Swami's Compassion For His Devotee 9-20-2014

 

 On September 20th I received a disheartening phone call from a friend that the renowned Mandolin musician, U. Srinivas has passed away at the age of only 45 years old. 

 

We were on our way to Guruyaoor (Krishna) Temple for Janmashtami celebrations. It was heart-breaking to hear such shocking news. U. Srinivas had gone for a liver transplant and it did not go as planned.

Swami came in my vision and showed me a glimpse as to what is planned. Now I am in Prasanthi Nilayam and they have found a niche where they can offer and lay a wreath for this musician. I see black polished granite, only two narrow steps, and one of the wreaths reserved for this occasion is missing!

Everyone is frantically searching and I claim that I did not take it. I see SWAMI IS STANDING ON THE SIDE of a pillar HOLDING ONTO THE WREATH that was missing.

SWAMI IS IN HIS LATE 80's. That is our lords’ love for his devotees. U. Srinivas has merged himself with the lord whom he has adored and performed for on so many occasions. 

We all will truly miss your scintillating performance.

Thank you swami for giving your darshan and showing me the love for your "child"

OM Sri Sai Ram.

In Loving Memory
February 28, 1969 - September 19, 2014

Swami Interview September 18, 2014

Swami appeared early morning in the middle of the ocean and called me; “this body and soul". Let me give you an interview. I said “swami you can’t, you’re in the middle of the ocean.” He replied “why not”. I opened my eyes and the clock read 6:14. That is the month and day I was born.

The Lord can appear anywhere he wants, whether it’s a few days ago in an open ground or like today in the ocean.

Thank you for your darshan Swami. All I ever want is to talk, sing, and hear about your glory only.

Om Sri Sai Ram.

Swami's Message: "Do More Service"

I went to Houston, Texas to see my mother and after several days connected with a friend who is the same age as my daughter. Her parents happened to live around where my mother lives. I contacted them and after several days decided to meet and spend a day with them. Both of them came and personally picked me up from my mothers residence and took me to their small but quaint apartment.

On one side he had an altar set up with various Devi pictures which she would spend several hours in the day talking and conversing with them offering various pujas and abhishekam. She would offer them whatever she had cooked as prasadam first and only then would she eat. She explained that its like a mother feeding her children first before taking food. We spent the whole night talking about anything and everything. It felt very comfortable as if we had known each other for years. 

At 12:30am, when she could no longer stay awake she said goodnight and retired for the night. They had a one bedroom apartment and offered their bed but I insisted I would rather sleep in the living room with all of the deities present. I slept very well and thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in that room. In the early hours, around 4:30am I had a vision of Swami seated in an open field and there are only two people present. One was a lady and I was the other. Swami takes a visiting card and gives it to the lady in her hand. When he takes a look, I start to shake and tremble. He leaves the visiting card on the ground. As I am so close to Swami’s presence I go into a trance and fall on the ground. 

When I woke up I look at the visiting card and it had the sarva dharma logo on one side and there is something written but cannot make it out clearly. The next card behind was very legible. It read “Do More Service”. I knew it was meant for my spiritual uplift. The day and night was spent so beautifully. They came to drop me off and I spent most of the next day with my mother. It was a pleasure to meet such a lovely couple; Parvati and Parameswar.

Om Sri Sai Ram.

Pictures of Lord Ganesha - Swami Satya Sai & Shirdi Baba

On Tuesday, August 27, 2014, a friend called in the evening at around 5:30PM and said to that he was going to a book store located in Edison, New Jersey (kitab book store) which was owned and operated by Jayantbhai Patel for over 25 years. The Edison Sai Center was started in the back of his store.

 

Weekly satsang, bhajans and meetings were held in the store room. He was an extraordinary man and did a lot of selfless service regardless of a financial situation. When Hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey, he made hundreds and hundreds of sandwiches and delivered them to the worst place hit; Staten Island. People would be waiting for him, and in no time it would be empty and people will ask “when are you returning?”

Jayantbhai was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and in a matter of months his health had deteriorated. Jayantbhai finally merged with Swami in June of 2014. His family now had to liquidate the business, sell the stock, and vacate the premise by Saturday August 30, 2014. We wanted to help the family's loss by buying whatever we could a drop in the ocean. My friend, as he had known Jayantbhai for almost 25 years, wanted to purchase 200-300 books and give them as gift in his annual bhajans along with various other gift items. I, on the other hand, bought only three pictures.

 

The first picture that caught my attention was Lord Ganesha who was seated very regally in the middle of the ocean with a serpent behind him. The next, an old picture of Swami (maybe when he was in his 30-40's) and a message hand-written by him and signed. It was a bit difficult to read as the ink had faded over the years. Finally, I purchased a portrait of Shirdi Sai. I purchased these pictures but knew my spouse will have something for sure to tell me. Nevertheless, I came home and installed Ganesha in the puja room altar. It seemed like a perfect fit for the place. I cleaned the puja room and for the first time in 20 years I don't know why I set up a grand chair decorated for Swami. I placed cushions on the chair as well as one for his feet and two handkerchiefs on either side.

 

 

 

 

 

I slowly stepped back and began admiring how beautiful he would look. And finally the picture of Shirdi Baba was placed in the entrance as you walk down towards the basement. When my wife came from work she went ballistic and started calling me all kinds of words and talked about how I have gone mad with these pictures. “It is not a temple, it is a home! If you want, go and surround yourself with all these in a temple. I don't want hundreds of people parading thru this home.” I was shocked and hurt at the same time. I was speechless and kept quiet until she finished bombarding me. She put all the items I had placed on the chair back. It was bare now and not the same anymore. She said “you cannot take any furnishing from the house. If you want, go and buy extra for your decorations.” I went and slept in another room and prayed to Swami to melt her heart and change her mind and show her the correct path.

 

Every Thursday I volunteer to cook at the Shirdi temple and start at 5:30am but that day I just could not wake up and had a severe pain in my left leg. At 7:00am, when I came down, my wife had gone to work and she had placed the chair, cushions, and the handkerchief back in the puja room. When I saw that, tears rolled down my face, as my prayers were answered. Swami must have come in her dreams and made something change in her. Along with that she wrote an apology letter. I guess I had to purchase these pictures for her transformation.

 

Sai Ram.

 

Divine Child in Action August 29, 2014

In the early morning, I saw Bala Tripurasudari playing with a kumkum box. I tell her not to play with it as it might spill all over and is a mess to clean up. She props herself up and opens the container and starts to distribute a pinch with her small fingers to everyone present in the room. I also extend my hand and get a pinch of kumkum. As an elderly lady was unable to get kumkum from the child, I reached over to extend and transfer the kumkum to her. She says I just wanted to see if you would part, so take it back and transfer it to my palm again. Inside that, some spills on the ground and Bala Tripurasundari says “as you lost some, let me give you more.”  You can see the divine child in action again.

 It is Ganesh Chaturthi today.

Goddess Devi Seated in Our Puja Room

In the very early morning I had a vision that I was driving with some people in my car. As we drove past a temple, being that it was rather late, it struck me as odd that when usually temples close by 10:00PM, all of the lights were on and wondered why. I stopped the car and told the occupants that we should go inside and find out what was going on. The people in the car didn’t want to go in and bother with it and said let us go but my conscience would not allow me to go. I went inside the building and all of the rooms and doors were wide open. All the lights were on but there was nobody in sight. I wondered if the place was robbed. I was not comfortable in leaving but my friends said “let’s go everything’s okay”.  I told them for some reason that “we have already walked inside, let’s check all the windows and doors to make sure they are properly secured before leaving”.  I walked over to a window and the latch was loose. It was turning but not locking. Now I was definitely not comfortable in leaving without informing someone in charge. Because it was so late I could not find anyone around and told my friends that they could leave and I will stay until the morning when they reopen and management is present. When I return to my home in the morning I see Devi Goddess Sri Lalitha Tripurasundari is seated in our puja room with a foot deep in red roses. We have no roses in our backyard. Where have the flowers come from?  She was so beautiful and I was both spellbound and speechless. What a wonderful vision of our divine Sai Ma. Thank you Swami for showering your love on this beautiful soul. The day I had the vision, July 15^th, also happened to be our anniversary. We are having annual bhajans this year on August 10, 2014 which focuses solely on our Devi Bala.

 

 

The Garland That Caught My Attention

I had a dream in December 2013 that Swami showed a man who was well built, fair complexion, and in his early to late 40’s.

I had never seen or met him before and wondered what my connection with Him will be. Needless to say, everything in Swami's fold is his master plan that we cannot fathom with the intelligence that we so called posses. I was invited to a New Year's bhajan at a friend’s house on January 1, 2014. The singers and instrument players were sitting right in front and the house was jam packed. The bhajan's were heart rendering and soul-touching. I came early and got a seat all the way to the back. It was attended by nearly 500 people with every room in the house occupied. Flat screen monitors were everywhere so that no one missed the bhajans. The cars were parked for as far as the eyes could see for miles and over-took the neighborhood. The prasadam was endless as to how anyone can even fathom that many people would show up for a bhajan in a residence. After the bhajan’s were over, I walked over to the host Kutumba and Rani Lanka, and asked who the tabla player was. He asked "you don't know him?" I said he was shown to me in my dream. Who is He? His name is Gopal; he has practically grown up in Swami's house and has many miracles to share. I walked over to Mr. Gopal and mentioned he is an excellent tabla player and you were in my dream.Wonder why?

I had the privilege of seeing and hearing his performance many times after that initial meeting, but never had a chance to talk with him in depth. On April 28, 2014, Mr. Lanka's daughter was to get married and had the chance of, once again, meeting Gopal, and it just so happened that I was sitting next to him as he was sharing some of the experiences with a few. I had a chance to interact with him and found out that his wife was the manager of the Shirdi Sai Mandir in Iselin, New Jersey. As I was free and was looking for various volunteer opportunities, I told them they indeed needed help especially on Thursday for cooking and mixing prasadam.

I started the last week of May 2014 and I had to be in the temple from 5:30 to 6:00AM, and many volunteers come but only for a few hours as they have to go to work. I enjoy working in the kitchen and easily fit in with the rest of the group instantly.  Most of them work in the I.T field and are predominantly from Andhra Pradesh, while I was the only one from Chennai speaking Tamil. This had no bearing or held any weight because we were all there for one sole purpose - doing Swami's work. We prepared almost 2000 packets of Puliyodharai rice as prasadam on Thursday.  The next week was the same routine. After the completion of preparing, packing, and cleaning we came upstairs for the afternoon aarathi. Some people came with offerings to Sai; some offered garlands. I was sitting down as I was tired from working in the kitchen and talking to a friend. Many garlands were exchanged, repeatedly, from the devotee who brought them for Swami and I would glance over in between my conversation.

I saw a yellow rose mala with a red contrast in the center. It instantaneously caught my attention that I had to get up and go closer to the altar to see the beauty myself and meet the person who had made it. It was the most beautiful garland I had ever seen. Amongst the crown I had inquired who had made the stunning mala which was around the altar. I finally heard a voice "it was me!" I was in tears looking at this woman as her whole face was disfigured yet I could see the pure love coming from her to me and vice versa.

She had poured all her love and devotion into making the garland and indeed it showed.  I guess this was Swami's plan, many months ago, that I had to meet Gopal, volunteer in his temple, and meet such divine beings who have gone beyond their physical appearance and can connect with love.

Beauty is only skin deep. Love touches the soul and is ever-lasting.

Thank you Swami for giving me the chance to meet such beings!!!!

Love All Serve All