Enthralling Reminiscences of the Days of Yore

From the mental diary of Mrs. Karunamba Ramamurthy - Part 6

Extremely fortunate to come to His lotus feet when she was just a tiny girl in the 1940s, Mrs. Karunamba Ramamurthy, lovingly addressed as Kannamma, has a priceless treasure trove of incredible memories of the yester years. She is also the author of the famous book "Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi - Journey with Sai". This is the sixth part of her wonderful reminiscences.

It was at Whitefield that Swami once materialized a silver vessel and showed it around to everyone. It was empty. Then Baba created a silver spoon and keeping the vessel in the left hand He drew the nectar from it using the silver spoon and distributed it to everyone. Once it was over, Swami tapped the vessel with his right hand finger and as He stirred it, the nectar came up. The vessel was filled and overflowing!

“You are all My children” - Swami

Mrs. Karunamba Ramamurthy

Once when Swami was in the Old Mandir, my sister and I came together to see Him. Swami asked us where we had come from. We replied “from Mysore.” Swami again asked, “From where?” We repeated the same answer. Then Swami told us “don’t say from Mysore. Say Puttaparthi. You are all My children. You are people of Puttaparthi.” Our joy knew no bounds, having Swami tell us that we were His people.

The Merit of Spiritual Practices

Swami has declared that He is an Avatar. Those days, visitors used to find it rather odd that the ashram did not have a formal routine of spiritual practices and discipline like recitation of the divine name, meditation, etc. The daily schedule was quite informal with some bhajan singing. The morning Omkaram chanting followed by suprabhatam program had not begun then.

When we drew Swami’s attention to this concern from visitors, He asked where is the need for sadhana when He is Himself here? Swami then told us one important thing. If the parents brought just the bride and her groom to perform their marriage, it can’t be completed without witnesses… in this case, Swami wanted some bhajans or pujas to be conducted because Swami explained that after our death, a court enquiry will be held in heaven.

In the court of God, God questions all the sages and seers if the soul being judged has performed good deeds and recited God’s name. When the sages and saints bear witness and vouch for your conduct before God, He confers suitable boons upon the soul. In a similar manner, witnesses from the celestial beings are required for the marriage as well. To achieve this endorsement from the divine beings inhabiting celestial planes, we have to participate in bhajans, read Holy Scriptures and earn good merit.

Shraadham Should be Done with Shraddha

Swami reminded us that our parents are God for us in this life. Hence on their death anniversary, we have to invite and feed at least one person in our home to mark the event.

“Because we have to offer that meal with Sraddha (or with faith, paying special attention), in due course of time, this custom came to be known as shraadham. That’s all. There is no rule to spend more money for pomp and show. All that extra expenditure you have created yourself. What shall I do for that?” Swami asked.

Then I questioned Swami if it is alright for us to go and eat shraadham meals in others’ homes. Swami was clearly against the idea. He said, “No, you should not take meals in others’ houses during their shraadham ceremonies. If they are very close blood relations then there is no harm otherwise if a new person goes and take meals on a shraadham day in other’s houses, some part of the fruits of the bad deeds done by that dead person should be borne by this guest.

"Whether meals or sweet, whatever you may eat, you have to share his/her bad deeds, otherwise you have to do extensive penance and get rid of that sin. Instead of that penance it is better not to partake of the meal at all.”

Why One Should Never End Ones’ Life

During old mandir days, once when we were all sitting around Swami, someone came from Tamil Nadu. He asked Swami about ending one’s life if one faced great difficulties.

Swami said no one should die by ending their life. There is a purpose to human birth. In this world even if we lose anyone, including our mother or father, somehow we can recover from the loss but if the human body is once lost, it cannot be retrieved under any circumstances. So, every one of us must take care of our body very carefully.

This human body is a vehicle for realizing God. Just because there are worldly difficulties, you cannot throw away this precious gift. One has to keep the body healthy and well as all our karma, pleasant or otherwise, must be borne by the human body. Any attempt to untimely end one’s life is fraught with greater danger.

To explain this, Swami gave the example of a rented house. The house owners may ask us to vacate it. Can we vacate the present house without securing a new vacant house? If we get angry with our landlord and vacate it in a fit of anger, without securing another one to move into, what are we going to do? Live in the open space outside? Do you think that this open space outside is all vacant for us?

Once you leave the body without completing your life cycle by taking your life, your soul will be left to wander in the open space. Swami said there are a lot of devils, demons and evil souls occupying the air in the space around us.

Just because we have a body now, when we are living in that body, we don’t know the details of how the other planes of existence work. If our soul is let out of the body by unnatural means, then we will be letting it loose into outer space where ghosts will catch it. The details of such a situation are very difficult to hear and we cannot even imagine that hell.

What Should be Our Daily Prayer

Swami advised us to pray immediately upon waking up and before stepping out of the house. We should ask God to grant us good behaviour and intellect so that we may serve society with discrimination of what is right and wrong. Similarly, before we go to bed at night, we have to pray God, “Swami, I offer everything I did today at your lotus feet. Please save me from the sins of my errors.”

If we involve God in our day from morning till night, then God will think that this person is fully dependant on Him and He will look after us in every way. Hence, prayer must be offered compulsorily. God will thus work through us as we will surrender to Him and involve Him in all our efforts.

How to Fulfill Our Purpose in Life

Once when Swami arrived at my house, I used the opportunity to seek His guidance on a few issues. I asked Him that what we have to do to fulfill our purpose in life?

Swami replied, “If you don’t want any more human birth and are keen on attaining emancipation, then all of your karma/actions/desires must be completed fully. If any portion is left over, then you have to be born again in order to complete them.

"Suppose you take birth again as a great person to fulfill that balance karma, but in that life you may do some good deeds or bad deeds. As a result, to receive the fruits of that karma one more birth will have to be taken.

"Hence you need not do any karma. Always focus on My darshan (the act of beholding a divine being), sparshan (blessing by means of a divine touch) and sambhashanam (hearing the divine benediction)" and saying so, Swami showed His lotus feet. Then we took padanamaskar. Swami said He had now introduced the routine of daily Omkar, Suprabhatam and bhajan or congregational singing for our emancipation from the grip of our karmic residue.

How to do Japam?

Once we asked, “Swami, how to do japam?”

Swami said, “Sit cross-legged in padmasan or lotus posture. Bend and fold the left leg at bottom, and place the right leg on top. It should be a comfortable pose. Think of Swami’s face and repeat the divine name or japa silently in your mind.  

"Spread a cloth on the ground and sit over to it to avoid earth’s gravitational force. Always be alert that your spinal cord is straight without any bend. If it is bent the blood flow will get disturbed. If you sit straight the blood will flow sufficiently to the brain and head."

Japa and meditation performed early in the morning at dawn will be more fruitful than at any other time of the day.

Which Name Should be Chanted during Japam

We again asked, “What name is to be chanted during japa (penance?)”

Swami said, “If the japa is performed with a longer mantra then it will be hard for your mind to concentrate on it. Hence instead of chanting something like 'Om Sri Sathya Sayeeswaraya namaha' or so on, it is better to chant 'Om Sri Sai Ram' This is a shorter one and better. All the power is contained in the mantra. Om Nama Sivaya is contained in Om Sri Sai Ram."

How to Know Our Spiritual Progress

One more day, we said. “Swami we all feel that we are stagnating in our spiritual growth, without any progress as we are unable to notice our spiritual progress.”

Swami, then said, “You need not know, but you are transforming. If I openly tell you of your progress you will get ego and that will lead to your downfall. Here there are others like you. I will not reveal any thing about them too. Some of you are chanting the mantras of Siva, Rama, Krishna, and so on.

"When will you learn about Sri Sathya Sai Maha Mantra? Brahmanda (entire universe) (Bra + Ha+ Man+da) consists of only 4 letters. That connotes all lokas or worlds put together. Sathya Sai Maha Mantra is also in four letters (in telugu, Sa+thya+Sa+ I). This mantra of Sathya Sai alone is enough to grant everything. Never change the mantra. Fix it firmly in your mind for constant remembrance and focus on the form of the deity in your inner vision."

Creation and Divine Incarnations

“Please explain about creation of universe or Brahmanda?” we asked on one occasion.

Swami said, “The entire Brahmanda or the Universe was created from a big sound Aum. That Omkara is I, Sai, (Swami pointed to Himself). The world you see outside and all else is of lesser value. Even Rama and Krishna are also like rays of light. When these avatars lived in this world, no one worshipped them and followed them. In those yugas or ages no one recognized them as God. But now all of you have recognized me as God. This is your good fortune.”

One day Swami asked us whether we have seen Rama and Krishna. We replied in the negative. He then asked us how we knew what the forms of Rama or Krishna looked like. We admitted we did not and just went with the description of our elders. He then explained thus: "In olden days there was a painter who could draw picture well. His name was Ravi Verma. He saw some photos and imagined the shapes and forms of Rama and Krishna and then drew the imaginary pictures. For generations, people have come to believe that those are forms of Rama and Krishna. But when I am personally telling you as I am God and descended on earth, why do you not believe Me?"

Actually there was no form of God. It is only tejas or bright light aura. When devotees or sadhakas do dhyana (meditation) they keep a photo or an idol in front. As the devotee likes that form, God also grants vision in that form. However there is no form and shape for God.

Sai – The Safe Boat to Cross the Ocean of Worldly Life

Getting a human birth is very difficult and a rare blessing. Moreover, having spiritual bent of mind is even rarer. Even if one has it, finding the guru to initiate one on the path is not easy. Where as in this life, for people like you God’s incarnation as Sathya Sai is available with you and is giving you daily darshan. You meditate upon Me. Try to merge in God and get emancipation.

Swami further said: "Suppose you have to cross the ocean of worldly life, you need to take a life boat. This vessel can only accommodate so many people. I am like that boat in this life. All of you can board this boat to cross the ocean of worldly life. Daughter, I am waiting for you like a boat in order to take you all to the other coast of emancipation. Let it be any number of human beings. I can grant you emancipation in this Avatar. You need not request Me to remove any difficulties. Without even your asking, I will surely get rid of all your difficulties for which you have to simply have My darshan and meditate upon Me. That’s all."

(To be continued)