Dear Reader,
In the very first month of this year, 2007, we gifted you a precious cover story on Sai Geetha entitled “Sai Geetha…A Mystifying Tale of Unmatched Love.” Many readers wrote back to us deeply touched by that article. Seshagiri Rao from Bangalore expressed, ‘It was a trip around heavens, truly an experience of divine love. As I read through the narration it was a continuous stream of tears…”; Sarika from UK wrote, “This article has so much value and inner meaning for all…I read it twice over, if only we could be little like her…”; while Latha, a former Sai Student, said, “I am simply overwhelmed…I have no words to express my joy and inspiration reading Sai Geetha’s tale.”
Such is the magic of Sai Geetha. What she achieved being an animal, perhaps no man has ever achieved in the current age. And this, mind you, is no exaggeration; it is actually Bhagavan’s own words. In a recent discourse to the staff and students of the Institute after the passing away of Sai Geetha, Swami said, “The kind of exalted life Sai Geetha led, no one has ever lived. She has, in fact, demonstrated how an ideal life should be led, and it is for this reason that I am thinking of her.”
There is so much to learn from this four-footed devotee of the Lord. Just like Swami is not the 5’ 3” figure with a red robe and a crown of hair, Sai Geetha too was not just a lucky elephant to be brought to the divine presence or a fortunate pachyderm that befriended Baba. If you thought she was a devotee of the Lord, you maybe right, but that is not even ten percent of the truth. Sai Geetha’s life is, in fact, a Bible and a Bhagavad Gita for anyone and everyone who is on the path to know God, love God, live in God and finally realize Him. And it is for this reason that we have a second cover story on her life, barely six months after we had a very comprehensive article on her. That article was to commemorate the new mansion that Bhagavan built for her in November last year (2006), but this one is to celebrate her taking permanent residence in that beauty of a building which is now a colossus of inspiration for the amateur and the seasoned, young and old devotees, alike.
In fact, six months ago when the building was being built, Bhagavan in His inimitable style had hinted to Sri Pedda Reddy, the dedicated caretaker of Sai Geetha, that “we will build a big, beautiful permanent building for her.” But none could then look through the Divine design. Again, when He suddenly decided to return to Puttaparthi from Kodaikanal on May 18, instead of going to Brindavan, Bangalore as was His usual practice every year, nobody had even a slightest inkling of what was about to unfold. Such was Swami’s Love for Sai Geetha, that on the day she was finally placed to rest in the special bed made for her in her new home, in spite of the mid-day summer heat, Swami chose to remain on the site, by her side, the entire one and half hours till the whole process was complete and done flawlessly according to His directions. When you read the cover story of this issue, you will know why Sai Geetha had captured the Lord’s heart like nobody before. Not only this, you will be left dazed and dumb-founded when you read certain facets of her life which the world hitherto was unaware of. It is going to be a journey of revelations that can stir many a sleeping souls. It is not for no reason that Swami always held her out as an example to emulate for all the students and even went to the extent of saying, “If you only remember and ruminate on her love for Swami, it’s enough. I will call you close to My heart.”
It is said, "To fall in love with God is the greatest of all romances; to seek Him, the greatest adventure; and to find Him, the greatest human achievement." And imagine how easy this whole process can be when you have God, not as an invisible entity inaccessible to the senses and left to be felt only through creative imagination, but as a living, loving persona who can be seen, felt, touched and loved just like one would love his mother or father, brother or sister. Life, then, becomes an unbelievable blissful dream. You will get a real state of this when you read the third and final part of the article “He is My Swami” which is actually a revealing and reveling conversation with Mrs. Padma Kasturi, the daughter of Swami’s biographer, Sri N Kasturi. More illustrations of this is in the Swami and Me section. The experiences of Mrs. Padmini Hundy, a former student of Swami’s college in Anantapur, and of Sri Jay Jethwa, a lawyer and barrister in the Supreme Court of Australia, are instances of Divine Love and Grace that happen so spontaneously and nonchalantly that more often than not, we do not understand the import and value of what we are blessed with.
When Swami told the top rank holders from the Sathya Sai School in Alike in 2003 that they should concentrate on Medicare, they had no clue what was coming. Four years later, they have developed a model for holistic medical seva which is as professional as it can get and a perfect guide to do effective healthcare seva. It is said that, “It is easy to understand the Divine as long as you do not explain Him.” How else can you fathom thousands of people from the far away island of Puerto Rico deeply in love with Sai and dedicated to His mission with all their heart and soul. But for a microscopic minority, none have visited Puttaparthi or seen Swami, but they feel Him every moment. He is very much with them as with people in Prasanthi Nilayam. Ultimately, as Swami says, faith and pure love is all that matters. And it is this pure love for Swami and His teachings that enabled the Sai volunteers from the Sathya Sai School of Canada to organize a splendid Walk for Values that had its impact not only in the downtown of Toronto City where it was held, but in places as far as Sweden and Australia.
With love, everything is possible; because where love is, as Swami says, God is. When we become convinced with the fact that - “Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of insignificance” as English mathematician-philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, then our lives will become a continuous saga of bliss and inspiration. We will not need to seek God or pray for His blessings or long for His love; He will come searching for us. And do we need any proof of this phenomenon? The beautiful tale sketched in the cover story says it all.
Let us make God the raison d’etre of our existence.
Loving Regards,
Heart2Heart Team.
