SAMASTHA LOKA SUKHINO BHAVANTU IN THIS...

VENUGAANAM SAI KRUSHNA CHARITABLE TRUST NEWSLETTER Issue # 26 222

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Venugaanam

Sai Krushna Charitable Trust Newsletter

September, 2013

SAMASTHA LOKA SUKHINO BHAVANTU IN THIS ISSUE

We are delighted to bring you the 26th edition of Venugaanam this

September. As we enter into the last quarter of this year, we bring excerpts

from Swami’s Divine Discourse during a sevadal conference. Read this to

know His message of ‘Seva’.

In Atmajyothi, we continue with a new series of discussion on Narada Bhakthi

Sutras. These Sutras or aphorisms contain the secret of true devotion and

highlight its glory.

Prakash reveals how Swami’s message of “Constant

Integrated Awareness” has impacted his life. He shares

the joy of making this one teaching a part of his life.

T R Mist starts continues the new serialized story “the

Night” which is bound to keep you hooked on.

Bhargav talks about how precious water is, therefore,

“Don’t waste water”.

Sai Krushna Mandir is now a place bustling with activity as

the four children have made it their home. To know more

about the latest at SKM and how you can volunteer, read

the construction update. We invite applications for a

watchman for the children’s home.

We are happy

to have your

feedback on how to make ‘Venugaanam’ a better

communication tool. You may kindly mail us at

[email protected] . Do feel free to share

with us your experiences in following Swami’s teachings or

on any other theme of your choice.

We pray to Swami to bless all the children and inmates so

that they may all come up to His expectations.

May Swami turn our lives into a celebration of His

message of love, sharing and caring.

With All our Prema,

Team Venugaanam

Sai Krushna Charitable Trust

From Team Venugaanam 1. From Team Venugaanam………P1

2. Swami's discourse………………..P2

3. Atmajyothi………………………..P4

4. Construction update……………..P6

5. CIA_Prakash……………… …......P7

6. The Night_Mist……………………P8

7. Don’t Waste Water_Bhargav….P11



Where and when does ‘service’ in our lives start?

And how can it be a true spiritual activity? Is it

more, or less important, than meditation or

chanting His name? Swami beautifully explains all

these and more in a discourse delivered to the

delegates of a Sevadal Conference on November

19, 198. Here are excerpts from that profound

message

Society is the coming together of people.

Cooperation among people in a society, motivated by

spontaneity and pure intentions, is the hall-mark

of seva (service). Seva can be identified by two basic

characteristics - compassion and willingness to

sacrifice.

History tells us that in all countries and in every age,

man is a social being. Man is born in society; he grows

in and through society, and his life ends too in

society. His songs and speech, duties and diversions,

are all determined by society.

Seva can be identified by two basic characteristics -

compassion and willingness to sacrifice.

Society for man is like water for fish: if society rejects

or neglects him, he cannot survive. What a single

individual cannot accomplish, a well-knit group or

society can achieve.

A man walking alone may feel tired and miserable at

the end of five miles; but, walking with ten others as

a group he would find the five miles a jaunt; he will

arrive refreshed and strong.

Social living contributes increased happiness and

efficiency in efforts among birds and beasts. When

they act as a group they are able to defend

themselves from enemies, secure food and shelter,

travel great distances and migrate to far away

locations.

The Liberating Chain of Service

The first lesson in service has to be learnt in the

family circle itself. Father, mother, brothers, and

sisters - in this limited group which is well-knit, one

must engage in loving service and prepare for the

wider service that awaits outside the home. The

character of each individual member determines the

peace and prosperity of the family; the character of

each family is the basic factor that decides the

happiness and joy of the village or the community.

And, the nation's progress is based on the strength

and happiness of the communities which are its

components. So, for the welfare of the country and of

the entire world, the spirit of service, vital

enthusiasm, constructive imagination, pure

motivation, and unselfish alertness are all needed

urgently.

For the welfare of the country and of the entire

world, the spirit of service, vital enthusiasm,

constructive imagination, pure motivation, and

unselfish alertness are all needed urgently.

Take Hanuman as your example in service. He served

Rama, the Prince of Righteousness, regardless of

obstacles of all types.

Though he was strong,

learned and virtuous, he

had no trace of pride.

When asked who he was

by the demons in Lanka

into which he had entered

so daringly, he described

himself, in all humility, as

The Mighty Spiritual Activity- Service

Excerpts from the Divine Discourses by Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba during Sevadal Conference 19-11-

1981

VENUGAANAM SAI KRUSHNA CHARITABLE TRUST NEWSLETTER | 3


the 'servant of Rama.'

That is a fine example of uprooting of the ego which

service must bring about in us. No one can serve

another while his ego is rampant. The attitudes of

mutual help and selfless service develop the

'humanness' of man and help the blossoming of the

divinity latent in him.

Krishna was known to all as almighty, all-knowing,

all-encompassing and all-fulfilling. Yet, the

enthusiasm to do service prompted Him to approach

Dharmaraja, the eldest of the Pandava brothers, on

the eve of the magnificent Raajsooya Yaaga he had

planned to celebrate, and offered to take up seva of

any kind. He suggested that He might be given the

task of cleaning the dining hall after the guests have

partaken of the feast! Krishna insisted on outer

cleanliness and inner cleansing. Clean clothes and

clean minds are the ideal combination.

The Lord Sets the Example…

The Lord sets the

example for the devotees

to follow. He teaches that

service done to any living

being is offered to Him

alone and is accepted by

Him most joyfully. Service

rendered to cattle, beasts,

and to men is laudable

spiritual practice. Keeping

the environment of our

residences clean, providing

help to those who live around the place, going to

hospitals and serving the patients who are in the

wards – it is such acts of service one must take active

part in. Many undertake such activities now as 'social

service,' not as a spiritual practice in a full-hearted

manner.

Through the spiritual practice of service, Hanuman

attained identity with Rama, as the river attains

identity with the sea. Arjuna too considered every act

as a spiritual act to attain the grace of Krishna, for

Krishna directed him to fight on, ever keeping Him in

memory -"Maamanusmara Yuddhyacha."

Offer service to someone in need, with a full heart

and experience the bliss that results. It need not be

something big; it can be a small act, unnoticed by

others. But it has to be done to please the God

within you and the other person.

You too should keep God ever in your mind as the

pace-setter, whether you are serving patients in

the hospitals or cleaning a drain in the bazaar. That

is the thapas (penance) – the highest form of

spiritual practice. More than listening to a hundred

lectures or delivering them to others, offering one

act of genuine service attracts the Grace of God.

The body has to be utilized for service to others.

Activity is its main purpose. Lord Krishna says, "I have

no need to be engaged in work, but I do work in order

to activate the world." More bliss can be gained by

serving others than what can be got by merely

serving oneself.

Offer service to someone in need, with a full heart

and experience the bliss that results. It need not be

something big; it can be a small act, unnoticed by

others. But it has to be done to please the God within

you and the other person.

Eliminate the Ego

We need today those who take delight in selfless

service, but such men are rarely seen. You, who

belong to the Sathya Sai Seva Organisation, every

one of you, must become a sevak (volunteer), eager

to help those who need it. When the sevak becomes

the nayak(leader), the world will prosper. Only

a kinkara (servant) can grow into

a Shankara (Master).

When the sevak becomes the nayak (leader), the

world will prosper. Only akinkara (servant) can

grow into a Shankara (Master).

Of course, one has to eliminate the ego totally; even

a trace of it will bring disaster. However long you may



do meditation, or how constant maybe

your japa (chanting His name), a little ego will render

them barren of results. Bhajans done with egoistic

pride will be as harsh as the crow's caw. So, try to

avoid the ego marring your spiritual efforts, even to a

small extent.

What God Will Ask You

The Sathya Sai Seva Organisation has laid down

service as spiritual activity,in order to uproot from

your mind this evil trait; service helps you to remove

the ego. So, do not pay heed to what others might

say when you engage in service activities. When you

are doing good acts, why hesitate, feel ashamed, or

fear?

God will not ask you, when and where did you do

service? He will ask, "With what motive did you do

it? What was the intention that prompted you?"

Let Compassion and Sacrifice be your two eyes; let

Egolessness be your breath and Love be your

tongue. Let Peace reverberate in your ears. These

are the five vital elements you have to live

upon. God will not ask you, when and where did you

do service? He will ask, "With what motive did you do

it? What was the intention that prompted you?" You

may weigh the service and boast of its quantity; but,

God seeks quality, the quality of the heart, the purity

of the mind, the holiness of the motive.

WHY ONLY THIS PRONOUN अि�मन ् IS

SELECTED ?

It is right to follow the celebrity of scriptures;

still, why – any one of the following words like

: परमाम�न’in the Supreme Self’ , परमे वरे’in

the Supreme Lord’ , भगव�त’in God’, etc. – that

are agreeable to scriptures – should not be

applied ? Answer to this question is as follows :

Here, this pronoun अि�मन’्in Him’ is properly

used. For, Pronoun = सव�नाम in Sanskrit.

सव�नाम is the name for everything; and God,

Himself, has become everything.

The Supreme Self has different forms like :

Virtuous(सगुण), that without qualities (�नगु�ण),

that having form(साकार), and that is

Atmajyothi by Shri Lakshminarayan Aithal

Lakshminarayan Aithal has served for over 3 decades in Swami’s institution and is the former Principal of the Sri Sathya

Sai Loka Seva Institutions at Muddenahalli. Inspired by Swami’s direct message to study the Upanishads, he first learnt

Sanskrit and then studied the direct works of Adi Shankaracharya and Swami. Sincere perseverance led him to the reality

of Aham Brahmasmi and He realized and experienced Swami’s words: “I am God and so are you”. He shares the import of

the Upanishadic teachings with us in this series of articles.



formless(�नराकार). �ु�त, �म�ृत and पुराण have

invented thousands of names in order to

recognize these forms; and some of the

names are as follows : Truth (सय), Knowledge

(�ान), Bliss(आन�द), Eternal-Pure-Awareness-

Liberation(�नयशु�बु�म!ुत), Imperishable One

(अ�र), the Soul of the universe("#म), the

Supreme Lord (परमे वर), the all pervading

God($व%णु), the Auspicious God(&शव), the

Goddess of Energy (शि!त), the Sun God(स$वत)ृ,

etc. Every name among these, all at once,

brings its special meaning itself to our mind.

These names are defined : सय means that

which remains in the same form without

changing; �ान means that which is having

never changing form of consciousness; आन�द

means that which is having complete

happiness; �नयशु�बु�मु!त means that which

is ever disconnected from impurity, that which

is eternally having its all-knowing (सव��) form,

and that which is eternally not having any

regulation; अ'र means that which is having

imperishability; "#म means that which is the

biggest one by all manner; परमे वर means the

one who is the Supreme Lord than the

independent rulers; $व%णु means the all

pervading One; &शव means the one who has

the Auspicious Form; शि!त means the goddess

who is the ball of energy; गणेश means the

Lord of the group who are having body,

organs, etc; स$वत ृmeans the Creator of the

world and the fruit of action for all living

beings. In this manner, every word carries its

own meaning; this

सव�नाम (pronoun) अि�मन ्(in Him) is the word

which is the compendium of meaning of all

the above names; therefore, this word is

selected rightly.

Then, what fitness is there in selecting this

pronoun by leaving all other pronouns ? This

question is also answered : There is one reason

for this selection. अयम ् (He), the pronoun, as

we have already mentioned, is the famous

verbal one in the scripture; this word is

employed in the sentences of the Upanishads

like – अयमामा "#म, etc; God is everywhere

and He is the Inner-most Self (सवा��तरामा) of

everyone and everything; and, therefore, this

pronoun is befittingly selected. The

practitioners (साधकाः) obtain confidence that

God who is the Self dwells in them and He

need not be searched externally elsewhere.

Therefore, there is a greater fitness in

employing this pronoun which refers to the

nearest one.

This reminds us the following sentences :

प यि�वहैव �न,हतं गुहायाम ् (मु.ं 3-9-8). This

sentence of the मु.डक उप�नषत ् tells : If it is

clearly seen, the Principle of God

(परमामतव) is found in the cave of the

heart. ई वरः सव�भूताना ं45ेशsेजु�न �त%ठ�त (गी. 18-

61), the Lord tells : O अजु�न, God dwells in the

heart of all living beings.

THE EXPLANATION OF परम9ेम:पा

8. The word भि!त has many meanings in

Sanskrit : (1) In the सामवेद, a part of one साम is

called भि!त. (2) In the श;दशा�< (Grammar), if

one word is used in another meaning, that

word has भि!त means a secondary meaning



(गौणविृत). (3) The word भि!त has a worldly

meaning : faith or love towards teachers and

elders. The भि!त word has originated from

the root भज ्which means serving; in order to

serve anyone love is essential; therefore, it

flashes in the mind that the भि!त word has

the meaning ‘love’ (9ेम) also. The following

words like : मातभृि!त, $पतभृि!त, गु>भि!त,

राजभि!त, रा%?भि!त, etc. contain the word

भि!त which has only one meaning : love that

has originated due to the worshipful attitude.

But , in this scripture, भि!त is love for God.

We have to deliberate that why परम (highest)

– adjective is added to this भि!त. We need

some objects like : father, mother, husband,

wife, money, etc.; therefore, we like them.

Hence, one can tell that we have love towards

them. None loves objects or persons for their

sake but for his own sake. Therefore, nothing

is beloved than one’s own self. Therefore, the

�ु�त tells : तदेतत ् 9ेयः पु<ात ् 9ेयो $वतात ्

9ेयोs�य�मात ्सव��माद�तरं यदयमामा ।।ब.ृ 1-4-8.

‘Therefore, this Self is more beloved than son,

money, and other things; and It is the Inner-

most One’. Thus the Self means one’s self;

and through the worldly experience itself, one

can understand that one’s own self is the

most beloved one, isn’t it ? God Himself is the

Reality of one’s self, therefore, the love of the

self is nothing but that of Him. Without

knowing the reason, we have love towards

objects or that towards our imagined selves.

Instead of this, if we love God, the Real Self,

that is called ‘Devotion’. Therefore, it is told in

the aphorism : ‘Devotion is the Supreme Love

in Him’.

The Making of Sai Krushna Mandir Construction Update

The four children at Sai Krushna

Mandir. (From L to R) Chandan,

Shridhar, Shreyas and Devi

Prasad.



Life at Sai Krushna Mandir starts quite early. But the pace picks up exponentially when the children wake up.

Their bright smiles and chatter amidst the hustle and bustle of breakfast, getting them ready for school makes it

all worth the while. And once they leave for school comes the calm after the storm. Once they are back, time

flies between homework, play, bhajans, dinner and bedtime. And at the end of the day, watching the innocent

smiles on the naughty faces as they fall asleep after much ruckus, coaxing and cajoling is heartwarming.

We thank all the donors and volunteers who have been generously contributing towards daily expenses to run

the children’s home, construction, setting up an RO drinking water system, solar lighting and maintenance of

the building. We are also grateful to the volunteers who have devoted time to buying groceries, spending time

with the children and helping them learn and catch up with their curriculum. We invite applications for a few

caretakers who will be paid suitably as per their experience and ability. Support staff families would be provided

suitable accommodation and their children would be given appropriate educational facilities also.

Some other minor construction works like the bathrooms for visitors and external staff are in progress to

facilitate the effective working of the children’s home.

We look forward to all your active involvement and participation in this God given opportunity. We also welcome

you to come and visit the site and participate in the activities of Sai Krushna Mandir. We pray that Swami’s grace

will crown our genuine intentions and He will continue to guide and bless the children and residents to live in a

happy home and grow to His ideals.

When contemplating on Swami’s teachings, I always

wondered how can I follow at least one or two of

them on a daily basis and see how they work. I

thought even if I follow a handful of them but follow

them100% without any compromise it would make

Swami happy.

To implement this, first I identified one of my

weaknesses: my impulsiveness. I have the habit of

doing things too fast. I seriously needed to slow down

my life. By being on the fast lane, I never enjoyed the

journey but was more concerned about reaching the

destination. One more disadvantage of my hurried

Constant Integrated Awareness by Prakash Srinivasan

Prakash is a student of Swami who completed his B.Com, MBA and PG Diploma in Culture and Philosophy from Sri Sathya Sai

University. He is a talented singer with the enthusiasm for Swami’s work. Prakash is currently working at HP, Bangalore.

Phase 2 Sai Krushna Mandir



living was that I was forgetting things, having minor

mishaps and being extremely absent-minded. I was

quite perplexed and was thinking how can I stop this

and become slower and more organized.

A thought suddenly struck me about Swami’s

teachings about “Constant Integrated Awareness.” I

have heard this phrase from Swami directly in His

innumerable discourses. I used to think and almost

mock at Him by saying it’s a very fancy jargon that He

has invented! I was doing my MBA at Parthy and had

enough jargons to manage and remember. But at this

juncture when I was zooming in life I pondered about

this teaching and gradually began discovering its

power. It dawned on me that it’s actually a very very

powerful phrase. The English language has amazing

variety of words for the same meaning and each

word has its intensity and power but this phrase has 3

powerful words and it started motivating me

whenever I thought about it.

So before doing anything and almost on an hourly

basis I started telling myself about living with

Constant Integrated Awareness. This meant to me

that I was going to be very aware of my surroundings

and I will be steady (not too slow) and will be very

mindful of the actions I needed to do and the best

way to do it. Actually it a little difficult to express it in

words as it a very elaborate concept. I started

enjoying the benefits of it almost immediately, I did

not forget anything, and I did things better, faster

and more efficiently. My memory also improved, I

took lists from home and memorized them instead of

jotting every small thing down. Working with

computers dumbs us down to such an extent that we

are too lazy to remember even the smallest of things.

CIA has become an everyday part of my life and it

even improves my creativity and I try to think of

solutions to complex problems. That’s the challenge

of life. Above all it gives me some satisfaction that I

am committed to at least one teaching of Swami and

am trying to be honest about following it.

Suddenly my survival instinct kicked in. I bent my

right elbow and hit back at the chest of the man

behind me. Hmmp came a sound. I knew it had

found its mark. The hand yet remained on my mouth.

This time I attacked the hand. With both hands I

grabbed the huge hand on my mouth, it loosened a

bit. I gasped and caught some air and fought harder. I

could feel the beads of perspiration forming on my

brow and slowing trickling off my temples. I bent a

little and then with sharp turn of my feet tried to

swing around to throw my attacker off balance. He

seemed too big for me he hardly moved, but

suddenly I felt free of the cage around my mouth.

The first breath I took sounded through the whole

stairway. I turned around and stood facing the

stairway going down. It was as deserted as it had

been. The same dim glow of the light and the

creeping mist. As I took in deep breaths of air I felt

the chilly air burning through my lungs. The cold was

gone and my body burned with fear and yet unseen

threat to my life. Something made me look to the

darkened corner on my left, where a door existed to

an apartment that was occupied long ago by a person

who then and went to live in the inner city. Was there

a silhouette of a man there. “WHO IS THERE, SHOW

YOURSELF. WHO IS IT,” I shouted. The whole

The Night by T.R. Mist

T.R Mist is a new entrant to Venugaanam. He is a resident of Puttaparthi and would be contributing a serialized story “The

Night”.



building shook with my frenzied shouts borne out of

the instinct of self-preservation. Silence. My heart

pounded hard. “Ha ha ha,” came a reply.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YOU SHOW YOURSELF”, I

shouted back. This time a tall muscular figure in a

long black coat walked a pace up towards me from

the dark corner.

As it came forward the dim light of the stairway

slanted upward across its face. A round balding head

and a strongly set jaw. A feeling of relief swept over

me.

“How dare you?”, I shouted and grabbed the collar of

the coat of my best friend and landed a few punches

in the pit of his abdomen. He just laughed. “I am

having flab there, won’t really hurt”, he said. “Had

you taken a few moments more to remove your

hand, you could have in fact started arranging for my

funeral,” I said.

“Oh come on I did not hold you for so long. It was just

a few moments, yeah but what would have definitely

killed you was your fear, ” he retorted.

“Sure, some friends I have. Ok when was the last time

you paid a visit?”

“That was pretty recent, hmm some two months

ago.”

“Great.” A well-directed kick went straight into his

shin.

“Owooo”, he cried.

“Ha ha ha ha.” It was my turn to me merry.

My friend I will call him K, well not because of any

Kafkaesque connection, but because his name starts

with the letter K. And may be if you wish, there is

definitely some Kafkaesque calm about him.

We had known each other since our childhood we

had grown up together. Since his childhood K has had

a strange kind of gravitas about him. A calmness, all

knowing, yet restrained. I had known him long yet, in

some strange corner of my heart I knew, I could never

fathom the depths at which his mind freely roamed.

Seemed as if to be a part of the crowd he made

himself look stupid.

He was tall, lean, muscular, with a round face and

brown eyes and with a strength which defied his

frame and lately a paunch was making its presence

felt. His opinions always seemed to be balanced

rather being on the extremes and in the dark insane

world, he seemed to be one of the few sane people I

could share my opinions with. And yes just like me he

despised the inner city. We were both together on

the fringes.

The door of my apartment creeked open and the

musty smell of the room took over. I switched on the

lights and opened the large window opposite the

main door. Afar we could see the light globs turning

bright orange before fading into black, fabricating a

sun set.

I turned and looked at K. He smirked.

“Come on don’t get me started on these globs,” he

said. “Either the people are dumb or the

municipality,” he added.

“Hey don’t say that, after the Sun went out these

light globs, no sorry, let me use the word used by the

municipality and the inner city people use for them,

‘the suns’. So after the Sun went out these ‘the suns’

have become the light givers, the sustainers, the

nourishers of the population,” I laughed.

“And there are fools like you and of course me, who

prefer not to be drenched in the electric glory of

these beautiful suns, and prefer to remain on the

fringes and wait for the real Sun to reappear,” K said

and added, “shame on us.” Our laughter shook the

entire apartment.

“ I don’t understand what makes the inner city people

so happy? I see only misery. I see only darkness, I only

see artificiality, all lies and everything fake. How can

they not see the same?,” I asked.

K smiled. “Let me tell you a story. Well may not be a

story after all, there might be some truth in it. So it

goes like this. In some country, a zoologist wanted to

study the behavior of a wild gorilla, when confined to

an isolated room. So he got a wild gorilla to his



laboratory and locked it in a room. Then when he put

his eye in the keyhole to see what the gorilla was

doing, you know what he saw?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders.

K continued, “he saw the eye of the gorilla. Ha ha ha

ha.”

“So?”, I asked.

“Come on use your brains,” K said.

With a start, I understood, what K was trying to

explain, with his pretty much off the mark story. He

was trying to tell me that the way I felt about the

inner city people, they may be feeling the same way

about us, the people on the fringes.

“So you mean to say that, they may be thinking us to

be completely out of our minds that we are not able

to enjoy the life under the light globs?” I asked

incredulously.

“Why not? Don’t they have the freedom to think like

that?” K asked. “In fact they may say that the Sun has

given us so much, how then can we keep expecting

more from him. Come to think of it in another way,

the electricity which lights up the light globs, and

gets us food by running our green houses, comes

from fossil fuels for which indirectly the Sun was

responsible,” he smiled.

“Yeah sure, then I can definitely say one thing”

“And what is that” K asked.

“That they are definitely gorillas.”

Laughter rumbled across the entire deserted street

and we finally had to quieten ourselves down lest

some municipality constables down in the street raise

an objection. The constables seldom came to this

part of the town but, we had seen some of them

tucked up in their overalls since the light globs had

suddenly failed during ‘mid-day’ a few months ago. I

could little decipher the connection between the light

globs failing and the constables roaming around in

the fringes.

The cold wind was rushing in from the open window

and as the musty smell of the room became more

bearable, I reached for the window and pulled it shut.

Something on the table next to the window caught

K’s attention. He reached out and caught a strip of

medicines which, in some reckless moment I had left

there without realizing that it could lead me into

trouble if K laid his hands on it.

“What is this,” he asked. Taking the strip close to his

eyes for a closer inspection and turning towards the

light. “Goodness,” he cried. “Anti-depressants?

Aren’t they anti-depressants?” There was a deep

shock in his voice.

I felt weak at my knees and my throat went dry. “Nah

nothing,” I tried to dismiss his shock. “The doctor told

me to take it if I had trouble sleeping, and who does

not have trouble sleeping in this artificial night. I

assure you depression is not the reason I am taking

them,” I replied.

K seemed satisfied and his sudden shock of the

discovery of an anti-depressant drug in my house

seemed mitigated. I sighed an inaudible sigh in relief.

The truth was, however, that I was suffering, what

the physician said was a moderate form of

depression. I decided never to share it with K so as

not to hurt him. We have to hide certain things from

our loved ones, lest they feel hurt cause they care for

us so much.

K could cook well so it became an off day for me from

cooking. But even he could not add any zing to the

bland greenhouse vegetables. After a bland dinner of

cooked vegetables and some bread, K left for his

solitary walk to the other end of the same street

where he lived.

After K left, I gazed through the window glass which,

was gradually frosting and kept thinking about the

story of the gorilla he had told me. He was definitely

right. The inner city could hardly understand, why we

lived like a bunch of non-conformists on the fringes.

For them the phase of Sun was over and done with.



For them the Sun showed himself through the light

globs, the green houses, the bright shops in the

market place, the ‘sun’ parlours, the artificial lights

and the pleasures which, the inner city brought. It did

not seem to matter to them that the city had literally

turned into a cold wasteland, but they were warm,

their families were warm and they could not care less.

To be continued…….

Our neighbour Sastry garu commented, " Ours is a

special street, we always have the sacred akash

ganga falling on us from heavens and flowing

through the street every now and then. Especially

during the summer months it is full of water

quenching the thirst of the parched cement road.”

Puttaparthi has the luxury of having one bore well in

each apartment. Due to the boon of uninterrupted

power supply, the denizens have the comfort of

switching on the bore well whenever they want.

Chalapati the caretaker of a neighbouring building

says, his chest puffed up with pride, “I was in

Anantapur recently, there they have twelve hours of

power cuts but we have none in Parthi, you see this is

the abode of the lord.” He switches on the motor

switch and adds, “Cities like Kurnool and Vijayawada

have minimum eight to ten hours of power cuts. I

heard that even Hyderabad has a load shedding of six

hours a day. Even the temple town of Tirupati faces a

load shedding of six hours.”

What is unusual is that the promptness in switching

on is lacking in promptly switching off the motor

switch. Then comes the incessant cascade of akash

ganga and it flows through this street of Parthi,

sometimes stopping at one place due to the lack of

engineering expertise of the contractors who laid the

cement roads known as pothole. All the buildings

around and their residents feel like Bhagirathas who

have taken the responsibility of getting the Ganga

not from the heavens but from their respective

‘building peaks’ generally from their ‘sintex’ glaciers.

Our apartment is the only one which is committing

the sin of first of all not adding a tributary to this

heavenly Ganges and then showing the audacity of

trying to prevent this cascade of water which has

come only to slake the thirst of the road and few two

wheelers and four wheelers eagerly parked to

experience its limpid waters.

Unfortunately this Ganga in the words of Sastry garu

again, ‘gets transformed into a vaitarni river (a

mythological river separating hell and heaven). We

actually have the ordeal of proving ourselves pure

and holy by crossing it every day.

O! Chalapati, please switch off the motor, you should

be careful, don’t waste water like this” I yell, when he

walks past quite leisurely, getting drenched in his

contribution to the akash ganga. “No problem sir, the

road has not been washed for quite some time, it is a

good service if some water overflows.” Then with

utter indifference he ripostes avoiding eye contact,

“You see, so many sparrows, pigeons, dogs, cats

quench their thirst.”

It has become an invariable practice of our family to

run to the nearby buildings and turn off the motor

switch. We know the motor switches of all the

buildings perhaps better than the residents of these

apartments. Our auditory capabilities have become

Don’t Waste Water by KVRK Bhargav

Bhargav is a student of Swami who after completing his B.Tech in Textile Engineering graduated with an MBA from

the the Sri Sathya Sai University in 2001. Ever since, he has had the great fortune of waiting for Swami’s direct

guidance. He has been blessed with many interactions with Swami. Currently, he helps out at the University

Administrative Block.



very strong, I exclaim, ‘this is Sai Prema apartment or

that is the Sai Raghavendra apartment or the Sai

Sainik apartment’, immediately after hearing a gush

of water from heavens. My brother says in

exasperation, “I will go and turn off the switch, I can’t

bear the water getting wasted.”

We the residents of Satya Sai Soudham had an image

of infallibility and all others were goaded by our

conscience acting as their alter- ego, in preventing

wastage of water. But they got relieved of this

burden of conscience one day. It was the IPL going on

in full swing. We were glued to the TV to watch the

whirlwind knock of Gayle. The ‘Gaylestorm’ stuck us

unawares and our ‘cement tank’ glacier melted first

time ever and off came our contribution to the akash

ganga to the merriment of many denizens of our

street. By the time we realized there was a big pool of

water in front of our house. One of us switched on

our motor and forgot to turn it off. I immediately

went and turned it off.

Many of the residents came out, especially Chalapati

and looked at the new tributary with glee. Next

morning, few of them came to me and gave a piece

of advice, “Sir, you should be careful, don’t waste

water like this.”

SAMASTHA LOKA SUKHINO BHAVANTU IN THIS...

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