 |
| Sri Rama Mohana Rao with Sri Sathya Sai at Kodaikanal - 1980s |
I reached the sleepy town of Jaleswar, met the Principal and enquired about the vacancy in his College. He was pleasantly surprised at my meeting him and said to me, “Do you know the importance and significance of this day?” It was 23rd November, 1970. It sounded like any other day to me and I did not know in the least about the significance of the day. When I replied in the negative about the significance of the day, he kindly said to me, “Today, 23rd November is the birthday of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the living God on Earth. Being a person from Andhra Pradesh, don’t you know the glory and grandeur of Bhagavan? Don’t you know that He is God walking on Earth?” When I confessed my ignorance about Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, he remarked, “I feel that Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is instrumental in bringing you here to begin your career on this most auspicious day! You are very fortunate”.
Little did I know, 45 years ago, that I had made a tryst with destiny on that day. Having been a teacher for the last 45 years, I am one with Shakespeare who said, “Divinity shapes our ends…” This Divinity is none but Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba who orchestrated my life, pressing the right notes at the right time and producing melodies eternally new. Little did I know at that time that I would have my tryst with God in the form of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, nine years later, when I saw God face-to-face for the first time on 12th July, 1976. On that momentous day of my life, I prayed to Him from the bottom of my being, to be the Director of my life and shape my destiny. Bhagavan, in His infinite compassion, heard the prayer of my heart and gave a new dimension to life, a new meaning and purpose. Bhagavan in fact indirectly entered into my life towards the end of the year 1975 when He blessed me with an opportunity to experience the miracle of transformation wrought in a colleague of mine who was a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Science College of Chatrapur, Odisha. He was a happy-go-lucky young man, ambitious about his career, but a chain smoker. He smelt of cigarettes and he would smoke the cigarettes to glory at all times except when he was in the classroom.
Little did I know, 45 years ago, that I had made a tryst with destiny on that day. Having been a teacher for the last 45 years, I am one with Shakespeare who said, “Divinity shapes our ends…” This Divinity is none but Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba who orchestrated my life, pressing the right notes at the right time and producing melodies eternally new. Little did I know at that time that I would have my tryst with God in the form of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, nine years later, when I saw God face-to-face for the first time on 12th July, 1976. On that momentous day of my life, I prayed to Him from the bottom of my being, to be the Director of my life and shape my destiny. Bhagavan, in His infinite compassion, heard the prayer of my heart and gave a new dimension to life, a new meaning and purpose. Bhagavan in fact indirectly entered into my life towards the end of the year 1975 when He blessed me with an opportunity to experience the miracle of transformation wrought in a colleague of mine who was a lecturer in the Department of Political Science, Science College of Chatrapur, Odisha. He was a happy-go-lucky young man, ambitious about his career, but a chain smoker. He smelt of cigarettes and he would smoke the cigarettes to glory at all times except when he was in the classroom.
 |
| Rama Mohana Rao with Sri Sathya Sai - 1970s |
I witnessed an amazing spectacle when the school reopened after the winter vacation. I found my friend sitting serenely in the staff room sans smoking! His demeanour struck me. I asked him out of curiosity what had happened to him. He looked at me sternly and declared, “I have seen God. I have seen Him walking, talking, caring, nursing, nourishing and divinizing humanity, for He is the embodiment of Divinity! Come to my room in the evening if you want to know more about Him”. When I went to him that evening to hear the tale of his transformation, I saw a different person altogether. Previously when I had gone to his room, the entire room was littered with cigarette butts, reeking with the foul stench of cigarettes. But I saw a different scene altogether. The entire place was spic and span, breathing heavenly aroma. I saw a new Avatar of my friend, clad in holy silk dhoti and performing Pooja to the photo of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I said to myself, “Oh God, He must be really a God to bring out such an incredible transformation in my friend!” My friend spoke to me at length about the Divinity of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Bhagavan chose him as an instrument to bring transformation in me.
I wanted to apply for the post of a lecturer at a College in Hyderabad after seeing an advertisement in a newspaper. When I told my friend that I was going to Hyderabad to appear for the interview, he said to me gently, “Puttaparthi is not far from Hyderabad. Why don’t you go to Prasanthi Nilayam and see God face-to-face”. I replied to him that I would consider going to Puttaparthi as I was not sufficiently convinced about the Divinity of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. On reaching Hyderabad, I hired a Tonga to take me to a hotel. Suddenly a thought flashed in my mind. I decided to throw a challenge to Sai Baba. I said to Him mentally, “Oh Sai Baba, I throw a challenge to you. If You really are Divine, make my childhood friend, whose whereabouts in Hyderabad I did not know, appear on the road and meet me. If you accept this challenge of mine, I am yours forever”. Wonder of wonders! The incredible happened! I saw my friend riding on his scooter, right ahead of me on the road! He shouted at the Tongawala to stop his Tonga and hugged me. When I told him that I was going to a hotel for accommodation, he invited me to stay with him at his house in Hyderabad. I stood thrilled at the way the things turned, demonstrating in unmistakable terms the Divinity of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I said to myself, “Oh God, this Sai Baba is really God! He picked up a passing thought of mine and proved His Divinity instantaneously”.
I decided to go to Prasanthi Nilayam to meet God face-to-face. I boarded a bus when it was already leaving the bus stand and reached Anantapur at night. I spent that night in a hotel, travelled by a bus in the morning and reached Prasanthi Nilayam at 10.30 am in the morning on 12th July, 1976.
 |
| Sri Rama Mohana Rao translating the Divine Discourse into English at the Poornachandra Auditorium - 1990s |
The moving hand having writ, writes on… When I reached the Ganesh gate, a young man took my luggage and led me to Ganesh shed. When I wanted to pay him, he exclaimed, “What sir! I am a Seva Dal. Do not insult me by paying for my little service”. This was another shock which I received in Prasanthi Nilayam. It was my experience to be robbed of my money mercilessly by the coolies whichever pilgrim centre I visited. Another pleasant wonder was that wherever I moved, the exotic fragrance of Vibhuti haunted me! In the canteen and outside the canteen, on the road and outside the road, in the shed and outside the shed, I felt the powerful fragrance of Vibhuti!
When it was time for Darshan, I rushed along with others to find a place on the sands surrounding the Mandir. While I was waiting for Bhagavan’s Darshan, a Bengali gentleman who was sitting with his son related to me the wonderful cure that Bhagavan had affected on his son. He told me with tears trickling down his eyes, how a year ago he had come to Prasanthi Nilayam along with his dying son. He had mortgaged his wife’s ornaments and came to Prasanthi Nilayam. Baba did not even bother to look at him and his son, let alone curing his son! The teeming crowds that swelled day-by-day at Shivaratri time added to his displeasure. He lost patience and decided to go back to Bengal. He dragged his son and wife to the bus stand to board the bus to reach Dharmavaram railway station and go back to Calcutta.
When he stood at the Puttaparthi Bus Stand for the bus, a Seva Dal announced loudly, “Bengali babu! Bengali babu! Sai Baba is calling you for an interview!” Truth sounds stranger than fiction. When the Bengali Babu rushed to the Mandir and entered the Interview Room along with his son and wife, Bhagavan created Vibhuti and rubbed it on the ailing body which was festering with boils. Bhagavan assured him that his son would be cured during the journey to Calcutta and added, “Devotees should have patience”. When the Bengali Babu said that he came to Prasanthi Nilayam to express his gratitude for curing his son, I was in for another shock. He showed me with moistened eyes his son who was sitting by him, hale and healthy. I could not believe my eyes. I said to myself, “Oh God, this Sai Baba must verily be God!”
Then a hush fell and everyone became alert. I saw Sai Baba walking softly on the sands. I remembered Jesus of Nazareth ministering to the deaf and dumb, the lame and the blind. I recalled Jesus who was born in Bethlehem carrying out His mission. Then I saw Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba walking towards me and I saw God face-to-face. I made my tryst with God!
 |
| Sathya Sai Darshan at Prasanthi Nilayam |
- M. Rama Mohana Rao
Faculty Member (1979-2016), Department of English
Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School
Prasanthi Nilayam
The Lord Sai knows it before you complete your thought. He gives before you even know and realize. such is the compassion of the Lord Sai!
ReplyDeleteAUM Sri Sairam
ReplyDelete