Jnana and Dhyana also need Bhakti - Ram Mohan's life experience_Part 3

The magazine of God, for God, with God

It was almost instantly that Ram Mohan decided to make everything he did as an expression of his love to Swami. In 1984, he encouraged the students to produce a hostel magazine as an offering to Bhagawan on His Birthday on 23rd November. A number of hand-written articles, hand-drawn sketches and original poems landed up in his room in the weeks leading to the birthday. With the permission of the Controller of Examinations, Prof. Nanjundiah, Ram Mohan got multiple copies made from the University cyclostyle machine. Then, getting all the pages bound, Ram Mohan offered the magazine to Swami for His birthday.

Swami placed the bulky book on His lap and leafed through all its contents. He was visibly happy and He blessed the effort. From then on, there was no looking back for Ram Mohan. He ensured that a copy of the magazine which was released for every major festival - Guru Poornima, Krishna Janmashtami, Dusshera, Christmas etc. - made its way to Bhagawan. After that, a copy of the magazine was also delivered to each and every room in the hostel for the students to read. Swami would go through the magazine and send His feedback on different articles, poems, sketches and paintings. Even when Swami had suffered a fall and a fracture, He went through the magazine, sending feedback via the editor of the Sanathana Sarathi, Sri V.K.Narasimhan. Swami conveyed to Ram Mohan,

“Why has the boy drawn Garuda’s nose so long? Tell him to shorten it...”

Ram Mohan offering the initial version of the hostel magazine, Sai Chandana, to his Swami in the Mandir portico. 

Years later, in 1989, Swami Himself christened the magazine as ‘Chandana’. The next issue onwards, the magazine carried the name ‘Sai Chandana’ in bold letters on the front. Ram Mohan could not think of Chandana without the ‘Sai’ coming first! Thus, not only did Ram Mohan make the hostel magazine a vehicle for his devotion, he made it the carrier of all the students’ love too. In the later years, the magazine grew in size and significance and had multiple editors. Even then, when Swami referred to it, He always fondly remembered Ram Mohan. In fact, going through the 60th Birthday issue, Swami looked at Ram Mohan and told him,

“I know that you only have written all the articles in here.”

That thrilled the devoted heart.

{This is the concluding part of the 3-part story of Ram Mohan. To ensure you get the best of the story, read this part only after reading the first two parts at the links below:
1. How to get devotion and increase it? - Life experience of Ram Mohan Rao - Part 1
2. The easiest way to increase devotion to God - Life experience of Ram Mohan Rao - Part 2 }

Sai Chandana became a passion and obsession with Ram Mohan. He fervently worked for it with the feeling that this magazine of God should record the heartbeats of His students. The contributions were from students as young as 12 years of age right up till the research scholars in their mid twenties. Ram Mohan considered Sai Chandana as a legacy of the present to the future, a gift and treasure trove of Divine Love.

The lines of dedication from the first issue of the hostel magazine (that Swami named as Chandana) says it all.

When the revered Sri Gandikota Subrahmanya Sastry passed away, a list of names was taken to Swami to name his substitute on the board of reviewers of the Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust alongside Prof. Anil Kumar, Sri Ramana Rao and Sri Prahlad. It was possibly as a reward for his purity, patience and perseverance that Swami selected Ram Mohan as a member of the book-review board.

When God waits for the devotee

This attitude of doing everything as an offering to Swami began to pervade Ram Mohan’s ‘translator-abilities’ too. In the 1990s, Swami brought Prof. Anil Kumar from the Brindavan campus of the SSSIHL to its Prasanthi Nilayam campus. That was when Ram Mohan’s opportunities as a translator declined drastically as Prof. Anil Kumar took over that divine task. However, that did not sadden Ram Mohan or dampen his enthusiasm for Swami’s voice and words. He would sit in his spot behind the Ganesha idol in the Mandir portico, recording Bhagawan’s discourse on tape, in his diary and his heart. Then, he would transcribe the entire discourse in his beautiful Telugu handwriting after which, he would add his comments and appreciation of the different points made by Swami in the discourse. Having done that, he would make copies of his work and send the originals to Swami in a sealed envelope!

Kumaon Himalayas - the divine land where everyone seems to be aware of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The ‘Himalayan people’ have a high spiritual quotient

One of the first things that strike you when you travel to the Himalayan regions is the unbelievable grandeur and beauty of nature. I have made two such trips so far - once to the Garhwal Himalayas and the other to the Kumaon Himalayas - and on both the trips, my breath has been taken away by the mesmerising sights. There is another thing that strikes you with equal force when you undertake such a journey, though it might not hit you right in the beginning. That, in my opinion, is the main reason why this place, Uttarakhand, is called Daivabhoomi (the divine land). And therefore the amazingly high spiritual quotient of the people here.

The beautiful temple-complex at Jageshwar where it is believed that the central shrine houses a Jyotirlinga. 

“Hey! Hold on there”, you will ask me, “how do you know that? Do you know a way to measure the spiritual quotient of people?”

No! I do not have any means to actually measure the spiritual quotient of people, though the 12 symptoms of spiritual awakening are good indicators of the same. Based on those ‘symptoms’ I have a personal rule-of-the-thumb which I use for my judgement. I know that I am myself guilty of violating the ‘10th symptom’ (i.e. A loss of interest in judging others) when I use my thumb-rule.

But anyway, here is my personal thumb rule. Whenever people who are hitherto unknown to me ask me about Swami (my Master, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba), I try to see through the tone of their questions. Also, when I speak about Swami to these people, I try to gauge their openness. In my opinion, the more open, the more appreciative, the more spontaneous, the less conflicting, the less critical and the less judgemental they are, the higher is their spiritual quotient. (And I hope that you are open and appreciative towards this thumb-rule and not critical and judgemental about it! Hehehehe)

A rare photo of the Jotirlinga at Jageshwar which the priest allowed me to take. 

Coming back to the spiritual quotient of the people in these Himalayan regions, it is amazing how open, friendly and inquisitive they are. They do not disbelieve others opinions and faith. They accept all paths because spirituality, for them, consists of multiple paths leading to the single, same peak of Self-discovery. And so, each interaction regarding Swami with any hitherto unknown person in this region has left me wiser, happier and more thrilled. As we travel through some beautiful places now, it will be my endeavour to share two such wonderful interactions.