Swami Transformation

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"It was the July 3, 2015 and we were eagerly seated in the Hall of the Taj Samudra Hotel, awaiting the arrival of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, someone we had heard so much about but had not yet had the opportunity to meet in person. The atmosphere was exciting and expectant."

 

As Swami glided into the room in his subtle form, followed reverently by Brother Madhusudan, (although our eyes perceived just one man, albeit one with a certain aura of serenity, as is characteristic of Swami’s entourage) walking down the red carpet our minds, bodies and hearts, tingled with the feeling of a Divine presence. That feeling is truly quite indescribable. Though we could not see, we felt and in that moment we believed.

 

The speeches that followed, and ultimately Swami’s discourse further strengthened our belief and served to wipe away any shred of doubt and all of the sadness that we had harboured in our hearts about not being able to meet Swami in his physical form.

 

Upon recollection, I remember my father telling us that on that first day, he had been secretly praying hard for Swami to speak just one word with him, a prayer that our most beloved Lord heard and lovingly complied to, making my father, and in turn my whole family, happier than we had ever thought a and single incident could cause us to be. Little did we know that it was the first of many more meetings and experiences of boundless joy to come.

 

This is a story of transformation, and indeed we have transformed since the very moment that Swami entered our lives. Following that first visit on the July 3, 2015, I decided to stop eating meat. This was a request of mine which my mother had been refusing for quite some time as the belief was that, as a young growing girl of 16 years of age, I needed animal proteins in my daily diet. However with Swami’s blessings my mother changed her mind and I became an ovo-lacto vegetarian.

 

I was soon followed by my sister Sanduni, and subsequently my brother Sahan (who was the most surprising one as he was a well-known meat lover). All three of us became vegetarian of our own volition and of course Swami’s divine interference.   

 

Swami’s continuous presence in our lives is evident in many more ways, some apparent and some quite subtle. He is present in the Bhajans that we hum unconsciously as we go through our daily activities, in the numerous pictures of His that adorn our walls and shrine room that never fail to bring spontaneous smiles and an immediate feeling of ease and protection and in the endless prayers that we make to Him, the thousands of conversations that we have with Him on a daily basis and in the “Sai Ram” that has been incorporated into our everyday vocabulary.

 

Our beloved chitta chora (stealer of hearts) has changed our lives completely and is helping us to realise that we are capable of so much more love and service than we ever knew. We have all become better humans, more humane and deserving of the name “Sai devotee” and as I feel his presence with me in this very moment, helping my thoughts to flow effectively onto paper, I know that I echo the thoughts of my family when I say that we wish for nothing more than the opportunity to serve at His lotus feet for as long as we may live.

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Menali Dissanayake
Region 2 Sri Lanka

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