Swami and His students

Once Swami during his rounds in the Hill View stadium..stopped His car near the rear entrance of the boy's hostel. For some reason the car just waited there for sometime and then sped away to the Mandir..no one could guess as to why Swami's car had just waited there for no apparent reason..
In the evening during Darshan, Swami enquired about a particular boy in the hostel. The Hostel warden started summoning boys to where Swami sat, but none of them was the student Swami was looking for. Swami then mentioned that the boy was a student in the music college. A Music student got up and Swami's face lit up with recognition and He beckoned him to come up front. Everyone was wonderstruck as to why Swami had searched and picked up this particular boy..Swami then asked the boy " Today morning weren't you sitting near the window of your room with a bad headache? You thought how nice it would be if Swami were to come right there. However you did not to lift yourself and look outside the window – I was right there outside the hostel looking at you!" ...Swami had conveyed a profound truth in such a casual and simple way! God is there always waiting, man only needs to lift himself..if he puts that effort then he could experience God.

from a talk given by Mrs. Geeta Mohan Ram...1970

......Swami was speaking to all of us during an interview & there was this lady who kept speaking up every time Swami paused, and she would say "Swami you must come to our town. We are doing a lot of seva, in our town."...The first time she said that Swami ignored her; 2nd time, ignored her; 3rd time, I was beginning to get a little nervous … when Swami was still speaking about something, she said it again: "Swami, you must come to our town."....So Swami looked at her and said: "But I have! I have come to your city!"...."No Swami, You have not come to our city."
Swami suddenly changed the topic, and suddenly looked at her and said: "How is the service going on in your town?
So the lady said: "Swami, when we started off there were 10 families who were putting aside the rice. Now we have a 100 people and we have about 25 kilos of rice that we collect. And we are feeding a lot of people. Swami, the seva is going wonderfully well!"....Swami said: "Oh! Very happy! (In Telugu)
And then suddenly out of the blue, Swami said: "What kind of rice do you use for cooking?"...She said: "Swami, very good rice! 'We' use very good rice!"....Swami said: "No, I am not asking about the other people, I am asking about you! What kind of rice do you keep aside for the seva activity?"
She said: "Good rice." ...Swami said: "Oh really! Good rice?"
She said: "Yes Swami, very good rice!" and in the middle, she kept saying: "But Swami, you must come to our city to see the seva!"
Swami said: "Very good! Very good! Ah! I know 5 rupees rice for the family & 2 rupees rice for the service, for poor feeding!!!"
The lady said, "No, no Swami!"....Swami said: "Yes, Yes! You don't believe me? Obviously the 5 rupees rice quality is better, the 2 rupees rice is not properly cleaned; not a good quality…
She said: "No Swami, good rice Swami."...And then Swami's whole smiling face changed!!!
He said: "You don't believe me? Wait! I will show you. Did you not give the beggar who came to your house & said: 'Mother give me rice?' a whole sack full of rice that you had bundled in a red cloth that you had kept aside for Narayana seva? Did you not give it to that beggar two years ago? You don't believe me? Wait!"
And He walks into the inner room and comes out holding the red sack which was given to the beggar two years back filled with the two rupees rice! "Did you not give this to me? I have been to your city!!!"...The silence was so stunning, so shocking in that room and imagine the embarrassment of that lady!!! She had tears in her eyes. It was such a moving experience for all of us.

In connection with brahmarpanam

Sairam


In interview room
Swami gave fruit to devotee and asked him to eat.

He started to eat,

Swami interrupted and asked "did you tell brahmarapanam before eating.

No swami

Why?

I used to tell before taking breakfast, lunch and dinner swami.

Swami : No no you have to tell each and every time before taking anything in to mouth.

You can say "sai ramarpanam asthu".

This should be for water and other liquid items also.
Swami "what you eat what you are".

Divine Discourse, Aug 25, 1998

Easwara blessed Ganapathi saying, "I have many attributes, but not Your intelligence. Hence, before offering worship to Me, let all people worship You. This is the boon I confer on You." Easwara is a parent who conferred such an honour of a higher status than His own on His son. Hence Ganapathi represents no commonplace principle. He is the embodiment of all potencies. He is the abode of every kind of intelligence. Nothing untoward can happen wherever He is present. Ganapathi occupies the position of one who is the source of all prosperity. Moreover, when He is invoked before any undertaking, there will be no impediments to its completion. People look upon the Vighneswara festival as some routine affair. But Vighneswara embodies all the forms and all the powers of all the deities. It is not enough to worship Him once a year. We must worship Him always.

- 

1961 Dassera Festival at Prashanthi Nilayam

.     On the tenth and last day of Dassera,Beloved Swami did the Vibhuti Abishek. At noon the head of the Vedic scholars approached Swami and asked,"Swami! Can this yagna be concluded today?" Swami said "Why not?". The scholar said " We require 'navaratnas' for the Purnahuti ceremony".     Baba answered:"Bring Me a big empty plate quickly".       As soon as the priest brought the big silver plate,Bhagavan waved His Right HAND,and everybody saw about 100 precious Navaratna stones materialised by Swami falling on the tray,with a sound which is indescribable-- as if the stars were falling on to the plate from the heavenly skies.Everyone was just amazed at their beauty.




Bhagavan Baba once said : "I do not need songs glorifying God,like a gramophone record which produces songs and strings of God's Names without any feeling or yearning whilst being sung.Hours of shouting do not count ;a moment of concentrated prayer from the heart is enough to melt and move God".                       From the book " SaiSmaran" by Dr D.J.Gadhia

Bhagavan at Tirupathi on 03-12-1998.

                  As usual on that day,in the early morning ,the temple priests were conducting abhishekam to Lord Venkateswara. All the priests tied their eyes with pieces of cloth,so as not to see the naked body of the Lord.Suddenly the chief of the priests felt the Feet of Lord soft like a human feet.Wonder struck,they removed their eyebands and Lo! The fortunate priests found BAGAVAN BABA standing there in place of the stone idol of Lord Venkateswara.         In ecstasy they cried loudly "Baba has come!".  Bhagavan stood there smiling and blessing the priests.They ran out crying " Sathya SAI has come,have His Darsan!" Baba said "I shall stay here,call your people".     Some officers of the temple and other people came there to have the Darsan of Baba.Afterwards Baba disappeared.On 07-12-1998 they went to Whitefield with poornakumbam chanting Veda mantras they had the Darsan of Baba. Baba said " I have come to Thirumala.Why have you come here again?". With this Baba has confirmed His Appearance in Thirumala.

Bhagavan Baba's Amazing Grace at Aanamalai on 11-5-1967

.                        When Swami alighted from His car,He found that it was a motely crowd that was waiting in the school ground. As He was walking towards the dais,they were shouting 'vaazhga vaazhga'!.They were clapping and whistling!It smacked of a political meeting and not a spiritual gathering. Swami lighted the sacred lamp ,unveiled the plaque in the front hall of the new building and immediately started returning to the car.Jostling through the crowd, a ' Kurukkal' was ushering in,his lame and blind son towards Baba.Looking at the boy with compassion,Swami started singing the bhajans ' Govinda Krishna vittalae'. Within a second the atmosphere had changed serene and as Swami finished the first line of the bhajans song,the boy got his vision.The astounded crowd,repeated the first line of the bhajan  song.Then Baba started the second line 'venu  gopala Krishna vittalae' and applied the vibhuthi on the boy's lame leg.The lifeless flesh straightened and the boy stood up. The crowd was in ecstasy.Now,Swami sang the third line,'panduranga vittalae',Lo! Behold! The boy slowly walked towards Swami.Swami blessed the boy with His Abhayahastha and the kurukkal offered his grateful bandana to Swami with flood of tears streaming from his eyes.And Swami's car left before the crowd could recollect and understand all that had happened.               From the book 'Divine Footsteps'. P.No.174