Many facets of the Avatar -Part IV

I would like to narrate the pleasing qualities, the boy Sathya exhibited even as a small boy! The village Puttaparthi is very small containing very few streets. The villagers were mostly poor and lived their life with hard toil in the pieces of land they owned. Of course, cattle were their only wealth. Before Sathyam took birth in this holy place, the place was full of snake hills and cattle dwindled miserably. The reason advanced for this mysterious event is a curse from a snake pronounced on the in charge for cattle. He found that one of his favorite cow yielded no milk all of a sudden. He wanted to find out whether some body milks the cow unnoticed? Hence on the next day, he was following his favorite cow and he found that the cow mysteriously heads to a secluded place after grazing. He silently followed it. It stopped at one particular point containing an ant hill. From there, a snake shoot forth and resting on the hind legs of the cow, started drinking the sweet milk from her udder. The cow in charge was furious. He immediately lifted a big stone and aimed at the snake. Unfortunately, the snake was hit badly and it pronounced a curse, "Let cattle dwindle and snake hills abound". None felt any thing amiss when cattle started to dwindle and snake hills started growing!

It is only after the birth of Sathya Saibaba, things improved in Puttaparthi. Even prior to that, finding that the decline of cattle might have caused due to the curse of the snake, people brought the stone with a streak of blood and kept it for worship. After Sathya Saibaba became a boy, he asked the villagers to bring the stone and wash it. He asked them to apply sandal paste to that. When the sandal paste was applied, the villagers could easily see the beautiful form of Krishna on the stone. Now the stone is worshiped regularly and the temple is known as "Gopalaswami temple".

Sathyam's grandfather Kondama Raju was a pious soul. Sathyam loved his company rather than to be with his parents and sisters. He often ran to his grandfather's cottage. There he prepared chutney and meals to his grandfather. Kondama Raju was a strict vegetarian though the Raju family in which Sathyam was born used to take non-vegetarian meals. Hence most of the time, Sathyam skipped the meals there and he advocated non-violence even from an early age. When he was a little boy, he insisted that he should be adored with both Vibhuthi (holy ash) and Kumkum, the dot worn by married ladies as a mark of sowmangalya.(auspiciousness). Whenever any beggar came near the house, Sathyam insisted his mother to put some rice or cereal into the beggars utensils. But his mother found it to be a costly exercise. The family earned their income from small resources. But Sathyam insisted. Then his mother used to warn him, "If you insist to feed the beggar, then you will have to forego your food! After wards, Sathyam won't take any food even after consoling or cajoling. He stood for Truth. He will never play false to his words. This was the practice till he attained Mahasamadhi on 24 April 2011.

The classmates of Sathyam could never equal him in studies or moral character. Hence they became jealous of him. When they go to school, they will catch hold of Sathyam and immerse him in the river and soil his pure dresses. Neither he resisted their efforts nor he admonished them. He never complained about it to his parents. He was considerate towards all. He knew about human vices and hence he developed forbearance and even now he advise his devotees to develop forbearance which will stand as a great strength during adversaries and troubles. Rest in next part.