Go from Love, with Love, to Love

By T.R. Pillay – Director CISSE

Founding Principal, Sri Sathya Sai School of Canada

Director, Canadian Institute of Sri Sathya Sai Education

My first moral lessons were from the Boy Scout movement, Sunday classes by a kind teacher who taught me the Gayatri mantra, Aesop’s fables at elementary school, and Bible readings at my high school assemblies. Before I wrote any examination, my mother ensured I lit the lamp for Mother Saraswathi and offered roses and a candle at a nearby Catholic church.  I first heard the name of Arjuna when my father chanted his name to ease my fear of thunder and lightning.  My real introduction to profound spiritual truths, however, came from books lent to me by a Grade 10 classmate who had a guru. Regrettably, my fascination with the saintly lives and teachings of Yogananda and others I read about was short-lived. I became involved with the struggle for equality in Apartheid South Africa and for a time embraced Marxist ideology. When I arrived in Canada in 1970, I wavered between atheism and agnosticism although a quotation which I saw at the Johannesburg airport on my departure:  Go from Love, with Love, to Love made a deep impression on me.

It was Love in the form of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba that brought about a remarkable change in my life as an indulgent pleasure seeker. In 1974 on a return visit to South Africa my spouse Kamla and I first heard about Sri Sathya Sai Baba from her mother who attested she was cured of a cancerous tumour by Swami. My wife Kamla embraced His teachings almost immediately but I, too attached to worldly desires, resisted although I recognized His divinity based on my earlier reading of spiritual literature.  As a consequence, I secretly prayed to Swami to help me give up my sensual pleasures.  This help came as a gentle admonition in the form of a sweet rose fragrance that pervaded my basement while I was indulging in one of my bad habits.  This event as well as a dream of Shirdhi Baba became turning points in my spiritual evolution. I supported my wife’s desire to celebrate Sai Baba’s birthday at home and in a public spaces and sought the company of a group that met informally to study Sai Baba’s teachings in Edmonton.  This group became the nucleus of what was to become the Sri Sathya Sai Baba Centre of Edmonton in 1982.

In May 1983 we received an invitation to attend the first International Workshop for Bal Vikas Gurus.  Mrs. Damayanti Rao, wife of our President, and my wife volunteered to train as gurus.  Since I was a qualified public-school teacher, I was urged to go as well but I declined saying that I was not ready and felt unclean. But after many “Swami dreams” and hearing bhajans ringing in my ears in unlikely places, I felt Swami was signaling that I was ready. So, off the three of us went. I became a vegetarian the moment I set foot on the Air India plane following the lead of my wife who became a vegetarian a month earlier.

On this first visit, I was awed and inspired by Swami’s teachings that were painted on stone slabs and in the canteen. These uplifting ideals were as inspiring as the speakers like Dr. Jumsai and the late Victor Kanu who later became my mentors. We were also fortunate to have Swami’s presence in the afternoons at the workshop to answer questions.  In His Valedictory Address Swami stressed the importance of character, a pure heart and the removal of ego. He described the qualities of three kinds of teachers: teachers who complain; teachers who explain; and teachers who inspire. We were also privileged to have padnamaskar and a special banquet in the South Indian canteen where He walked around and chatted with participants.

In a group interview with the Edmonton Centre in 1985 during which Swami revealed His Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence, I summed up the courage to ask: “Swami, how do we teach EHV?” Swami gave a short but profound answer: “With Love.”

For me that teaching, the forgiving smile I received on my first visit which was much more electrifying than the electrical charge I felt when he touched my spine in a dream, and the miracle of the growing garlands at the Sri Sathya Sai School are all really special.

The Alchemy of Divine Love is nectarine indeed.