Images of Sai
The following is taken from an article by Dr. Sulekha Randhir, an ex-student of Swami’s School. At the time of writing, she lived in Kuwait.
Many seats were vacant on the Indian Airlines flight from Delhi to Bangalore. I stretched out comfortably, excited and happy to be returning. I had left my husband and teenage son in Kuwait and was headed to Bangalore on an assignment and to visit my mother and daughter.
Rain had fallen all morning in Delhi; for a while it looked as if the flight would be canceled. Now, delighted to be underway, I looked out at the black sky; nothing could dampen my spirits. As I relaxed, my thoughts drifted to the Bhagavatam classes I had been taking and of the trip I would make to see Swami. I thought of Krishna and Swami and of the great leelas of the avatars. I wondered whether Swami knew I was on my way to see Him. Then I began to ponder how the gods knew everything – each thought, word and deed. Thoughts are changeable and fickle. How did the gods know about them? Suddenly I decided to test whether someone could actually know all my thoughts.
I looked out the window at the dark clouds and decided that if Swami knew what was going on in my mind, He should turn the sky to an orange color. The stewardess interrupted my thoughts with a lunch tray, but I was in no mood to eat. In a moment or two, I turned back toward the window. To my complete amazement, I saw that the sky was enveloped in orange. I stretched to look through every corner of the window, but I couldn’t see a single spot of the black clouds that had filled the sky all morning. Tears filled my eyes as I understood what had happened. I bowed my head low to think of my audacity at testing the Supreme One. The orange of the sky grew deeper and I drank in its pulsating beauty, realizing the omnipresence of God. I looked back inside the plane for a moment, then back out the window. I was shocked. The sky had turned pitch black. Not a trace of orange remained. Thick, ominous black clouds filled the sky and threatened to break into rain as the plane swept past them. I fell back on my seat, exhausted. A leela was unfolding right before my eyes. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the omnipresent God knew my every thought – no matter how fickle it might be. When I stepped from the plane in Bangalore, I felt humbled.
A second experience recently occurred at my home in Kuwait. I was hosting Christmas bhajans in my home. The Sai Spiritual Education children had sung the English bhajans so sweetly that the atmosphere was charged with love and devotion. Santa Claus had come and everyone was feeling cheerful. But I sat in the midst of it all with a false smile pasted on my face. No one could see the turmoil inside me. I wanted to be with Swami for the ex-student meeting in Puttaparthi. I recalled the unconditional love that Swami always gave His ex-students when they met for the annual Messengers of Sai gathering each December 25. All I wanted was to look deep into those unfathomable Divine eyes and experience the state of oneness with Him. But this particular Christmas, it was not to be.
After my friends left the house in joyful spirits, I sat down beside my son. Suddenly I decided to go out and buy a Christmas gift for him. A former student of the primary school in Puttaparthi, he, too, missed Swami. As we got into the car, my son remarked on how clear the sky was that evening. Though it was almost eleven in the evening, many people were still on the streets. We were driving around, uncertain where to go, when suddenly my son said, “Baba, Baba.” I turned and saw him looking at the sky. I noticed that a patch of sky had formed a light blue frame around dark clouds that had bunched into the shape of Swami. The image of his hair and shoulders shone clearly, creating the effect of a halo around Swami’s beloved head. My son and I both saw Him looking down on us, blessing all of Kuwait. Thrilled by this darshan, we felt that Swami had taken pity on his two ex-students who could not attend the meeting in Puttaparthi. He had given us our own special darshan, providing another special memory for us to treasure in our hearts while living with the avatar.
