"I Shall Resurrect And Come Again"!

Not many Sai devotees believe in Swami’s reappearance. That being the case, one can imagine how surprised I would have been to hear of a non-Sai-devotee who firmly believes in the return of Sri Sathya Sai Baba!

Aarthi Balaji, a facebook friend, shared this amazing story of how Swami inspired someone who was not a Sai devotee to believe in His reappearance.

Aarthi’s neighbor's father Mr.V.V. Duraiswamy is a retired math teacher in his seventies. A well-read scholar with a keen interest in Tamil literature, he fervently explores the sublime anthology scribed by Nayanmars and Azhwars (the devotional Saint-Poets of Tamilnadu) in the praise of the various temples in Tamil Nadu. These days Duraiswamy keeps himself engaged by offering voluntary teaching and office-keeping services to the schools affiliated to the Shankara mutt in Chennai, India. Even at his advanced age he still aspires to visit the ancient temples of Tamil Nadu and recite the divine Tamil hymns composed by the Azhwar and Nayanmar saints.

Around 27^th of April 2011, like many other TV viewers around India, Duraiswamy too watched on TV the last rites being performed to the body of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Since he was not a follower of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, naturally the event would have been meant to fade into the background of his routine life. However it was not to be! The very next day Swami dramatically appeared in his dream. In the dream, Swami emphatically declared thrice in Duraiswami's native Tamil, “Naan Meendum Uyirthezhundhu Varuven”, meaning “I shall resurrect and come again”!

Duraiswamy was quite shaken by this experience as it was unmistakable and very powerful. Soon after this, he had an urge to write a small poem in Tamil on the expected resurrection of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. 

To this day Duraiswamy is unable to fathom how it all came about. The writing is in chaste Tamil and it is a wonder how a non-devotee addresses Swami as Lord Shiva, the one beyond birth and death. In the poem he urges Swami to resurrect.

After finishing the poem he decided to print a few copies and distribute them to some Sai devotees he knew. Strangely enough, someone from ‘Thiruvanmayoor’ Sai Center in Chennai, met his wife at a temple and proposed to do a Sai Bhajan at the Duraiswamy residence. They readily accepted. In the meantime, Duraiswamy had been following up desperately with the printers for completing the printing of the poem as it was being delayed inordinately. Finally when the printers delivered the copies, it happened to be on the bhajan day. At the end of the bhajans, Duraiswamy read out the poem to the devotees who attended and also distributed the printed copies to the gathering.

When Duraiswamy narrated to Aarthi his experience that lead to the writing of this poem, she became certain of Swami’s divine hands behind the work. In Duraiswamy’s own words “it’s a wonder how the words ran down from my pen as I sat down to write the poem”.

Aarthi decided to translate this divinely inspired poem and share it with fellow Sai devotees. As she completed the translation work, Swami blessed Aarthi in a dream that very night. In the dream she found herself in a library that looked antique and ancient. There, in one of the rooms, she saw Swami sitting on a chair reading a book. She initially entered the room and walked out.  Then realizing Swami’s presence, re-entered the room thinking “Oh! Swami is here, let me go and take His blessings”. She knelt down in front of Swami, praying for His Padanamaskar. Swami immediately removed His footwear revealing His tender feet. Bowing down, Aarthi placed her head between His lotus feet and the dream ended. She feels blessed that Swami acknowledged her work through this dream.

Cover-page of the Tamil poem booklet

Sri Sai Natha, Resurrect

V.V. Duraiswamy

(Translated from Tamil by Aarthi Balaji)

Sri Sai Natha, Sri Sai Natha
O Gracious Avathar, the righteous One!
You are an ascetic who demonstrated the righteous living

   to beings in all four directions

Can birth and death affect You, the very Shiva?

Please Resurrect!

In Puttaparthi, You demonstrated an auspicious

   and noble living unheard of until then
The magnitude of bad karma was burdening

   and mankind was getting lost
To blossom again the auspicious livelihood among the mankind,

Please Resurrect!

Man’s life is filled with chaos from the bad deeds of the past
You showed how to rise above those retarding factors
With the whole world witnessing, You merged with the primordial light
The Sevadal movement founded by You, needs further guidance
Please don't disappoint them
Kindly Resurrect!

Even the non-believers (of God) turned believers seeing You
You have clarified the unmatched goal of life
O Radiant One as the Sun, You vanquished the darkness of this world
O the heartbeat of the common man
O Bhagawan Sai Natha, we prostate at your feet
Please Resurrect!

When the world was divided in the name of religion,
You taught the confused mankind, the truth of all religions
Human values were kindly explained to us by You
The holy Shirdi Sai Baba's seed of spirituality was succeeded by You
Please Resurrect!

The essence that was conveyed by the great Saint Adi Shankara,
Jesus who vanquished the bad karma of the world,
The holy spring of Quran told by Prophet Mohammed,
Buddha who demonstrated how to rise above the worldly desires,
You emulated the inner essence of all of these holy spirits
   and explained to the world their oneness
Please Resurrect!

You cured the sickness of many
The education that was elusive to many,  
    You offered for free to the simpletons
You gave water to the people of Tamil Nadu
Have grace on we orphans
Please Resurrect!

Your ideals were the pinnacle of human values
You taught how one can serve God by serving the fellow men
Cutting across the boundaries of nations and continents,
Your love inspired very many from around the world to surrender to You
O the all-powerful divine FATHER,
Please Resurrect!

Those who are born and those yogis who are never born,
Those who are dead and those who relentlessly do service,
Those who are of Himalayan stature or the common man who sincerely pray, 
All beyond the difference of religion, caste, creed - Together pray to You
It was only You who could achieve that on this earth
Please Resurrect!

You Who pervade the water, the ether (aakasha),
O Remover of darkness,
O You Who showered Your grace as omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient,
Vanquish the bad by Your all-powerful fire
For You to come again, we recite this song
Please Resurrect! 

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF FILE OF THIS ARTICLE ALONG WITH THE SCANNED BOOKLET OF THE ORIGINAL TAMIL POEM

Acknowledgement:

This article has been compiled with the help of Aanchal Sharma and Sneha Sharma