Love
on the March (a)
(in 4 parts: (a)
continued
b,
continued
c
and continued
d)
Why
Colleges?
The Avatar had
illumined the world for forty-five years when
this narrative was completed up to Part III of
'Sathyam
Sivam Sundaram'.
That name, which flashed into my consciousness
when wondering what title to adorn His biography
with, now brings to my memory a prophetic
declaration by
Swami
Vivekananda.
During his discourses on
Bhakti Yoga
he announced,
"[*]Religion,
which is the highest knowledge and the
highest wisdom, cannot be bought; nor can it
be acquired from books. You may turn your
head in all directions, you may explore the
Himalayas, the Alps and the Caucasus, you may
search the bottom of the sea and pry into
every nook and corner of the world, be it
Tibet or the desert of Gobi, yet you will not
find it anywhere till your heart is ready for
receiving it and your teacher has come. And
when that Divinely appointed teacher comes,
serve him with childlike confidence and
simplicity. Freely open your heart to his
influence and see in him God manifested.
Those who come to seek truth with such a
spirit of love and veneration, to them the
Lord of Truth reveals the most wonderful
things regarding truth, goodness and
beauty."
Translators of
this passage into Indian languages have, even
without the knowledge of the Sathya Sai Avatar,
interpreted
truth
as Sathyam,
goodness
as
Sivam
and
beauty
as Sundaram!
The Lord of Truth is, best translated as Sathya
Sai. Baba has revealed the most wonderful thing
about human beings - that the core of every
individual is Sathyam-Sivam-Sundaram,
and that this awareness alone can confer
liberation. I had no inkling of this truth.
Vivekananda himself must have led me to the
teacher, the Lord of Truth.
Baba blessed
the city of Anantapur, headquarters of the
district of which Prasanthi Nilayam is a part,
with the College of Arts and Science for Women,
not with the intention of adding one more to the
hundreds already dotting the land. His plan was
to create an educational institution which would
mould the girls entering its portals into
daughters revering the spiritual traditions of
Bharat (India), sisters eager to serve the
ever-expanding circle of their kith and kin in
the villages of this land, wives wedded to
simplicity and sincerity, and mothers skilled
and eager to instil ideals of service and
spiritual discipline in the hearts of children.
Before long, Bhagavan blessed Anantapur with
another structure dedicated to the furtherance
of 'higher living', a Kalyana Mantap
(wedding hall).
"When
love is the lever that operates the mind, only
good can result. I have come to restore love
among mankind, to cleanse it of meanness and
restrictive
attitudes,"
He declared, while inaugurating the building.
The Mantap is used as a community hall of
service. Baba Himself arrived a few years later,
when devotees celebrated therein the wedding of
four indigent Harijans, and showered grace on
the happy couples. He created for each bride a
gold Bottu (a sanctified ornament, worn to
indicate wedlock) that the groom had to place
around her neck as part of the ritual
[see
'With
Wounded Wings'
for an example of a gold necklace Baba
materialized],
and for each groom a gold ring which the bride
had to put on his finger. The Harijan families
were entertained to a hearty feast which they
shared with the devotees and with Bhagavan
Himself.
Seventy
Apartment Flats
In the month
of August 1971, when thousands gathered at
Prasanthi
Nilayam
for offering homage on the sacred day
commemorating the birth of
Krishna,
Baba declared,
"People
tell me that mankind is today on the brink of
destruction, that the forces of hypocrisy and
hate are spreading fast over all the
continents, and that anxiety and fear are
stalking the streets of every country. There
is no need to tell Me this, for I have come
here for this very reason. When the world is
on the verge of chaos, the avatar comes to
still the storm raging in the heart of man."
[**]
The Dasara
festival in September afforded an opportunity
for the vast gathering of seekers to benefit by
what it has actually become - a course of divine
lessons on the mystic symbolism in Vedic
culture. Baba explained that the
Yajna
(ritual sacrifice) was a reminder of our
essential duty to sacrifice the self in order to
visualize the Over-Self. The body is the altar;
the world we live in, the oblation;
Bhakti
(devotion) and
Jnana
(knowledge), the sacrificial flames which
accept, transmute and sanctify the oblation; and
the sublimation of the consciousness
(Purusha)
into the Absolute (Purushottama),
the fruition thereof. Bhagavan also
announced,
"This
year Dasara marks a new chapter in the
history of the Nilayam. Recognize that
Divinity is its core; yearn for that Divinity
and strive to reveal It in yourselves through
Sadhana, to which this campus is
dedicated."
The prayer
hall had a new frontage added to it, besides an
extended porch with silver doors and traditional
temple sculptures and ornamental domes having
golden finales. The Mandir was proclaiming the
presence of the Avatar. The residents and
visitors were to be conscious of the presence
and to mould their daily schedules in conformity
with the spiritual upliftment that they could
partake in the sanctified atmosphere. Baba
blessed by His divine presence, more than
seventy flats which were allotted to devotees
who were anxious to spend their days in
Sadhana.
The allottees had come from different parts of
India and even from overseas. They professed
different faiths and spoke different languages.
But Bhagavan showered grace on them all for, as
he declared,
"There
is only one caste, the caste of
humanity;
there is only one religion, the religion of
love;
there is only one language, the language of the
heart;
there is only one God and He is
omnipresent."
The flats have
since increased in number to about 300.
Sadhakas
(spiritual aspirants) eager to spend their days,
or at least some months every year, in this
atmosphere of silence, self-reliance and
surrender to the Divine Will, are fast
increasing in number.
Sivam
Arising
October saw
Bhagavan at Hyderabad, enthusing the citizens
into Nagarasankirtan,
inspiring them to instruct their children in the
rudiments of
Sadhana
and transforming the baser ideas and goals of
the elite by His discourses at the Academy of
Vedic Scholars, growing in strength and
usefulness under His benign guidance. On 25th
October 1971, Baba laid the foundation for a
Lingam-shaped temple at Hyderabad, the capital
city of the state of Andhra
Pradesh.
"I
am consecrating this temple for devotees who,
instead of following Me from place to place,
can now gather here, assured of
Darsan,"
He said. At
Dharmakshetra in Bombay, the divine residence is
named 'Sathyam'.
'Sivam'
is second in the series, while
'Sundaram',
in Madras, was raised last. Of the three, Baba
said,
"Sathyam
is the feet, Sivam is the trunk and Sundaram
the head. On Sathyam we stand, on Sivam we
act and on Sundaram we think. In Truth we are
born, in Goodness we live and into Beauty we
merge."
Bhagavan
inaugurated 'Sivam'
on the Telugu New Year Day in April 1973. This
architectural gem, enshrining the cosmic message
of emergence from and mergence into the One, was
completed in eighteen months. Here He
materialized a
Lingam
for continuous worship by devotees who may be so
inclined, and installed it in the hall which
forms the
Peetha
(base) of the Lingam structure. For seven days
thereafter, large concourses of people listened
in rapture to the recitation and exposition of
the glory of Shiva and of the Lingam which He
is, as described in the Shiva
Purana
texts. The event marked the dawn of a cultural
and spiritual revolution, with
'Sivam'
as the fountain of inspiration.
During the
Birthday celebrations, 1971, Bhagavan
explained,
"Life
is a challenge; meet it.
Life is love; share it.
Life is a dream; realize it.
Life is a game; play
it"
- a message
which thousands now cherish and live by. He
spoke of the three bodies which each one is
encased in - the gross, the subtle and the
causal. He said that intelligence is master of
the gross body, intellect of the subtle and
intuition of the causal. Every day during the
celebrations, all those who were alert to the
proceedings could advance a few steps towards
self-control, self-knowledge and
self-realization. Christmas came soon after, and
in His discourse Bhagavan emphasized omnipresent
Christ, saying "All
are One in Christ and the One Christ is in
all,"
He assured.
The
Conference Did Meet
The Eighth All
India Conference of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva
Organization was held at Abbotsbury, Madras, in
the last week of December 1971. Baba had
encouraged the organizers to proceed with the
preparations in spite of the country being
involved in a war with Pakistan, for He said
that the war would be over by that time. "The
civil war in Pakistan, between its western and
eastern halves, forced millions of
terror-stricken people to take refuge in India.
They prayed in their agony that we should help
them. True to our culture and tradition we
sacrificed a great deal, gave them food and
shelter and sent them back to their homes after
ensuring that they could be safe and live there
in peace. "We
do not wish to expand or dominate or injure
anyone,"
Baba said after the conflict ended. His Will
prevailed. The Pakistani army surrendered,
administering indeed a pleasant surprise to
India. This happened barely a week before the
conference was due to start with more than 3000
delegates gathering at Madras from all over the
country.
Many had come
from outside India. The Cowans - Walter and
Elsie, Dr. John Hislop and many others came from
the USA. The Cowans returned home in April 1972.
At a gathering of 'Friends and Fellow Seekers'
Elsie said, "We have come from India, my husband
and I, brimful of the most astounding news that
can happen to anyone. It is so fantastic that
many of you may doubt it, because hardly any of
us realize the great importance and the
tremendous power of this Great High God, who not
only walks the earth but cares for all the
planes from earth to eternity. Walter died at
Madras. Sai Baba resurrected him." And Walter
confirmed, "While in the Connemara Hotel at
Madras, two days after I arrived, I was taken
very sick with pneumonia and was in bed. As I
gasped for breath, suddenly, all the body
struggle was over. I died."
During
the conference, Bhagavan inspired the
devotee-delegates to endeavor to translate
the love they bore for Him into acts of
service for those less fortunate than
themselves. He exhorted them to share their
resources, power and skills with others who
are also integral parts of the same God whom
they revere equally. Service must not become
a routine gesture, an exhibitionistic
activity or mere oral outpourings of
sympathy. 'All for one, one for all' is the
ideal towards which society should march.
Bhagavan castigated institutions and
individuals who deride holy festivals, defame
holy men, deny God and thereby undermine the
faith, charity, sincerity and honesty in man.
He pointed out that man had mastered vast
fields of knowledge, yet he had no knowledge
of himself. He limped, though his legs were
strong; he was insane, though his inside was
sound; he was deaf, though his ear was sharp.
The time had come to awaken him to this
absurdity and infuse confidence into his
behavior. Before the delegates left for their
homes, He directed that all traces of dislike
or distrust they may have had in their hearts
for Pakistan be drowned in the flood of
Universal Love that they had experienced.
"All mankind must be welcomed into the warm
fold of your love," He said.
In a letter to
the residents of Prasanthi Nilayam on the New
Year Day 1972, about the Madras conference, Baba
said,
"The
sessions of the conference gave Ananda
(bliss) to all. But more time and attention
was devoted to the needs of the tongue and
the stomach than to the needs of the Atman.
For those who have appetite for the Atman,
these cravings are trivial. It is best to
keep feeding and feasting at a low key. In
Madras this did not happen." Baba is
uncompromising in His emphasis on values. He
also explained, "Where material comforts are
overstressed, Ananda escapes. Sadhakas should
reckon that idle talk, voraciousness,
indulgence in backbiting and
scandalmongering, the denigration of others
and the exchange of flattery, are inveterate
enemies. Only those who avoid these evil
tendencies can earn Swami's grace. May you
deserve that grace in the year ahead.
Determine today to get out of the old ruts
and move along the paths laid down by
Sanathana Dharma. (universal eternal ancient
wisdom)"
A
College for Boys
The foundation
stone for a Sathya Sai College was laid on 16th
March 1972 on a vast piece of land lying
adjacent to Brindavan, near Whitefield. This
building was planned by Bhagavan as a unique
architectural gem, comparable in its
magnificence to the one which houses the women's
college at Anantapur. It had been designed as a
reservoir of Jnana
(spiritual knowledge,
wisdom),
promising to transform the land into a place of
peace and prosperity.
"Parents,
politicians and teachers are all responsible
for the extent to which the educational
system has deteriorated," Baba said. "In
education, as in all sectors of modern life,
borrowed ideals, imported systems and fickle
loyalties have brought disaster in their
train. Everyone is engaged in offering advice
or criticism, but none in actual execution to
set an example. When the students of this
college become leaders and teachers, the
number of persons able to voyage happily on
an even keel over the turbulent sea of life
will increase. Injustice, untruth and
unrighteousness will be recognized as
disgraceful and demeaning social evils,
instead of being tolerated and even
appreciated. Truth, justice, love and grace
shall soon return to earth. The
reorganization of education is one of the
means towards this end," Baba
declared.
His
People in Delhi
On 25th March
1972, Bhagavan arrived in Delhi for a ten-day
stay. Baba often begins His discourses to the
mammoth crowds before Him with the benediction,
"I
am most happy to share your Ananda and to find
you sharing My
Ananda."
Those ten days were spent in sustained ecstasy
and inexpressible, divine delight. After His
return to Prasanthi Nilayam, Baba spoke to a
gathering of devotees on the Delhi visit
thus:
"The
longing of My people in Delhi was so poignant
that it took nearly half an hour for Me to
alight from the plane.
Lakhs
of people presented themselves before My
residence and clamoured at all hours of the
day and night for Darsan. Unless one group
moved on, there was no room for the next to
get Darsan. I had to climb up to the terrace
so that the huge concourse could get a
glimpse of Me... Drawn by the Ananda that the
Darsan gives, masses of people from Meerut,
Jullunder, Patiala and some other distant
towns and villages gathered for Bhajan and
the discourses. On 1st April I agreed to go
to Kurukshetra during the hotter hours of the
day, since I did not like to disappoint the
Delhi crowds and deprive them of Darsan.
There, Gulzarilal Nanda had arranged a
meeting of ascetics and students at the
university campus. But there were three Lakh
people waiting for Me on that ground that was
familiar to Me as a field for corrective
teaching. I warned the Sanyasis (ascetics) of
the corrupting influence of institutionalism
and hierarchism. I told them to keep away
from the contamination of political
involvements."
Jogendranath
Joshi, an eye witness of the Kurukshetra meeting
writes, "Until Baba arrived, thousands of
students were surging in confusion and evidently
getting increasingly restless and unruly. But as
soon as He ascended the dais and looked around,
the wild emotions were soothed; apparently
menacing hordes were instantly transformed into
brigades of peace."
The U. S.
Ambassador at Delhi, Professor Keating, was so
impressed by the reverence that motivated the
Delhi crowds, that he said, "I cannot grasp the
full impact of Indian culture through the study
of books, nor can I vouchsafe for the
authenticity of the scriptures of this land...
but when I see in the capital city of this land,
in the seventh decade of the 20th century, a
phenomenon like this - five Lakh ardent men and
women milling round to get a heartening glimpse
of this five foot personality - I feel that I
can hear the heartbeat of this ancient
people."
Khushwant
Singh, then editor of The Illustrated Weekly of
India, wrote thus on this unique wave of
adoration that stunned the bustle of Delhi into
silence: "A traffic jam is a rare occurrence on
Delhi roads as kerbs are broader than in any
other city. But here it was - a traffic jam with
cars and buses snarling up all avenues within a
radius of two miles, the focal point being the
house where Sri Sathya Sai Baba was
staying."
Baba explained
it as the natural manifestations of the longing
for light and love. He deprecated expressions
such as 'Triumphal Entry', 'He Took Delhi by
Storm', etc., which the journalists used, as
also the word 'invaded' used by Ariel in his
column: "Last week Delhi was invaded by one of
India's most renowned mystics and seers, Sri
Sathya Sai Baba, who received a welcome from the
classes and the masses, more rapturous than most
welcomes Ariel has witnessed over the
years."
Baba said at
Prasanthi Nilayam,
"We
went to Meerut one evening, but the gathering
was so vast and thickly packed that the car
could not proceed to even within a mile of
the dais. We were advised to return to Delhi,
but the moans of the multitude persuaded Me
to appear before them on the platform. I sang
a few Bhajans, which the huge gathering
repeated after Me, line by line. Having
satisfied their thirst, I got back to the car
as mysteriously as I had ascended the dais. I
have been telling you since six or seven
years that the day when millions will gather
to benefit from the Avatar is approaching
close. I advise you to garner and to treasure
all the Upadesh (teaching) and bliss that you
can today, so that you can sustain yourselves
ruminating on the sweet memories of the
experience."
For Baba, as
for the millions, it was love, light and bliss
every moment. The News Chronicle reported an
incident which symbolizes the divine love:
"Baba's car was moving at quite a speed near
India Gate, when He suddenly asked the driver to
stop. Everyone was surprised at this. Baba got
down, crossed the road, went to an old man in
tattered clothes sitting on the pavement and,
bending down before him, materialized a ring
which He Himself put on one of the man's fingers
before returning happy to the car." Sri
Ramanujam of Newsweek fell in with a scooter
driver named Ashok Kumar, who had resolved to
give up his evil practice of overcharging his
customers the moment he had Baba's Darsan. The
impact of the divinity cleansed his heart of
vicious greed. Another incident worth recording
happened when Baba was at the American Embassy
with Professor Keating.
He materialized a ring and put it on the
Ambassador's finger, but the recipient was
rather unhappy since it was quite loose.
Noticing the embarrassment, Baba said, while
sitting at the table for tea, "It will be
tightened. You may ask how? Just as it came
unexplained, the ring will also be tightened by
itself."
When he rose after tea, Keating found, "It was
tight."
Baba
Invaded
Instead of
Baba invading Delhi, He offered Himself to be
invaded! He addressed a gathering of the
capital's elite at Kamani Hall and another of
over one hundred and fifty thousand citizens at
the play grounds of the Modern School. He spoke
to members of the Seva Samithi and the Seva Dal
who were engaged in various service activities
as part of the spiritual upliftment process
recommended by Him.
Back at
Brindavan, Baba decided to initiate another
great movement for teaching the wayward world
that God is not a tyrant up in Heaven, but a way
of life.
Shower
of Light in Summer
He planned the
month-long Summer Course on Indian Culture and
Spirituality in order to instil into students
the qualities of humility and reverence. Three
hundred students from various colleges all over
India, as well as seniors from the Sai college,
stayed in a camp and went through a
spiritually-oriented curriculum which centred
round our heritage of moral and spiritual
wisdom, intensive practice of positive
secularism and the study of the lives and
messages of mystics and saints of all creeds and
countries. More than all, Bhagavan Himself
graciously took on the role of author, producer,
director, preceptor, participant, provider and
instructor. Meera Bharani, a student at the
course, said, "We were inspired to adopt nature
as our teacher, life as our school and service
as our task." Onita Bahl, another participant,
said, "Bhagavan was the most taxed teacher at
the camp. He talked to us every evening and on
some days, in the morning hours also. He spent
most of the day with us - watching, consoling,
warming, cajoling and clarifying. He personally
supervised every detail of the daily schedule -
the recitation of
Om
(the Primordial Sound) in the early hours of the
day, the Nagarsankirtan,
the classes and the daily Bhajans, besides
conducting question-answer sessions every
Sunday. We asked him, 'Where does the soul
reside?' 'How can one conquer ignorance or
delusion (Maya)?' 'How should one meditate?'
'How is one to engage in action (Karma) without
being involved in consequence?' 'How does one
practise Pranayama (breath-control)? And so on.
He listened with compassion and analyzed our
problems in order to still the waves of doubt in
our minds through His highly illuminating
expositions. He filled our hearts with the gift
of grace. None of us can ever be the same
again."
The array of
intellectuals who had arrived from all parts of
the country, included pundits, professors,
vice-chancellors, writers, judges,
administrators, artists and poets all of whom
were thankful and happy for this opportunity
provided them. They, too, felt the impact of
divinity and benefited from the unique
experience. On the valedictory day Bhagavan told
the students,
"You
are all bright and beaming with inspiration
imbibed from the atmosphere of peace and
self-control, the vision you have gained of
your own reality, the sense of mission you
have acquired, the inner resolutions you have
formed and the invigorating lessons you have
assimilated. Now cherish with reverence what
these elders have taught you out of their
love for you. Go back happily with the
courage born of self-confidence. Share your
Ananda with your parents, friends, companions
and teachers. I shall be with you wherever
you are; you can never be alone and helpless
hereafter."
The
Mother's Role is Over
On
6th May when the summer course was progressing
ahead full steam, mother Easwaramma cast off her
mortal coil at about 8.00 a.m. at Brindavan, in
the very presence of her son, the Divine Avatar.
She was happy and in good spirits till the last.
When I paid my respects to her the previous
night, I had found her surrounded by children.
She was then narrating stories about Puranic
heroes, and the children kept insisting for one
more story before they unwillingly crept into
bed.
The passing
away of the Mother did not cause even a flicker
in Baba's demeanour. The left half of the
mausoleum at Puttaparthi wherein lay the body of
the Father, had been demarcated to serve as the
tomb for the Mother. So Baba had the sacred body
sent with a few volunteers to Puttaparthi, where
it was buried that same evening. The sudden
death plunged the village in gloom, as residents
of Prasanthi Nilayam bewailed the loss of their
Prema Matha (loving mother). The women devotees
had been orphaned by the death. They led the
long line of mourners who were invoking the Lord
through Bhajans, to grant them strength to bear
the loss. Meanwhile, at Brindavan, every item in
the schedule of the camp remained undisturbed.
"Duty-Devotion-Discipline,"
Baba always emphasises. The few who knew what
had happened, dared not spread the news without
the specific permission of Baba, for whom death
was but a curtain drop, a wink in the
wakefulness of the eternal, a footstep to be
followed by another in the soul's march to its
source. Even when the Father passed away at
Puttaparthi, the event did not disturb the
normal routine at Prasanthi Nilayam. Baba's
emphasis on duty and discipline as the two banks
of the stream of devotion, was seen in action
that day, the sixth of May.
On
20th July Baba inaugurated, at Puttaparthi
village, the
Easwaramma High
School,
a fitting memorial to the universal affection
with which Easwaramma had evoked the goodness
dormant in thousands of rural and urban women
and children. Baba declared, "This village will
certainly be uplifted when more of its children
receive higher education. The new teachers who
will reside in the village will spread both
knowledge and the enthusiasm to earn it."
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Bhajans
[*]
Itihaas:
Vivekananda's Speeches at Parliament of
Religion:
about the intercultural situation of the world
religions.
[**]
BG,
Chapter 4, verse
8:
paritrânâya
sâdhûnâm
vinâsâya ca duskrtâm
dharma-samsthâpanârthâya
sambhavâmi yuge yuge
To
liberate the seekers of truth, to take the power
away from the wicked ones and to reestablish the
way of the human principles I do appear age
after age.