On Sunday 2nd May 2004 we had the pleasure of the company of Professor Sri Anil Kumar in Leicester. 

Nearly a thousand Sai devotees from the U.K. attended the event.

Professor Anil Kumar normally translates Swami's discourses. Under the direction of Swami he has also written two inspiring books called "Satyopanisad", which contains a series of questions posed to Swami by his students, and his responses.

The programmed commenced with the Vedic chant resounding in the hall. Followed by Group devotional singing, lead by the youth of region 4.

Doctor Dhirubhai Gadhia, a long-term devotee of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba spoke of our great fortune to have Professor Anil Kumar with us. He spoke of how Professor Anil Kumar is spreading Swami's messages in the world. 

Professor Anil Kumar came on stage and started with the bhajan 'Bhajamana narayana narayana narayan'. He spoke of his delight to be here in the U.K, on 18th April 2004. He said Swami had said to him, "when you go to London, make everyone happy and be happy, be happy". 

The professor's first statement was that life with Swami is uncertain, and that "His only certainty is His uncertainty". He went on to share many stories and miracles of Swami and re-iterated the Lord's message and mission.

Below are some of the key points from his speech.

"There are no foreigners in the dictionary of Sai devotees because we are all children of the Father Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He has taught us how to pray, He has taught us how to play and He has taught us how to behave".

"God is not a goal; He is not at a distant place. He is within you. There is no way to reach God when He is already within you. God is not an achievement because, we are already divine".

When a devotee asked Swami for the permission to have a flat at Prasanthi Nilayam. Swami replied, "Your heart is My flat". Sri Anil Kumar said "we do not need flats; instead let us fall flat at Swami's feet".

A Cosmo naught who had been to the moon said, "there is nothing on the moon or in the moon", however, if there was a place worth living, it's Prasanthi Nilayam. 

With Swami, life is enjoyable; we have so many things today. We have enough money, we have qualifications, but we do not have real happiness. Human beings are the only species who can smile.

But despite all this, we do not smile. Life is enjoyable, life is fun, and life is laughter, ecstasy, melody, and dance. Life is not serious. Seriousness is an indication of sickness not religiousness. God's seriousness is pretence. He acts serious to correct people. For Swami everything is positive. God has come to demonstrate the art of living to us. We lead our lives but we do not live them. Leading is burdensome and mundane whereas living is enlightenment and entertainment. We must follow and watch and be a copy of Sathya Sai Baba, that is the purpose of His reincarnation. 

Professor Sri Anil Kumar asked, "Why do we not smile?" He continued "I am happy because I never think of the past. The past is history, dead and gone once and for all and it will never return. I am not worried about the future either. Past is history future is a mystery, therefore live in the present". 

Swami says "you are unhappy because you think of the past". We are full of attachment and not able to get out of the past. A person fell at Swami's feet and asked for forgiveness for being a sinner. Swami said to this person "forget the past". It is because we do not forgive or forget, that we suffer with blood pressure.

We should not think of the future either because it will happen, as it should. Anil Kumar gave an example of this. Some parents were purchasing new clothes for their bridegroom son. But the young fellow was seen collecting old, worn out clothes. When the parents asked the boy why he was doing this, he replied that it was for his future son. But the young fellow himself was still a bachelor. 

There was also another man who was unusually serious. When his friend asked him what was wrong, he replied that his days were numbered because he had accidentally eaten a lizard a week ago and had come to know that lizards were poisonous. He said that he was therefore going to die any moment now. The fear of death is responsible for our worry. Death is not to be worried about. 

Swami's brother in law passed away and Sri Kasturi went to Swami to offer his condolences. At this Swami laughed. When Sri Kasturi asked Swami why he was not sad, Swami replied that without births, deaths, arrivals, departures, this Station Master would have nothing to do.

Sri Anil Kumar then went on to speak about love. "Today people do not know how to love. We experience lust and attachment, lust is physical and conditional, and where as love is spiritual and unconditional. Attachment is selfish, where as love is selfless, even friendship is based on give and take. 

But love just flows. Love has no aim or purpose; it is spontaneous, natural and instantaneous. For Sathya Sai Baba, love is universal. If we are to love then we should love like He does. How do we do this? We watch Him and we learn from Him".

When Swami gives darshan, He goes to the primary school children and talks and jokes with them. A divine spiritual personality can communicate with all. An Avatar can establish an easy, comfortable rapport with anyone. Communication is an art given to everyone. Some express it in writing, some by speaking, some in dialogue and others in debate. It is our communication, but it is Swami's communion. 

Communication is between two people, but communion is when Swami speaks to you from within. Professor Sri Anil Kumar said to Swami, "What is inner voice? Do You speak to people?"

Swami replied "How can you hear the inner voice when you are drowned in the outer noise? I do not need to speak to you physically if you have faith in the inner voice". This is communion with God. It is a command, it is sharp, you are not given an option, and it makes you choice less. 

When devotees ask Sri Anil Kumar about the latest miracles and experiences, he replies that every experience is fresh. He spoke of the 'honeymoon' period with Swami, when Swami tolerates our mistakes to start with. In 1989 Anil Kumar joined the Brindavan Campus as Principal. At the time, a high rank gentleman from the army and his team were doing some gardening on the campus. One day Swami came to the college and asked the Principal "Who are they? What are they doing? Who gave them permission?" Sri Anil Kumar replied, "I don't know". Swami said, "You should know, you are the Principal". At this point he said to Swami, "Shall I ask them to go?" Swami answered, "you did not ask them to come, so you have no right to ask them to go". 

Professor Sri Anil Kumar spoke of incidents where Swami has given him a stern telling off. He has learnt to never repeat these mistakes again.

One time Sri Anil Kumar introduced someone to Swami. Swami played along with him and asked many questions about this person. When this person came into Swami's presence, Swami made it obvious that they had met before and told the person to take off his gold ring, which Swami then made into a diamond ring. Sri Anil Kumar asked Swami why He had acted as if He didn't know the person. Swami replied, "I know everything, you should know that I know everything". 

Living with God is education. In order to be happy, let us learn to love and live like Sathya Sai Baba, and live in the present and commune with God. 

There was a short break at this point and whilst devotees had some refreshments, they were entertained with a live instrumental performance. 

The second half of the programme started, with two melodious songs, by the youth choir of Region 4.

Sri Anil Kumar commenced the second half of his talk with the bhajan 'Hari Hari Om'. He said that if it were not for Swami's Grace, it would not have been possible for us to be here. Sai's hand is forever present. He said as he arrived at Heathrow airport, he was recognised and passed through the airport without having to go through immigration.

He said that on his return from Japan, his Indian Airline flight was delayed by one and a half hours. He reached Bombay with the thought that he had missed his connecting flight, but, was pleased to learn that the Air India flight had also been delayed by one and a half hours. Therefore he did not miss his flight home. Swami, at the very same time spoke of this incident to His students and told them that He had delayed the flight for Sri Anil Kumar. 

Whilst in Japan, Anil Kumar was offering Aarti at a conference. At this time, his hand began to shake as honey poured from Swami's picture. Swami recited this incident to those at Prasanthi and said that Sri Anil Kumar's hand is now shaking because honey is pouring from my photograph in Japan.

Swami says, "If you do My work, I'll do your work". There is no such thing as Swami's work and our work. All work is Swami's work. Swami cares for everyone in this world. 

At the All India Conference, everyone was being fed. There were a thousand people in the kitchen and they were feeling sad because they could not hear Swami's discourse. Swami appeared to them in the kitchen and enquired about them all. But at the same time He was still giving His discourse. The simple job is ample to Swami. 

One time Swami visited the college campus and stopped His car where a gentleman named Rajendra was painting. He said to the man "look here, why do you work late at night? You have work at the office also. If Sai devotees neglect their work at the office, it is not good". Swami said that He knows who is working and He knows who is pretending. No one can deceive Him and none can escape His notice. He once called Sri Anil Kumar a stunt master for pretending to work. Sri Anil Kumar replied, "All this show is only to see You Swami". 

Living with Swami is not easy; you have to walk across the fire without being burnt. When Swami asked Sri Anil Kumar to be Principal of the Brindavan Campus, he did not jump at the opportunity. He could not sleep and wondered why Swami had insisted on Him being there. 

Swami then addressed His devotees in Kodai and asked Sri Anil Kumar to translate. Swami spoke of the war between Rama and Ravana. Before the war, Rama was asking everyone to go in search for Sita. Everyone gave an excuse, "I am too old", "I am too young", "and I have no experience". When Rama asked Hanuman, he said "Yes" immediately. Rama questioned Hanuman "do you have experience? Have you seen Sita before?" to all the questions, he replied "No". Hanuman said "oh Bhagawan, when You command, You will give the needed skills. You asked me to do it so You will get it done through me. I am only an instrument". Therefore Professor Kumar understood that when Swami asks you to do something, then you do it. You do not question why and you do not reason, but you just do it and live to tell the story.

Swami is a perfectionist. When the summer courses were running everything had to be perfect including the chairs. Sri Anil Kumar took 300 students to check that all the chairs were perfect for everyone to sit on. 

Swami is very proud of His devotees and He doesn't want anyone to be hurt. Professor Anil Kumar said that if you can't love everyone then there is no place for you in the Sai fold. People everywhere are waiting for His Darshan. The President of a particular country wanted to visit and Swami said "not now". 

There was a lady in Swami's presence and she was crying. She was actually the Queen of Thailand. She was sitting and dragging herself along the floor because it was a sign of respect and she did not want to stand upright and walk in front of Swami. He said to her, "how is My room?" she replied, "It is waiting for You". Swami said to her "I come everyday, but you do not come".

An opportunity lost now will not be an opportunity in the future. You will never get tired of Swami. Nature is fresh and Swami is natural. To have His darshan is our great fortune. For Swami to step into our lives is the merit from several past lives. Being a Sai devotee is prestigious because it is international. 

At a conference, some delegates were asked to speak. One man who spoke was an Italian doctor who had never heard of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He had come to Swami's abode purely for academic reasons. He was a very strict Catholic and his prayer time was 6 o' clock. At 6.00 he locked the door and he was praying to Jesus Christ in his room. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned to find Swami standing there. In his talk he said that he is prepared to risk his reputation as a doctor and say that Swami is the second coming of Jesus Christ. 

A gentleman spoke to Swami about the Super Speciality Hospital. He said that the hospital in Prasanthi is on a par with any other hospital in the world. One may come across bigger hospitals and one may even come across surgeons who are well renowned, but the spiritual content of this hospital will never be found anywhere else in the world. Americans wonder how operations are conducted free of charge.

Even Hilary Clinton is keen to visit. Swami asked Anil Kumar "how do you like the Super Speciality Hospital?" Sri Anil Kumar replied that it was very nice and that he had never seen anything like it. Swami said, "How can you? There is no second, there is only one Swami and only one Super Speciality Hospital". 

Swami gave a man some vibhuti and told him that he only had three chambers in his heart. He also told the man that only his mother and his doctor knew of this. The man phoned up his mother and asked her if this was true. His mother replied that it was true and only the doctor knew of this. 

After an interview with Swami, the man returned home to Japan with his vibhuti. At this time he did not really know what vibhuti was. On the plane, he was seated near some children and the toilets. He was continuously disturbed and did not get any peace and quiet. He got off at Heathrow airport and remembered the vibhuti and put some on his tongue. At that moment he heard his name announced and was requested to go to the counter. The lady at the counter said to him that his seat had been shifted to Business 1st class and had been paid for by a man with a beard.

There was a Sai devotee whose son was suffering from severe abdominal pain and therefore he gave his son some vibhuti. A relative said to the man "when do you expect the cure?" the man replied "by tomorrow". That night he dreamt that Swami was kicking him in his chest and He said to the man in his dream "why did you say that you expect the cure tomorrow and not immediately?" the next day the son was better. 

Swami manifests Himself where service is done. He takes on the problems of all devotees. He does not get tired. He is working today. Some people ask why Swami is suffering physically. Frankly it's none of our business. He has taken on the illness from someone else. Who else can have a pelvic fracture and not say it is painful. We must do our work and rise beyond the body. We are not the body and we are not the individual. 

Swami's love is beyond description; any number of days is not enough to speak of His Glory. Swami once asked Sri Anil Kumar "What do you want?" Swami gives us all we need without even asking. Swami insisted again "what do you want?" Anil Kumar then replied, "I want to be born again and again so that I can spend my life spreading Your word". We are very well taken care of by Swami. He looks after all the mundane things in our lives. Anil Kumar does not have any income, but Swami takes care of everything. 

The suit that Anil Kumar was wearing on that day was presented to him by Swami. Professor Anil Kumar's final statement was, "my life is Swami's life". He finished his exhilarating speech with the song 'adi shesha ananta shayana'.

The programme came to a close with a vote of thanks by brother Ishwer Patel and the aarti.

Jai Sai Ram 

Dilip - UK

09/7/04