Letters from India

9. Before Christmas News

Before-Christmas News

December 20-24, 1984 

Prasanthi Nilayam

Dear Brother, Sister, Mom and Dad,

December 20th: I just don’t know what to do with this Sai person. Anyone who comes here, He just takes over. He embraces you and enfolds you with His love and Peace, He pours His attention on you, He looks after and dotes on you constantly. He keeps you like a Mother. Can you get a feel for it?? It’s so hard to describe it in words. What are we to do with someone like this??? Gives gives, gives all he has constantly, spoils you rotten. What a place… what a time to live in, with this Divine Mother doting over all Her children, and even Her entire creation! This entire Earth is receiving the Grace and tons of attention from the Creator of it - the Creator of all. Receive and ENJOY! Wow.

Christmas season – BUSY, BUSY. But Great! Foreigners are invited to help out with the overseas Christmas play. Sai seldom gives more than 7 days to put it all together. He gave us 8 this year. That means, we have a script (done in 5 days), but no music, no actors, no scenery, no costumes. All must be done in 8 days. And this is no amateur production: this is going to be seen by the Lord in Human Form Himself!

Soo… I’m in the choir (middle alto). No more 9:30 AM talks, or bhajan classes. Instead, choir practices at 7 AM, 9:30 AM and 8 PM; and sometimes an additional one at 1 PM (about an hour practice each). Plus, 2 PM ‘Satsang’ where we get together with all the other foreigners and sing Xmas songs plus learn Sai Xmas songs. For announcements, there’s translation in Italian, German and French. That’s really great, the Satsang. You really get into the Xmas spirit. :-) Joy to the word, the Lord has come (Gains new meaning here in Prasanthi Nilayam!)

The actors in the play are all children under the age of 16. This means different hymns and prayers for the different religions, with each scene. Plus the opening and one other full four-part choir numbers – soo after this I can say yes, I’ve had experience in a four-part choir!

Today morning Darshan, got first row. Front row Darshan, Sai looks so tiny and small and very, very short! Sai munchkin! Tiny, itty, bitty short form. God has taken SMALL FORM - -but has a LARGE, LARGE, LARGE HEART.

Facts of Prasanthi Nilayam: you flush the toilet by pouring a bucket of water down it (it does have flush but it doesn’t really work). Around here, you drink without touching the glass to your lips (it’s easy – just tip your head waaaay back). You drink this way because Indian custom, one; so many people come through here, two. It's a no-germs method.

To expound on the water and electricity going off: be prepared for no water when you come home in the afternoon to take a shower or to wash your hair, no water at night when you need to brush your teeth, no electricity in the middle of the night when you go to the bathroom. Happens pretty regularly.

Be prepared, Indian food all gets liquidized in your body. A fact of life, you get used to it. Maybe if you ask for a one-a-day anti-diarrhea pill from the doctor (before you come), it would work. Don’t believe Pepto-Bismol, because Indian food doesn’t know what it is.

Sai Baba Land – the physical form of Sai walking right in front of you, running His eyes over your section and staring into your eyes with His small piercing black ones. It’s almost like this is Heaven Itself and God is in the middle of Heaven, in the Mandir, the Center of Heaven. And He invites humans from Earth to come and visit the Creator of All that is. In fact, He picks you out personally, calls you here and arranges the entire plan of how you come and how long you stay, himself. Then you are Blessed here, spending your days in heavenly Bliss, heavenly Love and heavenly Peace. You are with Him, you see Him, He looks at you, loves you, showers Grace on you.

More “be prepared”: be prepared to get crunches in your food, every other meal or so. Maybe it’s little bitty pieces of sand or dirt, don’t know. But, oddly, it doesn’t bother you like it would in the States. You don’t feel like throwing up when you hear that crunch in your mouth. You don’t feel like not having any more food. Maybe it’s because it’s just to be expected here in India, because of how and where the food is prepared. You expect it so it doesn’t bother you so much when it happens, you don’t get caught off guard. Ooooor, maybe it’s just Sai Grace that controls your reactions.

Be prepared to hear dogs howling, growling and fighting in the middle of the night. No one’s safe, not even me with my earplugs. But guess what, because I sleep so deeply - you get SO tired from the before-Xmas busy, busy routine – I don’t get woken up by mosquitoes and insects buzzing around this body’s face! However, the dogs wake me up sometimes.

Be prepared for certain foods at the bakery and Canteen, and certain items at the shops, to disappear without a trace for days on end. This isn’t the sort of place to depend on things to always be there. You learn that when Sai doesn’t come out for Darshan at night, now and then (we sit there waiting until after bhajans, 6:10 PM), or when he drives off in His car and you have no idea of where He went or when He’ll be back. Two big things where: patience and acceptance. Plus three more: bliss, love and Peace. Add the “churning process” and there you have Sai Baba Land in a nutshell.

You get really churned here! Here is God who you’ve been praying to and thinking of for so long. He smiles at you, you want more. More looks, more attention. You want to take full advantage of God so near, so close. God so near, in physical form, is a huge opportunity and you don’t want it to go to waste. Buuut, when Kasturi talked of the churning process in one of his talks, it reminded me; this is all God putting you through this. He plans it all out! It’s true that if He doesn’t pay attention to you, He’s really paying more attention to you! After all, the Lord is overflowing love for you and he has to carefully follow His plan He made for you, He has to control Himself and not look at you!

So, the Lord is always paying attention to you, if you’re sad, that’s Him churning you. Add to this thought, what Baba told me in the interview room” “NOT LASTING; IMPERMANENT.”

And you’re fine. Everything that happens is fun; it’s a churning to make you PERFECT. Laugh and enjoy this Master Play!

OM SAI RAM!

P.S. December 24th: in the Poornachandra, Xmas Eve, we were doing a play-choir-music rehearsal, and at the beginning of the 2nd time we went through it, as the choir – us – was starting it, SAI appeared on stage and listening and looked around the stage as we were singing, then left! Only the play-choir–music people were there.