Nine short stories about some experiences with Sai Baba’s pet elephant “Sai Geetha”

By Urs Keller - Switzerland

In the year 1980, I traveled for the first time to Sathya Sai Baba and spent three wonderful months in His ashram, Prashanthi Nilayam.

What do you have in your bag?
For several weeks, I spent my time at noon sitting near Sai Geetha in the cow shed, called Gokulam. Many times I went for a walk with Sai Geetha and the mahout, the person who looks after the elephant. Once we were on our way to the small animal park next to the college when Sai Geetha suddenly started trumpeting like mad. The mahout told me that Sai Baba’s car would come to us from the village at any moment. In fact, after a few seconds the car pulled up to us. Swami got down, patted Sai Geetha and smiled at me. I bowed down before Him. Sai Baba then explained to the man in charge of the small animal zoo in a very fast way many things about small animals like deer, rabbits, and birds.
All the while, I stood next to the elephant, Sai Geetha, a few meters away from the car. Before Sai Baba got into the car, He stood in front of the door with His back turned towards me and I heard very loudly within my head “What do you have in your bag?”
In my left hand I carried a bag with fruits and sweets. Without hesitation I answered “Sweets for a good-bye-party with Christopher this evening. You can come too.” The moment I thought this, Sai Baba turned, smiled His big sweet smile at me and moved gently His head in agreement, again He smiled and got into the car. Of course He didn’t come to the party personally; but to be with Him so close outside the ashram was really some thing wonderful.

Sai Geetha shows her age by wagging with one ear
I sat in the shade of a tree, engrossed in reading a book about two hours, right next to Sai Geetha. I looked up into her big brown eyes and asked her in my Swiss dialect “Wia alt besch eigantlich?” (How old are you actually?) She looked deep into my eyes, moved her head a little to the side and slowly started to wag with one ear. I counted: one, two, three, …, ten, eleven. “It is not possible” I thought, “the mahout told me you are still a baby.” Sai Geetha continued: twelve, thirteen, … . At eighteen she stopped wagging her ear. Totally surprised I looked at her and said, “It is not true.” Sai Geetha pulled back her head just a little, closed her eyes, turned, did two steps and let out a huge ball of dung, which plopped down right in front of me. “Okay” I thought and went to the mahout, “You told me, Sai Geetha is still a baby.” He replied: “Yes, elephants can only give birth after the age of twenty years. Until then they are called babies.” I asked him: “How old is Sai Geetha?” He answered: “Sai Geetha is eighteen!”

Sai Geetha shows her strength
We were on our walk and Sai Geetha was rocking a stone as big as a head in her trunk. While we were walking I thought, “Oh, how strong are you actually?” She looked at me briefly with a mischievous smile, threw her trunk high up into the air and smashed the stone with full force at the ledge of a rock. The stone broke into many pieces with a loud bang. The mahout was startled and looked at me, questioning. Sai Geetha squeaked merrily and we all had to laugh.

Sai Geetha’s childlike dance
As I was lying all alone for a long time next to Sai Geetha, I remembered a visit at the Berlin Zoo, which had been conducted by my school. We were given five hours to see the zoo. I only went to see the birds and the elephants. I stood at least for two hours in front of the talking starlings and trained them, until the birds could say to the people present “Gruezzi” (the Swiss Hello). It took about a hundred times. I was very proud about it, but the people looked at me in a rather strange way.
Later I went to the elephants. There were three babies in the enclosure. I squatted very near the barrier, rested my head in my hands and stayed there for more than one hour without a movement, until the young elephants noticed that I was enjoying their play. Somehow these three had performed something like a dance for me. I had to laugh and laugh and clapped my hands. I could never forget this playful show.
Now here I sat in front of Sai Geetha and pondered over this scene from years ago. All of a sudden Sai Geetha moved a few steps backwards, a little away from me, stood there, began to dangle with one leg to and fro. Then she did the same with the next leg, alternating back and forth. She started squeaking and I started laughing until the mahout came, asking us what happened. This was just another nice experience with my companion.

Sai Geetha’s play with water
When we went to the pond to give Sai Geetha a wash, she sometimes ran the last few meters ahead, filled her trunk with water, waited until we reached and splashed the water all over us. We, too, enjoyed her playful game.

Sai Geetha refuses to play circus
I was lying on my back by Sai Geetha’s side and enjoyed the silence. I looked up to her thinking, “What about placing your foot on my chest like in a circus show?” She didn’t quite agree, growled her “Hakum” well known to me, and just pushed very gently into my side with her velvet-soft foot sole. I laughed at her. That was the end of the show.

Sai Geetha’s birthday congratulations
Sai Geetha, the mahout and I were once again alone on a stroll. I talked to the mahout and mentioned that it was my birthday today. That very moment, Sai Geetha started to trumpet scarily loud and formed her trunk into a reverential gesture. The mahout said, “Oh look, she congratulates you, too.”

Sai Geetha peels oranges with her trunk and loves raisins more than anything else.
Sai Geetha loves all fruits, and also cucumbers. She peels oranges very fast and skillfully with the tip of her trunk with which she can also uproot bunches of grass. The raisins one has to place on her tongue, which is huge. If one raisin drops down, she’ll gently push you; one has to collect it and give it back to her!

Sai Geetha takes Sai Baba’s ring off my finger
Once I came to Sai Geetha with a young man from New York, and we had directly put into her mouth many many raisins. Suddenly Sai Geetha pulled my arm deep into her mouth and pressed strongly at my hand with her tongue. I got scared, pulled my arm out and moved a few steps back. I stood there astonished, and looked at her in surprise, wondering why she almost broke my arm. But she only laughed at this, squeaking away cheerfully.
The mahout came to me and asked, “Don’t you miss something?” I said, “No”, totally amazed. Then he pointed to my ring finger. I reacted very fast, “Oh, where is the ring?” I noticed his mischievous smile when he pointed to Sai Geetha’s foot at her rear. There was the ring! Without my noticing anything she had taken away the ring and was hiding it behind her. Now I knew why she had been playing with my hand.Source out of 36 stories “Sathya Sai Baba in my life” by Urs Keller, Switzerland