored various sadhana possibilities as an offering to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for His 99th birthday celebrations, on 23 November 2024. As fellow spiritual travellers living thousands of kilometres apart, we decided on a sadhana that would unite Sai sisters all around the nation. We decided on an 18-week reading of the Sri Sathya Sai Sathcharithra, Tapovanam, as our sadhana. This Reading Sadhana had been undertaken successfully by the Women of SSSIO – USA and the process was lovingly shared by their National Coordinator.

The book, Tapovanam, comprises of 18 ‘stand-alone’ chapters, meaning that a reader could begin reading the book from any chapter. “Tapo” means spiritual practice and “vana” means forest. It can also be taken to mean as being engaged in spiritual retreat or practice to become aware of our true inner Self.

 

Bhagavan Baba has said, “You cannot see Me, but I am the light you see by. You cannot hear Me, but I am the sound you hear by. You cannot know Me, but I am the truth by which you live.”

 

Nevertheless, we can bring Bhagavan into our lives, by immersing ourselves in His stories, as compiled in this book. The stories from the Tapovanam are a reminder for us to live a life of service, sacrifice, gratitude, and love. Stories of our beloved Bhagavan give us comfort and confidence and fill us with love. They remove any negative feelings that we may possess and shelter us from all negativities that surround us. It increases our faith to allow Him to protect us and take charge of our life. Surrender at His lotus feet is what we all want to achieve.

 

This sadhana would involve all participants reading and offering all 18 chapters of the book to Bhagavan by the end of 18 weeks. Each reading group would consist of 18 Sai sisters. If a hard copy of the book was unavailable, participants were emailed a PDF of the book or soft copy. As an 18-week commitment, each participant would be assigned a chapter starting on a Thursday each week. Confirmation of completion of their reading would be by posting a message on a group chat on the Wednesday of the following week. Each participant would then move onto the next chapter the following day.

 

Our plan was to commence this Sadhana on Guru Purnima Day, Saturday, 21 July 2024. Since the reading had to commence on a Thursday, the commencement date was

advanced to 18 July 2024. To our great surprise, the 18-week completion date fell on Wednesday 20 November, i.e. just the day after Ladies Day. Hence the Sadhana was changed to a Ladies Day Offering at the Divine Lotus Feet of our beloved Bhagavan.

 

Information about the Sadhana was circulated to Sai Centres across the country. A “registration link” enabled Sai sisters to register their details. Following a 7- week period, 90 Sai sisters had registered; 32 from NSW, 30 from QLD, 9 from Victoria, 8 from ACT and 6 from WA along with 5 international participants. Five groups of 18 Sai sisters in each were formed. All participants were on WhatsApp. A PDF copy of Tapovanam was forwarded to 53 participants; 37 had their own resources.

The Reading Sadhana commenced on Thursday, 18 July 2024. An excel sheet with details of each participant’s weekly allocated chapter was posted on group chat every Thursday. Reminders were sent to all groups each Tuesday evening to ensure that all 18 participants had read their allocated chapter by Wednesday night. Thus, it also became a weekly Offering, by each group, of all 18 chapters to Bhagavan.

A sense of sisterhood developed within each group. Some groups set up ‘mini-satsangh groups, with discussions of summaries read each week. Some sisters reported ‘Sai incidences’ involving themselves or their loved ones. All participants were requested to journalise their experiences during this Sadhana period for sharing at a future date.

There was positive feedback from the participants. Below are extracts from feedback posted on the group chats:

“I am utterly grateful to the National Ladies Wing for initiating the communal reading of Tapovanam. This inimitable journey of mine has been inspirational, insightful and invigorating. It has brought me even closer to Swami and His teachings. I am thankful for the grace and blessings He has showered on my family and me.”

“Thank you, Sai Ma, for giving me the opportunity to be part of this wonderful group on this uplifting journey. Enjoyed the weekly readings and reminders of Bhagavan’s glory. May His love radiate through us”.

“For someone like me who doesn’t travel much, it felt gratifying to be part of this global group effort from within my home”.

“Thank you, Swami, for giving me the opportunity to participate in this group Sadhana and experience Your Omnipresence”.

“Listening to HIS stories is truly inspiring and fills my heart with peace and gratitude”.

“It is indeed the best gift from Swami that we can connect and be in His presence constantly by reading His stories. His miracles, encouraging and strengthening our faith whenever we feel dispirited, dejected, low or upset”.

“…as we are coming to the end, I feel I don’t want it to end. Reading the Tapovanam has been truly blissful and the most beautiful experience”.

 

The 18- week Sai Tapovanam Reading Sadhana culminated on 19 November on Ladies Day 2024, by offering the completion of the 18 chapters of the book at the Divine Feet of our Lord Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

An online Sai Tapovanam ‘wrap- up’ session has been scheduled for Saturday, 7 December.

It was also decided that this Sadhana Offering will be allocated a session on Friday 18 April 2025 at the Spiritual Retreat in Murwillumbah. At this “Ladies Sai Tapovanam” session, participants will be able to share and reflect on their experiences in undertaking this Sadhana.

We are grateful to Bhagavan for His Grace and Blessings to have made this 18 – week Sadhana an inspiring journey and for giving us the opportunity to make this Divine Offering at His Lotus Feet.

May Bhagavan continue to bless us all.

Jai Sai Ram!

Ramani Sivakadadchan

National Ladies Coordinator