Three Bags Full!!!

Master punner He is… we have often seen Bhagawan doing jugglery of words, in His discourses and ‘casual’ conversations, only to give an impetus to His broader intentions… and how subtly He connects every word that He utters, aptly suiting the situation. Sri VK Narasimhan presents an Australian experience inside the Interview Room, with his editorial comments. From Sanathana Sarathi, May 1992.

Peter Rae, an Australian devotee of Bhagawan, has been engaged for some years in erecting a Mandir near his home in New South Wales, for the use of devotees in the area. He has described an incident which happened during an interview at Prasanthi Nilayam, when he brought a pair of sandals to be blessed by Bhagawan before they were placed at the Altar in his Mandir. He writes:

“Swami took us into the private Interview Room, where the sandals belonging to the Sai Temple of Peace were placed on Baba’s cushion for His Feet. When Baba came into the room and saw the sandals on His cushioned footstool, a beautiful smile came on His face and as He sat in His chair, He pulled up the lower part of His Robe and held up His Feet. Then placing both hands as in blessings, palm down, He said: Three bags full, three bags full, three bags full.” One of the ladies, Valmai, asked Swami, what He meant by “Three bags full.” Baba answered “the fullest of everything. The three worlds, Bhur, Bhuvas, Suvaha, Harmony, Happiness, Health, Full of happiness, Full of Love, Full of Santhi, Everything is there.”

(The significance of Bhagawan’s use of the phrase “Three bags full” was apparently not clear to the Australian devotees. Bhagawan was indirectly reminding them of the words in the nursery rhyme:   “Ba-ba black sheep! Have you any wool?” The devotees had come from the land of sheep to Baba and Baba was giving them “Three bags full” of blessings, unlike the sheep in the poem which gave “three bags full” of wool.)