Divine Stories : Earlier days: Padha Mandiram – 7. Raasa Leela: Lord Krishna gave joy to the innocent and simple hearted devotees from Mathura. Krishna appeared to each and every one and danced with them. Our Loving Lord Bala Sai gave such a blissful experience to the old time devotees, while Swami was in Padha Mandiram. We will see about it, down below: Devotees would see Swami transform into Radha, when singing on Radha and Krishna. She appeared like a Rajasthani, head covered with a saree and wearing nose ring, a pendant like jewel between the nostrils and a large kum-kum (Bindi) mark on forehead. Swami would sing in Madhurabhavam (sweet temperament) with tears rolling down, with a Bhaava of longing to see Krishna. Similarly when Swami sang Meera bhajans, he would become Meera. At times, devotees used to dress him like this. Swami would not say no. Parthi was like Brindavan and Swami was Lord Krishna. All devotees were like Gopikas. All were immersed in Bhakthi Bhava. Early morning they used to sing, "Meluko Sai Krishna" (wake up Sai Krishna) composed by Smt. Sundaramma. Her song, "Tulasi Maala idigo Swami" (we offer Tulasi garland) used to thrill everyone. In the days of the Pata Mandiram Swami would play many games with his devotees. One such game would be racing; whoever ran fastest and reached the Kalpavriksha tree would be the winner. And Swami would always be the ultimate the winner, appearing on top, instantly! Before the wink of an eye, he would be there, and would shout down, “See, I have reached, I am the first.” !!! Swami loved games. And then, once Swami introduced something very novel. There was an area where Tulasi shrubs were grown and Swami told everyone: “Now, collect bunches of Tulasi and make a garland. “Whoever makes a complete garland of my height, will be the winner.” So everybody, with baskets, plucked the leaves of the Tulasi, to make beautiful garlands. Swami would also join in the competition! He used to be so fast that in the snap of a finger, he would have collected a basket full of Tulasi leaves. He used to tie it so meticulously, so perfectly and artistically. He would say, “Now, come on, all of you try to put the garland on me. Let me try on mine first.” And yes, His garland would be the perfect measurement of his height and again He was the winner! Then devotees asked, “Swami, what about garlands which we have tied?” “Okay, I will give you another novel idea. Make balls of Tulasis, tie it tightly.” So, with these tightly tied Tulasi balls, Swami had another new game. He said, “All the men to one side, all the women to another side.” This was a monkey play. And Swami stood in between them and he threw the Tulasi balls to them and they played for a long time. And when all were tired, he would take them to the old Mandir. One devotee said, “Swami, how come you played with me alone?”, and another would say, “No no, Swami played only with me”, someone else would add, “You played with me only”.!!!! Swami then revealed, “Do you know what happened? I am Sai Krishna and you all have had the experience of that Raasa Leela. So, you were all Gopikas. And I have played the game with each of you. So, is this not Divine Ananda?” How fortunate were those devotees !! Truly they were the gopis!! With Love & Regards, Mumbai Srinivasan. With Love & Regards, -- --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "saimsg" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
