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Posted on: June 03, 2014
Circulating the Joy of Service Through Scintillating Cycling
Part 03
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The Palakkad Sai Experience
So this was how November 24, the day after Swami's Birthday went. Next morning, Satish resumed his cycling; he now was moving into the central districts of Kerala. His first stop was to be Shoranur, in the district of Palakkad, which is about 50 kms from Perinthalmanna. He was enjoying this ride as this area is indeed the granary of Kerala; it’s replete with vast expanses of verdant plains interspersed with rivers, hills, streams and mountains. Interestingly, Palakkad derives its name from the Malayalam words pala (Alstonia scholaris) and kadu (forest) referring to how this place was once a beautiful stretch of forest covered with the sweet scented flowers of the Pala tree.
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| Riding through Kerala... a treat to the eyes |
As Satish was surcharging the cells of his body with Nature's refreshing vibes, and had covered around 35 km, a group of people stopped him on the way.
“It was beginning to get dark and I still had another 20km to get to Shoranur, and here I was literally waylaid by these devotees!” Satish recalled with a smile.
“A patient by name Ajit and an associate of Dr. Anand Mohan and few other devotees were waiting for me and wanted me to be present for the first house bhajan in Ajit’s place. He did not know anything about Baba before he was treated in Swami’s Hospital in Puttaparthi but now had become an ardent follower.
"I agreed to participate in the bhajans at his home, as I said to myself that after all, this was what I was there for!'”
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| Bhajans in progress at Mr. Ajit's house |
After parking the bike nearby, Satish took a car ride to Ajit’s house, which was almost 6 km off the highway. After a warm greeting by his wife and daughter, and few other neighbours, the bhajans began and Satish spent over an hour in that home. After this he, visited a few more other patients who had been treated at Swami’s Hospitals.
“By the time we were through it was almost 8 pm and since we had another 25 kms to cover, I reluctantly chose to again travel by car till Shoranoor! Once I reached, I had a sumptuous meal and rested well in the house of Sri Jagadish, who was earlier the convenor for the Shoranur Sai Samithi.
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| Mr. Jagadish and family, who hosted Satish in Shoranur |
“Next morning, I met Dr. Anand Mohan, the State Coordinator for the SRP program, another extraordinarily inspired devotee, who virtually is the central pillar of the Sai Rehab programme in Kerala. After a brief interaction with him, I went to Thrissur, around 50 km away by motor bike, accompanied by his associate. A Hrudaya Sangamam was scheduled on that day at the samithi itself.
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| Dr. Mohanan, a volunteer doctor, in Thrissur interacting with patients |
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| Patients assembled for Hrudaya Sangamam in Thrissur |
“Almost 50-60 patients had come for this event. After this, Mr. Viswam, the SRP coordinator for Thrissur district dropped me back at Shoranoor and also accompanied me to the Potters' Village, which was adopted by the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation as part of the SSS Village Integration Program (SSSVIP).”
How Sai Shaped The Potters' Colony
The 'Potters' Colony' is a society of about 70 families, originally from Andhra Pradesh but settled in Kerala for almost 400 years. “This area was very different in the 80s,” Dr. Anand Mohan explained, “Illicit liquor used to flow here, there was violence and unrest all the time...but after the Sathya Sai Organisation adopted this village everything has changed. So much so that in 1985, during the 60th Birthday celebrations, one of the elders of this group had gone to Puttaparthi. Swami spoke to this person personally and directed him to teach the art of pottery and making smokeless chulas to these children. For almost 30 years now, he has been diligently following Baba's instructions. Now, what flows here is only Sai love.”
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| Children and adults from the Potters' Colony, which has been transformed by Swami's organisation |
Satish was a personal witness to this 'Sai Love', because apparently two days earlier, on Baba's birthday, the people of this colony had invited the devotees of Sai Organisation to participate in their Birthday festivities. And when Satish visited them, the children once again immediately staged the dance programme they had done on Baba's birthday. “It was a humbling experience to see their devotion and commitment...they will do anything for Swami,” Satish recalled fondly.
There was more planned for him by Dr. Anand Mohan. Satish went to the houses of many patients – an auto driver, another elderly lady, a housewife and so on.
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| The auto driver treated at Baba's hospital |
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| Dr. Anand Mohan with a housewife who was operated in Swami's hospital |
“What I remember vividly is the visit to this grandmother's house who was operated upon in our hospital a few years ago. Her cute little granddaughter was rollicking in her arms. It was a happy sight! Yes, the surgery in our hospital saved them three or four hundred thousand rupees but suddenly that appeared insignificant. What seemed important was the additional years the grandchild got to bask in her grandmother's love and care. Isn't that precious!? As they revelled in each other's company I just could not take my eyes off from them.”
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| A grandmother who gained the confidence to hold her grand-daughter after her surgery in SSSIHMS |
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| A businessman (in orange dhoti) who was operated upon in Baba's hospital |
It’s true. The economic benefits that the hospital offers to patients by treating them free of charge is miniscule compared to what it does to them emotionally and psychologically as a person, as a family member, and as a productive member of society. He had heard people talking about this, but that night and the next morning, as he went from one house to another, this realisation hit him like a ton of bricks, and awakened him to the amazing dimensions of Bhagawan's compassion.
Bicycle Trip or Bicycle Pilgrimage
“The other thing that I noticed as I stepped into each home is that almost everyone, be it a Hindu, Christian or Muslim, would first take me to their altar and there I would find Swami virtually smiling at me from the shrine! It was as if Bhagawan was telling me, 'I have entered this home much before you can imagine!' I remember when I started on this trip, someone came to me and said, 'Satish, this is not a bike tour, this is going to be a bike pilgrimage'. How true he was!”
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| Swami is a part of every altar, be the patient a Hindu or a christian |
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Later Satish was a witness to the fantastic service going on in Dr. Anand Mohan’s clinic in Shoranoor, where all care was being offered free of cost to all the patients.
After one last visit to the house of a patient, who underwent a total hip replacement surgery at Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital, Whitefield, Satish bid goodbye to Dr. Anand Mohan.
Pride Goes Before a Flat!
He was now back on his cycle again. It was the evening of November 26 and he rode from Shoranur to Thrissur, about 50 kms. After resting well that night in the house of a devotee Mr. Muralidharan Unni, he looked forward to riding to Aluva next morning. And indeed the next day he did his first solo ride in the tour because until then there was always some sevadal accompanying him.
“Wow! This was a cyclist's paradise - a flat stretch of road on the national highway. I was thoroughly enjoying this ride. Almost 30 km into the ride, I was thinking to myself, 'It’s been such a blessed trip so far! I did not have a single mechanical failure or a flat tyre all the while. At some point, I began to imagine myself talking to my friends and staff at the hospital regaling about how I undertook this journey and how Swami took care that I did not have a single flat tyre!
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“I just thought this and... phhhaaaat! The rear tyre burst! The spontaneity of this occurrence simply blew me away. I was shocked. It was almost as if the keenly vigilant Lord did not wait an extra second to plaster permanently into my mind that pride goes before a fall, or...,” Satish now started laughing and added, “in my unique case, pride goes before a flat!”
He then began changing the tube. He had an appointment with the State President, Prof. Mukundan in Aluva and was in a rush to reach there. He pulled out a fresh tube from his tool kit, put it in, and was about to seal it and pump it up, when he suddenly heard an inner voice which said, ‘check what caused the puncture’.
“Actually that is a standard procedure when you replace the tube but that day I had skipped it because I had already running late. But this voice was insistent. So I undid the tyre and started feeling its inside with my hand. To my horror I discovered a half inch long nail that was still there! Which meant the new tube would have gone burst the moment it was filled. And I did not have another spare tube! A real cycling disaster was averted at the nick of time. My god! Two powerful lessons of life in two minutes (1. God is the Doer and 2. With God life is miraculous) and in a manner I can never forget. Swami is so kind and protective of me...I did not know how to thank this merciful Lord that day!”
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