Living with the Loving God - By Dinesh Talreja

 The boy lived with criticism

And learnt to condemn;

The boy lived with encouragement

And learnt to appreciate;

The boy lived with an angel

And learnt to be Divine.

If these lines have little truth in them, one can imagine what the students of Sri Sathya Sai Institutions will learn as they live with the All Powerful, the Absolute, The Lord of The Universe Himself in flesh and blood, Who is guiding, counselling and correcting them. In His company, the students forget all mundane matters and enter a different world altogether. His sense of humour, simple language makes us forget that the person standing in front of us in the orange robe is the Lord descended on Earth, as promised by Krishna, the Father in the Heaven as propounded by Jesus, the Almighty preached in the Quran. He comes down to our line of thoughts. proving His statement, “When among children I am a child.” Thus He makes us feel that He is our companion - the Sakha. He has been correctly described as ‘Bhakta Sakha Bhagavan’. 

His words, His little jokes, His subject of talk may appear trivial but they are pearls whose value is much higher than the wealth of heaven, earth and netherworlds put together. These pearls contain the message of Divinity and universal love. This love, without expecting anything in return, brings peace to the soul. Though you might not have achieved anything at the physical level, you experience a special kind of satisfaction and inner peace. Jesus described this peace as “Peace that passeth all understanding.” Thus we can see how with His simple words Bhagavan lifts us to the highest possible spiritual level without making us realise what subtle changes He has made us undergo in our character. These changes will remain with us throughout our life span in the form of our most cherished memories with Him. 

We have to realise why He is feeding us this incomparable love - in the form of vibrations each time He comes out for Darshan; love in the form of those little sweets and gifts He gives us which may be weighing only a few grams but the amount of love behind them can’t be measured even in tonnes. His love is preparing us to carry on His mission. It is an opportunity He is giving us. He wants us to be worthy instruments in His Divine Mission, though He is quite capable of completing His mission all alone. 

He is the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer. He can change the earth to sky and sky to earth with a wink of His eye. Then is this mission of transforming hearts difficult for Him? Certainly not, it’s just that He wants us to play a little role in His mission. Thinking on these lines, I am reminded of those days when Sri Sathya Sai Hill View Cricket Stadium was being constructed. The boys were assigned the joyful task of removing weeds from the ground where the grass for the field would be grown. All boys toiled for a week’s time but could finish a very small part of the work. Still, boys were happy that Bhagavan had given them an opportunity to do His work. After a week’s work Bhagavan told them to stop the work. He said, “Paapam, boys have worked very hard. They have developed cuts on their fingers. While having rasam, due to the salt, they experience burning sensation.” Bhagavan employed professional workers and within two days the whole ground was cleared. Bhagavan had given boys the opportunity to work for a week, though He could have had the work completed in two days. When Mother Sai saw Her boys experience even a little pain She could not bear the suffering of Her children and told them to stop the work. 

Sri Sathya Sai Hill View Stadium, Prasanthi Nilayam

Bhagavan says, “My boys are destined to achieve great things. They have to spread My love. They are My lions.” Bhagavan says that His boys are the leaders of the future who will lead from the front. He says that if a Major is good, the whole battalion will prosper. Similarly if the leader is good, the followers will definitely: achieve their ultimate goal. 

He revealed the role the boys would be playing in His Divine Mission much before He took up this physical frame. This happened centuries ago in the times of Jesus. As the legend in the Bible goes, once it so happened that Saint John was leisurely gazing at the skies. Suddenly the great skies opened up. Lo and behold, he saw a sight, which was fit for the Gods to see - a truly celestial one indeed! He saw the Lord Almighty clad in a robe that had the colour of flame and a crown of hair beautifying His body. Behind the Lord was an army of, what St. John described as ‘Peacemakers’, who were dressed in white linen and had a white mark on their forehead. Are not these descriptions of the Peacemakers indicative of a normal Sai student? What a great revelation our Lord had made. Describing the Peacemakers, Christ once revealed, “Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of God.” 

Bhagavan is giving us this unique opportunity - probably the best opportunity ever offered in the history of mankind. This opportunity beckons us. We have to take the initiative and grab it with both hands. Opportunity left is opportunity lost. Bhagavan is spending most of His time with us. He is training us for a specific purpose. He says, “I am giving you these chances to sing, chant, act and perform before Me so that you can repeat the message given by Me time and again; so that the message gets engraved in your hearts forever.” Once His message resides in our heart we have to spread it to the extent possible. 

Dinesh Talreja with his Loving God

We have to remove all the dust from our hearts so that we become capable of spreading the warmth of His love throughout the world. We have to fill this planet with His love to the extent that there is no room left for hatred, jealousy and envy which have been man’s sworn enemies living within him since time immemorial. 

His message, which He is asking us to put into practice and spread everywhere, contains two simple statements: “Love All, Serve All” and “Help Ever, Hurt Never.” These two statements are the pathways of true spiritual Sadhana. In fact Bhagavan says they contain essence of the Vedas, Shastras and the Puranas. Being at His Lotus Feet we should aspire now, act now, achieve now, as time gone shall never come back. 

Finally on behalf of all my Student Brothers I would like to promise Bhagavan thus: 

In this world full of plight,

Shortage of love shall never be;

We shall spread Thy Light,

And we promise this to Thee.

- Dinesh Talreja

Student (2001-2006), Department of Management & Commerce

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Currently, Associate Director, KPMG, Mumbai

Source: Sai Nandana 2000 (75th Birthday Offering)