…And The Most Important Thing In Life Is…Reveals Swami, GRATITUDE!!! There was a beautiful incident, call it a ‘Saincident’ that happened long ago, over four decades ago, inside the precincts of Beloved Bhagawan’s Interview Room in sacrosanct Prasanthi Nilayam. Bhagawan was busying HimSelf, engaging a family with an interview, a Chennai family of a devout couple and three children. During the course of the interview, Bhagawan, most inadvertently paused a profound question: “What is the most important thing in life?” …and His ‘Divine’ index finger turned towards the second child in the family, a teen-aged girl of 14-15 years. Looking into her eyes, The Master, calling her by name, commanded, “You! You Answer.” The family being disciplined and devoted, mother being a stickler, had clear-cut instructions for her children that anytime in His hallowed Presence, she did not want anyone of them to talk and ‘while away’ precious time, rather she wanted them all to listen to Bhagawan, Who Is Verily The Lord Supreme. Implicitly following the instructions, already in sync with the ‘terms and conditions’, the girl sat mum, not knowing how to respond. Bhagawan yet again indicated at the ‘hapless’ girl, vetoing any reservations being played out in her confused mind, sending His ‘Green-Sai-Signal’. Perplexed at the ‘million-fold-gravity’ of The Ultimate Presence waiting for an answer, the girl could only murmur something, only for The Lord to intervene soon. Pitching in next, He was there ‘spilling the beans’, revealing the million-dollar-answer HimSelf! In a low, loving and crystal clear tone, The Master averred: “The Most Important Thing In Life Is Gratitude!!!… that Your Life Should Be An Expression Of Love And Gratitude.” The story from the interview room was over, and the message was given out. And ever since this episode infinite, the teen-aged girl’s heart would murmur every single moment with the fresh ‘zealous’  buzz word, ‘Thank You, Swami’! Sharing the incident, the devotee said,  that even during the peak of trials in her life later on, she would ever remain calm and composed, never ever complaining, but accepting His Will as a gift from Beloved Swami.

Waiting For God Is Nothing But Sadhana It was at the morning darshan that Swami lovingly called a few devotees for a lifetime experience of Divine interview. After the interview, Swami opened the door and was standing near the interview room. I had come for the Divine Darshan just three days before with my daughter, who had come with me for the first time. My wife had decided to stay back at home in London. Swami looked at me and enquired about some details about the UK group, which was to come after a few months for Parthi Yatra as per His Divine plan. He then said, “Puppet, come to residence at 3.00 p.m.” I was overjoyed and said, “Yes, Baba”. At about 2.40 p.m., I was all ready to leave for Divine Abode. My daughter asked, “Dad, why so early”? I said, “Baba has called me. I will be back after the evening session”. She said, “Fine. I will wait for you. We will have dinner together”. I said, “That is great”. I reached the Divine Abode and sent word to Beloved Swami. Very promptly, the person returned and said, Swami says, you should wait. Time was 3.15 p.m. As usual, Swami went to Sai Kulwant Hall for blessing the devotees with Divine Darshan and bhajan session. He returned at around 6.40 p.m. and went inside His Abode. I was now full of hope and joy and looking forward to go in and talk to Him. At around 7.50 p.m., some officials who normally used to be with Swami to receive instructions and also have his Prasadam (dinner) came out from the front door. I was all the time, waiting near the adjacent building. One of the officials saw me and said, “Puppet, you are still here”? I said, “Yes, sir; I am waiting to be called in”. That was it. There were sevadal boys at the gate, and one or two security staff moving about. It was getting dark and I was looking at the watch every few minutes and also praying in my mind, “Swami, please call Puppet, I am waiting”. At about 8.15 p.m., one of the senior boys came out with a chair and said, “Puppet sir, you better sit and wait”. (Swami had instructed me to wait and not sit). Time now was almost 9.00 p.m., mind you, I was standing there from 3.00 p.m. I was tired, thirsty, and also thinking about my daughter who was waiting. I was moving about from the gate of Divine Abode to the main entrance of residence, pacing up and down and praying. Time now was 10.00 p.m., and suddenly the side door of the residence opened, and the same boy came out. I said, “Sai Ram”. He said, “You are still here? Swami has already gone upstairs and now there is no chance, you better go”. I did not know what to say; I was completely dazed. Slowly, somehow, I climbed three long flight of stairs of W9 building and reached W9/D7. The door was open, the dinner was laid out on the dining table and my daughter was fast asleep on the chair. Suddenly, she woke up when I came out of washroom and asked, “What is the time”? I said, “It is almost 10.15 p.m”. She said, “You took very long time! What did Baba say”? “I never met Him today”, I said. She said, “What? You did not meet Him! Then, where were you from 3.00 p.m.”? “I was waiting,” I said. She just could not believe me. “Let us eat, I am hungry. You too must be,” I said. “Yes, you can say that later”, she said. I could not sleep well. I was tired and disappointed. Next morning, I left very early and was in the verandah by 6.30 a.m. (during those days, Swami used to come early.) Swami came around 6.55 a.m., and after giving Darshan, went inside the interview room. I was sitting at my usual place, right in front of the interview room, but there was no eye contact with Swami.

When Bhagawan Defined True Friendship During a Prasanthi evening of those ‘olden-golden’ days, when Bhagawan would spend time with His students imparting value based lessons, Bhagawan had a cut out task for a group of students, to define the characteristics of True Friendship. As He ‘threw the hat into the ring’ inviting the student folk to join, they got enthused and started coming up with answers galore. Many answers were given and the examples of Lord Krishna and Arjuna were cited. Bhagawan was candid and clear, that He wanted examples from human lives alone. The relation between Lord Krishna and Arjuna was that of the Divine to man. As usual, finally, after giving equal share to the participants, Bhagawan pitched in HimSelf, delivering ‘the answer’. Answering the same through a story from ancient Italy, He went on illustrating it, in His own inimitable style. Bhagawan said true friendship is present when the friends regard themselves as two bodies with one heart and soul. He then related the story of two unusual friends, Damon and Pythias. Pythias had been sentenced to death by a ruler (of Syracuse) for an offence against the State. Pythias’s friend, Damon, came to the ruler and said that as the sentence was to be executed a month later Pythias might be released from prison to see his wife and children. The ruler was gracious enough, and agreed to release Pythias on condition that Damon agreed to be in prison for a month and was willing to suffer the death sentence in case Pythias did not turn up on the due date. Damon readily offered to take Pythias’s place. Pythias was freed and permitted to go home to meet his immediate family. As the news of the unusual ‘treaty’ spread all over, on the day prior to the date of execution a large crowd had gathered at the prison to see whether Pythias kept his word. Time clock ticked most diligently, and tension mounted as Pythias, as promised, had not arrived yet, by the evening. Damon was cheerfully ready to mount the scaffold in case Pythias did not turn up. It was late in the night, but ‘the true friend’ kept his promise. He came running to the prison to save his dear friend, Damon, from execution for his sake. The ‘D-day’ morning next, as the kingly ruler was escorted to the royal court,  he was left astonished at seeing both the friends ‘ready for the gallows’, Damon and Pythias!!! Awe-struck at the intense love between the twin ‘true’ friends, his heart turned full and fulfilled, and thus his most unexpected verdict, pardoning Pythias and absorbing the ‘best of friends’ into the State service. Bhagawan went on to say that such friendship was not to be found today. Most ‘friends’ were fair weather friends who flocked around a person when he was prosperous or held a high position, but ignored him when he was down and out. Such ‘friends’ were like frogs which gathered in a pond full of water but abandoned it when it was dry. Swami declared, God alone was the unfailing friend Who could be relied upon to stand by the man of faith in weal and woe and protect him through all vicissitudes. Young people should not think that they could postpone thinking about God till their old age. No one can say when the ‘final call’ will come. Only if one remembers God constantly all the time will he be able to remember God in his final moments.

The Holy Bundle Of Bliss Such an infinitely blessed life… that of the Holy Bundle Of Bliss of blessed Mother Mary, Jesus…The Christ, Whose life was an infinitely blessed Song Of His Flute, full of Love and Compassion, Who, finally taken upon ‘himself’ the accumulated sins of the whole world sacrificing his personal self, embracing The Divine Self… as Bhagawan pronounces, the state of Adwaita. Jesus has always been ‘a chosen one’ for Beloved Bhagawan, The Lord Supreme, Who often projected ‘him’ as His chosen ‘messenger’ for the world to watch and emulate. Once again as we embrace the ‘holy advent’ in the Christmas week, let’s recapitulate on the essential Sai message of the three vital spiritual stages of the rarely blessed life on Planet Earth. Jesus was karana-janma, a Master born with a purpose, the mission of restoring love, charity and compassion in the heart of man. He had no attachment to the self, nor paid any heed to joy or sorrow, loss or gain. He had a heart that responded to the call of anguish, and he went about the land preaching the lesson of love. His life was a libation for the upliftment of humanity. Like most seekers, he first searched for The Divine in the objective world. But he soon realised that the world is a kaleidoscopic picture created by one’s own imagination, and sought to find God within himself. His stay in the Himalayan monasteries in Kashmir and in other centres of eastern asceticism and philosophical inquiry, gave him greater awareness. From the attitude of being a Messenger of God, he could now call himself the Son of God. The bond of relationship increased: the ‘I’ was no more some distant light or entity; the light became a part of the “I”. With the body-consciousness predominant, he was a messenger. With the heart-consciousness in the ascendant, he felt a greater nearness and dearness, and so the ‘son-father’ bond seems natural at this stage. Later as the Atman-consciousness was established, Jesus could declare, “I and ‘My Father are One.” The three stages may be described as: “I was in The Light”, “The Light was in me”, and “I am The Light”, and may be compared to the Dwaita (dualism), Visishtadwaita (qualified non-dualism) and Adwaita (non-dualism) stages as described in Vedic philosophy. The final stage is The One when all duality has been shed. This is the essence of all religious disciplines and teachings.

“Vinipisthundhaa?” do you hear Me? Over 5000 years after the epochal Advent of Bhagawan Sri Krishna in the Dwapara, …over 2000 years after the Advent of the proclaimed ‘Son Of God’, Jesus – The Christ, over 90 years after the epochal Advent Of The Sampoorna Avatar Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai, how much have we heard, learnt, imbibed and assimilated to mend our ‘humanimal’ ways of living? Are we on the right track? …the track that leads unto Him? Bhagawan Sri Krishna had out of His infinite love granted the Arjunas of the ‘Kali Age’ The Song Celestial Bhagavad Gita, the quintessence of Which is ‘Mama Dharma’ as revealed by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. Without making much ado, any confusion, it is understandable that ‘Mama Dharma’ refers to Atma Dharma or Swadharma, man’s path back unto his ‘True Truth’. When Jesus walked the Earth, he had his clear-cut-task on hand, to act and enact a life of dualism, qualified non-dualism, only to finally merge in absolute surrender, non-dualism of Oneness. At the end of ‘his’ tenure, at the age of 38, Jesus ‘chose to walk unto the cross’ only to affirm his oneness with the Father Supreme. Sri Sathya Sai came over nine decades ago… delivered His first ever public message of ‘Manasa Bhajare…’, exhorting mankind to worship the Lotus Feet Of The SadhGuru, which is the quintessential message of human life for all time. He repeated His message in the simplest of languages possible, not once, many a thousand time, ‘investing’ ‘qualified time’ on mankind. The Master when finally ‘chose to withdraw’ His physical frame from the public eye, He had again His finest message for humanity, to go beyond the trap of ‘illusion’ succumbing’ to name and form. It was He Who revealed the essence of the Bhagavad Gita, coining the last word of the last stanza that is Mama, with the first word of the first stanza, Dharma, to give out the quintessential wisdom of Bhagawan Sri Krishna over 5000 years ago, Mama Dharma. It is relevant to go back to July 6, 1963, the day when Bhagawan ‘miraculously’ healed HimSelf out of an apparent ‘paralytic stroke’ to announce to the world about the true nature of His Avatarhood. The message on this day had a subtle, yet profound pointer for every single sadhaka. This was the discourse wherein Bhagawan had revealed to the world of believers the ‘Bharadwaja’ story involving Lord Shiva, announcing HimSelf as ‘Shiva-Sakthi’ Avatar. Shiva here stands for The Eternal Purusha, The Primordial Being, and Sakthi refers to Adi Para Sakthi, The Eternal Divine Mother, moulding into One as The Supreme Sri Sathya Sai, the Supreme Resolve manifesting as The Sampoorna Avatar. The subtle indicator here is, that on 6th July 1963, while delivering His Divine discourse, His Voice had turned ‘feeble’, barely audible to the grossly anxious devout assemblage awaiting a desperate positive hint about His ‘well being’. Addressing the august assembly, Bhagawan opened up slow and steady, still showing symptoms of physical discomfort. He released His Voice, feeble and thus barely audible to the assemblage. He asked, “Vinipisthundhaa?”, meaning ‘do you hear Me?’ Yes, did anyone hear Him… then, and ever since? He, Who Is The Cosmic Canvas, keeps sending us gentle reminders, gentle taps from The Source, Sri Sathya Sai Hiranya Garbha, reminding His dear ones of The True Truth behind the apparent Truth. But, are we ready? Are we listening? I vividly remember an off-the-cuff telephonic satsangh I had a few years ago with an elevated soul, a diligent practitioner of the Sai Path of Love. During the conversation, I had blurted out a statement that, ‘I keep asking Swami, Swami, why are You sleeping?’ (inside of me). As I paused at this sentence, there was a pause of silence at the other end too, a meaningful pause, much to my dismay. The moment next, I heard the response, full of love and wisdom, telling me, ‘Why do you think so, that Swami inside of you is sleeping? If the ‘Swami’ inside of you is sleeping, then whom do you think is listening through you now, speaking through you and doing all and everything, all the time through you?’ I was awakened in that very instant, for, this has been my ‘self-parroting’ language ever since I had a real taste of Bhagawan’s Jnana Vahini, speaking of the ultimate Brahma Jnana. The voice at the other end did not stop at that.  It resounded: ‘How open and apparent is His message, that every time He would address His devout assemblage, ‘Prema Swaroopulara’, ‘Divyatma Swaroopulara’ and so on, openly announcing to the ‘you and me’ that We Are In Essence That. …what more proof of His Presence you need?’

Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu – The Divine Whisper She once asked me with all-motherly concern and virtuous wisdom, and with all-out love for her ‘Beloved Mother Sai’… reposing faith in His pronouncements…, ‘have you ever understood the purport of the Mantra, Samastha Lokah…, that Bhagawan modified and given to us.’ Until that moment, it was yet another happening in His Presence, worthy of announcing to the world, though I was very much personally seated in The Mighty Presence, watching the transition. …And ever-since this ‘motherly nod’, it has been a different journey for me, understanding the purport in letter and spirit.  The day was Sunday, 31 August 2008… the venue was Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai’s sacrosanct Prasanthi Nilayam, to be precise, hallowed Bhajan Hall in Prasanthi Nilayam. The congregation was that of 150 odd ‘former students’ of ‘Bhagawan’ employed at various Sri Sathya Sai institutions, in Prasanthi Nilayam – Puttaparthi, Brindavan, Muddenahalli, etc. … and The Host Was the ‘Infinitely Divine’, The Lord Supreme, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. That blessed afternoon inside the Bhajan Hall, The Lord Supreme moved amongst them,  attending ‘everyone’, glancing, smiling, speaking, chiding, …granting HimSelf out and out. As the session was coming to a grand-closure, He ‘gathered’ HimSelf in the center stage for a ‘talk’, flanked by the entire lot like a swarm of bees on a honeycomb. In His inimitable style, He started revealing something infinitely profound, a would-be-revision of the Maha Mantra, ‘Lokah Samastha… ’ that comes from the Vedic lore. Thus Spake Sai then: “At the end of the bhajans, you are chanting ‘Lokah Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu’. It is great and expansive.  As you chant this, you are thinking of only this world, in which you are living in, implying an individual feeling. This is not correct. It is ‘Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu’, which is an expansive, all-encompassing feeling, covering all the worlds.” Saying so, He asked His ‘swarm of bees’ to intone after Him the revised format…and thus, for the first time in ‘His Story’ and in the history of His creation, the new Maha Mantra reverberated … ‘Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu’. Perplexed and having no clue, the world outside the ‘hall’ was caught unaware of, listening to the booming echo from The Ultimate Presence. Further, Bhagawan asked the ‘boys’ to commence the official chanting from the next ‘holy’ Thursday, 4th September! ‘Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu’ is the elixir for all, all that needs to be set right, at all levels, in all the worlds… truly, the ‘Elixir Divine’ for His creation at large. Why ‘Samastha Lokah…?’ and what is Its added significance?? …and why this transition from ‘Lokah Samastha…‘ into ‘Samastha Lokah…’??? What, Why and many a question can be raised by many minds that dwell in doubts and resort to arguments, but the very fact that the Maha Mantra was borne of The Lord Supreme, in His natural flow sans any pretense, negates all arguments, simply surrendering to His Will Supreme. Does not The Mother know the need of Her child? If the Maha Mantra was introduced by Bhagawan with His Divine Sankalpa (resolve) of Cosmic, all-embracing expansion, Samastha Lokah… does cover anything and everything, most unconditionally, rightfully endorsing the legacy of Sri Sathya Sai, that being Love… all-embracing Love…Unconditional Love… Love That Conquers… simply L-O-V-E!!!

Swami Advised Him To Read ‘Sanathana Sarathi’ How many of us are into ‘following’ Sanathana Sarathi, Prasanthi Nilayam’s sacrosanct spiritual journal, that had its inception in a Divine Resolve of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai more than six decades ago? Do we realize that Bhagawan’s every single resolve is aiming at uplifting humanity to the highest level of SAI consciousness? Aiding this priceless gift of human life in the right and most-befitting way, man must go back to his root, knowing and acknowledging Bhagawan as The Sanathana Sarathi. And here lies the supreme significance of the journal launched by Him reflecting His infinitely infinite ‘cosmic designation.’ Here is a beautiful tale orchestrated by Bhagawan ‘HimSelf’ on the incomparable beauty and significance of ‘Sanathana Sarathi.’  This story dates back to a decade and a half approximately, as the protagonist here does not keep a well-judged track of time anymore, being in the fag end of the eighties. The story happened in Northern Kerala, precisely in Thalassery, a municipal township. The protagonist was a staunch disciple of famed Avadhoota Siddha Bhagawan Nithyananda of Ganeshpuri, who shed His mortal frame on 8 August 1961 at Ganeshpuri in Maharashtra. Before settling in, he, who was into a diligent ‘soul-searching,’ had landed in Ganeshpuri at a ‘tender’ age of 14/15, more than seven decades ago, seeking one single thing… G-O-D!!! He had an incredible stint with Bhagawan Nithyananda at the Ashram, serving the Master for over two-and-a-half years along with another youngster, who went on to become the famed Swami Muktananda later. As advised and blessed by Bhagawan Nithyananda, the protagonist then sought out a specified preceptor in Kerala, following the path of Brahma Vidya. At the end of a successful course, the guru had advised him to get into grihastha ashram, the householder’s life, to clear off many a karmic knot. Life was never a bed of roses for him, with many knots waiting to be released, yet he was always immersed in his ‘swadharma’, while delivering every single ‘earthly’ duty with utmost diligence. During his official stint in Mumbai, then Bombay, decades ago, he had the rarest blessing of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai’s Darshan, twice. All that he knew then about Bhagawan was that his elder brother was an ardent devotee of Him, who would frequent Prasanthi Nilayam only to earn incredible personal attention. It was one beautiful morning at his Thalassery home, post his retirement from service. He was resting in his room, on a cot, blissfully immersed in ‘sudhdha bodham’, (a state of pure consciousness). All of a sudden he jerked himself out witnessing a magical experience, a ‘Visiting Card’ from ‘The Most Unknown Guest!’ He was face-to-Face with the ‘unknown’ guest, Who appeared there in a trice as if manifested out of thin air.

Divine Pastime When God Supreme is credited with the creation of the very visible and all invisible realms of existence, He and He alone can authentically speak of His mysterious creation. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai has often made profound revelations about His projected creation and His role as the Master Creator. God initiates man into innocent, tender, loveable and loving childhood, and what does he do in turn… Read on Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai… Creation has emerged from God, Who Is free from desire. It is a spontaneous unfolding, beyond human understanding. No one can unravel the Divine Mystery. Human activity, however spontaneous it may seem, can be explained to originate from some patent or latent wish or other. But, God’s activity can never yield an answer to human enquiry about its why or whence or wherefore. God is omniscient. He Is the source of supreme delight, of extreme ecstasy. The joy flashes as sport, as prank and purposeless play, leela. God needs neither helper nor material for the process of Creation. His serene, stable, sovereign Fullness can become movement, rotation and vibration, when He Wills. And, all the living and non-living entities God projects are led towards acquisition of the very Ecstasy Whose overflow they are. God is the paramount principle of Bliss that is not affected by time or materiality, for He Is the basis for the material world of time and matter. His Bliss pervades all Creation. That is the way His leela works. But, created beings are diverse and entangled in duality. If they emerge from the Bliss of the One, how could some be so fearful and anxious and some calm and peaceful? An inference such as this is very wrong; it is unwarranted and unjustified. The Rain God showers His gift on all things on earth, edible crops as well as thorny weeds. The seeds of both sprout and grow in accordance with their different natures. Likewise, the Divine Bliss, Love and Light are the sustenance for all nature. The qualities of head and heart, either virtuous or vicious, decide whether life is happy or miserable, praiseworthy or blameworthy. Good deeds mould men into saints; bad deeds shape them as sinners. God initiates men into innocent, tender, loveable and loving childhood. But men relish envy, greed and hatred and cast off the gift of softness and sweetness. They cultivate instead the thorny weeds. Men seek joy in this Cause Consequence duo.

Do The Plants Complain? An elderly sister of an inmate in Prasanthi Nilayam once asked her sibling, purely out of love and concern, as to, is he happy in Prasanthi  Nilayam. The boy, to her wonderment, ‘retorted’ questioning her ‘audacity’ to ask him such a ‘foolish’ question. He asked her, ‘how can you ask me such a question when I am with my Swami?’ Yes, we do forfeit all our rights to complain, once we are ‘basketed’ by our Beloved Bhagawan. He has often repeated, Bear All and Do Nothing; Hear All and Say Nothing; Give All and Take Nothing; Serve All and Be Nothing, exhorting His creation to excel in the path of ‘Life’ with ‘Love’. The following story, which has no bearing on the above incident, does sound this message from Bhagawan, and much more. A story from Summer Course 1978, as narrated by Sri S. Sankar, a student with Bhagawan’s institution then. Formerly, from about 1969 to 1974 I was very plump and fat, owing to some kind of over secretion of the lymphatic gland or something like that. I could say with shameful pride that I was a “fatty”. Apart from attributing a kind of social untouchability, usually meted out to fat boys at school, I was intensely suffering a kind of gravity and weight in the chest, etc, which sometimes was suffocating. I felt I was a giant and moved about with considerable difficulty. Around this time, I also got the bad habit of unnecessarily uprooting and “transplanting” the plants in the garden outside our house. It seems I was having my anger thrust upon the innocent plants, for no fault of theirs. But I did not give a moment of thought to this at that time. Once, I asked Swami, why I had to suffer so much from breathing trouble, etc. (I did not have asthma at that time). Then of course, because of childish courage, I had not realised or felt any fear towards Swami. I was thinking just that He was one of our “best friends”, knowing all the while He was God. I was asking Him so many things inquisitively, without any trepidation, and which I would not dare to do now. And Swami’s answer was quick. “You are making the plants in your yard to suffer so much. Do they complain?” Though I stopped the plant business immediately, it is only last week that I began to realise the great significance of this philosophy. Firstly, it is poignant that Swami was ‘able’ to point out a “devilish” habit, to which we did not attach much significance, and correct it. This shows the SARVA JNANI aspect of Swami, and also shows He is the “best teacher” we can get. His simple sentence purged me of a habit, which though trivial, was not good. Finally, it proves how Swami is resident in the heart of all beings and even non-beings. His sense of identification even with plants is complete, for He is in all. Since then, I try my best not to cause harm to any creature, even accidentally. Swami’s philosophy of AHIMSA (non-violence) extends to the lowest of creatures.

Swami…My Best Friend How often we talk about absolute surrender, and how seldom we come across such noble souls who live the life of complete surrender, knowing and experiencing Him to be the ‘Be All n’ End All’ of everything?!? Ms Rani Java, daughter of Mr C.L. Java, founder of the famed ‘Joy Ice Cream’, is such a living example of ‘absolute surrender’ that, every moment she lives her life in complete dedication to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. The following story has its root in an article published in Sanathana Sarathi, by Ms Rani Java.  Ms Rani Java was born as a perfectly healthy child, having a wonderful time until the age of four, when, as destiny would have it, the monster called polio paralysed her on the right side, leaving the child almost immovable. Bhagawan had visited Mumbai in 1960, and the little one had her first-ever darshan of ‘Baba’ in her uncle’s house, during the same trip. As a child, she felt a magical, magnetic pull towards Him. She was seated in the corner of a hall, almost immovable, but Bhagawan found His way unto her, amusing the little one with His bounty of love. He spared His priceless time with her, engaging the child with His natural affection. Having paralysed completely, her father wanted her to get operated. Her father, Mr Java was more of a British style person, wealthy and influential and thus arranged a specialised doctor from Switzerland for the specified task. But, the little girl was firm and resolute, and never wanted to ‘go under the knife’, instead, she longed to meet her ‘Baba.’ She would lovingly address Him as ‘Baba’ those days. The father remained reluctant, but her mother stood by her, firm and resolute, finally bringing her to Prasanthi Nilayam. Talking about her entry into Swami’s Feet in Prasanthi Nilayam, Rani Java says: “I am very grateful to my servant, who was such a great soul. We met Swami at Chitravathi, and…” Yes, this great soul literally’ threw this little girl at Bhagawan’s Lotus Feet! The little one started crying. That was the cry of the little soul in Presence Of The Supreme Soul!!! Cosmic Love He Is With The Love Of Infinite Mothers, Bhagawan instantly grabbed her from His Lotus Feet, materialised some magical sweets, and appeased the agonising child in His own inimitable style. He then turned towards the servant and asked him: “Why did you throw her on My Feet?” His reply was straight from his heart: “Swami, she is ‘absolutely’ lifeless; it is better if she gives up her life at Your Divine Feet. She is disabled. What will she do? She is a burden on society, on family, on everyone.” Speaking about this incident, Rani Java opens up, expressing her immense gratitude to this noble soul. ‘I am thankful to him as this brought me to Swami’s love and care. I was indeed lifeless; even to go to the washroom, the doctor had to come; I could do nothing because the right side was completely paralysed.’ Bhagawan’s response was something unique: “No, No…” saying so, He instantly patted the little one with great affection. Later, when her mother sought out Bhagwan’s blessing for the operation, Swami was firm, saying, “No, she can’t be operated; today they will cut her leg; tomorrow her right hand, then her left hand and her left leg, and then she will be living only with a limb. Don’t worry, don’t do the operation.” Saying so, Bhagawan asked the mother to call up Mr Java (in those days, telephone service was an exclusive post office facility) informing that they would not be travelling to Bombay (Mumbai) for the operation. Upon hearing this update, Mr Java was upset and thus furious, as the doctor from Switzerland had already arrived in Mumbai, waiting. Till the time the doctor did not leave the Indian soil, Bhagawan made sure that the mother and daughter were ‘safe’ in ‘His custody.’ Once the doctor left, Swami permitted them to travel back to Mumbai.