That feeling of Love
-by His school boy

School time is the best time for everybody. All of us miss those little games! Locked up within us, that spontaneity and that sweet simple nature still remains a treasure gifted by those times.

"What is it that Swami does not have in His room?" "Something that we could make and send to Him..."
We, a small group of ninth class boys, sat discussing for long. In an hour's time, we were already cutting a sheet of thermacol, checking angles and putting forth all our engineering skills. Luckily we had a good pair of scissors; the thick sheet of paper was being cut into regular rectangular pieces, "1, 2, 3..." another boy went on counting and numbering the pieces with the nicest of calligraphic pens having a flattened nib! After a couple of hours, we caught hold of a beautiful white wrapping paper with blue and purple flowers.

"Hey, look here, I have a pen stand; it even has these small compartments for paper pins, clips, stamps, etc."

After serious consideration and due deliberation, the pen stand was also included. As a compromise, we added a thermocol sheet for base, spanning the bottom of the entire gift. There was that beautiful calendar, with a pen stand beside it, simple but elegant! No automatic date change, no fancy music, not even those photos of the sun and the moon, which we usually find. But believe it or not, it had lots of love. The first compartment was filled with cloves; second with paper pins and the third was empty to let the User have His choice! One pen and an ink eraser was placed in the pen stand, if our memory is still strong. This whole gift was then encased in another carton box about 18 cms long, 9 cms wide and 8 cms high. Holding this piece carefully, we approached our teacher in-charge.

"Sir, could you please go over to Swami's residence and give this gift?"

"Well, I can try but you will have to pray hard. Don't you want to tell me what you have inside?"

"Sir, it is a gift of Love to our Mother"

Swami was informed about the gift and that lucky piece of thermacol went into His room. After a few days, an elder brother who takes care of things inside Swami's room sent a message to our teacher in-charge:
"Sir, believe me, He won't let anyone change the date; He would himself put his finger into the paper pouch and lift each piece of paper in accordance with the date. Everyday before He goes out for Darshan, this gift steals His attention. He occasionally picks up a clove from the compartment. And when the Prime Minister of India was to visit this room, He had everything cleared from the tabletop—only this little gift remained!”

For our most loving Mother, that feeling of Love was most important.

"Do you fellows think Swami will climb up fifty steps to see your prayer room?"

We little boys stole two arches made of a bent rod, stayed awake the whole night; white washed the walls all along the way (we had to redo it twice because the first time, by mistake, we used white bleaching powder instead of white cement!) The senior brothers decorated the hostel quadrangle and made elaborate arrangements for Swami's visit.

Swami came and spent some time in the hostel quadrangle. There were songs, speeches and also a small drama. After the programme, the senior boys were asked to go into the dinning hall and occupy their seats for dinner. Swami was about to enter the hall. We small monkeys, the school boys, were climbing up the small parapet wall to see Swami.
"Swami, please come and bless our shrine also", an eighth class boy prayed pulling Swami's Hand. "Where is your shrine?" "Swami, up in the third floor"
The whole lot of us ran up three staircases and reached our prayer hall. Step-by-step, fifty in all, He physically climbed up to bless our simple shrine. He was so happy seeing our simple decoration. He blessed the main photo with His signature; threw toffees. To add to the confusion we belted out some loud songs. The seniors were waiting for fifteen minutes locked in their seats in the dinning hall.

Later, the warden told us that Swami had not climbed up those stairs even during the inauguration of the hostel. That was the very first time.
For our most loving Mother that feeling of love was most important.

Some time in the middle part of 1994, the Sai Kulwant Hall construction had began and Swami's residence in the Poornachandra Hall was being modified. Swami was in Brindavan for a very long time, about five months.
'This is too much"
"We have to bring him back"
"We want Swami"
"Let us do Namasmarana. Swami's form will be pulled by His Name!"

And soon we launched the Continuous Namasmarana Scheme throughout the day and the night. One batch of students would leave the altar only when another batch of students continue to chant 'AUM SRI SAI RAM'
"Swami, it rained heavily and a lot of work is being redone."

"Doesn't matter. Even if one small room is ready for Me, it is sufficient. I have to go back to Puttaparthi immediately. My boys are praying for Me."

In two to three days time, Swami started from Brindavan. We had to clean up the pieces of bricks, lots of sand, nails and metal rods in the Sai Kulwant Hall in a hurry.

For our most loving Mother, that feeling of love is the most important ever.