Way back in 1945 the author’s family of nine members travelled from their village Kuppam to the remote village Puttaparthi and had the divine darshan of young Sai Baba. Due to His grace, without any hesitation, they bowed to Him as their Lord, with absolute faith. The family was blessed to be addressed as Kuppam Family by Bhagwan Baba Himself. Not feeling comfortable to address Sai Baba by His name, they were the first to address Him as ‘Swami’ which was happily adapted by the devotees then and continues to even this day.
Swami encouraged the author, who was hardy fourteen years old, to jot down the day-to-day incidents and convert the contents to fair copies, in the form of diaries, whenever she had time. After nearly fifty years, as willed by Swami the author started penning down her experiences in the form of a book. He also blessed the book by naming it as “Anyatha Saranam Nasthi”, in Telugu. The author had no capacity to be a writer but when she held the pen, by Swami’s will, the ink flowed into the shape of a book, with beautiful Telugu language. Thus, it can be presumed as Swami’s book and the author as His humble chosen instrument. Later the book was translated to English as “Other Than You Refuge There Is None”, and 24 other languages.
The book highlights the details of Swami’s first tiny ashram known as “The Old Mandir,” in the form of a tin shed. The readers can have the full glimpse of young Swami as a divine Mother, strict Father, loving Friend, mischievous Lord, master of Music, the embodiment of selfless Love, the divine Protector, the treasure house of Compassion, mystic Healer, great Entertainer, playful Prankster, exhilarating Miracles, divine Play, stern task Manager, excellent Dramatist, the magnificence of the greatest Avatar in this period of Kali, etc. There is no other book which covers so much details of young Swami in the Old Mandir days.
The author has written only about the incidents seen by her and what was said by Swami. Thus, the readers are sure to have a smooth ride with her, through her memory lane starting from 1945 with a handful of devotees, to this period of a mighty empire, emerging from the Abode of Peace, Prashanti Nilayam, to the whole world.
The author never imagined that this humble book would ever be translated to so many languages, followed by her subsequent books, “Badri Yatra”, “Supreme Devotion”, “Maya and the Master”, innumerable articles, audios, videos, recordings of Old Bhajans and Old Songs, composed by Swami and her family members.
Only after five decades when Swami named the book as “Anyatha Saranam Nasthi”, the author went into a frenzy for many days realising the core aspect of “Total Surrender”. Even the most ardent devotees will never realise what is in store for them, as intended by the Master planner, even after decades.
The sale of the Telugu paperback edition released during 1998 has crossed 25000 copies and still in demand. It was never anticipated that many of the readers prefer to place the book in their Pooja room and treasure it like an auspicious gift from Sai Bhagwan.
The sale of the English paperback edition released during 1999 has also crossed 25000 copies and still in demand. All this is nothing but the divine grace of Sai Bhagawan and His pure selfless love for His children.
Jai Sai Ram!