Love
on the March (continued b)
(in 4 parts: (a)
continued
b,
continued
c
and continued
d)
Prema
Putras
The conference
of the Sri Sathya Seva Dal comprising
about 3000 members from all over India, met at
Prasanthi Nilayam in the fall of 1972, only a
few days prior to Dasara. Bhagavan received them
as His prema putras, children fostered
with (His) love! He wanted them to lead the
resurgence of spiritual yearning among the
youth. He encouraged them to develop faith in
Sai, for each dal or petal can be alive
and active, colorful and fragrant, only if it is
attached to the torus. He directed them to
practise the teachings of Sai and to be shining
examples revealing their worth to the world. The
lesson that one must learn from the yajna
that lasted seven Dasara days is, Baba said,
that, "Yajna alone gives Jaya" (sacrifice
alone can confer glory). During the festival, on
17th October, Bhagavan announced that the
auditorium at Prasanthi Nilayam - the most
beautiful and spiritually vibrating hall in the
East, with soul-inspiring sculptures and
paintings - would be called
Poornachandra, in memory of the late
Poonamchand Kamani whose dream it was, which was
realized through Baba's grace.
The birthday
celebrations followed in November. Bhagavan
conferred valuable boons on the thousands who
had gathered at Prasanthi Nilayam - the divine
darsan, the revitalizing smile of
recognition and compassion, the gift of sweets
from His own hand and, more than all, the
message of the atman to be enshrined in
the heart.
The
Mew is Heard
One incident
which occurred on the 23rd of November deserves
to be highlighted in the Sai chronicle. About
sixty devotees had arrived from far-away
Gauhati, the capital city of Assam. They had
travelled in a special railway coach for seven
days before they reached Bangalore, and they had
before them another week-long ordeal to get back
home. Baba appreciated their devotion and gave
them darsan
and a short spiritual discourse at the prayer
hall. He filled their hands with the precious
gift of vibhuti.
He saw in the group a girl named Lakhi and he
gave her vibhuti
a second time, saying, "This, for the
cat."
The cat was
Minkie, whom she had rescued from the city drain
on a rainy day and brought home to keep warmed
and fed. The kitten was not, however, welcomed
by her elder sister who was a nurse in the
biggest hospital in the city, but who could not
stand cats. She blamed Lakhi for bringing the
horrid thing and keeping it as a pet. One night
when a few guests had arrived for dinner, the
cat stole into the kitchen and ran off with a
bite of fish. This enraged the lady so much that
all her bellicose adjectives exploded in one
burst at Lakhi's face. Lakhi could bear it no
longer. She caught Minkie by the neck and
spanked her severely with a longish stick. The
poor thing yelled in pain. Suddenly, every
picture of Sai Baba in the house - there were
sixteen of them hanging with garlands after the
Thursday bhajans
- fell on the floor! The guests ran out of the
house into the open courtyard, for they were
sure that an earthquake had struck.
But the lady
noticed that only the pictures of Baba had
dropped; all others were intact on the walls! It
was then that she realized that Baba had given a
sign to save the cat. She shouted to her sister,
"Lakhi! stop! stop! Don't kill it! Baba is angry
with us!" Lakhi placed Minkie on the table. She
was in tears, and her sister, too, was sobbing.
The cat tried to allay her pain by shaking in
quick quivers. The guest had come back by now
and they too witnessed the struggle of the cat
to regain her poise. Lo and behold! When Minkie
shook herself, puffs of fragrant
vibhuti
emerged from her fur and fell thick on the
table! The fragrance announced that Bhagavan had
blessed the cat.
Six months
later, on 23rd November, when Lakhi was present
with many other devotees from Assam at the
Prasanthi Nilayam prayer hall, Bhagavan, in His
infinite compassion, remembered Minkie, the
unwelcome cat, and sent to her His most valuable
prasad. He instantly detects every denial
of love and warns us when we miss our way. His
hand reaches beyond the horizons of space and
the chronologies of time. He teaches us, by
example, to wish well for every form of life, be
it man, beast, bird or plant. His love has no
limit, for He is in all.
Christmas 1972
was a festival during which Baba further
elaborated the concept of Cosmic Christ. He
traced the expansion of the Christ consciousness
right up to Christ's declaration,
'I
and my Father are
One'
and said that this was the acme of
Advaithic
(non-dualistic) experience. Baba said, in
addition, "This
is the truth of Jesus and also of every one of
you. You are all, fundamentally, the Cosmic
Christ."
On 5th January
1973, Baba addressed the ASC(S) army personnel
at Bangalore. He seldom misses an opportunity to
bless the members of the armed forces, for He
likes them to know, more and more, the glory of
the land that they have vowed to defend. He
instils inspiration and courage in their hearts.
Since He can and does accompany each one of
them, however far or near, His grace is much
sought after by soldiers. On 14th January, Baba
advised a large gathering of
devotees,
"Fill
yourselves with awe and reverence at the
handiwork of God,
the manifestation of His power, love and wisdom
that is called the 'universe',
and upon which the great expanse of space, the
huge nebulae, the stars, the satellites and
comets,
the birds, beasts, insects and plants, all
contemplate.
They can give enough instruction and inspiration
to you."
In January
Baba was at Guindy, Madras, to unveil a
monumental pillar at the temple where He had
installed an image of Sri Baba of Shirdi, 25
years earlier. On the sides at the base of this
pillar are inscribed Bhagavan's directives for
the regeneration of man.
Kakkara
Halla Linga
Since the
biggest shed (there were only three then) could
not hold even half the number of pilgrims who
came to Prasanthi Nilayam (abode of
eternal peace) for Shivarathri (night of
Shiva), Bhagavan quietly motored to the Bandipur
forest on the border of Karnataka. The warden of
the jungle brought news that there was a quiet
spot on the Kakkara Halla stream, with a patch
of dry sand. So Baba, and the few who were
chosen by Him, drove in a van into the forest. A
herd of twelve elephants had been spotted
minutes earlier, but had discreetly made itself
scarce. As Bhagavan alighted from the van He
stood and broke a stalk of jungle grass, about
an inch and a half long, and another about half
its length, and bound them together in the
middle with a bit of stalk skin. It became a
cross. He was about to drop it into Hislop's
open palm but He desisted. "No! I must give you
another," He said. Holding the grass cross
before His face, He blew upon it. This became a
wooden cross having the same dimensions, with a
small silver icon of Jesus on it.
"This
is the wooden cross on which Jesus was
crucified; this is the correct image of Jesus on
the cross,"
He said, and gave it to Hislop who was kneeling,
and in tears. (Later he got the wood examined,
and was informed that it was at least twenty
centuries old. He had the silver icon
photographed and the photographs enlarged. He
was surprised to note that there were marks of
sweat on the brow and signs of froth at the
corners of the mouth. It had all the signs of
pain heroically borne). (See: Reference
to White Man's Burden for this story by
Hislop).
Then Baba moved down the bank of the stream and
sat on the sand with those who had accompanied
Him, including the warden, guards and a few
tribals attracted by these mysterious happenings
in their part of the world.
From the sand
that was heaped as a raised bed, Baba created a
translucent lingam, five inches long and
four inches across, seated on an eight-inch-high
base. "Straight
from Kailas where it was being worshipped. See
the sandal paste, the kumkum dot, the bilva
leaf,"
He said. He transformed the sand into an icon of
Shirdi Sai Baba, an idol of
Laksmî (goddess of happiness and
eternal companion of Nârâyana) and
another of Durgâ (wife of Lord
Shiva). And, finally, He created before the
wonder-struck gathering, a casket which was full
to the brim with
Amrith
(nectar)-sweet beyond imagination and with a
divine fragrance. Even the tribals who had
huddled around him received their share of
prasad from His hands.
The
lingam was at Brindavan the next day and
Baba allowed a large number of devotees to
participate in the puja. I could recite
the Rudra-adhyaya from the Vedas,
in praise of Shiva, during the ritual ablution
of the lingam. And I can still recall the thrill
of my pouring on the lingam the holy water of
the Ganges, transported by Baba with a wave
of His hand from the very source of the
river in the Himalayas.
The
Land of Valour
Baba responded
to the prayers of the residents of Delhi,
Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, first
visiting the town of Mogha near the country's
border. He was there on the 15th and 16th of
March. He inaugurated the Muralidhar hospital,
where more than two hundred thousand people had
gathered for His darsan. "It is
remarkable how the news of Bhagavan's arrival
spreads at such short notice and with such great
speed in every direction by word of mouth," said
Sri Sohan Lal, who had witnessed the phenomenon.
Baba advised the devotees:
"Punjab
has earned a reputation for valour. It should
make a name for spiritual courage, which
comes from faith in God... Pray to God asking
Him to endow you with an intellect that does
not waver and a mind that is
balanced."
Baba
left Mogha for Simla by car. Forty thousand
people had gathered on the ridge, many from the
suburbs and the homesteads in the villages lying
amidst the mountains. Simla had not seen such a
massive assembly in living memory. Baba told
them that though man had probed outer space and
explored the deep, he had yet to learn to be at
peace on earth. Man wants peace and happiness
but he does not know how to acquire them. He
runs after petty desires and short-lived
pleasures. "There
is a surfeit of preachers but a shortage of
practitioners,"
Baba said. He advised and directed the people to
concentrate on fundamental gains rather than
superficial ones. He gave two discourses the
next day - one on the ridge and the other at the
grounds of 'Woodville', His residence. On
another day Bhagavan paid a brief visit to Kufri
and Phagu, past the snow-covered road. A
magnificent view of the silver-robed Himalayan
peaks can be had from these hamlets. Though the
snow was knee-deep, about 200 men and women
followed Him. Baba picked up a little snow and
changed it into a pair of gold earrings for a
tribal girl. He blessed many with
vibhuti,
and an old lady with a ring. The visit of the
Lord to the Himachal Pradesh marked a turning
point in the lives of many. Groups of seekers
from many of its towns and villages continue
flowing into
Prasanthi
Nilayam
to be in His presence for a few days.
At Delhi, a
pandal (an outdoor auditorium) which could seat
more than two hundred thousand people, was found
inadequate on some days. Bhagavan was present
there during morning and evening Bhajans, moving
amidst the thousands and showering grace on the
sick in the form of curative
vibhuthi.
He also addressed a select gathering of
ministers, academicians and others at Vigyan
Bhavan. He spoke to them on the urgency of moral
regeneration and of the role of the individual
in the process. Bhagavan was very liberal with
His time and conferred the fortune of personal
conversation and counsel on hundreds who yearned
for the chance.
Next, Bhagavan
motored to Jaipur, instead of going by air as
had been earlier planned, thus allowing
thousands to have Darsan as He drove by. At
Jaipur, Bhagavan laid the foundation stone for
the Sri Sathya Sai College for women and for a
temple. He also addressed a gathering of 50.000
on the need for selfless service.
From the 28th
to the 30th March Baba was in Bombay, making a
short visit to Poona on the 28th. He addressed a
packed assembly of two lakh Bombayites at the
Vallabhai stadium. Next, He flew by a chartered
plane to Rajkot, in Gujarat, to bless the Raj
Kumar College during its centenary celebrations
and to open the Digvijaya Singh wing of the
college buildings to commemorate the late Jam
Saheb of Nawanagar.
"The youth need colleges, for there they can
learn to live and move with others of their own
age, coming from different social and economic
backgrounds. They can learn tolerance and
cooperation and realize their talents and
virtues,"
He told the gathering.
Sivam
On the Telugu
new year day Baba was at Hyderabad for the
inauguration of the holy 'Sivam'
mandir.
"Let
the new year bring you Ananda. You can get it
by serving the poor, the disabled, and those
who earn their livelihood by strenuous
physical labor,"
He said. Baba blessed the juveniles at the
remand home in
Hyderabad.
"I like children. I take great care of them,
insisting on discipline, reverence to
parents, moderate food and allotment of time
to study, prayer and meditation. I also
recommend some form of service," He
said.
The main topic
on which Baba focussed His discourses in the
summer school was the
Moha Mudgara
[***]
or
Bhaja Govindam
of Sankaracharya.
In July, Baba was again in Bombay for visits to
the central school for the deaf and the Sathya
Sai Service Centre at Koliwada, a hamlet of
fishermen which had been adopted by the Seva
Samithi. He also attended a
Bal Vikas
programme featuring the children of the mill
workers at Worli.
The
Dasara
message was one of "sacrifice, detachment and
renunciation" through positive and constructive
activity.
"Do
every deed as an act of worship to Him; let
every thought be a longing for Him; make
every word a hymn of thanksgiving for His
benevolence."
Bhagavan has
been repeating in His discourses, the Vedic
exhortation to the youth to
"revere
your parents as
God,"
for reverence is fast disappearing in Indian
families. He emphasized that the home is the
earliest and best school, where one's most
enduring skills and habits are imbibed. It is
the place where one's heart should always be,
wherever one might physically wander. We love
our country because the tombs of our fathers,
the temples of our God, the fields which have
fed us and the rivers we have bathed in, all
exist therein. To demonstrate the value of
reverence, Baba inaugurated the birthday
festival by His visit to the mausoleum of the
parents, where His 'sisters and brothers' joined
Him along with their children and grand
children. Every act of His is a lesson to
us.
Baba
and Godavari
The year 1974
witnessed a miraculous event in Rajahmundry, a
small town on the bank of the Godavari river.
Rajahmundry is a town that revives nostalgic
memories of ancient glories, sheltering many
religions and cultural institutions, and
entering contemporary history once every twelve
years when lakhs of pilgrims from all
over India travel thither for a holy bath in the
river. Bhagavan willed that an All India
Conference of office bearers of the Sathya Sai
organizations be held there for three days. Over
6000 delegates attended the conference and the
gurus who taught Bal Vikas children comprised an
additional 750 persons. Swami Karunyananda, the
life and soul of all service activities in the
Godavari districts, who had discovered in Sathya
Sai Baba the God that he had been seeking, was
certain that devotees of Baba in the delta
region of the Godavari would participate
wholeheartedly to make the conference a
phenomenal triumph. From every village, young
men arrived at Rajahmundry before the new year.
They put up pandals, levelled the grounds, dug
drains and raised dining halls and kitchens,
singing bhajans all the while. They filled the
stores with provisions until Swami Karunyananda
insisted on "no more" and many villagers
returned disappointed and sad that their
offerings could not be accepted in the pool.
Women streamed into the kitchen and took up the
task of preparing elaborate menus. Large
quantities of milk, curd and ghee
(clarified butter) arrived at the campus in
buses reaching Rajahmundry town from every
corner. The delegates were guests of the
Godavari region and the hospitality bordered on
worship. It was a revelation of the deep roots
that the Sai message had taken in their hearts
and how it had blossomed as love and service.
Bhagavan's discourses helped integrate the
office bearers into an effective instrument for
the revival of dharma.
He also blessed the Bal Vikas movement
describing it as the basic activity of the Sai
movement, and the gurus as its most useful
pioneers. Bhagavan's presence during all the
three days of the conference induced pilgrims to
come to the Godavari from places as distant as
Calcutta, Bhopal and Patna.
Prasanthi
in Villages
On 3rd
February 1974, Bhagavan visited the village of
Kannamangala, about six miles from Brindavan. He
announced that He had started a college in that
region, so that students hailing from its
villages could become leaders of the ideal of
total revival and reconstruction which He called
Janata-Kalyan
(peace and prosperity for the people). He
advised the students to revere the village and
to live there with their kith and kin.
"Encourage the formation of the Bal Vikas, the
Seva Dal, the Mahila Vibhag and the Seva Samithi
in your region," He said. The visit to
Kannamangala was indeed historic, for Bhagavan
has since visited more than ten villages in that
area. He has renovated temples, provided
shelters, expanded school buildings, tapped
underground water and deepened existing water
wells. He has helped promote literacy and has
laid the foundation of moral reform by awakening
the conscience of the people.
Bhagavan has
directed the 4000 Seva Samithis in India to
adopt a village each and to serve its people
with love and understanding. The old boys
association of the Sathya Sai colleges, called
'The Kingdom of Sathya Sai', is shaping itself
into an efficient and sincere instrument for
continuing this seva
(service) in the villages. Bhagavan's grace has
reached the villages around Puttaparthi in the
form of medical and educational
facilities.
Sivarathri '74
was celebrated by Bhagavan at Prasanthi Nilayam.
A shed which could seat over 20.000 people had
by then risen on the grounds. Speaking about the
lingam and its mystery, Baba said,
"The Lingam is that which has neither beginning
nor end, that towards which all beings move, and
that in which all beings merge."
The
atmosphere at the Nilayam was vibrant with awe
and adoration, awaiting the arrival of the
lingam. Thousands prayed as one when the first
pangs began to show on Baba's face, announcing
the great event. A heavy unreasonably large
oval, the symbol of the Shiva principle, was
persuaded by their sincere yearning to take
birth in Baba's physical body and gradually rise
along the gullet, to emerge from the mouth and
drop into His hands. Holding it aloft for
everybody to see, He announced that it was the
symbol of cosmic space, the space-time-causation
continuum, in concrete form. It represents both
the cause and the final effect. It had a
luminous trisul (trident
usually referred to the one wielded by Lord
Siva) inside
it. Ecstasy shone on every face. There was no
tear of regret for the past, no sigh of anguish
for the present, no grimace of anxiety for the
future. All were at once alight with delight.
Then they heard the voice of
Bhagavan,
"Cherish
this vision of the emergence. Nourish the
Ananda that now gushes in your hearts. I
assure you that you have indeed been rendered
immortal. You need not pass from birth to
death again."
No one in that
mammoth assembly could have been the same when
he rose and walked away. It took days of
ministration by Bhagavan to send the longing,
lingering devotees home.
In 1974 Baba
visited Bombay twice, in early March and in mid
May. In March, He blessed a rally of 2500 Bal
Vikas children, addressed a gathering of
teachers from the university and various
colleges, and inaugurated the extension projects
of the Industrial Training School and the
Agricultural polytechnic at Dharmakshetra.
Speaking during the rally, He said,
"Parents today are not competent to guide their
children. They utter lies, accept bribes,
indulge in gambling and spread scandal. They use
foul language and boast aloud. Children must
make elders ashamed of their
habits."
In May, He presided over the annual day of the
Dharmakshetra school, and flew to the town of
Ratnagiri in answer to the prayers of devotees
there.
After
27 Years
On His way
back from Bombay in March, Bhagavan spent two
days at Sandur, in the Bellary District of
Karnataka. He inaugurated one of the factories
set up by the Raja Saheb to exploit the mineral
wealth of that area. The Raja Saheb welcomed
Baba, who had last graced the erstwhile kingdom
27 years ago. He related how, in 1949, when he
gave up the reins of the state, Baba had assured
him, "Don't worry. You will found an
organization bigger than the state of Sandur!"
And Baba had now come to bless that
organization.
The summer
course in May-June was widely acclaimed as a
must for young people who were about to confront
the comedies and tragedies, the follies and
frivolities of the human situation, for it
strove to equip them with the knowledge of the
sages and seers of every land, and bring them
into contact with the
Avatar
of the age. On 19th June, two days before the
close, Baba answered a question that was
baffling analysts - Who is Sai? He revealed
Himself in as much as our dull and dithering
reason can accept.
"I
have come to unite all mankind into one
family and to affirm and illumine in each of
you your Atmic Reality... Do not crave from
Me trivial material objects. Instead crave
for Me, and you will be
rewarded,"
He declared.
No wonder! General Cariappa, former
commander-in-chief of the armed forces of India,
then called upon the thousand participants for
three full-throated cheers of
'Jai
Sai Dharma',
which echoed all around.
The Dasara
festival commemorates the victory of the gods
over the demons, of light over darkness, of
knowledge over ignorance. So the thousands who
throng to His presence are involved in
disciplines which help them advance towards that
victory. The women's college at Anantapur staged
the play, "The Bishop's Candlesticks" and the
boy's college at Brindavan (Bangalore) staged a
Telugu play 'Pandava Vijayam' (triumph/victory
of the Pandavas). Both plays were based on the
sovereign cure that selfless love and devotion
can effect. The Bhagavata Bhakta Samajam, a
group of musicians and speakers drawn together
by the bond of brotherhood and the common
purpose of fostering 'the perennial philosophy
of theism', and which holds three-day sessions
of its activities comprising
Vedic
homa(ge),
Puranic
readings, devotional songs, folk dances, dramas
and musical recitations, was affiliated to the
Academy of Pundits by Bhagavan. They added many
attractive items of educative and entertainment
value.
It was during
the birthday festival in 1974 that Baba spoke
strongly against the use and abuse of funds. He
has always been against public appeals for
money, and has warned devotees against both,
asking for and giving such donations. He
declared that nothing should be brought for Him,
because He needed nothing.
"Those
who bring or advise others to bring, will be
kept away,"
He said.
In March 1975,
Bhagavan visited Delhi, spending a week to
confer darsan on the multitudes there, besides
making short visits to Amritsar, Chandigarh and
Simla. He made a visit to Jaipur to see the
progress made by the Sathya Sai college in that
city. Then He boarded the plane to Bombay, where
He unveiled the 40-foot-high pillar erected on
the Dharmakshetra hill, depicting the harmony of
religions. He was at
Prasanthi
Nilayam
on 20th March, where thousands were waiting to
be blessed by darsan of the divinely wrought
Sivarathri lingam.
On the 25th, when He blessed, by His presence,
the Sathya Sai College for women at Anantapur,
He advised the residents:
"Women
students and teachers must be very vigilant
that they do not attract the eyes and tongues
of men by their dress, movement, or behavior.
Be a little behind in fashion, it does not
matter; but do not outrage the traditions and
conventions of our culture."
With
Cows to Gokulam
On 29th
August, the Birthday of Lord Krishna,
the pages of the Bhagavatha
[Bhagavatha
Vahini]
which describe His boyhood were re-enacted at
Puttaparthi. The cows, buffaloes and camels, and
also Sai Geetha, the elephant, were taken in
procession from
Prasanthi
Nilayam
to their new home, about a kilometer away. Rural
pipes and drums led the line. Sai Geetha
followed in regal splendor, and the cows, with
their attendant seva dal members, came next.
Calves, frisking, jumping and butting, were held
in check by the college students, while the
immovable buffaloes stood and stared until they
were pushed and pulled forward. Students of the
women's college and others from
Prasanthi
Nilayam
followed behind, singing bhajans. Sai Krishna
was also there, with devotees singing around Him
in joy. They had witnessed, three days earlier,
another page of the Bhagavatha come alive.
Incessant heavy rains had brought the
Chitravathi into the village, and she swelled
into swirling anger. Indra,
the God of rain, appeared to cast his anger on
the cowherd village again, but unlike as in the
Bhagavatha days [see
BV, chapter 38],
this Krishna did not lift a mountain on His palm
to shelter man and beast. He disappointed the
peaks, by walking up to the open terrace of the
east Prasanthi flats and cast a look at the
turbulent waters seeking entry. That was enough.
The flood began to recede steadily. During the
Dasara festival Prasanthi Nilayam was quiet,
except for a few extra ceremonies that the
inmates were allowed to observe. For Bhagavan
could not, in His boundless love, impose on the
devotees, however eager, a ten-day stay Dasara
and another ten-day stay on the occasion of the
Golden Jubilee of the Advent, scheduled from
14th to 24th November.
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Bhajans
[***]
Even if the truth is seen, delusion persists and
works havoc on the mind. It is to banish that
delusion that Sri Sankara sang the 'Moha
Mudgara.' The traditional name for the song of
Bhaja Govindam is Moha Mudgara i.e. the heavy
hammer that crushes and destroys moha or
delusion. (source: Hindunet)
