This Really Is Heaven – By Dr. Jagadish Chandra

As a child I was always fascinated by the concept of heaven. The gods and the demigods with their supernatural powers, their grand thrones, their weapons and moreover the rich variety of food that they had in their golden plates, enthralled me. Thus heaven for me was a place of absolute happiness where all my fancies and desires seemed to meet their fulfillment. But then a few mythological stories dampened my enthusiasm as I saw Lord Indra’s throne perpetually threatened by the demons. Then the modern world brought forth many different kinds of heavens as well as hells. For example, the modern college student slept till 9 o’clock in the morning and the cozy comfort of the bed was heaven for him. Hell began the moment someone woke him up! A moment of hard work was hell and rest was heaven. To dream was heaven but to wake up into reality…definitely hell. So, the question still remained, what in fact is heaven or hell? For, one man’s heaven may be another man’s hell and vice-versa. I would be honest in admitting that this quest was not the sole aim of my life. It was only in circumstances of dejection or failure that I tended to be philosophical. Nevertheless God decided to quench this part-time philosophical thirst of mine and I was in the loving embrace of my Master, my Swami. I joined the Institute for my under-graduate program in science in the year 2000-01. Six years have passed; and I feel that I must share some feelings about something that has made me what I am today…The Hostel.

Sri Sathya Sai Hostel, Prasanthi Nilayam

Needless to say, there is a marked difference in what I see in the world outside and what I see in the world here. It is not the soil, the grass, the trees or the buildings, but something else. A quick glance at the hostel routine may give one an impression that the schedule is very tough and demanding. The Morning Prayer giving way to sports and physical fitness, the breakfast and then college; Coming back from the classes for lunch and then returning for the afternoon session of the college; Going to the Mandir after the college hours and then coming back to the hostel after Bhajans; Dinner at 7 p.m.; then study hours ending in the night prayer and finally retiring for the day - the schedule is very hectic indeed. But the experience of getting absorbed in the work is an indescribable joy. It does not allow one to unnecessarily ponder over the past or future but makes one live in the present. Tying up the mind, this schedule shows how one is absorbed in the being than getting lost in the becoming. The first bell that rings at 5 in the morning for Suprabhatham itself opens to me the first chapter of my learning. When more than half of the globe is lost in silent slumber, there is activity here! Hundreds of boys sitting together, singing praises of the Lord! To any other modern college boy the description of this sacred early morning routine would definitely spell hell but here is a different set of people who say, “This Is Heaven”. This silent sitting and remembering the Lord in the early hours makes the core of everyone’s life here. To get this same silence, people spend lavishly and join different groups, just to sit silently. Strange! Silence is very expensive but we have a free access to that Silence every morning.

Suprabhatam at the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus Hostel in early 2000s

This food for the soul is followed by physical fitness. A good jog in the morning and some games go a long way in making the mind and the body strong. Now one might ask how physical exercises make the mind strong. A simple answer - it takes a good body to jog around the ground but it requires a strong mind to pull us out of laziness and thrust ourselves onto the activity of the ground. That is the reason why sportsmen are mentally very tough. And Swami puts it in a wonderful way, “A healthy mind stays in a healthy body.” As a thirteen-year-old boy I had suffered one of the worst kinds of wrist dislocations that took twice the normal time to heal. Doctors doubted my lifting even a bucket of water but my Lord had some other plans. On 11th Jan 2003 I hung on that single hand at an altitude of 40 feet above the ground performing gymnastics for the Sports Meet. That was one of the most beautiful gifts from Bhagavan, He healed my body through my mind. That is the power of physical fitness.

Students of the Brindavan Campus performing aerial gymnastics on January 11, 2003

Many people ask how, Swami’s students, who are used to a closed and safe guarded environment, can cope with the extremities of the outside world. Well, I deem it to be a privilege to answer this question, not just me but every single student would consider so, for it takes him back to his beautiful hostel days. Unlike the modern hostels that provide the luxury of a single room to a student, we are groomed as a community. The reason is very simple: man ultimately has to live in the society. In the dormitory set-up, one learns to be more sympathetic and empathetic – attending to one’s own needs but at the same time keeping in mind others’ likes and dislikes.

There are innumerable occasions when somebody in the room falls sick and the roommates take care of him, right from administering the medication to catering the prescribed diet. And we seldom realize how beautifully the Sai hostel life inculcates the qualities of patience - standing in queue for the dining sessions, waiting for our turn at the washbasin or the bathroom, or perhaps for the chance to play shuttle or tennis - without a complaint or a grimace. Can we ever thank enough all those who give us every single ‘opportunity’ to wait?

Often one would have seen the boys of the maintenance department running around with hammers and testers to mend the cupboards or fix the tube lights of our rooms. Innumerable are the instances when the boys in the dietary department have to skip their own food while cooking for the sick boys. One would have seen the costumes department boys painting their own faces without even the slightest of hesitation to give the actors the best make-up…and the list goes on.

For the inmates of the hostel, all this is very common but we may just spare a moment and see the present world scenario. Strikes, violent acts, protests, have become the order of the day. Man does not know where he is heading. Chaos has become a part of his life and frustration his mentor. If I have to put all these in a single statement I would say that ‘Swami has made each of us a good human being’, for that is the scarcest entity on earth. Otherwise, why would anyone find an M.Tech. Computer science student cooking food for sick boys; an MBA student working in the audio visual imaging department; an M.Sc. student handling the accounts of the hostel stores; or a B.A. or an M.A. student working in the hostel dispensary? For any other person this might appear to be absolute lack of professionalism or competitiveness; for us, however, only one-thing matters – our beloved SWAMI. Things are done in the hostel not because we are experts in those fields but because we try to make our existence worthwhile by being of some help to at least a few people around us. That does not mean that there is a compromise on the quality of work and the spirit with which it is done. It does not matter what kind of work we do, but it definitely matters how we do it. Be it sweeping or mopping the room in which we live, or working in the prestigious altar department, we learn every moment and whatever we do we do for Swami.

Sri Sathya Sai Planetarium at Prasanthi Nilayam

Here I would like to mention the wonderful episode related to the Sri Sathya Sai Space Theater, commonly known as the ‘planetarium’. The inner dome of the planetarium is made up of many plates fixed together to act as a screen for projection. These plates were imported and engineers were called to fix these plates. Unfortunately the serial numbers behind these plates had got erased and it was a Herculean task to fix those plates without those numbers. The Mandir authorities had to hear bitter words from the engineers who had been flown in from the U.S. for this purpose. When Swami was told about all the happenings, He just said, “Take the hostel maintenance boys and ask them to fix those plates.” They went about the work as if they were solving a jigsaw puzzle and the job was perfectly accomplished. The planetarium stands testimony to the love between Swami and His students. The projections of the stars and planets onto that dome come and go but the fingerprints of those boys still remain, day in and day out trying to tell each and every spectator to look beyond the stars and the sky and find a power that is beyond description but yet so loving and simple. Those boys were neither planetarium experts, nor trained engineers but what puts them above these sets of famed professionals is that they believed in their Lord and did whatever He said without even an iota of doubt. If anyone doubts these words, let him try the same exercise outside. He will not even be able to dream of it! This love for God and faith in Him is the greatest gift that our hostel gives us. 

Sri Sathya Sai inaugurates the Planetarium in November 1984

The Grama Seva and the Annual Sports and Cultural Meet are two events that show the level of commitment and co-operation of the students. Intense hard work but smiling faces, exhausted bodies but indefatigable spirits; young hands but nerves of steel; boys of this very modern age, yet devoted to the Lord. This really is heaven!

Jagadish Chandra with Sri Sathya Sai at Chennai - January 2007

The secret of this heaven does not lie in the geographical location of the place, nor does it lie in a place where one finds luxuries and abundance of basic amenities. Heaven is a state of being. It is not a destination but the way we travel. Is there a greater heaven than contentment and happiness? A bliss greater than the smile on another’s face? Heaven lies within each one of us. For the Lord wants that the whole world must be happy and peaceful. He wants everyone to discover this heaven and carry it within himself wherever he goes and then attract everyone he comes across into that heaven. This is the secret of our hostel, ‘where each one lives for the other and all live for God’. This Really Is Heaven!

- Dr. S. Jagadish Chandra

Students and Research Scholar (2000-2010)

Department of Physics

Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Currently, Business Development Manager at Carl Zeiss SMT GmbH, Singapore

Source: Sai Sparshan 2006