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One might wonder , how can one stay connected with swami all the time, doing the things we do - Can living with swami be an achievable ethic ? This was a question that came into my being when one old devotee casually remarked one day to me over a conversation of how familial life kept her busy and she was not able to be full time in samithi activities and it got me worried . Does that mean, if I want to be with swami, practice swami way of life, does it mean zero family life ? Swami was quick to pick up this line of thought in me and etched the answer for this over many days of my everyday routine, deeply affirming me that , nothing here can be done without the Sai element in it, whether we apply a label it or not. All are his work. How ? Read on .
Gyan 1 - Group Bhajan's Effect on Swami
So, I picked up a few pounds , thanks to the lockdown and self acquired lazy habits and I wanted to reverse that , which got me taking to the streets for a good old hour long walk everyday around the neighborhood. Over days, I have chosen a route , designed just for me , in such a way that I get to see people with swami's logos / tiles / portraits / pictures hung in their homes or compound . I also get to see around 5 temples of Lord Ganesh , Devi etc , giving me some good on the go darshans of our deities. I have a habit of feeding our other narayana friends from the animal world. One day, when I had some biscuit crumbs with me, and I didn't want to throw them in vain, I was scouring the roads for some ants. I didn't find one for a long time until I saw a cluster and I was immediately prompted to drop the biscuit pieces on the ant cluster , to find them dash on to the piece giving me such peace. Instantly, a voice in me spelled it out. So this is why swami calls for bhajans , communal prayer. If we pray from the comfort of our homes, he gets to visit us one by one and it might take some time for the Santa sai to drop our gifts. But when we do group prayer, out of love and devotion, he has no chance but to rush to our bhajan meet and unload a barrage of blessings on us .
Gyan 2 - To be in touch with the Name - even when you don't see a purpose.
Many times, when my mind used to wander here and there , especially on days when I choose to skip the headphone and walk without music, I used to throw a Sairam here and there , just to be attuned to his naama. Once, I had put in a Sairam into my thought stream, when I was very close to stepping on a slow moving black worm on the road. I again gave out a Thanks Sairam ! . With your mercy, I didn't kill the poor worm, unintentional, but I was still saved from a sin. Often, this happens in the air as well. Sometimes, a "Before Sairam" will push me amazingly away from some hanging worms from trees, especially the ones in green color which are tough to see in thin air and a "Thanks Sairam" will follow suit.
Gyan 3 - Focus on Swami, Not on How he blesses others
The other day, I was prompted from within to feed some Bhairava Narayanas ( doggies ) and I was left with 2 more biscuits. I usually break them in 2 , to increase number and help it eat easier . Once there were 2 dogs in front of a flat, and I instinctively, threw one half for one dog and I another a bit far to prevent a fight between the two. But the 2nd dog missed the biscuit , so I threw again , this time also it didn't see my intent . Reason - ? It kept watching the 1st dog and where I threw the biscuit for the 1st dog. Often, we find ourselves being disturbed by seeing someone's success or sudden upswing in life, not just in a bad way through jealousy , but also , in a sense of evaluating our own self worth - are we being successful at all, etc . All this nonsense thoughts can be eschewed if we did one simple sadhana. Focus on Swami. To some, he blesses , to some he tests. He does what he does. Why should we be concerned what goes on with others, when we can solely focus on him and pick up our own blessings that he rolls our way ?
Gyan 4 - Counting our Blessings from his point of view
A similar incident of misplaced attention can be connected to another Swami ideal . One day when I noticed the crows and the Pigeons came to snack at the same time on the neighbor's compound , I decided to throw some wheat for the pigeons and biscuit pieces for the crows , based on their nature and appetite. The pigeons were obviously attracted to the wheat grains, because that's what they eat - grains. But the crows missed the biscuits I had laid too , as they felt they should also "get" the same grains as pigeons ate and they were more in number. The grains were quickly exhausted and the pigeons now came for the biscuit pieces and started nibbling at the biscuit pieces and soon that was also wiped out. The crows missed an easy treat in front of them because, they didn't see what was there out for them and missed out on their lot completely. Similarly, sometimes , when we see someone in our life being blessed with abundance or a promotion or a praise , and we are simply being ourselves, no movement upwards or downwards, we tend to think - why nothing for me swami. Am I also not dear to you. Do we really know what swami had done for us truly ? Probably we were to attract some losses or get sick or something and Swami absorbed our karma into him , while it was time for the other person to taste the result of his/her own good karma . Never judge the flavor of blessings that we each get to experience. We should remember to count our blessings , thank him and try to understand from his point of view - we may not even know what he had done for us , but we must not look up to him in disgrace. Rather, we must consistently muster courage and love to always think off ourselves as very dear to him and allow him to do whatever he wants to do with us.
Gyan 5 - Nirgun Bhrama Sagun Bhrama
I had another startling revelation on the road , which is one of the deepest tenets of advaita philosophy that stunned me in it's simplicity and profundity. Like aforementioned, I tend to look up photos in houses in my route to steal photo darshans of swami as I walk and one day I walked too close to one house who used to hang the portrait of Swami in their 1st floor balcony. I then moved to the left to move farther away from the house to get a glance when it instantly struck me. As long as I longed for the physical form of Swami , I am still far from him. The moment I know he is encompassing me at all times , at all places , at all planes , I lose sight of the physical tangible form of sai and get very close to him in his actual true form - the Formless Jyoti.
One God - One soul
I hope you enjoyed reading these candid experiences of mine. Truth be told, I even conceived the core idea of this piece in one of my walks. I again intend to circle back to the premise of this work. Living with sai means not just doing bhajans, attending samithi work, being in the organization or doing things under the Sai banner , omitting all our personal life. Living with Sai , is simply we living our Given life, doing the things we are meant to do at our station, practicing the ideals and ethics he has called out and being in touch with him at all times. No need for complications or score checking with other devotees to see how much you are doing etc. There is only one player. It is you. There is only one judge . It is him. There is only one game and that is your life. Keep playing until the game, the judge and the player all converge unto him !
Loving Sairams to all of you !!!
