When Sri Sathya Sai remembered the Great Leaders of Modern India...

January 23, 2003 (Thursday)

Today Swami came to Ganesh portico at around 3:30 p.m

Swami : (To Prof. Anil Kumar) Emi Samacharam? (Took a letter from a teacher) Are you fine? How is your health?

Teacher : Swami, it is fine.

Swami : (Materializes a ring for the teacher) It is for you, take. (Seeing the teacher struggling to take out the ring which he already had) Is the ring not coming out?

Teacher : Swami, it is very tight.

Swami : It will come out. (Swami took out the teacher’s old ring and put the new ring and went back to the interview room. Swami came to Ganesh portico after fifteen minutes.)

Warden : Swami, today (named a senior devotee) spoke to us. 

Gulzarilal Nanda
Interim 
Prime Minister of India - 1964

Swami : He did not speak properly. He brought the printed material with him and read it out. He did not go in the chronological order. He started with Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, went to Shankaracharya and came back to Sai Baba. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao (Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Governor of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh) was a very good speaker. Gulzarilal Nanda (former interim Prime Minister of India) was a very good speaker. Once in Punjab, lakhs of people attended his speech. His car could not go through the crowd.

Prof. A.K. : Swami, he was a man of principles.

Lal Bahadur Shastri
Prime Minister of India (1964-1966)

Swami : Lal Bahadur Shastri (Sri Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of India) was also a good speaker. He was the Deputy Prime Minister.

Prof A.K. : Yes, Swami.

Swami : Rajendra Prasad was also a good devotee. (Sri Rajendra Prasad was the first President of India) Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was the first Vice President of India and the second President of India) was a very good speaker. He was a great philosopher. Philos, ‘fill-loss’ other-wise ‘full-loss’ (punning on the words). He had six children. Wherever he went, he never took out his turban. He recited the verse ‘Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya…’ in a very high pitch in his speech in foreign countries.

Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
President of India (1961-1966)

Prof. A.K. : He speaks very well.

Swami : (After a while of silence) One should listen to Swami’s words and practise it. Ramesh and Paresh were very devoted and practised whatever Swami told them. Ramesh became mad after I left (the school) and died. They became Jack and Jill (Swami’s pet dogs). When Mysore Maharani came here, I asked Jack to go with the driver. That time there was no road. One had to park the car near Karnatakanagepalii and had to walk till here. Jack went there and slept below the car. The driver did not notice this and started the car. Jack’s back broke. It came all the way from there to Me, fell at My feet and died. Later they were born as the daughters of Chincholi Rani; Jamuna and Yamuna. (After a while of silence, to a teacher) Do you sing?

Teacher  : I used to sing when I was very young. Now I can only enjoy the music.

Swami : (Changing the topic.) Nowadays ministers do not leave the houses given by government after retirement.

Prof. A.K. : Swami, in Delhi it has become a custom. Even in Hyderabad it is like that.

Swami : No one is there to organise things in a proper manner. (To Warden, pointing a student who was making notes of what Swami was saying) Is he the Hostel reporter? (To the student, smilingly) Just because you have pen and paper, do not write whatever you wish.

(It is these notes that the students of earlier batches have written sitting next to Swami for many years, and subsequently meticulously compiled and edited by senior teachers, that have been compiled in the form of these conversations.)

Student  : Yes, Swami

After this Swami went inside interview room.

Source: Students with Sai: Conversations (2001-2004)