Seasons in the sun

It’s a very surprising weather these days, but not unusual. There’s rain, and there’s plenty of shine too; seems like nature gods are quarrelling over the chance to be here. Swami has been so gracious to allow everyone to feast on a beautiful darshan.

The pens and pencils are having a busy time now. It’s not because of exams as you might have guessed, but that everybody here wants to give a letter to Swami. Since He has been coming everyday in chair, no one wants to lose this opportunity.

This Sunday morning, swami came out pretty late, when the bhajans had already begun. The defence minister of Sri Lanka had come to see Him. We felt swami would proceed straight to the interview room. To our amazement, He moved around the entire length of the hall again and then came to the portico. We were really happy to have his attention for more than 20 minutes. In that excitement, some devotees would miss the beat on some fast bhajans. Immediately, Swami would give a disturbed expression and then smile. It was a very pleasant morning.

In the evening, He came in chair as usual, went to the bhajan hall and returned to the veranda. A Former Governor (long time Sai devotee) of Rajasthan was called. His wife and two sons joined him. Swami spoke to his wife for a long time. It was an open air interview! Swami materialised a chain for her, gave vibhuti packets and blessed the family.

The next few days were pretty sombre and the weather became extremely hot. Swami used to come out only after 5 pm, but He nevertheless made sure to bless us all by coming around the portico a few times.

Today, Swami did not turn up in the morning, but came pretty early afternoon at about 4.30pm. The boys who are appointed as room leaders in the hostel sat in the front row with the mementos that would be given to them later. They wanted to get these blessed by Swami. Swami had a look at the tray from a distance, but did not respond and went inside the interview room. Soon after, He called for the tray inside. He opened one memento which had the photograph of our Lord with a quote, “Hey bangaru, Always Be Careful”. Well, we couldn’t ask for a better parting message.

These are truly special moments in our lives where every minute has significance. As we count our days, the Lord walks up to us, raises His hand to assure, “You might forget the ABC, but I won’t forget you.” We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun (pretty hot sun), but the moments that we treasure with Mother Sai are never gone.