The memories linger on!

To the devout millions around the world, His merging in the Cosmic Form was a rude shock. None expected that Saibaba will recede from our vision so soon. We all expected him to be around for another nine or ten years. In many of His discourses, He has indicated about his longevity in the Sathya Sai form upto his 96 years. This adds upto the year of 2022. Still none thought that He will leave His Divine Form on 24 April 2011. Many theories evolved subsequent to His Mahasamadhi. Calculating based on the lunar calender tallied to a great extent. But we failed to notice his warnings earlier. He will leave at His sweet will! and none could gauge. His life was purely under His control and none has anything to say. The entire world prayed when He was hospitalized for 28 days. Every body was hopeful that Swami will pull out a miracle! NO. He has not used His Divinity for His own benefit. Hence the devotees were rudely shocked to hear the news from the hospital bulletin that Saibaba breathed His last at 7.28 AM on 24 April 2011. Media was eager to earn by deploying direct relays from Puttaparthi. Many stories were going on round. Some "well wishers' thought that the Sathya Sai service activities will come to an end!

No doubt, there was utter shock. Even the members of Sathya Sai Trust were in dark, how to proceed further. As long as Swami was alive, He was the guiding force. Now there is vacuum. None were delegated powers to proceed but the Trust members regained their calmness and put their entire Faith on Swami in spite of the brickbats they received from TV and print media. Almost, all the crews of major TV broadcasting companies were camping there. There were lot of speculations about the property of the Trust etc. The Trust members endured bravely the onslaught of media attention. After Swami's Divine Form was interred in the place where He used to sit and grant Dharsan, things started falling in place. No doubt, there was initial hiccups. Then the prayers, regular bhajan sessions and Veda chanting continued as before. People started arriving to Puttaparthi from all around the globe to personally view the holy area where Swami was rested. Nice marble rectangular Samadhi was constructed and decorated. People who visited the area found the same vibrations as before when Swami was in physical form.

Those who thought or hankered for cessation of service activities were miserably wrong. All educational Institutes, Hospitals, drinking water projects, and other activities started gaining momentum and annual pilgrimage of devotees to Prasanthi Nilayam with all programs as usual went on Students were eager to join Swami's educational Institution. Hospitals were providing health care Free as before. In additions, new projects to enhance the existing one were planned and executed as before. Swami too was giving His signs of Presence throughout the world to assure the devotees that He has not left them. He is active as before, protecting the devotees from dangers. Mysterious manifestations of holy ash throughout the globe in some devotees homes assured His presence. The Trust gained immense confidence by the events occurring everywhere. Swami's messages through dreams or otherwise assure us that He is in charge though we act as His Divine Instruments.

There are many forums which regularly update the events happening around the world with texts, photos and videos. The online magazine Heart2Heart chronicle many nice incidents and messages of Love. How Swami invisibly help the poor and downtrodden has been recorded. No doubt, it is impossible to chronicle the miracles of the Sai phenomenon. We have not seen Jesus or Buddha in action. But we witnessed Swami in action, heard His messages from his own mouth. Read his Divine messages. But we have to make a move to implement His message in action. He has rightly said, "My Life is My Message". Now we have to ensure that "Our Life is His message! Those who want to know about Sathya Sai may browse the site, sssbpt.org.