Nityanandaji: There was one night in the early days, when Swa-
It was an elderly sadhu, in his late seventies, ear-
mi used to open the ashram to the public. We can
ly eighties, who walked a little crippled. He was
barely imagine what this place (Shiva Sai Man-
dressed all in safron orange, carrying a stick and
dir, Penukonda India) would be like if it was
bag. A pure sadhu and from the looks of it, he’d
still open to Indians like it was in the beginning.
lived a hard life. He was waiting and waiting.
Twelve years ago, thousands would come every
Swami came in during Aarthi, sat in his chair im-
moon. Some of them would wait for days, for the
mediatly got the old man’s attention, and called
chance to sit in a large group with Swami. They
him over. We students were standing in the cor-
would stand in the rain, they would lay in the rain,
ner of the temple. When that old saint knelt at
they would sit out there until they had a chance to
Swami’s feet, he gazed up at him with the most
see Swami.
earnest, pleading, focused look. An eighty-year-
“That saint, he really touched my heart.”
old man kneeling at the feet of a 25-year-old man.
During one of these moon periods, it was a Full Moon, it was pouring rain. There were hundreds of Indians still waiting. It was the third night; they’d been there for a long time waiting to see him. And the Westerners – you know, we’d just kind of waltz over and expect Swami to give us attention -- actually, he often did! In retrospect, it’s painful to think about our expectant attitudes. But in any case, that’s our karma now. That night one of the Indians waiting stood out.
A quite jolting scene from the normal human values point of view. Then the Aarthi concluded, and Swami called us up upstairs to the terrace of the Jesus temple. It was just an open roof then. He was uncharactoristrically silent, and seemed to be in a wistful mood. He sat on one little bench and looked quietly into the distance for quite a while. When he spoke, he asked us, “Did you see me talking to that old saint?” We said, “Yes.” “That saint, he really touched my heart.” He said, “He knew perfectly how to handle the Divinity. It offends the human sensibility in me for an old
Sai Kaleshwara posing with local Penukonda devotees, 1996, Penukonda, India
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