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| It is no mean achievement to be the Sarathi to the Sanathana Sarathi! |
Duty is God; Work is Worship
A man walking briskly with purposeful steps, dressed in a white shirt and a white pant, is not such a rare sight in Prasanthi Nilayam, Puttaparthi. Most of the men here are dressed in whites and all the people here have come here on a purpose! (Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, our dear Swami, emphasizes that unless it is willed by Him, one cannot come to Prasanthi Nilayam.)
Imagine you walk up to one such man dressed in whites and greet him,
“Hello”
And he replies with,
“Sairam, yes.?”
“Could you help me find the Sathya Sai Bhakta Nivas accommodation hall?”
“Sure! I am headed to work and the hall comes along the way. I can guide you there. Do you need help to carry your bags?”
“I am fine with the bags. Thank you for showing me to the hall.”
And you both walk along.
“Actually, there are two battery-operated vehicle service, named ‘Sai Sevak’, to transport devotees with luggage from the gate to the accommodation hall...”
“Oh I see,” you are surprised, “that is a nice development.
You reach your destination and the man begins to retrace his steps.
“Excuse me, can I know where you work?”
Pointing to a big shed nearby, he says,
“Over there - at the Tractor Shed.”
“Tractor shed? You...”
“I am a driver.”
The general response to such a revelation is not something out-of-the-world. I mean, the response will lack the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ that a revelation of him being an active scientist in the country’s missile program would evoke. It will also lack the admiration and possible envy that a revelation of him being the CEO of some firm would elicit. A driver is not someone you admire, envy or look up to in awe! But imagine that you ask him,
“Who are you? And what car do you drive?”
His answer will blow your mind away.
“I am Padmanabhan. I drove Swami’s cars for 18 years. I now maintain all of them!”
Now imagine your response! Most probably, your hands would fold in salutation and you would exclaim,
“Sai Ram!! The Lord’s driver!! OMG! How lucky I am to meet you...”
That exclamation is what happens when one does one’s work for God! It is the difference between spirituality as we understand it and actual spirituality which is doing one’s duty and daily work as a service to God. And the life of Sri.P.V.Padmanabhan has been one long saga of transforming work into worship. The story of how he came to Swami, how he became Swami’s chauffeur and how he learned what is truly meant by Spirituality, is indeed a nectarous one, another leaf in the gigantic banyan tree of the Sai Bhagawatham.
Introduction to Sri Sathya Sai
Padmanabhan obtained a Diploma in Automobile Engineering which, in combination with some support from his uncle, got him a job as vehicle mechanic in the Indian Air Force base at Assam (there were more than 300 jeeps and other vehicles to maintain). The teenager worked hard and in all sincerity, expanding his skill-set and knowledge base. His hard work paid off when, as a 20-year old, he got a contract job in Baghdad. For more than two years from 1981 to 1983, Padmanabhan maintained his clients’ cars as a well-paid auto mechanic. Reports of his good work reached the neighbouring Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and he won a contract there to manage and maintain several cars. Thus, the 3 years from 1983 to 1986 were spent in the strictly Islamic country.
“Hey! Just a minute. What was the need to mention ‘strictly Islamic country’? Please keep religion out of your narratives.”
Someone might be tempted to tell me thus.
Well, the reason I mention that term is because it was in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that Padmanabhan came to know of Swami! Imagine that - getting to know of God in human form in a country where it is a sin (punishable by incarceration and possibly even death) to indulge in any kind of idolatry! It happened via his friend Venugopal with whom Padmanabhan spent many hours chatting as he was also a Malyali like him. (Padmanabhan hails from Kuttiyady in Calicut.)
