Remembrance Day at Puttaparthi Town

By Terry Reis Kennedy

April 24, 2016

The sun burst upon me like a blast of heat from a furnace as I stepped outside of my house, Sai Prem, on Coconut Grove.  It was only 9 a.m. and my clothes were already dripping with sweat.  I made my way towards the ashram in a daze of grief, of bliss, of ineffable mixed emotions.

I walked through the tiny streets of Puttaparthi town remembering how I used to run to the main road when word rustled through the air that Sai Baba was out in His car, on the way to visit the students, or His pet elephant Sai Gita, or patients at the hospital.  I was crazed with joy seeing Him in His car.  I was not the only one.

We hurled flowers at the windows, we touched the doors; we were Gopis and Gopikas that not even the police could stop.  Swami loved our madness as He smiled out at us, sometimes even having the driver stop the car so He could have a word with someone.  The blasting heat, the monsoon downpours, nothing could keep us away from Him. Before we had a cover over the mandir He would often stop the rain when He came out for Darshan.  He loves us that much. 

And today it is the same.  It was the 5^th anniversary of my Sat Guru, the Kali Yuga Avatar, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s leaving—the day He chose to exit His body, a day the Hindu’s say, “He took Mahasamadhi”, meaning the day He returned to the Supreme Consciousness He is, the Great Quietude.  In plain America English, He died.  Yes, He is immortal.  We are all immortal.  But for me it was a day I felt pressed into a mold of mortality.  Everything I’d lived for, been living for, seemed to have vanished.

Until I got home to my writing desk where I could record my thoughts, I felt barely part of the world as I had known it.  Luckily there was a message from my editor at Bangalore’s Deccan Herald asking me to write a recollection of Sai Baba’s life and to have it done in two hours.  Most of my professional life I’ve spent meeting deadlines.  I was so relieved to have another deadline to meet.  As I typed the remembrance I realized what a gift My Baba had given me….a deadline.  But in this case it was a lifeline.  By having to go to work, to be of use, to focus on readers that would be wanting the news of Swami’s passing, I felt purposeful.  There was no time for crying.

Within hours of completing that news story millions of people from around the world were on their way to little Puttaparthi to say good bye to Sai Baba, the “man” who had changed the face of India and the world.  The God we loved, the One Who had loved us beyond our understanding.  

Today, five years later, He remains the same for me.  As I continued on my way to the ashram the crowds grew thicker.  I heard that 40,000 people were in Hill View Stadium eating their free breakfast provided by the Central Trust, Baba’s Trust, ensuring Swami’s devotees that nothing has changed for them.  Puttaparthi town continues as before.  Swami will never leave His home.  He had promised us and He had promised His mother Easwaramma.  The breakfast plates were also carried home to those who could not walk to the stadium.  Everyone got fed, the poorest of the poor, the richest of the rich.

As I neared the Ganesha Gate entrance, I saw that some people were going up Gopuram Road to the stadium and some were coming down carrying their gifts of saris and dhotis, heading towards the ashram.  As I entered and passed through the security check I felt lighter, less hot.  A slight breeze was turning the leaves and swaying the bougainvillea blossoms.  Incense wafted towards me.

After hearing Swami’s discourse from years gone by I found myself smiling at the youngsters who smiled at me.  “From which place did you come,” their perennial question made me happy.  Though I have lived in Parthi for 25 years I told them the truth they wanted to hear.  I replied, the United States of America.  Oh, the USA one of them said, as if to let me know how informed she was.

In spite of the heat, in spite of the crowds I managed to get into the Ladies ‘side of the dining tent.  And I was served a heaping plate of south Indian delicacies, foods of a region that I have come to love…slowly, very slowly.  It was like an arranged marriage, Telugu country and me.  First I found I could not adjust.  But Mother Sai taught me how to accept the things I could not change, and to change the things I could—that meant transformation.  I learned how to grow where I was planted.  

Today, I heard a little voice inside me say, “Remember Who loves you, Baby.”  And I remembered.  Thank you, Bhagawan, for my life.

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Dalai Lama on America

By Terry Reis Kennedy

Many of us may be looking at the United States with great sadness as we witness its fall from a once seemingly almighty country to one riddled with internal difficulties.  Some political commentators and activists, such as scientist Noam Chomsky, have noted that the USA’s loss of standing in the world community coincides with its loss of integrity—the  practice of human values such as truth, non-violence, peace, right action, and love.

On an earlier visit there His Holiness said, “America, like every other nation, has some good aspects and some negative aspects.  That is normal.  First, the United States is a so-called superpower.  You are a superpower, not only in military and economic force, but even more so in freedom.  I think that your greatest strength is in creating a country where true open space is available, where human individual creative nature can be fully realized.  Of course, it is true that in your country there is much inequality—many people are poor while others are quite rich.  But, basically, there is genuine freedom here, and this is quite an open society.  I think that is your real source of strength and progress.”

Another feature of the United States is that it is an ethnically mixed society where people have learned to co-exist in relative harmony.

On the other hand, Dalai Lama, warned, “But I sometimes feel, in the global atmosphere of international politics, that moral uprightness or justice has very little value, and that makes me very sad.  If that continues, many people will suffer.  Eventually, the powerful nations will also suffer.  Even though America is a powerful nation,  you need genuine friends, including the small countries.  How can you make friends?  I think, on top of your material strength and cultural strength, you must begin to stand firm with moral principles.  That would be marvelous.”

Personally, I am troubled by how many Indians have taken on western ways, particularly selfish and materialistic attitudes, the very things that have so corrupted  the American Ethic—liberty and justice for all. Bollywood has turned into Hollywood, producing what I perceive as over rated films and film heroes.  

“The present trend is not healthy,” the simple monk who happens to be King of Tibet, explained. “ Sooner or later you will have to change.  It is easier to change while you are strong.  If you become weaker or smaller, it will be much  more difficult to change.  You will not be strong enough to face the consequences.  Powerful nations always have a greater chance and capacity to right the wrongs in our system and be able to take the risks that are involved in changing an existing system.  Until the fifties and sixties, America was a really powerful nation with quite high prestige, a real champion of liberty and freedom.  But since then, it seems to me, you have been going in the opposite direction.  That is sad.  But it is not my business; it is really your business.”

Sai Baba on MEDITATION

By Terry Reis Kennedy

I first started meditating at the age of 38.  I was instructed to get into any comfortable position, seated, either in a chair or on the ground.  I was taught that the purpose of meditation is to become one with God.  However, I had no idea how to merge with the formless God I believed in—a faraway, faceless force that ruled my life.  It was not until I became of devotee of Sai Baba in 1990 that I began to understand that a person needs an object to focus on in order to meditate.  That can be a symbol of God, a deity, or even a flame.

According to Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, meditation is a process of Self discovery.  He has said, “All accomplished spiritual aspirants, yogis, and renunciates have acquired knowledge of the Absolute through meditation.  When higher knowledge is established, there is no sense of past or future; all is present-time.”

And it is precisely in this meditation moment, that there is the experience of the living God and nothing else.  It is in synchronicity with the beats of one’s own heart.  Such a moment leads to the discovery that the Absolute and you are one.

For me, meditation produces refreshment, like water when I’m thirsty, sleep when I’m tired.  Puttaparthi Sai taught, “Through meditation, the weakness of the body can be overcome, the restless nature of the mind can be controlled, and progress towards the Seat of Grace made easy. One can then attain the experience of Primordial Powers.”

And what might these powers be?  For me, they are peace, sense control, love towards all, patience, spontaneity, and joy.  Without worry, anger, fear, jealousy, and hatred I feel free!  So, meditation brings liberation—at least for segments of time.  With more practice, “nirvana” lasts longer.

But meditation is much more.  Parthi Sai, in his own down-to-earth way of teaching said that meditation is a way of life. “One should have Daiva Preethi, Papa Bheethi and Sangha Neethi (Love for God, fear of sin, and morality in society). That is true Nirvana.” 

He prescribed, “Be away from sin. Understand that Daiva Sannidhi (proximity to the Divine) is true Pennidhi (wealth principle)… While you are walking on the road or driving a car, if your vision is not focused on the road, you may meet with an accident. Concentration is necessary in all aspects of life. But concentration does not become meditation. One should go beyond concentration which means the mind should become still. You should be free from thoughts. That is true meditation.”

There is a step-by-step process for new and seasoned meditators.  According to Bhagawan, “When in meditation, concentrate on the form chosen by you, then pass into contemplation and then into meditation.  Only by the three states will you get there…When there is complete attention on the form chosen that will lead to meditation.  The attention of the mind is totally removed from the body and totally concentrated on the form chosen as the object of your meditation.”