From Puttaparthi... The Eternal Charioteer

June 4, 2008

Prof. Kasturi in his biography, 'Loving God': "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 5 minutes away from my residence, 'Ashoka' on the 12th Cross,"

"I had noticed that Vittal Rao had the curtains washed and ironed as part of house-cleaning, preliminary to Baba's visit. So within 10 minutes of Baba's stepping into his house, Vittal Rao was amazed to find me on his verandah!

BABA spotted me and came towards me with His palm ready to fall on my shoulder. "Now, you have to 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 DIVINE Will. Yet He drew out from my reluctance a few names. "The Godward Path", "Karma Dharma ...", "Premayoga." He waved aside the titles I suggested and announced that he had decided to designate it as "Sanathana Sarathi!"

That was the beginning (1958) & Swami took great care of it. He appointed a man of competence like Prof. Narayana Kasturi, who had a plethora of popular Kannada and English literature to his credit and also had served as Assistant Director of the All India Radio (in fact, he was the one who named the all-India radio broadcasting service 'Akashvani' which has stuck on permanently since India's pre-independence days)

Swami was concerned about every single detail. Personally visiting Bangalore to 'Vichara Darpan Press' in Avenue Road and buying a foot-operated treadle printing machine along with a case of Telugu and English types; setting up the 'Sri Sathya Sai Press' in Prasanthi itself right next to His residence.

Appointing people and selecting volunteers to serve in the press as well as aid Prof. Kasturi; visiting the press every other day to correct, direct, instruct and inspire!!!

It was epoch-making. Imagine God himself writing week after week! Imagine if we had the Bhagavad Gita written by Lord Krishna Himself and not by a third party! Imagine having Lord Rama's life story in His own hand-writing!!!

"A cutting machine which could trim the edges of the magazine was acquired only much later, long after a cylinder press was installed to cope with the 3000 copies we had to print. Hence, they had to be trimmed at Bangalore City, 100 miles away", says Kasturi.

"Every month, therefore, after the printing was over, I stuffed the quantity of English and Telugu magazines into two gigantic boxes, took them to Bukkapatnam on a bullock-cart, had them lifted to the roof of the bus proceeding to Penukonda, and ordered the bus to stop near the level-crossing about 300 yards away from the Penukonda Railway Station.

There, I awaited the arrival of the passenger train to Bangalore, to book the boxes as freight. Reaching Bangalore, porters loaded them into horse-drawn vehicles, which I directed to a Press that had a cutting machine!!!

The boxes filled with trimmed copies were then taken to the house of a devotee in the heart of the City. I spent the night there with a dozen young men who volunteered to put the magazines into wrappers (with the addresses on) that I had brought from Prasanthi Nilayam.

The next day, I repeated the schedule while returning – and finally the Prasanthi Nilayam Post Office, to affix the Holy Name and allow the precious Prasadam to travel to more than 3000 homes! The devotees received it with reverence, thanked the postman who brought the magazine and put it in their altar before reading it!!!"

"What greater status can you attain than being the medium for packaging and posting my message to thousands of devotees every month?" SWAMI once asked me!!!

By early 1980s Prof. Kasturi also had help from Sri V K Narsimhan, an esteemed journalist who was the former Editor-in-Chief of Indian Express and winner of the Goenka Award, India's highest accolade in journalism. Swami appointed him as the Associate Editor of the magazine.

(See photos of SWAMI with Kasturi, Narasimhan & 1st issue covers)

http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_05/01FEB07/03-coverstory.htm#