A Spiritual Workshop
Dr. Kamala is a doctor at the General Hospital who has dedicated her whole life to serving the Lord by serving the patients at the hospital. She describes the Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital at Prasanthi Nilayam as the spiritual workshop for the doctors and the patients.
Swami’s mandir [temple] is our spiritual school where we are taught all the great spiritual truths. Over the years, Swami has been feeding us with His discourses. Lately, this omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient God is seated seemingly still, encouraging His students and devotees to speak and enact dramas, musicals, etc. These bring out the essence of His teachings and those of the masters of the past. They are perfectly planned so that we can digest, absorb, and engrave every thing indelibly in our chitta [consciousness]. We learn our lessons in the mandir, and the hospital is where we try to put all of them into practice.
Working here has been a great privilege. We have come to realize that without His grace, the hospital cannot function as it does. He is the Doctor of all doctors and we are mere instruments in His hands. There have been many instances where He has even physically prescribed medicines and managed difficult cases for us. His hidden hand is always at work.
This hospital has staff members from different states of India and foreign countries, with diverse languages, cultures, and religions. We also have many visiting doctors from all over the world. We all eat, live and work together as one large family. These days, even married couples cannot live together amicably. One can well imagine the differences of opinion that could arise in our midst! But the love for Swami teaches us to adjust, forgive, forget, and live together in harmony. Our patients teach us the best in human values. They are our most difficult test papers, which help us to assess our own progress.
As Swami points out, it’s easy for one to be very good while living in the forest amidst trees and wild life. It is when one has to live among human beings of different types and temperaments, that one’s bad qualities surface. What better workshop could Swami have designed for us than this General Hospital? Acceptance of all situations, however difficult, as specially designed by God for our spiritual growth, is an important prerequisite. He keeps testing us and placing obstacles in -our path to help us learn to overcome them. To love all and serve all, we have to see God in all. To reach this high goal, we have to bid goodbye to our ego and the associated negative qualities. We need to purify our chitta so that He fills our hearts with divine love, which in turn could flow to our patients and others.
When one stands apart and looks at how this ashram, institutions, and all the Sathya Sai Seva [service] organizations all over the world function, one cannot but –marvel at the ingenuity of this single-handed Organizer. The staff members of the hospital are ever so grateful to Swami for refining us through this repair shop and lifting us up the ladder of spirituality step by step, in His own inimitable style.
In those glorious olden days, we enjoyed Swami’s physical proximity and showers of divine love. But now, the time has come for us to seek spiritual proximity within and delight in His bliss. Let us all arise, awake, and become worthy instruments in His divine mission. Bhagavan says, “You are My instruments from whom My love will pour. Be always aware that the moment you let your ego descend upon you, My work ceases. When you have overcome your negative unmindfulness, you will again become My source. I am the dance master. I am Nataraja [Shiva], Prince of dancers. You are My pupils. I alone know the agony of teaching you every step of the dance.”
~Dr. Kamala
Source: Arogyapradayani
