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For years I have talked to others about not relying on fame and fortune, for they all fade away with time. I have heard Swami say many times that all earthly trappings pass like clouds. Health and wealth pass like a dream.
Hearing and speaking this precept was one thing. Preparing myself and actually facing it was another. This kind of drama tested my faith. I felt close to Swami in my heart, but I also wanted to make contact with him outwardly and be assured of his protection. So I sent him a leer, not really expecting a wrien reply. Yet, something very important happened in the few weeks preceding my surgery, which answered my needs as if receiving a hand-wrien note from Swami.
In the February 1999 edition of Sanathana Sarathi, a discourse by Swami about events that occurred during Sport’s Day was included. The discourse spoke directly to my impending confrontation with impermanence and deepened my faith in Swami’s ever ready protection. It gave me great courage to face the surgery.
Sport’s Day is an annual event held in January when students from Swami’s colleges come together at Prasanthi Nilayam’s large Hillview Stadium to perform athletic events in front of Swami. Swami sits on a high stage surrounded by some of his older devotees, and on the large playing field his students march, run, and perform athletic feats as an offering of their love to Swami and to bring joy to the spectators.
Swami gave a special warning not to have Sport’s Day in that year (1999). He told the organizers not to have the event because, as we learned later, by his omniscience he could foresee that a student would be seriously injured. However, the organizers of the event decided to proceed, even though cautioned not to by Swami. Perhaps they did so because Swami plays his role as friend so well that sometimes we cannot grasp his divinity and forget to follow every direction he gives with full faith and force.
Swami related in a February 1999 discourse how he relieved a student of a serious injury by accepting the mishap himself.
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