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 Soo anyway, hope you all don’t mind too much, now that you’re getting letters to read (even if they’re really out of date!)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.
Kasturi is oozing sweetness and knowledge. He’s like a cute, innocent child. He’s always keeping us laughing. I might borrow a tape recorder and tape one of his talks for you, they’re gems. He talks twice a week.
Night Darshan one in our group asked Sai for an interview: “How many?”
“Thirteen”
“From where?”
“California.”
“California, hmmm…” And that was that.
December 1st! Morning Darshan got in the front row! I was prepared to ask Him for an interview, as that was my order (and duty I guess) from T and the rest of the group. Soo, the fateful moment came and there was Sai Baba standing a foot in front of me! “Group interview?” I asked twice, as I halfway held up your letters. He totally ignored me but, you guessed it, gently took the letters from my hand! He took them like, “Well, well, here is my devotee holding up some letters and of course I’ll take them because I'm such a wonderful person!” After ignoring them for soo long! I’ll never forget the sight of Him walking away, seeing Sis' letter on the top of the pile – black printed “Baba” with ‘OM’ sign and all (Sis, both of yours were on top) (Sorry Mom!). Wow – talking to the Avatar and Him taking the letters!
From this day I scooped up the sand from His footprint in front of me, where He took the letters, worshipped it for awhile, was going to send some to you guys from that special day buuuut it seems to have disappeared – MOAN – so no banana, sorry. :-(
It’s so funny hearing Sai talk in the Darshan lines! On the 2nd I heard Him say, “Heeeeeeey!” to someone, in a ‘WHAT do you think you’re doing?!’ tone of voice (I think they were trying to touch His feet). On the 3rd someone asked, “Will you bless me Baba?” and He answered, “Yes, very, very, very happy!”
Sai’s also teaching me Telugu. He says something clearly in Darshan so I learn the pronunciation, then I find out later from someone what it means. ‘Manchi’ means ‘good’ and ‘Kaadu’, ‘no’. And of course we have Darshan line-up basics, which all foreigners come to know: Chelo! (fast!) (that's Hindi), kurcho (sit down), thero (wait) (also Hindi). Then, I’ve just picked up repoo (tomorrow), vaana (rain), and raadu (won't come). ‘Anduko’ is of course ‘accept’ and ‘antayoo’ is ‘everything.’ ‘Kanuka’ is an expression like ‘so’ or ‘therefore’ and ‘bangaroo’ we all know (an expression Sai uses for some devotees: means gold or golden one). So there’s your Telugu lesson of the day.
On the 4th we toured the Administration building (on the hill near the meditation tree). It’s a huge, castle-like structure. It’s said that Sai will stay here when the crowds become too much for Him to stay in the ashram. It’s said he’ll give Darshan from this hill. In front is a huge iron gate and fences all around it. Different from the completely open Mandir!
Inside are many huge conference rooms (it’s a three-story building). This is where the higher-ups in Sai’s schools hold meetings. We saw two of these rooms – and in each at one end of the table was Sai’s slighter-larger chair for when He presides (after all, He’s chancellor of all His schools). On all sides of the room are displayed gifts Sai has received form various countries of the world – fancy clocks, idols of gods, and tons of other stuff. Mostly large and expensive-looking things. It was funny to think of people presenting them to Sai – who has no possessions and doesn’t take anything with Him when He goes anywhere! So He sticks things in other places. Anyway, I felt blessed that I could tour a building that might become completely inaccessible in the future.
On the 4th I was slightly down that, hey, Sai is God, closer than the closest, and here this Swami hasn’t even talked to me to make Himself real-er. Then I thought, nah, I really haven’t earned it.
Then the next morning I had a totally beautiful dream, where Sai was in His room and I was peeking in the window, because I just happen to like to stare at God in human form if I cant be liberated. Then somehow I got in! I could just watch Him as he went hither and thither – He was getting ready for bed and was straightening up His room or something. Every now and then He’d stop and turn to me and just stare, stare; then go back to what He was doing. At one point He was by the window and pulled the curtain back a bit – there the entire scene was lines of brilliant color. “It’s beautiful” I whispered; Sai looked at me and then outside at the pure color. It was like, this is His creation and He has painted the sky. We were just looking at that scene when I woke up.
I'm telling you, it’s really odd here. You’re seeing God constantly, who heaps and heaps on the Grace; and then you have down-thought or crave for more of Sai, and He gives dreams of Him to boot. It’s like a huge opportunity here; the possibilities for Him granting Grace are unlimited. You’re so purified and full of peace, that even though you want to see more of His form it’s a sathwic emotion; it’s peaceful somehow. Maybe because you’re assured of His Darshan!
Well, well, I believe I have had the Grace of being here in Prasanthi Nilayam for a bonfire Sai Grace miracle: Sai bringing another person back to life! Here’s the scoop: it seems one of Sai’s schoolboys had an asthma attack. He was rushed to the hospital and given some drug. It seems that the boy had a bad reaction to it, plus some got caught in his throat and he started to choke. Within minutes he had turned blue; then stopped breaking. He hadn’t breathed for 15 minutes when word was rushed to Swami. Sai immediately materialized vibhuti and sent it to the boy. It was rubbed on his chest and the boy started breathing and was fine. This happened in the early morning; later in the morning Sai went and visited the boy. I saw Sai return in His car during morning bhajans, at around 11:15 AM, but didn’t know the story then. This happened on 6 December.
Up to today, the 14th! ONE MONTH WITH SAI! In the Divine Presence, it seems like half a week. What Grace! I got front row today.
Another thing: wouldn’t you rather have the special experience of Sai giving a materialized object to you HIMSELF, instead of through someone else?? YES YOU WOULD PEOPLES, ADMIT IT!
I bet you are all laughing (or crying) about what Sai said to me in the interview room! It’s soo funny – unbelievable! You should’ve been there – total shocker!!! It’s a speechless kinda experience so forgive me. WHAT A LIFE, WHAT A DREAM!
Om from India
Om from Sai Baba land!
(when you don’t know what to expect next!!!)
Eileen