Pencil drawing of Sathya Sai Baba in 1966 by P. Gopal Naidu of Dombivli, Maharashtra
Last updated on 4th April 2019
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I was given this copy on or after 29th May 2003 as that date has been added to the framed drawing. But even if it was given after that date I don't think it would have been beyond 2004.
By May 2003, I had already shifted base from Dombivli to Puttaparthi and had started my free service (Seva) offering at the Sai university, Prasanthi Nilayam (Puttaparthi) campus as Honorary Staff/Honorary Faculty. If I recall correctly, Gopal Naidu sir had given this drawing copy when I visited his home in Dombivli, in summer holidays (of Sai university) in 2003 or 2004. I am sure I would have been deeply touched by his gift of love and would have expressed my gratitude to him then. I clearly recall Gopal Naidu sir's love and encouragement to me for my Sathya Sai samithi work.
I would like to use this opportunity to publicly express my gratitude to Gopal Naidu sir, a revered elder of Sathya Sai samithi, Dombivli, for giving me this gift of love. I am happy to put up this pic and post as a small contribution from my side to share Gopal Naidu sir's wonderful artwork capturing Sathya Sai's beautiful and joy-giving (ananda pradayi) form, on the Internet. I think this would have been based on how Sathya Sai looked in 1966. Note that Sathya Sai visited Mumbai (then Bombay) in this period in 1966. I don't know whether Gopal Naidu sir made this drawing while looking at Sathya Sai in physical form during this March 1966 visit of Sathya Sai to Mumbai. If some readers, especially those of Dombivli samithi, can provide some information on this, it would be great.
Here are small extracts about Bhagavan's (Sathya Sai's) visit to Bombay in March 1966 from Sathyam Shivam Sundaram by N. Kasturi, available here: http://www.saibaba.ws/avatar/sss/sss2.htm :
Baba reached Bombay, on His third visit to the City, on the 13th day of March, 1966. As Baba has said, "Maharashtra is a holy land, where the stream of Bhakthi has fertilized social, political, and philosophical fields for ages. Ramdas, Tukaram, Jnaneswar and many others have filled the hearts of the people with reverence for God and love for man; this was also the field of activity, the center from which radiated the grandeur, of the Sai Form of this present Sathya Sai. "Do not doubt that Maharashtra will soon be a center of Dharmic Revival". During the fortnight that He stayed in Bombay, Baba established Himself in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of its citizens, through His simplicity and sweetness.
...
As Hon'ble Sri P.K. Savant, Minister for Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra and erstwhile Chairman of Shirdi Samsthan said, "Bhagavan is the Avathar of Sai Baba of Shirdi, to whom millions look for strength and solace. Baba belongs to Maharashtra in a special sense, though He has come for all humanity." The Bhajan Sessions provided splendid chances for Sai devotees to serve the people of Bombay. Hundreds of trained volunteers served visitors with humility and loving regard; Baba selected from the gathering, children and old persons who were ill beyond repair by medical skill and, calling them aside after the Bhajan, diagnosed and dealt with them, with Divine Love to bless them with relief and health.
Baba addressed mammoth gatherings, the like of which even Bombay has seldom seen in its long history, at the Sardar Vallabhai Stadium, on the 16th, 17th and on the 23rd of March. The last meeting was on Gudi Padua Day, the Festival of the New Year in Maharashtra and lakhs of people directed their steps to the stadium to have His Darsan and to hear His Voice, as their inaugural experience for the coming twelve-month-period of their lives. Baba too gave them a message that, as Sri Page, the Chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council said, could "sweeten and lighten" the burden of life. Baba said, "Man is tossed about by every wind and wave; he has weakened his will and warped his vision. So, he drifts into the shoals und whirlpools. He is the child of immortality, heir to Divinity - destined to be the master of the mind and its waywardness - the crown of creation. He is not a monkey that has taken but a few steps towards civilization. Realize the God that is immanent in the Universe, that is calling out for recognition from every flower, every dewdrop, every star that twinkles in the sky; realize Him as the source of the Ananda that you project on the objects around you, so that you may enjoy them. That realization will clothe the world, and you, in a new and glorious vesture; it will make you unafraid; it will render death a pleasant passage to birthlessness."
--- end small extracts from Sathyam Shivam Sundaram ---
Another account of that visit is provided here: https://sathyasaiwithstudents.blogspot.com/2016/03/sri-sathya-sai-address-at-sardar-patel.html.
I should also mention here that I was told by my elder sister who is around 10 years elder to me that our family including me had gone to take Bhagavan's darshan in Bombay (and in Worli, if I recall correctly what she told me), when I was a toddler. I have no recollection of that darshan. Perhaps it was in this March 1966 visit of Bhagavan to Bombay that I, as a 3 year old baby :-), got my first Darshan of Bhagavan at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel stadium in Worli.
Note that at that time Dharmakshetra, the main Bombay centre for Sathya Sai organization, was not yet built. The document, "Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s visits to Dharmakshetra", http://dharmakshetra.in/Content/SwamisVisits/swamisvisitstodk.pdf states, "Sri Sathya Sai Baba presided over the ‘Bhoomi Puja’ at the site selected for ‘Dharmakshetra’ on 24th March 1966. He addressed the volunteers on 25th March." So the site had been selected and the Bhoomi puja was done as part of that visit. The same document states, "On the sacred Vaishakha Pournima day (Buddha Pournima), 12th May, 1968, Sri Sathya Sai Baba inaugurated Dharmakshetra, the International Centre of His Mission at Bombay."
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Update on 4th April 2019: I was informed by a reader (on my Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2454056418144254, associated with this post that P. Gopal Naidu sir passed away (merged in Bhagavan's lotus feet) some two years back. I think I had heard the news sometime back but I was not sure and hence did not mention it in the post earlier on.
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