Letters from India

7. Sai Takes Letters - Dec 1984

Sai Takes Letters

December 14, 1984

Prasanthi Nilayam

Dear Family of Weeds,

As you probably can tell, I am sorta behind in letter writing. The reason is that during the Conference I had no time to write, so didn’t write anything (except the first Darshan letter). Soo anyway, hope you all don’t mind too much, now that you’re getting letters to read (even if they’re really out of date!) rather than none at all…

On the November 27th the five of us in the same room all dressed in lavender saris (I had to borrow one) and wore our nametags (the ones we got at the airport, Sis and Dad), hoping for an interview. No banana.

For night Darshan, I got front row! Seeing Sai soo near! There He was, there was His physical body Feet walking a foot or two in front of this little jiva! What Grace! Afterward, I stayed there for bhajans and Sai came out to just stare at us poor souls who didn’t get into the Mandir. He stared and stared … looked at our section…looked like He was staring at me… there was GOD, stare, stare! One of my favorite Darshans is when He comes out and just looks at us. So Sai grants. He’s like a slave almost – He knows what we want and He grants it. Just think – four times a day, every day, DARSHAN! What compassion! Drinking in the Divine nectar of His physical Form, what a life if you can’t be deep in meditation all day!

November 28th, got 7th row for Darshan (morning). Afternoon, 5th row and Sai picked a group for an interview! This means interviews are started again. The experience you never tire of is seeing a lucky group of people going on the sacred verandah to await the INTERVIEW! People you’ve seen around the ashram awhile, there on the verandah. About 15 ladies are picked, fewer men, usually, but it varies with groups. NERVOUS – will this Darshan He pick us? What will He say to me?? THIS COULD BE IT, etc.

November 29th, morning Darshan got in 4th row. Offered your letters, Sis and Mom, but no banana. Night Darshan got in 8th row! There’s still a lot of devotees here from the B-day and Seva conference. For the line-up, there’s like 27 single-file lines – really long lines.

Got into the Mandir for bhajans – Sai was totally compassionate. He came in 5:20 to 5:30 PM (bhajans begin at 5:30) and just laughed and joked with His boys in front (college boys, they sing the bhajans on the men’s side). He’d stare at them lovingly, talk with them, whisper to them.

At one point, He started to make fun of the “Sai Ganesha” bhajans. He made a sweeping motion with His hand, from His nose downward, “Does it look like I have a trunk?? Do I have a trunk?” Then to His back, “Tomorrow you’ll be saying I have a tail also!” He spoke in Telugu but we all saw the motions. I got the translation later. Everyone was laughing and laughing! Fun with the Avatar.

November 30th, offered your letters again morning (3rd row) and night (2nd row), but totally no banana! This is truly odd. Here I hold them up in plain sight and He walks by totally ignoring them. Night Darshan after He passed I was saying in my mind, “What’s the big deal!! Just take them for poor Sis and Mom!!” He halfway turned, not looking at me, and I heard Him say, “We’ll see, we’ll see.”

There are talks in the lecture hall every day after Darshan, from 9:30-10:30 AM. Four guys trade off the days: Kasturi, Al Drucker, Sachdev and Hejmadi. Don’t know first names except Drucker’s (he’s white and a permanent resident).

Today the famous Kasturi spoke and boy is he a sweetums! He’s around 90 and this is the truth from someone (ME) who has seen him from a couple of feet away: his face shines and there is not a single wrinkle at all, not even on his hands! He talks as clear as anyone and is perfect in the English language (he knows around 7 languages). I strongly suspect this guy has some sort of realization.