Kodai Experience - 2005 - From: saras

[Guest guest]

Kodai Experience - 2005

Group resourceJai 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 this e-group.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!in Krishna always,saras

 

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