Val Anderson ~ Swami's Beautiful Leela
Yoga Shakti Ma Mandir
Om Sai Ram
What a magnificent day. It started with the Sunday Sunshine Lecture at the Yoga Shakti Ashram.
It was David's birthday and he wanted to attend the 9 AM Sunshine lecture.
The speaker was a Yoga teacher named Val Anderson.
I had met Val before and I recalled her saying that she had visited Sathya Sai Baba in the 1980's,
but, I didn't get a chance to speak in depth with her at that time. Her lecture was intensely inspiring.
It had to do with the power of the words we utter, and how those words can impact our lives
and circumstances in a very real way.
There are so many words that we use out of habit with very little thought on how negative
and self negating they are. Phrases like: "That's unbelievable." "I can't believe it." I'll try."
"I can't." "No way." "I've lost weight instead of I am slimming" and so on.
After this uplifting lecture I was able to speak with Val at length and she shared some of her
wonderful adventures with Lord Sai Baba:
Val first went to India to see Sai Baba in 1980. On this trip she stayed at the Whitefield Ashram.
During Darshan on one occasion she was at the back of the mandir because a taxi was waiting
to take her to Bangalore to retrieve some delayed luggage.
Swami looked out on the large (2000 devotees) gathering and spotted Val.
He addressed her directly, "You going, you come!" This was her first interview with Sathya Sai Baba.
Once inside the interview room Val said, "Swami held my hand tenderly, He told me,
'You think too much.'" He went on to relate all the thoughts she'd had the previous day in succession.
He then patted her hand and gently said, "Don't worry I will help you."
The second interview:
Val and her group were called in for an interview. Swami materialized vibhuti for all the devotees in the interview. Val perplexed, asked Swami what to do with it, Swami looked at her and commanded, "Eat!" Which she happily did.
In this interview Val's roommate was wearing a birthstone ring and an inexpensive Shirdi Sai Baba ring. Swami took the birthstone ring and blew on it. The stone in the ring turned into Sai Baba's birthstone. He then asked for the Shirdi ring blew on the ring and changed it into a valuable ring with His picture on it.
O the wonders of Sai!
As Val and I shared Baba stories, Val mentioned that she had studied Yoga with Indra Devi!
I was astounded, Indra Devi was the first woman of Yoga in the West. She was also a very
ardent Sathya Sai Baba devotee. Indra Devi relates many of her amazing experiences with
Sathya Sai Baba in the excellent book Sai Yoga.
Val shared something that was not mentioned in the Indra Devi book. It appears that Swami had given Indra Devi a vibhuti box. This box automatically filled up with vibhuti when it was empty. Indra Devi demonstrated this at a gathering in which Val was present. She showed the box to the devotees and distributed vibhuti from it to the awe filled crowd.
Val, lives close to me in Florida, I hope to share more of her thrilling Sai experiences with you.
Jai Sai Ram,
Sonya Ki
What a magnificent day. It started with the Sunday Sunshine Lecture at the Yoga Shakti Ashram.
It was David's birthday and he wanted to attend the 9 AM Sunshine lecture.
The speaker was a Yoga teacher named Val Anderson.
I had met Val before and I recalled her saying that she had visited Sathya Sai Baba in the 1980's,
but, I didn't get a chance to speak in depth with her at that time. Her lecture was intensely inspiring.
It had to do with the power of the words we utter, and how those words can impact our lives
and circumstances in a very real way.
There are so many words that we use out of habit with very little thought on how negative
and self negating they are. Phrases like: "That's unbelievable." "I can't believe it." I'll try."
"I can't." "No way." "I've lost weight instead of I am slimming" and so on.
After this uplifting lecture I was able to speak with Val at length and she shared some of her
wonderful adventures with Lord Sai Baba:
Val first went to India to see Sai Baba in 1980. On this trip she stayed at the Whitefield Ashram.
During Darshan on one occasion she was at the back of the mandir because a taxi was waiting
to take her to Bangalore to retrieve some delayed luggage.
Swami looked out on the large (2000 devotees) gathering and spotted Val.
He addressed her directly, "You going, you come!" This was her first interview with Sathya Sai Baba.
Once inside the interview room Val said, "Swami held my hand tenderly, He told me,
'You think too much.'" He went on to relate all the thoughts she'd had the previous day in succession.
He then patted her hand and gently said, "Don't worry I will help you."
The second interview:
Val and her group were called in for an interview. Swami materialized vibhuti for all the devotees in the interview. Val perplexed, asked Swami what to do with it, Swami looked at her and commanded, "Eat!" Which she happily did.
In this interview Val's roommate was wearing a birthstone ring and an inexpensive Shirdi Sai Baba ring. Swami took the birthstone ring and blew on it. The stone in the ring turned into Sai Baba's birthstone. He then asked for the Shirdi ring blew on the ring and changed it into a valuable ring with His picture on it.
O the wonders of Sai!
As Val and I shared Baba stories, Val mentioned that she had studied Yoga with Indra Devi!
I was astounded, Indra Devi was the first woman of Yoga in the West. She was also a very
ardent Sathya Sai Baba devotee. Indra Devi relates many of her amazing experiences with
Sathya Sai Baba in the excellent book Sai Yoga.
Val shared something that was not mentioned in the Indra Devi book. It appears that Swami had given Indra Devi a vibhuti box. This box automatically filled up with vibhuti when it was empty. Indra Devi demonstrated this at a gathering in which Val was present. She showed the box to the devotees and distributed vibhuti from it to the awe filled crowd.
Val, lives close to me in Florida, I hope to share more of her thrilling Sai experiences with you.
Jai Sai Ram,
Sonya Ki
