He Is Compassion
Whenever I picture Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba as Premaswarupa (Embodiment of Divine love), three examples of His abounding love occur to me. Every word, every gesture, every look of His is suffused with His prema and His karuna (compassion). Every devotee (and indeed everyone who has seen Him) knows that He cannot endure anyone standing in sun or rain; that He pours out His heart in sympathy for the distressed, the weak, the downtrodden, and the afflicted, and that it is this overwhelming divine love of His that binds all to Him in silken bonds of affection. But if I am asked to give some outstanding instances of this prema, I would give these three:
1. This was some years ago, when the car-road from Prasanthi Nilayam to Bukkapatanam did not exist. The Sri Sathya Sai Baba High School in Bukkapatanam held its annual celebration of Baba’s Birthday on 23rd November, as usual. Baba blessed the boys by His presence. After devotional singing, Baba discoursed to the students. He then wanted all the boys to go over to Puttaparthi and share in the celebrations with the assembled devotees there, as well as in the feast that had been arranged.
While returning from the school to [the village of] Karnatapalli by car, Baba saw the boys walking in the sun on the road to Puttaparthi. He could not bear the sight of the children trudging in the sun, even for the distances of two miles! So, He stopped His car and asked that they should all sit in the shade of the trees, promising to transport them all by car to Karnatapalli! So, His car as well as three others belonging to some devotees was put on this special assignment, while Baba waited on the other bank of the Chithravathi river for all of them to join Him.
The bhaktas (devotees) at Prasanthi Nilayam wondered why Baba took such an extraordinarily long time to finish the High School function and return to them! It took full three hours for the cars to bring over the 300 or more school children. Baba started His walk over the sands of the river only after the teachers had assured Him that not a single boy had been left behind. Probably (why, most assuredly) no one, not even the children would have minded that short walk of two miles. But, He, in His Mercy, did.
2. It was [the festival of] Dasara at Puttaparthi. At about 9 P.M. Baba sent word to a band of young men that they must assemble in the hall for some urgent work. Within a few minutes, there were double the numbers, eagerly awaiting His orders. Everyone wondered what that could be! Well, Baba came and explained that the buntings and flags with which the Nilayam and the garden were decorated since the first day of Dasara had faded slightly and become dull in color. So they would have to be replaced by fresh ones, to be prepared and fixed during the night!
The work engaged us till late into the night, and Baba was with the party all the time, attending to every detail. Someone dared ask Him the reason for the extra attention upon the 5th day of Dasara, and Baba replied: “Don’t you know that tomorrow your bandhus (relatives) come for the feast?” This we knew! On the next day, the poor—the daridranarayanas (God in the form of the poor)—were coming to the Nilayam to receive blessed food and clothes from His hands!
But, who could imagine that His love was so great, so deep, so all-embracing as to celebrate the arrival of the poor by this ‘de novo’ decoration? When someone suggested that the feeding of thousands of people and the distribution of hundreds of saris (for women) and dhoties (for men) should be published in the papers, Baba turned towards him and said, “What? Do you publish in papers the news that your friends and relatives came to your house?” Every one of us has to learn the lesson of those flags.
3. Everyone knows Baba travels by car whenever He moves about. But everyone may not know this expression of His love while He’s traveling. He knows all the places on all the roads where the wayside beggars, especially the disabled and the afflicted, stand with outstretched hands. So, long before the location comes, He is ready with His gift. And when the person is spotted, He stops the car, calls him in His own sweet voice toward Himself, and places the aid lovingly in those hands! Oh, how He scans the area and searches for the familiar hand and face if, by any chance, he is not visible at the accustomed place!
Verily, it has been truly sung, “Karuna, indeed, is He; He is, indeed, Karuna.” In the Viveka-chudamani the guru is described as Ahethukadayasindhu: His grace is showered on all without interruption and without cause! Such is our Master, our dearly loved Baba.
~N. Kasturi
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1958
