Mother Easwaramma and her Divine Son-te
Mother Easwaramma And Her Divine Son
“When I resolved on My birth, I decided who My mother should be.” The mother Baba decided upon was Easwaramma and therefore she is described as the chosen mother. She was a poor, tender-hearted, pious, illiterate, village housewife. Miraculous events usually precede the birth of Avatars and Prophets. Easwaramma’s mother-in-law had a dream of Lord Sathyanarayana and told her not to be afraid if something unusual happened to her. One day while Easwaramma was drawing water at the well, a big ball of blue light came rolling towards her, it glided into her and she fainted. Yes —- Bhagwan Baba had chosen His mother.
Little Sathya was nine months old —- one day after Easwaramma had bathed and dressed Him, and decorated Him with collyrium, vibhuti and kumkum, she placed Him in the cradle, giving it a swing. Then she turned to the stove where the milk had come to the boil. Suddenly she heard Sathya cry. She was very surprised, for He had never cried since birth for any reason, be it hunger, pain or discomfort.
She picked Him up and put Him in her lap. The baby stopped crying and to Easwaramma’s great astonishment she saw a halo of cool, brilliant light around Him. She was lost in delight.
Sathya soon attracted the attention and admiration of everyone in the village, and Easwaramma began to fear the ‘evil eye’ of envy and hatred. She tried to counteract it with symbolic waving of coconuts and the lighting of the camphor flame. But when Sathya saw this He would run off saying, “What can anyone’s eyes do to Me?” The reply, audacious and authoritative reminds one of the age-old words of Krishna to Yashoda. When reprimanded for putting a little sand into His mouth, the Divine Child replied, “Do not believe mistakenly that I am a mere child, mischievous and mad!” When a stranger asked Krishna His name He answered, “Which of my many names shall I tell you?” Baba says, “All names are mine, all forms are mine.” Sathya reminded Easwaramma of Krishna many times a day (He too was born as the eighth child) and she longed for Him to stay in that role.
Sathya loved being outdoors, gazing at the hills, the stars and the sky in silent happiness. As He grew older, and played on the streets with other children, Easwaramma recalls that in between hide and seek and blind man’s bluff, every passing cow and buffalo had to receive a loving pat from His warm hand. One day a child stood in the street shivering in the cold with no clothes on. As soon as Sathya spotted him, He promptly removed His shirt and put it on the child. Easwaramma says, “He just had to relieve pain and suffering as soon as He saw it in anyone.” His words were more soft and sweet than those of any child she knew.
Often she used to plead, “Sathyam tell me what you want.” She asked Him this question because He had no likes or dislikes or preferences for anything. But His face would immediately light up with a smile when He saw that the children around Him were happy.
When Baba was fourteen years old, He took the first step in training Easwaramma for the role she was destined to play later in her life. He told her the bitter truth that His devotees were calling Him and that He did not belong to her anymore. The mother asked, “To whom then do I belong?” “To the world and its peoples” was the answer. Thus Easwaramma was cast in the role of mother to the hundreds of sons and daughters who visited Prasanthi Nilayam. She sought out the sick and troubled and looked after them lovingly.
Easwaramma had always been puzzled by young Sathya’s extraordinary wisdom and the authority with which He spoke on spiritual matters. She was so charmingly innocent that in later years when Swamiji quoted passages from the Vedas she would approach Professor Kasturi and enquire, “Was all that correct?”
Baba liked to tease and play on her innocence. For instance, before He went to East Africa, she was greatly upset at the thought of Him journeying in an aeroplane over the seas. But Swamiji made no attempt to calm her fears. Instead He frightened her even more by saying that Africa was a topsy-turvy world where there were man-eating tribes and gold was as cheap there as dates! He gave her the astounding information that it would be a journey of four hours into the past —– they would leave Bombay at 3 p.m.having had their afternoon tea and would reach Africa at 11 in that day’s morning to join those there for lunch! Greatly alarmed Easwaramma pleaded that the visit to this unearthly country be cancelled. But Baba was only widening her horizons.
The mother was full of sacred thoughts and noble feelings. One day she said, “Swami, Puttaparthi is a small village, there is no school here and the children are forced to walk long distances to attend schools in the neighbouring villages. Please construct a school here. Swamiji did so making the mother extremely happy. Afterwards, she told Swami that she wanted a hospital also to be built in the village. The walls of the Sri Sathya Sai Hospital were built brick by brick by the volunteers organised by Easwaramma. Later Baba said that the miraculous cures which took place in the hospital were due to the love of the volunteers who had built the hospital. After this, the mother told Swamiji, “I have no more worries, You have fulfilled my desires and the sufferings of the villagers have been reduced to a greater extent.” Baba smiled, “If you have any more desires, ask Me now.” Easwaramma softly replied, “Swami, You know that the river Chitravati is in spate during the rainy season; but in summer it dries to a trickle and people do not have drinking water, so please have some wells dug in the village.” Swamiji said, “I will not stop with these small wells, I will provide drinking water to the entire Rayalseema region.”
Through the Avatar’s companionship Easwaramma realised the importance of education for women; and she was delighted when Swamiji established the college for women at Anantapur.
Today, what started with the fulfillment of the mother’s three wishes, has taken the shape of a boon not only to the village of Puttaparthi and the surrounding areas, but to the world itself. Swamiji has given us schools and a university where education from K.G. to P.G. is free; and where the seeds of human values are sown and nurtured so that the students become ideal human beings. Then the magnificent Super Speciality Hospitals where every facility is offered totally free, and the drinking water project benefitting thousands of villagers. The constructing of small houses and the providing of financial security to widows are also part of Swamiji’s unending gifts of Love.
A few days before her deliverance, while Easwaramma was in Brindavan, she had a vision of Swamiji as Sri Rama while she was fully awake. On the 6th of May, 1972, Easwaramma had her bath and morning coffee as usual. All of a sudden while proceeding to the bathroom she cried out, “Swami, Swami, Swami” and Baba responded “Coming, coming, coming”. In that period she breathed her last in the very presence of her Son, the Divine Avatar. Baba says, “The way one dies is the proof of one’s GOODNESS.”