I am Here

On the eighth day of September, 1958, in the evening, Baba was addressing a vast gathering of the people of Nuzvid and the surrounding villages in the spacious compound of the Elamarru Palace. He began by saying that men have missed the road and are traversing the devious by-lanes that take them away from the goal. But, man alone has the capacity to recognise the right road and retrace his steps and constantly correct himself. He must use this capacity of self introspection and realise that it is only in the contemplation of the Bhagavaththathwa that there is Santhi and Santhosha. He mentioned that sorrow and unrest can all be traced to want of mental courage.

And, the sentence was cut short, because He fell back into a corner of the chair in which He was sitting; He became stiff and motionless; He had 'gone' out of the body, bringing the consoling message, 'I am Here' to some Bhaktha, in extreme distress! The time was 7-25! There was an eerie stillness in the air. The audience forgot even to breathe. The ticking of the timepiece on the table could be heard, in the silence that overcame every one. At 7-30, he came back, and, resuming the address, said, 'This is My Duty! Wherever I am, whatever I may be doing when the Bhaktha calls, I have to go and give Him succour" and, then, He continued for over an hour on the Guru Sisya relationship, the Body as the Temple of the Lord and the discipline necessary to sublimate the passions of man!

On the 24th November, 1958, there was Uyyalothsavam at Puttaparthi, as part of the Birthday Celebrations of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The swing at the eastern end of the Hall was beautifully decorated with flowers and Baba seated himself on it, at the earnest entreaty of His Devotees. Prayer songs were sung; there was also music and some devotees addressed the assembly on religious subjects. Suddenly Baba heard a 'call' fell back on the pillows and became 'unconscious' of the happenings at Puttaparthi; He had become aware of some one at Hyderabad City, as He said later, a Devotee's Father, a dropsy patient, suddenly afflicted with a heart attack, who was being lifted on to an ambulance; He gave him His Darsan and Vibhuthi and came back to the Swing and Hall; it was a matter of a bare two and a half minutes; but, as He said at Nuzvid, 'He had to go', 'His Duty,' as He called it, 'beckoned to Him.' Oh! How can one describe the Infinite Mercy of the Lord! Or, His Infinite Powers!

This Mercy has during these years been evinced in many forms, but the most dramatic is this "extracorporeal journey" which He undertakes. Even as early as 1940, that is, when He was barely fourteen years old, He used to arouse the consternation of every one by going 'out' without notice. On the very first occasion, it was mistaken to be the sting of a scorpion and consequent unconsciousness.

It is seldom that He discloses the place to which He had gone and mentions the person who received His Grace, but, the cases where He has mentioned these details are themselves so many that one can say confidently that these journeys have taken Him to the Assam Frontier, the Kashmir Front, the Swiss Valley, the Nallamalai Forest, the seashore of Bombay, besides a large number of other places in India and outside. Sometimes, the Body of Baba can be seen making gestures and movements like dragging, puling, lifting, bandaging, or extracting and, later, He would explain them as gestures of His actual saving some one from being drowned, or burnt or run over or crushed or jammed. He said once that He had been to Bolarum (when He was talking to a group of devotees at Muthukar, on the terrace of a house) because a jeep had overturned and a devotee was caught underneath. Baba ran up to him, with the message, "Why fear, when I am here?"; extricated him from under the vehicle, and, as He said after He came back, remained by his side until "a passenger bus came along and took the injured person to the Hospital."

During the Razakar troubles and dacoities in Hyderabad, when the life of a Bhaktha was in imminent peril, Baba 'went' to his rescue; He actually beat some persons around Him on the terrace of the Nilayam, which He explained later was the treatment He administered to the dacoits with hundred fold effect at Hyderabad; who, the Hyderabad Bhaktha said, ran helter-skelter in sudden panic!

A villager had quarrelled with his brother about a sharing of produce and he came over to Puttaparthi, hoping to remain there itself, on the charity of the pilgrims. Baba chastised him for being a burden on others, when with a little more patience and love, he could be happy with his brother in his own village. He assured him that His Grace will be on him, wherever he was and sent him away to his own place. He took this so sadly to heart, as if Baba had driven him out; and, so, he laid himself across the rails on a dark night and hoped that the wheels of an advancing train would end his misery.

But, Baba's Grace is all pervading. He 'hurried' to him on the railway line, and pushed him aside, just in time. Persons around Him at Puttaparthi could see Him pushing something heavy, for His Gestures were of that type! And, Baba came to, with an exclamation against the villager who had so foolishly interpreted His advice! The villager Bhimaiah, by name, felt, as he later explained to me, that Baba held His hand and dragged him down the slope of the bund on which he lay. Tearful with repentance and sorrow, he returned immediately to Puttaparthi, before joining his brother and his village! Bhimaiah must have felt that the description of Dattatreya in the famous Stotra, 'Dattatreya tatkshanaath sarvagami, Thyagi bhogi divya yogi dayaluh' was absolutely correct, so far as this Sathya Sai Avathar of Dattatreya was concerned. Even now, when devotees ask Bhimaiah why he put Baba to the bother of a transcorporeal journey by his foolhardiness, he hangs his head down in shame, and pleads that we should not pursue a matter that is painful to him.

While on this point of the Dattatreya aspect of Baba, I am tempted to quote here the experience of a friend, Professor of Philosophy. He had contacts with a Dattatreya Upasaka, disciple of Gondhavali Brahma Chaitanya Maharaj, and he was studying various texts under the old man. Once, the Upasaka told him about Sri Sathya Sai Baba as the incarnation of Dattatreya and asked him to go to Puttaparthi and receive His Blessings. 'I cannot go because I am too old to undertake the journey;' 'out you should go and have His Darsan,' he insisted. He came to Puttaparthi and when he was called in by Baba for the interview, the very first words with which Baba began the conversation were, Come on! Have your Namaskaram. This is the Dattatreya Peetham for you!" Dattatreya is extolled in the Puranas as "He who goes to every place in the same instant," in answer to calls, prayers, supplication from all quarters for intercession and solace and strength and relief!

Baba "leaves" the body and goes to the devotee's side during the last moments of his earthly career, and gives him Darsan. Baba, one evening 'left' to give Darsan to a person, whose name He announced after He came back into the body. When I told Him, 'So, this event happened at Muddanur' He contradicted me and said, 'No, no, the death took place on account of heart failure; the person was being taken to some other place, the death was on the road.' And, later, the letter from the bereaved husband revealed that, for want of an oxygen apparatus at the local hospital. The patient had to be taken in a taxi to a town about 20 miles away and she passes away in the taxi, with the words, 'Sairam,' 'Sairam' on her lips.

At Horsley Hills, while moving in the Dining Hall one night. He seemed on the verge of a 'journey'; but murmured to Himself. 'There is still a little time' and walked forward, to His table. And, midway during dinner, He 'left' to vouchsafe Darsan to the dying man! Some months ago, while He was on one of these journeys of mercy, He repeated, 'water', 'water' a number of times, and so, those around Him at Puttaparthi brought a glass of water and held it to His lips. But, He did not notice it all. When He came back and looked around, He saw the glass full of water and inquired who had brought it and kept it there and why. When told that He Himself had asked for it He smiled and said, 'If I ask for water to be given to a dying man somewhere, water is brought here also.'

Strange are the ways of God. That is why perhaps, Baba says very often, 'Do not waste your time and energy trying to find explanations for My deeds. Understand yourselves and your own nature, first. That will give the clue even to Me.'

Baba need not 'transcend' the physical frame, in order to appear elsewhere or apply relief. Sometimes, He just sits tight or looks straight in a type of stare, 'comes to' in a few seconds; meanwhile, the journey and the communication of Grace are over! One day, while in the midst of a story to illustrate a point, a story of one of the ministers of Manu Chakravarthi, Baba 'flicked away' for about 10 seconds, and coming back, resumed the story! Only a few of the more attentive among the listeners noticed anything out of the ordinary. Just then, some one entered His room and Baba asked him, 'Did you get the telegram?' It seems he had got one! 'What does it say? Prasad has high fever, is it?' asked Baba. He had not opened it yet. So, it was passed on to Baba and when He tore it open, it was found that 'Prasad' had fever and, that the temperature was as high as 104 degrees. But, Baba said, 'Don't worry at all; I had been there just now; the boy is out of danger.' Prasad, we were told, was at the house of the man who had come in, 250 miles away!

Generally, we do not get eve this slight intimation of Baba's mysterious mission of Grave. He saves, guards, directs, dictates, even while talking or singing or moving about. I remember one outstanding experience of the unique type; Baba was at Prasanthi Nilayam, in His Room. There were about a dozen of us there, busily engaged in scissoring the pairs of Dhothies into singles, and folding the singles, preliminary to their being distributed to the poor during Navarathri. Suddenly, Baba asked, 'Parthasarathi! You think I am here now with you, with this pair of scissors, cutting this cloth, is it? Do you know, I had been to Madras just now, to see your Kusa? The little fellow developed Diphtheria and your brother has taken him to the Hospital.' 'Don't worry my dear man; I have given him Darsan, he will be all right soon' We were all astonished at the Announcement and Parthasarathi fell at Baba's Feet, for he was overwhelmed by this evidence of Baba's Power and Grace.

With His characteristic sense of humour Baba speaks of His Mahimas as 'My Visiting Card!' that is to say, He is announcing to us by these means that He is Lord Himself, the same Lord who came instantaneously to the rescue of many a Bhaktha, the same Lord who presented Himself before those who called out for Him. In His Grace, He condescends to present His 'visiting card' symbolic credentials of His Divinity, to even fleeting visitors who peep in out of mere curiosity. It lies with us to snatch the chance, and seeking from Him the key to self-realisation, make the chance worthwhile.