The mother remembered one day later, Easwaramba, the mother of Sathya!

How it will be felt to be the mother of a Divine Being? Ask the mother of Sathya Saibaba! It is not an easy task to bear the incarnation in the womb! How much tears shed by the unassuming, innocent and illiterate lady of the Raju family? She had two daughters and one son before Sathya was born to her. To be exact, it was the eighth conception since four pregnancies in between failed in the middle itself. Hence Sathya Saibaba was the eighth child of Mother Easwaramba, the name literally mean, ‘mother of Easwara”or God.. It is not her original name. Namagiri was the name given to her by her parents. But the grandfather of Sathya Saibaba changed it to “Easwaramba”, reasons unknown. The family was a lower middle class family in a remote village in Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh, then part of Madras. Looking at their life, none could predict that the Divine incarnation will choose Easwaramba as the ‘would be mother’. We have choice to select our life partner but not the mother. But Sathya has chosen her before willing his descend on earth!

Once during a discourse Saibaba has told the audience that every point in the life of an Avatar was preplanned and takes effect as He willed. His choice of her as the Divine Mother was really the most appropriate if one knows the background of the mother. She was innocent and had a pure heart to accommodate everyone within her heart as well as in the house. Though there was paucity, she managed things very clearly, taking care of the elders, giving respect to all and tending the children with motherly love. One will wonder to know that there were around twenty members in the family which included many children. Hence we could well imagine the tight schedule of duties of the mother who satisfied everyone by her loving service and all accommodating nature. She was not of a complaining nature and she bore every event with equal mindedness relying on prayers to gods and goddess in the village.

She considered Sathya as her son. It was the motherly affection which stemmed from her selfless love. But Sathya had a mission even before taking birth. He has to perforce follow the Divine time table. Hence he had no remorse in severing the connections with the family including his mother at the young age of fourteen. He said, “My devotees are waiting”, I have to go! Easwaramba could not stomach this sudden announcement. It was literally a shock to her but she pleaded with him not to move to some other place and received his acceptance to remain in “Puttaparthi” itself, though he may choose to stay away from the house. Yes, Saibaba has chosen Puttaparthi as the spiritual headquarters at that age. Even a lotus need time to unfold the bud. Several years later, during 1950, a beautiful temple was constructed to accommodate the pilgrims from all around the globe. In subsequent years, it has developed into a big township with all the amenities like schools, hospitals concrete roads, a nice bus stand, a beautiful railway station and finally an air port to receive the big jets to bring loads of equipments for the intended super specialty hospital.

Three events portended the birth of Sathya Sai in the family of Easwaramba!

Their family was from traditional drama performers. They hung many musical instruments on the walls when not in use. Mysteriously, before the birth of the Divine, the musical instruments played themselves creating melodious tunes to welcome the Divine baby!

One day, when the mother was drawing water from a well, a ball of blue light entered the body of Easwaramba from the sky and she instantly swooned due to the sudden inexplicable event. Her mother in law pacified her and told her not to reveal this to any since the tongues of villagers will wag in many ways.

The grandfather of Sathya had a guru called “Vengappa” who used to visit him rarely. In one such visit, he forewarned the grandfather that a Divine incarnation will happen in his family. “Didn’t you hear the wail of mother earth? He will set things right.

Later, when Sathya Saibaba has grown and started his mission, one day, a Pundit asked him a question! “Swami! Whether your birth is holy conception or in ordinary way? Everybody got annoyed at the impertinent question but Saibaba turned to his mother and asked her to narrate the incidents when she was drawing water from the well. When she narrated the event that a blue ball of light descended from the sky on that day, every body there was happy and the doubts of the Pundit clarified. As in the case of Mary, it was an ‘immaculate conception”!

In the later years, the mother requested for three things: 1. The poor villagers are walking many miles to get medical treatment. 2. There is no basic schooling facility in the village. 3. There is acute scarcity of potable water in the village. Saibaba fulfilled the requests of his mother by founding a GeneralHospital, an elementary school and a mammoth drinking water project that costed more than 800 crores to cater to the need of around 730 villages in the District. The school was later expanded to Higher Secondary School, three collages were started during the 80s and later Sathya Sai University accredited by the University Grants Commission was found as a deemed University. Two super specialty Hospitals were founded one in Puttaparthi and another in Whitefield, Bangalore. All this was carried out without a penny of contribution from the then Governments. It was funded by Sathya Sai Trust. Every thing is absolutely FREE. No fees from the students. International standards were maintained in higher education and health!

Only in the fag end of her life the Mother Easwaramba realized that Sathya is really an incarnation of God. Just one day before passing away at Bangalore Whitefield, she had the Dharsan of Lord Rama and she fell in his feet. The next day morning, after sipping her coffee, she had only thoughts of Swami (Saibaba). She cried “Swami! Swami!. Instantly Saibaba was rushing down the stairs, her soul reached his Divine Feet. He never grieved but he was happy that she ended her earthly career with the divine name on lips. It was 6^th May.

I longed to write the hub yesterday itself but delayed by one day. Hail the Mother!