Prof. N. Kasturi... Flute he desired to become in His Hands...

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Prof.N.Kasturi, the chosen biographer of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was a

versatile genius who had many pens in his pocket, that of a writer, poet,

novelist, critic, radio programmer, historian, satirist and humorist, which he

weeded with equal dexterity during his life time that spanned nearly nine

decades. His close association with Bhagawan who nicknamed him as Nannayya

Bhat, the Adi Kavi of Telugu Literature is suggestive of the unique role as a

chronicler, translator and compiler of the Life of the Avatar of the Age. As

the first editor of Sanathana Sarathi, from the 1958 till the end of his life

he has endeared himself to all with the quality of his head and heart. On one

of the birthday of Prof.Kasturi Bhagawan showered His grace on him in the form

of a poem.

The Love that made Me protect the elephant Gajendra from the clutches of the

crocodileThe Infinite Compassion that made Me run to the rescue of DroupadiWho

has been humiliatedThe Abundant Grace that made Me to protect PrahladaThe Mercy

that causes Me to incarnate from time to time to protect the righteous and

reform the wickedThese constitute My nectarine heartsUnderstand Oh! Kasturi and

receive My Blessings on this birthday of yours!

PENANCE FOR PEN

Prof. N. Kasturi was the Editor of Sanathana Sarathi from its inception in 1958

till he attained the Divine Lotus Feet in the year 1987.

I got the good news pretty quick; Baba had come to Bangalore. He was staying in

Sri Vittal Rao’s house on the 9th Cross Road, Wilson Gardens, only five minutes

away from my residence, “Ashoka” on the 12th cross. Knowing that there was a

possibility of His coming to His place, I had tipped the dry cleaner, who

attended to the washing and ironing of his door and window curtains, to inform

me as soon as he delivered the wash to Vittal Rao. I had noticed that he had

the curtains washed and ironed as part of house cleaning, preliminary to Baba’s

visit. When the news leaked at last, I posted the little daughter of my domestic

help on a slab of stone facing his house, with directions to keep watch for a

big car and an orange robe. So within ten minutes of Baba’s stepping into his

house, Vittal Rao was amazed to find me on his verandah! “Wait! Wait! He

pleaded. But Baba spotted and came towards me with His palm ready to fall

on my shoulder. “Now, you have work at Puttaparthi”, he said. “A monthly

magazine will start soon. Guess! How is it named?” He asked. I confessed I

could not delve into His will. Yet He drew out from my reluctance a few names.

“The Godward Path”, “Karma Dharma”, “Prema Yoga”. He waved aside the titles I

suggested and announced that he had decided to designate it as “Sanathana

Sarathi”.

That name is a clarion call. It is the conch of Vishnu, awakening the sleeping.

It is the drum of Siva challenging the unruly to shed their waywardness.

‘Sarathi’ means ‘he who holds the reins’, ‘Sanathana’ means ‘Eternal’. So, that

title would announce to the world that Baba is the Omniwill, which is moulding

and manipulating, since Times began, the wills of living beings from the amoeba

to the astronaut. “Recognise God as the Sarathi, yield wholeheartedly to His

direction, reach your Destination in good shape”, was the message Baba was

conveying through that Name. I was elated, elevated.

“This is the 32nd year of the Avataric Career and it is time He stood forth as

the world Teacher,” I said to myself, recalling His first public discourse

during Dasara, 1953. It was while the Lord was the Sarathi for Arjuna that the

Bhagavad Gita was conferred on mankind through him. The Lord is therefore known

as Partha (Arjuna) Sarathi. Baba is now standing forth as Sanathana Sarathi –

the Sarathi for every one, everywhere.

A few days prior to the release of the first number of the magazine, Baba

declared before a gathering on the Chithravathi sands, “The Bhagavad Gita is a

guidebook, a map for the aspirant to peace and liberation. The Lord has

installed Himself in every heart as the charioteer. Ask Him for the proper

direction and He will answer and lead. You can hear a Gita specially designed

for you, if you call upon the Lord”. The “Sanathana Sarathi” was therefore

intended as the “Bhagawan Uvacha” (Thus saith the Lord) for a world that has

jumped the rails and is in fatal jeopardy.

Call Him out…He will come

In 1957 Bhagawan Baba was on a short tour of the North to rejuvenate the

celebrated shrines and holy places located there and to make them powerful by

restoring their pristine glory. But though it looked as if it was designed to

bring joy and happiness to a deserving few who had the good fortune of being

selected to accompany Him, the visit unmistakably met a greater aim of

fulfilling the ‘Thapas’ of His ardent devotees over many births. Let Kasturiji,

His biographer, tell us the story in his inimitable style.

“On the way Baba stopped the bus at a place, where a thin little iron rod

carried a half distinct name plate “Vasishta Guha”. He proceeded to descend the

rather precipitous incline to the river bank, as if He had been there often

before and as if He became aware of an engagement with the occupant of the

cave…The Vasishta bears a hallowed name; it has been sanctified by the

austerities performed therein by many great recluses and monks in the past.

Swami Purushothamananda, a desciple of Swami Brahmananda of the Ramakrishna

order, initiated into Sanyas by Mahapurushji, another direct disciple of Sri

Ramakrishna, who had been in the caves since thirty years welcomed Baba as if

he too was expecting Him. He is more than seventy years old and he had spent

the major part of his life in asceticism of a most rigorous kind and in the

study of scriptures…Baba reminded him of the travails he endured when he first

came into the cave, leopards

and cobras and the three day trek to Rishikesh and the desperate struggle for

salt and matchboxes. He spoke of the succour that came to him through sheer

intervention!….He also gave Purushothamananda a japamala of shining sphatika

beads, which manifested in His hand.

“But more mysterious and significant was the vision He vouchsafed to Swami

Purushothamananda that evening…After sending everyone outside the cave, Baba

and the sage went into the inner room, Sri Subbaramaiah, President of the

Divine Life Society, Venkatagiri describes what he was able to see from outside

the cave thus: ‘Even now that picture is imprinted in my memory. I was standing

near the entrance of the cave. I could see what was happening. Baba placed his

head on the lap of Swami Purushothamananda and laid Himself down. Suddenly his

entire body was bathed in divine brilliance. His head and face appeared to me

to have increased very much in size. Rays of splendour emanated from His face.

I was overwhelmed with a strange inexplicable joy. The time was about 10

p.m….When pressed later to divulge the Vision, Baba informed us that it was a

vision of Jyothir Padmanabha!”

Still more wonderful was the mercy of the Omnipresent all powerful Lord who did

not miss a call from another devotee, a yogi, unknown to all others, who prayed

for divine intervention to save his life. So, while returning from the cave Baba

‘left His body for a short while’. When pressed prayerfully for details, He

asked them to contact one Subramanyam in the entourage to give details.

“He begged pardon for not informing Baba immediately about it, for, he had seen

a corpse floating down the Ganges, but, being a thing of evil omen he refrained

from mentioning it in the holy atmosphere. Baba laughed and said it was not a

corpse at all, though the Yogi who was floating down the flood was so dead to

all external occurrences that he did not even cognise his plight. He was being

swept down by the torrent. It seems he was seated on a rock by the side of the

river lost in Dhyana. The current, meanwhile, was fast eating into the mud

underneath the rock and, the rock tilted over, throwing him into the flood. ‘It

was like a dream for him at first’ said Baba. Later when he found that he was

being carried away by the Ganga, he bagan praying to the Lord. Baba heard his

call. He slowly led the floating “corpse” to the bank, a few miles above

Sivanandnagar, where there was a homestead available to give him warmth and

comfort.”

The Sadhu was saved after a 30 mile float! Observes Kasturiji who rightly draws

a conclusion thus: “It does not matter if he is not a ‘devotee’

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

I remember another funny incident. We were in Coorge, where the rain fall is the

highest in the South, and once it starts raining it goes on for 10-15 days. Baba

was there, so there was a public meeting in the open. I was to translate His

Telegu speech into Kannada, the language of the area. Before Baba spoke, He

asked me to say something. And like a fool, I started with rain as the subject.

 

Everyone in the audience, there were about 10, 000 people, were looking back at

the hills in the distance, because they were conscious that the rain would be

coming soon upon them. So I said in my speech, “Why are you turning back like

that all of you, looking at the mountain ranges in the distance'? There won't

be any rain because wherever Baba is, He has said His functions will never be

disturbed by rain”, and I told them a story that is in the Bhagavad Gita.

The story is that Indra - the God of rain, felt that he was insulted by Krishna

who wanted the Indra worship to be stopped and he wanted the mountain in that

region to be worshipped. Krishna said, “Why is everyone worshipping God in the

sky, we must worship this mountain because it is full of trees, and it is this

mountain that brings down the rain that grows the grass for our cattle to feed

and therefore we must be thankful to the mountain and not to some imaginary God

who lives in the sky”. Hence, Indra worship stopped and Indra got angry and He

poured tonnes of rain on every square inch of the ground. Krishna lifted up the

hill with one finger, they say, and underneath the hill, the entire population

of man and the cattle were sheltered.

I told the audience that Swami can stop the rain without lifting up the hill, as

was done in Krishna's time.

When Swami began His speech, I had to translate, so I was standing by His side.

When I looked at the mountain range in the distance, I saw the rain coming

closer. It came down the hills, it was attacking the plains, it was coming

towards the town. It came very close; the distance was so small that we could

feel the cold wind that was accompanying it, and all the time I was engaged in

praying within my mind, “Swami, please stop that rain, If it comes here, people

will be disillusioned. I am sorry Swami, I should have asked you whether I could

give the story of You being able to control the rain. I should have asked You!

But I did not, so You have to pardon me for my impertinence”.

I was feeling terrible! My mind was in a dither. But I had to listen to Swami

and translate His speech, and so I had to cut down my fear. I was terribly

tortured during that one hour whilst Swami spoke. I continued to pray to Him in

my mind, “Swami, stop this speech, the rain is coming. Swami please stop, the

rain is coming”. But He would not stop; He even spoke for extra time. And

finally He said.

This Kasturi, though he gave the story of the rain, does not have faith, all the

time he worried in his mind whether I will be able to stop the rain. The rain

will come now. It will be here in about 15 minutes. So all of you get home”.

…I have had good schooling…what about you?

I am happy that I have spent thirty four years of my life in the thrill of His

loving Presence. Prasanthi Nilayam is wherever He is. It is an Oasis luscious

with flower and fruit, in a world being denuded fast of Truth and Love. The

wasteland which described has become a deadly desert. But, the oasis is

steadily spreading and the desert is invaded by green.

Peace on Earth and goodwill among men are boons which every nation will soon

receive from the New Jerusalem. Prasanthi Nilayam is the one place on earth

where no one is measured in terms of race, religion, cast, creed, colour,

language, scholarship or wealth. Here man is not a weapon or vehicle, a tool or

trailer, a fallen angel or a risen ape. Man is here valued and honoured as a son

of God and accepted as Sai Himself. For Swami teaches us so. “I separate Myself

from Myself in order that I may love Myself. I am in you; you are in Me. We

cannot be separated.”

We are all He Himself; He loves us as Himself. We may deny Him or defy Him; we

may not have seen Him or heard of Him. But, He knows us and cares for us. We

are His, even while we flee from Him out of opacity or audacity. Many, in fact,

are unable to stand the rigour of the discipline He enforces. They find it very

uncomfortable to have His eyes on them, at all times everywhere. They are

unwilling to undergo the deep diagnosis He undertakes before conferring the

peace they seek. Baba does not compromise, collude, condone or conceal, as most

Gurus and monastic heads do. He does not allow concessions for adolescence,

senescence for an ignoramus or an intellectual, a beggar or a billionaire. All

have to see good, be good and do good. All have to live in Love.

I reckon myself to be singularly fortunate that I could spend at least the

second half of my life in Him. My companions and colleagues at the University

of Mysore, my friends and colleagues at the University of Mysore, my friends

among poets, playwrights, pundits and philosophers have not cared to inquire

why so many of their own fraternity are one with me in adoring Baba and

observing the Guidelines. He is marking out for the pilgrimage to our own

perfection. Alas! They expound and extol incredibly mysterious mythological and

legendary phenomenon; they erect their reputation on adaptations and

elaborations of popular classic. But for them the era of aascharya, awe and

wonder at the inexplicability and the indeterminacy of the Universe has not

dawned at all! They are too much attached to the anachronisms they cannot cast

off and to the goggles they have acquired while fascinated by trinkets. I can

only sympathise with such people

for their smugness and sloth. Some among them are chronic Thomases, whose ego,

blown high by a touch of Sanskrit and a rub with philosophy, inclines them to

infallibility. Many such do keep away, but yet cannot resist the call to carp.

They are hurt when the barricade of spite they erect around, “Sathyam Sivam

Sundaram” is broken through by thousands from all over the Indian subcontinent,

and from every other part of the globe, from Argentina and Zambia, Iceland, Iran

and Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, who adore Him as well as those who avoid

Him, those who approach Him or reproach Him. How can creepers, who must have

prejudices to cling to, climb straight towards the Light of Truth?

Well. I have decided long ago not to lose a wink of sleep or miss a beat of

pulse, when such people hug their fantasies. I am concerned with the ecstasy I

derive, witnessing Sai smiling from whatever I look on. I am drawing courage

from the boon. He has granted me on ‘Sathyam Sivam Sundaram’, when I placed my

Kannada version of that book at His Feet:

Sree Puttaparthi NilayuduKaapaadunu Ninnunepudu;Karunaakarudu:Cheypatti

Broachuneppudunu;Echchatanu; maravakundu;Yerugumu, Bhakthaa!

The Resident of Holy Puttaparthi,The Compassionate One,Will guard you always,And

ever hold your hand,To save you ever, every where.Know this, O devotee!And

forget it not.

I have no knowledge of the year when I was last on earth. But I must

congratulate myself that, this time, I have had good schooling. Now! I am

awaiting to receive my School Leaving Certificate, namely, the signal to leap

into the warm, lap of Sai, for the final rest in Him.

Source:

http://www.sssbpt.org/Pages/Specially/Introduction.htmDo

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