A Self-Audit Checklist for Behavioral Performance as a Swami Devotee

The following checklist samples out some of the questions a devotee should ask themselves when they want to assess how well they are doing as a Swami follower. Sometimes, we notice an invisible spiritual ego rising in us, making our bosom swell with the feeling that we are doing many things like Swami counselled us and inflate our pride. In-order to diffuse and deflate any such invalid thoughts, once in a while we need to take such self-audits to keep us grounded. We can also try associating ourselves with other people who we notice, are doing more good deeds than we do, so that we don't feel spiritually pompous. 

1. Do you sing your Bhajans and chant mantras from your heart and not mechanically repeat 

or sing for the sake of doing ?

2. Are you able to be at your polite most behavior with your closed ones when they do

something that normally will make you angry ?

3. Are you able to think of Swami at all times in every work you do ?

4. Are you chanting the Sai Gayathri regularly ?

5. Are you talking sweetly and with all humility , to your parents at all times ?

6. Do you see difference between people of different religions ?

7. Do you thank Swami at least once a day from your heart for the blessings you already have ?

8. Have you forgiven at least one person for the hurt they have done and surrendered the hurt, 

the pain , the anger and regret and all emotion to the feet of Swami ?

9. Do you chant Bhramarpanam everytime before you eat something or atleast think of swami

before you eat/drink something ?

10. Do you talk to people obligingly even though you don’t like what they tell ?

11. Do you chant the Gayathri mantra at least 9 times every day , 3 each morning, noon and 

night ?

12. Are you able to help someone without looking for any benefits of Good Karma in return ?

13. Have you lost any bad habits which you were suffering from , post Swami’s involvement?

14. Do you respect other gurus, religious heads and saints ?

15. Are you able to maintain equilibrium during happy and tough times with belief in swami 

that he is aware of everything and that he will take care of everything completely ?

16. Have you inspired in cultivating good habits by behaving well and not explicitly asking 

them to change their bad habits ?

17. Have you read the Sai Sathcharithra at least once respectfully with faith ?

18. Do you visit temples and offer worship to the Gods once in a while, in an effort to recharge

your energies ?

19. Do you take part in charity for feeding poor people and not merely sending donations as

monetary gifts ?

20. Do you feed animals, birds once in a while to prove that you have understood that swami is

there in animals and birds as well and you realize his omnipresence ?

21. Do you pine for swami like with earnest sincerity and pure love or simply doing things what 

he said mechanically ?’

22. Do you practice proper use money, food , time and water and take all efforts and care to

not waste them at any cost and only use them as required ?

23. Do you chant Rama Nama as much as possible ?

24. Have you gone through any of the Vahini books of Swami and understood the contents ?

25. Do you feel the presence of Swami at every second, talk with him , involve him in everything

you do to show him you understand that he is watching you always ?

26. Do you divert the praise coming your way for the good deeds you do/did towards Swami , 

in word and reality and not claim the credit of having done a sathkarma ?

27. Have you been able to distract yourself when an uncontrollable feeling of physical lust or 

mental jealousy or physical anger overtook you , by some one or something , and immediately 

remind yourself that "all are god, love all serve all , help ever , hurt never" , thereby disabling 

the bad thought immediately or gradually? 

samastha lokah sukhino bhavanthu

A Christmas-Thanksgiving Tribute To Swami

 

Sairam , Dear all !!!  

May more and more Swami thoughts dress you whenever you become naked with worldly stray thoughts. One must underscore that line again and absorb. To be without thoughts of swami is as raw, primitive, deformed and naked one can be. In order to live with dignity, with a strong moral compass, a heart that fearlessly beats for love out of love with no fuel from outside but purely engineered from the inner urge of volcanic love to spring forth tears of gratitude for Swami and his merciful decision , to come and wake us up for post-birth processing towards liberation. We have reached December of this challenging year, a year which has tested all our anchors with the storm of the pandemic situation, many are still struggling to keep themselves afloat. Let us hold hands this moment entreat to the divine, making their case, pleading for all those who need support and to all those who are not asking for it. May all be blessed !

As I was clicking swimming through my youtube feed of swami bhajans, I came across a lilting Sai Bhajan in English celebrating Christmas, a popular "Love is my form.." one. Link : Bhajan URL  . Wah, the music, the way swami sang , the simplicity but directness in the lyrics just suffocated all the evil out off me so much that , the bad thoughts that were living in my mind without rent , have escaped and ran for their lives after listening to an attacking incoming Swami Bhajan. I could literally feel the positive spring in me well up , as the dirt slowly raised from the bottom and swami slowly skimmed off the upcoming dirt. It is for this reason, I sometimes jokingly imagine that, Swami allows some dirt and bad stuff to form and enter in us, just to push us closer towards him.  Otherwise, how will we know, how to keep moving towards him. This life is but one of those journeys towards the Savitur, the Origin and just like we don't feel the rotation of earth when we are inside, unless we face earthquakes to realize, that we have so much happening below us. Sometimes, he takes us through a certain incident , an experience, gets our hands a bit dirty so that he has an excuse to hold our hands and wash it, and drag us closer. Otherwise, how many of us are intelligent enough to request him to pull us closer to him without a trigger ? May be that's why he repeatedly stressed on maintaining equanimity as the Ideal behavior of a Sai Devotee.

The after effect of the Bhajan, got me inspired into writing a poem thanking him and here we are . My hands haphazardly dancing over the keyboard to convey the thoughts as they are coming out one after like a water ride. 

Oh Sai, Thanks for bringing me out as a human , 

So that I can finally appreciate the existence of God, 

Oh Sai, Thanks for making me get a healthy body, 

So that I can use this to execute all my sadhanas towards reaching you , 

Oh Sai, Thanks for making me see , hear and talk , 

So that I can see your Lotus form, hear your voice and sing your bhajans ,

Oh Sai, Thanks for giving me a proper family ,

So that, there is someone around me to take care of me until I was ready to serve you

Oh Sai, Thanks for entering my Consciousness, 

So that, I can recollect why I was born and what I should strive for, 

Oh Sai, Thanks for taking out my fear of Death ,

So that , I understand that the body perishes but the soul would have merged into thou

Oh Sai, Thanks for the Athmic separation from you ,

So that, I can re-enjoy, re-live the Bliss of Merging back into you for Good !!!

Merry Christmas everyone !!! 

All praise to our Lord, Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba !!!

SamasthaLokah Sukhino Bhavanthu !!!

Sai Baba - The "Kali Yuga Manava Sarathy"

JaiSaiRam !

Swami , in many of his discourses pulls out strands of pearls from the Song of God, more popularly known as the "Bhagavad Gita" . The essence of this gem of a book , is so vast ,& deep so much so that , unless for the self-realized one , no body will do 100% justice to translating the meaning to get to the most simplest men that walked the grounds of earth.  Only when we , as human beings as a race realized the what-how of things , we can then help the other living beings on earth , flora and fauna included.  The ultimate goal is to transform all of us , everything around us , into reflections of the super divine , and none of the casings around us ,the bodies, the exterior , is true but well engineered Illusion by Maya herself.  He often reminds us 

"Anor Aniyan Mahato Mahiyan - He is greater than the greatest and smaller than the smallest ..." ,

Sentences like these make us wonder about ourselves, who we really are , are we really who we think we are ,is god just what we think we are.  In the already chaotic world we live in, when one begins this quest for self discovery , the wave of thoughts is one tough wave to surf on. This sudden proclamation , the shocking unlearning of the things , that we thought had nothing more than how much we knew about it already, causes serious shock to the mental psyche and puts us in a trance . When we are in this state, swami, comes rushing, opens the door and sits in the chair waiting for us to catch hold of that feet and say "It's you from now on. I have no clue, oh Srinivasa , oh Parameshwara, oh ParaBhrama" . 

            

My own association with swami started on a dramatic note, Swami sometimes like to have some fun, he likes to make a cinematic entrance in our lives, for we as humans respond to those things better. Rare and Blessed are those, who on their own accord realize the enormity of the divinity ,of swami and begin to work on their life keeping Swami in the middle. Like in the Mahabharatha, where Swami , in the Krishna avatar , played the role of Arjuna's charioteer , in the catastrophic War of the millenium  even in this Kali yuga, Swami has been making inroads into our lives silently, when we least expect him to come, and help us understand that the only way OUT , is by going IN. Swami is still the "Kali Yuga Manava Sarathy", or the charioteer of the human hearts in the Kali age. 

                                                             

People and elders often express disdain saying , only evil , vile , injustice , lies , untruth and all things bad take center stage in kali age and God doesn't come in Kali age. The happenings around us, largely convince us, that even the Gods will think twice to place a toe here amidst all the dirt. But , is that true ? Did we forget, Maha Periyava , The Shankaracharyas , The Yukteshwars , Raghavendra Swamiji , Ramana Maharishi etc ? Each one these stalwarts, are indeed reflections of the Divine . They knew none of this was real and adopted a way of living , that taught us how to be on the "highway to heaven" . Otherwise, we keep making stops at each and every sense-pull , making detours, falling down, getting lost, unless due to our fortune or sheer divine mercy , some guide comes along in the form of an Avatar and processes our existence, and reorients us in the path , the ONLY path that matters. The pathetic thing here is, we are so caught up with our luggage, our own so called Goals, Destinations, co-passengers, that we turn a blind eye to the fact that we came alone, we are supposed to leave this temporal existence and steadfastly , singularly travel in our chosen paths(religions) towards the Source of Divine that pulls us towards the Almighty. We are so convinced that, what we see is what is ALL there, and the unseen is but illusion , when ironically it is the vice versa. The unseen Divine light, remains unseen until we make a desperate attempt, an urgent plea to wake up from ignorance, to avert our eyes from the sleep , as what we see or hear or feel , happens with our eyes closed. Our eyes , even with the shutters down, have a superb theater , the movies of which keep us engaged. Some of us watch the good ones, some of us doze off, some of us watch the bad ones. But , our eyes are still closed. Only when an avalanche of an avatar comes to our help, gives us a nudge, carefully to not shock us , but at the same time capture our attention, we cease travelling further towards these unreal destinations with our eyes closed. One must ever be vigilant to what they see, hear and do , like swami's pose here. 

                                                               

If we ourselves don't record what kind of a person we are, then we keep ignoring the conscience and do actions and think thoughts that are but baseless and shallow.  Swami, in his presence , when he walked and lived with us , in the body, gave darshan to millions. Why we called it Darshan ? Simply put, it means "sight" . What were we blind before ? Didn't we 'SEE' things earlier ? With the aforementioned explanation, does it now make sense for you , why it was called Darshan or the "Actual vision, Sight " that mattered in reality ? He was walking with us, making us watch him, see him, with all the senses directed at him, touching his feet, smiling and crying in bliss, smelling his lotus presence, capturing his physical form as much as the eyes can swallow , for we missed this. We had been missing this like a fish out of water, but we didn't realize it. The moment, we tasted his enigmatic presence, none of anything what we were , doesn't amount to anything.  In swami's words "I challenge you and tempt you everyday with your past, so that you may see that the past is ultimate delusion".  Personally too, I can attest to this. I had a big baggage of bad thoughts, evil desires which I secretly relished like a Pig eating Filth , but neither did I know that I was relishing discard and I was a Pig. But, the graceful almighty , the man with a heart as soft as wax , didn't even care for his own purity, he came through the mud ,the dirty  mud where I was hopelessly wrestling , with other pigs, caught me by the ear , dragged me out , gave me a bath, fed me the actual nectarine food, and made me see what I had been doing all this while, and What I should be doing from now on. The previous sentence is as real , as I can put forth, the story of my Life. Swami made me human again , only to again work with me, that I am not just human, but indeed Divinity in Human casing. Do we now realize how much help we need? 

The moment, we had our senses washed and cleansed in the detergent called Sai Baba, all we want is HIM, while he proceeds to help the others in queue, those like us who have no clue what they are doing and what's about to happen. While he "appears" to move away from us, to help others, we again become naive babies, while we start crying for his attention and don't want him to move away from us, for just we got a taste of what divine love is. Looking at our baby like innocence, all he can do is get into peals of laughter, like this 

                                                 

when in reality he never left us . Just like God made copies oh himself and created humans, Swami makes copies of himself all around the globe , giving his personalized attention to our cases, and we don't realize our own "self-appointed" swami, but we begin to yearn for the swami's copy that "appears" to move away from us. He enjoys this yearning , because, again this is a test. Whether we pay attention to swami, whether we still are in the same track that he showed us, whether we still continue to represent the ideals that he recently reminded us. The moment, we assume swami moved on and we end up getting caught in the same quicksand that swami removed us from ,  one never knows when we will get the next chance to be saved. But, on the contrary, when we abide by our new found virtues and ethics, when we continue to groom our dharma, swami continues to bless us, by our side by giving visions in dreams, by pulling in people , who also have their own swami's partnering them,  while the swami with us talks with the swami of the other person. The swami with us does all the talking with the swami's with other people ,as long as we imagine, we are different from swami. The moment, the force of our Karma, the good deeds, the strength of our divine grace reached its peak, we ourselves become Swami himself we will notice we are no longer standing, but we are "existing" . Like the light in the Sun, like the water in the clouds, like the whiteness of the moon, we simply exist in divine company and we cease to DO anything. We Simply Be. To reach this state , it all starts from having the good fortune , to first realize that we have our own swami with us and all that binds us with him is pure selfless faultless doubtless singular love, from "heart to heart" like swami says often.  "I want heart to heart connection , love to love. I don't want anything else from you. " .  Ever since Swami , silently goes invisible, he still stays with us, beside us,with us,within us, around us, before and after us, above and below us, Swami exists with us, as long as we continue to foster and groom the Love-to-Love connection from ourselves to Swami . That is the magnet that binds us with him. If we start accumulating bad things again, if we fail to realize the swami in others, slowly this magnetism begins to erode and Swami alone decides when he will give us the next opportunity for this soul-cleansing.  This is the reason why swami emphasizes that, our conscience is the actual Chithragupta, the recorder of each and every deed and thought we fathom.  The moment we realize Swami's presence with us, our thoughts and actions get transformed , cleansed , for the better. Even during struggles , we don't feel the pain, the pang of the sorrow, for we hold onto swami's hands tightly, and he makes it easy. Sometimes, he raises his hands to prevent a blow from hitting us, even IF it was destined to hit us. But, to warrant such a blessing, one must work real hard to win his grace. No one can fool Swami. The goal is to not escape from all our punishments, for Karmic Laws are meant to be experienced. BUT they can be waived, if we lose the connection that WE did the karma, WE sinned, WE did that good deed, WE did the right thing. As long as we see our identity in everything we do, we experience the good and the bad. But if we erase of the WE/I from them, they no longer exist, you don't expect the karma good or bad to return at you like a Frisbee,  as Swami would have already absorbed it for us, while we attempt to merge and get absorbed into Swami himself. 

SamasthaLokah Sukhino Bhavanthu

Swami's Unique method of Encouraging "Good Thoughts"

Sairam ! 

One of the best things being a Sai Devotee , a Sai child , is that , nothing is ever theoretical . Be it the sayings you read of Swami , on the net , from his discourses , email alerts , app alerts or verses from the Sathcharithra ,  if at all a particular sentence was supposed to enter our system , it always comes with a practical implementation . It's upto us to be constantly focused on Swami , to understand and map our events , thoughts with Swami's leelas.  While I have been embracing Swami's verses, pictures every time I sit on the net ,  I began to get a thought that , I should compare and try to draw parallels on what swami had told in his Shiridi Sai avatar , by re-reading the Satcharithra . But I never pursued it , though I was aware of my growing interests to read the book . The last time I completed a reading was when I was in the Americas and I had a blessed chance to go to a Sai Baba temple at a place little far my hotel . Saibaba as usual arranged the whole event . I was one day , in the pantry , watching Swami's videos when a not so close friend ,a lady , apparently a Sai devotee came up for some small talk and he mischievously entered our conversation . Then he went inside her and made her tell me that there is a Sai temple at a place, solely dedicated for Shiridi baba and it's worth going . My heart leaped, but immediately frowned , how will I go there , because it will take up and down 85 $ minimum . Then I thought , I can approach my Manager who accompanied me , in some temple trips . He immediately was in the mood to go a temple and said ,I can take you , there is also a Balaji temple nearby , so we can visit both of them . I was suffused with happiness . The way Swami connects people towards good thoughts , giving a benefit for everyone ! So I went to this temple , again by sheer fortune , I had last 2-3 chapters to be completed in my current parayan and I completed it in front of his sannidhi , while he was watching me , like this ,

 

and I went and took pada namaskar of the marble feet installed on both the places there , some udi and offered a very humble dakshina . One more amazing thing to note here is , rarely does one notice Sathya Sai Bhajans played in Shiridi Sai Temples ,as the progress of the devotees is not the same , when it comes to realizing the unity of the avatar and they remain , parallel lanes , which is not really a good thing.  But here, when I was inside , I heard Sathya Sai bhajans and my faith in the FACT that they are both one and the same was Reinforced yet again . 

The location of the temple is this : 

Shri Shirdi Sai baba Mandir Chicago,

Sai Samsthan USA,

1101 Foran Lane,

Aurora,

IL60506, 

USA. 41° 46' 46.2324" N,
88° 20' 10.914" W

Coming back to my latest thought to read the Satcharithra, One of my cousins  who lives in Canada , vaguely texted in a family group about reading the Satcharithra . I initially didnt pursue that message , but something made me ask him what was it about and I came to know there were groups of people reading the Satcharithra , chapter wise, in groups of groups every thursday  . Soon ,a lady messaged me, some folks reached out to me and I was inducted into the Mahaparayan Club [ https://experiences.mahaparayan.com/ ] ,where there are classes of 4 groups each , where for each roll number , 2 chapters are allocated and we are supposed to read and confirm the same on a Thursday . What are the odds . Now , Swami has chosen the program so smartly for me . He didn't weigh me down , with the sankalapa of reading it everyday , or within a week , but relaxed ,  through many weeks while I assimilate the contents of those two chapters for that week .  

I mean , what else can you ask for ? He gives the thought , he makes our monkey mind pursue that thought , he encourages that thought , he arranges the people and resources to put that thought in motion , he connects the actions of all those involved , thereby spreading his vibes across his selected group of children , as usual achieving more than one mango on one stone.  He also fulfilled his characteristic enigmatic way of encouraging good thoughts by pulling different people on a sadhana that binds all of us together . If someone does all the work for us, from the brain's functioning to living our life the way the mind moves , I think , focusing our mind & thoughts on Swami with selfless love in our heart for him, is all what we need to do . For he has told in the Surrender Prayer as follows :

"Let Me take care of all your business. I shall be the one who will think about them. I am waiting for nothing else than your surrender to Me, and then you do not have to worry any more about anything. Say farewell to all fears and discouragement. Stop being anxious ! I always think of you, but I can help you completely only when you rely fully on Me I shall guide you only if you completely surrender to Me. And when I must lead you on a different path than the one that you expect, I carry you in My arms."

SamasthaLokah Sukhino Bhavanthu

Effects of Sai Worship

                                                                        Jai Sai Ram

Sai ram to the reader. As the twin powers of the Lord's two avatars , from his bodies from Shiridi and Parthi keep oscillating in my mind , blessing me with a variety of poses, emotions , deep realizations ,one of those days it dawned upon me how the power of the parthi avatar of Swami has greatly transformed me so invisibly yet so emphatically. The Sai avatar may not have been exposed to the entire Earth, but to those who Swami decided to expose his luminous glow , only those who have been in its presence physically or spiritually know what a blessed shower of munificence it is , of the Gods , or perhaps God, the ultimate Paramathma . The same athmic power which swami repeatedly emphasized is in all of us, when he addressed us as "Divyathmaswaroopulara" . The love he bore for us, was so personalized, yet collective. It is only in the capacity of  the level of Swami , a power of his caliber, that can make us all relate to him in one-on-one contexts, yet gather our united spiritual antennae when we hear the magic word Sathya sai or Swami , because the same electricity flowed through our flawed existences.  He gives us visions, indications, gentle nudges that remind us how to connect with swami. He is there around us, over us, yet he is there with us holding our hands. Like a hand of hands. 

This omkara swaroopa, ever since he knocked on the ignorant confines of my malformed intellect , has been working tirelessly in cleaning up the mess I had accumulated over my existence in these formative years of mine. Had I lived a better Life, a life of better decisions , I would have been granted a direct interview with him in his physical body but the force of the dirt I had relished putting all over me like a pig in mud, has made him bless me from a distance. I could sense someone or some power constantly looking out for me, in every step, every breath but I could rarely experience the Light with it's real intensity . I have no pride in saying I had made bad decisions over these years, decisions that gave me temporal sense of worthless transitory happiness . Sometimes, somebody was put in my life to partner with me in a bad decision, sometimes I voluntarily piled sand over my head. Yet , somehow, through the force of some good Karma on my charts, I kept in touch with God, Sai Baba , that time with his previous body as Shiridi Sai . My bhakthi was inconsistent . I used to have deep love some days , some days I used to switch of the vision of my Guru looking at me and engage in a vile act like he never existed. What shameless guts I had, to come and stand in front of his picture the next day , when I had taken a bad decision. You might wonder , what is this "bad decision"  that I keep referring. To put it in simple terms, any decision that one takes, that makes him forget or not think of his Guru aka God, any decision that a person takes with the intention of seeking some gains out of it, which is not selfless, which does not remind him/ her of their blessings , every time you get immeresed in the illusionary sense of "ego" , or the "I"  principle, not realizing that through thick and thin ,God or Guru is mixed with our Life force is a poor decision. 

I realized , how gently yet persuasively Swami had taken control of my ignorant existence as he couldn't see someone throw away their Life, when by his own grace they had the name of 'Sai' on their Lips. To reiterate, I sometimes feel , I went through what I went through , the bad phase, the poor decision phase, as a result of my own bad karma yet by the power of my own good karma and his grace , my lips bothered to chant 'Sai ram , Sai ram.'  One of those days when I began to realize the presence of Swami in my life, I was down in the cafeteria of the Hotel where I was staying in the USA . They served drinks every monday though wednesday every week as a Hotel tradition. Drinking is as normal as swimming there, in their way of life, unlike the way it is Hyped here in India. Anyway, I was strolling through that day's menu , when my eyes caught the bottles kept in ice racks and people nonchalantly grabbing a bottle or two once in a while. I went near - this was the power of my bad karma. I was about to take make a bad decision. Yet, through some invisible force, I was stopped midway . Like some kind of Internal me inside me, that pulled me back - this was my conscience, my good karma . In other words, swami himself. It was not a vehement rejection of wine. It was an informed decision taken in a state of good mental equilibrium, with no regrets or force. Just how gently but cautiously a mighty elephant avoids trampling over a sleeping house cat.  I was reminded of Swami's word play in some of his discourses where he talks about "divine, deep wine" . Things continued to control me like this. What gave me delight was , every time I corrected my impulse from making a poor decision, I was able to relate to one of Swami's many discourses , some strong statements or popular jokes he cracked with the intention of making us get the message in a way we ignorant creatures understood.  

Some nights, I used to get a glimpse of Swami in my dreams, I used to try to understand the meaning of the vision , but I soon give up the attempt when I get distracted into thinking with joy that "swami came in my dream". As days passed , through his own grace, Swami made me to be in touch with him through his private personalized instructions for me. The light of Swami grew in me. I increasingly became conscious of my imperfections. The light dawned in me , inside me, on me, that made me realize how misshapen things where there in my mansion, which I thought were perfect. Every word , before I uttered, went through a filter in my conscience "Will this please swami, Is this Sai Approved, Will Swami approve off this" . My mind did this filtering in the few milliseconds before my proud tongue started tickling my throat to conjure up words out of my being.  Every action I was about to do,  went through a similar screening. One of the important changes in me, among other personal ones was in the way how I began to see my parents, the way I treated them , the manner in which I spoke to them . Not that I was a bad child , but beyond my belief that I was a good son to my parents , Swami brought to light the areas of improvements that began to improve my relationship with my parents. See, that's the beauty of being a Sai devotee. It is not just correction of bad to good that happens, but good to better as well ,and so on. You tend to be a better version of yourself and it is an evolving continuous ceaseless process.  

I used to hopelessly yet earnestly look at the various swami pictures, wall hangings that I artfully created out of Love for seeing Swami , to see if there was some Udi manifestation. I am still such a child, but the desire to validate if Swami still loved me, If swami is still there around me unfortunately looks up for tangible proofs like these, when the actual magic is happening within me in an intangible manner, without me noticing.  One of these days, it is going to happen. Swami will manifest and materialize things that will make me understand how much he loves me, how I should love him even more . But that's not the goal . So what happens next ? One day udi comes in one of the pictures. Does that mean, I reached the mountain top as a Sai devotee?  Does that mean ,I am liberated ?  I leave it to your judgement . Swami's love for me, you and all of us is an ever happening process, and when Swami feels that we have served our time and purpose, he absorbs us into his energy like air mixes with air , like water molecules mix with each other . Until then, we have to consciously make an effort to singularly point all our actions, thoughts, words, all of our prana towards the avataric shakthi , the sarva shakthi rupa , the bhaktha hrudayavasa , Sai Narayana and allow him to do his work on us as he wills. In simple words , like one of those videos where one Sai brother puts it, we must simply Surrender and Shut up.

Samasthalokah Sukhino Bhavanthu

Life - Through the eyes of Sai

Jai Sai Ram 

A garden , that grew out of nowhere , with resources that are insufficient even for a weed to sprout , Sai Rama , your life is a Jyothi , a prema Agni , that merely came out of a spark of Divinity . A spark  is all what it took , as the Gods,  manifested themselves on earth through your body . Watching the story of your life, though the superb videos put together by the Radio Sai team , presented by Blessed Brothers Arvind and Prem , I don't know where to begin , realizing you . Where shall I start looking at you , are my two eyes powered enough to consume the vision you granted ,to cover the gigantic frame of Prema Agni you are . As these two brothers pointed out , more and more as we listen to his stories , they act as pellets of remedy for the soul , that requires so much healing and shaping . We ,as humans don't even realize that we need a healing , at an athmic level  and listening to your stories, are the antibiotics for the soul . I am not suggesting that the athma within is having illness or is impure , as Swami repeatedly emphasized with such noble humility and steeped love, that we are all also Gods, we are also sparks of the same divine aura that he is . It is just that, we don't know these things as sheaths and sheaths of Sanskara and Earthly illusion has clouded our Intellect , giving us delusions and false imagery of the so called  Human Intelligence, and we forgot, to see within , where he is seated from within . Being filled to the brim , by Pure Selfless , Divine Love, I deeply empathize the Uncontrollable , Enormous Pressure you might have been in , Oh Sai Rama . 

How much Self Control , Restraint , Self Discipline , Rules and Laws you were adhering , even as a super dominant portion of you wanted to Love us more and more . For God himself, in his full capacity , to come down to Bhooloka , Earth , live among us trapped souls , what might have been the level of Dharma in you , that might have been present , to prevent you from granting us Instant Moksha , Instant Liberation , Instant Pardon and take us all back into the Athma, the God , the high mountain you often refer . I am so shaken , oh Swami , when you loved us with so much magnitude, yet , the pressure you might have been going through all through your life in that body , trying to not step over the Karmic Timetable we , as your devotees need to endure. Your situation is so similar to how a Head Professor , who knew all the answers to all the questions to a very difficult Exam , stood beside a student , who's hands start sweating after seeing the Question paper . How much urge you might have had to control , to not tell the devotee ( student) the answers, with you standing so close by , yet, ensuring , we go through the Karma, the Deed of experiencing what's meant to be, though you had full power to take it up all on you ? Oh sai rama ,your face illumined with that divine Smile, your hands, playing the divine Veena every time you were signalling something with your fingers, every time you wrote something in the Air, changing the Fate of the devotees, the children in front of you . And after all this, all you ask is , Prema, Love , Love, Love and nothing else , from us . Everytime, one of us, experience a divine Leela of yours, a personalized attention , as much as we are happy and blessed to get that, we can't help but wonder, what if somebody else needed your love, your presence, your attention , only to hear you laugh out of love , signifying how you can distribute yourself with all of us , like sugar dissolves in milk , where you are the Sugar and the humanity is the ocean of milk . How much energy , you had in you , to dish out love after love , pointed at anyone who came in your way , oh Sai Rama ,may we forever stay close to you at heart , mind and soul ,if not that the body . For , ever since you took us in your arms, the moment we feel the slightest distance from you , we start gasping for air like a fish out of water , and we can't bear the pain when this happens . Before your advent into our lives, we hopelessly just swam in a river of life and death , like dead but alive fishes, but the moment you stepped into the whirlpool of samsara ,powered by Maya herself , the moment you stepped and walked further and further deep into these powerful currents only to handpick us up , from that river and drop us into the Ocean of Sai Prema, we can't afford to swim anywhere further away from you , but simply around you till the last moment of awareness of being different from you disappears . Oh Sai Rama, when the day comes, when the moment comes in my life, when I have earned that level of Bhakthi in me, when it's time for me to merge with you , I sincerely plead with you , I should have completely forgotten myself , I should have no awareness of the 'I' in me, as 'I' become 'You' and I never be away from you ever again .

Samasthalokah Sukhino Bhavanthu

Mera Sai Prayan

Jai Sai Ram 

I actually don't particularly remember when, how I was inducted to Sai Baba worship , but as Luck and Destiny would have it , Sai Baba mixed into my Life without me noticing him entering . But ever since he has never ever left me . I lived in a simple rented home in Mylapore for a good 20 plus years and as you may or may not be aware, there is a famous Shiridi Sai temple . They provide really tasty prasad there, which is one my fondest memories of the place , apart from the main attraction , Swami himself , seated there in his trademark pose . With a smile , that defeats you the very instant you lock your eyes with him , one can only experience this if they are meant to be. Otherwise, what lies in front of you would be just another Deity's statue . My blessed parents , and my sibling , are all Sai devotees . We may be one family , but we have our own personal connections with Swami for ,we are all not one and the same. The Sai prema binds us even more . I am indebted to my blessed parents , as they had the habit of taking me to temples and this temple/mandir in particular often , when i was a kid. See , what one gets to see and hear often somehow penetrates the internal psyche and that's how, the thought of worshiping Swami somehow won me over. The temple used to be very simple , in contrast to how well and prosperous it has become now and it will become. There were no other big chambers, except Swami's concentrated gaze on his devotee , the revered Dhuni ( sacrifical Fire ) , a Krishna idol , Some hundis and a meditation place . In fact, even as I am trying to recollect now , I have lost the vision of the Old Mandir's Layout. It has changed so much now, as devotees, come and contribute out of their own will and desire for improving the mandir. 

The Mandir grew and grew , with many facilities, lighting and water arrangements, sound systems, decorations, newer chambers , prayer hall , anna daan hall and much more. It is as though, the old devotees kept watering this Love Tree, for the future devotees who will be coming to the mandir seeking comfort in the presence of his Lotus Feet .  For a keen eye , one might notice that people who have taken to sai prema, or the act of worshipping swami Sai ram wholeheartedly bear this peaceful contented look in their face. Their face would not give away any sign of human desire, discontentment with one's lot. Another characteristic feature since old days is the presence of the poor people who sit in front of the temple in lines, with their begging bowl , wearing torn clothes, asking people for food, money , resources. The devotees would sometimes acknowledge by offering some cash, coin or food to them , sometimes they pray to the swami himself for their welfare. The whole temple is a beautiful adaptation of Swami's Shiridi Home , where he enacted all the Leelas in his mortal form . Blessed are those , who got to experience Swami's physical love , for people like me, can only experience his invisible love, enveloping me every second , every step and every breath . I sometimes used to wonder , if I was intelligent enough to recognize Swami , if he walked in front of me, whether the so called human intelligence would permit me to believe his Divine aura . 

But I leave it to him , in the hope, he drags me by the ear and makes me realize he has been looking at me all this while, while I was looking elsewhere , lost in my own thoughts. Then we moved on to a new home in Chromepet , a place near Tambaram ,where by our sheer luck and Blessings of Swami , right behind our home , in the parallel street , there is both a Shiridi Sai Mandir and Sathya Sai Bhajan Hall . What more do I ask, than this persistent Love of Swami , his constant attention on me . Words can only describe as much,  what I feel for him . But I will try , and conjure our my Hridaya Bhava through my god gifted craft of Creative Writing  .

sabka malik ek hai - allah malik