Swami and Sage Vasishta

February 10, 2006

My mother had a friend in Puttaparthi who had come

from Kerala. In spite of seeing so many miracles and

mahimas of Swami, she was not convinced that Swami was

God. She was doing her chores of preparing breakfast

for Swami and arranging the food brought by others to

be offered to Swami. She did her job well with

sincerity. She was the wife of a high ranking official

based in Madras (now Chennai). She had a son and a

daughter. Her son went abroad and settled there. Her

daughter was also married. She owned a big bungalow

constructed on a huge site in Madras. Once in a while

Swami would stay in her house to attend the marriage

of one of her relatives. The next day Swami got up and

told her to get ready to leave for Puttaparthi. She

wanted a little time to get ready and so she wanted a

little time to get ready and so she asked Swami to

give her some time to attend to the urgent matters at

home. Swami did not tell her anything. He left for

Puttaparthi without her. The next day she came to

Puttaparthi after finishing all her work at home.

Swami ordered not to allow her into the mandir. She

waited with all her belongings under a tree in front

of the mandir. Swami neither looked at her nor spoke

to her. She waited for a long time and then returned

to Madras. Being a true devotee of Swami, after

sometime she again came to Puttaparthi. Swami told

her, “When I ask you to leave immediately, you ask for

time. Can you do the same when yama calls you?” (Swami

expects strict obedience from devotees)

Shortly afterwards, to her luck, Swami took her along

with other devotees on His tour of Badrinath in 1961.

In a place called Brahmakapala, Swami asked those

people who did not have children to perform their own

last rites (as is the practice there). Swami told her

also to do it. She said that she had a son who would

perform her last rites. Swami forced her to do it by

belling her that her son would never care to do such

things; only He had to do for her. As ordered by

Swami, she performed those rites at Badrinath.

Some devotees asked Swami why they were not able to

see the rsis doing penance in Himalayas. Swami said,

“The rsis still do penance here. But if you people see

them, would you leave them in peace? So, they are

meditating after turning themselves into hima”.

She was interested in meditation and other spiritual

sadhana right from her young age. She prayed Swami to

let her have darsan of a rsi meditating in Badri. On

the penultimate day of their stay in Badri, as usual

she went behind the temple and sat there for

meditation. She was sad that Swami had not fulfilled

her desire. She then found Swami standing next to her

and asking her to follow Him. She followed Him for

some distance. Swami pointed out and said “Look

there.” She could see a dilapidated hut with the door

slightly open. She went closer to the hut and peeped

inside. She could see a rsi sitting in Samadhi. The

rsi had very long hair, beard and two slightly

protruding teeth. The nails of his hands and legs had

grown very long and they were buried in the earth. She

was this and was frightened. Swami said that he was

Sage Vasistha. After coming back to Puttaparthi, she

narrated this incident to my mother.

After a few days, she fell ill. One day she felt like

garlanding Swami and doing padanamaskara. With great

difficulty she climbed up the stairs of the mandir and

went to Swami and as she bent down to take

Padanamaskara, she felt giddy and vomited on Swami’s

feet. Swami held a vessel for her to vomit. He then

told devotees to take her downstairs and make her

sleep in her room. At 1 P.M., she expired. This was,

perhaps, the reason why Swami had forced her to

perform her won last rites at Badrinath. Swami knows

everything about everybody.

---From the book “Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi: Journey

with Sai” by Karunamba Ramamurthy

February 10, 2006

saibabanews, ajith sankar <ajithsrn

wrote: