Did I feel bad and felt a small kurukshetra at the bottom of my heart? The answers are No and Yes. For the past few days, I kept browsing indianexpress.com and timesofindia.com every hour or two to check for any news update on his health.
Today for some reason, from the min I woke up, I felt the urge to check the websites…but something stopped me all along….Well I have no access to TV!!! About noon, I entered a restaurant at nungambakkam to fill my tummy. I was paralyzed for a second when I saw what was making the headlines. People condoling Baba’s death with the letters in red flashing that his soul departed at 740 in the morning. Just like million others around the globe, with each byte of the food, I felt a tremendous pressure at the bottom of my heart.
My first acquaintance with Baba was through a bala vihar school that happened only on sundays. There was this Sathya Sai Baba temple in our locality, where class was held in the morning from 10 to 12 and I never missed a class. For some reason, I took the decision to voluntarily attend it when I was just doing my 3rd grade. I attended it till 5th I guess. I was drawn to the teachings there….the concept of patience, forgiveness, courage, attitude….Though it took me next 15 odd years to completely understand them and yet to practice them completely, the seeds were rightly sown. In this age of high competitive aspirations for being an IITian and Doctor, my parents never really pressurized me on what I wanted to become…for that matter I never really knew…and neither do I now!!!!
While people debate whether he was a god or just another normal man with some magical tricks, I really find these people wasting time. To me he is god for the very reason, he thought about the million people who did not have water supply on a regular basis….while there are 100’s of top class hospitals in India, where even an entry requires a few ten thousands, he inspired people to build a free hospital and more than that had the top class doctors work for free. It is not an exaggeration if I say thousands of people whose earnings are literally below the poverty line have benefitted from these hospitals. The list is countless…..
Let me ask you. How many of you can make the people in your house follow your ideas at their own will? NONE OF US can. That is the truth. When such is the human nature, this guy has millions of followers around the world from the slums to the elite. Not only they followed him, but blindly believed him, his words made their life, his actions made them breathe, above all many poured in his trust their hard earned money……We are talking about millions spread across continents, class, religion, language, color, creed and age…….
If you don’t believe him that is fine….atleast you can stop hating someone whom you don’t know…someone who has been the driving force for millions…..I did not mourn, for he is the lord and there is no death for the almighty…..
Sai baba…may his earthly abode rest in peace…let his soul continue to enlighten the billion souls across the globe, whether they have faith in him or otherwise….
