The
Rhythm of His Feet
When he was
eight, Sathya was declared ready to proceed to
the Higher Elementary School at Bukkapatnam, two
and a half miles from Puttaparthi. He had to
trudge the distance in hot sun or rain over
stony mounds or slushy fields, wading through
neck-deep water, as the season dictated. His bag
of books would be securely held above his head.
He had to start early in the morning after a
meal of delicacies such as cold rice and curds
or cooked rice and chutney. He trekked regularly
to Bukkapatnam with companions, carrying his
afternoon meal in a bag.
Sri B.
Subbannachar writes in a book published in 1944,
"He was my student in the eighth grade. He was a
simple, unostentatious, honest, and well-behaved
boy." Unostentatious! With what great
self-control must Sai Baba have suppressed His
manifold divine powers in order that the world
might become ready for the
Announcement!
Sri V.C.
Kondappa, another teacher, who later revered the
student as divine, writes in the same book, "He
was very obedient and never spoke more than
necessary. Coming early to school, he
would gather the children and install an image
or picture in the schoolroom. With the flowers
he brought with him, he conducted worship, waved
burning camphor, and distributed Grace in one
form or another. The boys, gathered around him
for the things he 'took' out of his empty bag!
When asked about it, he said that a certain
'Angel' obeyed his will and gave him whatever he
wanted!"
One of his
teachers was personally to experience the force
of that "Angel" on one occasion. Sai Baba was
generally listless in class, engaged most of the
time in what he later described as composing
chants and copying them for distribution among
his classmates. One day the teacher discovered
that Sathya was not taking down the notes he
dictated. "He is setting a bad example for the
whole class," thought the teacher, and shouted,
"All those who are not taking notes, stand up!"
Sathya was the solitary culprit and was asked
why he was not taking notes. He answered in an
innocent and straightforward tone, "Sir why
should I take notes? I have understood what you
dictated. Ask me any question on it and I shall
answer correctly." But the teacher's pride was
injured, and the boy must suffer. He ordered
Sathya to stand upon the bench and remain
standing until the last bell of the day. Sathya
obeyed. All the boys hung their heads in sorrow.
None of them could feel happy that day sitting
down while his Guru was poised uncomfortably
upon a bench.
When the
hour-bell rang, the teacher for the next class
came in. It was Janab Mahbub Khan, who loved and
respected little Sathya beyond words. He taught
English, and his approach and method were so
earnest and appealing that every boy learned
every lesson thoroughly. He was an elderly
bachelor, and he treated Sathya with a unique
affection. (Sai Baba even today extols Mahbub
Khan as a highly evolved soul.)
Mahbub Khan
would offer sweets and savories to Sathya,
enticing him to eat by means of a hundred
different artifices. He told Sathya that his
house was specially cleansed for the preparation
of the food, because he knew Sathya would not
eat food having the remotest contact with
non-vegetarian dishes. He would say that he had
not eaten, as he wanted Sathya to partake of the
food first. He would sit quietly for long
periods, stroking Sathya's hair and whispering,
"Oh, you are a wonderful boy! You will help
thousands; you are a great
power."
When Mahbub
Khan entered the classroom, he was shocked to
find Satyanarayana standing on the bench and the
teacher still sitting on the chair. He asked the
teacher why he was not vacating the chair for
the next class. The teacher whispered that he
could not get up because when he tried to get
up, the chair, too, rose up with him! The
whisper was caught by the boys who quietly
laughed at the teacher's plight and said it must
be due to Sathya's "Angel." Mahbub Khan also
suspected this was so, and suggested that the
teacher ask Sathya to come down. The teacher
acquiesced. Immediately the chair fell away, and
with great relief he moved about
unencumbered!
Years later,
while relating this story, Baba said that He
willed it to be so, not out of anger - for He
had no anger in Him - but purely to demonstrate
Himself and gradually prepare men's minds for
the Announcement of His Mission and
Identity.
True to the
nickname Brahmajnani,
or Knower of God, which he had earned by his
true and pure nature, Sathya showed by precept
and example that the little joys of this limited
world were quite inferior to the Supreme Bliss
attained through prayer, concentration,
renunciation and contentment. He delighted only
in stories of saints endowed with these
qualities.
As Kondama
Raju's sons and one of his daughters shared the
same home, Sathya grew up in the midst of about
twenty children. It was necessary that a child
be clean and honest in order to win Sathya's
approval and get the peppermints he "took" out
of empty bags. Sathya was always the example
they sought. Kondama Raju once said that, when
the tailor called to make the children's shirts
out of various types of dyed cloth which had
been brought from a Bukkapatnam market, Sathya
would say, "Let each one be given the cloth he
selects; what remains is good enough for
me."
In later years
at the Prasanthi
Nilayam,
where Sai Baba lives when at Puttaparthi, He
said, "I have no lands to call My own and on
which to grow My food; every bit is registered
already in the name of someone else. Just as
landless people wait for the village tank to get
dry so that they may scratch the bed with a
plough and quickly grow something for
themselves, I too grow My food, namely, joy in
the dried tank-beds of afflicted
hearts."
Kondama Raju
did not realize at the time the significance of
Sathya's attitude of renunciation; he just felt
proud of the boy!
Even as a
child, Sathya was against all sports and games
which caused cruelty or pain. He would not allow
his companions to witness the annual bullock
cart race held on the sands of the river bed
during one of the village festivals. He objected
to the twisting of the tails of the bullocks and
the flaying of their backs with sticks for the
vicarious glory of the owner.
Years later
Sai Baba summoned back to the
Prasanthi
Nilayam,
a party of devotees who had left by bullock
cart. They were proceeding across the river to
their cars which were parked at a village on the
other side of the bank. Sai Baba waved His
Blessings when they got into the cart; it crept
out of the main gate into the road beyond.
Suddenly he sent someone running to bring the
devotees back to Him. He commanded them,
"Listen! When you reach the sands, you must all
get down and walk across. The bullocks should
not be forced to drag all your weight through
the sands; do you understand?"
Bear-baiting,
cock fighting, and other similar village
entertainments Sathya condemned, and his group
of boys did not attend such
activities.
Whenever a
touring "talkie picture show" pitched its tent
in those days at Bukkapatnam or Kothacheruvu, it
caused a stir for miles around. Village folks
sacrificed their small earnings to meet the
expense of seeing as many films as they could.
Pedda Venkapa Raju often tried to take Sathya,
together with the other children, but Sathya
protested and refused. He spoke of the degraded
standards of the films, how they vulgarized the
Gods, and made a muddle of music. He said they
only exhibited the seamy side of family life and
praised cruelty, cunning, and crime.
Even to this
day, Sai Baba is a relentless critic of the
arts, especially of literature and films which
willfully drag ideals down in order to make
money.
When he was
ten years of age, Sathya formed in Puttaparthi a
Pandhari Bhajan Group, or a group of
carollers, for the presentation of songs of love
and devotion to God. The group was modeled after
similar groups which existed in the neighbouring
villages. It consisted of about eighteen boys,
uniformly dressed in ochre robes. Each held a
flag and wore jingle-bells as anklets. They
danced to the tones of folk songs and ballads
depicting the yearning of pilgrims for
Darshan
or the blessing by sight of the Panduranga
Shrine. Sathya taught the children in poetry and
song the ordeals of the long pilgrimage, the
pilgrim's anxiety to reach the shrine quickly,
and their joy at the sight of the pinnacle of
the temple.
He composed
some songs from the legendary Life of
Krishna known in India as the
Bhagavata
Purana.
In these songs the milkmaids complain to Yasoda,
Krishna's foster mother, of the unceasing pranks
of Krishna.
Yasoda chides the boy for his thievery and
mischief, but Krishna
pleads innocence. With actresses and actors of
Sathya's group performing the parts of Yasoda
and Krishna
in the
center of the circle, and with others playing
the role of the milkmaids dancing on the
circumference, the scene was a great attraction
in the village. Sathya played the role of either
the mother or the child. His dance, dialogue,
and music added to the charm of the devotional
songs.
He
also included with the traditional themes, songs
concerning a pilgrimage to a new Deity and new
shrine of which no one had yet heard. No one had
the faintest idea who the new Deity was. The
shrine, Shirdi and the Deity, Sai Baba? Sai Baba
of Shirdi? Who could it be? How did this little
boy know of that Mohammedan ascetic of Shirdi?
The elders wondered as the children danced in
the streets.
The
Bhajan
Group collected a subscription of an anna per
month from each house for oil, parched rice,
joss-sticks, camphor, and other sundries needed
for worship. The oil was used for the lamp which
they carried with them when they walked around
the village. The parched rice was given to
everyone as Grace. On festival occasions they
collected larger amounts, perhaps two annas, and
proudly bought a petromax light which they
brought all the way from Bukkapatnam. The
children of the Raju family and others provided
the musical accompaniments.
Sathya was the
central figure of the group as organizer,
treasurer, teacher, composer, and leading
singer. He portrayed every role so wonderfully
that the villagers could envision before their
eyes Mathura and Brindavan where the Lord lived
as Krishna,
and boy Krishna
as a cowherd with His flute enchanting the
milkmaids, the cows, calves, the trees, and the
river Yamuna.
Once, while a
song describing the prowess and achievements of
Narasimha,
the "Man-Lion Avatara
of Vishnu,"
was being enacted and the line, "From out the
pillar of steel the giant Lion jumped," was
sung, Sathya suddenly leaped like the Lion-Man
manifestation of the Lord personified. His face
was transformed into such ferocity, indignation,
and benediction that the entire village was
frightened. No one, not even experts in
wrestling holds, could control the boy. At last,
after a number of people had offered worship and
waved camphor and broken coconuts before the
manifested Lord, Sathya became normal and
resumed the song. [Text
Bhajan: Sri Nrsimhadeva
Pranama]
This incident
spread the fame of the Pandhari
Bhajan
Group. Word was spread that God actually
manifested Himself when this group sang and
danced - as the people of Puttaparthi witnessed!
When cholera swept like a poisonous simoom over
the area and killed entire families in the
surrounding villages, Puttaparthi did not feel
the blast of death. Wise men told one another
that the divine atmosphere generated by the
Bhajan
Group was responsible. Thereafter the group was
invited to many villages to sing in order to
protect these places from the anger of the Gods.
Very often carts were sent as transportation for
the group, but sometimes the little saviors,
carrying their food with them, had to walk ten
or twelve miles, resting during the hottest part
of the day in some grove along the way. The
people in these villages also heard the strange
names of Shirdi and Sai Baba and wondered what
and who they were. Because they did not
understand, they plunged into their routine
tasks again.
There were
dramas and open-air operas where Puranic (Indian
legend) themes were represented by dialogue,
dance, and costume, and where Rakshasas
(demons), Asuras (ungodly ones) , and the powers
of evil were defeated by the forces of Good.
These dramas were written, rehearsed, and
produced in various households in which Sathya
visited.
Sathya's
father also became a celebrity on the popular
stage, mainly for his role of Banasura, a famous
Titan of mythology, then even more for his
inimitable depiction of Yudhishthira, the eldest
of the five sons of Pandu, the holy follower of
divine law and the never wavering adherent of
the Lord.
A number of
plays were produced at this period in order to
collect funds for famine relief. "Banasuram,"
"Ushaparinayam," "Draupadi Manasamrakshanam,"
and "Kamsa Vadha" were the plays most preferred.
These plays were concerning mythology, the
protection of the honor of Draupadi, and about
Kamsa, the tyrant king and persecutor whom
Krishna
finally killed. Young Sathya selected several
roles, especially those of
Krishna
and
Mohini. The audiences applauded his acting,
singing, and above all, his dancing. There was a
rhythm in his feet, a sense of time and tune,
and a litheness and loveliness they had seldom
seen. To them it seemed that he never touched
the earth and that he belonged to an ethereal
sphere.
Within a short
period he was enacting more and more roles. In
the popular story of Kanakatara, he played the
role of the mythological Tara so effectively one
night that his mother, who was present in the
audience in the tent, rushed onto the stage to
prevent what she believed to be the "execution"
of Tara. She forgot that it was all
make-believe!
Sathya
sometimes assumed more than one role in the same
play to satisfy the audience. In the drama
Krishna
Lila,
the sport of Krishna,
he was Devaki, the mother, the boy
Krishna,
and also the danseuse regaling King Kamsa with
her dances in Durbar Hall! At other times he
played the role of Draupadi, wife of the five
Pandava Brothers.
Soon a
professional dramatic troupe visited the area
and presented a number of musical plays which
attracted large audiences. They put up their
stage at Bukkapatnam and later moved to
Puttaparthi, Kothacheruvu, Elumalapalli, and
other large villages. Their performances became
the talk of the entire district. Their group
included a girl dancer whose stage name was
Rishyendramani, who performed a series of
gymnastic dances with music. Her highlight was a
dance in which she kept time to the music while
balancing a bottle on her head. She would bend
low, sit down, lay herself on the floor, raise
her back up, and clasp with her teeth a kerchief
placed on a match box on the floor. With the
kerchief between her teeth, she would then sit
up, rise, and stand-still balancing the bottle
on her head! A challenging assignment! By a
great deal of practice she had trained herself
for this difficult feat. No wonder she won the
acclaim of her audiences.
Sathya went
with others to witness the plays of these
professionals and saw this act. After he came
home, he tried to do it himself. To the surprise
of all, he could do it easily! When the elders
asked to be shown this new item in Sathya's
repertoire, he withdrew within himself and
hesitated. But the news spread, and some
enterprising young men persuaded him to agree to
perform this feat at Kothacheruvu during the
village carnival. They had the timerity to
announce that the famous Rishyendramani herself
would appear, for they felt very confident that
Sathya could succeed in the impersonation and
would not disappoint them. Sathya's sisters
dressed him as Rishyendraman, complete with
hair-do and personal decoration, and took him to
Kothacheruvu. When Sathya's father heard about
it, he feared the consequences of this foolhardy
adventure into which Sathya had been
inveigled.
The day of the
performance arrived. The curtain rose,
"Rishyendramani" tripped her way into the Durbar
Hall of Kamsa. The audience was too wild with
excitement to notice any difference. The famous
dance number began. Sathya had improved upon it
and substituted a needle for the kerchief. The
needle had to be lifted by the eyelids! The
"Rishyendramani" of that day accomplished it,
but not without dire consequences!
The carnival
president insisted on pinning a medal on the
dancer's person. Sathya's mother and others who
were at first thrilled with the tributes of
praise, the invitations to repeat the feat at
other places, and the silver cups and gold
medals being pressed into Sathya's hands, became
afraid of the "evil eyes" which the boy
provoked. Their tears proved true. His eyes
developed a dreadful affliction. They swelled,
became red, and exuded tears profusely. His
temperature rose.
One night his
mother heard heavy footsteps, as of one wearing
wooden sandals, entering the house and
proceeding straight to Sathya. It was all very
mysterious. She got up, went to her boy's room,
and placed her hand on his brow to check his
temperature. She found the fever gone! She
brought a light and looked into his eyes. They
had improved beyond all expectations! Sathya was
quite well the next day.
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