Extracts from the book Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi by Karunamba Ramamurthy (Kannamma)-2

[Guest guest]

The Stirrings Goal is greater than Guru. Hold to your goal, Guru will come on his own.- Sri Satya Sai Baba The most fortunate and eventful days in our lives dawned on us in February 1946. We were blessed by Darsana, Sparsana and Sambhasana, all considered by the devotees as divine blessings, with God incarnate, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. My cousin, Sri. Balasubramanian T.K., and myself were staunch believers of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and we used to read His biography and teachings from our younger days. We often felt sad that we were not alive when He walked amidst mortals and His divine love was given to all. A well-wisher of our family had given us a photo and astottara satanamavali book of Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. At that time we were staying on

Vanivilasa road in Mysore. I began doing puja of Shridi Sai Baba regularly. After six months, one night, Sri Shirdi Sai Baba appeared in my dream. I asked him, "Swami, please accept me as Your disciple and give me mantropadesa." Sri Shirdi Sai Baba told, "I am not your Guru. You will meet him soon. You will get mantropadesa from Him". Soon after this, we received a letter from Balasubramaniam, some time in February 1946. In the letter, inter alia, he had mentioned. "A Guru in whom we can take refuge, has come to Bangalore. Come immediately and have his darsana in the residence of Sri. Thirumala Rao." He had given the address and date too. Others may call it coincidence, but for us it was divine providence. It was noon when myself, my husband and our children Murali, Raghu and Sankara along with my mother, Smt. Namagiriamma and uncle, Sri. C.N.Rajagopal, reached

Thirumala Rao's house. It was a very hot day. A few people were standing in the garden of Rao's house. A young boy clan in saffron was among them, talking to them and blessing them. Since we were total strangers to Rao at that time, we were waiting near the gate wondering whether we could go in or not. Suddenly, as if in a flash, the young boy was before us smiling. He was Sai Baba, the Guru our cousin had written about. We bowed to Him and in the traditional way garlanded Him and offered fruits and flowers. We did padanamaskara also. On getting up, He told us in chaste Telugu, "Tomorrow is Thursday. There will be bhajanas here. Come and attend it." In a flash He was gone. It was our first darsana, sparsana and sambhasana with Sri Sathya Sai Baba! He has been our Swami ever since. The next day we attended the bhajanas at Thirumala Rao's house. It was conducted in a big hall with a

small room adjoining it. The hall was full, with ladies seated on one side and men on the other. Swami was leading the bhajanas sometimes. But most often He sat listening to the bhajanas, engrossed in them. After the bhajanas, Swami retired to the adjoining room and selected people for a personal meeting with Him. We too were called in. We entered the room and prostrated before Swami. He materialised vibhuti, applied it on our foreheads, blessed us and told us that our prayers would bear fruits. My husband asked, "Swami, I want to change my present job for better prospects. Please advise me." Swami told, "Leaving your present job will not help you. You will prosper there itself." (After four years, Swami's words came true.) It was our first interview with Swami! What we saw, heard and experienced were entirely new to us. In our very first darsana itself, we had no doubt that Swami was a Siddha Purusa.

Observing the goings on, which were new to us, a thought crossed my mind, "This person is wasting His siddhis by materialising things and fulfilling the desires of others." Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had often said that Siddhi earned by a sadaka is really an obstruction in the path of sadhana and should be carefully avoided by those aspiring for self-realization. Paramahamsa had said that the sadhaka will often be tempted to display or over-play his siddhi. This inflates the ego, whereas the purpose of sadhana, pursued for years, is to deflate the ego. The absurdity of equating Swami with an ordinary sadhaka, of whom Paramahamsa had warned, dawned on us in due course when we got into the fold of Swami. We began to understand the difference between nidarsana and pradarsana. After our first darsana of Swami in February 1946, we continued to stay in our uncle's house at Bangalore, with the

hope of getting more darsanas in the houses of devotees there. We were fortunate enough to have two more darsanas at Bangalore. On one such occasion, my uncle requested Swami to visit our house too. Though, Swami did not agree at first, He finally relented and came to our house in the afternoon of March 3, 1946 with Thirumala Rao and accepted the padapuja we offered. He declined our invitation for lunch say that He already had His lunch, but gracefuuly accepted a little fruit juice and a spoon of vangibhat. He partook a few slices of apple and distributed the rest to all as prasada. After having only four darsanas, we were hesitant to talk much Swami. All ofn us did padanamaskara to Swami and left. I told my grandfather, Sri. Nageshwariah C., an agile personality even at the age of eighty-four years, who was staying with his daughter in Bangalore about our fortunate meeting with a mahatma. He expressed his desire to have his darsana

and went to Thirumala Rao's house. When he returned, I could see joy writ large on his face. He said that to his good fortune he too had darsana, sparsana and sambhasana with Swami. I asked him about the boon he had sought from Swami. He said that he prayed Swami to remove ajnana and grant sujnana. When Swami visited Mysore in May 1946, He came to our grandfather's house where we were then living. He graced my grandfather to perform padapuja. Swami was just twenty years old then. He also complimented my grandfather on his charitable deeds. (to be continued)