Introduction

Students with Sai: Conversations is an exclusive compilation of the interactions that the students and staff members of Swami’s Educational Institutions were blessed to have with Him on various occasions at the Prashanti Nilayam Mandir, Institute and Hostel. The current Book is for the period 1991 to 2000 and is unique in many ways. It is not in the typical question-answer format. It is a dialogue wherein – the Lord has asked and His students have responded; the students have prayed and the Lord has yielded; the Lord has admonished and His students have sought His pardon; the students have cried and He, the Divine Mother, has wiped their tears and consoled them. In the pages of this Book, unfolds a unique ‘love story’ between the Lord and His only property – His students. It is no secret that after the establishment of the educational institutions by Him, He has given His maximum time to His students, guiding them, inspiring them, encouraging them, enlightening them, and when they have not lived up to His expectations, even admonishing them. The readers would be able to enjoy the various ‘Rasas’ of this unique and unparalleled relationship of Swami with His students, in this Book.

 

Students with Sai: Conversations is based on the collection of the ‘Thus Spake Sai’ columns which regularly appeared during the given period in the Sri Sathya Sai Hostels at Prashanti Nilayam. ‘Thus Spake Sai’ was compiled by the students on a daily basis, based on the interactions that the fortunate ones were blessed to have with Swami. The students would make running notes while He spoke. They would go and cross verify with the concerned individuals the exact wordings that Bhagavan had used while interacting with them. Swami would interact with the students, staff and other senior devotees in various languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, English and Hindi. The students while compiling their notes would attempt to get the exact translation of Swami’s words so that nothing is missed out. Purely personal conversations were excluded from these compilations. Subsequently these handwritten notes were typed, formatted and displayed on the notice board in the Hostels of Swami so that all the students and staff would have the opportunity of reading and benefitting from the Divine pearls of wisdom.

 

Contents

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

 

1991- 1992............................................................... 1

 

1992 - 1993.............................................................. 33

 

1995 - 1996............................................................. 69

 

1996 - 1997............................................................. 85

 

1997 - 1998............................................................. 129

 

1998 - 1999............................................................. 221

 

1999 - 2000............................................................ 287

 

GLOSSARY OF PHOTOS...................................... 305