Krishna Kumar (“KK”)’s journey with Swami is gentle, steady, and deeply woven into everyday life, from a small‑town in Tamil Nadu, to a small Sai group in Israel, to going from being a YA to his kids being YAs at the Raleigh Sai Center.

Early Seeds in Udumalpet

KK first heard of Swami through his brother in Udumalpet near Coimbatore, where a large samithi thrived, inspired by Swami often passing through on trips between Kodaikanal and Ooty. He joined Balvikas in Group 2 through completion, while he participated in daily bhajans (!!) in the neighborhood for several years. At that stage he simply accepted Swami as God without much inner questioning, as many do growing up in India.

Israel: Where Faith Became Conviction

The real inner transformation came in a most unlikely place: Israel. There he met a small Sai community of about 25 devotees scattered across the country, gathering monthly in Ein Hod in Haifa, about 1.5 hours from Tel Aviv.

His roommate, Bala, was a former Swami student and former lecturer in Swami’s college. Senior devotees at the center shared they had prayed for Swami to send His instruments to Israel before Bala and KK showed up!

Monthly drives of an hour and a half from Tel Aviv to bhajans, close bonds with devotees, and serious reflection turned a cultural familiarity into a personal conviction.​

Home as a Temple: Thursday Bhajans

KK married a year after moving to the US. From the second week of their marriage, KK and Rekha started having bhajans at home every Thursday night, and that simple practice has continued to this day over 25 years later.

Quiet Miracles at Work

KK synthesizes chemical compounds for pharmaceutical clients, often being the first person to make a requested molecule to a specified purity and quantity. After months of work, he sometimes feels he may fall short of the target amount; in those tense moments, he turns inward to Swami and asks for His assistance with producing an oddly specific number, like 9.8 grams.

Repeatedly, when he weighs the final product, the amount matches the number he prayed about. These small, recurring miracles have convinced him that Swami is present even in the lab coat and fume hood, quietly reassuring him that nothing is outside His care.

Cricket as Sadhana

Despite his calm public demeanor, KK is candid that anger is one of his ongoing challenges. For him, Sunday cricket has become a very practical sadhana. On the field, he tends to get deeply involved in the game and can be easily drawn into intense emotions and arguments over decisions.

This struggle has taught him something important: anger grows when he over‑identifies with a role, a result, or being “right.” Indeed, cricket may be taking him closer to Swami than meditation!

End of Education is Character

KK lights up when he talks about his time as an SSSE teacher and his two terms as Education Coordinator of the RSC - teaching is clearly deeply engrained in him!

He references Swami’s assertion that “The end of education is character.” For KK, character ties together SSSE, family life, and his professional world. In his own life - through Thursday bhajans, the Israel years, humble lab miracles, and even tempers tested on the cricket pitch - Krishna Kumar is trying, one small step at a time, to live up to that standard.