kodaikanal - 13 may 2014 - swami's welcoming speech

8/12/2019 Kodaikanal - 13 May 2014 - Swami's Welcoming Speech

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Kodaikanal Diary13th May, 2014

Welcoming Speech ByBhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba



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From 12-21st May, 2014, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba visited

Kodaikanal, a famous hill-station in the state of Tamil Nadu, India in His

Light Body. Over 100 students and guests accompanied Him. Every day,

Bhagawan spoke on various topics. Below is the transcript of the Welcoming

Discourse given by Swami on the first day of the Divine Session.

By now I’m sure most of us understand the phenomenon of

Bhagawan as He very nicely put it: Bhagawan as Sri Sathya Sai Baba,

who lived in a body for so many years is what we knew of. Still, He

decided to reveal the other side of Him, which is what He is doing for

much, much younger people like us here.We are very grateful to C. Sreenivas who has taken pains to come

all the way from Raipur amidst all the hectic work that he is doing.

Swami is absolutely thrilled and overjoyed to receive him here at this

very place. Some part of the history which he has left out (in his earlier

talk), Swami would like to convey.

In the year 1993, Swami was offered this property and Swami

chose Sreenivas to talk to the relevant people to undertake this task.

It took some time to understand how it could be handed over to

Bhagawan by the industrial group that Sreenivas was mentioning, but

eventually things went smoothly such that Bhagawan visited this

property personally. There were no good roads as there are today, but

He took all the pains to come from Bangalore to Chennai to

Kodaikanal. He saw this property and He perceived that there were

certain negativities at this place. Not because of the great lady who

lived here, but because of the “Suicide Point” which he (Sreenivas)

did not want to mention. Swami did a cleansing of the whole place by

walking around the campus and cleaning it of all the negative energy.

Thereafter, it was taken into Swami’s fold. Swami visited this place

many times, with students, even with Sreenivas, Narasimhamurthy,

and many other devotees who accompanied Him there.



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But there was a time for which Swami was waiting. What

Sreenivas has told just now, that is a half-truth. The full truth is that

it was just the first chapter of the story of God and man. A little girl,

to whom Jesus appeared, and defined the purpose of her life, was just

an introduction to this book of Kodaikanal.

(Just prior to Bhagawan’s talk, C. Sreenivas had spoken about Ms. Ida

Scudder. The house in which Bhagawan was conducting the Summer Session

in Kodaikanal used to belong to the Scudder family from America. When Ida

was a small girl, Jesus Christ appeared before her at the very same house and

instructed her to serve society through medical care. In due course, she

founded the Christian Medical College, Vellore, one of the largest hospitals

in India.)

The chapters to follow are going to be much more glorious,

because here, Bhagawan has decided to start a new revolution with

students, young students, like all of you, and it is not something that

is impossible for Swami.

Rama fought the war with little monkeys that had nothing in

their hands but stones and sticks. How could one ever hold such awar against Ravana, who was so very mighty? It happened due to

two things.

One, it was the Will of Lord Rama. But Will alone is not enough.

People should come together to make that Will happen. A lot of great

sages and saints have built many things. Even you chant, “Samastha

Lokaah Sukhino Bhavantu,” everyday, maybe three times a day. But

why does the entire world not become happy, immediately? Because,

by mere chanting every day, nothing happens. We must undertake

that effort to make it happen.

For children, if you sit and imagine ice cream, you can keep

imagining, but the ice cream will never go into your stomach. You

have to put in the effort of procuring it, opening the package, and

eating and digesting it. To Sreenivas, Bhagawan said only one thing,“Your life is meant to serve society.”



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“You should be with Me, and I will guide you. You must be ready to

undertake any amount of pain or effort if it can help others.” He was

then a very young boy. Some of you might be of his age. He did not

know anything of what Swami was speaking, but Bhagawan had

assured him, “There will be a day when you will do great things inthe service of society.” And that day has come to pass, and many more

such days will come.

First and foremost, his mother started the General Hospital in

Whitefield (Bangalore). She was a very learned lady and very

devoted. Before that, she was in Africa, because she was a doctor

herself, a gynaecologist. After this, she came in the fold of Swami, andSwami decided that she should serve society by opening a small

hospital. Even though she is no more physically here, her spirit lives

on the heart of Sreenivas, and he continues to propagate this

healthcare mission, this service to society of in various parts of the

country, tirelessly.

She was a lady who was a karma yogini, that is, a lady who was

dedicated to her work and who performed it as yoga, as union withthe Divine. In fact, she breathed her last in her own chair after having

opened the hospital that morning. She did not have people to assist

her. She did not have ward boys, nurses, etc. but she would single-

handedly pick up the broom, clean the entire the hospital, then come

to the office and start attending to the patients. Her day would begin

at 5 o’clock in the morning and end at 11pm. In between all this, she

would manage to pay attention to her family, as well as take time outto have Swami’s guidance and darshan. She only lived to serve, and

there was no other purpose.

The hospital about which Sreenivas mentioned (CMC Vellore)

might be the world’s biggest hospital, or Christian Hospital, but it is

one hospital in one place. But what Bhagawan started through

Sreenivas’ mother is going to multiply into many, many hospitals inmany, many places in India and abroad.



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Put together, all these hospitals, one day, will be the largest chain

of hospitals in the world, ever to offer all the medical facilities,

absolutely free of cost.

As Swami said a while ago, it is His sankalpa that this should

happen, but it is the effort of people like Sreenivas, who have given

up everything. Two years ago when Bhagawan communicated to him

that He would have to start the hospital in Raipur, Sreenivas gave up

all his work in Bangalore and shifted and stayed in Raipur for two

years. He didn’t move anywhere to see to it that Bhagawan’s will

happened, as Bhagawan had decided. One must undertake the effort.

God’s Grace plus human effort is equal to success. Only God’s Gracealone will not achieve anything. Only human effort cannot achieve

much.

Sreenivas also has a daughter who has not come here as she is

writing exams, as per Bhagawan’s wish. She is also aspiring to

become a doctor and dedicate herself to service of the society. As I

mentioned earlier, it is his mother’s spirit that still lives on in him, and

it is his spirit that will live on in his own daughter. Glory will cometheir way as a family, like how I mentioned about the other family

from the UK, whose mission was healthcare. Even Sreenivas’ family

is no less than that kind of family.

You are all little boys. Maybe when you grow to become of his

age, you will see all these right in front of your eyes. And you will not

only see, you will also do. Bhagawan blesses so!

This Kodaikanal bungalow, again going back to the same story,

it didn’t end there. After some time, Swami decided not to have this

bungalow in His name. There are reasons for everything Swami said

and did. Nobody understood, including Sreenivas. But eventually,

Swami made it in such a way that today, this bungalow has become a

temple, not because Jesus Christ visited, or Swami has visited here.

But because it is you all who are here. Where there are devotees, thereis the Lord. And where there is the Lord, there the temple is.



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We should not call this a bungalow anymore. A bungalow is a

building made of stones and bricks and mortar. This is made with the

love and bond between Bhagawan and His devotees. Swami assured

Sreenivas that this place would continue to create many more

Sreenivases over a period of time.

There are a lot of devotees who have gathered here today, and

Swami is extremely happy to have all of you here at this moment.

Swami says you have not simply come here on your own wish or will.

It is Bhagawan’s decision to have pulled you here together at this

place and time.

This is a very, very sacred, very unique time in the history ofmankind, where One Spirit is moving on into the other. Soon,

Bhagawan’s Mission will grow, expand and reach all the corners of

the world, and the New Avatar, Bhagawan will come back physically,

for those who crave for it, as the new Avatar, as another Sai Avatar,

very shortly. And as long as you have this faith that Bhagawan is with

you, you shall all participate in the Mission which will continue from

this Avatar to the next. For those who do not understand what this isall about, Swami wants to give a small example.

You have a radio with you. There are songs in the air. Can you

hear the songs without the radio? The songs are always there. There

are many radio stations. There is All India Radio. It could be London

Radio. It could be American Radio. All these news and songs are in

this air right now, but it needs an instrument called a radio to capture

the signal and convert it into sounds.

Without the radio, it’s not possible to do it. The other thing that

is required is, if you tune the radio, it must tune to the right station.

Then only will you able to hear the right song. If the tuning is not

strong, it will lead to lot of noise and no voice. Mind is the radio.

Swami is the sound. If you want to capture Swami, not only audio,

but also video, then your connection should be very, very strong.Your mind should not only be calm, but it should also be pure.



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Without a pure and a calm mind, it’s very difficult to understand

the phenomenon of Spirit.

In a clear lake, you can see the reflection of the sky, and you also

can see the bottom of the lake. But this requires two conditions: One,

the water should be pure, because in muddy water, you will not see

any reflection, not even of your own. Also, if the water is not still, if it

is moving, like in a river, it is very difficult to see the reflection of the

sky. Swami will reflect in the heart that remains clear and also pure.

The best age to develop this is at this age, when you are just about to

cross from childhood to adulthood. This is a great stage when you

understand the greater things of life. All the children like Nachiketas,Dhruva, Markandeya were able to grasp this phenomenon at a tender

age itself. Once you grow beyond this, the mind will ask too many

questions and it will be far more difficult to understand.

That is the major problem of the disease that most of the highly

educated people suffer from today. They have too much of mind and

too less of heart. Swami thinks that these children who are here, they

are far more equipped to understand this and imbibe it in their heart.

They are the people, as Swami wishes, that can do much more for

society than even the names mentioned earlier.

Dr. Ram Shetty is here. He is one of the very senior devotees of

Bhagawan who has come for Bhagawan. He is going to speak to us

tomorrow about Bhagawan’s relationship with him. When Bhagawan

mentioned to Dr. Ram Shetty that, “I need a little help from you tocontinue my hospital.” Do you know what he said? He said, “Swami,

you tell me, shall I sell my house and give it to You?” It was Swami

who had to say, “No, no, no! If you sell your house, where are you

going to stay?” And he said, “Give me two rooms at Muddenahalli. I

will eat rasam and annam and I will stay with you.”

There are people here from Singapore. There are people who

also were supposed to come from Canada. For some reasons theycouldn’t and they really feel sorry now.



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There are people from Singapore and all of them are very, very

good friends. What kind of friends? Not “Hi, hello” friends. They are

friends who want to get together and serve. Generally in cities like

Singapore, people will get together on the weekends to do what, do

you know? We should not even mention such things in this sacredplace! (Laughter) But these are the people who get together to do

bhajans, satsang, and understand and decide how they can continue

Swami’s Mission. Why I have brought them all together today is

because you all should take them as examples, as role-models, and

learn from them, and try to become like them in future.

I should not forget to mention the effort and the sacrifices of theteachers and elders of these institutions. Narasimhamurthy came to

me as a young boy of nineteen. He was full of fears and

apprehensions. He did not know what he was going to do in his life.

Swami called him and told him, “Your life is in My hands.” Till today,

his life is in Swami’s hands. Even if he wants, he cannot get out of it!

(Laughter) Why? Because he offered himself to Me, and I have

accepted him. Once I accept, I don’t return. So be careful beforeoffering, but be sure before offering.

Tigrett is here, who was also a young boy who started with a lot

of enthusiasm to serve society. Business happened by and by. You all

may not know because all of you may not have been there when he

was running his businesses. He is here today because Swami called

him and told him one thing, “I want to build a Super Speciality

Hospital in Puttaparthy. What can you do for Me?” And Tigrett said,“Whatever you say, Swami.” And Swami said, “Sell your business,

and we will use the money to build the hospital.” And within a week

he returned back and did whatever was required to bring whatever

Swami needed to Puttaparthi.

These are not ordinary people. These are saints and sages who

have reincarnated in various forms. This is one secret Swami tells ustoday.



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When Rama came, Lakshmana was decided, Dasharatha was

decided, Seetha was decided, even Ravana was decided. That is, the

sutra-dhaari, the Director that Rama was, He became the paatra-dhaari,

He became the actor, also. And then He played this role of Ramayana.

Even here, when Swami decided to take this Form of Sri Sathya

Sai Baba and come on the Earth, He brought all these people together

with Him. They might think, “I was in America. I am in London. I am

in Japan. I am in Singapore. I am in Raipur.” But all these are your

way of looking at it. Swami sees everybody as One, and He decided

to bring all these people during His Avatarhood to continue the work

He has come for, and He assures you that this is not your last birth.Many, many births will happen, many, many times Bhagawan will

come, and He will continue to bring all of you together, because He

enjoys the company of all of you people here.

What is moksha? Moha-kshaya is moksha. Some people are already

thinking whether I will get moksha or not. What is moksha?

Detachment is moksha. Birth and death is not moksha. Birth and death

will go on like a cycle, till the Lord decides.

What is greater than to be born? To serve the Lord. People are

born for various reasons. They crave for children so that they will

become richer, so that children can look after them during their old

age. How many people are born with the single purpose of serving

the Lord? Very, very few. Swami says, you can count them on your

fingers, those who are born only for the sake of God. It is very rare to

find people like this.

Today, Swami wants to introduce one boy to this crowd. This

boy wrote a letter to Narasimhamurthy. In the letter, he mentioned,

“Sir, I also want to build an institution like this in my own

hometown.” Do you know what was his age then? Twelve years! He

said to Narasimhamurthy that he wants to build a similar educational

institution in his own hometown. How many twelve year old childrencan think like this?



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Swami is very happy because today is his birthday. Come on.

Because it is his birthday, there is a gift for him from Swami.

(Bhagawan gifted the small boy a Birthday gift, to the congratulations of

everyone present.)

Because of his wish to have an educational institution, today we

all know that Narasimhamurthy has already gone and purchased the

land at Bijapur for the next campus. And Swami gives him, as his

birthday gift, that in the month of June in this coming year, the school

will start in Bijapur. (Applause)

Swami says He needs a reason to bestow His Grace. The reason

is your pure prayers to serve the society, and He will use you as anexcuse to bring about so much of benefit to the society. He is looking

for such pure-hearted, noble-hearted children, and He is looking

forward to many of us becoming like this. Swami knows that there

are many of us sitting here right now who are like this.

Is Kodaikanal comfortable for all you children? Is Gopi giving

good food to eat? You go and ask him what you want to eat. He will

prepare and give. One time heavy, one time light. If you eat veryheavy, you will not be able to digest, because it is very cold.

Tomorrow, everyone should go for a morning walk. For elders it is a

little difficult, because it is not very convenient. But Swami assures

you that next year it will be much more comfortable, much more

convenient than what it is today.

Sreenivas’ heart was breaking when Swami was giving awaythis bungalow. But don’t worry Sreenivas, this is all coming back to

Me only! (Laughter)

Swami also doesn’t want to forget mentioning about Sreenivas’

very good friend. He says if there has to be a friendship in the world,

it has to be like this. Mr. Kishore, who is a very good friend of

Sreenivas, is the one who supported the entire Raipur Hospital

project, single-handedly. He has spent more than Rs. 100 crores tobuild the hospital and he pledges to do more.



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It is he who has so lovingly offered this bungalow for Swami and

all of our youth today. He is not here, but he is trying his best to come,

because he is doing Swami’s work only. Once Swami asked, “Why is

Mr. Kishore so busy?” to which Sreenivas replied, “He feels that he

has to earn a little more so that he can fulfil his promise to Swami.”That is the only reason why he works so, so very hard. He lives in a

two-room apartment, drives a very ordinary car. If you look at him,

you won’t even know that he is the owner of such a big company. If

we get Rs. 100, we find one hundred ways to spend it. But he, if he

finds Rs. 100, he will put it together, to see to it that how it can go back

to Swami and serve Swami in His project. Not only Kishore, many

people here are like that.

Because of such people only, Bhagawan’s mission is continuing,

otherwise it would have stopped long, long ago.

Madiyal Narayan Bhat is another person that Swami wants to

talk about. He was also a little boy like you who decided that he

should not lead his life only for his selfish sake. He wanted to serve

society and bring up the country through youth who were idealistic.One such youth was Narasimhamurthy, who joined him then. There

is also Narayan Rao who was there, and many more followed after

that. Unfortunately, not many elders are here today because it is

difficult for them to undertake such a long journey. This is the only

way you can ever pay back your gratitude to Madiyal Narayan Bhat,

if you continue to do what he was always praying for: spread the

message of Swami through education to various parts of Karnataka;not only Karnataka, to various parts of the country; not only the

country, to various parts of the world, as long as you can. (Applause)

One lamp can light many, many lamps. The only requirement is,

the other lamp also should have oil. This oil is the oil of Love. As long

as your hearts are full of Love, their Love will pass on to you, as one

lamp lights the other, and you can light many more lamps. This is pragathi. This is progress. We all get together and grow together.



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I gave cameras to you all in the morning. What did you all do

with them? Did you click photos? Did you go and see the Kodaikanal

area, for sightseeing which you had gone for? Was it good?

Tomorrow no sightseeing. Tomorrow we sit here. Day after, again

you can go for boating, horse-riding and similar activities in andaround the lake. Giri, you don’t go and sit on a horse! (Laughter) The

horse’s back will break!

Vijay Sai was also a little boy who came to Swami. In fact, right

from his birth his family is associated with Swami, and he served

Swami in various capacities and continues to do so. Swami called him

and said, “I am starting a Centre for Excellence. Come here and teachEnglish to My children.” He immediately accepted and said,

“Whatever Swami says, I am willing to do.” So those boys, how many

are here from the Centre for Excellence? How many? Number?

Twenty boys. He will be your English teacher.

Swami also wants to convey this shubha-vaastha, that is, this good

news. With the efforts of all the elders who are here, the Centre for

Excellence has gotten its formal approval from the University ofMysore to start in June. (Applause) This is the thyaaga-giri-sansthan

which Narayan Rao spoke of.

Boys will sing songs for Swami and then we will have Arathi.

Then we all will go for dinner. Group songs.

kodaikanal - 13 may 2014 - swami's welcoming speech

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