Sri Sathya Sai Baba Teachings

There are instances when Bhagavan Baba had given extension of life to some devotees. He had, by His Grace, even brought some other back to life, hours after they had died. And yet in some cases, Sai, had by His compassion, taken some blessed souls unto HIM, liberating them from the cycle of birth and death.

When somebody passes away, we normally say that so and so has attained the Lotus Feet; Or attained the Paramapadham, Or reached Sri Vaikuntam, (the abode of Lord Vishnu; Or reached the Holy Kailash (the abode of Lord Shiva). The end, which a devotee meets in this earthly sojourn, indicates the level of surrender and the degree of devotion he has reached. The Lord takes special care to give them a blissful end. To many devotees, Swami had given His Darshan when they were to breath their last and Swami made the transition less painful and the passing blissful. I wish to narrate the cases of couple of such devotees.

Sri. M.K.Bhaskar was a retired Senior Railway Officer. He was the District President of Sri Sathya Sai Organizations in Madras. We always cherish the days when we worked under him, engaged in various service activities. You cannot find anybody more vigilant than Mr. Bhasakar who enforced strict discipline in the organization without fear or favour. Yes, he was always strict, and yet was a very kind hearted man. Mr.Bhaskar and His wife were affectionately called by us, as Achhan (i.e. father) and Amma (i.e. Mother). Both of them derived great joy in giving sumptuous food to all those who visited their house. They never got tired of this seva. 'Athithi Devo bhava ' is one of the dictums of Vedas and they followed this dictum enthusiastically. Even now ,in spite the old age and restricted movements, Amma continues to treat her guests with sumptuous food.

After relinquishing the post as District President, Mr.Bhaskar was nominated by Swami as one of the members of Sri Sathya Sai Trust of Tamil Nadu. Once, while he was in Parthi, it seemed that he had an heart attack, but was discharged from the general hospital the same day, after keeping him in Oxygen for a couple of hours. He traveled the same night in a bus along with us. By the next day, his condition had become very serious and he had to be admitted in the Railway Hospital in Madras. By the Grace of Swami he recovered very soon.

Later on, Mrs. and Mr. Bhaskaran shifted their residence to Prashanthi Nilayam. Swami had assured that He would give him a good job at Parthi. He was waiting for that opportunity. It was a long wait. After a couple of years, it was the Holy festival of Shivarathri day. After the morning Darshan and devotional songs were over, I went to his residence at Parthi in the round building. Sri. Bhaskar was sitting in an easy chair in the verandah and was reading a paper. Suddenly he collapsed. On hearing our frightened call, his wife came out and prayed to Swami. Vibhuthi was applied on him, and after a while he recovered. We stayed back and spent some more time with him. During the chat, Mr. Bhaskar insisted that my friend Sri. G. Venkatesan and myself should have lunch in their house the next day without fail. We agreed and accepted the invitation. I could not forget the next day in my life.

The morning Darshan was over and Mr. G. Venkatesan and myself were standing in the queue outside the canteen for our breakfast. Mr.Bhaskar was returning home I found him dressed in a new white safari dress, hoping that Swami might give him the promised job that day. He spotted us in the queue and told us very sternly that we should go to their house for lunch without fail. We promised to do so.

It was morning Bhajan time in the Mandir. Swami had finished the interview for the chosen devotees and came out of Mandir. The seva dal volunteers, from Madhya Pradesh, who had completed Prashanthi Seva for about a week, were sitting outside, for the blessed Pada Namaskar. The Bhajan was going on, as Swami walked amongst the gents seva Dals. We were standing outside the compound wall and Mr.Bhaskar was sitting on a chair just inside along the wall, almost in front of us. Swami, while walking along a row, which terminated just where Mr.Bhaskar was sitting. Bhagavan Baba enquired as to Mr.Bhaskar what he wanted. He replied 'Swami, Padam'. Swami allowed him to touch His Lotus Feet. He got up blissfully and was trying to sit on the chair again. But he was falling down sliding from the chair as soon as he managed to sit. All the eyes were glued to Swami and nobody noticed Mr.Bhaskar falling down from the chair. As Swami mentioned later on, Mr. Bhaskar had died as a chairman (sitting in a chair) and not as sick man in the bed.

What a beautiful end to a devoted soul! The end happened, inside the compound of the Mandir premises. that too, immediately after taking Pada Namaskar. The ears were listening to the Bhajan while the eyes were feasting on the Divine Form of Bhagavan and the body just had physical contact with the Divine, while taking Pada Namaskar.

The senior doctors from the Super Specialty Hospital who were there for Darshan rushed to him but could not revive the heart. I was witnessing the event quite dazed. If the end had come the previous day, he would have memories of his wife and family at that critical time. But Swami extended his life by one more day and had willed that the end should come in His very Presence. Mr.Bhaskar left the body with nothing else in his mind other than Swami. Swami even undertook to organize all the religious rituals as per the customs of the family for Mr.Bhaskar.

How else can we explain this liberation other than by calling it that "Mr.Bhaskar attained the Lotus Feet." There was glory to the devotee even in his end.

I wish to add one more such an episode. Here the name of the devotee was Mr. Kasthuri Rangan. He was a member of our T'Nagar Samithi, at Madras. He was earlier a senior executive with Manali Refineries Ltd, and opted to retire on voluntary retirement scheme. He was always very regular in attending the weekly bhajans at Sundaram Temple, and he used to reach there early so that he could enter the hall and sit almost behind the Bhajan singers. He was a regular lead singer in the Samithi.

We did not know how deep-rooted devotion he had for Swami. We knew him just as another devotee and a good singer. But in the end he proved to be very close to Swami. Swami had often said that physical proximity to Him might not indicate that the person is a great devotee. Perhaps a person who is away from Swami could still be a close devotee of Swami.

The weekly Bhajan at T'Nagar Samithi was regularly conducted on Saturday evenings. As usual, on that particular Saturday, the Bhajan was going on, and Mr. Kasthuri Rangan was singing. That song came to an end and the first line was resumed in slow rhythm, as it is the practice in Sai Bhajans. Immediately after finishing the song, Mr. Kasthuri Rangan slipped sideways on to the laps of another singer named, Mr. Kailash who tried to pop him up. Instantly we knew something was wrong. Mr. Kasthuri Rangan was lifted by a few devotees and taken to a clinic in a car. As is the discipline in Sai Organizations, the Bhajan continued. On arrival at the hospital, doctor pronounced that Mr. Kasthuri Rangan had already passed away.

What a great devotee, Mr. Kasthuri Rangan should have been. Only Swami had known the depth of devotion and had liberated him. We have heard of the stories of many singer devotees in our scripture like, Meera, Purandhara Das, Vittal, Sri Krishna Chaithanya and all. But this Sai devotee had cast away his body immediately after finishing his singing. A blissful divine end of a devotee with Lord's Name dancing in his mouth!

Author's statement in:
http://in.groups.yahoo.com/group/SaiGroup-BombaySrinivasan/message/1

Many of you may be aware that I had authored a book with the title "Sri Sathya Sai Hrudaya Nivasi (Indweller of Hearts). This book had seen the third reprint, and is being sold in Bhagavan's Bookstall at Prashanthi Nilayam. Many of you would have purchased and many would not have got chance to go to Parthi and get the book. After the third edition, this may not go to print again. As such I wish to bring the contents of this book to each and every one of you.

Starting from today I shall post one chapter every week or if possible twice a week, depending upon the response I get from you all. I would request you to kindly read it and then re-circulate it to your other friends in the Sai Family.

The text could be transferred to your hard disk, and if possible print outs taken out.

Utilize the contents, as much as you like.

With Lots of Love and regards
Bombay Srinivasan
 

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