Mother With Care and Concern… Mother Easwaramma…
Monday, May 5th, 2014
Mother Easwaramma was ever an epitome of peace and tranquility… humility and simplicity… The ‘naive’ mother in her often worried about her Son, dispite Him being Divine, about Him being subject to calumny… and for the suffering, she had always been a connecting link to The Supreme Divine… a beautiful episode from Ms Bikkina Veera Nagamani…(The author rendered service in the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital until merging with Swami in June 2013).
I first came to Parthi along with my parents in 1956 and continued to make regular trips here until 1965. In June 1965 when I came here, Swami said I should live here for good and so I have lived here since then and Prasanthi Nilayam has become my home. My acquaintance with Swami’s mother soon developed into an extremely sweet and intimate relationship despite the difference in our ages. It became a regular practice for her and me to visit one another without fail everyday. Either she would come to our room or I would go to her’s. One day when she was in our room, Dr. Jayalakshmi who worked in the hospital happened to come there. When she saw Swami’s mother in our room, she sat down to listen to what she was saying because our conversation invariably centred around Swami. Dr. Jayalakshmi naturally wanted to hear something about Swami. She asked her what Swami was like as a child. On a wall in our room, there was a calendar with a picture of baby Krishna eating butter. Pointing to it Mother Easwaramma said: “Swami also looked like Him with His smiling countenance and curly hair. But we couldn’t deck Him up with so much jewellery (as the Krishna in the picture). Still somehow, I do not know how, we got some silver ornaments made for Him.”
Her compassion towards people in distress prompted her ever so often to intercede on their behalf and plead with Swami. Whenever she saw devotees looking unhappy or troubled she would become concerned and appeal to Swami to talk to them. At the same time, her love for Swami made her ever alert to what people might say about Him. In those days, Swami used to freely grant interviews to devotees. At festival times, He used to personally supervise each and everything. One year at the time of Durga Navaratri festival, Swami being very busy could not so freely grant the much-coveted private audience to devotees who wanted to leave after the conclusion of the festival. So, He had it announced that they should return home without waiting for an interview and that His blessings were with them. Then two days later when a devotee came to the Ashram, He granted him an interview. That upset Mother Easwaramma immensely. She could not bear the thought that people might speak adversely of Swami. She wanted Him not to do anything which might prompt people to speak against Him. Feeling very agitated she said to me, “See, this is how He does things. What will people think?” At such times, she became just a mother concerned about her son’s reputation. She forgot that He is above praise and calumny and that whatever He does, He does for very valid reasons known only to Himself.
Mother Easwaramma dearly loved her native village of Puttaparthi. Even during the summer months when Swami usually stayed at Brindavan Ashram in Bangalore (now Bengaluru), she chose to remain at Parthi. If someone suggested that she too should go to Bengaluru she would say, ‘No.’ She felt happy to stay at Parthi and was content to live there in spite of the heat. Summer would not last forever, she would point out. She never took any medicine. Sometimes, the visiting doctors would give her vitamin tablets which she would place in my hands with the injunction that I give them to some poor patient at the hospital. If I said she should take them in order to be strong, she would retort, saying she did not need to be strong as she was not going to fight in any war. If a patient’s condition was reported to be serious, she would frequently enquire about that patient and repeat the injunction that we should take proper care of the patients.
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
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