Part 01 | Living with God is True Education - Kodai Reminiscences | Prof K Anil Kumar | Satsang

um i'm extremely happy to share with you my reminiscences with particular reference to our repeated trips to kodaikanal with bhagavan baba i was specially blessed or privileged to have accompanied him for quite a number of times and each visit is unique in its own way i could certainly say nothing is repetitive in respect of bhagwan everything should be novel special and unique so when i want to share with you my kodai experiences it spread over a vast area i'm afraid it may take a couple of hou

rs or even a couple of days for that matter i believe in one thing the popular quote that goes this way living with god is education in other words the purpose of avatar is that to let us know how to live our life the goal of life the pattern of life the values of life are all specially taught by our tower of our times besides demonstrating all that by example therefore living with god is education under that title let me share couple of ideas let me begin with this my first visit to kodai havin

g been invited by bhagwan personally swami wanted me to accompany him to korea trip and at that time i was staying at my native place gunther in andhra pradesh working at andhra christian college wherein i had put in about quarter century service so i came here and reported to swami at bangalore brandon well i stayed and swami called me the previous evening and said you are coming to karakanol with me i'm glad that you have come i said swami it's a great blessing to travel with you i cannot forg

et this moment swami that's what they said because there's already serving in the organization for 26 years already in the state of andhra pradesh we all crave for bhagavan darshan and that too being spoken to him and to accompany him are unthinkable and dreamt unbelievable and swami said come for the trip be prepared tomorrow morning we'll be starting at 5 30 be ready okay swami then started my learning process what is it i can learn from bhagwan why has he taken me to this trip today for the f

irst time why there must have been some purpose i was trying to pick up every moment for study more or less to me kodai trip is a training program i'll tell you the sequential order how bhagwan plans kodai trips it starts after sports meet every year as you all aware the sports may take place in the month of january annual sports meet at the end of the sports meet after price distribution on sankranti day from next day bhagwan starts planning he plans in such a way that no person would ever come

to know because he works one-to-one level it's not by any announcement or any committees uh advanced notice nothing like that he plans like that he picks up some students on the basis of their talent speaking ability or art in music or efficiency proficiency in sports and athletics or hard work in the hostel or outstanding performance in academics these are the considerations on the basis of which swami will pick up students to join him no student knows who are the other people each one keeps h

imself this as a divine secret made known to him only excellent way so that there would not be any rush there not be any demand so that all students won't beg swami please take us all of us but the purpose is defeated and therefore he selects and each one keeps to himself as a top secret total confidentiality his main chain maintain very nice this we could come to know later not at the beginning so and next morning he says buses are leaving yes and three or four of my cars also will follow anil

kumar you sit in the car in that car along with you mr ratnakar the collection of also will travel with you the next car he mentions the names of the people who are to be seated in that specific car three cars of his followers and the bus the students coming over there packing all the luggage and all students are seated there exactly by six we start here one important point i would like to let you know is the planning well in advance no confusion no confusion and i also came to know later that s

wami sent already one truck load of provisions to cadet already with advanced team those days we had one gentleman richard desai from bangalore campus a very efficient man along with another colleague of his and a few of cooks and drivers he goes there in advance party and swami gives them enough money to give them with you some extra money for petrol extra money to this everybody drivers provisions going in at once not to let another truck load of saris dhotis and the blankets and the gifts to

be presented to students are also packed they will go along with the advanced party that is divine planning ex perfect planning you don't look you don't need to look for anything there on the spot things are already ready advanced party will be going over there they set the whole kitchen ready all the rooms ready to receive students in bhagavan right so we start from there and then swami gets in takes hariti and gets in the car and we go live one after one really i recall those days when rama wa

s given send off by ayo javasis because we heard sufficient number of puranas in our younger days we also heard of lord krishna given send off by gopika as their number 11 like that in the early hours believe me most of the people bangalore people cars full all over the road white field all of them gather sites and give send off to bhagwan it's a royal send-off i tell you and bangalore several people uh go well in advance and then the more motorcycle ride their motorcycles with prashanti flag ye

s perfect that's a royal royal ceremony i should tell you and they come up to the end of the road housekote until swami takes you from there and then we start moving from place to place and here i should also make specific mention that swami kept sufficient number of tins of biscuits one tin of ladoos one tin of mysore bags and two baskets full of plantains so many fruits enough for the boys so that we can go on eating until we reach the destination we don't need to give rest to this eating proc

ess all eatables are kept there and they're in the car for us too all these things are kept see how what the consideration he has nobody expects that i don't think any wedding party would receive such a kind of treatment and then as we go by swami stops at certain intervals at certain places say like the indigo or salem or certain places he stops it is quite astonishing amazing to note that without any advance know this all villagers gather there who told them how do they know swami's arrival no

body knows and then there will be a place right quite accessible to all these vehicles along the roadside a huge pendle for all the devotees to be seated and bhagavan gets down and gives darshan to everybody everybody like that at every place may be stopping at three to four places or even more he'll be giving darshan to thousands of the devotees who gather there and you'll have harati at every place and get back in the car and all students also get down from the bus and watch how devotees recei

ve swami how swami is giving his love to everyone over there after three or four tips there may be also that was the first trip i know the breakfast at one place lunch at another place like that and when swami went there to that breakfast all students also sat there there we should see swami went there as a guest because he is invited by them all students went there but when one swami goes there he becomes the host a guest becoming the host meaning he will tell them you sit there you sit there y

ou sit there where we are supposed to sit and then the family members serve him and after that breakfast we leave that place and go on moving place to place place to place and then by time we come to palani it'll be one hour drive from palani to kodakanal and swami goes very fast from that area to that kadai where he stays what we call sai silty say sriti is the name of the building where swami stays and swami goes well in advance one hour or two hours ahead of us by the time we go you'll see sw

ami standing at the entrance swami is standing at the entrance welcoming all of us come on come on we'll all go there and we'll all be seated there um swami look that's right side good is your travel comfortable swami very nice oh good did you eat anything there oh swami oh there's plenty of stuff i know that's what swami would stay how do you like those places wonderful swami did you watch those devotees swami how disciplined they are the way how they received see that that is the kind of devot

ion for all of you to see and then he tells them oh you are very much tired because of long travel you have been traveling right from morning six o'clock this is almost six now time to rest so just fresh out yourselves and come to the dining hall with that that evening session concludes then you'll be surprised to know that swami visits every hall where students are supposed to take rest oh this is the hall oh so many students can sleep here this is the hall for so many students can be here ah t

his is the room where raj jaggar and anil kumar will be roommates here okay this is the room where sachitano can stay like that he had lots rooms to everybody and swami will go to every room and check the bathroom also whether the flush is working or not enough napkins are kept or not whether enough of towels are there soaps are there he'll check everything and then sit there then we go to the dining table and swami will be sitting there and just we have our dinner that night and then the spots

take rest and morning early morning we get up and get ready karekanal may be a hilly station why maybe it is but with bhagavan's visit kodakanak becomes kailash kailash is no exaggeration is no example an example for hyperbole certainly not it is effective facts surrounded by the hills and the tall trees eucalyptus trees take trees oak trees and many of the conifers pine trees all spread all over the mountain and dense forest deep within and then at the center you got six kilometers width of lak

e on the edge you have got the boat club and few boats flying on the surface on the river what a beautiful sight it is the early morning around six o'clock or 5 45 sun is still yet to show his splendor and grandeur and he's just hiding himself to come out totally or not and you'll find still some mist on the surface of the lake you find some clouds moving over there is it all true is this kodak and all no with bhagavan as i said mount kailash and then slowly and then if swami's residence is on t

he hilltop and now on the top is sai sriti building and that there's a slope over there and then there's a wide space in front and adjoining that there's a beautiful hall bhajan hall so swami you can walk straight to the bajan hall and from that building he'll climb down the steps and give darshan to those devotees who are seated there kodakanal is a cold place as we know more or less it is a place where many of the people go there to avoid summer but with all the cold weather wearing coats and

mufflers people start coming closer to say sriti right from four o'clock in the morning right from four by time at six whole area is full the whole road is full whole road is full thousands of people we wonder how they could come there in that cold weather when they might have got up we cannot imagine because i used to take a round first of all before coming to swami i come out and see how the roads are because i want to enjoy every second of my stay there and then we sit there wait for bhagwan

swami comes out to the room and there's a teapot like this by his side on the tipoy there will be a calendar and also telugu panchangam the almanac also will be over there from the table and also a couple of letters he receives from the devotees and a glass of water and then above him there is a swami's picture beautiful garland and then we also have another wall clock that is very special where every hour a bird comes out saying strikes number of times equal to the number of hours very nice who

is to wait for that sound also cuckoo words something like that very nice and swami comes and sits there had a good sleep swam you had very good sleep very good ah is it cold no swami you know why you see the tender care he takes and the love concern he has got for everyone there you'll say come on one boy comes there with pile of blankets blankets he gives one one to everybody next come on another boy comes there and brings a kit shaving a leather bag with toothpaste toothbrush tongue cleaner

razor extra blades after shaving lotion everything is there in the shaving kit he gives one one kit to everybody hmm right some of you may find it uh very cold huh right come on there's some sleeping bags sleeping bag is more or less like a gunny bag of course that's sophisticated where you just push into yourself and zip on both sides finish it quite warm and hot you can enjoy that also you start distributing sleeping bags so that you'll never feel cold over there everybody got it sam you got v

ery good now let's go for breakfast here i should tell you a personal thing i'm used to taking coffee at five o'clock in the morning even today of course i get up make my own cup of coffee of course later have other cups later joining others company so what to do and swami said 7 30 is the breakfast time i was just waiting and everybody left i went into the kitchen caught myself familiar with the cooks there surprisingly enough i have come to know that the cooks from anandapur campus they know t

elugu i was talking to them all right when do you get up sir we wake up at 3 30 or 4 o'clock or breakfast won't be ready it's unless okay very good service to swami all right how do you manage your coffee i said sir we made coffee and drink and then start working then i said would you give me one cup of coffee i'll come here at five sir ready ready sir so with that mutual agreement i used to go there every morning five o'clock coffee with them and 7 30 with the rest of the group this continued f

or three to four days on the fifth day before we uh got into the dining hall swami said he called right he called one cook there come here he came there all right what's our breakfast time you do not swami 7 30 ah all right right now we are going right but one fellow is having his coffee at five o'clock right or not yes correct who is he but that fellow was hesitating to tell my name and he was looking at me pretty fully what is sweden the cat is out of the bag now all right to save that embarra

ssing situation i said swami i go and have my coffee at five o'clock every day huh neva maybe why so soon swami and always swami that's my usual habit i take it five o'clock so you take number of coffees like that number of cups yes don't take for this trip okay from next time onwards consider the number of coffees okay okay swami and then he called the cook or you should have told me why you did not tell me do you think i don't know that is this your grandpa grandfather's property to do tribute

like that be careful this is the first instance i have come to know that swami knows even if you do anything in camera even if you do anything unnoticed it will get into the divine notice but he was very kind he said oh and he called the cook and said give him coffee already at five that fellow is used to that that's it that first experience and then at the dining table as breakfast is served boys serve breakfast and they also serve lunch everything is done by boys and then that is a quad wrang

ler place dining hall and with beautiful pictures of dawning there are four i mean tables five this side five that side and each table will have five chairs and the first table with five chairs therefore vips special guests and swami sits there at the center table's over there hmm after all of them are seated swami is saying um start then boys come and start serving here one point i would like to draw your attention these are students after all that they're from fresh from homes they never knew

this serving and all that but you'll be watching how they serve they should serve sambar liquid in such a way that not a drop should fall on italy or anything very careful if they do like that they come here okay which campus you come from bangalore chichi your boys are like that huh where's the world and i'll tell him to take care of you right be careful as yourself so this very careful meaning quadratic trip is not a trip of enjoyment fun and frolic excitement is a training ground training gro

und for boys to serve yes to serve in service they enjoy joy lies in service not being served so they serve like that and then swami will watch all sides when he says the morning prayer full prayer starts then we'll have all our breakfast and then at the end of the breakfast all will go in a line to the sink to wash their hands and sit there in swamis all swami saul as i said has got a beautiful sofa over there he sits very very relaxed unbelievable in prashanthal when he sits here he sits as if

he's in his office very tight like that but in kodakanal totally relaxed the divine mother sits in relaxed way cuts jokes like anything he asks one boy you're in a hurry you have not brushed your teeth properly and you look at another boy did you sleep well very good are you how about italy is it nice okay you like puri he'll be asking them how the various items are this shows that how a host should be the host should care to know how the items served are their tastes not simply leaving them to

their fate it's not like that swami takes care every care how is it how do you like it that's very nice very nice and then swami talks to students in a most informal way where do you come from how many brothers have you huh what is your father right he'll be asking them to make them very familiar feel at home because that being the summer period usually children go to their residences and spend time with their family members but that being a holiday period swami is their divine parent such that

they forget their own parents they love to spend time with them and he'll talk to them for some time and then he'll say there's a lake there you just go around for morning walk and then come back in the meantime i'll go to the bajan hall give darshan to these devotees and grant them interviews by the time i complete interviews or you return that's what swami does every day here one i should tell you one thing that happened he called me anil kumar see bhasani is he there or not see you go out an

d see his head i went out i did not see bozani i came straight swami he is not there he's very much there you have not seen not only his children also are there huh she properly go there by the time i went again i saw the whole family there it only means swami only willed that they should be there it's only at the swami's behest that they could all come for darshan he knows everybody and he sits here in the hall you see whether he has come or not and then we take boys take them around the lake a

beautiful sight for girls beautiful sight well we forget the time because all the only theme of our talk always is swami how swami brought us here the kind of arrangements he made the kind of love the kind of concern the personal care that's what we'll be talking by the time you return swami will be completing granting interviews to devotees and he'll sit back in his room and we'll gather there he'll give second talk one talk after breakfast second talk after granting interviews to everybody ti

ll the lunch time and then we go for lunch and then after lunch then the lunch same thing he first goes there and sees who sits there we're all seated there and then swami will sit there and he's the first to finish complete his dining before we actually start one or two items where i've got so much of things to cover up while swami could complete within no time and then he'll be watching from there supposing i need sambar i don't need to ask for somewhere it'll just look like that that sambar b

oy will get the message he will immediately come with his bucket and serve me supposing i like one particular item go on eating curry more and more he'll notice it that curry boy will come and serve me there's nothing like you come here you serve him nothing like that just looks that's all and then after that you'll go around every table and watch how people are enjoying the lunch and one day so happened he came close to me and said you should learn to eat all the items you always want andhra pi

ckles hot stuff many of our boys are from north india and many of them don't uh don't take the hot stuff as you do that we should learn to eat all items because if we don't eat those people who made may feel that swami is disappointed with their preparation and therefore you should learn okay okay and you'll go to another table array why are you wasting that stuff you should ask that amount you need that amount you like but you should not waste like that so it goes on telling in other words don'

t waste food food is god you can speak on that topic for any length of time this is a demonstration on the spot a practical training indeed and also dining manners dining manners meaning you should learn to eat all items so that the host will be satisfied dining manners and while eating some people may get habituated certain things you know making sound while eating he'll be watching like that when he looks at that fellow once again he'll stop making sound he'll be very careful it is rather very

surprising how message is conveyed by swami how message is received by concerned person he will come to know that like that he will be teaching them dining manners all the discipline and the spirit of service that after lunch we'll have a break for one or two hours and again by three we'll have the snack in the afternoon and that's followed by bhajan session there in bhajan session swami will make one or two boys to speak and swami also will give a speech bhajan session at the end of the bhajan

swami will come back to the room as i told you earlier there is swami's residence here adjacent to that there's bhajan hall swami will walk and get to the bajan hall and so after that you'll get into that uh building post bhajan session after bhajan is there he'll give another talk another time based on the speech he makes in the bhajan hall supposing he speaks on one theme he will develop that speak that speech there in the hall later so there will be two speeches one i would rather say echo s

ession during bhajan certainly gives a talk and he explains further there in his room very very nice i tell you that we had per day four to five talks every day number of talks then what is the theme of the talk what are the topics as you know there are certain swami's favorite topics before that i would like to tell you one thing that yeah he started speaking about the galaxy the stars distance between one star to another star distance between sun and the moon distance between earth and all thi

s planet it is going on for two to three days these two boys came to mention sir astronomy server astronomers are we are not able to digest such serious topics sir please tell swami pray that i get a chance to plead with him wait for a chance all right after two or three days swami used to get down in the afternoon first and he will sit there and our room is just by the side of swami's room yoga rav and i were roommates i immediately came out swami sit on the chair and we have got that serving s

wami i went softly what someone prayed swami you are talking about stars they were in existence even before we were born distance is bound to be there please so what we won't hear about childhood huh i say did boys tell you that no no yes it's my feeling swami i'm wise voicing on their behalf believe me he changed the topic right from that evening he started speaking about the childhood the boys very very happy at another time swami was asking so many guests to speak there in the hall we can und

erstand when these guests speak their bhajan session not in that private room boys are looking at me because we are expecting swami to speak next day events of swami so much knowledge so much swami these topics we can't hear anyway what topic you want your visit to north india swami you want to know okay he started speaking so these are fenuswami's favorite topics one is a childhood the second is visit to north india and third is his visit to chennai and his visit to delhi his visit to jamnagar

another fantastic and in andhra his visit to guadalajara districts his visit to nilo district as he starts speaking on those things we relive those moments as if on tv you'll be watching all those moments glorious days those are the topics that swami used to speak like that and then i can also tell you one thing he presented a philippine made shirt philippines manila yeah the shirts are white and there are two pockets on sides and embroidery work on both sides beautiful shirts he gave one one se

t everybody asked them to wear oh he gave me one shirt we're here he said how can i already have one shirt how can i have this shirt over that hey come on you saw me please ah all right you go i went inside i was struggling to wear that shirt because they're all ready my shirts they'll be pins you know i'm used to uh wear these dresses made by tailors and not ready measures so i didn't know what these the pins knew since i was feeling like that swamiji said come on come on come on you are still

hurrying me so i came out only with half shirt worn and came out three boys came and helped me and that episode apart from the beauty of the shirt i could be a character of fun and frolic to everybody over there and could make swami laugh well that is enough of joy for me enough of a historic moment that i cannot forget and then adjoining that sai srithi there's some space that swami acquired for sai shruti building adjoining that some more spaces acquired and several were at work cleaning the w

hole space right we finished our walk i saw this ever doing work i went there to say i did not get into the room where swami was already seated i went to the several people and trying to do service pretending to do service i don't say i did service no i took some crowbar from them just pose like that why i know that swami will come there wherever work is done swami will present himself there is a trade secret that we know so since i know that swami will be there i was just waiting swami came out

as expected you're acting very nicely said swami this action is only to see you here i know you'll come here i know your tatra and what you said and then one thing happened one fellow by name martin from buenos aires argentina he was also in our group that fellow was wearing some knicker and some t-shirt and doing work there and crowbar heavy work swami went close to him he told me see how they are doing comes over there and swami went close to him you know what that fellow did he kept his just

like that in his pocket he kept the letter to be given to swami he kept like that swami went and collected the letter post box it is like first box he took that letter and said he knows that that martin carried a letter meant for swami and swami picked that letter that i saw that after some time the server they received ice creams they distribute ice creams to everybody and most of them know me very well they also gave me one cup of ice cream i ate there along with the other several members at

the end i slowly walked into swami's hall all boys were there swami was there and he was distributing ice creams to everybody i stretched my hand hey you ate outside own swami then why do you stretch your hand now swami outside seva they'll give me ice cream here you are giving lot of difference i did not say i have not eaten since you are giving it becomes prasadam huh you like it very nice araboi give him two cups he said that's really a wonderful incident that had happened at the time of my f

irst visit to cadiz and all in the company of swami and i should also tell you swami started distributing peppermints there are the some are silver type some are gold colored there are the type of dollars american dollars sweets he started giving them many he gave me a couple of them first time for me to see those peppermints very nice i didn't know there's pepperonis anything like that they look like coins almost after coming to know well i pocketed them and then after sometime swami said when

i'm distributing sweets one fellow is hiding them one fellow is not eating other boys you go and set search all their suitcases where are they i said swami white trouble i'm pocketing them i'm not eating let the let not be a voice take trouble of opening your suitcases and find out the culprit i'm the man who is pocketing wow why why don't you eat here swami when i go back my children will be waiting i have four children swami and when i say these are the sweets given by swami they'll be jumping

joys for me for their mind take power you will be happy when your children eat there i'll be happy when you eat here from that day he started giving every item five four for children one for me for immediate consumption can i believe it is it all true some of those experiences when i begin to recall will i begin to doubt are they true have they happened would anybody believe even i myself not able to believe it true to have happened [Music] you