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Anil Kumar's Sunday Satsang at
Prasanthi Nilayam
August 6, 2000
SAI STORIES
Selected Stories told by Anil Kumar during Sunday Satsang at
Prasanthi Nilayam August 6, 2000.
Om Sai Ram
Table of Contents
August 6, 2000
There will be no state of emergency to My devotees!
I am Ancient.
I have not forgotten him.
Divine Assurance
As you think, so I appear.
On Broadmindedness and Compassion
Heart is Heart.
To Me, all are good.
I want all to be happy. I am equally happy in praise and blame.
One visit is enough.
One has to be dear.
On His Omniscience
I don’t want praise.
I am the same in heat and cold.
SAI STORIES
Selected Stories told by Anil Kumar during Sunday Satsang at
Prasanthi Nilayam August 6, 2000
(I) There will be no state of emergency to My devotees!
Anil Kumar spoke about the students, who are always writing
letters to Swami. These are letters of thanksgiving, of gratitude.
As a joke, Swami said to them:
You are all writing letters! Oh, too many, too many! Don’t write
letters hereafter, OK? I shall not take letters hereafter. No. No.
I don’t take because everyone is writing a letter. And you don’t
stop at that stage. You also want padnamaskar.
Interest, interest! So the principal about the submission of the
letter, the interest thereof, is padnamaskar. So Swami said ‘No,
no, no, no letters’.
The boys said, "Swami, please." I said softly, "Bhagavan, at least
permit some letters that need Your immediate attention: Emergency,
period of emergency." You know what Bhagavan said? (What Swami
says to boys is only an incident to convey profound philosophy.)
Emergency? Emergency? There will be no state of emergency to my
devotees. There is no state of emergency to my devotees. You don’t
have to write to me. If the situation is so dangerous, if you call
it the state of emergency, I know how to take care of them. I
attend to their demands. I look after their necessities and needs.
Don’t pick up emergency. There’s no emergency, so far Bhagavan Sri
Sathya Sai Baba and his devotees are concerned.
What an assurance is His! What a wonderful thing He said!
Om Sai Ram
(II) I am Ancient.
Anil Kumar also remembers a very important, profound statement
made by Bhagavan, regarding the names of devotees whom He had
visited 50 years ago. Swami went on mentioning their names and
said:
I am not new. I am ancient. I am not a man of today. I am ancient.
The meaning is that He has been here for ages.
Om Sai Ram
(III) I have not forgotten him.
This morning Swami gave a beautiful sari for the bride and a
safari suit for the bridegroom to a student whose brother is going
to get married in a month. This is not that important. The
important point is this: What did He say? It seems that this
brother was an old student of Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning. So Swami said:
Tell your brother that I have not forgotten him, though he forgot
Me.
Om Sai Ram
(IV) Divine Assurance
At the moment, the students are having exams. Swami called the
warden and said:
Two boys are sick. Is it true?
The warden confirmed this. So Swami said:
Two boys are sick, I know. Out of these two sick boys, one wrote
examination yesterday and could not today. The other boy wrote
examination today and could not yesterday. I know. You all think
that I stay there. But remember, I hear everything. I listen to
your prayer. I see from there. I see all over, everywhere.
This is a Divine assurance.
Om Sai Ram
(V) As you think, so I appear.
This morning, I took with me a book with a picture of Lord Ganesha.
Swami saw Ganesha’s picture and I said, "Swami, how do You like it?"
I like all.
Another gentleman, who was sitting next to me, was showing this
morning a small book he had written on Dattatreya. I said to
Swami, "Swami, people say that Shirdi Sai is the reincarnation of
Dattatreya. Am I right?" He should say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. That’s all.
No multiple choice. He said:
As you think.
As you think! What a lovely answer! What a diplomatic answer! Then
I said, "Swami, some say that it is only Dattatreya who has taken
the form of Shirdi Sai and Shirdi Sai who has taken the form of
Sathya Sai today. Is that true?" I wanted Him to be more clear. Do
you know what He said?
That is the feeling of a devotee. As you think, so I appear.
Om Sai Ram
(VI) On Broadmindedness and Compassion
Yesterday, a Prime Minister from another country was on a visit
here and he asked Swami, "Swami, how do You manage Your hospital,
which runs absolutely free-of-cost? You don’t charge. How do You
run this hospital? How is it possible?"
Swami said:
If one is broadminded, if one is broadminded, compassionate and
full of consideration, with that you can do anything. With
compassion, with broadmindedness, you can do anything in this
world. When one is narrow-minded, one is not able to do anything.
Om Sai Ram
(VII) Heart is Heart
Regarding the Super Specialty Hospital, I remember someone telling
Swami, "Swami, You don’t need to charge poor people. At least You
can accept money from rich people. Rich people are coming to You.
Why don’t we charge them for cardiac surgery, heart surgery? Baba
immediately said:
Shut up! The rich man and the poor man have the same Heart. There
is nothing like a rich heart and a poor heart, a middle-class
heart, an American heart, an Indian heart, a rural heart, a
metropolitan city heart. Heart is Heart. It is heartless to say
that rich have to pay and poor need not.
But this man did not keep quiet. He asked again, "How to run the
hospital then? Swami said:
For good work, for selfless work, for work born out of Love, all
people will join their hands. All will join. All will cooperate.
Om Sai Ram
(VIII) To Me, all are good.
A few days back on the veranda, I was making a reference to a
small group of people who are bad, branded ‘bad’, and who are also
publishing newspapers including all the bad things they learn. I
started telling, ‘So-and-so-and-so is bad. So-and-so is a hopeless
fellow.’ All my information is from the newspaper. Do you know
what Baba said?
You like newspaper news. You read them. You collect news. But you
forget the nuisance coming from you. The nuisance is coming from
within. Within is nuisance. But you collect news. What for is all
this? No, no. To Me, to Me, all are good. To Me, all are good.
There is nothing being bad or vicious or cruel. Nothing! To Me,
all are good.
Om Sai Ram
(IX) I want all to be happy.
I am equally happy in praise and blame.
Somebody said to Swami, "Swami, so-and-so is speaking like this
against You." Baba said:
I see. You are so much pained. You are very much hurt because
someone is speaking ill of Me. All right. How do you come to know
that? You hear because of your ear. I have given you legs also.
Why don’t you walk out of the place?
And further, He said:
Here are all My people, My devotees, of the size of a mountain.
There are those who find fault with Me because of selfishness,
whose desires have not been fulfilled, those who have not
understood the Mystery behind the Divinity. This group and that
group might say a thousand things. You may feel happy in praising
Me. She may feel happy in criticizing me. But I want both these
people to be happy. I bless both of them. He is happy by praising
Me. She is happy by criticizing Me. I am happy since both are
happy. Since both of you are happy, I am equally happy.
Om Sai Ram
(X) One visit is enough.
Yesterday the above-mentioned Prime Minister made another
statement to Swami: "Bhagavan, how fortunate these people are!
They come for Darshan. They had Your Darshan, morning and evening.
They have the rare privilege of participating in bhajans, morning
and evening. They are very lucky, whereas fellows like me really
come from a long distance. Bhagavan, I consider myself miserable."
What did Swami tell him?
You are a good devotee. You feel so sad that you are not able to
see Me day-in and day-out. You feel so sad that you are not able
to make frequent trips to this place. But, this one trip you made
is because of yearning, because of continuous prayer, the desire
to see Me. That one visit is enough. Why thousands of visits like
these people? One spoonful of cow’s milk is better than barrels of
donkey milk. One spoon of cow’s milk is more nutritive than
barrels of donkey milk.
Om Sai Ram
(XI) One has to be dear.
Bhagavan made another statement:
One has to be dear. It is not enough if you are here. It is not
enough if you are near. It is necessary that you have got to be
dear.
Om Sai Ram
(XII) On His Omniscience
One fellow came here for the first time. He was highly critical of
Baba. He saw Baba from a distance and he thought, "Oh, what a
lovely guy He is! What a halo of hair around! He would make a good
film star!" That’s all he thought. And Bhagavan gently walked
slowly, softly, smilingly, looking here and there. And with a
beautiful smiling face, He stands in front of him and tells him:
Am I a film star? And why a film star? Yes, do I look like that?
Om Sai Ram
(XIII) I don’t want praise.
Once a boy said to Swami, "Swami, You are great! Swami, You are so
kind! Swami, You are compassionate, a good finding."
And Swami said:
I don’t want this praise. I don’t want these praises. Once you
start praising, it means you consider Me distant from you. You
consider Me separate from you. You consider Me a third person.
Because I give you rice and sweets and all that, you praise Me.
No, no, it is My duty. Do you praise your mother? ‘What a lovely
curry, what rice pudding, what cake, what pie, what donuts!’ Do
you praise like that? No, no. You don’t go to your father saying
he is great because he gave you a new safari suit? Do you praise
your father like that? Do you praise your mother like that? Then
you say: ‘Matha Pita Guru Daivam Mari Antayu Neeve.’ (You are
Mother, Father, Noble Teacher, Supreme Divinity. Everyone is You.)
No reality at all. Why do you praise Me? So, your praise is
nothing I want. I don’t want.
Om Sai Ram
(XIV) I am the same in heat and cold.
Sometimes Bhagavan talks about His visit to North India and the
Himalayas. He was asked, "Swami, Himalayas are very cold. How did
You manage? Did You have a pullover or a suit or what? Or some
woolen clothing? Swami said:
No, no, the same dress. Same dress. Here or Himalayas, the same
dress. No extra woolen clothing.
When asked about shoes and socks, Swami said:
No, no, no, barefooted.
Walking on ice?
Yes.
You are not affected by ice?
Certainly not! I am not affected.
The Governor who accompanied Swami had purchased a new pair of
sandals for Him. When Swami refused to wear them, he started
crying. So Swami wore those sandals. And what happened? After one
hour, Swami had blisters all over. And then the Governor started
weeping again. Swami told us this story to let us know that heat
and cold are equal to Him.
Om Sai Ram
Om … Shanti … Shanti … Shanti…
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu!
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