Lessons Learnt at His Lotus Feet Ravi Mariwala, a Bal Vikas student from then Bombay, spoke many times in front of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and thus developed the desire to be a student at His University. In 1982 Mariwala joined Bhagavan’s college and studied there for nine years. He was in the speaker’s group and travelled with Swami to Kodaikanal and Tamilnadu. He is a recipient of three gold medals from Swami. Swami handpicked him to serve in the Super Specialty Hospital, where he served for 14 years. Ravi lives in North Carolina with his wife and two sons. With deep humility and heartfelt pranams at Bhagavan’s lotus feet I would like to share with you the deep and significant learnings of my stay with Him. That time is imprinted in my memory and cannot be replaced. These are true, sincere, and touching learnings and are not bookish or conceptual. Why is our own experience important? While we may be inspired by other people’s learnings, eventually we have to develop our own. The true impact of your contact with the master can only be visible when you open yourself to Him so that He can guide you on a path. We are very blessed that in this Kali [Iron] Age, we are here when the Avatar was here in form. I am sharing the teachings with love in my heart, but you have to open your hearts to imbibe His teachings. I was very blessed that I joined Bhagavan’s college in 1982 and passed out from it in 1991. I had completed nine years at His lotus feet. But then at that very opportune time, instead of letting me go out into the wide world to build a career for myself, Bhagavan pulled me and rescued me from a mundane life by taking me into His fold as an employee of His own hospital, which at that time was only a concept. My first meaningful interaction with Bhagavan was when I had the chance to speak in His presence. I was a typical Mumbai boy, and clearly the company I kept at school would not align with Swami’s expectations. When I joined Bal Vikas (Swami’s values education classes), I was able to see this need for change more clearly. Inspired by my ideal Bal Vikas teachers, I took a vow to mend my ways and walk the path that would please Swami. The first time I saw Swami was in Dharmakshetra in Mumbai, where I had gone very disinterestedly, and literally I was the last person sitting in a hall with the capacity of 15-20 thousand people. A very young and vibrant Swami came out and started walking down the aisle to where I was and looked at me. He stood there and gently waved His hands. As I gazed at Him I was deeply affected and transported to a peace that I sensed within me. At that moment I knew that this was the beginning of a very different direction for my life. Very soon thereafter, I got the opportunity to speak in front of Bhagavan. Swami lovingly accepted my garland and kept on looking at me as I spoke. After my talk, He materialized vibhuti [sacred ash] and made me sit down to the left of His throne and kept rubbing my back. I interpret this as though He was getting rid of the Mumbai-related tendencies and thoughts and was preparing me to join His college. As the program continued, Swami kept talking with me on the stage, virtually granting me a private interview during the public function. He also gave me permission to join His college after I completed school. I joined Swami’s college in 1982 and finished my studies with two postgraduate courses, MSc. and MBA. By Swami’s grace I got three gold medals from His own hands. After that I served in the Super Specialty Hospital for 14 years. Lesson 1—Obedience is Key My first learning is about the importance of obedience in our lives. The acronym I use is OIK—Obedience Is Key”. After I joined Swami’s college, I discovered new meanings of the word obedience, and a new depth of obedience was required if I wanted to walk this path sincerely. One day in 1990, Swami called me to the interview room, where there were seven or eight of us. Swami started admonishing me and showed His irritation. Clearly, He was angry. However, I couldn’t understand what I had done to incur this anger. Then Swami pointed to my hair and said, “You have such long hair! Don’t you know that you are a Sai student and I expect Sai students to observe three disciplines: I want you to wear white clothes, be clean-shaven, and have trim hair”. Now, internally I was truly perplexed. I couldn’t understand why Swami was saying this because I had had a haircut only two days back. Out of deep reverence for Bhagavan, however, I kept quiet. By then I had learnt not to question Bhagavan but to listen to what He was saying and absorb it. Soon after, fortunately, Swami changed the topic and talked about other things. After the interview, my only mission in life was to get to a barber and have a haircut because in less than 24 hours I would be back in the Mandir [temple]. Early the next morning, I went to the hostel barber and asked him to cut my hair. The barber was surprised and he said, “Sir, you had a haircut a few days back.” I, however, insisted. Not just that, I asked him to cut my hair short and deep. I went to college, and in the evening I went to the Mandir. Swami was sitting inside and when he heard the boys thundering into the Mandir to grab the best place, He came out. I was sitting in my place and He beckoned me to come into the interview room. I was alone with Bhagavan in the room wondering what was to come. As Swami says, “Love My uncertainty.” Very sweetly Swami said, “Very good,

Pray Intensely The following is the transcription of a talk by Leonardo Pablo Gutter, a psychologist by profession, who has served in the Sai Organization for over three decades. He started the Latin American movement of the Sathya Sai International Organization and previously served as the Chairman of Zone 2, Latin America. Mr. Gutter is a founding member of the Sri Sathya Sai Trust of Argentina. He is a Member of the Prasanthi Council, and Co-Chairman of the Intellectual Property Committee and Co-Chair of the Community Adoption Committee of the Sathya Sai International Organization. Ioffer my humble pranams [salutations] at the Divine lotus feet of our beloved master and Lord. As my English pronunciation is a disaster, I hope to be able to speak with the language of the heart and pray that you will listen to me with your hearts, and thus have a good communication.We are in the middle of this pandemic—the Covid crisis—we know when it started, we don’t know when it’s going to end. But we know that everything is God’s will and thus it gives us an opportunity to intensify our sadhana (spiritual practices). They [the authorities] asked us to wash our hands more often and more intensely, but we as spiritual aspirants should also wash our hearts and minds more intensely and often. This is how we should spend time during the quarantine in our homes instead of watching TV or reading the newspapers. We have read Swami’s books and listened to His Divine discourses; through these and His life He taught us the practical way of living. We are very fortunate because we are alive when an avatar came to earth and incredibly fortunate because we are awakened onto the spiritual path. I’ll give you some points that I think are very important for all of us, and then I will narrate my experiences. We know that there is a karmic law that says that when you commit a mistake, even unknowingly, you have to pay the consequences. But if you know that the action is wrong, and you still do it, the reaction will be much stronger. We are all scared that we will die of this Corona Virus Pandemic, but we as spiritual aspirants should not be afraid of death. We have to remember that we all will die one day, and that is a very important tool for us. This brings me to the story that I was asked to share: I was working for many years as a psychologist. One day a lady came to me with her daughter who was 12 years old and said that she thought her daughter was psychotic, and she asked me to check her. I asked her mother to leave and I interviewed her daughter, whom I found to be quite normal. She said she could see spiritual beings as we see each other, she had extra sensory abilities. She remembered clearly who she was in her past life and how she had died. She also knew what was going to happen to her in this life. Once I realized after two or three meetings that she was not psychotic at all but was a very evolved human being, I stopped treating her like a patient. I met with her family and asked for their permission to meet at their house. I started going to their house every Sunday to share tea with them, and I would carry some biscuits and spend two or three hours with them. This continued for three years and I became like a family member. One day the girl said, “Jesus appeared to me and told me that we should meet next Thursday at 8 p.m.” So the next Thursday I went to their house and a couple of minutes before 8 my skin was tingling. The girl said, “Jesus is here.” The girl transformed into another person—she performed the mass and blessed the food. Then she wrote a sentence in a strange language on a piece of paper. I took it to a translator of old languages, and he could not understand what was written in it, but then he had the idea of putting the paper in front of a mirror and he could understand. It was Hebrew or Aramaic language, I don´t remember very well now which of the two. The message from Jesus to all the people that were in that meeting and I feel it applies to all of us too, was, “You are not doing enough. When are you going to do enough, when will you wake up from the slumber of ages.” What is our sadhana? A service once or twice a week? Reading spiritual books? Spirituality is a way of living where we eradicate all bad qualities from our heart and our mind; we must be good and be even better day by day till we are like Swami. Let me tell you how I came to Swami. I was the vice president of a Raja Yoga organization and I heard about Swami—there were no Sai centers in Argentina at that time. There was a lady in the organization who went to India and met Swami. She started to share with us her experiences, and so I decided to travel to India to meet with the spiritual master. A couple of days before leaving for India I had a very special dream. I was with a few people and Swami came into the room and I folded my hands. As He was near me I had the most incredible experience: suddenly a wave of energy started rising from my feet to my head, and as it rose each cell of my body exploded with happiness—I was in bliss. The energy came in waves and by the third wave even though I was fully conscious I felt like a dead body. I realized that I was pure consciousness within a dead body. At that time, Swami stopped walking through the people and started to leave us, but when He went to the

From Transformation to Happiness This is an edited version of a talk given by at the Sri Sathya Sai Center of Metropolitan New York in March 2022. A lawyer from Costa Rica, he is the producer of the radio program, “Sathya Sai Baba: Love in Action’, which broadcast 360 programs from 2007 to 2014. He has written over 1000 articles for various media on the Avatar and His message. Jose Cabezas has held various positions in the Sathya Sai Organization of Central America and the Caribbean. We have to understand that with the teachings of Sai Baba, the material plane takes on a higher spiritual value because Swami has an impressive characteristic: He is not the Avatar [Incarnation] who only teaches us to connect to the heavens and the kind of life that will come to us according to the result of our actions, or with our own inner being. He also teaches us to enrich life wherever we are. In short, His teachings connect us with the heavens, with the earth, and with ourselves. Sai has all the answers that we may seek. When we listen to His speeches or His teachings in auditoriums where there are young and old, rich and poor, intellectuals and illiterate, men and women, not one person leaves without the conviction that that the message was for him or her.  For about 15 years, my office was in front of one of the largest churches in the center of the capital of my country, Costa Rica. I used to go there frequently to take a break. Day by day I saw people getting into the church with the sole reason of asking the Lord for a favor. This seemed normal to me until I met Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Little by little I became consumed with His teachings and learned that spirituality must be a constant way of life and not only a way to ask for help, which is not bad at all, but it is not the way to find that happiness that everyone needs and seeks and believes as the reason for living.  Truth and Service Baba tells us one of the most unquestionable truths, “If you look at me, I look at you.” Looking at Him is nothing other than living as He teaches us, complying with His principles, seeing life as He teaches us to see, based on practicing service to others because serving others is serving God. Hands that serve are holier than lips that pray, He told us. That truth is something very new that no one had said so emphatically before.  Truth is God. One day I tried to find the seed of it and found that what Sai Baba wanted to tell us is not what we understand as truth. Baba says that what we can appreciate about objects is clouded by our materialism and by the meaning we give to things. He says that if we walk through a dark place and see a hose on the floor, it could appear to us as a snake. The senses deceive us. Instead, God is what He is.  Truth is God because the truth is what never changes. When we say, “I am,” we are also the essence and reality. If God is reality and essence and we are also reality and essence, understanding His most popular teaching, “You and I are one” tells us that we are part of Him. There is one difference, though: we haven’t realized it, He did and hence affirmed it.  Let us focus on the concept of truth and the activity of seva or self-less service. The first places in us the clear and precise concept of God and who we are. The second complements us with other living and non-living beings in an absolute sense of unity⎯we are all one. We are one with creation. The more we focus, contemplate, and meditate on this truth, the more will be our interest to live in tune with that truth and more will be our passion to serve.  It is only then that we are flooded with a sensation or an experience that the Divine force is in us and at the same time we are in it. We can experience this by letting ourselves be led by the hand of our Lord Sai Baba. It is the beginning of a new life. But we will not achieve it if we only approach Him to ask and ask and ask. If we look at Baba, He looks at us. But looking at Him is beyond seeing. It is connecting with Him, which happens only by fulfilling His teachings, the prime one being ‘Love All, Serve All.’ Let us remember that He told us He does not need anything and that He is served by serving others. It is analogous to what Jesus said⎯that He was helped when we gave clothes and food to the helpless, and that every time we did so, we were doing it to Him.  Finding Baba when in need Many of us found Him during very difficult moments in our lives, financial, health, family, or social. Many of our problems are God’s way of attracting us to Him and the longer we take to get closer, the more we delay their solution because Baba is always the solution. If we take one step toward Him, He takes ten toward us. He fulfilled that promise to all of us who tried. Moreover, He said, “Bring me your recurring desires from your mind whenever they arise, your confusion, your fear, your longing, your anxiety, your inability to love the world, your hesitation to serve, your jealousy, all the shortcomings of your spiritual discipline.”  I came to Sai Baba because I was going through a very difficult material situation. I had built a commercial company in my country back in the early ‘90s, and in a few years it collapsed. In the midst of the anguish, I felt very scared. In addition [I was]

Our Offering The Bhagavad-Gita (IX, 26) says, `Offer Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a drop of water; that is enough.’ But Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba does not ask even these things. He says that there is no use in offering God leaves that fade, flowers that crumple, fruits that rot, and water that becomes foul. Give Me your heart, pure and full of devotion, He says. He calls to Him those whom He has chosen and teaches them this great lesson—offer unto God the pure heart filled with devotion. If you think that you have come here, to Prasanthi Nilayam, to have His darshan [seeing Him] you are mistaken; He has chosen you and brought you here. God wants you to come here and so you have come. If we must find out what exactly we have to offer to Bhagavan, we can know it well by examining the career of Mhalasapathi, who served Baba in His previous body at Shirdi. He was an ignorant villager with no pretensions to wealth or learning. He was the first to welcome Sai Baba when He reached Shirdi with the marriage party of Chand Patil. The carts of the party were loosened in the open space before Khandoba’s Temple, and one by one the members of the party got down from the carts. When Baba got down, Mhalasapathi saw Him; he said Ya Sai (Welcome, O Sai). Thence­forth He was known as Sai Baba; Baba adopted that name. He was sleeping with Baba at Dwarakamayi until the Mahasamadhi. He was such a great devotee of Baba that Baba called him by that very rare appellation, bhakta [devotee]—bhagat! This dasya bhava [attitude of servitude] is the attitude we should have toward Bhagavan; that is the best. He loves us beyond description by words; one glance from His eye is enough to make us happy forever. We who are less than the dust of His feet, He deigns to call near Him and use for His purpose and Mission. Mhalasapathi was very poor; Baba often used to ask him, “There are many rich people coming here; I shall tell them to give you money so that you can be rid of this trouble.” But every time Mhalasapathi refused to take anything. He wanted only Baba’s grace and the chance to serve Baba. Leave everything to Bhagavan, He knows best, He will give us what we deserve and what His grace can win for us. Four years after Baba left, Mhalasapathi passed away on one Ekadasi Day, with the words Sai Sai on his lips, supremely peaceful and happy. That is the life we should emulate; that is the bhava [attitude] we must cultivate. May Bhagavan endow us with the discrimination to elect this path and stick to it through to the very Goal. ~From Speech by K. P. Mukunda Prabhu, Prasanthi Nilayam 28/8/67Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Sept. 1967 Be humble, so that you can escape the fury of the passions and the emotions. A tree that holds its head high is torn down by the raging floods; but a reed bends low when the flood swirls around it and so it survives the fury of the waters. Man must learn to be egoless and humble. ~Baba

Pioneers! Let me make it clear, at the very outset, that I have not come here as Minister of External Affairs. I have come as a jijnasu, a seeker, an aspirant eager to learn the ulti­mate Truth. I cannot call myself a devotee, for I have yet to acquire devotion. I will continue to be a jijnasu as long as I live. We all ask questions to ourselves. One of them is: “What exactly do we want to achieve in life? Is it wealth or fame or a position of power?” I know many wealthy people, but they are not happy. They have money and money can purchase medicine. But money does not give them health. This does not mean that we should give up the world. As men con­cerned with the world, we need money to keep body and soul together. But money cannot be the ultimate goal of life. I find many Americans here before me. Theirs is a land of plenty. It can be called the Kubera bhoomi [the land of the Lord of demigods] but the people are not happy, for happiness comes not from the accumulation of external objects or skills but from within. Of course, it is very easy to say that we have to seek happiness from within ourselves, but this is a very difficult process. I have power, position, and a little name. But some­times, when I am alone, I feel I am groping in the dark. Every person craves for light. The student participant from Chandigarh who spoke just now of his experiences in this Summer Camp spoke of knowledge gained and wisdom earned. This is really a tapo­van, a hermitage, and not merely a spiritual ‘camp’. This institution is not just a stru­cture erected from brick and mortar. Re­ally, it is the wisdom gained by the spirit that matters. We Indians are very good as individuals. We shine as good doctors, wonderful engi­neers, and experts in many fields. But when we come together, we are a crowd not a community. The community spirit is the result of the fellow‑feeling and compassion—quali­ties of the spirit. Ours is a multi‑lingual country. But we are all sons and daughters of the one Mother, India. When we come together we speak in many languages, but they are all the languages of our Motherland. The language may be different but the trend of thought, the bhava [feeling], is the same, for it is based on the deep‑rooted traditions of our country. We all aspire for self-realization, but the problem is to how to set about it. It is a crucial question. As soon as we see a ray of hope, there appear dark clouds on the hori­zon to overwhelm the ray. The world is now in a very tense situation. Humanity is on the crossroad. The choice before it is no longer between cooperation and confrontation; it is, as President Carter said, between survival and annihilation. We are in the very brink of disaster. Now, who will save humanity? Certainly not the poli­ticians as we know them. Politicians guided by dharma[righteousness] can. ‘Dharanath Dharmam Ithyahu—The source of money is the world’ I wish Swami would arrange a course on dharma for politicians. I wish I could be one of the fortunate few who could be the disciples of Swami. I would be the first to join such a training class. I am really fed up with this race for position and fame. Prahlada prayed: Na thwaham Kamaye RajyamNa Swargam na punarbhavamKamaye dukha thapthaanaamPraninaam aarthi naasanam. I do not desire a kingdom, or heaven or birth in superior lives; I desire only to serve the distressed. That is the goal we have to set before ourselves As the student said just now, quoting Swamiji, “If there is love in the home, there is peace in the society; if there is peace in the society, there is peace in the nation; If there is peace in the nation, there is peace in the world.” We must be careful to see that the spiritual battery is charged, if we cannot do the better thing, to have self-­charging batteries. With the blessings of Swamiji, that stage will be acquired. The darkness that threatens can be dis­pelled, for this country is destined to become great. We have a mission; we can show the way to the world, provided we ourselves go that way. The Summer Course on Indian Culture and Spirituality must have impressed on you­ the new generation that it is dharmathat matters and not just the accumulation of degrees and diplomas. These may help you to earn money; but they cannot bring peace. Under the inspiring leadership and guidance, the molding of new generation on right lines, is already on. You are the pioneers. Take the message of love, com­passion, and fellow‑feeling to every part of the country. Source: Sanathana Sarathi, July 1978 Peace is the most priceless possession of man. It is the sign of a virtuous character, a willingness for service, a readiness to renounce, a clean spirit of resignation, and awareness of the evanescence of the material wealth, of an agitation‑less lake of joy in the heart. —Baba

Peace Through Seva B. Dato’ Lew Sip, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Malaysia, in his speech at the Sadhana Camp in Port Dickson, Malaysia, spoke about the Sai Baba followers serving the community selflessly and how it is beneficial in the present world. Let me tell you how I came to know of Sai Baba. I was informed that a certain group of public‑spirited people were operating a weekly free medical clinic in a squatter area in my constituency. This is a transit long‑house area built to resettle illegal squatters. There was no publicity when this medical service was launched. I came to know about it quite by chance. This episode brought several facts to my attention: (1) Devotees of Sai Baba inclu­ded Malaysians of diverse racial groups and they belonged to different religions. The organizer is a Hindu, the Doctor is a staunch Catholic, the people they serve are Malays, Indians, and Muslims. (2) This self­less service was being done without any de­sire for publicity. (3) The devotees of Sai Baba are those who have firm belief in God; they continue to pursue the religion of their choice or origin, they dedicate themselves to the service of mankind, regardless of race, religion, or creed. In a multi‑racial country like Malaysia, where we have Malaysians of Malay, Chi­nese, and Indian origins, and where we have virtually all the major religions of the world, this attitude of service to mankind regard­less of race or religion is most laudable. If all the devotees of Sai Baba in Malaysia dedicate themselves to such services in villages, hospitals, old folk homes, orpha­nages, etc., they will, I am sure, create a tremendous impact on the nation. I cannot see a better way to instill Muhibbah or Goodwill that has been the call of this government than by the type of service that I believe all of you are prepared to dedicate yourselves to. I am amazed to find that increasing num­bers of Malaysian Chinese are becoming devotees of Sai Baba. I understand that hundreds of Malaysian Chinese who, in the past would have no thought of visiting India have, in fact, gone to India to visit Sai Baba. Malaysian Chinese are also here in this Camp. They have come from Kuantan, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and other parts of Malaysia. I am informed that in the tem­ple of Kuan‑ti in Kuantan, classes are held for about 150 children by the devotees of Sai Baba, where they are taught religion and morality and spiritual and devo­tional songs. As you are aware, in Malay­sia the government has declared Belief in God as one of the tenets of the Rukun Negara or as one of the pillars of national life. If the youngsters of this country are able to turn to God and become aware of religion, spirituality, and morality, there can be no better bulwark against Communism and Communalism and against the growing tide of Drug Culture and other aspects of Western influence. If the Sai Baba movement in this country can bring people close to the religion of their own choice, if the movement can make people more conscious of God and their obligations, duties and responsibilities to their parents, their family, their schools, their state and their nation, then this move­ment will have done a great service to this country. I have been told that Sai Baba is a phenomenal force in the world today and that there are devotees of Sai Baba in virtually every country in the free world. I have also heard about various miracles happening in His personal presence and in the homes of devotees thousands of miles away from where He is located. Religion has always been a source of inspiration to man to bring him along the path of righteousness and goodness. How­ever, in modern society religion is losing its hold, especially on the youngsters. Fast living is becoming a new religion. This has brought untold suffering to families. Parents who have dedicated their lives to the children find that they become liabilities, rather than assets. Religion is most im­portant today not only for youngsters, but also for elders caught up in the rat‑race for living. Modern man can accumulate knowledge, power, and prestige, but the one thing he cannot buy or acquire from others is inter­nal peace. Internal peace is becoming a rare commodity today. The fact that wealth itself is not the answer to this problem is evident from the increasing number of suicides taking place all over the world. The fact that power and prestige are tran­sient phenomena is evident from events taking place all around us. For man to acquire internal peace, the path of spirit­uality, morality, and God is vital. Many of us make the mistake of not bothering to give time to prayers, for religion, for God and for selfless service. However, if this is the message of Sai Baba and if all Sai Baba devotees dedicate them­selves to tread the path of spirituality, along the religion of their choice, and if they perform selfless service to their fellowmen, I am sure they will find the internal peace that they desire, while giving comfort and joy to others at the same time. Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Oct/Nov 1980

Divinely Supreme Miracle Bhagavan reached Goa via Dharwar at 10 P.M. on the 7th of December and was received at the Cabo Raj Nivas [house] by the Lt. Governor Sri Nakul Sen I. C. S. and family. That very night, He took over in His infinite compassion the attack of acute appendicitis that a devotee was about to suffer from; expert physicians opined that could not be cured without an immediate surgery. On the 10th evening, however, when Bhagavan gave a long discourse during the Bhajan Session at Raj Nivas, He was perfectly normal, cheerful, and in good health (as the P. T. I. correspondent reported). His recovery within a couple of days without any surgical treatment was, as observed by the U. N. I. correspondent at Panaji (Goa), ‘considered a miracle not only by laymen but also by the expert physicians who attended on Him’! The speech that was delivered by the Lt. Governor on the 10th, in the Divine Presence of Bhagavan (who had cast off the malignant and painful illness that He had taken on), will give the reader some idea of the Divine Mercy, Grand Power, of Baba. Sri Nakul Sen said, “Bhagavan Shri Swami Sathya Sai Baba and Brothers, Sisters, and Children of Goa. It is our supreme good fortune that we find Divinity present amidst us today. I need not say how this has come about. To tell you who Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba is will be like showing candlelight to the midday sun. The inhabitants of Goa are indeed fortunate that Bhagavan Himself has come here and blessed them with His darshan. As we look back at the history of Goa, we feel em­boldened to lay a special claim for Bhagavan’s darshan and blessings. This will make you curious why I have said so. I do not have to remind you that Goa is an ancient land; Goa is a sacred land; Goa is a land of the Rishis [sages]. It is the land originally inhabited by Maharishi Parasuram and his devotees called Saraswat Brahmins. When they came to Goa, they found its beauty and landscape enchanting, but they could not locate any level ground where they could settle down with their cows whom they had brought with them from the North. Varuna, the Lord of the Oceans, welcomed Maharshi Parasuram and made the sea recede from that much of the area that was required by the Maharshi and his followers for the settlement and the cows for their pasture lands. As the sea receded, the cows in utter ecstasy ran toward it and that is how this land came to be called Gomant, that is the land’s end to which the cows could go. All Goans are the descendants of Maharshi Parasuram, and it is the result of their good deeds (punya karma) spread over many lives that Bhagavan Himself has come here to give darshan to them. “Goa is also the land of Lord Shiva, who lived on the Sahyadri Mountains. He had infinite love for His divine consort, Bhagwati Parvati, and for Her pleasure created through His sankalpa two rivers—the present day Mandovi and the Zuari, which are the counterpart of the holy Ganges in the North. The ancient names of these two rivers are Mahadevi and Aghanashini. They keep alive for all time to come the sacred memory of Lord Shiva and Bhagwati Parvati. Ever reminding us of them, they flow down the Sahyadri ranges through the entire territory of Goa, rapidly moving over the falls and leisurely sauntering over the planes before finally merging into the Indian Ocean. Both these rivers are very happy today—they are in ecstasy! They are humming divine songs of infinite sweetness. Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear can participate in their joy. Their happiness is boundless and is emerging from the consciousness that their creator, Lord Shiva, has come to Goa today in the form of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba to meet and bless them. It is a widely known fact that in the present times, Shiva Shakti is finding its expression through Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba, who is the Physical manifestation. There is yet another reason why Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba has blessed us with His visit. Those who have read the story of Lord Krishna know fully well that He and His elder brother, Shri Balaram, visited Goa in the early years of their life and stayed here for over two years. They were chased by Emperor Jarasandha of Magada, who was defeated by them in a spectacular hand-to-hand fight on the soil of Goa itself. Shri Balarama would have killed him, but Lord Krishna had already ordained his death at the hands of Bhima and, therefore, Shri Balarama could not be allowed to kill him. It is from Goa that while leaving this beautiful land Lord Krishna took the Garuda Dhwaja that was so dear to Him, and which remained with Him all his life. Lord Krishna loved Gomant. No wonder he decided to visit this ancient and sacred land again in the form of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba. The sole object of my saying all that I have said is that both historically and spiritually the Goans are like children of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba and can, therefore, rightly lay a claim on Him. He has loved Goa in His previous incarnations and Goa continues to be dear to Him even now. Bhagavan lives in the inner recesses of the hearts of His devotees and there is nothing that He would not do for them. Those who have read His life story or have had the good fortune of remaining in contact with Him over a period are aware of His breath‑taking and unaccountable leelas and mahimas. He has simultaneously appear­ed in His present form at different places to help His bhaktas in distress or impending calamity and saved them from it. He has assumed through His will (sankalpa), illness of His bhaktas and suffered it for them, because otherwise they would have been just overpowered by it. We have been the

Divinely Supreme Miracle Bhagavan reached Goa via Dharwar at 10 P.M. on the 7th of December and was received at the Cabo Raj Nivas [house] by the Lt. Governor Sri Nakul Sen I. C. S. and family. That very night, He took over in His infinite compassion the attack of acute appendicitis that a devotee was about to suffer from; expert physicians opined that could not be cured without an immediate surgery. On the 10th evening, however, when Bhagavan gave a long discourse during the Bhajan Session at Raj Nivas, He was perfectly normal, cheerful, and in good health (as the P. T. I. correspondent reported). His recovery within a couple of days without any surgical treatment was, as observed by the U. N. I. correspondent at Panaji (Goa), ‘considered a miracle not only by laymen but also by the expert physicians who attended on Him’!  The speech that was delivered by the Lt. Governor on the 10th, in the Divine Presence of Bhagavan (who had cast off the malignant and painful illness that He had taken on), will give the reader some idea of the Divine Mercy, Grand Power, of Baba. Sri Nakul Sen said, “Bhagavan Shri Swami Sathya Sai Baba and Brothers, Sisters, and Children of Goa. It is our supreme good fortune that we find Divinity present amidst us today. I need not say how this has come about. To tell you who Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba is will be like showing candlelight to the midday sun. The inhabitants of Goa are indeed fortunate that Bhagavan Himself has come here and blessed them with His darshan. As we look back at the history of Goa, we feel em­boldened to lay a special claim for Bhagavan’s darshan and blessings. This will make you curious why I have said so. not have to remind you that Goa is an ancient land; Goa is a sacred land; Goa is a land of the Rishis [sages]. It is the land originally inhabited by Maharishi Parasuram and his devotees called Saraswat Brahmins. When they came to Goa, they found its beauty and landscape enchanting, but they could not locate any level ground where they could settle down with their cows whom they had brought with them from the North. Varuna, the Lord of the Oceans, welcomed Maharshi Parasuram and made the sea recede from that much of the area that was required by the Maharshi and his followers for the settlement and the cows for their pasture lands. As the sea receded, the cows in utter ecstasy ran toward it and that is how this land came to be called Gomant, that is the land’s end to which the cows could go. All Goans are the descendants of Maharshi Parasuram, and it is the result of their good deeds (punya karma) spread over many lives that Bhagavan Himself has come here to give darshan to them. “Goa is also the land of Lord Shiva, who lived on the Sahyadri Mountains. He had infinite love for His divine consort, Bhagwati Parvati, and for Her pleasure created through His sankalpa two rivers—the present day Mandovi and the Zuari, which are the counterpart of the holy Ganges in the North. The ancient names of these two rivers are Mahadevi and Aghanashini. They keep alive for all time to come the sacred memory of Lord Shiva and Bhagwati Parvati. Ever reminding us of them, they flow down the Sahyadri ranges through the entire territory of Goa, rapidly moving over the falls and leisurely sauntering over the planes before finally merging into the Indian Ocean. Both these rivers are very happy today—they are in ecstasy! They are humming divine songs of infinite sweetness. Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear can participate in their joy. Their happiness is boundless and is emerging from the consciousness that their creator, Lord Shiva, has come to Goa today in the form of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba to meet and bless them. It is a widely known fact that in the present times, Shiva Shakti is finding its expression through Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba, who is the Physical manifestation. There is yet another reason why Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba has blessed us with His visit. Those who have read the story of Lord Krishna know fully well that He and His elder brother, Shri Balaram, visited Goa in the early years of their life and stayed here for over two years. They were chased by Emperor Jarasandha of Magada, who was defeated by them in a spectacular hand-to-hand fight on the soil of Goa itself. Shri Balarama would have killed him, but Lord Krishna had already ordained his death at the hands of Bhima and, therefore, Shri Balarama could not be allowed to kill him. It is from Goa that while leaving this beautiful land Lord Krishna took the Garuda Dhwaja that was so dear to Him, and which remained with Him all his life. Lord Krishna loved Gomant. No wonder he decided to visit this ancient and sacred land again in the form of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba. The sole object of my saying all that I have said is that both historically and spiritually the Goans are like children of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba and can, therefore, rightly lay a claim on Him. He has loved Goa in His previous incarnations and Goa continues to be dear to Him even now. Bhagavan lives in the inner recesses of the hearts of His devotees and there is nothing that He would not do for them. Those who have read His life story or have had the good fortune of remaining in contact with Him over a period are aware of His breath‑taking and unaccountable leelas and mahimas. He has simultaneously appear­ed in His present form at different places to help His bhaktas in distress or impending calamity and saved them from it. He has assumed through His will (sankalpa), illness of His bhaktas and suffered it for them, because otherwise they would have been just overpowered by it. We have been the witnesses of