Experiences of Mrs.Geeta Mohan Ram(taken from Heart 2 Heart)
SURENDRANATH B
Mrs. Geeta Ram comes from a family which has been associated with Swami for the last four generations. Her great grandfather, Mr. Seshagiri Rao, came to Swami in 1943 and was the temple priest of Prasanthi Nilayam for many years. Her father, Dr. Padmanabh is a familiar figure in Swami's ashram in Bangalore. Having come to Swami at a tender age, her life is full of exciting and illuminating experiences. Below is the transcript of a talk delivered by her during a Sai Retreat on May 13, 2006 in Atlanta, USA.
"Life is a Game – Play it!"
So coming back to the times of the childhood – of sweetness though - there were times too when He would be in the house and we children would be banished to the rooms because they didn't want us to make any noise! They would say: "Swami is talking in the living room; so stay in the room, read a book, do something. But don't appear here and make noise!"
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So I remember my cousin and me – we were almost the same age – we were constantly being banished to the room to do something with ourselves. And those were not the days of TV's and the X-boxes, and Play stations – and even if it was, I am sure we wouldn't have gotten one in our home.
And we would go there and the game that we would constantly play was snakes and ladders or lido – we would constantly be playing and I remember on one occasion when Swami knocked on the door and walked in because we had closed the door.
And I remember my cousin and I were playing snakes and ladders. So He came in and said: "Oh! You both are playing over here while I have to go and talk to those devotees – not fair! You guys are having fun here! Can I please play with you?" We said: "No!" because we had already had an experience of playing with Swami and we didn't want Him to play with us!
So we said: "No!" He said: "Why not?" We said: "Because, every time You roll the dice, You always get the number You want! So we don't want You to play with us!" So He said: "No! No! I will play like you people!"
So He sat down and sure enough He rolled the dice and we rolled the dice and the game was progressing quite nicely – sometimes He went up the ladder and came down the snake too! So we thought this was pretty good. But by the time one of us had gotten to all the way to 98 or 99 or whatever – and by that time the snake is waiting to bring you down, Swami rolls His dice and within three moves He reaches 100 and says: "Useless people, you don't know how to play!" It was not fair; you know! He used to say: "What is this? A game isn't it? You shouldn't cry when you lose a game!"
You know Swami doesn't do anything without a reason! And I never forgot the lesson He taught us with that snakes and ladder game. He said: "Life is like a game! As long you have Swami as the dice of God in your hands, it will move you along – sometimes you go up the ladder; sometimes you come down the snake – it's okay! But as long as you have the dice with you, you can keep playing and you can keep moving forward. That's the important thing you have to remember – what is the use of playing this game; reaching 100 and starting again from number 1 – day after day!"
So He was a friend and He played; He joked and He looked at the books that we were reading – so He was a wonderful Mother in many different ways!
When The Lord Becomes Your Guest…
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My earliest memories of Swami has been that as a child - a very sweet one - when He used to come and stay with us in Bangalore in my parents' house – in those days the Brindavan building was not there. So when He came, He used to stay with devotees, among them my parents.
And I remember as a child that He would stay with us for several days. And when Swami is with you, you know that everybody is very much focused. Even when we have a guest in our house, the housewife knows that she will be focused on the room, the bedroom, and the food – whatever that you want to make to give the guest a pleasant stay.
But imagine having Swami staying with you! You will have this wondrous feeling of when He is going to walk into the kitchen and I remember my mother would constantly be cleaning the kitchen never knowing when Swami would walk into the kitchen!
I remember my father who never lifted the newspaper and put it away, constantly putting away the newspaper so that Swami wouldn't find it on the sofa in our living room! I remember my brother making his room exceptionally clean – which never was – when Swami was around because you never knew when He would come in. And I remember hiding my story books behind Sathya Sai Speaks so Swami wouldn't know what I was reading!
This is my experience that whenever Swami would come, suddenly the look of all the book shelves would change. The books – whatever the current craze was growing up in school; I think as a child I read Enid Blyton; as a teenager I probably read Barbara Cartland and Mills and Boon - but they would all go behind and in front of them there would be a second row of Sri Sathya Sai Speaks, in the hope that Swami would think that I was reading that!
You Can't Trick The Lord!
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The thread that ran through my life that whatever I did, Swami knew everything – He was Omnipresent and you could never really trick Him – even though, for a while He pretended and played the game along with us.
I remember once He came into our room, He would actually eat in my room because we always had the food separate for Swami, and then the other devotees who came with Him were fed, and He would walk into the room a little bit ahead of time while my parents and aunts were setting up the table. And then He would stand in front of the book shelf and look at all the books.
So you know, your heart is pounding and you hope that He would just look at the books in the front. Then He would look at the books and say: "Oh! Prema Vahini!" Then He would look and say: "Oh, is this the new one that has come out at the Sathya Sai book store now?" And He would very sweetly remove two books and say: "Oh! Barbara Cartland! Is that what you read?" and put the Sathya Sai Speaks back right where it was!
Sairam,
Surendra.