From Puttaparthi... The Buddha

August 18, 2008

It is Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba who made me a better Buddhist today. I come from a family of several generations of Buddhists, who have aspired to follow the teachings of Lord Buddha through many centuries.

Just before I was born, my mother was given a lottery ticket by a vendor who left it on her tummy saying that the baby will bring her luck. As fate would have it, the next day, on the day of my birth, my mother struck the first prize!!!

But I had many health complications: heart surgeries, stomach surgeries, eye surgeries, spine problems, but these never dented my joyful state!

Each time Bhagavan Baba stood by my bedside before and after surgery. And He was ever present in my thoughts although I was under heavy sedation: I would hear Him say " Cured " . I realize now why I have had all these plethora of medical problems: I have always prayed to make this my last birth. So I understand this fast-paced Karmic clearance by Swami.

Swami related the following story during a Buddha Poornima Discourse in 1999:

" Once Buddha entered a village along with His disciples. A lady approached Him and requested Him to have lunch in her house. Buddha blessed her and accepted her invitation. Seeing this, many villagers, including the village headman, warned Buddha, saying, 'O Buddha, You are one of wisdom and have renounced everything. The lady, courtesan-dancer, is not a woman of good character. It is not proper for you to have food in her house."

"Buddha smiled and asked the village headman to come forward. Buddha, holding firmly the right hand of the headman, asked him to clap. The headman said it was not possible for him to clap since one of his hands was in Buddha's hold."

Buddha said, "True. It is possible to clap only when 2 hands come together. This lady cannot turn bad by herself unless there are men of bad character in the village. The men of this village are the root cause of her bad character!!!"

On another occassion, when a distraught woman came to Him carrying the corpse of her son, asking him to give it life, the Buddha said that He could do so only if she found the necessary medication.

Buddha asked her to find a mustard seed from any house where none have died. She immediately started running from house to house but to her dismay, everyone told her that they had experienced at least one death in their family. Finally it dawned on her that death is inevitable! This is how Buddha taught self-realization!!!

Even my doctors are surprised that I rebound so fast from various operations. Do they know that it is my Lord Sai who keeps me going? Swami acknowledged this in an Interview He granted me on Thursday August 19, 2004.He emphasizes always – "I am there in you, around you, above you, below you, behind you, all round you".

Even in office as Director of News and Public Affairs of the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation, I had an altar in front of me with two large pictures of Shirdi Sai, Parthi Sai and a Buddha statue.

Each time I worked on a project, I would prostrate before Baba's altar and ask for guidance. Is it a wonder that the programs I offered at Bhagavan's Lotus Feet won the most number of International Awards for Singapore in major competitions which had the leading nations of the world lobbying to win these accolades? Almost a 100 nations vied for some of these coveted prizes.

Last year, he gave my wife and me the divine privilege of doing Arathi on Gurupoornima day. (See photo) Again, this year, I had the opportunity of singing at Sai Kulwant Hall and also tasted the holy vibhuthi manifested by SWAMI!!!

On both occasions it was significant that we were with the group of Tibetan Buddhist monks who came at the invitation of Swami. (See photo)

Mr. Ananda Perera, is a retired Director of News and Public Affairs, Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), and founder president of the Buddhist Youth League, Singapore.

http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_05/01MAY07/04-buddha-sai.htm#