Showing posts with label Shraddha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shraddha. Show all posts

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Slow Miracles are also miracles - an experience with Sathya Sai

This is a story that has spanned nearly two decades... and it comes with a powerful message. The story seemed to culminate on the 22nd of November, 2010, the last Convocation of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning 
in the physical presence of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. 
When I think of a miracle, the words that come to mind are along these lines - unimaginable, stunning, fast, mind-blowing, unbelievable, happy, unnatural, mysterious, extraordinary. I am sure that the list is much larger but this sampling of words is sufficient for my present context.  Among these words, in my opinion, a key one is ‘fast’. A miracle has to happen suddenly and fast. Then only will it be ‘unbelievable’, ‘extraordinary’, ‘mysterious’ and ‘unimaginable’. If it does not happen fast, then I don’t consider it a miracle. Speed is of essence here.


A magician puts a seed into a pot and covers the pot with a cloth. He pulls away the cloth mumbling some abracadabra and presto! There is a flowering plant. I applaud hard for him. Yet, when the same thing happens over the span of a few months in the pot in my balcony, I hardly notice. Sometimes, I don’t even pause to admire the beauty of the multi-petalled jasmine or enjoy its rich fragrance. It is all my obsession with speed. I give so much importance to speed that I applaud its presence in a magic show though I know what is happening is false but I refuse to acknowledge a true miracle of God in my balcony!


God can do things in a trice but He is not obsessed with speed! Sometimes He does things real fast; the other times he does it slow. Do I miss out on miracles in my life just because they happen slowly? I am convinced that is the case because, looking back at my life with Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I am slowly discovering several slow miracles that have happened. And I thought that sharing one such miracle would be my way of expressing gratitude to my Swami.


When shooting became difficult...


When I joined the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School in 1998, like many other students, my sole aim was to gain the physical proximity and blessings of Swami. One of the ways in which I intended to achieve my goal was through photography. I had been blessed with a good SLR camera thanks to my dad and I intended to put it to good use in taking me closer to my Guru and my God. However, there were multiple obstacles to this plan of mine.


  1. I was not the only one with a camera or the idea of using it as a means to get closer to Swami. Several senior students and a few teachers too were regular photographers in the Sai Kulwant hall. I was possibly the most junior among all photographers. I felt that I would have to really work my way up the ladder to catch Swami’s eye.
  2. It was necessary to get a permission slip from the warden in order to carry a camera to the Mandir. The Seva Dal volunteers at the gate would ask for this slip before allowing one to carry the camera inside. The warden would regulate the number of people carrying a camera lest they become a trigger-happy nuisance in the sacred temple. So, I could possibly take the camera once or twice a week for darshan. The competition for permission slips became more intense on festival days when there were greater chances of Swami spending time outside.
  3. The school warden had an interesting (and, in my opinion, sadistic) strategy to combat what he considered as indiscipline and reward what he felt was discipline. He would find out what was closest to the heart to different students and deny them that as punishment. For instance, when I was protested what I thought was a wrong decision on the cricket field (where the warden was the umpire), the warden didn’t issue the camera permission slip to me for more than two months! He knew that taking the camera was so important for me and strategically punished me in that manner. This was just one example. Many lesser ‘crimes’ of mine were also punished in the same manner. Therefore, I lived in constant fear of the warden coming in the way of my plan to become a regular photographer in the Mandir.

Monday 4 January 2016

Life is a game; Play it with God - a chess champion's journey_Part 2

A special connect with a champion
When I met Rakshitta Ravi for the first time, she hardly spoke anything with me. Yet, she exuded the affection and warmth that one would have for one’s own uncle! I was in awe of her because she had come to Puttaparthi as the World Champion in U-8 Blitz Chess. It is not everyday that you get to meet such young champs! She had come to meet me with her trophy and gold medal that she had won at the Championship at Dubai in late 2013. Was I flattered!

The little champ with a gold podium finish in the U8 Blitz Chess. 
At home, as we settled comfortably, her mother, Sai Meera, told me that Rakshi loved Swami’s stories more than anything else. She would listen to His stories without fail even between her matches. The statement that set my heart pounding with thrill was,
“... And Rakshi always asks for stories written by Aravind uncle...”
It is a wonderful feeling to discover that someone whom you are in awe of is also in awe of you. I brought out my wooden chess set and sought Rakshitta’s autograph on it.
“I would be grateful if you both also sign it...”, I requested the champion parents too.

My special Chessboard at home. 
When anyone asks me to autograph a book, my heart celebrates. While part of it is definitely gratitude to Swami, I cannot deny that my ego too raises its hood, however hard I try to suppress it. It was in this regard that I learned a lesson in humility from Rakshi. She turned to her mother and asked,
“Uncle has Swami with him always. Why does he need my autograph?”


That statement of genuine innocence hit me like a ton of bricks. Isn’t it so true that though we get God, we seem to value His creation more. At times, we even forget God’s value in our actually useless pursuits!

Three Chess masters leave their signatures behind
the board and one of them leaves
 a strong lesson for me... :)
“Don’t say like that Rakshi. Just sign for uncle...”
Her mother ensured that I got a signature but Rakshi ensured that I got a sign from Swami on how He alone is worth valuing. In that instant, I felt that I should remain connected with Rakshi also and learn many more such gems from her. Well, I am happy to say that I learned at least one more profound lesson in FAITH. But for that, we will have to proceed with Rakshi’s story from where we left off.

{This is the second part of an exciting story. For complete joy and satisfaction, it is recommended that you proceed only after you have read the first part at the link below:



A Sai-Student all the way


Rakshitta had qualified for the Asian and World Youth tournaments of 2012. She won the bronze medal in the Asian Youth tournament at Sri Lanka but went medal-less at the World Youth tournament at Slovenia.
“Ravi is so cool about everything that when Rakshi goes for a tournament with him, she somehow feels that she is on a vacation. No surprise that she went without a medal at Slovenia”, Sai Meera adds with a smile.


Rakshi focused on the Nationals again under her mother’s training and guidance. Once again, she came second in the country and won the opportunity to represent India in the 2013 Asian and World Youth championships. It was during that World Youth Championship at Dubai that Rakshi won the gold medal for rapid chess (Blitz), though she went medal-less in the Classic chess tournament. She offered that medal to Swami at the Mahasamadhi because she firmly believed it to be the gift of His grace alone. This also ‘coincidentally’ happened during a historic Bal Vikas meet because of which she also figured in the Radiosai article on the event.

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Shraddha and Saburi - Ganesh's experience about the prerequisites for devotion

The first step

Eighteen year old Ganesh enrolled into the Brindavan campus of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning for the Bachelors course in Chemistry. Little did he realize that his pursuit for higher learning would transform into a pursuit for the highest yearning and would lead him to learn the highest pursuit in life. He did not imagine that along with a 3-year Bachelors course, he was also being enrolled for a lifelong internship in internalizing Divine love.


The Summer Course in Indian Culture and Spirituality was beginning and every student joining the hallowed portals of the University had to compulsorily attend it. Thus, for the first two weeks, of his life as Swami’s student, Ganesh was showered with daily discourses of Bhagawan Baba. Apart from those, he was also blessed to hear many talks and satsangs by scholars, devotees, people of eminence, teachers and senior students of the University. What he heard enthralled and excited him. He kept awake late in the night replaying to himself all the wonderful things he was listening to.


But grasping God, Swami, by listening to narratives about Him is like trying to understand the magnificent oceanic depths by standing on the shore. While one gets a sweeping view of the immensity, to truly understand the beauty, grandeur and tranquility of the ocean, one has to dive deep into it. However, listening to a devotee extol the Lord is also akin to listening to a restaurant waiter passionately describe a delicacy. It prods the listener to quickly seek that, which is being described! That is exactly what happened to Ganesh.


The more he listened to the leelas, mahimas and experiences divine, the more he thirsted to experience Swami directly and His Divine Love. It was not a passing desire or a comparison-game where he wanted to be in the position of others. It was a genuine urge to experience the Divine acknowledgement that his Swami was omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. And so, Ganesh began to silently yet intensely pray to Bhagwaan. Several days passed in this manner but no experience seemed to be forthcoming. One day, Ganesh just happened to come across a quote by Baba,
“Take one step towards Me and I will take a hundred towards you.”


He instantly knew what the problem was - he had not taken the first step. He prayed to Swami and immediately took a sankalpam (resolution),
“Swami, I will read the fifty chapters of the Shirdi Sai Satcharitra (the holy story of Shirdi Sai) over the next 50 days, one chapter daily. It is said that when one completed the reading of the Satcharitra, one’s prayer is answered.  All I pray to You is this - bless me with the gift of a Divine experience. I have heard several experiences from students, teachers and devotees but if you grant me one personal experience then my Faith will become firm forever!”


Ganesh wanted to give his heart entirely to Swami and wanted Swami to extend to him the same deal!!



He knew what Swami had once told a devotee in this regard. In spirit it went like this,
“If you are praying with the objective of developing faith, you are allowed to put conditions and test Me. I will satisfy all your conditions and grant you that faith in Me. But after I have satisfied all your conditions, if you put one more condition, then you will become a ‘Doubting Thomas’ for life and suffer in your self-created ignorance.”
However, Ganesh had not made a prayer with this intention to test Swami, challenge Him or sign a contract with Him. It was simply a humble plea of a boy who was thirsting to taste the nectar of His Divine Love and was ready to do anything for that sake.

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