Sai Krishna
It is said that when Lord Krishna as a boy, with His enchanting flute, was with the gopis on the banks of the Yamuna, soon the gopis felt that each one of them had Him by her side at the same time. This individual personal attention to each devotee can be witnessed even now when we see Baba moving amongst the devotees. His devotees feel that He belongs to each one of them and often talk of “my Swami” and “our Baba.” Everyone feels that he has a right to demand from Baba personal attention, and Swami Himself often says, “You have a right, why are you afraid to ask?” Yes, we have a right to ask, but what shall we ask for? For worldly impermanent things? No, we are to ask for that which He wants us to ask!
Swami, You have told us the story of Krishna’s headache and how it was cured when dust was collected from the feet of the gopis, willingly given by them when everyone else refused to incur a sin by giving the dust of their feet. It is that simple and unquestioning faith of the gopis we ask for, so that we can enjoy the bliss of total surrender at Your feet.
Baba! You have told us that all creation is feminine and the Lord is the only purusha [male being]; that we are like actors in a drama staged in a girls’ school where some dress up as males. Make us understand this great truth fully, so that we can love You with all our hearts and obey Your commands.
Swami, You have been teaching us like [we are] small children, the great spiritual truths illustrated with short stories. We learn from You that once when Krishna stole the butter and was being chased by His mother, one gopi offered to hide Him in her heart, since that was the darkest place she could find to shelter Him. Lord, our hearts are equally dark; come into it, not for Your sake, but for our sake. Once You are in, we will accept Your help to churn up the butter so that You can steal it to Your heart’s content.
Lord, we read that You once blessed one [gopi] with an opportunity to listen to the divine muraligana [holy flute] emanating from Your chest. We are like empty reeds lying on the roadside. Do not allow the reed to lie idle; pick it up and blow Your divine breath into it so that everyone of us may become a murali in Your hands, and divine, celestial music may flow out of it.
Swami, we have heard much of Your role as sarathi [charioteer] for Partha [Arjuna] on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. Our need to have you as sarathi in our hearts is equally great now. It is not an eighteen-day affair; it is a constant battlefield. Not a hundred Kauravas, but thousands of them are waging war inside us. Unless You take command of this battlefield, we have no chance of survival. Take complete control of the reins of this chariot; let it move in whichever direction you want it to move. You have proclaimed Yourself as the Sanathana Sarathi [eternal charioteer]. Make us understand the full significance of this proclamation so that we can imbibe the true meaning of the Sai Gita.
Baba! You remind us constantly that the world is a big stage and we are all actors on it and that we should play our allotted parts as per the commands of the Divine director of the play. No, Swami, we do not want to be such actors, since the actors on a stage are often prone to disregard the instructions of the director and act on their own. We prefer to be like the dolls in a puppet show.
Lastly, Lord, when You were in Your previous sariram [form], You used to say, “I give My devotees what they ask for, so that they may learn to ask what I want them to ask for.” Please give us that intelligence and power of discrimination to ask from You what You want us to ask for.
~Dr. M. Balasubrahmanyam, Pondicherry
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, December 1971
