Swami and Sai Geetha - An Intimate Inner Bond

Swami’s care for Sai Geetha was always comprehensive and complete. During the days when Swami used to feed her morning and evening, He used to allow devotees to offer her plantains only; He alone would feed her with rice and chakrapongal (a sweet delicacy made of rice and jaggery) which would be cooked in His interior kitchen. Sai Geetha always wanted Swami to feed her in her mouth, while from others she would accept only in her trunk. And everybody was witness to this just the previous year (2006) during Dasara celebrations. Sai Charan, a MBA student of Swami’s University, recalls:

“I vividly remember that day. It was Vijaya Dasami Day, the last day of Dasara 2006. I had the opportunity to accompany Sai Geetha along with Sri Pedda Reddy to Mandir. Once we reached Sai Kulwant Hall, Sai Geetha’s eyes were always focused on Swami’s residence. When Swami finally came near her in His wheel-sofa and was about to feed her with some fruits, I noticed some saliva dripping from her trunk. I immediately took two white napkins and covered Swami’s feet and robe. But no sooner had I done that, Swami commanded me to take the napkins away. And the moment I did that, I saw Sai Geetha’s trunk gently caressing Swami’s feet. The saliva dropping from her mouth did not bother Swami one bit. She was hungry for His love. It was so palpable. Later, when Swami held out fruits for her and asked her to take them in her trunk as He was sitting on the sofa, she refused flatly every time. Swami, then, looked at me and said, ‘She will take fruits from me, only when I feed her in the mouth.’ And then, He got up! And you could see Sai Geetha was in ecstasy; her huge ears were flapping excitedly and her eyes were overcome with emotion as Swami stood right beside her and fed her with apples and bananas right inside her mouth, just like a mother would do for her dear child. It was a perfect mother-child relationship.”

Which is Bigger - One or Twenty-five?

It is this unmatched love that existed between them and the utmost care that Swami took while raising her right from when she was a baby of only few weeks that Sai Geetha grew to become a strong and majestic being. Sri N Siva Kumar, a lecturer at Swami’s University and a former student, recalls that years ago when two professional circus elephants had been brought to Prasanthi Nilayam for the Annual Sportsmeet of the Institute, the two pachyderms looked so puny and pitiable compared to Sai Geetha who was standing majestically next to them. A fascinating incident that happened in 1988, in the words of Sri N Siva Kumar is this:

“I was studying for my MBA degree at Prasanthi Nilayam then. We used to have evening games on specified days during the week, and whenever we went to the ground we used to regularly see Sai Geetha. We were informed by the person in-charge that Swami had instructed to take Sai Geetha to the ground for walks everyday so that she may have some exercise. On earlier occasions, the caretaker would have a tyre with him and sometimes would roll it on the ground and Sai Geetha would run to fetch it. This was how he gave her exercise. But that particular day, it was something very different. Her caretaker had come to the stadium with a huge rope in his hand. When we went near him he informed us that on Swami’s instructions he has planned for a tug of war exercise between Sai Geetha and the students.

We were all excited! While about 25 of us lined up on one side, the other end of the rope was tied to Sai Geetha’s leg. Standing behind her colossal form, we held the rope, tightly. Our job was to stop Sai Geetha from walking away from us. Once we were in position, and said, ‘Yes, ready’, her caretaker prompted Sai Geetha to move forward, and she started moving! We tried our best to restrain her by pulling the rope, but Sai Geetha continued to walk! It was as if she were taking a stroll in the park, effortlessly pulling all of us with her. It seemed like she did not feel that 25 students were actually pulling her in the opposite direction. It was a great revelation to us of her strength. Similarly, on another occasion, when she had come to Mandir and Swami was feeding her with fruits, we saw that He was giving her whole coconuts - along with the outer shell and not the white core alone. We were befuddled. Swami then turned towards us and said, ‘Her teeth are so strong. She can break the coconuts inside her mouth and eat only the kernel. The shells will be thrown out later’”.

Sports and Students - Sai Geetha’s Other Joys

Such was the physical prowess of Sai Geetha. But the conscientious Geetha would never make a careless display of her strength, though aware of it all the time. And when she was with Swami’s students, especially on the ground, she would behave like she was one among them. Sri Pedda Reddy says, “She would be really excited when I would take her to the primary school. She loved being surrounded by the little kids and would give herself to them. She would begin to play joyfully with the little ones.” Arnab, Prithvee and Kannan, three Higher Secondary School students, who were eye-witness to this during their primary school days, going down the memory lane say, “It was a bright Sunday morning. We had just finished our breakfast and were on our way to the playground to start a glorious day, and what a pleasant surprise it was to see Sai Geetha there. Soon everybody gathered around her including our headmistress and warden. She was so free and playful with us.

Our fears vanished after we spent few seconds with her. We started petting and feeding her juicy fruits. And while this was going on, a few of us moved away and started our game of football. Arnab kicked the ball hard and it landed right in front of her feet. The ball was now under her control, she was staring at it, and we were worried about our fate if she decided to stamp on the ball. But no, she did not trample it, but started picking it up with her trunk…it looked as if she was trying to put it in her mouth. Perturbed, we started screaming. But to our excitement, Sai Geetha next put the ball down and gave it a mild kick. The ball landed right in front of us. We now knew for sure she wanted to play. And thus, the game began. We would pass the ball to her and she would thrust it back to us or kick it high or sometimes even would lift it with her trunk and fling it in the air. It was so amazing. She was like one among us and we played for a full five minutes. We loved her so much.”

If this was fascinating football with Sai Geetha, here’s how she reveled in basketball too. Ms. Lene Sanchez Crispin from Denmark recalls,

“It was my first trip to Swami for Christmas in 1995 and I went to see Sai Geetha one evening. There were 5-6 people like me who waited to join her on her walk. Once out of her premises, Sai Geetha crossed the street and went to the stadium where few students were busy on the basketball court. Sai Geetha went near them, grabbed the ball and threw it into the basket. Next, she caught hold of the ball, pushed it to the nearest student and lo, the game began. It ended up with Sai Geetha scoring and grabbing the ball. Now, the ball again in her possession, she motioned as if she was about to toss the ball, but instead of throwing the ball she placed it in her ‘armpit’ between her foreleg and her body and started walking around as if pretending to look for the ball! So amusing she was. We all laughed our heart out. It was so sweet; the sun was shining in her eyes. After a few rounds, she placed it down and gave a nice kick. And then, it was a game of football that began. She was absolutely captivating, but the salient trait that I noticed about her was this: she was constantly aware of her power and was careful when she moved her body or tossed the ball. She made us run for the ball, but never kicked or threw the ball directly at us. My fear for these big animals disappeared; I saw only love and truly fell in love with her.”

“On another occasion,” recalls Sri N Siva Kumar, “the students of Alike and Muddenahalli (Swami’s schools in Karnataka) had come to Puttaparthi for a function. Oranges had been distributed as prasadam and each student had received the juicy fruit. Few minutes later, Sai Geetha came to Mandir and Swami blessed her too and then went into the interview room. The students of Alike and Muddenahalli, who were seated close to Sai Geetha, were at a slightly higher plane, and by mistake one of the oranges of a student slipped out of his hand and rolled towards Sai Geetha. She immediately lapped up the orange by her trunk and put it in her mouth. Watching this, other students got excited. They wanted to have fun. So, they started intentionally rolling their oranges towards her, and she too played game and accepted one after another. It went on for sometime till it became uncontrollable when several students started simultaneously rolling their oranges towards Geetha. Then a teacher appeared on the scene and the whole drama stopped. Sai Geetha was too happy to see the kids excited and the students of course had their fun to the fill.”

In Sync with Sai - Every Moment

Yes, Sai Geetha was playful; no one who spent time with her ever returned without a smile on their face or a pleasant feeling in their heart. She spread happiness naturally and was physically very powerful too. But these were only additional facets of her magnificent personality; they were not what distinguished her from other members in her genre. What was unique about her, in the words of a devotee, Sri Subhas Malghan, is that “she simply returned in abundance all the love that Swami gave her.” Her focus on Swami was absolute and all times. In fact, “She was our ‘alarm clock’,” says Sri Abhimanyu Kaul, a former student of Swami’s Institute. “It remains a mystery how she would come to know about Bhagavan’s presence each and every time. Whenever we heard her trumpet we would run out of the hostel, and for almost every time we would find Bhagavan. One incident which happened in the mid-eighties is very vivid in my mind.

Bhagavan was in Brindavan in those days and in His physical absence we would have compulsory sports time in the evenings. It was during that time when Sai Geetha also would come to the stadium for her evening walks. We would normally go and say ‘sai ram’ and she would lovingly respond by raising her trunk.

One such evening when we were playing and she was also busy taking her stroll, suddenly came the news that Bhagavan was coming! It was absolutely unexpected. We did not know where and how far Bhagavan was from Puttaparthi. But before we realized, we saw His car entering the stadium from the Higher Secondary School gate. Sai Geetha then was on the other end at the crossing of primary school building (in front of the present Chaitanya Jyothi museum). And as soon as she spotted the ‘car’, she gave out a loud trumpet! She was euphoric. It was tough for her care-taker to control or stop her. To our surprise she escaped and started running towards the car. What followed next just made me stand still and watch with wonder. There was Bhagavan’s car coming up the stadium and the mighty Sai Geetha was running from the opposite direction towards the car. The next instant I saw Swami’s vehicle stop and He rushed out of the car. Now Bhagavan was running from one side and Sai Geetha from another. Even today when I recall that moment I get goose bumps. They met and what a sight it was to watch! Her expressions were uncontrollable. She literally hugged Bhagavan. Her trunk was all over Him, and Swami was actually standing in between her front two legs and the trunk and holding and caressing her. It took almost 10-15 minutes for Bhagavan to pacify her. Slowly we students too came close to the scene, and we heard that Swami was constantly saying something to her and patting her very lovingly. He also then fed her some fruits, and we saw her saliva all over Bhagavan’s robe; but He was least concerned. It was with lots of persuasion that Sai Geetha let Him go. What an episode of divine romance it was that I was blessed to watch!

“I remember, Bhagavan once asked us, ‘Do you know why I have kept Sai Geetha in front of your hostel?’ We just kept quiet and then Swami said, ‘so that you can learn what true devotion is. If you all can get even an iota of her love for Me your life would be sanctified.’”

How many devotees have we heard of Swami Himself exalting their devotion, except ideals from mythologies? In the last eighty years, thousands have enjoyed His love, His Grace and His proximity, but has Swami ever singled one particular person out and said, ‘Emulate him. I want you all to be like Him’? But when it came to Sai Geetha, on every occasion possible Swami would laud her supremely-focused love and goad others to take inspiration from her. On one occasion, when His robe was wet with Sai Geetha’s urine as she could not contain her emotions seeing Swami on the road and the boys were hesitant to go near because of the pool she had created around her, Swami looked at the boys and went to the extent of saying, “If you drink a cup of her urine, maybe you will get a fraction of her devotion.”

Source: www.radiosai.org