Panchasheel Exam

For the greatest benefit of devotees, Shri Sai himself created this, His own Life story and holding his hand in his own, got Hemad to write out the story.   [Verse 213]

Many were highly astonished, when Sadguru Shree Aniruddha announced to conduct Panchasheel examinations based on Shree Saisatcharit.  ‘How will this exam be?’, ‘What could  be its nature?’ and ‘How much response would it receive?’ were several questions that cropped up. However, Sadguru Shree Aniruddha explained that this examination and its study  is  not meant to  gain knowledge, but is actually to help understand how one can worship, follow  and progress the path of Bhakti  and in the process, improve the quality of his life, enrich it by getting rid of wrong  things and thoughts.

In short, Sadguru Shree Aniruddha says, this examination is meant to teach us ways  to improve our ability to follow the path of Bhakti and worship  in better ways.     

Since the year 1997, Shree Sai Samartha Vidnyan Prabodhini organization, under the guidance of Sadguru Shree Aniruddha, started conducting Panchasheel examinations based on Shree Saisatcharit. There are five levels of these examinations, viz. Prathama (first level), Dwitiya (second level), Tritiya (third level), Chaturthi (fourth level) and Panchami (fifth level).    

Prathama (first level) examination is based on Saisatcharit – ‘Chapters 1 to 10’ having four questions worth  100 marks in total. 

Dwitiya (second level) examination is based on Saisatcharit – ‘Chapters 11 to 20’ having three  questions worth  100 marks in total. 

Tritiya (third level) examination is based on Saisatcharit – ‘Chapters 21 to 30’ having three  questions worth  100 marks in total. 

Chaturthi (fourth level) examination is based on Saisatcharit – ‘Chapters 31 to 40’ having three  questions worth  100 marks in total. 

Panchami (fifth level) examination has a much wider spectrum. This includes 2 written papers and 1  practical examination. One of the written papers is based on Chapters 41 to 52 and includes three questions totalling to 100 marks, while the other written paper has only one question carrying 100 marks, which covers the entire Saisatcharit. Practical examinations are based on experiments that clarify the inseparable connection between spirituality and knowledge.   

“Answer in one sentence” - 25 questions (50 marks) 

Identify the bhakta and write about him in brief (15 marks) 

Identify  the mistakes in the given picture and narrate the incident relevant to itand discuss its inherent meaning in detail (50 marks)

Identify the situation as it happened in Saisatcharit and write about him in brief (20 marks) 

There are two  practical questions based on experiments – a short question  for 15 marks  and a long question for  50 marks     

All the above questions, put together, add up to 200 marks in total for the practical examination for the Panchami (fifth level). The Panchami exam as such is for 400 marks, which consists 2 written papers of 100 marks each and practical examination of 200 marks.