Book Notes
Sai Devo Bhava (Sai is God)
by Krishna Murthy, Brindavan
Krishna Murthy was Professor at Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore. He had good parents and had read the Bhagavad Gita on many occasions. He had many discussions with one man, whom he later found out was Convenor of Seva Dals at Brindavan. That man was to invite the author to Brindavan, and invited him to take up service.
The author attended Brindavan, and took up seva, which he found to his natural liking. He attended many seva activities but was always far away from Bhagavan. He always sat in the last row of Seva Dals. The time came for the Convenor of Seva Dals to retire. Swami called the author by name from the back row, told him he was a very old devotee, and to take up duty as Convenor of Seva Dal, immediately. Somewhat nonplussed, the author took up his duties, diligently. Swami would give him dreams to warn of his visits to Brindavan, and give instructions. The author served as Convenor of Seva Dal at Brindavan for seven years.
Above left, the author is holding the umbrella. Ramabrahman, manager of Brindavan Ashram and campus, is on Swami's left. This photo on the left was shown to Sathya Sai Baba, who remarked that the devotees in the photo were old devotees of Shirdi Sai, and were with his previous body.
This small book comprises nine chapters, which delineate the author's understanding of the Indian scriptures and the mystery of the divinity of Sathya Sai Baba, interwoven with a small selection of his own experiences.
The first chapter, Nirakara Brahman, gives an account of the formlessness of God. The author tells of following Swami around in Darshan in Brindavan and seeing brilliant white light emerging from the rear of Swami's head.
The second chapter, Sakara Brahman, gives an account of God with form. The author relates one experience at Brindavan when there were very few people at Brindavan. Swami came for darshan in the heat of the day, it was hot, and he did not have an umbrella to hold for Swami. After a moment, he noticed a small shadow around Swami, perhaps three metres in diameter. The small shadow moved with Swami up to the Hostel. It came from a small cloud in the sky. There were no other clouds in the sky.
The third chapter, Matru Devo Bhava, gives an account of God as Divine Mother. Here the author relates one experience of being diagnosed with an ulcer. Swami responded in terms that the author's mother used. This led the author to an insight of Swami as mother. There is a interesting extrapolation of the analysis of the Sat aspect of Brahman, and how that reflects the love of 1000 mothers.
The fourth chapter, Pitru Devo Bhava, gives account of God as Divine Father. Here, the author shares Swami's instruction to work overseas, come up in live and make money to raise his children. He did not want to leave Swami's service. Swami told,
"The body has to be where it is destined to work. Where ever you are, do your work, thinking of Sai, just like Arjuna did, thinking of Krishna, just like Hanuman did thinking of Rama. It is His will that you have to go out to Brazil. Just because you are doing good service, Swami has no intention to retain you." Swami continued, "You, being a family person, should work hard and come up in life and look after your family, also.
The next chapter, Acharya Devo Bhava, gives account of God as the Guru. It is interesting that the author speaks of following Swami around in Darshan; he describes this as Swami "serving for some time". Swami's darshan is his service to devotees. The author also tells a small account of a seva dal serving food on a palm leaf where the sambar rice was too close to the sweet rice. Swami was visibly uncomfortable when he saw this, and told the seva dal, "Do you serve (food) like that if you are eating (it) yourself?" The lesson for the seva dal was to serve others exactly as he would serve himself.
Atidhi Devo Bhava, God is the guest. Swami promised to visit the author's home. After many reminders to Swami, and a long wait, the fortunate day came. The author, interestingly, recollects that Swami used the occasion as a kind of training for worship. For example, the food taken was Nivedana, the betel leaves were a form of seva, the arathi was another form of seva. Hidden under these events is His blessing, the author was to later realise.
The next chapter is entitled Prema Devo Bhava, God is Divine Love. Here the author gives account of the visit of a German devotee lady to the General Hospital in Whitefield. Swami visited this lady. After beseeching Swami to save the lady's life, Swami told, "Yes, I will save her. You tell me what good it will do for her, and what good it will do for the society." This reply from Swami provoked some deep personal reflection by the author.
This is not a book of personal accounts of this devotee and Swami; rather, it is an instructional book aimed at assisting a reader to glimpse some of the facets of divinity revealed, and how much more there is to divinity, beyond the simple glimpses he received. The author cites Lord Krishna:
Some people see Divinity with wonder,
some speak about it with wonder,
some listen about Divinity with Wonder,
yet, none of them know about Divinity completely.
The author remarks that his writing is an adventurous attempt to present ideas about which the full comprehension is perhaps never possible. Ideas about God are as old as creation itself. The purpose of this book is to present the remarkable similarities and coincidences of the concepts about God in spiritual literature with the life and work of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
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