He taught us so beautifully! He would teach, show us His teachings practically and wake us up from our slumber. It was EEE – Education, Exposure and Experience at the highest level there is or can be. He proved to us multiple times that He is the One and Only, All Powerful God. 

I have been a student of His from 1983. What I recollect from my student days is that in almost all His discourses would contain a poem either in Sanskrit or Telugu. This verse from Bhaja Govindam in His divine voice always stayed with:

Maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvam 
Harati nimeshhaatkaalah sarvam
Maayaamayamidamakhilam hitvaa
Brahmapadam tvam pravisha viditvaa||

The other very simple yet powerful preaching of Swami’s that really had a deep impact on me is “Service to Mankind is Service to God”.

Here is a beautiful anecdote from my student life where I had attempted to serve a man in need. Sometime in 1996, after a vacation at home, I was to go back to Parthi. It was a Saturday. I had a bus to catch that night at 7.00PM. I was falling short of white clothes and so I went to buy some with my father. We shopped for a pair and were rushing on the way back as it was already 5.00PM. As we came out of the shop, we encountered a poor man with a turban, surely from a suburb near Hyderabad, asking for help. His left leg was injured and blood was oozing out of it. He was surely in pain. I was sure some vehicle had run over the poor man’s leg. Immediately we pooled the money that we had and gave him a substantial amount that he could use to get his leg bandaged.  The man was overwhelmed with emotion and nearly fell at our feet! On the way back we earnestly prayed to Swami to take care of the man, since we couldn’t help him much. 

That night as planned, I left Hyderabad and reached Parthi early Sunday morning and prepared for Darshan. I was seated on the veranda that day. I remember I was somewhere in the middle of the student lines. I was not in a strategic spot where Swami could easily approach me or talk to me. I was far away from all paths Swami would normally take. I had no idea what was in store for me that day…

Post Darshan, before Bhajans, Swami was walking in the veranda talking to some VIPs and chatting with the college staff. I was unaware of His movements as He had walked into the Bhajan hall. However, I soon realized that He came very close to where I was seated. He suddenly chose to walk in-between the students towards where I was seated! Naturally, all the students moved aside immediately to make way for Swami to make a path that lay right in front of me! My focus was entirely on His Feet. I wanted to get His Padanamaskar without fail. He walked closer to me; I was waiting for a chance to fall at His Feet, but He stopped at an arm’s length. I was wondering why He had stopped. After a good 30 seconds, I slowly moved my eyes towards His body and finally His face. His deep eyes looked into mine. I had the same feeling that I always have had when He looked at me. A feeling of peace, also a feeling that I know Him for thousands of years. 

I knew He would talk to me. He then walked to me and asked, “Where are you from?” I responded, “Hyderabad, Swami”, kneeling up to Him. He then said, “Hyderabad… Hyderabad. Good boy… Good boy”. He touched my head, blessed me and pushed me down to sit. I took Pada Namaskar as planned. Later, on the way back to the hostel I was wondering why I had responded with “Hyderabad”. There were so many poetic ways to respond – “from you”, “created by you”, etc. I was thinking that I should have given him a better answer. Soon, everything came back to me. There was a sudden realization from within that Swami had heard our prayers from Hyderabad after we had helped that poor, injured man. Swami had planned to talk to me, no matter where I was. Sitting strategically or not. He wanted to come to me and acknowledge the good job done. Hence “Good Boy”. For everyone present around me, it would have been a passing comment, a small chat or something very small. For me it was a link to a deed I had done. It was everything. It was a service that I had done to a man and here was God appreciating it!

Pavan Kumar Sri Sathya Sai Primary School, 1983 – 1990, Prasanthi Nilayam, B.Sc. Bio Sciences, 1995 – 1998, Prasanthi Nilayam. He is currently Associate Director – HR & Global Learning and Development Head, Prodapt IT Solutions, Chennai.