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“Divine Games of Bala Sai – Young Bhagavan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba”
by V.K. Krishna Kumar (Murthy of Kuppam family)
Excerpts shared for educational and spiritual purposes with reverence to the author. This project is a non-profit initiative, offered as a labor of love and selfless service.
Premanjali
AN OFFERING OF LOVE
Our humble family hails from a remote village
called Vasanadu, near a town called Kuppam, not much known to the world. Though
this village comes under the state of Andhra Pradesh, it is flanked on each
side by the states of Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Thus, Tamil and Kannada, the
languages of the adjoining states, influenced our mother tongue Telugu.
My father Vasanadu Radhakrishnayya was born in
Vasanadu village. Though Vasanadu was a small village, people of that village
were viewed with much respect due to their devotion and dedication. My mother,
Radhamma, gave birth to four sons and three daughters. Though I, the eldest
son, was named as Krishna Kumar, Swami I would call me as 'Murthy'. The names
of the other family members also underwent a change: my sisters Vijaya Kumari
as 'Kumaramma', Sarala Kumari as 'Sarala', Prema Kumari as 'Prema', and my brothers,
Amarendra Kumar as 'Amba', Ramesh Kumar as 'Ramesh', and Muralidhar as
'Murali'. Maybe by calling us like this from the very beginning Swami made us
feel close to Him.
My father shifted from Vasanadu to Kuppam to set up business. Though
Kuppam was a small town, there were lot of cottage industries. My father was
the first to install a factory for the extraction of sandalwood oil by way of
distillation for export. Not only this, he was the first to manufacture
polished granite stones for export to England. In those days, my father was the
most educated person in these areas and spoke fluent·English. During that time,
the country was under the British rule. Whenever big officials, government
servants, noted personalities, big business magnates, visited Kuppam, they
would surely call upon my father. Without consulting him they would not start
any venture, because he was so knowledgeable and dynamic. He was a great lover
of Mahatma Gandhi, and would prefer to serve man, rather than spend time in the
worship of the Lord. We cannot say he did not have devotion, as he used to
participate in all religious functions and ceremonies. He did not have much
belief in Sadhus and Saints. His most important goal was to serve for the
welfare of the people, especially the poor and the lower caste.
My mother, Radhamma, was an ideal wife, as she
was also keen to serve the people, and the villagers looked upon my parents as
an ideal couple. We were very fortunate to be born to such an ideal couple.
Though my father did not believe in Saints, we do not understand with what
courage my mother conveyed to him about the call she got from Sai Baba in her
dream to come to Puttaparthi! How she could persuade him to go to Puttaparthi
must have been the divine will only. She played a brave pivotal roll for our journey
to Puttaparthi, and it was all due to Swami's grace. Otherwise, we would have
missed the opportunity to see the God of this Kali era. Wholeheartedly, in any
birth, I shall ever remain grateful for the love showered on our family by the
Lord of Puttaparthi. I humbly pray to Swami that we shall ever remain as 'Sai
Family' and continue to receive His grace.
I have a small request for the readers of this book. Without Sai's
will nothing can happen and take shape. Only after Sai Prabhu's command, my
sister, Kumaramma wrote the book, “Anyatha Saranam Nasthi”, translated
into English as “Other than You refuge there is none”. Similarly, only
with Swami's grace was I able to write this book. To execute His command was my
duty. Readers of this book may have different opinions, likes and dislikes for
the various descriptions and events mentioned in this book. Please do not take
them seriously as each ones views, assumptions, may vastly vary, but the
sweetness of Sai and the essence of His Leelas, divine games, are one and the
same. Understanding this, that everyone should happily immerse in Ananda would
be my humble prayer.
One day Swami said, “Dear ones! To hide
something is man's nature. Each one's wealth is his own. These they can safely
hide, and keep it to themselves. But to hide spiritual wealth granted by God
would be a big sin. When God had blessed you with something to be shared with
others, it becomes your duty to make good use of it by
propagating. If the great saints in those days had not preserved the sacred
texts, great epics, the Vedas, the Puranas, these treasures would not have
reached us. To share and preserve these was the duty of the realized ones”. These
words of Swami boiled in my heart, and took the shape of this book, only due to
His grace. TQ start with, I wondered if at all I could accomplish this task in
this birth, but He paved the way for its release, taming my doubting mind.
Once, when I was deeply thinking of those
wonderful days with Swami, His heart melted and commanded me to start this
book. Though He did not do this in person, He manifested in my dream. It must
have been around midnight, Swami woke me up and questioned as to why I am not
doing some good work? This shook me up, and I suddenly got up. I could not
understand, immediately, what He meant by this. Though I was not capable of
writing a book, or to be an author, but still, if He had made me complete this
book, it is all His miracles, and there is nothing in this book worth
mentioning as my effort. Only when He commanded me to reveal the divine
experiences witnessed by me to the world, I could start writing. When I thought
about if my limited mind could accomplish this task, I became totally numb.
During such a period He once again appeared in my dream and ridiculed, “Without
efforts how could there be results?” and disappeared. This was again at
midnight. I hurried into my studies and without my knowledge, started writing
something. When I came back to my senses, I observed that it was already four
in the morning. I wondered what I did for nearly four hours! After sometime,
when I made an ardent effort toobserve my writhing, it took me by
surprise! When I went through the matter, I was convinced that it was not my
language. No! Impossible! I was never used to diarizing my experiences or note
down some points. When I never had such a habit, how was I able to write so
many pages? The very incarnation of Mother Saraswathi, Sai Maa, made this
possible and nothing else. To make someone write like this for the first time,
in this old age, was known only to Swami! Such miracles are possible by Him
alone!
In this way, regularly, without any time
schedule, by day or by night, I started writing. I could write only when Swami
prompted from within. All that is written in this book are my personal
experiences seen by me while serving His Lotus Feet, mostly in the Old Mandir
days, and what was heard from Swami and His close associates of those days. I
have not covered what was heard from the devotees or their personal experience.
Though I have held these in my heart for over fifty years, I was unable to hold
it back any more. Obeying Swami's command with much anxiety to share with the
devotees, I place this before you all. It is my absolute delight and privilege
to share the nectarine sweetness of His Divine Leelas.
Dear devotees, if you find any mistakes, please
forgive me. This is mx. humble request. When Bhagawan Sai, Who made me write
this book, could excuse me for the lapses, you surely can. He was fully aware
of my limited abilities. If a mother gets angry with her children and slaps
them, it is only due to her love for them. If the children hate her for this,
the loss would be for the children only and not for the mother. When the same
mother fondles them and plays with them, the love between them reveals openly.
But the children who do not take this in the right spirit, they shall never
realise or relish this sweet relation. I firmly believe that all those who go
through these Nectarine Leelas of Bala Sai shall assimilate the essence of His
Divine Plays and hold on to His Divine Feet.
