Love
on the March (continued d)
(in 4 parts: (a)
continued
b,
continued
c
and continued
d)
College
Campus
The
magnificent row of buildings which comprise the
Sri Sathya Sai College near Brindavan, was
opened at a joyous and colorful function by
Bhagavan on 19th of May, 1978. The Karnataka
minister for education, Sri Subbaya Shetty,
inaugurated the library building with the
Prajnana (highest
wisdom)
Pradarsan
on the first floor. The
Pradarsan
contains an impressive collection of charts,
drawings and pictures showing phases of
Japa,
Dhyana,
Yoga
and Puja.
It has photographs and models of the holy places
of India. Books of all major religions and
portraits of saints, mystics and thinkers of all
faiths adorn the place. The sayings and
teachings of Bhagavan, explained and
illustrated, find a place of prominence. To be
among these records means being reminded of the
inevitable journey to God - that oft-forgotten
goal becomes clear once again.
The
auditorium, was inaugurated by Srimati Govinda
Narain, while Sri Govinda Narain, the governor
of Karnataka, inaugurated the summer course in
Indian culture and spirituality which commenced
on the same day. The discourses during the first
week were all on the
Bhagavata
Purana
[see
Bhagavatha
Vahini]
(or Srîmad
Bhâgavatam),
which is about the former avatars of the Lord,
including Krishna.
'All
Vishnu Incarnations'
Bhagavan said
that the youth of the country suffered the
imposition of pointless and purposeless
curricula. They were being shaped in colleges,
into recalcitrant unemployables and sent out
into the world with begging bowls called
'degrees' and 'diplomas'. They saw through
foreign eyes, thought along borrowed concepts
and held only film stars as their ideals. They
had become rootless saplings, drifting with
every whiff of wind. Their patriotism was not
even skin-deep, for they had no knowledge of, or
love for, their traditions and culture, their
poets and saints, their fellow men and homeland.
Dr. Benito Reyes, president of the world
university in Ojai, California, who attended the
course and stayed with the participants,
commented in high appreciation on the benefits
derived from it by westerners who had no
knowledge of the depth and vastness, the value
and validity of the spiritual message of India,
so vividly perceptible in Bhagavan. He quoted
T.S. Eliot and asked, "Where is the wisdom we
have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge
we have lost in information?" and answered, "It
is here."
The
665
No sooner had
the summer course ended then the organizers were
persuaded to accept another assignment which was
more spectacular and more fundamental - managing
at Brindavan a ten-day orientation course on
spiritual education for 665 teachers from the
elementary schools of Andhra Pradesh, deputed
for training by the state government. The
government had planned a well-nigh revolutionary
project of recasting the elementary schools (for
children between the ages of six and twelve
years) in the entire state, providing special
emphasis on prayer, music, dance, painting,
modelling, and parent cooperation with the
teacher, so that the school house became a house
of work, worship and wisdom, of love and
service, of spiritual discipline and yoga. Dr.
Chenna Reddy, first as governor of Uttar Pradesh
and later as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh,
knew about the
Bal Vikas
classes conducted by trained gurus of the Sri
Sathya Sai Seva organizations, and had watched
the children grow into self-reliant, cooperative
and service-minded youth, revering parents,
elders, and teachers. So he prayed to Baba to
give the 665 teachers an orientation course,
holding the camp in the college campus at
Brindavan itself, so that they may benefit by
the impact of His grace and from exposure to the
simple, unaffected band of students whom He had
trained as examples of His message.
The teachers
were chosen at random from the outlying villages
of every district. They had no time to prepare
for the journey into a vastly different
linguistic and climatic region, the state of
Karnataka, nor were they aware of the
discipline, the do's and dont's, spontaneously
honored at the Brindavan campus. But the ten-day
stay was amazingly alchemic. Baba entered their
hearts and made them soft and pure. Several
deep-rooted habits such as smoking, eating
harmful foods and arguing aloud were jettisoned
without a tear, while a sense of dedication was
added to their professional skills. They began
to feel like patriotic warriors who were engaged
in driving away the demons of sloth and
selfishness from schools, restoring to children
their heritage that they had been denied so
long. Bhagavan had planned lectures by devoted
teachers in the morning hours. He formed ten
groups of thirty teachers each, who met on
alternate days to discuss among themselves the
feasibility and necessity of the suggestions
that arose in these lectures. The reports of
these discussions were placed before Bhagavan in
the evening and Bhagavan would choose some
outstanding conundrum that required further
analysis and clarification by Him.
Bhagavan also
personally supervised the teachers' boarding and
lodging and enquired about their health and
requirements. He gave woollen rugs to those who
had not brought any with them, sets of books to
some, and cassettes of His Bhajans and
discourses to others who had access to cassette
players in their villages. He posed for
photographs along with teachers and trainees
from each district, and also arranged for each
one of them to receive a free copy on the day
the camp ended. Most of the teachers desired to
visit Mysore and Puttaparthi, besides going
round Bangalore itself, but they could not
afford the cost. So they appealed to the
government of Andhra Pradesh to loan them the
money which they all agreed to repay out of
their salaries. When He learned of this, Baba
Himself arranged for buses, and saw to it that
they were loaded with hampers of food and plenty
of fruit with which the teachers could regale
themselves while on the road.
The teachers
were filled with admiration at the intelligent
and hearty response they received from the
student volunteers deputed to attend to their
needs. They concluded that it was the love that
Bhagavan embodied and showered on those whom He
chose, that had moulded the students in His
college into young men of whom the nation could
be proud. When the teachers left the campus and
the presence of Baba, they were all in
tears.
The
Face of Divinity
Towards the
end of the course, on the eighth day, the
trainees had the singular good fortune of
listening to a talk given by Dr. Frank G.
Baronowski of Arizona University, on the
uniqueness of
Bhagavan's
aura.
This speech equipped them with faith in the
divinity of Baba - a precious possession that
would fortify them throughout their lives. Dr.
Baronowski said,
"I was not brought up in any belief, though I am
a Christian by birth and a roman catholic. The
scientific community in my country finds it
difficult to accept God. "It is not scientific,"
they assert. The aura that Swami projects is not
that of a man. The white was more than twice the
size of any man's, the blue was practically
limitless and then there were gold and silver
bands beyond even these, far beyond the
building, right up to the horizon! I am risking
my reputation when I make this statement. Two
days ago, right outside this hall, I looked into
His eyes. They had a glow in them. It was clear
to me that I had looked into the face of
Divinity. If ever I can use the phrase, 'I have
seen Love walking on two feet', it is
here."
On 14th August
1978, Bhagavan formed the Loka Seva Institution
into a new trust, the Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva
Trust, of which He agreed to be the President.
This He did at Muddenahalli where, too, there
are schools and hostels maintained as part of
the Loka Seva complex. Bhagavan concluded the
formalities of the transfer and change of name.
He later addressed the members of the trust,
teachers and students:
"This
holy institution was established by Narayana
Bhat quite early in his life. He was ever
eager to offer pure and unselfish service, so
he planted the seed which has now grown into
this tree. We have arrived at the stage when
we can eat the ripe fruit, but this tree has
also to be well cared for by us."
The
Mosque
The Muslim
festival of Ramzan (Rammadan) in 1978 was
a landmark in the history of Puttaparthi, for
the muslims of that village celebrated in the
mosque that Bhagavan had built for them. It is a
simple and spacious mosque, with an ambience of
spiritual fragrance. Professor Bashiruddin of
Osmania University expressed the gratitude of
the muslims of the region and described to the
vast gathering how the impact of Bhagavan's
teachings had made him a more understanding
practitioner of the message of the holy Koran.
Janab Fakhruddin, convenor of the village Muslim
committee, offered thanks to Bhagavan for this
gift of love, saying "We had earlier to walk
four miles to Bukkapatnam, through sun and rain,
slush and sandy river bed, to recite our
prayers." Bhagavan told the Muslims that the
real significance of the Ramzan fast was
"to
be near God and detached from sensual
desires."
He also said that the Ramzan month was one
during which the holy Koran was communicated to
Mohammed. The message of Bhagavan is that the
truly religious will neither deny the validity
of any particular religion or group of
religions, nor declare that salvation can be
secured through one path only. So He encourages
all those who have faith to march forward along
their chosen paths, whichever religion they may
follow or be born in, since all spiritual paths
lead to the same goal.
Baba's grace
is boundless and universal. So people from all
lands and followers of all creeds gather at His
feet. Several sects and communities of India who
have special festivals to commemorate their
regional deities, also discard age-old
boundaries and conventions and gather in
thousands wherever Baba may happen to be,
feeling such celebration to be truly meaningful
in His presence. The Onam festival of the
Malayalam-speaking Keralites - Hindus and
Christians - is held by thousands year after
year with all the orthodox observances. Bhagavan
has thrown new light on the legend which forms
the background of Onam. What was for long a
season of folkplay and dance, has now taken on
the habiliment of a spiritually-elevating
sadhana
week.
Prolong
Your Life Span
Dasara
1978 began as usual with the hoisting of the
Prasanthi flag over Prasanthi Mandir and the
celebration of the annual day of the Sri Sathya
Sai Hospital in the evening that same day.
Bhagavan touched the hearts of the massive
gathering of devotees present when He gave them
the most worthwhile reason for preserving and
promoting their health.
"The
one grand reason for maintaining health,
which I am urging you to do, is that you have
yet to witness and delight over many more
Leelas and Mahimas (expressions and
manifestations of divine qualities) far
surpassing those you have witnessed so far,
and many more wonders, victories and
triumphs. You can thrill with ecstatic
delight when you witness these. So guard
yourselves carefully. Maintain good health
and keep your hearts ever filled with
joy,"
He
said.
During the
discourses related to the
Vedic
yajna
which lasted for a full week, Baba expounded the
meanings of various scriptural passages. The
verses from the Gîtâ
[*]
which He prescribed for repetition while saying
grace before every meal, were given special
emphasis by Him, for they remind one of the
immanence of God in the food made ready, in the
fire that was used for cooking it, in the cook,
in the one who ate it and in the activities
which the eater could fulfil as a result of the
strength that the food conferred on both, his
body and brain. [**]
Dasara is an
occasion when thousands from all over the
country and abroad see for themselves the triple
ideal of Sai education - duty, devotion and
discipline - practised by the boys and girls of
Bhagavan's colleges. They can listen to these
students speak profoundly on a variety of topics
and share their own intimate experiences of love
and service towards Sai and towards all those
upon whom He bestows His grace. They can also be
audience to plays, choirs and orchestral music
by students from all parts of India and from
places as different and far apart as Hawaii,
Fiji, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Libya. Integration
of mankind is no more an armchair dream; it is
being realized here.
Save
Villages from Cities
Twenty-five
thousand people gathered at
Prasanthi
Nilayam
for the Birthday festival in 1978. Bhagavan
emphasized that it was not because of the
birthday that so many people had assembled, but
it was because they assembled that the birthday
was celebrated!
"I
have no interest in publicising the date on
which this body, which I willed for a
purpose, appeared among mankind. I want each
of you to celebrate the day I am enshrined in
your hearts as My birthday,"
He
said.
To those who
wished Him a 'Happy Birthday', He replied that
"this
is a superfluous wish, for I am always
happy."
The festival included a musical recitation by
students, with the college orchestra providing
excellent accompaniment to a narration of the
story of the
Sai Avatar.
Baba exhorted every one to transform 'daily
living' into 'truly living', visualising God as
the very breath of life. Bhagavan had called
delegations of Seva Dal units (comprising men
and women living on Sai ideals and trained for
service to the distressed, the disabled and the
diseased) from all over India. He directed them
to engage themselves more in rural areas, where
the evils of city life were becoming rampant.
Villagers are misled; they imagine the
city-dwellers to be more happy amidst cinema
houses and cars, immersed in exotic and
intoxicating life styles. They do not realise
that their physical moral and economic stamina
is being corroded by gambling and drinking, by
noise and slogans, and by the rowdiness that
thrives on such life patterns.
"Save
them from moral and physical
pollution,"
He commanded. When one of the district convenors
suggested that each seva dal member should
always carry with him a mini first-aid box so
that he could serve people more often, Baba
modified the contents of the box, saying,
"Carry
in it a few tablets of discrimination and
detachment, an ounce or two of sense-control, a
packet of love and a bandage strip of fortitude.
Only then can you effectively render first aid
to people suffering from a stroke of ego or a
bout of greed, a jaundiced vision or an allergy
to serving
others."
On 28th
November 1978, Baba laid the foundation stone of
the College of Arts, Science and Commerce at
Prasanthi Nilayam. In the north-east corner
Bhagavan laid the first line of stones after
sanctifying the spot and placing there nine
precious gems created by Him in the palm of His
hand. Baba wills that every college must have an
auditorium as magnificent as the college itself,
and also a special building, as impressive as
the rest, for the library. He considers the
library to be a fundamental part of every
educational institution. He selected Sri
Ramanathan Chettiar of Madurai and the Rajmata
of Navanagar for laying the foundation stones of
these two allied constructions.
Isa-Sai
Christmas
brings thousands into the presence of Baba, for
they find in him the teacher who can reveal the
true glory of Jesus and lead them along the path
illumined by the Son of God. Baba told them that
day,
"Carols
and candles, readings from the Bible and
staging plays about the incidents from the
life of Jesus are not enough. When Jesus
declared that the bread of the last supper
was His flesh and the wine His blood, what
did He really mean? He meant that every being
alive with flesh and blood, was He Himself
and ought to be treated so. That is to say,
every living being is divine. Therefore no
distinction should be made between separate
physical bodies as good or bad, friend or
foe, we or they."
Baba also
revealed that Jesus' actual name assigned to Him
by His parents was Isa.
And
Isa,
when constantly repeated, echoes
Sai!
Both words mean
Iswara
(God). Baba said,
"In
the Tibetan monastery where Jesus spent many
years, His name is recorded as Isa, which
means 'Lord of all living beings.'
"
The Tamils
celebrated their new year on 14th January, so
Baba flew to Madras to bless them on that holy
day and to inaugurate the construction of a
Dharmakshetra (an arena of righteousness) in
that city, which was to be called 'Sundaram', to
complete the series which had started with
'Sathyam' in Bombay and continued with 'Sivam'
in Hyderabad. The festival also has the overtone
of a harvest celebration as the farmers of Tamil
Nadu offer gratitude to the bullocks that helped
them grow grain and the cows that gave them
milk. They boil the milk on ceremonial hearths
and allow it to boil and spill over as a symbol
of abundance and happy sharing. The Telugu new
year day was celebrated in March, and Baba
heightened the joy of the celebration by being
present at Hyderabad for a full week. He called
upon the city-dwellers to serve the villages, to
which they owed much, by helping the farmers and
artisans to combat poverty, disease and
exploitation.
Meanwhile, on
30th January 1979, Swami entered the west coast
harbor town of Mangalore in Karnataka State, to
proceed to Alike, the headquarters of the Sri
Sathya Sai Loka Seva Trust, which runs two huge
educational complexes for children, mostly from
rural regions. One complex is at Alike itself in
the midst of the valley, nestling among the
spurs of the western ghats. The other one is at
Muddenahalli, on the foothills of the mountain
range around the Nandi Peak, in the plains to
the east. Alike is a dream come true, a vision
vivified by faith and hope, as if Divine grace
had shaped itself into its dormitories,
playgrounds, libraries, classrooms and gardens -
a hermitage where the heart of the late Madiyala
Narayana Bhat throbs in the activity of the
increasing band of devoted teachers, an academy
with palm groves whispering
'Sai
Ram'
to every breath of wind.
Led
into the Light
Baba's
discourses dispelled the gloom that had
descended upon the district when its patron,
Narayana Bhat, was killed in a car accident. He
restored joy in the hearts of the students
(numbering over a thousand), the more than sixty
teachers, several well-wishers of the project
(who had cooperated with Narayana Bhat, its
founder, and stood by him through thick and
thin), the grateful parents and guardians of the
thousands of boys and girls whose careers had
been shaped by the Loka Seva institutions, the
old students who were rendering service in
various fields of activity, and the farmers,
traders and workers from the village and
plantations lying in the region. Baba likened
Alike to a place of pilgrimage, when He noted
that "you
pay sincere attention to the development of the
children under your care and transmute them into
worthy children of
India."
Before returning to Brindavan, Baba visited
Puttur and Chokkadi villages near Alike,
Mangalore and Manipal, in the same coastal
district. At Manipal, the centre of a popular
educational complex built around well-equipped
medical and engineering colleges, Baba found at
11 p.m. at night a gathering of at least fifteen
thousand people waiting for
Darsan.
Such was their longing to have a glimpse of the
Lord and listen to His voice.
The summer
course in Indian Culture and Spirituality in
1979, laid emphasis on the
Bhagavad
Gîtâ.
For one full week attention was concentrated on
this universal scripture which propounds and
elaborates upon the three paths of
Karma
(action),
Bhakti
(devotion),
Jnana
(knowledge). Bhagavan's daily discourse provided
simple and satisfying commentaries on the
philosophical principles underlying the
teachings of
Lord Krishna
to His diffident and deluded
warrior-friend,
Arjuna.
Swami, like
Krishna
Himself, exhorted the student participants to do
their best, without calculating the odds, and
leave the rest to God. He declared, as
Krishna
had done on the battlefield, that victory is the
reward for the brave and that bravery is drawn
from the Atman,
the Inner Spring. [***]
Justice V. R.
Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court of India,
while inaugurating the month-long course in the
presence of Bhagavan, said, "It is time that we
wean our colleges from becoming houses of vice
and violence, with students getting addicted to
drugs and cultivating only materialistic
desires. Baba's balm of
Prema
must penetrate Karma,
kindle
Jnana
and sublimate into Dharma."
He spoke on the inadequacy of science and its
inability to restore peace, morality and
brotherhood. He stressed that India must
discover her soul and listen to the voice of the
sages. Bhagavan pointed out that leaders of
today had no will to promote moral and spiritual
excellence in their people, while the people
themselves had no urge to warn their leaders of
the disasters that lay ahead when this foremost
duty was neglected.
(5)
"Your questions about Lord Krishna are of
relevance for the welfare of the world because
they satisfy the true self. (6) For mankind it
is certainly the best way to attain to
uninterrupted service to the transcendental
without further motives. (7) Serving Krishna
this way one will find detachment and causeless
knowledge. (8) One's normal duties are useless
if they miss this message. [SB,
1-2, v.5-8]
Swoosh!
Denise
Eversole, who was among the two hundred foreign
students at the course, speaks about its impact
on her thus:
"What
is it like at the summer course? Let me throw
out some adjectives to see if I can highlight
its essence: packed, hot, uncomfortable,
thrilling, awesome, pure essence, inspiring,
stretching, blissful, catalytic, cathartic,
revitalising, transforming, beautiful... Here
we were at the feet of the same Soul which
was the historic
Krishna,
Who first communicated the
Bhagavad
Gîtâ
to
Arjuna
about five thousand years ago. As Sai Baba
explained to all the students the true
meaning of spiritual life and how to live it,
I found every question I'd ever had,
completely answered."
Karen F. Blanc
summarises the message conveyed by
Baba:
"All
life is a meditation. Formal prayer and what
you think of as meditations, are means, not
ends. They are good and are meant to help
prepare the mind for concentration. But along
with such spiritual exercises and practices,
there must be examination of individual and
collective attitudes. Instil and cultivate in
yourselves love and respect for all
religions. Return home and do God's work,
wherever you are, with conviction, confidence
and enthusiasm. If life ever becomes
difficult, remember these evenings and think
of Me, call on My name, and I give you this
promise that I will always heed your call.
You will never be alone again."
Karen went on
to describe a thrilling miracle which happened
on one of the evenings. The participants had
many a chance to thrill at miracles that
occurred whenever they were in Baba's presence.
"But this was a big one, really first class,"
said Karen.
"Maynard
Ferguson, the world-famous jazz artist, gave
a concert for us, about twelve hundred
people, one night at the auditorium of the
college. Baba was seated in the middle of the
stage and Maynard Ferguson was standing next
to Him on the right. He played Indian
classical music set to jazz, with Baba
tapping away at the beat gently with His
hand. Then Ferguson played an incredible
trumpet solo with all his heart. Baba stood
up and made a large circle, clockwise with
His right hand.
Swoosh!
Out of the air in front of everyone, Baba
materialised a solid gold medallion,
suspended from a chain, and placed it around
Ferguson's neck. There was no movement in the
auditorium. Not a flicker. It was as if time
stood still. Overwhelmed, Ferguson wept like
a child, just as we sat there with tears in
our eyes and a sob in our throats.
"Why was it so
beautiful? Maybe, because we all knew at that
moment, without question, what we had once known
as little children but had long since forgotten.
There is a part in us all, at the very core of
our being, that wants to believe in angels, that
good triumphs over evil, that
Jesus
did really walk on water and that
Moses
had once parted the Red Sea... . We want to
believe all that and, regardless of what we say,
we want to stand by the good guy... and we
ourselves want to be good. That is why we wept
and that is why it was so beautiful. The
medallion was not a magician's trick. It was
made for us all. It was so that we could all
know, once and for all, that
'It
is so, as it is
written.'
"
As soon as the
summer course ended, Baba returned to
Prasanthi
Nilayam
with a large number of students from various
colleges who desired to spend a few more days in
His presence at the 'International Temple of the
Sai Avatar'. There a Sathya Sai college was
inaugurated on 1st July, the first-year classes
being held at the
Easwaramma High School
building itself.
The
Buds Blossom
The
Avataric mission of restoring humanity to man
and raising him to Godhood are being translated
into action by Bhagavan through educational
reconditioning. He has blessed a world-wide
project which supplements the state directed,
institutionalised, secular education. It is
called
Bal Vikas,
which means 'Blossoming
of the Child'.
Children in the developed countries (and, by
contagion, in the developing nations also), are
exposed to the ills of the machine age, the
clash of isms, the conflict of races, obsession
with war, the dominance of violence, an over
indulgence in sensual pleasures and the open
flouting of all morals. The
Bal Vikas
routes back the child to its age-old culture so
that it may grow strong and straight. It instils
a sense of reverence towards parents, elders and
teachers, who are repositories of learning. It
encourages self-knowledge, self-reverence and
self-control, while enveloping the child in the
warmth of Divine love. Children grow up under
the watchful care of teachers whom Baba has
blessed with the sacred title,
guru.
The teacher upon being conferred that title
becomes bound to remove, as
Lord Shiva
does, the weeds of evil from the tender mind, to
sow, as
Lord Brahma
does, seeds of courage and compassion, and to
foster, as
Lord Vishnu
does, good thoughts, good speech and good deeds,
elevating the profession of a teacher into a
task carried out by the Holy
Trinity.
Baba has
developed schools called
Vidya Vihars
(education through joy), where children are
fostered after being admitted as whole time
inmates. When the children enter their teens,
they are taught elementary texts on spiritual
discipline, besides being introduced to the
technique of Yoga,
social service, choral service, meditation, etc.
These classes are referred to as
'pre-Seva
Dal'.
High schools that have been set up by Baba in
several places pay special attention to the
development of character and to programmes of
Sadhana
and social service. Then there are the colleges
where the most impressionable years of
adolescence and youth are spent under the
gracious guidance of Bhagavan
Himself.
"Students
are My hope, the source of My delight. They
are what I live by,"
says Baba.
His
Kingdom
During the
Dasara celebrations in 1979, students of
different religions from the Sri Sathya Sai
college in Puttaparthi, presented themselves in
their ceremonial costumes and described, to the
great delight of the vast gathering, the main
principles of each religion. A Sikh from New
Delhi, a Zoroastrian from Bombay, a Christian
from Hawaii, a Muslim from Libya, a Buddhist
from Sikkim and a Hindu from Kabul were the
participating students. When Baba stood in the
centre of the group as they finished, all were
pleasantly surprised that Sai, the sum of all
religions and the goal of all
sadhana,
had condescended thus to teach them the unity of
faith. The students of Sai colleges have
mastered the art of coordinated labor. They have
presented orchestras and plays on
Sri Ramakrishna,
Sankaracharya
and Jesus,
besides having set the
Ramayana
and the Sai stories to music. Bhagavan is, of
course, the invisible and also, almost always,
the visible source of all their achievements.
While inaugurating the first anniversary of the
association of old boys of the Sri Sathya Sai
college at Brindavan, Baba directed them to
utilise all their resources and talents in the
service of the villages around Brindavan after a
keen study of their urgent
needs:
"Students
must spring like tiger cubs into the arena of
the villages and cleanse them of pollution.
They must teach and train the illiterate
residents of the villages to live happily and
with dignity. They must strive, along with
the villagers, and lead them
forward."
Baba also said
on that occasion,
"I
am encouraging these boys to be examples of
the strength and equanimity that can be
gained by constant practice of My message. I
am ever prompting them to speak and recite,
sing and enact this message, so that it is
installed in their hearts. Whatever I do or
get done, whatever I say or direct others to
say, it is to emphasize, clarify or exemplify
this message - the Atmic Reality of
man."
Bhagavan's
message and the master projects planned for its
realisation, drew many educationalists,
administrators, scientists, communication
experts and psychologists to the colleges He has
founded. Seminars on spiritual and moral
guidance were held at the Brindavan college.
Summer schools brought together college
professors from all over the country besides
overseas countries including Singapore, the
Philippines, Fiji, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom
and USA. Bhagavan conversed with groups of
vice-chancellors, headmasters, professors,
scientists and technicians, unravelling to them
the insidious causes of the universal malaise
and revealing the curative measures urgently
needed. As a result of the impact of these
conversations, the Sathya Sai Study Circle was
formed in Bangalore, to probe into the defects
of the educational system, and for restructuring
and reforming it on Sai guidelines. Swami
assured the group,
"I
promise you that I will be with you and take an
active part in guiding the activities of the
Study Circle."
Truly, the
Avatar
has no rest! But, as Bhagavan says,
"Had
I needed rest, I would not have
incarnated."
During the
Birthday festival week in 1979, two thousand Bal
Vikas gurus met at a conference in Prasanthi
Nilayam. Bhagavan blessed them and enlightened
them on the problems that they have to encounter
and promised to reveal to them the solutions
whenever they prayed for light. The play 'Jesus'
was presented by the students on 22nd November.
The costumes, the sets and the actors appeared
so authentic that the audience of twenty-five
thousand responded with a continuous ovation
lasting several minutes. Jesus Christ was very
accurately portrayed as the Son of God, with
mercy, power and love in His voice, gestures and
reactions.
Shiva
on the Spot
Devotees who
sought the home where Bhagavan incarnated as
Sathyanarayana,
the home of the parents
Pedda Venkappa
Rajju
and Easwaramma,
were for years shown an empty patch of land at
the end of a rubble track in Puttaparthi. They
were very sad that no holy structure marked that
spot, after the Prasanthi Mandir and the temples
of Ganesa had come up on the outskirts of the
village that was immortalized by the birth,
childhood and boyhood of the greatest
Avatar
in human history. They pleaded with Bhagavan and
prayed in unison. So a simple but charming
temple was constructed there, in which Baba
installed an idol of
Shiva
on 22nd November 1979, fulfilling the
long-cherished desire of millions.
The
Avatar's
decision to declare the cloistered village,
Puttaparthi, still lacking even in several basic
amenities, as the hub of the
Sai Dharma
Chakra
(wheel of righteousness), raised around the
Mandir rows of three-storeyed residential flats
also housing banks, shops and a bus station.
Besides these, it has added to itself a
resplendent suburb with ornamental arches at
both ends, containing rows of magnificent
structures comprising the elementary and high
schools and the College of Arts, Science and
Commerce, besides a hostel for over a thousand
students.
In June 1980
Bhagavan visited Jammu and Kashmir, the
northernmost state of India, famed through the
centuries for the artistic genius of its people,
for its mountain ranges which are the source of
several rivers and for the harmonious blending
of cultures and races. He spent ten days amidst
the people until it became difficult to decide
who loved the other more - the people of the
state or Bhagavan.
The
march of love continues - fresh, full and
free.
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Bhajans
[*]
See Bhagavad Gîtâ:
Chapter
17,
Chapter
15, verse 14
Chapter
4, verse 24
Chapter
3, verse 14:
From
grains material bodies grow, from rains there is
the production of grains while rains become
possible with the [watering by]
sacrifices that are performed out of
duty.
[**]
Food
Mantra:
BG 4-24:
brahmârpanam
brahma havir
brahmâgnau brahmanâ hutam
brahmaiva tena gantavyam
brahma-karma-samâdhinâ
The
sacrifice itself, that which is offered in the
fire of sacrifice and he who is of sacrifice are
of the same spiritual nature; he will certainly
attain the spirit of the Absolute
[Brahman] who is completely absorbed in
working for the spiritual.
BG
15-14:
aham vaisvânaro bhûtvâ
prâninâm deham âsritaha
prânâpâna samâyuktah
pacâmy annam catur-vidham
Enacting
as the fire of digestion in the bodies of all
living beings, I keep the balance of the ingoing
and outgoing breath and do digest the four kinds
of foodstuff [food
that one swallows right away, chews, licks and
sucks].
[***]
See Gîtâ
Vahini,
Bhagavân
on the Bhagavad
Gîtâ
and the Krishna
Bible
