Puttaparthi

So they also rushed to Purtapurthi.

So Ma managed one room there in Whitefield, but she did not book any room in the Puttaparthi.

So all that I could remember is that it was a shed, huge shed was there.

And my mother tried to find out if some place could be found out, but in spite of her best efforts, she could not find any place to stay.

So Shamosh Mahavir was close to Shamosh Shur and other those who were in charge of the sevadhan.

And also, as I said, we have this annual bhajan.

The first photograph I remember my mother, I don't know whether she bought it from Calcutta or she carried it from Puttaparthi.

Maybe from Puttaparthi, huge portrait of Baba.

Sairam and a warm welcome to you, Mahesh ji, to the studios of Sri Sathya Sai Media Centre.

This is the first time you are in Puttaparthi in Prasanthi Nilayam Baba's Ashram.

Please tell us, how does it feel to be here?

Sairam, it feels beautiful.

You know, I have met several people that have been devotees of Baba and very briefly saw Him in Bobbili when I was there for the Spirit of National Integrity Festival.

But I've never been to the epicentre of His work which is Puttaparthi.

So it feels beautiful, especially so to be here on the day of Guru Paurnima.

I think it's the best blessing.

Okay.

And, uh, the mother was, uh, obviously panicking, and, uh, she sent a letter to Swami, sent a letter to her mother, who was in Puttaparthi, to give it to Swami, saying like this, "Swami, they have all got smallpox, and, uh, please help us." So she sent a letter, and, uh, the grandmother was, uh, very, very disturbed, and she gave the letter to Swami and she said, "Swami, I will go.

I will go to Mysore and I will, uh, be there and help them." And Swami said, "What will you do there?"

[laughs]

That's why I'm saying that it's not that only the people who are here in the ashram are people who are giving priority to Swami, even in the sense of associating with Swami's name.

In fact, uh, there is a elderly gentleman who lives in Puttaparthi now, and he came to Swami in, I think, maybe the '60s or '70s, and that was when he was studying in college.

And now, of course, he's settled with his family.

This was a time when he was single.

And when the light was put on, this young man came out and he said, "Does he stay here?" He was referring to Bhagawan, pointing to Swami's picture, many of them hanging on the walls.

He asked, "Does he stay here?" And when Indira Devi said that, "No, no, Sai Baba is in Puttaparthi.

He's in India, and he had never, he has never physically come to Mexico City," then the youth said, "Really? He has never come here? What are you talking? I just saw him here.

Only a few minutes ago he was here.

Anybody can see Swami.

It all depends on their connect with Swami.

Indira Devi then narrated some more stories to these young men about how once when she was driving from Anantapur to Puttaparthi, they were on a long, lonely road, far away from any village, and how her taxi stopped suddenly, how the fan belt got torn to shreds, and how she could not continue the journey, and how she cried out, "Swami, Swami, please, please do something." And no sooner had she had spoken these words, a car appeared, and this car was coming towards them.

And that car stopped to inquire what was the problem.

And as it is mentioned, Sri Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was the then governor of the state of Kerala.

Bhagwan left Puttaparthi on the 14th of December.

After I read this chapter of Sandhya Nivaranai, I did some little homework to find out where Bhagwan went because Swami is so clearly saying that, "I'm going to Kerala." So this is what I discovered.

So Bhagwan's trip was to various places in South India.

This is what Bhagawan is saying in this first segment of Sandhya Nivaroni.

In fact, there's another instance that Brother Amar narrates.

This was a case where by merely undertaking a journey by train to Puttaparthi, Brother Amar Vivek was rescued from a dire situation when someone else had laid false charges against him.

He had conducted a case against a lawyer who had misbehaved with a lady editor of a newspaper.

I don't know what is going on." And Joel says that, "We, we decided not to spend any time in Mumbai, and we just thought we'll continue our trip.

We'll go straight to Bengaluru and rest there for a while." But the trip to Puttaparthi, he says, was enjoyable because it was a ride through the countryside, and there was reddish brown clay sprinkled with trees.

All this had a very peaceful effect.

And both of them didn't really speak much in the car because they were really absorbed in the beauty and the stillness of nature.

Even the humming of the car was as if to a, set to a musical key of peacefulness.

But when they came to the Puttaparthi village, of course, they got a shock because they felt, "Oh my God, how are we going to manage here? How am I going to get my child out of here?" They thought that, you know, it would be very difficult for them to adjust with the living conditions at that time in the ashram.

When they landed in Puttaparthi and when they were going to their room, Diana's mother was already there in Puttaparthi.

As they climbed the steps to their room, Diana's mother welcomed them, warmly greeting them.