EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE - I & 11

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accompanied by their short sweet stories that have been presented to Swami over

the years. - Heart2Heart Te EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE - II A Shivarathri Card

for Swami As we are approaching Shivarathri, the holy night

dedicated to Lord Shiva in this sacred month of February, we have now our

second beautiful card-story – 'A Shivarathri Card for Swami', presented by the

boys almost a decade and a half ago.It is a great inspiring journey going down

memory lane for the boys who were involved with the card.Here is the account of

one person who was in the thick of things, then as a student, when the card was

conceptualized and offered to Bhagavan. Over to OKS Sastry, currently a

lecturer in Baba’s college in Brindavan. "It was the year 1991. I was in

the Brindavan campus of the Institute in Bangalore. We students had just taken

part in the Sports Meet in Prashanthi Nilayam and Bhagavan so graciously came

to Brindavan immediately after the event to see us, to be with us. We were so

grateful. He was showering love on all the students and we were literally

enjoying every moment of it…shining in His Grace and smiling and sharing His

joy. Soon the month of February approached, and Shivarathri was round the

corner. It is a great occasion, a long awaited festival for the devotees; but

for us it was bad news. Bhagavan wanted to celebrate the festival in

Puttaparthi. Crestfallen, we resorted to the only medium which can melt His

heart…prayer. Yes, we prayed fervently to Bhagavan to take us along with Him.

We did not want to miss Him even for a day and could not imagine not being part

of the glorious festival and losing out on the incredible blessings

from Him during this momentous festival. The prayers were sincere and the

result too was overwhelming. Swami had agreed that we could come to Parthi and

not only that, we were going to travel just behind Swami’s car! Our joy knew no

bounds, to say the least. So we were in our buses diligently following every

turn and bent that Swami’s car took. A few hours and we found ourselves in

Muddhanahalli. Swami had stopped there to spend some time with the school

children of Muddhanahalli. It was beautiful to see Swami interacting with

everyone there – the teachers and the children – in Kannada, the tongue of the

region. And then we had a memorable lunch with Swami. After that Swami told us

that now He would go quickly to Parthi in His car and that our bus should follow

at a slower pace. He would be ready to receive us there. Now, I was

supposed to be writing on the Shivarathri card…why all this narration about the

journey and all the drama? Well…I thought it would be fitting to let you know

our state of mind…our feeling before we really came up with the idea of the

card. With all the blessings that we were receiving from our sweet Lord, our

hearts were filled with only one sentiment that ‘we should be with Him forever

and bask in His Love’. We did not want to miss Him even for a moment and we

wanted to create a card which will commune this emotion…this intense feeling to

Bhagavan. So we started wondering… who is so blessed to be with Lord

Shiva continuously? Who has the opportunity to gaze at Him at all times

everywhere and be with Him? And it occurred to us that it was Nandi. Nandi, the

so-called bovine vehicle of Shiva from mythology. He is the holy one who is

always facing the Lord. You will find Nandi straight in front of the Shiva Idol

in every Shiva Temple , looking at Him with unwavering attention and devotion.

The idea seemed apt and was immediately executed. The card was made with a

prayer to our Lord Sai who is the Siva-Sakthi swaroopa, the embodiment of Lord

Shiva and Mother Nature, that ‘Let us be blessed like Nandi - at all times

focussed on our Lord.’ This prayer was translated into the form

of a Telugu poem in the card. The poem also sang praises on the glorious Lord

Sai Siva, beseeching Him to bless us by lighting the lamps of love and faith in

our hearts. The card was ready. The Shivarathri morning arrived. The

Darshan music started and our hearts started beating fast – with God, you never

know…would He come and see the card? Would He like it…? Would He bless it?

Something inside said …Why should we be so doubtful, isn’t He the Embodiment of

unfathomable Love? Well…all sorts of conversations were going on inside us along

with sincere prayers. The much awaited moment arrived. Bhagavan approached us.

He saw the card. He was so thrilled! We were thrilled too! But the

story did not end there…Bhagawan again came to us after He finished the round

of Darshan, seemingly in answer to our ardent prayers. And what more…He smiled

sweetly…as if reading and responding to all the stacked up feelings that were

bouncing in our hearts to find expression, and then the grand finale! With His

beautiful soft hands, He put down on the card…nay, inscribed on our

hearts…“With Love, Baba.” He had blessed us with the highest reward…we wanted

nothing more. We were full in His love….with His love…by His love. The memory

is so fresh as I write these lines…filling me with so

much bliss…I hope, dear reader, it fills your cup of joy too reading these

golden moments with Sai.” Dear Reader, we hope you like these card

stories…please let us know if it in anyway helps you or inspires you. We would

love to bring you more of such stories in the coming issues. - Heart2Heart

Team

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