SRI SATHYA SAI HRUDAYA NIVASI

SRI SATHYA SAI HRUDAYA NIVASI (INDWELLER OF HEARTS) CHAPTER 21 WIFE ALONE IS NOT LIFE Our Lord, Bhagavan Baba had chosen a tiny remote backward village in the State of Andhra Pradesh for his present Avatar. There are a number of other Holy places in this State, attracting millions of devotees from all over India, and other countries as well. To mention a few, Tirupathi (also known as Thirumala) and Sri Sailam, which are two of the well-known pilgrimage centers. Bhadrachalam is yet another renowned place of pilgrimage, situated near Kothagudam in Khammam district. There is a beautiful temple in this place and the deity is Sri Rama. Bhadradeewasra Rama had once saved a devotee who came to be famously known as Bhadrachala Ramdas, by refunding the money to the king and rescued him from imprisonment. He had been sentenced for siphoning of government funds for building this temple. More than this devotee, the king (a Muslim Nawab) got Darshan of RamJi & LakshmanJi who visited the palace to pay back the money allegedly misappropriated for the construction of a temple. It is a holy place indeed and many devotees throng here for worship. Rama Navami celebrations during the month of April are the most important function here and millions assemble there during this period. Seva Dal volunteers from Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organization participate in various forms of service on this occasion.

Incidentally Kothagudam is the headquarters of the coal mining company, M/s Singaneri Collieries Ltd. The Rama Temples is situated near here. This place is a big Sai Center, and there are many devotees living here. I had visited this place several times.

I was trying to secure orders for my products from Singareni Collieries Ltd, and had participated in their annual tenders several times. For follow up actions, I used to visit this place very often. I was pleasantly surprised to know that the Chief Financial Officer, of this company was a Sai Devotee and was also the head of the Seva Dal group in that area. Incidentally, his son had also graduated from Swami's college. I spent happy moments with him talking about Swami. One day he took me to the Sai Baba temple. It was a small beautiful temple built by the local Samithi for our dear Lord. Weekly Bhajans, Nagar Sankeertan and all other spiritual activities are conducted in this temple.

During one of my visits, I chanced to come across another Sai devotee in the office cabin of The Finance Manager. I was introduced to him, and we became friendly, since our common interest was on Swami. He was the Resident Sales Executive of Indian Explosives Ltd, which was regularly supplying explosive materials to Singareni Collieries Ltd. Being a past resident of Madras, he was planning a visit to his home. We arranged that we would travel together the next day. We shared a taxi up to Vishakapatanam from where we boarded a night train to Madras. We had so many things to converse and we did not have a wink of sleep during that night. He had a very interesting experience to narrate, and I was only too happy to hear from him.

He told me, that he was employed for long in the Coal mine area at Dhanbad situated in the Eastern parts of India. He used to visit Prashanthi Nilayam, whenever he came to Madras on annual leave. His wife had conceived for the first time, and he brought her to Madras to arrange for the delivery. From there he was proceeding to Prashanthi Nilayam. The wife insisted that she would also accompany him. According to his understanding, she had not shown much interest in Swami and he was now surprised at her latest attitude. She was already 7 months pregnant then and he told her that there were not adequate medical facilities in Puttaparthi.

Still she was keen to accompany him since it was not likely that any problems would arise during a short stay of one week. Ultimately the wife accompanied her husband to Swami.