Namaste SaiSeekers,

As most of you know, we dedicated our previous year’s diary to the awareness, appreciation and preservation of our environment. This year the theme of our diary – and consequentlyour year – will be dedicated to exploring, appreciating and experiencing the art and aesthetics around us, specifically through the life of ourbeloved Guruji.

This diary is an expression of our love for the artist that our Guruji was in everything he did, from hiswriting, his poetry, his speech, his architectural concepts and graphic designs, right to his very way oflife. Each word that flowed from his lips was perfect, original, apt, like a stroke from an artist’s handcompleting a painting to perfection, the stroke being not too long, not too short, but just the right sizeand just the right intensity. Our guru was nothing short of that absolute artistic perfection.

Guruji had the soul of an artist and greatly cherished beauty and aesthetics around him. We may get asmall taste of both his approach to life and his insights into the essence of life through the beautifulsatsangs he blessed us with. In one satsang he describes the gurubandhus sitting there with him as“pieces of art”. He says, “Everybody’s mind, everybody’s thought, everybody’s life, is just a piece of art.To me, you all look like different pieces of art, more beautiful than those by Michelangelo and Leonardoda Vinci. Yes, they are beautiful pieces of art, but why can’t we enjoy this here [pointing to his heart] just as we enjoy something which has been done on a canvas? It is soreal. This is art! I prefer – instead of going for the works of Michelangelo – that everybody tries to be aMichelangelo and experiences their own art.” This is but a glimpse of his spirit, but wouldn’t it befascinating to explore that aspect of our guru in depth? Wouldn’t his insights sweep us off our feet? Solet’s try and tune in to the artistic dimension of our guru this year.

Those who observed Guruji closely will have witnessed how naturally incidents blossomed around himand how spontaneously he responded to them. Even the place of his mahasamadhi – Murnau, thescenic centre of a historic artistic movement in Europe – seems to reflect his aesthetic nature. ThoughMurnau was not noted as a holy site, the choice of the place of his mahasamadhi seems somehowapt, perfect and spontaneous, like everything else about him.

Guruji said, “That which affects the heart is real art.” So this year we strive to experience our Guruji asan artist, he who moulded our hearts to joy and opened our minds to the beauty of life. Our attempt todeepen this experience is a tribute to him as we look upon his majestic beauty and grace in childlikeawe, with a lover’s passion and an artist’s soul.

Saipatham Publications