In the year 1962 Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba visited “Madumalai” forest. Few devotees pointed out to a 10 day old baby elephant and said “Swami, her mother died just yesterday and she has no ody in this world”. Hearing this Swami said, “is it so? Then I will take care of this baby”. He made arrangements to shift the baby elephant to Puttaparthi and named her Sai Geetha.
In those days, Sai Geetha was accommodated just next to Swami’s residence. Swami made her stay in a place from where she was visible from His bedroom window.

Swami also brought two people from Madumalai forest to look after Sai Geetha apart from appointing Mr. Murali and Mr. Sathya Narayana from Puttaparthi as Sai Geetha’s caretakers. They used to take Sai Geetha every day to Chitravathi river to give her bath and after that she used to be decorated with Vibhuthi and Kumkum on her forehead. Sai Geetha used to lead the Veda chanting boys every morning. after making 3 circumbulations around the mandir, Sai Geetha used to stand by Swami’s door and wait for His darshan. As soon as Swami came out, she used to put the garland around Swami with her trunk and also take padanamskar by bending down. Swami took lot of care in bringing up Sai Geetha. One would understand the care and concren He had for His beloved Sai geetha by reading the following incidents.

Initially, it was very difficult for Sai Geetha to raise her trunk and garland Swami. Swami made her teach the art of garlanding through the mahouts. About 10 boys were taken to the Chitravathi river along with Sai Geetha for morning bath. 10 small pits were dug in the sands of Chitravathi river. All the boys got down into their respective pits with their heads in ascending order. The first boy’s head was about 3 feet from the gorund, the second boy’s head was about 4 feet from the ground and so on. After making the boys stand in the pits, Sai Geetha was asked to garland each boy and for doing so the mahouts used to give her one banana. She used to get banana for every garland. Thus the training drafted by Swami gave good results and in no time Sai Geetha was an expert in garlanding. She was able to raise her trunk to more than 6 feet and was able to garland Swami with no difficulty.

Mrs.Geetha Mohan, who has been coming to Swami since 1943 shares her experiences with Sai Geetha since the first time she saw her in 1962. “Swami always used to go to the shed to check if Sai Geetha was well fed. By 3am the caretakers used to give bath to Sai Geetha, apply vibhuti and take her to the mandir. Sai Geetha used to be the first one to know Swami’s arrival and she would start dancing the very next moment signalling the arrival of our Lord. If any day Swami delayed His darshan, she used to become restless and make loud sounds and tap her ears loudly, as if she is staging a protest. The very next moment, Swami used to come out and Sai Geetha in no time used to Garland Swami and would also take padanamaskar.

Swami, with all His love used to carrase her and pats her. Later Swami used to feed her personally with various fruits. She used to insist Swami to place the fruits directly into her mouth and not on her trunk. This used to be Swami’s routine every day and only after this Sai Geetha used to let Swami go for darshan. This way Sai Geetha spent her childhood in close proximity of Swami. As the days passed by the crowd increased in numbers and Swami insisted to shift Sai Geetha to the northern side of the mandir (near the present gopuram gate). Swami asked one officer to build a shed for Sai Geetha in such a way that she would face Swami’s room. The officer, ignoring Swami’s command built a shed where in Sai Geetha had to face East Prasanthi from where there was no scope for Sai Geetha to see Swami. This irked Sai Geetha who in turn destroyed the whole shed and ran towards Swami’s room as if to register a complaint against the officer. Such was her love for Swami.

To teach what God’s love is for devotees like us Swami has brought Sai Geetha in the form of an elephant. Sai Geetha is a living example of a true devotee for the whole world.

Thus Sai Geetha lived in Prasanthi Nilayam from 1962 to 1975. During the 50th birthday of Swami, in the year 1975 there were huge number of devotees expected from 50 countries. In order to accommodate such a huge crowd Swami shifted Sai Geetha’s residence to the present Maintanence/Garage shed.

In the year 1975 Swami declared the opening of Sathya Sai Gokulam and later Sai Geetha was shifted to Gokulam amidst huge rocks, water and serene atmosphere. Swami also had a sugar cane crop exclusively for Sai Geetha.

Mr.Sathya Narayana, who served Sai Geetha for 20 years shared his experiences with Radio Sai this way: “As Sai Geetha was growing some elders in Prasanthi Nilayam wanted her to experience mother hood. They prayed to Swami about this. Swami, though not keen, just to oblige the devotees’ request, sent Sai Geetha to “Madumalai forest” with two care takers, Mr. Sathya Narayana and Mr.Vasantha. They had to go walking all the way from Puttaparthi to the forest which took 13 days for them to reach. After going to the forest, Sai Geetha never showed any interest to mingle with other elephants. Every night she used to remove the chains she was tied to and run towards Puttaparthi. In the morning it was the caretakers’ duty to go searching for Sai Geetha and they would find her only after running at least 7 to 8 kilometers. Every night she used to free herself, run towards Parthi and was brought back by the caretakers. In the forest, there used to be a big canal. One day, as Sai Geetha was grazing on the bank of the canal, Swami arrived in His car on the other side of the car. Mr. Sathya Narayana, seeing Swami’s car, shouted “Swami has come”. As soon as Sai Geetha heard this even though she didn’t know how to swim, jumped into the canal and came running to Swami. After prostrating before Swami, she hugged Swami with her trunk. Swami had brought many kinds of fruits with Him, Sai Geetha put all the fruits into her mouth and stayed like that for some time. Later Swami said, “I will take leave now”. The moment Sai Geetha heard this, she spit out all the fruits which were still in her mouth and held the car banned hardly with her trunk. Swami then had to get down from His car and requested her to let Him go. Sai Geetha let Swami go half heartedly just because Swami requested her to let Him go.

After Swami reached Puttaparthi the scene in the forest was repeated again. Sai Geetha showed no interest in other elephants in the forest. Swami then sent word to bring back Sai Geetha to Puttaparthi.

But the story didn’t end here. As some elders requested, Swami had to appoint a veterinary doctor to take care of the cattle in the Gokulam. That doctor, after testing a sample of Sai Geetha’s urine, confirmed that she was pregnant. Hearing this news both Sathya Narayana and Vasantha were the first ones to be surprised. They said, it can’t be true at all as Sai Geetha never mingled with any elephant. When the news was passed on to Swami, it seems Swami said: “let’s see if doctor’s words will become true”. In a week’s time the news spread all over Puttaparthi that Sai Geetha is pregnant. There were hundreds coming to see her at her shed. To add to this many arrangements were being made for a safe and easy delivery. Swami the divine actor started visiting Sai Geetha very frequently. One day pointing at her stomach, Swami asked to Late Kasturi: “Kasturi! Do you think there is a baby in her stomach?” To add to this whole drama Sai Geetha’s stomach was getting larger and larger every day. The doctor made another statement; Sai Geetha will deliver to a baby next week. Now the excitement mounted up. The two people who were astonished and speechless were Mr.Sathya Narayana and Mr. Vasantha who were still convinced that this may not be true.

Meanwhile, the devotees started to count the days, hours. No one knew what happened, the huge stomach of Sai Geetha, just like a puncture to a balloon, got back to normal. The veterinary doctor who was very confident, now changed gears and said, Sai Geetha was not pregnant at all!!! Hearing this Swami broke into laughter. Even to this day no one understood the inner significance of this incident. As Swami rightly says God’s actions are mysterious, strange and out of reach of a common man’s intellect.

After this incident Swami publicly said: “SAI GEETHA IS A PURE CELIBATE. SUDHA BHRAMHA CHARINI. SHE HAS COME FOR ME. It will never ever mix with any other elephant. No other elephant will come to her.

Mr. Sathya Narayana shared another incident which was told by Swami. When the Madumalai forest officers handed over Baby Sai Geetha to Swami, they said, Swami, her mother gave birth to 10 babies which were distributed to various temples in Tirupathi, Kalahasti etc. but all the babies died immediately. Swami said: “I will look after it with all my love and affection”, and took Sai Geetha with Him.

Swami is an embodiment of love. As the love from Swami passed on to Sai Geetha, she got so attached to Swami that she never wanted to stay away from Him. Mr.Narasimha Murthy, the warden of Brindavan hostel, shares an incident which says about the love Sai Geetha had for Swami. It so happened in the year 1980 when Swami was in the old mandir of Brindavan. Mr. Rama Brahmam who used to look after Swami’s personal needs was sleeping just next to Swami’s room. One midnight he heard big noise near the main gate and when he woke up to see from where the sound was coming, he could only see a big trunk. He was shocked to see that and Swami woke up at the same time. Seeing Swami Mr.Rama Brahmam said: “Swami! There is a big black thing there.” Swami smiled at him and said: “Don’t worry, My Sai Geetha has come”, so saying Swami opened the gate and caressed Sai Geetha. He made her stay in a shed in Brindavan.

Describing the love and affection of Sai Geetha had for Swami, Mrs. Geetha Mohan further shares an incident which happend in Brindavan. It was in the year 1992 when Swami had to leave for Bangalore city to attend Akhanda Bhajan programme at Mr.Padmanabhan’s house for 2 days. (this 24 hours Akhanda Bhajan was initially started at this house and was done continuously for 25 years. Only after that Swami fixed October 8th and 9th as Akhanda Bhajan all over the world). To attend this Akhanda Bhajan all arrangements were made for Swami to leave for Bangalore. All of a sudden Sai Geetha, who was in a shed behind Brindavan, started shouting very loudly. She some how came to know that Swami is leaving her for two days.

Hearing her shouting, Swami went to her shed and offered some apples. As Swami was about to leave Sai Geetha caught Swami’s waist with her trunk very gently and as all were smiling at this scene Swami was consoling and cajoling her to let Him go.

Swami very sweetly said, “Geetha! I have to go, please leave me. You are a sweet heart, please let me go.” Swami after requesting her for about five minutes, even though un interested she left Swami. Swami’s robe was spoilt with her saliva by then. Swami ignored this and said to the students surrounding Him: “Your devotion should be as strong as Sai Geetha. She was not lured by the fruits I gave to her. She always wants me by her side. All of you should take her as an example and develop devotion and discipline, only then you will be blessed with my darshan.”

Sai Geetha used to be the center of attraction for all important festivals like Krishnastami, Sports meet, Dasara, Swami’s birthday celebrations. She used to be decorated beautifully with all ornaments and was brought to Sai Kulwanth Hall amidst vedic chants and Swami very lovingly used to feed her with fruits and sugar cane.

Sai Geetha used to understand Swami’s words very well and used to answer in a second. One day, when Sai Geetha came to Kulwanth hall with all her golden ornaments, Swami very lovingly went to her and said, “Geetha, you are looking so beautiful in your dress and ornaments. Swami lovingly enquired: “What other ornaments do you want?” Immediately Sai Geetha moved her legs up and down pointing to the feet. She was asking for ankle chains. Immediately Swami made four huge silver ankle chains for her which made Sai Geetha very happy.

After living for sometime in Gokulam, Sai Geetha was shifted to a shed opposite to Senior boys hostel. When ever Swami was leaving for Bangalore she was the first one to know and she would come out on the road and wait for Him. In the year 2004 Swami,without informing any one, had planned to go to Bangalore. No one knew how Sai Geetha knew about this, but she freed herself and started running towards the road. As Swami’s car came closer, she went to the car and stoke infront of the car. Swami, through the window, asked Sai Geetha to give way. Swami then went close to her and said, “Geetha, I have an urgent work, I have to go. He started requesting her like a child. Mean while all the students who came to know that Swami was leaving surrounded the place and in no time hundreds of devotees came running to the spot. All the vehicles moving on the road stopped as Sai Geetha was in the middle of the road stopping Swami’ car. Sai Geetha didn’t listen to Swami’s request. The conversation between Swami and Sai Geetha went on from 7:45 am to 10:30 am and at the end Sai Geetha had the upper hand. Swami had to go back to ashram and Sai Geetha, happily raised her trunk and went back to her house.

Looking at the students, Swami said, Look my dear ones! She knows every movements of Swami. She came to me as a small calf. Many years have passed Her devotion for me is as big as a mountain now. Her devotion is increasing day by day… that is EXPANSION OF LOVE! THAT IS DEVOTION. There are innumerable such incidents which happened with Sai Geetha and Swami.

Sai Geetha always gave respect to all the devotees coming from all corners of the world. In the year 2002 a few devotees from Sujatha Nagar area of Vishakhapatnam came to Puttaparthi in the month of February. It so happened that Swami had already left for Brindavan by the time this big group reached Parthi. All of them decided to go to Sai Geetha and see her. Sai Geetha who was playing with the grass, heard the devotees saying “Its very sad that we came at a time when Swami is not here” Hearing this Sai Geetha was in tears. The devotees could see tears rolling down her cheek. Meanwhile, one devotee from the group offered a coconut to Sai Geetha. Sai Geetha lovingly accepted the coconut, crossed the road and broke the coconut in front of the statue of Lord Ganesha near the senior boys’ hostel, as all the devotees were anxiously looking at Sai Geetha, she bowed down to the Lord Ganesha and turned back to the devotees and gave one half of the coconut to the devotees and she took the other half… there are so many such sweet memories of Sai Geetha with devotees.

Mr.Pedda Reddy who was with Sai Geetha in her last moments of her life says: “What I learnt all these years in her proximity was DEVOTION. UN CONDITIONAL DEVOTION”. Pedda Reddy adds, “I haven’t seen any one who had so much love for Swami. Very often I used to say to Sai Geetha, O Sai Geetha, I am able to speak to Swami, touch Him just because of you. I am very fortunate to be your servant for this life. It’s the ultimate fortune.”

5000 years ago Lord Krishna from the banks of river Yamuna came out with a beautiful epic BHAGWATH GITA. In this Kali age Lord Sai Krishna has gifted this world with Sai Geetha to teach the ultimate truth: LIVE FOR GOD. LIVE A GODLY LIFE.

With valuable inputs by Mr. N.B.S. Rama Rao, Satish Naik.