My SAI and I – ACT Region

The tenth session of the “My Sai and I” series in Canberra and 12th session within the “My and I”series nationally, was held in Canberra on 23 February 2019. The venue for this event was the Tamil Senior Citizens’ Centre in Isaacs and the guest speaker was Dr Mohan Bhullar.

Dr Mohan is a dentist by profession and first moved to Australia in 1971 as a student. He spent his childhood in Malaysia prior to moving Australia for his studies. His Wife, Jo, is a qualified nurse by profession and has been a core member of the Sai Organisation in Canberra since its inception.

Dr Mohan was first introduced to Swami by his younger sister in Malaysia in 1982 and visited Prashathi Nilayam, the abode of Sathya Sai Baba, in 1983 for the very first time. Since then Dr Mohan and his wife, Jo, have been ardent followers of Sathya Sai Baba and have taken up many roles within the Sathya Sai Organisation of Australia and & PNG. Dr Mohan served as the South Canberra Sai Centre’s president and later as the president of the ACT Region. He also was the convener of the Australian National Sai Conference in Canberra in 1998 and has been a faculty member and administrator of the Australian Institute of Sathya Sai Education.

Dr Mohan’s talk centred around his introduction to Sathya Sai Baba by his youngest sister and the many trips to Puttaparthi during the period 1982 -1998, the learnings from these trips and the very light hearted interactions he and his wife, Jo, has had with Sathya Sai Baba. Dr Mohan also touched on his search for other Sai followers in Australia in 1980s to learn more about Sathya Sai activities, formation of Sai Centres in Canberra and the early challenges encountered by those in the Sai fold in Canberra. Key highlights from this talk are given below:

Detailed description of life in Prashanthi during the period Dr Mohan and his wife travelled to India

The stories behind some of the Sathya Sai Baba photographs that were in their house

One of the light hearted banters with Sathya Sai Baba that Dr Mohan shared was that during an interview the Sai followers in his group had complained to Sathya Sai about a lady who was very active as a seva dal (i.e., volunteer force) and many felt that she was being unjust with the many followers who thronged to see Sathya Sai Baba. Hence, they had asked Sathya Sai Baba to do something about it and Sathya Sai Baba had quipped that HE too was scared of the seva dal.

Dr Mohan became vegetarian soon after his visit to Prashanthi Nilayam along with his wife Jo. However, the pleasure of having glass of wine after work or while entertaining friends was a tad too difficult to give up. He had promised that he would give up as soon as he emptied his stock. One day while enjoying a glass of wine his glass for no apparent reason fell to the ground and into many pieces. Dr Mohan said that his wife had quipped “you know who is behind that” and with that he gave up drinking wine. He also briefly touched on how one’s social circle changes when one’s values and way of life undergo a re-alignment.

Dr Mohan apparently never wore a ring after his marriage as he was of the view the soul was not tied to anything. But, Sathya Sai Baba had given him a ring during one of the interviews he had and from then on he wore that ring

During a dharshan one of the gentlemen next to him was quite restless and his restlessness impacted Dr Mohan and he found him an annoyance. However, he had met this very gentleman later and had found him to be very pleasant and friendly. Hence, ones need to be careful when judging others based on one incident.

Dr Mohan concluded his talk by saying that he felt fortunate to have been introduced to Sathya Sai and his teaching.