AS Vishwanathan
2006 Prasanthi Nilayam

Poornamadah Poornamidam Poornaat Poornamudachyate
Poornasya Poornamaadaaya Poornamevaavasishyate

(That is Absolute, This is Absolute, Absolute arises out of Absolute
If Absolute is taken away from Absolute, Absolute remains)

Words are grossly inadequate to describe what I have learnt from Bhagawan. Having spent close to a decade and half at the Sri Sathya Sai Educational Institutions, I have come to the understanding that Bhagawan has innumerable lessons to teach us, provided we are ready to learn. We are fortunate to live with God who has donned the role of a Guru to help us all transcend to His plane of existence.

After I completed my post-graduation and looked back at the seven years that I had spent at Bhagawan’s lotus feet, it dawned on me that I had indeed travelled a great distance. The Divine Sculptor had worked hard to chisel away imperfections that He found in the rock that He had chosen. He had accomplished so much without me actually lending myself unto Him. What wonders would He achieve if I voluntarily gave myself to Him? The world was beckoning me with open hands. But my heart had already lodged itself at His lotus feet in Prasanthi Nilayam.

Bhagawan who would so lovingly interact with all His children and subtly drive home lessons for life had now chosen to change His pedagogy. He had taken to the path of teaching profound truths by means of His silence. Swami had assumed the role of a mother who had so lovingly brought up her child and was now standing back to keenly observe how it fared.

Each day brought along challenges that bogged me down. As time passed, I realized something very strange. Every challenge hurled at me would keep coming back to me no matter how I tried to avoid it. After a great deal of frustration, as I was rummaging through my cupboard, I came across an old pocket calendar with Swami’s photograph on it. The words below the photo hit me like the blow of a skilled blacksmith on a piece of red-hot iron. Here was my loving Lord teaching me a lesson; the lesson that would change my life. I was doing my best to follow the Master, but was faltering at the second step. Rather than face the devil I was trying to escape from it! I had to learn to face it and fight till the end. I knew that the devil was within me and not somewhere else. I developed the resolute faith that He alone could help me finish the game.

Knowing my weaknesses, He posed many challenges. I tried my best to transform every challenge into an opportunity so that my weakness became strength. I felt His presence with me when I faced the challenge with the firm conviction that He would also provide the solution. He is always looking for an opportunity to show Himself to us. Are we willing to give Him the opportunity that He seeks? With Him leading the charge, what chance does the devil stand?

I am deeply convinced that He is working through each and every bit of His creation. Every challenge is now accompanied by solutions from unexpected quarters. Someone whom I meet or something I read equips me unassumingly with implements that would assist me in fighting till the end. How about the final frontier? The answer is straightforward. The game is finished only when I have learnt my lesson from that experience. That would dismiss the challenge once and for all.

Once the lesson is learnt, I know, Bhagawan will start looking for my next weakness so that He can get back to work. He is a tough taskmaster. The paragon of perfection always strives to personify the perfection latent in each and every one of us. Our success depends on our allowing Him to work through us.

Brother AS Vishwanathan is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam. He was part of the Vedam group during his student days