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The night aer this occurrence, the Russian interpreter found the young Iranian boy singing devotional songs with his friends. Generally, when someone is in mourning, they are not so public with their activities. She approached him and offered her condolences, saying how sad she was to hear of the passing of his mother. With a beaming smile he responded, “You don’t have to be sad about that. She is with Swami, and Swami is with me always, and I am very, very happy.”
What kind of love is so powerful that it makes us unaffected by any circumstance? Could we be unaffected by the loss of our closest relative, by blindness, cancer, or any agonizing condition? What love is so great that it enables us to fully feel life’s experiences and yet respond with love rather than being overcome by adversity? What love graces us with the ability to clearly see that the external world is impermanent, and at the same time, envelops us in its protective mantel of peace? Swami’s love.
Jerry’s Death
Aer siing on the porch all morning during darshan and devotional singing, I got up to leave. A middle-aged man approached me saying that he knew me and wanted to share his story.
Jerry came to Swami in the early 1970s and stayed at Prasanthi Nilayam with Swami for about two and a half years. He had, since that time, been an active devotee in New York.
He had been feeling healthy and happy when, aer a Sai conference two months earlier, he had had a convulsive seizure. Within a week he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer and was told he had three months to live. It reminded me of the story of King Parikshith who had seven days to live. Sage Suka instructed him on how to release his mind in Lord Krishna for his remaining time so that he could merge in Krishna.
Jerry said that he had come to Swami out of love and because there was no other place to go. He wanted to absorb himself in
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