I am very fortunate to have been chosen by my dear Sai Maa to enjoy His Divine proximity as His student and it is indeed my privilege to pen down some experiences with my Lord. When I was admitted in the Primary School on the very first day, I felt homesick and that night before sleeping, I started crying. I used to cry and then sleep. I used to miss my parents so much that I couldn’t stop it at all. In those days, whoever just joined the first standard would have around twenty days or a month off, which meant they were exempted from all routine. Four days after we joined the school, Swami had sent a message, asking how many students had just joined the Primary School, to which the headmistress replied, “Sixty boys and thirty girls”. Immediately that afternoon, Swami sent some chocolates for us and He also sent word that His children must always live happily. It was that incident, which made me realise who Swami really is. I have realised that He is so incomparable. This was how I took a step towards Him and He took a thousand steps towards me.
As the years passed by, I prayed for more opportunities to speak to the ever compassionate Lord. So the Lord again chose to speak to me. It was on the morning of the second day in the month of August when we had gone for Darshan; I prayed to Swami very sincerely to give me a chance to talk to Him. So He came gently and slowly reached me and gestured by His hand to walk to Him. I was so excited that I was completely out of words. Swami asked me, "Bangaru, Emi Tinnavu?" meaning - 'Dear one, what did you have for breakfast?' I replied, “Swami, I had five Idlis”. Swami was very happy with me and told me, “Good Boy”. He asked me another question, “Bangaru, are you happy here?” I replied, “Swami I am very, very happy”. Such was the love showered upon me when I just made a sincere prayer from the bottom of my heart.
Swami once summoned four doctors from each district in the state of Andhra Pradesh for a conference. My father was chosen as one of the doctors. My father told us, “If Swami is calling the entire family, then He will arrange everything for us so that we can safely reach His Divine abode”. I was then only four or five years old and since we did not have any ticket, we sat on the floor and fell asleep. At around 2.00 am, the ticket supervisor came to my father, woke him and asked him politely, “Sir, there are three to four vacant seats in the compartment and would you mind occupying those seats?” My father literally was in tears. My father could not express his gratitude to that ticket collector. He could not find that person even after a frantic search. After this, it did not take much time for my father to realise that it was none other than Bhagavan Baba Himself who came there.
It was the Navaratri festival time and devotees thronged the Ashram. So my father prayed to Swami, “Swami, I have complete faith in You that You will give us a room in the Ashram, because it was You who summoned us to You”. Saying this He went to the accommodation office. The person-in-charge greeted my father with a ‘Sai Ram’ and said, “Sir you are the most fortunate person to get the last bunch of room keys present in this room for accommodation purposes”. My father was overjoyed with these events and he did not know how to express the gratitude to Swami. We went to our room inside the Ashram, got ready and went to Sai Kulwant Hall. Not even five minutes were over when Swami had summoned all the chosen doctors to come for an interview session with Him. So, my father, mother and I went inside the Interview Room. Swami started talking on some topic, which was too high for me to understand. Swami had finished His discourse and then started interacting with each doctor. When my father’s turn came, Swami asked something, to which he gave a reply. Suddenly, I interrupted and with my innocence and love and with my hand stretched out towards Him, I asked, “Swami, Mee School Lo Seat Ivvara?”(Swami, could You bless me with a seat in Your school?) Swami replied, “Tappakunda Bangaru”; meaning ‘Surely, My child’. It is purely because of His Grace that I am here today.
In my second standard during the Navaratri festival time, I was indeed very lucky to have been a part of the Vedam Group of Primary School. The Vedam teacher and the Headmistress tied the costumes and sent us to Mandir. Swami came gliding gently and sat on the dais. After some time, Swami asked the people who were chanting the Vedam to stop and told us to continue the Vedam chanting. The Mother was indeed very proud of Her children who were glorifying Her with their devotion. After we finished chanting, Swami called each boy and gave him a tiger biscuit packet and jovially told us, “If you eat this biscuit, you will become tigers”. I was one among them. Every word uttered by Swami has many dimensions of interpretation. By consuming the biscuit of Sai’s love, the energy derived there from should be used to kill the evil that exists in us. Every word, gesture and action of Swami speaks volumes about Him. It is important that we understand it in the manner He wants us to understand so that we can become closer and closer to Him.
- Sai Laxmikanth
Alumnus, Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School
Prasanthi Nilayam
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