Let me take you all back to the year 1989. A seven-year-old boy enters the premises of a huge hall holding his father’s hand. The small boy is mesmerized by the beautiful carvings of elephants and peacocks all over the hall. In front of the hall the boy observes the idol of Lord Ganesha.
Still lost in his own world, the boy walks a little further, along with his father towards the hall, but then abruptly he is made to sit in the front row of a large group of people. The sand is burning hot; the small boy complains to his father, but his father bends down, smiles at him and whispers in the boy’s ear, “Today you will see God, wait for him.”
The boy observes his father walking slowly towards the portico in front. The boy is in tears, he is not able to understand why his father had left him alone for the first time in all these years; what does the word God mean and who is this God because of whom the boy is not allowed to sit with his father? The boy’s eyes are fixed at the portico, waiting for his father to come out and hug him. Even as he is lost in his thoughts, the boy gets disturbed by a sudden commotion amongst the others around.
The boy observes a man dressed in orange clothes coming straight towards him. The man in the orange robe stops in front of the boy looks straight into his eyes and gives him the most beautiful smile ever seen by the boy. He opens his right hand and there lay two chocolates; he gives the chocolates to the boy, taps him on the head and then moves away.
That incident marked the beginning of the Divine relationship between the boy and the Lord at a physical level in this birth of the boy. That boy considers it a great blessing to be able to write about his experience today. I consider it as a privilege to write to you all on a topic, which is so close to my heart, 'My Swami & I'. Through this Divine relationship, which has lasted for the past two decades, I have learnt a lot from Swami. There are innumerable lessons which he has taught me. But of these, there are three lessons which are deep rooted within me and have changed my perception and attitude towards the external world.
The first lesson which Swami taught me was in the form of a Bhajan. The lyrics of the Bhajan struck a chord in my heart when I heard it for the very first time itself. The Bhajan goes thus, “Deena Dukhiyo Se Prem Karo, Mera Sai Prasanna Hoga”. Through this Bhajan Swami opened my eyes to the responsibilities I owe to the society. Living in the metropolitan cities and the so called modern world, my outlook was limited to the well-being of my family and myself.
“To look after the society we have government machinery, isn’t it?" That was my usual answer given on the question of social responsibility. But, it was our beloved Sai Maa, who opened my eyes by sending me to rural India on the pretext of Grama Seva to serve the needy at the villages. He also allowed me to be a part of the Sai Mobile Hospital team for one day. These two incidents showed me the state of poverty and malnutrition which is still widely prevalent in our country; the dilapidated conditions in which the majority of our country men still reside.
Seeing this, I was ashamed of my insensitivity, on the one hand, but on the other hand, grateful on realising how fortunate I was to be living in relative luxury. Swami puts it very beautifully. He says,”Love All, Serve all”. He says, ” A man who does not have Love for others is as barren as a cloud with no moisture, a tree with no fruit, a cow with no milk; he can never earn the grace of God”.
“Forget the harm that anyone has done to you and forget the good that you have done to others”. This was the second lesson that the Lord taught me. Once upon a time there were two friends walking on the beach. While discussing a point, they entered into an argument. In a fit of anger and frustration, one of the friends slapped the other on the face. The one who received the slap on his face was hurt, but he did not say anything. Instead, he wrote on the sand, “Today my best Friend slapped me on the face”. They both walked a little further and by then it was low tide so both of them decided to take a dip in the sea. All of a sudden, the one who received the slap got stuck in the slush and started drowning, but his friend immediately saved him. On recovering from the near drowning experience, he got up and engraved it on a nearby rock, “Today my best Friend saved my life”.
The boy who had slapped him at first, and then saved his life later, was puzzled at this juncture and he asked his friend, "Why did you first write my name in the sand and now on the rock." The other boy replied, “Whenever anybody causes you harm, you should always write it down on the sand so that the waves of the sea and the winds of forgiveness will erase it. But when somebody does good to you, you should always engrave it on a stone and in your heart, so that no wave or wind can erase it”.
The third lesson which my Lord taught me was in helping me understand the deep significance and meaning of the word 'Surrender'. God is always ready to give us all that we need, but we often do not seem to understand what is really good for us, and what we really need. So, it is better and easier to 'Surrender' completely to God and simply pray for His grace.
This reminds me of the story of a cliffhanger, determined to climb the summit of a high mountain. After years of preparation, one day he set off on his adventure all by himself, not accompanied by anyone as he did not want to share his glory with anyone. He started his climb. Soon the daylight faded off and night set in, but the man was not shaken and he continued his ascent. Hardly anything was visible during the night, but he did not stop. He was just a few meters away from the summit when the unexpected happened. While trying to climb a ridge he slipped. He could feel the tug of gravity pulling him down. He could see his end approaching fast, but then he suddenly felt the tightening of a rope tied around his waist whose other end was nailed to a rock wall of the mountain. Suspended freely in the air he called out to God.
Then unexpectedly a voice emerged from the heavens and asked, “What do you want?”
The man replied, “Save me my Lord”.
The heavenly voice called out, “Do you really believe that I can save you?”
The man replied, “Of course Lord.”
The heavenly voice said, “Well then, cut the rope.”
There was absolute stillness for some time. Then the man did the opposite of what was told instead of cutting the rope he tightened the rope tied around his waist. The mountain rescue team which came looking for him the next morning, found him frozen to death, with his body tied firmly to a rope around his waist and hanging just two feet above the ground.
The story conveys two messages to all of us. First, our faith in God should be unshakeable and we should blindly follow the Voice of God. Second, when God extends His hand to us, we should immediately clasp it. Instead, we all tie ourselves more tightly to our worldly attachments. Come one, come all. Let us not be ungrateful. Let us be faithful in serving Him and loving Him.
- Vivek Kapoor
Student (2005-2007), Department of Management Studies
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
Prasanthi Nilayam Campus
Currently, Sourcing Specialist, Bank of America
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