Love that walks, Love that talks,
Love that fondles, Love that chides,
Love that He verily is.
To that loving Mother I offer my loving and most heartfelt Pranams. Swami, the embodiment of perfection, please tune this little instrument of Yours to express Your glorious song in the form of these words.
A child of three years old was always told by his parents to sing, chant, and recite the name of God. He did that with utmost sincerity, devotion and dedication. It was his father’s dream to see his son in the Sai army, dressed in white. The boy worked very hard to fulfill his father’s dream. It was the year 1998, in the month of May, the entrance exam had begun and the father went to the institute and sat there on the steps, and intensely prayed to Swami. A sincere prayer to Swami was his last hope. When the results of selected candidates were declared, this boy’s name was there on the list. Tears of joy trickled down the father’s cheeks and it was only due to Swami’s grace and my father’s prayers, that I am here in His Divine presence.
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| Sri Sathya Sai holding Sai Krishna's hand during a Darshan |
I long only for His Divine love and proximity. Speaking of His love, I am reminded of a beautiful personal experience. In my first standard, Swami called me and asked, “How many brothers do you have?” I told Swami that I had three brothers. Swami then said lovingly pointing out to the public, “All are your brothers.” Then He asked me, “How many friends do you have.” I replied, “Swami all are my friends.” Swami then made a beautiful statement, “Only God is your true friend.” God is indeed our true friend, guide and guardian. Eleven years later, I had gone for my biology class in the Audio-Visual room and as I was opening the windows I found a chit in which it was written, “You will never walk alone.” Miraculous indeed are His ways to remind us that He is our real friend.
Prashanti Nilayam is the fountain of supreme knowledge and eternal wisdom. Some come and take a sip, some come and drink the entire content, whereas some just come to gargle. It is up to us as to, what we want to do and which category we want to belong to. I pray let us all make an honest attempt to drink the entire content.
Many of us, sitting in front of Swami, get doubts as to who is the closest to Swami. The devotee in the last line may feel that the devotee in the first line is the luckiest. The devotee in the first line in turn feels that the students are the luckiest. The student in the last line feels that the student in the first line is the luckiest. The student in the first line in turn feels that the VIPs are the luckiest and the VIPs feel that the ones pushing Swami’s chair are the luckiest. The one pushing Swami’s chair feels that the one who stays with Swami in His house is the luckiest. But it would be a revelation to know that Swami was all the time concerned about the devotee seated in the last row of Sai Kulwant Hall who thought that he was unfortunate to be seated there. Now who is the closest and who is the luckiest? Even if we do not talk to Swami or He does not talk to us, it does not mean that we are unlucky.
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| Sri Sathya Sai talking to Sai Krishna while He was at the Primary School |
We must thus realize that Swami is Omnipresent. Let us all be aware of that and try to feel His presence everywhere. Let me narrate a stunning experience of mine. It was one of those lovely evening Darshans and I ran, dashed, and leaped to occupy the last vacant position in the Bhajan Hall. Bhagavan arrived inside the Bhajan Hall a couple of minutes before the Bhajans began. After sometime, I looked at Him and prayed, “Swami please be in front of me within five minutes.” I opened my eyes and was surprised to see Swami was coming on rounds. He came near me, looked at me and smiled beautifully. I checked my watch and to my utter amazement He was in front of me in exactly five minutes after I had finished my prayer! What else can I say about this good Lord? My simple prayer for His proximity was answered within no time.
Such is the power of prayer. Trust Him and He will do anything and everything for you. Everything is He and He is everything. So we must just pray and have faith in Him. I would like to share another personal experience regarding faith. In my ninth standard, I asked Swami as to what I should do after my class ten. With a smile playing on his lips, Swami told me to join class 11 much to everybody’s amusement. Then I asked, “Swami, Science or Commerce?” He looked at me and said, “Science!”
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Sai Krishna with Sri Sathya Sai
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I was shocked, totally shocked. I was not prepared for this. As I finished my tenth class, I had already applied for commerce. But just before submitting the form I made up my mind to apply for the Science, MPC (Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry) group as per Swami’s instructions. As I wrote the entrance exam, my heart was beating faster. In my interview, I was told I could not be offered the MPC group. But I was determined to continue in the Science stream in His school. I then requested for BPC (Biology, Physics and Chemistry). The authorities just nodded and said that they would look into the matter. The next two days I spent in praying to Swami for guidance. The results were announced. I was extremely glad to see my name in the Science (BPC) group. I was delighted beyond words. When I entered the Science classroom on the first day, I entered with a sense of pride and joy in my heart for having obeyed His command. He sees every action of ours and reads every thought of ours. But we do not realize it and remain in the darkness of ignorance.
No matter where we go, Bhagavan is there with us, whether we like it or not. A student of Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School had gone to New Zealand and had just landed and was relaxing. He felt relieved that there were no more Nagar Sankirtans and no more prayers. At three o’clock in the morning, a few elderly people knocked at his door and lovingly told him “Sai Ram”. Then they told him that they had heard that he is a Sai student and requested him to come for Nagar Sankirtan. He just could not refuse and had to go along with them. He estimated that the number of people in the Nagar Sankirtan must not be more than fifteen. But he was dumb found when he saw that hundreds of them had assembled and that he was supposed to lead. This is what happens. He knows where we are and will catch hold of us even if we do not want Him to. As He says, we may forget Him but He will never forget us.
In the month of February 2008, when our board exams were about to begin the students of tenth and the twelfth class sat in front to take blessings from Him. We were seated around Him and He said, “You are the pillars of this institution.” If we are the pillars, then He is the architect of all these pillars. Let us all try to be as strong and steady as the pillars and uphold the name of Sai.
He is our Eternal Companion. He is our mother, father, friend, guide, and even ourselves. To make it clear let us analyze a few things. If we are not the ones who are making the cells of our body function then who is it? If we are not controlling the pumping of our heart, then who is it? It is our Bhagavan, who is the Divine Controller and the Divine Charioteer. Let us all be in constant touch with that Supreme Power. Once we do this, we will find Him always by our side. Regarding this there is an incident which happened to my father. After having the Darshan of our beloved Swami, he was returning home and was sitting in the Dharmavaram waiting room. As there was plenty of time for the train to arrive, he felt like taking a quick nap. He innocently prayed to Swami that when the train arrives at the station, He must wake him up. Saying so, my father fell asleep. After about half an hour, a train arrived. My father was still sleeping. Suddenly my father woke up and saw the train in front of his eyes. He asked a vendor which train it was, and to his amazement he found that it was the same train which he was to board. He immediately lifted his luggage and ran to catch the train and get into his compartment. As soon as he put his second foot on the train, the train started moving. This is Sai, who is our eternal companion.
Swami, in an interview given to my father and a few other people, was talking about various important issues. An elderly person got up, pointed towards my father and said that his son and daughter were studying in His school. Swami was very fond of that person as he was very simple and pure. His name was Natubhai Shah. Swami turned to him and said, “Shah, I know, I know.” That is Swami. Just as we know where we have kept our belongings, Swami knows where we all are (we are His belongings). We may sometimes even misplace our things but it is never the case with Swami.
Once a wise man said, “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been awarded for what he gave.” So let us try to give the world all that we can and earn the honour of being His property. Swami expects us to earn respect in society. Helen Keller once said, “The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart.”
Once a wise man said, “No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been awarded for what he gave.” So let us try to give the world all that we can and earn the honour of being His property. Swami expects us to earn respect in society. Helen Keller once said, “The best and the most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart.”
- Sai Krishna Vaidya
Student (1998-2010), Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School
Prasanthi Nilayam
Currently, Trainee Executive, Intas Biopharmaceuticals, Vadodara
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