Chapter 3

Meanwhile, our departure from Puttaparthi was for the next day. In those days, due to smaller crowds, we were blessed to have many darshans in a day. That evening for the first time I sat in darshan lines. Looking at Swami, who was standing on the Mandir balcony, I said within, “If You are God, cure my wife's illness.”

Meanwhile, I came to know that the person sitting next to me, Mr. Naidoo from Chittoor, was working at Smt. Eswaramma School. Without any prompting, as if reading my mind, he said, "Sir, I am sure you must be wondering why Baba is calling everyone else for interview except you.” This definitely was a question which was bothering me that day. Mr. Naidoo himself
gave the answer thus: “Only Swami knows whom to call and when to call.”

“I will give you a small example. Let’s say three people get a stomachache at the same time. The doctor asks one of them to skip dinner. The next one is given medication. The third one is referred for an emergency operation. Just as a doctor knows the kind of medication to give to his patients, Swami knows everything about us and knows when to RESPOND to us.”

I was completely shocked to hear this man speak about exactly what was in my mind. Thinking that this was probably the POWER OF THIS SOIL and scared of any further disclosures of my thoughts, I took leave of him and sat elsewhere.

As I was about to sit down, a gentleman came up to me. After greeting me, he introduced himself as my former student. Looking at me a bit strangely, he asked, "Sir, why are you here?"

Not knowing what to say, I said, "I have just come to see this place." After that, we continued talking to each other amicably.

Then, to my utter surprise, he said, "Sir, no one is allowed to break coconuts here. No one will come to you with an arathi plate. There is no donation box and you won't find anyone sitting with receipt books to collect donations. So, I am sure you are wondering how all these beautiful buildings have come up."

What he had just told me was indeed what I had been contemplating, as I had exactly the same thoughts in my mind! Before I could say anything, he said, "A rich businessman from Mumbai came to Swami to seek his blessings for his ailing wife. She was cured by Swami and later had children. Prior to this, she had been taken to every reputed hospital with no improvement in her health. Swami's Divine Hand cured her. In gratitude to Swami, this businessman built all these buildings." I then felt sorry for myself for having such selfish and evil thoughts, and I asked Swami to forgive me.

As our departure time was getting closer, I rushed to the Ashram bookstore. In those days, the bookstore was being run in a very small room which looked like a store room. I bought SATHYA SAI SPEAKS VOL 5. As soon as I started reading this book, I was completely taken aback. I found no difference between Swami's teachings and the teachings of Brahma Samaj (which I had been following since my childhood days)! The way Swami spoke about the FORMLESS, and the way He explained about the Path of
Wisdom were amazing. The moment I started reading Swami's book, I realised the similarity, the oneness with Brahma Samaj. The only thing I could do was to mentally do padanamaskar to Swami.

All of us reached home safely. My family members then witnessed the FIRST miracle of Baba. My wife became completely healthy. This miracle happened without having any interviews nor any letters passed on to Swami. No one in my family got padanamaskar. It was just the darshan of our Lord that brought back happiness to the family!

The second leela that happened was my getting attracted to His teachings. Swami's way of expression, His storytelling, His innovative approach and inner messages made me feel that He was second-to-none.

I started attending bhajans everywhere. There were days when we dared a heavy downpour and went with my kids to bhajans. Mr. Sastria, member of Guntur Sathya Sai Seva Samithi, used to wake me up early in the morning and take me to nagarsankeertan in the streets of Guntur. My singing capabilities didn't match even a below average singer. In spite of
that, Mr. Sastri used to force me to sing during nagarsankeertan. Even after 40 long years, I still remember those songs learnt from him.

There used to be three great devotees of Bhagavan in Guntur. For 30 long years, no function took place without them in the Poornachandra. They were all very dear to Swami. They were Sri Karunasri Jandyala Papayya Sastri, Sri Brahmasri Madhavarama Sharma, and Dr. Amarendra.

Karunasri and Madhavarama Sharma were my teachers. Later on, I had the great fortune to work with them as colleagues for 10 years. Dr. Amarendra, our family friend, was also a staunch follower of Brahma Samaj. These three great men were active in the Sai movement, striving every second of their lives for the betterment and development of the Sai organisation

In my childhood days, I never won any gold medals or trophies. Even though I was very much active in my teaching, I had never published any research papers. But all through my academic career, starting from Majeti Guruvayya High School to Andhra Christian College, and later on to Andhra University, I stood first in Telugu and English elocution competitions. As a professor, I used to attend all the functions and address the gatherings. In the meanwhile, these three men discovered my skills and motivated me by introducing me to the Sai Organisation. Thus I was fortunate to share the dais with them. I toured extensively with the three of them and so started my journey to Sai.

I used to come to Parthi for every festival. As if due to some kind of BAD LUCK brought forward from my previous births, Swami didn't speak to me for seven long years. Padanamaskar was my dream, but it was never realised during those seven years. I was always in the 20th or 30th row. In spite of this, I never stopped coming to Puttaparthi. The only trouble I had was when I returned from Puttaparthi. Then my centre members used to ask me if I got padanamaskar or if Swami had said something to me. It was like catching hold of a failed student and asking him if he got first or second rank. Not knowing what to answer, for some time I had to hide myself from the devotees.

Meanwhile, devotees from neighbouring districts started inviting me to address Sai gatherings. Probably some merits from one of my past lives were now giving me the chance to share the dais with great men and learned scholars like Sri Diwakarla Venkatavadhani, Sri Biruduraju Rama Raju, Sri Veerabhadra Rao, Sri Raghunathacharya, Sri Sivarama Byragi, Sri Balaraju, Sri
Mana Pragada Seshasai, and others. Today, it is hard to find such talented people like them. It was only through Swami's grace that I had a chance to meet them in person.

There was no village or town I hadn't visited. Just one invitation and I was there to address the gathering! It was only Swami's sankalpa that made me visit all the villages. There were times when I had to walk on bushy, thorny roads to reach some remote villages. The conditions in those days—the transport system, the communication system and the infrastructure— were nowhere close to those available at the present time. When I look back to those days, I am very sure and convinced that it was Swami who made all this possible.

By then, things were looking very different for me. Through His grace, my life was taking a complete U-turn . . . of course towards the right path. After looking at my progress and after Swami had appointed me as the Principal of Brindavan Campus, my mother, Smt. Sarojini Devi, wrote an article in DHARMA JYOTHI magazine, saying thus: “When my father wanted my son, Anil Kumar, to become a Brahmo missionary, I said, ‘Dad, I would rather want my son be a normal householder, concentrating on his family life.’ But who can know God's will? The one who was supposed to become a Brahmo missionary has now become a Sai missionary!”

Once I got an invitation from devotees of Hindupur (only two hours from Puttaparthi). At that time, Sri (late) Muddanna was the president of their Sri Sathya Sai Samithi. They were having RAMAYANA SAPTHAHAM (a week-long programme to expound and enjoy the story of Lord Rama). I was asked to address the gathering on one particular day.

When I received their invitation card, I was surprised and a bit stunned to see that all the great scholars of that period were scheduled to address the same gathering. With no options left, I called up Sri Muddanna and politely asked him to excuse me, as I was not confident enough to speak in the presence of such learned scholars. But they rejected my plea outright, citing that my name had already been printed on the invitation cards. Not knowing what to do, I took out Swami's Rama Katha Rasa Vahini and read some discourses given during Ramanavami (Rama’s Birthday festival), and started preparing notes before I left for Hindupur.

The programme in Hindupur was a grand success! I was very much satisfied with my talk and felt that I had lived up to the expectations of the programme. As Puttaparthi was close by, I decided to have Swami's darshan before leaving for my native place, Guntur.

When my bus was halfway there, Swami's RED car came from the opposite direction. The bus driver said, “Sir, Baba is on His way to Anantapur. It would be better if you get down here, take a bus to Anantapur, and have His darshan there.”

As advised by the driver, I took another bus and got down in front of Swami's Anantapur Campus gate. As you know, Swami's girls’ college is in Anantapur. As soon as the watchman saw me, he stopped me and said that nobody was allowed to go in. In particular, men were strictly not allowed inside the campus.

The college where I was working was a co-education college. There were at least 1000 girls in my college. But Swami's Anantapur College is a different campus. It is so strict that even a male mosquito cannot dare to enter the Ananthapur campus! I once said the same thing in Swami's presence to which He said, “It is only because of such discipline that our college has a good name everywhere. There is not even one bad remark made outside. It is not an easy thing to run a girls'
campus.”

Holding my bag, I was waiting outside the gate to get a glimpse of Swami. It was afternoon by then. Suddenly, in the distance, I perceived some activity. As I was standing far away, I could vaguely see Swami coming down the stairs. Suddenly I heard a voice saying, "Anil Kumar, come here." I thought probably the watchman's name was also Anil Kumar, and so I did not make a move. I heard the voice again saying, “Hey, Guntur Professor Anil Kumar, I am calling you only. Come here." I couldn't believe my eyes to see Swami calling me. I thought, "Didn't Swami see me for seven long years? Has he come to know of my existence and my name only now?"

Wasting no time, I rushed to Swami and stood before Him. Introducing me to everyone assembled there that day, Swami said, “He is Guntur College Professor Anil Kumar. Last night he addressed a gathering in Hindupur and he did a very good job. Everyone liked his talk."

Swami then started naming all the scholars who were invited for the week-long programme. I said to myself, ‘Swami knowing about my talk is fine. But how can He know all the names of the speakers?’ This was mind-blowing to me.

Looking at me, Swami asked, “How is your wife?" With this query, I broke down before Swami and said, “My Lord, that is why I have come to You. Please bless her, Swami!” Immediately Swami materialised vibhuthi and said, "Come for Dasara festival.”

Initially, I didn't want to come to Puttaparthi during Dasara celebrations, as it was very difficult to get accommodations and there were minimum transport facilities to get there. But what can stop us when Swami Himself has invited us? Obeying the Divine command, we reached Puttaparthi for Dasara festival.

Later, I came to know the dignitaries with Swami on that day were Sri Craxi, Sri Bhagawantham, Sri Gokak, Sri Chall Subbarayudu, Sri Goldstein and others.