On The Road to Puttaparthi

As a young child, raised by open-minded and inter-faith parents, I grew up surrounded by hundreds of books at our home - from philosophy to spirituality to science, art and poetry. One of them, had Sathya Sai Baba on the cover. I must have been around ten years old. Curious and fascinated by his hair, I opened the book and found myself more intrigued by his stories. One day, I thought maybe I will go to India and meet this unique man. Twenty years later, my family and I happened to live and work on a hill station where he has a "summer ashram" in Kodaikanal. I was taken by surprise that the man I saw on a book at our home in the Philippines, was visiting and is only a few meters away from my workplace at an international school. I paced back and forth, thinking how I could take leave from my afternoon classes since I was on my first year at the job. In a hurry, I contacted my husband to take a leave at work too, and grab my daughter at school to meet him. Before long, we were only a few meters away from him and could, like others, touch him, but he was well guarded by his devotees from those who would throw themselves on his feet. My daughter started crying from the rush of the crowd, or maybe perhaps she found his hair strange, so we moved backwards slowly. It was his last visit in Kodaikanal and he left his body shortly after that. Eleven years later, we have finally visited his samadhi mandir (the resting place of his physical body) in Puttaparthi in Karnataka. In between that day and this day, I would speak to him in my mind every few years or so. Then a few years back, I read about Mohanji's experience with Sathya Sai. My memories of meeting him came flooding back to me, and I started having a desire to be close to his energy once more. When I finally first met Mohanji in Arunachala in Thiruvannamalai, I told him I met Sathya Sai; and on our third meeting here in Bangalore, I told him we were visiting Puttaparthi finally this time.When I mentioned Sai to him, and I dont know why I did have to mention him, I saw deep reverence in his eyes, and he looked up and gently raised his arms upwards in brief communion with him. I felt his deep love for Sathya Sai at that very moment, that I felt swept away by that energy too. As the train reached Sri Sathya Sai Nilayam train station, I felt like I was deep under water swimming and breathing freely in the sea of Love. My muscles were suddenly deeply relaxed, and my body could not feel its own weight. A minty fresh energy was coursing through my spine gently. I was Home. I felt at home. Like a fish thrown into a vast still ocean. There was a certain soul thirst that was quenched 360 degrees. As one enters the gate of Sathya Sai's ashram, you will be greeted by symbols of all religions including Christianity; and what striked me was a huge banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe in one of the cafeteria inside. At this point, I must have painted over 5-6 Our Lady of Guadalupe and felt a deep urge to paint forty six of Her. Sai Ram teaches "Love All,Serve All" and welcomes all faiths and people from all walks of life. He emphasizes service and he walks his talk, as seen by him building his free hospital, schools, dams, roads etc. His ashram is almost for free with the prices provided. He feeds people for free daily too; no one leaves the mandir without a prasadam. Like many gurus, he was not exempt from speculations, but those who have experienced him personally and those who were transformed forever - stayed. He called it "separating the wheat from the chaff". If one comes to doubt, like a doting mother, he always says - Yes, I will give you what you asked for. More doubts you shall have, opportunities I will give. Needless to say, here is a grand Ball of Light who walked amongst us - only to Love.