NOVEMBER 13, 2011 - A Devotee Speaks!

Om Sairam dearest Sai Family,

Greetings from the holy land of our beloved Lord. The 86th Birth Anniversary of our beloved Lord has officially started with Akhanda bhajan starting at sharp 6PM (IST) with a short introductory note from Prof.Anil Kumar. The Akhanda Bhajan started with Shuklam baradaram and Maha Ganapathey namostuthe bhajan.

In a beautifully lit evening with very pleasant temperature seated in the most beautiful Sai Kulwanth hall, watching our beautiful Lord's beautiful Mahasamadhi, my thoughts went to exactly 12 months ago when this place was buzzing with thousands and thousands of devotees. Every one were busy in some way or other. The Prasanthi Management was literally walking on their toes with so much of work to complete and since it was the 85th year, there were high expectations on the whole event.With His immense grace it was a grand grand success and a perfect gratitude to the Avatar of this Age.



REAL TEST:

Going back to my thoughts, i was saying, Swami! With Your immense grace and compassion You have given us everything that we asked for, every thing that we couldn't even think of having, came in our way, At one stage, With all Your pampering we even forgot that the real purpose of Your DESCEND was for our ASCEND. We all became so selfish that we were asking "what is that You will give us when we come to You and what is that You will bring for us when You come to visit us".We completely ignored the real thing that You wanted from us. To be precise we haven't done anything that would please You...



Before we could realise our shortcomings, Swami decided to leave His body. Post Mahasamadhi the REAL TEST started. Every Devotee was in some kind of stress or other. There were many of our own non-devotee friends laughing at us, why friends, few members of our own family who didn't follow Swami made fun of us and let us feel that we were completely wrong in choosing the Sai Path which indeed was a REAL test for all of us.With His grace we were able to overcome this crucial period of our lives quite successfully but it is still "work in progress"..



In my own example, Pre-Mahasamadhi, where ever I went when i tell them that I am from Puttaparthi even non-believers said O How lucky you are!! We haven't seen Sai Baba yet but we adore His simplicity and the great work He did for the society. Literally the same people Post-Mahasamadhi said, O we have to change our opinion and then they start bombarding with so many irrelevant, useless, inconvenient and unwanted questions about all that happened or was misinterpreted by some vested interests in the society.



Be it because of the strong attachment we had for Swami or to His organisation, all of us, at one stage or other became bit emotional and also bit disturbed with all that was told and shown in the Media.No matter what happened, how it happened, for us Swami was/is our beloved Mother, Father and a dear friend. What ever we are today is His mercy. Without His divine love, we wouldn't have been what we are today. Every problem that we faced He taught us to just say "passing clouds". He reminded us that there is just PIECES outside and PEACE is within.



To be born in His time is verily a sign that we all are His beloved ones no matter how close or far we were to His physical form, but we have a very crucial role to play in His mission in our own humble and simple ways.



SWAMI AND THE TRUST:

Pre-Mahasamadhi, for us only the TRUST on Swami mattered a lot than SWAMI'S TRUST. We all came to experience that TRUST through His love and compassion. Atleast 99% of us didn't have any clue about the Trustees or the Trust. We were TOO BUSY in intensifying, strengthening our TRUST on Swami, now we all know it has turned the other way round. Knowingly or unknowingly we have put Swami on the back seat and have been flooded in the WAVE OF DELUSION and mis interpretation of various facts.



This again was/is Swami's TEST.. a real test which we never thought of. It was a thorough FILTRATION process to retain the real devotees and this time Swami's filter had very big holes and many of our own Sai Family members either left the organisation or started to stay away from various Sai Activities. Sisters and Brothers, i heard so many such incidents that happened post Mahasamadhi where some one had to leave but one thing is very clear Swami will never ever leave us. Only a OPPORTUNIST, Selfish and Egoistic person will leave the Sai organisation. The one with strong faith will never part his way no matter what is told and seen.



Very interestingly, on the other hand, double the number of new devotees have come into Sai fold. Those are the people who had never been to Parthi nor seen Swami in His physical form. A fortnight ago, I was seated next to a Brazilian devotee and he was telling, out of 25 members in his group 23 of them have come to Parthi for the first time and every one of them were experiencing immense happiness and peace in Parthi. He himself being a first timer said, Baba is very much here, i feel His presence, I feel His energy and this is just fantastic place and I thank Baba for letting me to come to His abode.



OMNIPRESENT SWAMI:



All of us have to agree the fact that Swami is seen and felt in various places to many many devotees after He left His physical form which reiterates the fact and also reminds us that He is very much with us and even if we try to leave Him, He will never part from us. In the recent past there were so many instances where many devotees saw Swami's physical form in Sai Kulwanth hall. The other day a poor girl and her family from West Bengal came to Sai Kulwanth hall for Mahasamadhi darshan. It was their maiden visit to Parthi. The following day she was scheduled to see the doctors in Swami's Super Speciality hospital for her heart problem. The little girl saw Swami (in Sai Kulwanth Hall) very clearly and apparently He even spoke to her in Bengali language and asked her to go back to home and there is no need for heart operation.. The parents who were initially bit apprehensive decided to go back home and the medical check ups later confirmed that the hole in the heart was completely cured. Now what can we say about the great compassion of our Lord. We can see Him every time we want to, provided we are in the RECEPTIVE mood.



Last month when Sri.Puppet from the UK was here in Parthi, said thus which made me say how true?? I asked him as how he felt about Puttaparthi post Mahasamadhi and he said "Satish! how unfortunate I am that our Lord is able to see me but I am not able to see Him" how true is that statement which is applicable to many of us. We didn't understand Him while He was around physically and before we realised it was too late...



Sisters and Brothers, close to 7 months have passed now. So much has said and done about Swami leaving His form. Even we devotees discussed a lot about it. Many of our discussions were of no use as they were all based on the imaginary media reports. What happened, why it happened is not possible for our limited minds to interpret. Rather let us show the same concern for our own spiritual well-being. It is also high time for us to give up grieving on His Physical departure. Swami would never like that. Our beloved Swami's name has to shine like Him, His glory has to be sung in every nook and corner of this Universe, His mission is now in our hands.



Now the whole world is watching the Sai Family. Many evil minded and narrow minded people have already written off about the future of our organisation. Little do they know that Swami has very clearly said that His Trust would stay till the sun and Moon exists in this Universe and with His divine blessings devotees would take His mission forward with much more intensity.



Come lets celebrate this 86th Birth anniversary of our beloved Lord by visiting Parthi, to promise Swami that we will re-dedicate ourselves in Swami's divine mission. Let's pledge to our Sai Ma that we will never do anything that would make Her unhappy. Let this 86th year of the Advent be a very grand success like the 85th Birthday. Lets use this as an opportunity to SILENCE the vested interests who made fun of us, who underestimated our love for Swami who defamed us, questioned our integrity. No matter how busy you are in your personal and professional life, spare a day or two to take part in the 86th Birth anniversary of our beloved Lord. Make this pilgrimage to Parthi as a THANKS GIVING to our beloved Lord for all the sacrifice He did for us, Make this pilgrimage to Parthi to promise our beloved Lord, that we will take His mission forward according to the Divine Plan, Make this pilgrimage to Parthi to feel and experience our beloved Lord's Love and Compassion.



Just as He wore white robe with golden border during His birthdays, quite coincidentally He is now watching us from His white with golden bordered Mahasamadhi, ever loving, ever giving, ever compassionate Lord is waiting for us to bless us with His divine grace so as to make us worthy enough to be His chosen instruments.



Sisters and Brothers, come to Parthi, our beloved Lord is waiting for you..

Hand in hand, lets move to FOLLOW OUR MASTER, FACE THE DEVIL, FIGHT TO THE END, FINISH THE GAME....

With pranams at the Lotus feet of our beloved Lord,