SUN DARSHAN

We all proclaim that Swami is God, that He is Omnipresent etc. Yet, in practical terms, we scarcely appreciate this Omnipresence in the real sense of the word. This is a topic on which we have commented many times but for the present we wish to present the story of a manifestation of Swami in far off Central America, reported for us by John Behner of El Salvador. Some of you may have heard an interview with him which we have broadcast over Radio Sai.

Occasions are many when devotees are transported with joy when Swami reveals Himself in subtle manner - like a flower falling from His picture, for example. John’s account describes a more spectacular manifestation. We present below the report that he sent to us. In the Gita, the Lord is described as brighter than a thousand Suns. But the Lord is also the Sun. But because we fail to see the Lord in the Sun that daily shines for us with so much consideration, Swami revealed Himself via the Sun in a most unusual manner on two distinct occasions. Some may recall an account by Hislop of another such manifestation via an unusual natural phenomenon.

Hard-boiled sceptics would dismiss all explanations based on the manifestation of the Divine. OK, but why did this happen just when the Sai devotees were about to commence a major function? “Oh, that’s a mere coincidence!” You know what Swami says about coincidence? He says: “Coincidence is a miracle where I hide Myself!”

So there it is! For the non-believers He is simply not there. The doubting Thomases are left wondering: “Did Swami really appear or was it a mere coincidence?” On the other hand those of firm faith rejoice saying, “Our beloved Swami came here to tell us that He is blessing what we are doing!”

Over now to John Behner…….

Usually we receive Swami’s Darshan though His physical Form. But He has many Forms. In 1991, a public meeting was organised in Mexico City to tell newcomers about Sathya Sai and His Message. The Sai Organisation of Mexico had hired a huge theatre for the event which was to start at noon. As a prelude to the meeting, some devotional songs were sung by a few of the people assembled. Suddenly, one of the volunteer devotees posted for duty outside the theatre noticed an unusual orange ring around the Sun, in an otherwise absolutely clear and blue sky. Word quickly spread into the theatre and the 1200 or so members forming the audience quickly filed out to see the unusual phenomenon. Such events are very rare and it had to be more than a coincidence that this phenomenon occurred just at this time, when a lot of people were being introduced to Sai. Can you imagine 1200 people all looking at the Sun on what was otherwise a normal day? No eclipse, no Venus crossing the Sun etc. One young man driving past the theatre stopped the car, took a look at the sky and then joined the audience – he had no idea of the meeting and no plans to attend either. The singers inside were not told about the phenomenon, and when they saw every one leaving, they were aghast and depressed – they thought that their singing was terrible and driven everyone outside!

Naturally the newspapers carried news about the totally unexpected phenomenon, but they had no clue about what exactly was happening. For us in the Sai community, the signal is loud and clear – that ring was Swami’s signature of His blessing.

The same phenomenon occurred in April 2004, when Dr. Choudari Voleti of America came to El Salvador to participate in a Sai Retreat and a Public Meeting for doctors. Photos taken during the event seen in Mexico and also a newsclip of the report that appeared in a El Salvador newspaper following the of the local papers can be seen alongside.