S Ashok Sundaresan
1995 Prasanthi Nilayam

It was a bright sunny evening at the Mandir. Bhagawan glided gracefully for giving Darshan, as the music wafted blissfully in the air. Expectant eyes gleefully gorged His presence. After Darshan, Bhagawan went inside for granting interviews. We were sitting in the Mandir veranda, engaged in our studies or prayers or chatting in hushed tones looking into our books.

For quite some time, I had been coming across discourses by Bhagawan speaking about the glories of the Gayathri Mantra. And this was happening too many times. Sai family members do not believe in coincidence. Every coincidence is only a Divine incident. Swami was speaking about “Gayathrim Chandasaam Matha” – How the Mother Divine is encased in the 24 syllable mantra. How every divine facet that you glorify is scientifically compressed in every syllable of Gayathri. How Gayathri is the mobile shield that the one carries with him – it protects the one who chants from all outward adversities and more importantly, from all inner negative tendencies that usually create outer adversities. Swami was telling us in various discourses that the Gayathri is the loving mother who protects Her child (Ucha Theeriva Matharah). Chanting the Gayathri Mantra is the easiest form of internalizing His presence.

And that inspired me to regularly engage in chanting it in the precincts of the Holy Mandir – Our Prasanthi Nilayam is our Kashi and Kailash – the confluence of all holy spots.

That day, I found it very easy to concentrate. All thoughts had slipped into the background and I was all alone with Mother Sai as Mother Gayathri, with my tongue rolling on the Gayathri Mantra. Suddenly I felt the gentle press of somebody’s toe thumb on my ankle. Who I wondered, right inside Mandir, is lifting his leg and putting his toe on my ankle? I opened my eyes with a start. Bhagawan was standing before me with a mischievous smile, with his Feet firmly pressing my ankle. Swami had come out after interviews and was walking between students, and in my meditative state I was caught unaware! Vamana had kept His foot on Bali’s head and Sri Rama had kept His feet on the immobile Ahalya. I was no Bali or Ahalya. But He was verily Sri Rama and Sai Rama. He put His hand on my head, blessed me and walked away.

It was a moment of revelation for me. Bhagawan has His own ways of reinforcing each one’s deepest convictions. You feel strongly about something that connects you to Swami and Swami would give you an experience that reinforces that faith. He would give you a memorable experience that would turn that faith into rock-solid conviction, that conviction into a resolution, and the resolution into reality. That day, it was His way of telling me, “You do this regularly and you would feel My presence with you, wherever you are.” Experiences like these create conviction & faith within you that stays with you forever.

He creates within you the firm conviction that He responds to every sincere effort. And the entire life later becomes an adventure trying to trace His response in the myriad situations around us. Every effort becomes a way of eliciting that response. That’s how over a period of time, only We and Sai exist, and the whole world around us becomes an opportunity for manifesting our action to elicit His response, our effort and His reward, our Prayathna and His Anugraha.

Life after passing out from the institute is one big search to see Swami in the world around us. After all, it is the inner most desire of every Sai student to feel within those magical words from Him “Bangaru, Chaala Santhosham”.

Brother S Ashok Sundaresan studied B.Com (1990-93) and Masters in Financial Management (1993-95) from SSSIHL. He was the University Gold Medalist in both courses and received the medal from the Divine Hands. Subsequently he did his Chartered Accountancy. Currently, residing at Trichy, Tamilnadu, he runs an Engineering manufacturing unit and also runs a consulting firm. He was an active trainer for Balavikas Gurus and in Educare programs our Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Tamilnadu. He served as District President of SSSO, Trichy District from 2007 to 2012.