Once a student in Swami's college was very kee to get a mantra from Swami. During Dussehra that year, Swami said to the boy “I will give you the mantra now.” The student thought that Swami will give him the mantra, on the stage in front of everyone. Swami started His discourse as usual with ‘Divyaatmaswaruplara,’ and then completed His Divine Discourse.
It was a routine that Swami, on his way back to the Prasanthi Mandir after a function, used to ask about day’s speeches or functions that transpired in the Poornachandra auditorium. The boy felt that he had not got the mantra from Swami even though Swami had said so. The boy had also not got anything in the Discourse and he was reflecting on whether he had heard the Divine discourse correctly. Swami looked at the boy and asked, “Did you get the mantra?” The boy said, “No Swami.” Swami the said, “Listen to my discourse again.” And Swami the gave a copy of the tape, and walked off. The boy listened to the tape many times, over and over again, and found nothing and was looking for a line starting with ‘om,’ or a chant ending with ‘…ha,’ etc. The boy started writing letters to Swami, that he was introspecting, and not getting it. Swami then asked Prof. Nanjundiah to tell the boy that HE always starts his discourses with the first word of the mantra, ‘Divyaatmaswaruplara,’ or ‘Embodiments of the divine atma,’ and that was the mantra to chant. The Divine Manthra of Swami... Sai Ram
