Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam. One of the wonderful things about Swami is that He not only makes Spirituality quite simple but also very relevant to daily life. Not many realise that to become spiritual, we do not have to mull over complicated texts and commentaries, wondering what they are all about. All that stuff is, as Swami often says, bookish knowledge. As Swami often reminds us, what really matters in life is PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE and not Bookish Knowledge. Indeed, it is by way of stressing this that decades ago, Swami used to narrate little stories or parables, now better known as CHINNA KATHAS [ShortStories].

One of the short stories, a famous one really, is entitled: DID YOU DO AS YOU SAID YOU WOULD? This is an oft-quoted story, and any number of dramas have been staged, based on it. Everyone applauds loudly when the story is narrated or enacted; and yet, in day-to-day life, how many people really bother about the message contained in that wonderful and all-important tale? People frequently make promises only to forget them, quite easily we might add. We are not talking here of big promises but small ones, that is to say promises related to seemingly small things. Somehow, people seem to forget that a promise is a promise, even though the thing promised might be a minor matter.

Here is a common experience of ours. Many devotees drop into the Studio during their pilgrimage to Prashanti Nilayam, and flood us with compliments that we really do not deserve. For our part, we try to find out from these people how we could improve our services. When this love feast is over and the visitors prepare to leave, they invariably ask us: “How can we be of help you?” or “What can we do for you?” Our standard answer is: “All we need is your good wishes. If you can, please tell people who do not  know about Radio Sai.” Most agree to do so and there the matter ends. However, some insist that they must do something more for us, and so, just to make them happy we say, “Maybe you can share with us your collection of vintage photos,” or something like that. The visitors promise that they would do it the moment they return; we then shake hands and say goodbye.

Time passes, and nothing is heard from the other side about the promise. We are not bothered because we made the request just in order to please the other party. One fine day, the person who made the promise returns to Prashanti Nilayam and runs into one of us in the Mandir. The person becomes profusely apologetic and says, “You know, I got so busy when I returned. There were so many things to do,” and so forth. We smile and reply, “We understand; things are so hectic out there.”

This sort of thing happens regularly. We are not complaining but our point is simply this: why thrust a promise when one is not sure about keeping it? It once used to be said that a gentleman’s word was his bond – not any longer it seems. We describe our experience mainly by way of drawing attention to the message Swami’s little tale has.

The funny thing is that many people forget even the promise they make to Swami. Many years ago when Swami was in Brindavan, He once sent some Vibhuti Prasaadam through a devotee travelling from Brindavan to Prashanti Nilayam. Swami told this devotee, “Listen, so and so in the Ashram is not well and has sent word praying for Prasaadam. Since you are going there, take these packets and make sure that you give these to the person concerned, the moment you reach there.” The devotee promised to do exactly as Bhagavan wanted him to do, and left for Prashanti Nilayam.

What happened when he reached here? He had many things to do and completely forgot to deliver the Prasaadam. When he returned to Brindavan, the first thing that Swami asked him was, “Did you deliver the Prasaadam?” The man got a shock and sheepishly confessed, “No Swami, I forgot. I am sorry!”

That is invariably the response of all such people who forget their promise – “I am sorry, I forgot!” Swami says that people forget when they attach low value to the words they speak. Swami points out that the life breath is God, and breath is important for speech. Thus, the spoken word is verily Divine and in fact the Bible declares that the Word is God. Considering that the faculty of speech is something not available to any other living species, we must learn to respect this faculty as a supremely valuable gift of God, and attach the greatest importance to it. If we do, we would not only be careful about what we say but also give respect to the promises we make. There is no such thing as a minor promise or a major promise. A word given is a word given, and it must be respected because it is Divine. By the way, since word is Divine, don’t you think we must avoid at all costs words spoken in anger and hatred, for example? Hope you agree with our views! May be you don’t but we do not mind. Whatever your views are, we would very much like to know what they are. Do take a minute off to write us, won’t you?

In conclusion, we would like to thank all those who are responding most warmly to this weekly feature of ours. we really appreciate the opportunity given to us to share a few moments with you during the weekend, and are grateful for the same.