By Sri Chidambaram Krishnan

“From the beginning there was an intimate relationship between Me and Sai Geetha. And this was a purely inner relationship,” Sathya Sai Baba

As Swami said these poignant words in a private session to the students and staff of His University on June 7, 2007, the silence that dawned in the Institute auditorium was too deep and dense, absolutely impenetrable. “When I mention about Sai Geetha, do not think I am emotional,” said Swami, His voice unsteady, overpowered with intense feelings. Looking at the Lord’s eyes oozing with overwhelming emotions, everybody’s heart plunged; it was as if the fragile organ had become too heavy to beat and given away, creating a crater deep within that was subsuming every cell of their being into it.

As everyone expectantly awaited with bated breath the next diamond of divine revelation, Swami, in a very soft but steady tone, continued, “When I mention about Sai Geetha, I am not deeply grief-stricken. In fact, I have no sorrows. I am never worried. I am not remorseful at all. It is only Vatsalyam - Supreme Maternal Love.” It is the kind of spontaneous undiluted love that a mother has for her new one, who is so pure, so innocent, completely dependent only on her mother, seeking nothing but her lap and on whose face you can verily see the pristine image of God. As a child grows and becomes strong, and intelligent, the god-like purity slowly diminishes and diluted with reasoning love looses spontaneity, but with Sai Geetha it was exactly the opposite.

‘Sai Geetha’ is Born…Anew

When she first came to Prasanthi Nilayam, she was only a few weeks old. “Decades ago, when I was returning from Bangalore,” Swami said in the same discourse, “There was a Khedda operation in the nearby forest wherein they trap elephants by digging big pits and covering them superficially with grass. They beat drums and made loud noise to chase the pachyderms. The poor animals came in herds and many fell inside, but one survived. She was motherless, and crying. She stopped taking food. Utterly helpless, she did not know what to do.” The moment Swami came to know of her, He immediately accepted her.

The Divine Mother was as if waiting for Her precious child. “I applied honey to my finger,” Swami said, “and put it in her mouth and she went on sipping in the honey. Later, I fed her milk through a feeding bottle, and from then on she forgot about her mother…I christened her Sai Geetha.” The child was now baptized, so to say; she was reborn anew as the Divine’s most special child. She was hardly two-feet in height then and Swami recalls, “She used to follow me everywhere; be it the kitchen, dining hall, bhajan hall, living room or even the bathroom. She grew completely under my care.”

Truly, she was the young Swami’s bundle of joy. During the early sixties when Swami’s agility would baffle devotees and only one with athletic sinews could match step with Him when He walked, be it to the Chitravathi sands or a whirlwind tour inside the ashram, spending time with Sai Geetha was perhaps the Avatar’s favourite pastime those days.

The Blissful Twosome

“She was half of Swami’s height,” recalls Sri Chidambaram Krishnan who was a regular visitor to the Ashram in 1960s and enjoyed many years of divine proximity. “She was so small that Swami could take her easily in His car!” he reminiscences. Swami Himself mentioned in the recent discourse that she indeed travelled with Him in the back seat of His car. Sai Geetha wanted to be every moment with Swami just like an infant who cannot bear separation from her mother even for a second. And Swami enjoyed it too.

The little one stayed under a big tree just next to Swami’s bedroom then and Swami could see her from His window all the time. Whenever she was hungry, she would just look up and shout, “Ahh!” and many times Swami would come down and do everything needed to make her comfortable.

“Every morning and evening, one would find Swami with her,” Sri Chidambaram recalls. “She would be highly obedient to Swami! When Swami would call her, she would immediately jump to Him and then He would be either standing beside or playing with her - waving her trunk, petting her and patting her, and on some days He would run, and then take great delight in seeing the little four-footed one take her tiny leaps and cutely jump and hop to catch up with Him. It was an enthralling sight undoubtedly; for the devotees, it was the most exciting part of their stay in Prasanthi.”

Sai Geetha’s routine those days was tightly intertwined with Swami’s. A totality of nobility that she was right from childhood, the first thing the tiny elephant would do every morning was to go around the Mandir nine times! Next, she would prostrate in front of the shining white idol of Lord Ganesha (that used to be there those days) in front of Prasanthi Mandir and then wait for Swami. The moment the door opened and she saw Swami, she would kneel and offer salutations at His feet and then, more often than not, make a peculiar pleasant sound asking Swami to pat her - seeking His love and blessings.

Subsequently, Swami would feed her with plantains and other fruits, and then stand beside her and allow only children, not adults, to feed her. Many tiny-tots would be waiting for this opportunity and would be thrilled when she would accept their bananas under Swami’s constant supervision. Meals over with her Mom, now Sai Geetha would head towards River Chitravati to play in the sands and then jump into the river for a refreshing dip, accompanied by a young eight-year-old caretaker.

Love of Sand and Care of Sai

The elephant calf would joyfully play in the Chitravati sands, throwing mud all over her body. And soon a ‘ball game’ would begin with the young boy who was her trainer too. He would throw the ball and Sai Geetha would then run to bring the ball back in her trunk. But on occasions, when she would be in a sportive mood, instead of bringing the ball back she would run away with the ball! The young playmate-cum-trainer-cum-in-charge would have to chase a few yards to catch up with her. The ‘little warden’ instead of enjoying the game and the beauty of the moment, unfortunately, small that he was, would get upset with the ‘indiscipline’ of his ward and would punish her with a stick, sometimes even pulling and dragging her by her trunk. Sai Geetha then was very tiny and weighed only a few kilos.

But the story does not end here. Devotees who are witness to all this would come and report to the highest level. “Swami! That boy threw Sai Geetha inside the sand!” And then Swami would invariably say, “Go! Bring that boy here, he should be punished.” When the boy arrived seeking pardon says, “In future, I will not do this,” Swami would let him go. But notorious that he was, he would again beat Sai Geetha some other day. And then Sai Geetha would come running to Mandir and seek out for Swami wherever He was, be it interview room or Bhajan Hall or living room. The mahout running behind her would soon appear there and without asking start complaining about Sai Geetha’s ‘indiscipline’. Swami, the all-knowing Mother, would reprimand him for his mistake and then comfort His darling daughter.

Sai Geetha, even after she was few years old and could retaliate to any ill-treatment meted to her irresponsibly by her caretaker, would never do so. All she would do is to go to her Sai Maa to seek shelter.

Geetha - Sai’s All Time Favourite

“Those were golden days,” recalls Sri Chidambaram. “There was no ‘Darshan’; it was only interviews! Swami would give interviews to each and everyone. On non-festival days devotees would be very few - sometimes not even ten! - and whoever came early and sat first, would be called in first and then all would go in, one after another, in the serial order of their sitting. Sometimes, the same person would get continuous interviews for days; at the same time, if Swami wanted to avoid it, He would skip a person too. But during festival occasions, when hundreds would gather, Swami would call everyone in. In fact, if anyone did not get interview on the normal days, he would show up in a festival day and sure enough he would get an interview.” Devotees those days indeed were extremely lucky, but the luckiest of all was Swami’s favourite pet; because Swami gave her every little spare time He had. Just like in the morning, He would pet and feed her again in the afternoon and she would be waiting to touch His feet and be fondled by Him. It was like she got two special interviews everyday apart from many other personal sessions with Swami.

For the ashramites then, Sai Geetha was an eternal source of joy. Being the cutest kid of the ashram, everyone wanted to pet and fondle her. “In fact, in her first six months,” says Sri Chidambaram, “anybody could take her out and play with her. She never would harm anyone. And Swami too allowed others to touch and caress her. She was for everyone and Swami too those days, was so accessible. We could sleep in the Mandir portico itself and sometimes even inside the interview room too! I cannot ever forget those halcyon days.”

At the same time, living in the Ashram those days was no walk in the park; it was easily most challenging. There was no water; a family would have to stay under the shade of a tree and get not more than three to four buckets of water for the whole day. There were very few houses, in fact, they were actually just rooms - one single room without a bathroom and a hole in the wall for a window - and to add to this, there was no electricity. After dusk, everywhere it would just be dark. Sometimes, even snakes would enter to sleep under the mudpot in the room, however would never do any harm. “But whatever it may be, Swami was very loving,” recalls Sri Chidambaram. “Anybody could go and shout out to Swami in front of His room. ‘Swami, I want to go home. Please bless me’. And Swami would more often than not oblige and speak very softly too. It is purely because of His love that in spite of so many hardships people would love to come and stay in Puttaparthi. We used to walk inside the ashram without slippers on and would be pricked many times with thorns. On one occasion even Sai Geetha was hurt by a thorn. Being a baby, her feet then were still tender and she cried out in pain. A devotee nearby went and removed the painful prickle from her feet and she cooperated with him completely. She was like family in the ashram. Everybody loved her and wanted to play with her.” While all this is true, Sai Geetha belonged only to her Swami and was at her best only when she was with Him. She would love the festival days, not because she would be adorned on those occasions with ornaments, instead her heart would be leaping with joy with the thought that she will get more time of her Swami that day.
Source: www.radiosai.org