SRI SATHYA SAI FOREVER

The Love of Thousand Mothers

Each of you knows the love of a single mother only. But My Affection, My Love towards each one of you is that of a thousand Mothers!

~Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

Now-a-days, as the devotees are growing day-by-day, the Lord seems to be moving farther from us. But I do not subscribe to this viewpoint. How can I? He does not give me a chance to do so. Every time, I feel Swami is not responding to me and start complaining, He embraces and envelopes me in such a huge Love. And then I realize, it was always my yearning that lacked, but never His response. He has always been there, ready to guide and care for.

Will a mother's Love ever get diluted as she begets more children? If we carefully read the above sentence, Swami says, "My Love towards each one of you is that of a thousand Mothers!" So, each one of us has got our "own share" of thousand-mothers- love, and not just one thousand-mothers- love distributed over all of us!

Let me share my experience in this context. Earlier, I used to sleep a lot in the Darshan Hall while waiting for the Lord to arrive. But this time, I could not sleep because of the beautiful game He played. He avoided close Darshans to me, and that left me longing. The pining took away my complacence. And all the time, I was praying and pleading for His kindness. The waiting time,thus proved excellently fruitful, in increasing my concentration, as it was supposed to.

However, since my body usually needs more than the amount of sleep I was then having at Prasanthi, I used to feel giddy and tired during day-time. Every night, I try to sleep early, but somehow I get delayed, conversing with fellow-delegates or practising for the music program. My day-time efficiency was getting badly affected by this sleeplessness, but I was just neglecting the need to sleep more. It was simply my recklessness.

This continued for three days. And that night, one of my room-mates, the Youth coordinator from Germany just returned to the room. "I have some news, guys! Swami gave an interview to Shitu!!" he said.(Shitu Chudasama is the International coordinator for Sai Youth ),

Hearing that, all my room-mates gathered around him with so much interest, But I did not. I was totally in a complaining mood. I was like "Swami-You-never- care-for- me". I tried my best to behave in a disinterested way, but I could not prevent my ears from overhearing what he said after that. After all, it is a message from my Beloved.

He announced, "Guys, it seems Swami enquired about our accommodation and food. And most importantly, He asked Shitu if we are having enough sleep …….."

I broke into tears when I heard those words. Here I am looking all the time, for an opportunity to be alone in the room (shared by six delegates), and then start complaining to Swami's picture in the calendar hung on the wall. And there my sweet Sai Mother enquires about my sleep, the only big problem I had in my stay, that too, of my own making.

This is how the Lord talks to each and every heart. He asked specifically about "sleep". How compassionate! How loving! A physical mother loves you, but she might not have the power and capability to care for you all the 24-hours, even when you are far away from her physically. But Sai Mother knows what's bothering you and what the solution for it is. All the time, everywhere.

Not just this, I actually started to fast during the Youth Conference, though I was aware that Swami wants us to eat properly. And I was startled to see that Swami was distributing Prasadam everyday in the Darshan Hall, starting exactly from the day when I started fasting! Every single day I fasted, there was Prasadam distribution. And I would say to Swami, "Swami! I am fasting. If You still want me to have this Prasadam, then the person distributing Prasadam must come to me and ask me to take it. I shall not stretch my hand out. Only then I would take it as an indication from You." And I used to sit with my head bent down. The boy with the Prasadam casket would come before me, and swing the Prasadam packet before my eyes as if forcing me to take it! Just in case someday, this does not happen, I would immediately say to Swami, "Fine then, You do not care for me today!" And when I return to my room, my room-mates would have got extra packets of Prasadam on that day and they would force me to eat it all.

Let's assume this also does not happen! Then I am the luckiest! You know why? He would make me visit my relatives' place that day, and there my aunt would hand-over me a cup full of sweet and tell me, "This Prasadam was sent for Swami's blessings and it came directly from Swami's Mandir, just now". Amritham (Ambrosia), couriered for me, direct from heaven.

You simply cannot escape Sai's love. Everyday, He made sure that I ate.

And in the final Discourse of the Youth Conference, He said, "You are exerting your body a lot. Do not do that. Have your meal at the right time!"

So direct! I cried more and more. It is only me who wavers from time to time, It is only me who forgets Him falling into the world. But He loves me constantly. He never stops loving me. I could probably never understand or estimate how much He loves me. But I am lucky, He gave me a heart which can experience fully, this love which is inexplicable, mysteriously sweet and infinitely gigantic,

"You describe Swami's love as that of a thousand mothers. But, when you cannot understand the love of one mother, how can you understand the love of a thousand mothers? "

~Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba

experience shared by brother Sai Sandesh/ Pardha Saradhi

I, have heard countless stories during my travels over the years and each one inspires and touches me with a new poingnancy.

In the years of 1996-1997, my wife Sharon and I spoke at the Sai Conference in Venezuela, denmark, Holland, Germany, and England. We attended Sai Baba's 75th Birthday celebration in India in November 2000, when 168 countries were represeneted.

During these times, as well as throughout the years, we have heard thousand stories of Swami personally and moraculously touching and changing lives. Most devotees we have met have had a moving personal experiences with Sai Baba that had heightened his or her spiritual life.

The following story about Swami appearing in multiple forms of divinity gave me courage just before I was to speak to a London audience of 2500 people in 1996.

Always uneasy before speaking about Swami in front of a large group, I was trying to calm myself during the ride to the auditorium. I never feel quite sure of myself, especially as I prepare to talk about about the incompreheensible. Perhaps that's how we should be under such circustances, never taking anything for granted, while wanting to be immediate, open unprertentious and vulnerable.

A lovely yound Indian couple was driving me, I asked the driver, "How were you first attacted to Sai Baba?." He replied, it really something quite unusual. My wife was the devotee of Sai Baba, and not me. I believe in God in the form of Rama,Krishna and in the ancient texts of Hinduism.

But not that God would come again in human form in this modrern day and age. I sort of tolerated her devotion to Sai Baba. Then one evening while I was in bed, I looked towards the wall, and there against the wall stood Sai Baba. At first, I thought it mighty a misperception and shook my head. Yet, no, it was he in the flesh!.. I looked upward, and there he was again in front of my eyes

I first thought that he had made a mistake and actually wanted to visit my wife. I wasn't frightened or alarmed,just a bit put out because I did't want to see him. Then I turn away to look at another wall, and there he stood again

I looked upward and there he was again in front of my eyes on the ceiling. Frustrated and rolled over, putting my head in the pillow, and went to sleep.

"The next day, I had the strong feeling that he would come again. I was worried and did not want to see him alone. I thought he would come to the bedroom again. I waited that evening untill my wife was ready to go to bed. Then I followed her up the stairs, wanting her to go to bedroom before me. I had n't told her of the incident, nor of my relief that she was with me now.

However, there is a devotional room off to the right, just before entering our bedroom and as we walked along, she quickly took a right turn into this room. My momentum carried me into he bedroom and, as I had thought, there he was again!.

"As I looked at Sai Baba, I was absolutely amazed to see him turn into the form of Lord Rama, then into the form of Krishna and the into the form of Ganesha, the elephant-headed God who removes obstacles. He then turned ito two other forms of divinity.

I was overwhelmed by the experience. I immediately knew that he was divinity. Then when I went to sleep, he came tome in my dream. He has since come many times in dreams, showering love and giving me personal instructions on every aspect of my life. He is my constant companion. He is God incarate.

Hearring this story was a wonderful gift given to me just before my talk in London. I was immediately elevated to a higher level of awarness. I was in bliss and charged with Sai Baba's divine love, the power of his authority, the grace he bestows, and the protection he provides, by simply relating this gift of a story. Sai Baba has come with such gloious omnipresent love to soften our hearts untill we melt into him.

(Sharing with Sai Love)