Prashanti Diary: January 6, 2009 - By a Sai Devotee

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January 6, 2009

 

An Ethereal Space

 

Excuse my tardy posting. A developing cold in the head and five handkerchiefs later, we surface...

 

I had quite a surprise when I entered the Western Canteen for lunch yesterday. There were only about 30 people eating lunch there, and morning darshan was quite sparsely populated this morning. The Christmas crowds have all but gone and the only large group remaining is that group from Maharashtra-Goa, and a large contingent from South Africa. A group of Australians from New South Wales arrived Monday, all in their green and gold scarves. But the ashram is quiet. Walking through the ashram yesterday morning, it was a very pleasant experience to not have to thread your way through the thousands and thousands. Doubtless that will all change this coming weekend...

 

In my meandering around the ashram, I pass by the Workshop often, and I notice a fair bit of welding going on, along with some bits and pieces of painted boards being assembled. Methinks preparations are in train for the Sports and Cultural Meet next Sunday. Swami has gone out of the ashram twice of late (yesterday evening and on Sunday morning) and I suspect that perhaps these preparations are the object of his small trips.

 

A small crowd files into the darshan hall for bhajans, and I take a place, glancing upwards first (as does everybody else) to ensure I am not sitting beneath a chandlier (the pidgeons nestle in there and have a snooze during darshan, and occasionally grant "blessings from above" in the form of guano. I stood on a ¡blessing from above' yesterday and my foot slid a bit and I nearly hit the deck. I gave some thought to that, how Swami told that the birds with Shirdi Sai are here with Sathya Sai, and that gives me a bit of a shock and some reflections on the long journey of unconscious evolution from mineral to plant to animal to human; how many thousands of years this must take! That gave rise to further thought about Swami telling Jayakumar, the Civil Engineer who oversaw the construction of the Hanuman statue in Vidyagiri Stadium; Swami told, the statue has to last for hundreds and hundreds of years; I wondered during darshan this morning what the

mandir would look like in hundreds and hundreds of years time.

 

Swami came, and I went. He had told me on the inner level to go out and get something for my head cold so I did.

 

That was just a ruse. After getting the medicines I went to my room, and took them with some water; I heard the familiar frantic whistling and police sirens and RAN! Down two flights of stairs, along three corridors, out to the front, I could see a gap and Main Road, and as I exited the building, I could see that familiar white jeep with the red light on the roof and ... you know how much living you can do in one second? Well, that was the longest second, I lept right over the footpath and landed beside all the people lined up with my hands joined in pranams and Sai Ram! Swami in the car, not three feet away! Clear as the light of day, he might as well have had the window down!

 

An Ethereal Space. There were garlands and rose buds all over the roof and the bonnet of the car, Swami's face was light brown, his robe a brilliant orange, his hair just so, and Swami, looking down Main Road, his head was up, he brushed his cheek with a crooked finger, and was gone. The police held the crowds back until Swami's car had cleared the Ganesh Gate.

 

Now there were only two cars... On the inner level, I checked and asked, "Coming back?" and I received a reply "Twenty minutes".

 

So I waited.

 

After a time and being hit on by so many beggars, I crossed the road and waited in the sunshine. I had only waited for one minute when Seva Dals ran out of the ashram, Police ran up the road and I looked up along Main Road, and yea, that white Jeep was leading. Behind the white Jeep was a squadron of motorcycles, the first one in the middle of the road with two riders, one was carrying the Sai University Flag, a white flag with the University Logo; then another 8 red Kawasaki racing motorcycles followed in formation, then Swami's car. I was right on the bend. Swami's car was moving slowly, security running in front and behind, and beside the car, half a dozen Seva Dal holding a rope and telling us to keep back.

 

Rose buds and garlands fly out from the crowd, expertly thrown, landing on the windscreen, the bonnet and roof; there Swami is, in the front seat looking over the crowd, and our eyes met twice as that benign look of love flashed, the eyes moving so rapidly to and fro among the people; the car stopped just ever so briefly and moved on as it rounded the corner and I could see children running onto the road and picking up the rose buds and rushing off home to place them on the family shrine.

 

Another five cars followed Swami, followed by two seva dal on motorcycles; Car Darshan was over.

 

I remain and look up and down Main Street; Clouds of bliss are billowing among the peoples and they stand and smile and talk for a moment, taking in that divine love and grace.

 

 

 

January 6, 2009

 

God bless the security detail...

 

 

 

Security detail and Swami's car.

Courtesy: http://saieditor.com/spirit/