THE THRILL OF LIVING WITH THE LOVING MASTER
Dr. K. Anil Kumar
..."That God understands the prayer and has a
relationship with every being right from the elephant to Brahma, Indra,
Gopis and Uddhava. This means He interacts with both literate and
illiterate, men and women, and people of every kind of mental state or
development of consciousness. Only such a one is God.
..."
An alumnus of Bhagawan's University, Dr. K. Anil Kumar came to Swami as early as 1971 when he was just six years old. He joined the Sri Sathya Sai College of Arts, Science and Commerce in 1979 for his 11th grade. Thereafter he did his Bachelors in Sciences in the Brindavan Campus of the Institute. He then moved to Prasanthi Nilayam to do his Masters in Sciences which he completed in 1986. After this, Bhagawan permitted Him to pursue Ph. D in His presence. Once he completed his doctorate in chemistry in 1991 Swami gave him the opportunity of serving as a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning. For nearly two decades he taught and mentored the students, and in 2011 he moved to the city of Pune in the State of Maharashtra, India where he currently heads the Tata Chemicals Innovation Centre.
In 1996 Dr. Anil Kumar was conferred the Young Scientist Award by the All India Council for Technical Education, Government of India, for excellence in academic teaching and praiseworthy research work. Throughout his stay at Swami's lotus feet he was a leading member of the Prasanthi Vedam Group, and had the opportunity of innumerable personal interactions with Bhagawan on matters mundane to divine.Presented below is the edited transcript of a 'Fleeting Moments Lasting Memories' conversation with him in February 2015.Part 01
At the very outset I place
my humble, loving and grateful pranams at Bhagawan's lotus feet for
giving me this opportunity to recapitulate His glory. But for Him we are
nothing. I also thank Radio Sai for giving me this wonderful chance.
Everything I am is because
of His grace, and it's not just me. Every individual who has come to Him
has been shaped by Him in various ways; He has given us confidence in
forms we desire as well as not desire.
The Divine Sculptor Does Not Allow Even a Single Rough Edge
I am saying this because
when I look back, during the seven years of my student life the only
department in the hostel I did not enter was the kitchen. I used to be a
part of every other self-reliance division, whether it was maintenance
or gardening. More so when I was in Brindavan (Bangalore college) where I
was deeply involved in all the activities of the hostel. When I joined
as a lecturer in 1991 I was told “You're being appointed as a lecturer so that you can take care of the hostel kitchen.” Swami, The Divine Master that He is, ensured that I got into even that aspect of training.
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| The Lord has heard every prayer, said and unsaid, of Dr. K. Anil Kumar's heart |
Same is the case with my
specialisation in Chemistry. I was absolutely comfortable with Maths. Of
all the three subjects, namely Physics, Chemistry and Maths I was very
weak in Chemistry. I never expected to take Chemistry as my
specialisation. We were then studying under Bangalore University and
that year we were to move to Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning
(as now Swami had His own university which started in 1981). I had to
now write an entrance test to join for my Masters in Sciences in
Bhagawan's university. I was eligible to apply for any of the three
subjects.
I kept praying to Swami at
Brindavan for guidance as to which subject I should choose, and that was
the year (1984) when 'Trayee Brindavan' building was inaugurated. So we
were actually busy with many related activities in this new abode of
Swami like arranging flower pots, shifting furniture and so on. In
between we had to send the application forms to Sri Sathya Sai Institute
of Higher Learning for entry into M. Sc. But before I could do this I
needed to know about my subject selection. I tried asking Swami many
times; He always made a light matter of my question and never gave a
straight answer. Sometimes He would even say, “Why do you require
M.Sc.?” and mischievously walk away.
However I continued to pray. Finally on the night before the deadline Swami came in my dream and said, “You take M.Sc. Chemistry”.
Next morning I filled up the form. Still, I had doubts. Sometimes we
wonder if our dreams are true. So I thought “If Swami comes and blesses
this form, that's an indication that it was He who told me in my dream.”
So I went for darshan and stood there
waiting for Him. When Swami emerged, He came straight to me and gently
touched the application form. Not only this, He said, “Pampicchu (Send it across).” In fact I was the last one from Brindavan to send my papers to Puttaparthi.
Again there was a lesson here too. Swami made me take up the subject I was most dreadful at and amazingly made me excel in it. He has been that kind of a Loving Master, whether at a worldly level or in spiritual matters.
The Eloquently Silent and Silently Eloquent Universal Principle
The Dakshinamurti Tattwa of Lord Shiva (Universal Teacher aspect of Lord Shiva) is:
Vishwam Darpana Drishya Maana Nagari Tulyam Nijaantargatam
Pashyan Aatmani Maayayaa Bahiriva Udbhuutam Yathaa Nidrayaa,
Yas Saakshaat Kurute Prabodha-samaye Svaatmaanameva Advayam,
Tasmai Srigurumurtaye Nama Idam Sridakshinamurtaye.
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| Lord Dakshinamurthy on the facade of Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School, Prasanthi Nilayam |
He is the One who teaches through silence
and because we did not understand silence the same Dakshinamurti became
eloquent and articulative. He is the One who finally makes us
understand that the Vishwam or cosmos is only a darpanam
or a mirror of what we perceive. He makes us realise the final aspect
of what we are born for and what our ultimate goal and path should be.
The experiences that Bhagawan has given
are so manifold. His glory is so difficult to recapture in just a few
lines. The Vedas, in the Maha Narayana Upanishad, say Ambhasya Paare Bhuvanasya Madhye Naakasya Prushthe Mahatomaheeyan.
Ambhasya Paare means, 'the end of the ocean', Bhuvanasya Madhye is the centre of the Universe and Naakasya Prusthe is 'the end of the sky'.
Can we really fathom the end
of the sky? Or can we identify the centre of the universe? Can we
decipher the mightiness of the vast ocean? That is how mysterious is
the glory of the divine. When we come to Swami we realise this! These
would have been only statements we had heard had we not experienced Him.
Now we know that every bit of what is said is 100% true.
We really can't recapitulate
the myriad experiences and the messages that Swami has given to each
one of us. In fact I feel many times I have missed a lot of the lessons
that He was giving me at a physical level because I wasn't ready for
understanding them.
I know for sure Swami has
been constantly trying to give these teachings to me just like He has
been doing to each one of us. Few of them we capture as a message if He
directly tells us because that is our level of growth. Our interaction
with Bhagawan is like that of a devotee with God or a child with the
mother, and this is indeed Bhagavatam.
In fact the reason the
Srimad Bhagavatam is a wonderful text is that it not only talks about
the love of God for man but also of the love of man for God. It talks
about not only the relationship between man and God, but also about how
it is only God and God alone who can interact with every being on earth,
be it a being at the lowest level of consciousness to the being who is
at the highest and most purest form of consciousness.
The story of Gajendra
Moksham is an example. Gajendra is an elephant. Compare this with Lord
Brahma who had come to test Krishna, again in the Bhagavatam. What does
the Bhagavatam show you? That God understands the prayer and has a
relationship with every being right from the elephant to Brahma, Indra,
Gopis and Uddhava. This means He interacts with both literate and
illiterate, men and women, and people of every kind of mental state or
development of consciousness. Only such a one is God.
Hanuman was proficient
in all the 64 types of knowledge. He was the direct disciple of the Sun
God. Only Rama could interact with Hanuman, the vanaras (monkeys), the bird Jatayu, the squirrel and a tribal like Guha on the one hand, and sages like Vasishta on the other hand. That's the beauty.  |
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- Radio Sai Team