Swami Advised Him To Read ‘Sanathana Sarathi’
Thursday, January 16th, 2020
How many of us are into ‘following’ Sanathana Sarathi, Prasanthi Nilayam’s sacrosanct spiritual journal, that had its inception in a Divine Resolve of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai more than six decades ago? Do we realize that Bhagawan’s every single resolve is aiming at uplifting humanity to the highest level of SAI consciousness?
Aiding this priceless gift of human life in the right and most-befitting way, man must go back to his root, knowing and acknowledging Bhagawan as The Sanathana Sarathi. And here lies the supreme significance of the journal launched by Him reflecting His infinitely infinite ‘cosmic designation.’ Here is a beautiful tale orchestrated by Bhagawan ‘HimSelf’ on the incomparable beauty and significance of ‘Sanathana Sarathi.’
This story dates back to a decade and a half approximately, as the protagonist here does not keep a well-judged track of time anymore, being in the fag end of the eighties. The story happened in Northern Kerala, precisely in Thalassery, a municipal township. The protagonist was a staunch disciple of famed Avadhoota Siddha Bhagawan Nithyananda of Ganeshpuri, who shed His mortal frame on 8 August 1961 at Ganeshpuri in Maharashtra. Before settling in, he, who was into a diligent ‘soul-searching,’ had landed in Ganeshpuri at a ‘tender’ age of 14/15, more than seven decades ago, seeking one single thing… G-O-D!!!
He had an incredible stint with Bhagawan Nithyananda at the Ashram, serving the Master for over two-and-a-half years along with another youngster, who went on to become the famed Swami Muktananda later. As advised and blessed by Bhagawan Nithyananda, the protagonist then sought out a specified preceptor in Kerala, following the path of Brahma Vidya. At the end of a successful course, the guru had advised him to get into grihastha ashram, the householder’s life, to clear off many a karmic knot.
Life was never a bed of roses for him, with many knots waiting to be released, yet he was always immersed in his ‘swadharma’, while delivering every single ‘earthly’ duty with utmost diligence. During his official stint in Mumbai, then Bombay, decades ago, he had the rarest blessing of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai’s Darshan, twice. All that he knew then about Bhagawan was that his elder brother was an ardent devotee of Him, who would frequent Prasanthi Nilayam only to earn incredible personal attention.
It was one beautiful morning at his Thalassery home, post his retirement from service. He was resting in his room, on a cot, blissfully immersed in ‘sudhdha bodham’, (a state of pure consciousness). All of a sudden he jerked himself out witnessing a magical experience, a ‘Visiting Card’ from ‘The Most Unknown Guest!’ He was face-to-Face with the ‘unknown’ guest, Who appeared there in a trice as if manifested out of thin air.
He was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of an Orange Robed Radiant Persona with a crown of hallowed hair, sitting right next to him, exuding an indefinably radiant smile – Pure Love!!!. With that cosmically enchanting smile, He slowly leaned over to the other side of the cot, crossing over the lying man, settling ‘his’ right palm on the other edge of the cot. Bending forward, looking deep into his eyes, the ‘stranger’ then asked in a nectarous mellifluous tone… “Do You Get Sanathana Sarathi?” The first person here was in a kind of ‘cosmic-trance’, where he could feel only LOVE…LOVE…LOVE only! ‘The Eye’ with the eye and ‘The Soul’ with the soul!!! …and time almost stood still, allowing LOVE to operate!!!
The ‘visitor’ continued with His course: “Get it and read it; share it with others and help them to ‘consciously’ evolve.” …And lo! The moment next, the ‘magic figure’ was gone, vanished in a trice, back into thin air!!!
Sanathana Sarathi…? ‘Divine’ visitation…? …he could not immediately connect the right dots, and thus allowed it to be slipped, allowing the ‘right’ time to ripe, unveiling the ‘real’ story.
Day-2, same time, same place. As he was lying down on the same cot, the same ‘crown-haired-hallowed-orange-robed-persona’ appeared there, before him, and averred the same sentence, ditto, as if delivering a ‘carbon copy!’ “Do You Get Sanathana Sarathi?” “Get it and read it; share it with others and help them to ‘consciously’ evolve.” …And ‘He’ was gone!
He turned more curious now but still found himself wanting, lacking clarity and thus slipped back, allowing the ‘right time’ to tell the story.
Day-3, same time, same place, and yet another encore of the same incident, repeating the message in a slightly different tone. “Will you read Sanathana Sarathi? Get it and read it and share it with others and help them to ‘consciously’ evolve.” …and again the vanishing act!
Three times in a row, the same incident about an unheard-of ‘Sanathana Sarathi’ and he was wide awake now, a conscious thrust from within. He thought for a moment, …three times, …the same message, …from the same persona, with that infinitely mesmerizing effect! Never had it struck him then about the ‘Sathya Sai Darshanam’ he had had long back, back in Mumbai, during his ‘Bombay-days.’
The same evening he set himself out to a nearby junction to do some errands. As is his wont, he went to a nearby studio, Prabha Studio, owned by an acquaintance, who has had a ‘heartfelt’ transformation after listening to his advice. As he went in, his attention was impulsively drawn to a beautiful photograph of a figure resplendent, a ‘familiar’ photo frame hungover there. Curious enough, he turned and asked the studio owner as to who ‘he’ was? Pat came his reply, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi. He was the ‘radiant persona with the hallowed crown of hair’ who frequented him last three days on the trot, giving him the ‘dosage’ of Sanathana Sarathi.
Hardly this conversation was over, he heard chatter from behind, conversing about something like, as he could make it, ‘Sanathana Sarathi’. He turned back and found another acquaintance in the middle of a conversation, speaking on Sanathana Sarathi and subscriptions. Curiously curious, he asked him as to what this ‘Sanathana Sarathi’ was all about. The person, a devotee of Bhagawan, explained it in one line… Sanathana Sarathi is the monthly spiritual journal from Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi, the Divine Abode of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Adept only in one language, vernacular Malayalam, apart from the ‘language’ of Brahma Vidya, he lost no time in ensuring his subscription for the priceless journal, in his only readable language.
Later, when he had a short stint of three months’ stay in Puttaparthi, he would often read out Sanathana Sarathi messages to a selected few, explaining the purport of the beauty of His words from an elevated level of understanding. He would often remind us, ‘Sanathana Sarathi should be read with diligent attention and loving reverence, paying complete attention, knowing that you are reading Bhagawan HimSelf.’
About his personal experience with Sanathana Sarathi, he later confessed, after he started reading the holy messages, many of his psychic knots (grandhis) got cleared off. The sacred Sri Lalita Sahasranamam describes various grandhis, glorifying The Supreme Mother… as ‘Manipurantharuditha Vishnu Grandhi Vibhedini…’, ‘Ajna Chakrantharalastha Rudra Grandhi Vibhedini…’, that help one in conscious evolution, step by step, stage by stage.
I was sitting with this revered persona, my earthly preceptor, a month ago, in the same room, next to the same cot, when he was lying down awaiting the final call. I had a request to him then, for an encore of the narration, recalling the same story once again. He obliged instantly, even in his trying times of physical ill-health. Narrating the story, he blessed me to share the ‘Story Of Glory Of Sanathana Sarathi’, a mandate given by The Lord Supreme Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai, Who had advised him then… Read and spread the message to help others in ‘conscious’ evolution.
…And about Beloved Mother Sai, Who appeared before him three times on the trot, he had his beautiful words full of love and gratitude. He said, ‘with Bhagawan looking deep into my eyes, I had that experience of LOVE, which I had had never before.’ Referring to that ‘Eye-to-eye’ Divine Romance, he said, “Never In My Life, I Have Experienced Such Beautiful Of Love!!!” Indeed, Bhagawan looked deep into his eyes, and through those eyes, deep into the ‘Soul-Within’!
To those who were around him, and into the fold of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai, he would always serve one reminder, “The Seat That You Are Blessed To Be Devoted, The Feet That You Are Holding On Is The Highest In All The Worlds in the entire creation. Hold On To Him Ever and EverAfter. Human minds fail to describe or define Him. The only way it can express Him is that neither One Can Add Anything Unto Him, Nor Can Delete. He Is Paripoornam, Sampoornam!!!”
Hail The Lord Supreme, Sri Sathya Sai, The Eternal Charioteer, Sanathana Sarathi!!!
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Reflections, Sai Spiritual Showers |
