The
Jasmine Bud
It came to
pass that the material sheath which the Lord
once again willed to wear was formed. Mysterious
intimations of the impending great incarnation
disturbed the even tenor of Pedda Venkapa's
life! For example, there was the unusual twang
of the stringed tambura
in the night. Because the brothers
and the father were all extremely interested in
the village operas on the legendary histories of
India, and since plays were very often rehearsed
at home, there was a large
tambura
hanging
on a nail on the wall and a
maddala,
or drum, on the floor beneath. These two
were silent only when the family retired for the
night. But as the birth of a son for whom Sri
Easwaramma prayed announced itself as imminent,
the household was awakened at midnight and
sometimes early in the morning by the
tambura
twanging
melodiously and rhythmically and the
maddala
softly beating, as though they were in expert
hands! Various theories were advanced by the
wise men of the village to explain this
phenomenon, but they only added to the
mystery.
Seeking an
answer, Pedda Venkapa hurried to Bukkapatnam
where there was a Sastri,
an authority on signs of this nature and on
whose interpretation he could place faith. He
was told that it was an auspicious occurrence;
the unbidden music meant the presence of a
beneficent power, conferring harmony, melody,
order, symmetry, spiritual elevation, and
joy.
On the
twenty-third day of November, in the year 1926,
the son was born. The villagers were chanting
the names of Siva,
the cosmic rhythm personified, in remembrance
that the day was a Monday of the Holy Month of
Karthika devoted to the worship of
Siva.
That day was even more auspicious because the
ascendant star was Ardra,
and on such rare occasions when the month, the
day, and the star coincide, special worship is
performed in the temples of the Lord. The year
was Akshaya,
the "Never declining, the Ever-full!"
While the
mother was going through the final rituals of
her Satyanarayana
adoration in accordance with her vows, the birth
pangs forewarned her. When she revealed this,
messengers were sent to inform the
mother-in-law, Lakshamma, the pious old lady of
the house. However, she had gone to the house of
the priest to perform her own
Satyanarayana
Prayers. The messengers went there and urged her
to return. She was so confident of the Grace of
Satyanarayana,
so steadfast in her devotion, so disciplined in
her religious adherence, that she refused to be
hurried! She sent word that she would bring with
her to her daughter-in-law, Easwaramma, the
sacred offerings after the worship, and that on
no account would she interrupt her prayers. She
finished the entire ritual with full
concentration, came home, gave Easwaramma the
flowers which had previously been placed on the
idol and the sacred waters with which it was
washed. Easwaramma partook of the blessings of
the Lord, wore the flowers in her hair, and
sipped the water. In the next moment the Lord
was born. And the sun rose above the
horizon!
Sai Baba has
said that one special point to be noted about
this manifestation is that the incarnation has
not been transplanted away from the place where
the body was born, for He had chosen that very
place as the center of His alleviatory Mission.
Puttaparthi was doubly blessed that November
morn, for the Lord had chosen that happy village
not only for His Birth but also for His
Habitation.
Indeed the
village, which bears the name "Ant Hill
Prosperity", gave the child an appropriate
welcome. A snake was found in the lying-in room!
The women did not notice it for some time, but
suddenly they saw that the baby, lying on a bed
of clothes, was being moved gently up and down
in a peculiar way be something underneath the
bed. They watched with baited breath for a few
moments, and when at last they searched, they
found a cobra under the bed!
The baby was
charming beyond description. Little wonder, for
even in the cradle He had all the
Yogic
spiritual
powers which Sage Patanjali, author of Sanskrit
Yogic
Scriptures, says come with rare souls and
accompany the birth of an Avatara, a Divine
Incarnation. Sai Baba has declared that He knew
even prior to His Birth where He would be born.
He has also said that He was born with all the
miraculous powers which He is manifesting one by
one out of His Divine Will, as and when He feels
each can be so announced. As a baby, He must
have had a halo of splendor around His head, a
smile which reflected an other-world beauty, and
a heavenly power to captivate the
heart.
Some years ago
Sai Baba told the author, "I do not sleep at
night; I remember then the events of my past
appearances, and I laugh within myself as
memories pass across." It can therefore be
surmised that the little lilies of laughter and
red rosebuds of joy which lit up the cradle of
the baby bloomed from the reminiscence of
previous arrivals and adventures!
The baby was
named Satyanarayana
since the relationship between the worship of
God in that Form and the realization of the
mother's cherished desire for a son seemed very
important to her. When the rite was performed
and the name was whispered in the bud-like ear,
it seems the baby smiled, for was it not He
Himself who must have unobtrusively suggested
that name be given? How else can we explain the
fact that the first requisite for spiritual
advancement, now propounded by Sathya Sai Baba,
is Satya
or Truth and Narayana
or "God in man?" The embodiment and exponent of
Truth could not have given Himself a more
appropriate name.
The child
became the pet of the entire village of
Puttaparthi, and the farmers and cowherds vied
with each other in fondling and feeding the
infant and playing with his lovely silken curls.
His charming smile attracted everyone. Pedda
Venkapa's house was always filled with visitors
who came on any pretext and lingered around the
cradle singing lullabies, showering caresses,
and forgetting their humdrum lives.
Soon the
fragrance of "the Jasmine Bud" filled the air.
As a lighted lamp, Sathya moved about the house,
and laughter tinkled in the street when he
lisped his vocabulary of sweet sounds. It was
noticed by all with wonder that he delighted in
having broad Vibhuti
(Sacred Ash) markings worn by men on his
forehead, and that he insisted on the marks
being renewed as soon as they wore off. He also
desired to have a circular
Kumkum
dot, the red saffron dot worn by women in the
center of his forehead. The mother seldom
satisfied this desire; so he had to seek out his
sister's box of Kumkum
and dab it on himself. He was
Siva,
he was Sakti,
"God and the Power of God." He must have both
the Sacred Ash and the saffron dot of the
Consort.
He kept away
from places where pigs, sheep, cattle, or fowl
were killed or tortured, or where fish were
trapped or caught. He avoided kitchens and
vessels used for cooking flesh or fowl. When a
bird was selected to be prepared for dinner,
little Sathya would run to find the bird, clasp
it to his bosom and fondle it, as if the extra
love he poured on it would induce the elders to
relent and spare the fowl. He was called by the
neighbors Brahmajnani,
a "Realized Soul," because of this type aversion
to killing and this measure of love toward
creation. At such times Sathya would run to the
home of the village accountant nearby, for they
were Brahmins and vegetarians; he would take the
food offered by Subbamma, the aged lady residing
there.
He rarely
retaliated when he was handled roughly by
playmates. Information of such ill-treatment
came to the parents through other toddlers who
witnessed the affair, never from Sathya, who
seemed not in the least to suffer pain or
discomfiture. He spoke the truth always and
never resorted to the usual subterfuges by which
ordinary children try to cover up their
mistakes. So distinct was his behavior that a
youngster once nick-named him "the Brahmin
child!" It was a fitting description. Little did
this youngster know that, while in the previous
body, this child, at whom he now laughed, had
declared at Shirdi, "This Brahmin can bring
devoted men onto the White Path and take them to
their destination!"
At the tender
years of three and four, "this Brahmin" showed
that he had a heart that melted at human
suffering. Whenever a beggar appeared at the
door and raised his cry, Sathya left his play
and rushed inside to force his sisters to hand
out grain or food. The adults were naturally
irritated by the endless procession of
outstretched hands. They easily lost their
tempers and sometimes turned the beggar away
before Sathya could bring relief. This made the
child weep so long and loudly that only by
bringing the dismissed beggar back could the
elders stop the wailing. On occasion in order to
put an end to what the elders thought was
expensive and misplaced charity, the mother
caught hold of Sathya, and with a finger raised
in warning said, "Look here! You may give him
food, but mind you, you will have to starve."
That did not daunt the child. He would run
inside and bring out food to the hungry man at
the door and later stay away from lunch or
dinner himself. Nothing and no one could
persuade him to come for his food which was left
untouched!
Sathya had a
mysterious visitor who was feeding him. Whenever
he refused food and persisted in the refusal for
some days, he showed no sign of starvation in
his appearance and activities. He would tell his
mother that he had eaten and would say that an
Old Man had fed him sumptuously, giving him
milk-rice. The full stomach was proof of that.
Besides the child volunteered to give another
indisputable piece of evidence. He would hold
out his right hand for his mother to smell, and
lo, she inhaled from that tiny palm the
fragrance of clarified butter, milk and curds of
a type she had never before enjoyed! The wonder
remained, however. Who was this unseen visitor,
this strange nourisher of this little
child?
When Sathya
began running about in the streets, he sought
out the maimed, the blind, the decrepit, and the
diseased, and led them by the hand to the
doorstep of his parents. The sisters had to
secure from the store or the kitchen some grain
or food and put it into the beggar's bowl while
the little master looked on happily.
Satyanarayana
was held up so often before the children as the
ideal child by every mother and father that the
children of the village started referring to him
as Guru,
meaning Teacher or Master. The parents and
others came to know of this under strange
circumstances. It was late in the night of
Ramanavami,
the Holy Day of Devotion to
Rama,
when a procession wended its way round the
village. A huge picture of Sri Rama was placed
on a flower-bedecked bullock cart upon which the
priest sat in order that the flower garlands
offered by the householders could be placed on
the picture and the camphor they presented be
duly burned and waved in front of the picture.
The pipers and drummers awakened the sleeping
villagers, and thus the cart proceeded along the
uneven roads.
Suddenly the
two sisters discovered that little Sathya was
not at home. A search was ordered. Everyone in
the house ran about frantically, for it was
already past midnight. All at once their
attention was diverted by the arrival outside
the door of the bullock cart carrying the large
picture of Sri
Rama.
When they went to the doorstep, they were
surprised to see the five year old Sathya
sitting nicely dressed, and with evident
authority, underneath the picture! They asked
his companions why he was seated on top and not
walking with them on the road. Promptly came the
answer, "He is our Guru!"
Indeed He is
the Guru
of children of all climes, of all ages!
There is a
small primary school in Puttaparthi which Sathya
attended with his contemporaries for something
nobler than learning to spell and write. The
school at that time had a very harsh scheme of
punishment to ensure punctuality. The lucky
child who came in first and saluted the teacher,
as well as the student who arrived next and also
saluted, were exempt from punishment. Every
other boy, for whatever reason, legitimate or
not, who arrived late, was given a taste of the
cane. The number of cuts across the hand
depended on his place in the list of
late-comers. In order to escape from this
torture, the children gathered under the eaves
of the schoolhouse long before sunrise in rain
or in fog. Sathya saw the plight of, and
sympathized with, his shivering playmates. He
visited them under the eaves. Bringing shirts
and towels from his home, he covered the boys
and made them warm and comfortable. The elders
at home discovered this and locked up all the
clothes they could not afford to lose!
Satyanarayana
was a precocious child, learning by himself more
than anyone else could teach him and much
quicker than most other children. He could sing
all the songs rehearsed at home for the village
operas and mystery plays. He even composed at
the tender age of seven some touching songs
which were gladly accepted by the cast for
public presentation.
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