An alumnus of Sri Sathya Sai University, Mr. Rakesh Menon joined the Brindavan campus in the 1994 for his Bachelors in Commerce :
Below is a Wonderful Experience in his own words : “God could not be everywhere, therefore He made mothers.” But I had the unique fortune of having the Lord Himself as my mother. I was blessed to be at Swami’s feet between the years 1994 to 1997. I was not a devotee before I joined Swami’s University, neither was anybody in my family. But we had heard of Baba’s college as a unique institution which imparted human values. One of my uncles got me the application form and brought me to Puttaparthi, where I wrote the entrance examination. Swami, at that time, was in Kodai Kanal. Nevertheless, the general ambience of the ashram kindled in me the urge to learn more about Swami. I was fascinated by the discipline in the ashram; how things happened in clockwork precision, right from the stroke of the bell at five o’ clock at dawn. It felt wonderful to be a part of the Omkaram, Suprabhatam and the Nagar Sankirtan, and feel those positive vibrations. Furthermore, everybody maintained silence irrespective of whether Swami was physically in Prashanthi Nilayam or not. That made a deep impact on me. Thus, in the summer of 1994, when I stepped into the portals of the University at the Brindavan campus in Bangalore, I was yet to physically see Swami. Now I was not a devotee but already a Sai student. And I was very eagerly looking forward to the ‘Big Change’ that was to manifest in my life. I hailed from a village in Kerala and now a higher education in a different sort of institution in the city of Bangalore really appealed to me. It seemed exciting, but I was not aware of what I was actually in for. The first step to the change lay in my acceptance of Swami as God. But how could I accept someone as my guru and God, when I had not even seen Him? Wasn’t it foolhardy to invest my faith on a person, of whom I had only learnt from hearsay? So I decided to test Bhagavan! We were a group of three boys from the same place who wrote the entrance examination together. And all three of us had got through the test! There was one amongst us who had the habit of smoking. And as the hostel and ashram rules strictly forbade this habit, this boy would go out on the sly, unknown to anybody else, to take the vital puff! I was aware of his furtive habits and so was the other boy. And we both advised him against persisting with his covert ways, knowing fully well that it might result in his expulsion from the institution altogether. But he remained adamant. Instead, he pointed a finger at a photograph of Swami in the Sai Ramesh Hall and said, “Let Him say and I will stop.” I looked at the hall; there were at least 5000 devotees seated there, waiting for Swami. It seemed Swami now had two more tasks to accomplish in such a massive crowd before two Doubting Thomases could accept His divinity. First, to censor the cigar boy and second, to trigger a Big Change in me. Two days later, this boy got the chance to wave the arathi to Swami. I was sitting close to him. When the bhajans ended, Swami picked up the match box, lit the arathi, and told him in Tamil, “You said that if I ask you to stop smoking, you would do that.” He put the match box back into the boy’s shirt pocket and then continued as if nothing had ever happened. I was flabbergasted! Nobody else knew about that conversation except the three of us. And I can never forget the expression on this boy’s face – of utter disbelief, shock and fear. Swami’s words were also heard by the third boy. And we all looked at each other, astounded beyond words. In a crisp one-liner, the Omnipresent Lord had neatly packaged the lesson of a lifetime; it was powerful and unforgettable. This was my first direct experience of Swami’s omnipresence. Sai Ram
