Work Is Worship, Duty Is God – By Prof. Sethuraman Panchanathan

Prof. Sethuraman Panchanathan with Sri Sathya Sai in the Prasanthi Nilayam Interview Room

As I look back over my years, it is immensely clear how Swami has been the inspirer, motivator and doer in all aspects of my life. Swami says, “When you take one step towards me, I take a hundred steps towards you.” My very first conscious taste of His infinite glory was when Bhagavan graciously revealed his omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence by answering my prayer through manifestation of His divine vibhuti from His picture. That event opened my eyes to seeing the numerous miracles and manifestations shining through every moment of my life in the form of interesting “coincidences”, people and things coming to me (especially when I did not chase after them), situations that unfold themselves in a manner far better than I could ever imagine or plan, undeserved accolades being showered - all of which are clearly orchestrated to unravel my ignorance in a loving way, and to guide and soothe my soul on its journey.

I have found through all of my experiences that whenever I aspire to do my duty focused on the task rather than my own self-interest, Bhagavan helps in incredible ways. He also answers simple prayers (sometimes even passing thoughts) and makes these happen in marvellous ways. I would like to narrate a few of those experiences, which are but minute facets of His infinite glory.

I have always wondered, like many Indians living abroad, whether I should instead be living close to and serving my parents. Swami revealed my thoughts in an interview and confirmed that it was best for me to stay in America for now. Since then, he has ensured that whenever my parents fell sick or needed my help that I was there either visiting them or they were visiting me, giving me the opportunity to serve them. 

Likewise, the moment I had the desire to teach and interact with His chosen and marvellous students and faculty at His glorious Institute, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, He lovingly granted me this wonderful opportunity. I have learned and continue to learn far more than I have ever given or can ever hope to give in serving His students. It is but a confirmation of the fact that He gives far beyond any human can ever imagine.

The Prasanthi Nilayam Campus Building where Prof. Panchanathan often served as a Visiting Professor

Once on a trip back from Prasanthi Nilayam, I was thinking that as a professor in a University, my role as a teacher has the potential to be a form of service. However, I was praying that my other role as researcher should also be a form of service to the Lord. Bhagavan once remarked, “Information is only in-formation; there is no real information, only transformation of information. What is needed is real transformation.” As a professor of computer science and engineering, these pearls of wisdom had a deep impact on me. I prayed to Bhagavan to make me His Instrument in applying computer science and information technology to serve humanity. In accordance with His Divine command, we wanted to start a project where information technology is used to help people, and in the process transform ourselves. Soon afterwards, things started unfolding in very interesting ways.

In a discussion about helping humanity through the research work in my center for ubiquitous computing, Swami spoke through one of my colleagues indicating that we should serve individuals who are visually handicapped. Soon after the idea for this project was planted by Swami in August 2001, I called the local Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind to ask them about what we could do to serve individuals who are blind. Within a few moments into our conversation, the person at the other end asked me if I was a Sai Baba devotee. I was startled by this question and immediately knew that it was our dear Bhagavan giving us the indication that this is His project for us to serve Him. 

The iCARE project (acronym for information technology Centric Assistive and Rehabilitative Environment) was therefore created with the desire to take inspiration from Bhagavan’s teachings and is focused on helping blind individuals perform various tasks that sighted individuals take for granted in their daily life. Truly, this is the miracle SAI-CARE project as He is the inspirer, doer and all. As the first step in this project, we decided to take the humble approach, and ask individuals who are blind what they would like us to do for them, instead of assuming that we knew what they needed. This group of individuals included blind children, students and adults, their families and friends, disability specialists and mobility instructors. They identified the most important challenges faced by blind individuals in their everyday life and where they needed the most help. They asked us if we would design a reader device that could help them read a book or paper. This became the iCARE-Reader project. They also asked us if we would be able give them a device that will help them identify greet people that they meet. This became the iCAREInteraction Assistant project. Blind students wanted to be able to access information from anywhere in the world for their studies. This became the iCARE-Information Assistant project. They were hoping for a touch interface that allowed them to feel objects at a distance: this became the iCARE-Haptics project. They wanted us to design the environments (home, work, shopping, etc.,) to be accessible to them. This became the iCARE-Accessible Environment project.

We wrote a proposal and submitted it for research support. As we were praying for this to succeed, we had the glorious opportunity of being in His Divine presence and Swami granted us an interview. I asked Him (pointing to myself) what this body should do for Him. He commanded: “Work is Worship. Duty is God. Do your Duty”, confirming that this should be my divine guiding mantra. When I asked the Divine Master to bless the project, He lovingly confirmed with the words, “I will help, I will help, I will help.” These words continue to ring in our ears as funding and resources come to this project even before we ask for them. Every day in this project has been filled with miracles by which the Divine Lord continuously shows his omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence and His Divine Help. Such is the infinite compassion of our dear Lord.

After embarking on this project, we were praying to Bhagavan to give us daily challenges in the project in addition to the longer term goals so that we would be motivated to serve Him constantly. Soon after this thought was planted by Him, we received a phone call from our collaborator (who is a blind individual herself) about two students who were keen to study and get a degree in computer science. We immediately knew that it was His Will to help realize this dream for these two students. These students have been very successful in their programs. They have participated in developing the devices and have helped steer our vision. They will be the very first blind students at our University to get their computer science degree by the Grace of Bhagavan. As a part of this project, we brought 11 children from the schools for the blind to teach them about how to use computers. They were all so excited with this opportunity that they have expressed their wish to get University degrees. All of this is possible only due to His Divine Grace.

The iCARE project is progressing very well with the Grace and Blessings of Bhagavan. The iCARE-Reader device has been developed and deployed at the local Foundation for Blind Children, where it is being used and tested by blind individuals. Future prototypes which are portable and easy to use are being constructed. With His Divine Grace, we plan to deploy these in many other places to serve as many people as possible. A wearable camera on eyeglasses has been constructed as part of the iCAREInteraction Assistant project to help blind individuals identify people. Further research is underway to see if we can provide a prompt for discerning whether the person in front of a blind person is looking at him, smiling at her, etc. The blind students are helping to develop and use the iCARE-Information assistant, a project which is also being considered for deployment in other locations. The iCARE-Haptics project is well underway and is not only of use to blind individuals but also for rehabilitating patients with various neurological disorders and disabilities. We are now working with researchers and neurologists at premier medical establishments such as Mayo Clinic and Barrow Neurological Institute to further design, develop and test the rehabilitative devices. The iCARE-Accessible Environment is being prototyped in the laboratory to understand how computing devices can interact with individuals ubiquitously instead of users interacting with computers explicitly. This will make the environment truly accessible. All of the components of the project are therefore centered on serving and transforming the individual rather than on making technological gadgets.

Our Dear Lord continues to send resources, collaborators, and students, confirming that this is His project all the time. In one of my updates to Him on the project, He again confirmed that this is His project and I should go ahead with it. Swami has made sure that we have no stumbling blocks but only building blocks. We are very grateful to the Divine Lord for his compassion and love. This project has been profiled in several local newspaper articles, and many distinguished visitors have seen the demonstrations: all walk away with tears in their eyes - proof of how Swami brings out the love and compassion in all by transforming each heart, one at a time. The President of the University invited me to present this project at an exclusive retreat in Mexico attended by many Chairmen, CEO’s, Presidents of leading companies and financial institutions. He considers this to be a model project to demonstrate how University research should be pushing the frontier of science with a focus on helping humanity. He has spoken about the project on several occasions.

A companion project, led by four local SAI Young Adults in Phoenix, Arizona, was awarded the third place in a prestigious national competition. The iCARE project was chosen to be presented at the World Health Organization’s Global Health Forum summit in Mexico City in November 2004 as a demonstration of one of the missions of WHO, which is to enable disabled individuals realize their fullest potential; soon after, the project was awarded the prestigious Governor’s Innovator of the Year award. We were then asked to present this project at the Unite for Sight International Conference at Harvard University as a demonstration of how there is still hope for individuals who lose their vision due to ageing or eye disease. We were asked if we would consider deploying the iCARE-Reader prototypes in Africa and other places around the world. These are but minute facets of His infinite glory and a confirmation that His sankalpa will always prevail. With all humility, I feel that I have learned that every word and action of this Avatar has enormous significance. Only a small fraction of this infinite wisdom and grace gets unravelled through the experiences of the millions of devotees around the world.

On this glorious occasion of the 80th Birthday of my most beloved mother, father, teacher, friend guide and God, I surrender it all (everything belongs to Him) at His Divine Lotus Feet. I pray to Him earnestly to continue to inspire and guide us all to serve individuals with disabilities and humanity at large so that we can become worthy instruments in His Divine play. I also humbly pray to Him to shower His Grace and Blessings upon all of us and to open our minds to experience more of His infinite glory, resulting in real transformation in our hearts.

About the Author

Prof. Sethuraman Panchanathan, is serving as the Director of the National Science Foundation, USA since June 2020. Earlier, he served as He previously served as the Executive Vice President, ASU Knowledge Enterprise Development and Chief Research and Innovation Officer at Arizona State University (ASU); Chairman, Computer Science and Engineering Department; Director, Institute for Computing and Information Sciences and Engineering, ASU, USA. He has been a co-founder of a start-up company Motion Ease Inc. and has published over 425 research papers in journals and conferences and edited several books. He has also been a Visiting Professor at the Dept. of Maths and Computer Sciences, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning.

Source: Sai Sparshan 2005 (80th Birthday Offering)