Kodai Experience

[Guest guest]

Jai Sri Krishna

 

Sai Ram All,

 

By Swami's immense Grace, i was in His physical presence from 30th

April - 8th May. Below are some of my joyous experiences, which i

want to share with all of you in the hope that i can bring a small

part of Kodai to all of you here in S'pore.

 

>From my 1st day in Kodai, i was amazed at how much hair Swami has

and how He was always brushing it aside due to the wind or gentle

breeze blowing against His face. Swami looked really cute with His

chubby cheeks and all that mass of hair on His head. At every

darshan, Swami made it a point to brush aside His hair and since He

very often did it while He was on the balcony, we were always

delighted and it never ceased to bring a broad smile onto our

faces. Daily, i would think, Swami could do with an orange hair

band or a pair of orange hair clips!

 

One of the days, Swami had given money to His students and

instructed them to go buy warm clothings for themselves from the

Tibetan stallholders in Kodai. Swami strictly instructed His

students to pay the said price and not bargain with the Tibetans

over the price of the clothings. Swami told His students that the

Tibetan stallholders were struggling to survive in Kodai and that

they were honest people. He thinks of everyone!

 

On 30 April, in the afternoon, Ajit Popat of UK gave a speech in the

mandir. Swami made fun of Popat by saying that he speaks so quickly

and passionately that nobody in the audience understands what Popat

is saying. Later, Swami gave His Divine Discourse where he spoke

about Rama, Sumithra and the Ramayana.

 

On 1st May, Swami came out for darshan at 10am (12.30pm - S'pore

time). Swami was unusually late! It was noted that the Paduka Puja

was going on in S'pore from early morning till 12.30pm, when bhajans

ended and arathi commenced. i felt that Swami waited till the

paduka puja, bhajans and arathi was over in S'pore, before he came

out to give us His Darshan in Kodai. Swami then granted interview

to an Italian group.

 

In the afternoon, in the mandir, Swami's student - Deepak gave a

speech. He started off by speaking about the greatness of Swami's

lotus feet and the glory of Sai Rama padukas. How appropriate! He

then narrated his and his parents' experiences with Swami. Deepak's

family have always been Krishna devotees. When his mum met Swami,

she was not sure if Swami was her Krishna. Swami very

compassionately came in her dream and convinced her that He is Sai

Krishna. How sweet!

 

Swami had saved Deepak's father from likely death. When Deepak's

father was in Parthi, he had a dream of Swami in the afternoon,

whereby Swami had told him to go early for darshan. He left for

darshan at 2pm - Swami did not acknowledge him at darshan. He

didn't know why he was instructed to go early for darshan. Later,

that night Deepak had a dream where Deepak was in front of Swami and

Hanuman, and Swami told Hanuman to make sure that 2.30pm never came

for the father. Hanuman then flew into the sky and moved the sun by

half an hour.

 

On another occasion, Deepak was studying in Parthi and he had made a

vow to Hanuman at Hillview stadium that he would do pradakshana of

Hanuman 3 times in the morning for 7 days. On the last morning,

after he completed his pradakshana of Hanuman, Deepak was wondering

who received his pradakshana - Hanuman or Swami? He then was

thinking of this question and was walking down Hillview stadium,

when he suddenly spotted Swami's car coming up the hill. He

panicked as he knew Swami would scold him for being there when he

was supposed to be at school. He tried to hide, but Swami's car was

coming towards him. As per his fear, the car stopped next to him

and Swami asked him what he was doing there. He told Swami about

going round Hanuman. Then Swami, told him to go back to school and

then Swami's car funnily went round Deepak once and went down the

hill. That afternoon at Darshan, Swami called the warden of the

campus and told him what Deepak was doing at hillview stadium that

morning. Deepak knew he was in for trouble! However, Swami called

Deepak to the verandah and asked him "you love Hanuman?" Deepak

replied in the affirmative and Swami very lovingly materialised a

chain with a Hanuman pendant for him and lovingly placed it round

his neck. Deepak got his answer - his pradakshana was lovingly

received by the Lord of Lords - Swami!

 

That afternoon, we received almond and chocolate burfi as prasad.

 

On 2 May morning, Swami whilst was returning in his golf cart up the

slope towards Sai Sruthi, materialised a chain for a lady and later

a silver ring with 9 red rubys for another lady. That morning, we

received 2 prasadam - burfis from Swami. The sevedals informed us

that Swami strictly gave instructions that each devoteee is to

receive 2 prasadams.

 

On 3 May, 13 students from Swami's Institute arrived in Kodai. That

afternoon bhajans were simply beautiful and soulful. They also sang

kirtans in praise of Jaganath and Krishna composed by the great

Jayadeva who composed the Gita Govinda. We felt like we were gopees

in Brindavan in the company of our Lord Krishna.

 

On 4 May morning, Swami made us wait in Sai Sruthi till 11am and

then it was announced that there would be no darshan. In the

morning, Swami had given His students a talk in the hall and by the

time He finished it was quite late. We were sad and disappointed

that we had waited for nearly 5 hours and had to return without

seeing Him. There were also rumours flying of Swami going to

Whitefield the next morning and at the same time rumours of Him

celebrating Easwaramma Day in Kodai. We were very confused and were

ready to pack should He leave.

 

That afternoon, it was confirmed by the Madurai female sevadals that

Swami was celebrating Easwaramma Day in Kodai and that He was

leaving for Whitefield on 7th May morning. We were just thrilled!

 

5th May morning, Swami gave interview to an Iranian family and a

Swiss man. The Iranian couple had no children for 12 years and with

Swami's Grace they now have 2 sons - Sathya and Rama. Swami named

the 1st son Himself. The 1st son, Sathya is about 7 years old and

he can recite the Vedas very well. Swami materialied vibuthi for

the family and i was blessed to receive a pinch of this Divine

vibuthi from them. Swami materialied 1 pendant each for Sathya and

Rama and a chain for one of the ladies. There are no words to

describe Swami's infinite love for His devotees.

 

6th May morning - Easwaramma Day. Bal Vikas children as young as 4

years old to 12 years old from Chennai, Madurai and Trichy had

arrived early that morning and were given special seats for

darshan. They were all immaculately dressed in white and were in

their best behaviour. They were all seated along the path where

the gold cart would travel. We started lining up for darshan at 5am

and were allowed into Sai Sruthi around 8am. Swami came out around

8.45am in His orange robe. He came out from the mandir. He looked

so radiant and beautiful. He was a sight to behold! Swami was

blessing the prasadam for distribution to all. Immediately

sevadals, VIPs and His relatives rushed to the mandir to help in

serving the prasadam - sambar rice, sweet pongal rice and a

sweetmeat to the devotees. It was beautifylly served on leaf

plates. Swami was very particular that every single devotee got a

plate of prasadam that he kept pointing here and there to the

sevadals and his students. Swami also very lovingly asked His

students to distribute cello brand coloured writing pens to all the

Bal Bikas students who were there. You should have seen the joy on

those kids faces. They were thrilled and held on to the pen box so

tightly. Swami also distributed sarees to some ladies and blessed

some sarees that a few ladies were holding in their hands. Swami

then graciously ascended the gold cart and gave us His darshan. It

was such close darshan. We can always see Swami's lovely lotus soft

fair feet on a light blue fur carpet placed for His feet in the gold

cart. Swami took nearly all the letters held up for Him - even

those 4 - 5 rows away from Him. He was such a Krishna that

morning. Later, Swami went up to the balcony and noticed that the

Bal Vikas kids had not got their prasadam yet and He instructed the

sevadals to serve the kids first before serving the other devotees.

The kids were thrilled and so were we. The kids had their hands in

the prasadam and were digging in. Thye must have been starving.

How compassionate can our Sai Maa be! He just thinks of everything

and everyone. Swami then stood at the balcony till all of us got

prasadam. Swami later distributed a photo of Mother Easwaramma to

the devotees. Before Swami left for His residence, He took a

sweetmeat and threw it at 1 of the kids seated in front of me. We

all laughed. By the time we left Sai Sruthi, it was 11.45am. What

a memorable day!

 

In the afternoon around 3+pm, Swami, His students, His relatives and

some VIPs went in their cars for a tour of Kodai hills. They

returned around 4+pm and later Swami delivered His Divine Discourse

which lasted an hour. Swami spoke about Mother Easwaramma and her

great compassion and love for her fellow man. Swami spoke about the

greatness of mothers and motherhood. He said that Ramakrishna and

Vivekananda are great because of their mothers. Funnily, Swami also

spoke about keeping our mouth clean and to brush our teeth before

having breakfast and that we should always keep our mouth clean so

that there will not be infection. It's hilarious that GOD comes

down to earth to teach man about love and also to keep our mouth,

teeth and tongue clean! What a funny Avatar! That night after His

discourse, there was a drama put up by the Chennai Bal Vikas

students on Nachiketas of 2005 - a drama about a 7-year old Bal

Vikas student who has great faith in Swami and the 5 human values.

He visits Yama in Yama loka as a result of a challenge posed to him

by his father who is digging a drain to get rid of their dirty water

and depositing it in the neighbour's well. The boy is opposed to

the father's plan and goes to Yama loka to speak to Yama on Dharma.

Swami enjoyed the play very much and patted the boy who played

Nachiketas. That night the program ended at 7pm and Swami very

lovingly distributed Washington red ruby apples as prasad to all of

us. What a feast we had the whole day!

 

On 7th May, we arrived at Sai Sruthi at 6.10pm and were waiting to

have car darshan of Swami. There were barely 50 people outside, as

most left for Bangalore by the 6th night bus. At 7.30pm, Swami

despite His leg pain and aches climbed 3 floors to the rooftop and

gave us rooftop darshan and saw us. We were so thrilled and we

madly waved back at Swami. He acknowledged us. Then all of Swami's

students gathered around him and Swami sat on His sofa and one by

one each student took a photo with Swami with the lake in the

background. Later Swami stood up and each boy had his arm round

Swami's back and photos were taken. How sweet! This took half an

hour. Later, they all wenr down for breakfast. The boys then got

into their buses. At 8.30am, Swami's silver E500 Mercedez Benz

emerged from Sai Sruthi and we all waved at Swami and threw flowers

on his car. Swami blessed us and we scramped for our cars to be

behind Swami's car. Our car was the 9th car behind him. We sped

like crazy down Kodai hills. Somehow, we weren't frightened but it

was kind of fun and an added adrenaline rush to be chasing the Lord

of Lords at such fast speed in such a small car.

 

At 11.30am in Madurai, Swami's car and the police jeep along with

the entourage of cars took a u-turn, as the Police jeep had taken a

wrong turn. Just as our car was about to make the u-turn, our car

engine broke down, got stuck in a ditch and would not start. Other

then the driver, there were 2 females and a male in the car. Myself

and an Uncle tried to push the car without any luck. Just then,

Swami passed by our car and His car stopped and He very

compassionately gave us Abhaya Hasta and gave us the most beautiful

smile. i was just awe struck. Within seconds, we were the only

people and car on that road. Suddenly, out of nowhere a mini-bus

passed by and a few men with lunghis (sarong) got off and helped us

push the car and miraculously the car started. The men then without

even waiting for us to thank them, got into their bus and left

within seconds. Our car then sped off at super speed to catch up

with Swami, and with His grace we caught up with Him. At 11.45am,

Swami alighted at Madurai Ananda Nilayam (the late Subramaniar

Chettiar's Paduka Temple). Sreenivasa Chettiar welcomed Swami with

the Poorna Kumbham. We were just delighted as we were right behind

Swami and could see Him clearly and all the formalities being

observed.

 

Swami very graciously went into the bhajan hall, where melodious

Tamil bhajans were being sung. Swami with the help of Sathyajit sat

on the Chair in the hall for 15 mins. He then materialised a chain

and pendant for Sreenivasa Chettiar and a ring for another

gentleman. i had the blessed opportunity of seeing and touching the

materialised chain and pendant - it was a gold pendant (20 cent coin

size) with a carved engraving of the face of Sathya Sai Baba.

Prasadam was served to all and Swami and His relatives, students and

VIPs had lunch and Swami left at 1.20pm. This time Swami was

sitting on the right hand side at the back seat of the car. We were

all lined up on both sides of the road and had excellent close-up

darshan of Sai. He also blessed all with His abhaya hastha. Swami

then left for Madurai airport and flew to Bangalore where He had

tiffin and afternoon tea before He proceeded for Whitefield and

reached there at 8pm.

 

On 8th May, Swami came out for darshan at 8+am and He very

graciously walked into the Sai Ramesh Hall before proceeding onto

stage to listen to the Sun bhajans by the Bangalore group. The 1st

song was a Swaagatham (welcome) composition. A few more bhajans

were sung and at the end of Govinda Hare Gopala Hare Hey Goppe Gopa

Baala, Swami got off His chair and proceeded to His residence. Then

prasadam, laddu was distributed to all devotees, as per Swami's

instrictions.

 

In the afternoon around 4pm, Swami arrived in the hall walking. He

sat and listened to bhajans for half an hour before arathi was shown

to Swami by Uncle Dr Padmanabhan.

 

Somehow, after having such close darshan in Kodai, Swami seems miles

away in Whitefield. i guess we have to get closer to Him in our

hearts!