A Division of the Sri Sathya Sai Students & Staff Welfare Society
Sri Sathya Sai Society for Senior Students
Prashanti Nilayam
Books
Poster
POSTER
FOR FREE DOWNLOAD
STUDENTS WITH SAI - EXPERIENCES
Introduction
“My Students are My only Property”, declared Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on the occasion of the inauguration of the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning on November 22, 1981. Since then, this unique relationship between Swami and His only property has been a matter of great interest to all. It is public knowledge that ever since the establishment of His Educational Institutions, Swami spent the maximum time with His Students. He continued to create opportunities for them to stay with Him, whether at Prasanthi Nilayam, Brindavan or Kodaikanal, and learn from Him to be good human beings and play a responsible role in the Sai Mission. While the outcome of this was the same – inner transformation, the process for each student is distinctly different. And it is this process which makes for very interesting reading, something which we call ‘Experiences with Swami’. It is a regular feature at the Sri Sathya Sai Hostels to write these experiences and share through them the lessons for life that have been learnt. Through these writings emerge facets of His personality, which have struck His students the most, and transformed their lives forever – His love, grace, grandeur, charisma, message and mission.
It was a repeated request from multiple quarters – devotees, alumni and even students, that there should be a single book where some of the finest experiences of Swami’s students are compiled. We thought that the best way to do this was by tapping into the treasure house of experiences that we have collated over the last three and half decades – the Sai Chandana and Sai Nandana series of magazines and books. We embarked on this journey of selecting some of the most insightful write-ups by His students who now hold different responsibilities in His institutions at Prasanthi Nilayam and Brindavan, and even those who are serving Him in the world at large. We finally short-listed 45 articles from the Sai Nandana series and from Fragrance, the book of experiences released by Swami on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Institute’s Management Programme.
These 45 students belong to four different eras. The first set of students are those who have been blessed to experience the golden moments of close Divine proximity of the 1970s at Brindavan and Prasanthi Nilayam, even before the University was established. The next set of students have seen the Divine Educational Mission unfold when Swami donned the role as the Divine Chancellor with the establishment of the University, the multiple campuses, the hostels and the research laboratories being set up in the 1980s. Then we have the set of students who were witness to the wonderful 1990s when Prasanthi Nilayam became an international township with the airport, the super specialty hospital and a lot of infrastructure in the Ashram including the transition from the sylvan sands of the old Darshan grounds to the grand Sai Kulwant Hall which once Swami had compared to the Indra Sabha – the court of the King of the Demi-Gods! The last batch of students are the millennium students who joined His University in the 2000s and had innumerable opportunities to offer their talent at His Divine Lotus Feet through programmes in the Sai Kulwant Hall which Bhagavan blessed on innumerable occasions. In all these articles, we find one thing in common – the same ‘Love Story’ between Students and Sai that continued year after year, batch after batch, decade after decade – the silent story of inner transformation of students through His Darshan, Sparshan, Sambhashan, Anugraham and Aashirwadam.
LIST OF ARTICLES
| 01 |
WHAT BHAGAVAN HAS TAUGHT ME… |
1 |
| 02 |
TEARS OF GRATITUDE AND FLOWERS OF LOVE |
5 |
| 03 |
THE EMBODIMENT OF ALL FORMS OF DIVINITY |
8 |
| 04 |
THE GOOD OLD DAYS |
12 |
| 05 |
MEMORABLE MOMENTS AT KODAIKANAL |
16 |
| 06 |
OUR WONDERFUL LORD |
19 |
| 07 |
MY CONSTANT COMPANION |
23 |
| 08 |
WHEN LORD GANESHA ACCOMPANIED ME FROM HOSTEL TO COLLEGE... |
28 |
| 09 |
DIVINE OPPORTUNITIES |
30 |
| 10 |
THE ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP |
36 |
| 11 |
THE MISSING CALCULATOR |
40 |
| 12 |
PRASANTHI NILAYAM: THE OASIS OF LOVE |
42 |
| 13 |
LET US BECOME HIS BIG INSTRUMENTS |
47 |
| 14 |
“I SEE… I HEAR… I KNOW… EVERYTHING…” |
53 |
| 15 |
I HAVE A DREAM… |
56 |
| 16 |
HUMAN LIFE AND THE SAI AVATAR |
61 |
| 17 |
“ALL YOUR PAIN IS MY PAIN AND YOUR JOY IS MY JOY…” |
66 |
| 18 |
SOJOURNS WITH THE SANATANA SARATHI |
70 |
| 19 |
“BREAKFAST MEIN KYA KHAYA?” |
74 |
| 20 |
LOVE IS MY FORM, TRUTH IS MY BREATH, |
76 |
| 21 |
“… SWAMI IS ALWAYS PERMANENT” |
81 |
| 22 |
THE GREATEST MIRACLE |
84 |
| 23 |
THE MULTI-FACETED DIVINE DIAMOND |
89 |
| 24 |
THE ETERNAL SPRING OF JOY |
94 |
| 25 |
“TODAY IS YOUR BIRTHDAY, ISN’T IT?” |
99 |
| 26 |
“I CAN TURN THE EARTH INTO SKY AND |
102 |
| 27 |
GOD’S LOVE IS SO WONDERFUL |
105 |
| 28 |
THE SPRING GARDEN |
110 |
| 29 |
LIVING WITH GOD IS TRUE EDUCATION |
113 |
| 30 |
WHEN HE CORRECTED MY SANSKRIT VERSES… |
119 |
| 31 |
WHEN I WAS CAUGHT IN A QUICKSAND... |
121 |
| 32 |
DIVINE HUMOUR |
126 |
| 33 |
LESSONS FROM THE BOND OF LOVE |
129 |
| 34 |
THE DRAMA DIVINE |
132 |
| 35 |
WHEN THE TRUCK TYRE WENT OVER THE DIVINE HANDS... |
136 |
| 36 |
TO KODAIKANAL… WITH THE LORD… |
139 |
| 37 |
THE SHEET ANCHOR |
144 |
| 38 |
“SWAMI’S WORD IS HIS WILL” |
147 |
| 39 |
LOVE SEEKS NO REWARD, LOVE ITSELF IS ITS REWARD |
153 |
| 40 |
ANTHARANGA SAI… |
157 |
| 41 |
"WHY DO YOU WORRY WHEN I AM THERE?" |
162 |
| 42 |
“HE IS MY SON, I WILL TAKE CARE OF HIM…” |
165 |
| 43 |
EDUCATION FOR LIFE, NOT FOR LIVING ALONE |
169 |
| 44 |
“SWAMI I WANT YOU…” |
172 |
| 45 |
A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE OF SRI SATHYA SAI SYSTEM OF INTEGRAL EDUCATION |
176 |