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| Sri Sathya Sai with Students of the Higher Secondary School, Prasanthi Nilayam |
Truth is one but wise men interpret it in different ways. There is only one religion, the religion of Love. With the help of this love, we can conquer the hearts of people and transform them. We have all heard Swami starting His discourses addressing us as “Prema Swarupalara” (embodiments of love). All of us are nothing but manifestations of love. Swami has always been teaching us the Divine language of Love. Swami tells us to look at every creation of His, as a manifestation of the Divine. It is only when we begin to see Sai in everything, we will be able to develop pure love. This alone can take us closer to God.
After the board exams of class X, I was determined to join the IIT and wanted to seek admission in one of the coaching institutions at Kota. I even wrote the exam for one of them and got selected for it. Sometime around that period, a small envelope appeared in our postbox. It was that small envelope that opened the doors of Sai for me. It contained my hall ticket for the entrance exam to the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School.
I had applied at Swami’s school as a backup in case I was not able to make it to the IIT coaching institutions. However, seeing this letter, my entire family seemed to change their frame of mind. We were all attracted like iron filings to the Divine Magnet. My parents and me boarded a train at the last moment and left for Puttaparthi.
There too, one day before the exam, I had a high fever and I was not even able to get up on my own. On the day of the exam, I was down with a temperature of 102˚F. My parents literally carried me to the examination hall. But just as I stood in front of the Ganesha statue at the entrance of the school building, I started sweating and my temperature came back to normal all of a sudden.
I went to write the exam but, unfortunately, due to fever, I could not prepare well for the exam. It is only because of Swami’s grace that I cleared all the tests and got through without any difficulty. This is how Swami brings us closer to Him so that we can act as instruments in His Divine Mission and sanctify our lives.
Another incident that happened with me was when I was studying in class nine. I was suffering from Lymphocerata Tuberculosis. This disease is non-pulmonary tuberculosis, which causes the lymph gland to swell. If not treated immediately, it could not only spread out to the whole body but also damage some of the vital nerves. All of us understood that this was something serious and might even require a surgery.
One of the first doctors whom we consulted, wrongly diagnosed it as a preliminary stage of cancer. Though my parents did not tell me anything about it, I knew that something was terribly wrong. My parents looked very depressed.
Later, we went to the Apollo Hospital at Guwahati, and consulted another doctor. She carried out a large number of tests and diagnosed it as a kind of non-pulmonary tuberculosis. However, that was just the beginning. She told us that to cure the disease she had to cut open a full section of the throat externally. She added that the operation was going to be very tough and delicate, as the inflammation had caused many of the adjacent nerves to get intertwined. Some of these nerves linked various crucial organs with each other. My parents were grief-stricken as it would take a lot of time for me to recover and I would have to undergo a lot of pain and suffering.
That night an SMS mysteriously came to my mobile phone, which asked us to do Japa of the Divine name Sai Ram at least a hundred and eight times. We did not know the phone number from which the message came and when we tried to call back, we only got the reply that no such number existed. All of us were dumbstruck, we were stunned and, in fact, a little puzzled. However, taking it to be a Divine command, the whole night my family incessantly prayed to Swami for His help at this time of crisis.
Our Lord who is ‘Dayaswarupa’, showered His grace on us and on the next day sent help to us. That morning, a doctor named Dheeraj Purkayastha, came to my uncle’s house where all of us were present. In fact, that person was a complete stranger, and the only thing that my uncle knew about him was his name and the hospital to which he belonged. This doctor was qualified as an M.S., Master in Surgery, and had received training in U.K. He also had a lot of experience in this field. He examined the reports of my pathological survey. After having a close look at every aspect of it, he assured us that he could cure the disease with the help of a small operation, which involved the surgery of a very small portion of the throat, and it would take very less time to recover.
Thus, His love, which knows no bounds, saved me from a major hardship. During the operation, they took out an inflated gland with a diameter of about four centimeters. This was actually considered to be abnormally big and doctors from other chamber also came to have a look at this diseased gland. This gland was not of much trouble to me only because of Swami’s grace.
Even the post-surgery recovery was not a great struggle. Normally after an operation of the throat, it becomes very difficult to move the throat by even a small degree. Miraculously, I recovered very fast and within a week I was alright. Ten days later, the stitches were removed, and my whole body was normal again. This is how Swami saved me from immense suffering and excruciating pain.
This is how Sai Maa takes care of all of Her Children. In fact, every time we feel our mother’s love, it is our Sai Maa who sends us Her love through them. It is said that God created mother because He could not be physically present everywhere all the time.
We are all enjoying the happiness that life has to offers, only because Sai Maa is protecting us from all sorrows and pains. In return, she wants nothing from us except a word of gratitude or a moment of remembrance. Swami says, “If you take one step towards me I will take a hundred steps towards you”. Thus, even if we remember Him for just a moment, He is ready to shower upon us all His Grace.
However, His greatness lies in the fact that He showers His grace not only on those who pray to Him, but on the entire creation. Just as a flower gives its nectar to all the bees, in a similar way, Swami also makes Himself available to all of His creation. Lord Krishna, in His infinite mercy, assumed the role of the charioteer of Arjuna and taught Him how to attain salvation by overcoming all the bad qualities like that of attachment, ego etc.
In this Kali Yuga, our merciful Bhagavan has Himself become the Sanathana Sarathi for the whole world and is guiding them in the right path. Swami says that He is the Guru to His Bhaktas and helps them to reach their ultimate goal. Swami says that the relation between Him and His ‘Bhaktas’ is that of a Guru and a ‘Shishya’. Such is the grace of our benevolent Lord, who is showing us the path of union with the Divine. He says, “Love All Serve All.” The only thing, which we should do, is to look at each of His creation as a manifestation of Divinity and serve them with a feeling that we are serving the Lord. It is only through service that we can discover God in others. Swami has given each one of us different paths of serving humanity, and thus serve Him. He wants that these service activities must be carried out with selfless motives.
Swami wants everyone to realize his true reality, but at the same time, actively participate in the various Seva activities. We must always follow the saying Head in the forest and Hands in the society. We must all strive to be worthy instruments in the Divine Mission of our beloved Swami.
- Devarun Dutta
Alumnus, Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School
Prasanthi Nilayam
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