From
Cape to
Kilanmarg
The Ninth
All-India Divine Life Convention held at
Venkatagiri in 1957 was a landmark in the
campaign of Bhagavan who presided over the
deliberations and sounded the clarion call of
spiritual regeneration. Swami Satchidananda, the
Organizing Secretary of the Branches of the
Divine Life Society, later confessed that when
the news that Baba was to preside reached him at
Thiruvannamali, he was taken aback, for on
inquiry there, he had been told that Baba was
versed only in magic and that He was a poor
speaker at best. "I soon discovered that my
informant was profoundly ignorant," said Swami
Satchidananda.
On the opening
day of the Convention, the town was filled to
overflowing with delegates, visitors, and
devotees, including a large number of
renunciates from far away Rishikesh and places
such as Rajahmundry, Kalahasti, and Madras. A
gorgeous flower-bedecked palanquin was placed at
the main gate of the Venkatagiri Palace for Baba
to proceed into the theater where the Inaugural
Session was to be held. When He came out and saw
this symbol of pomp, He most politely refused
the honor in spite of the entreaties of the
Rajah, because, He said, "There are so many
monks here that I would like to walk with them."
It was indeed a distinguished galaxy of monks,
including Sadananda, Satchidananda,
Atmaswarupananda, and Srinivasananda.
Swami
Satchidananda hoisted the flag of the Divine
Life Society and Swami Sadananda, author of
"Sanmarga Deepam," "Maha Sakti," and other
books, including a commentary on Patanjali's
"Yoga Darsana," inaugurated the Convention. Some
misguided individuals had earlier distributed
leaflets in which they had charged Baba with
partiality to the rich and the aristocratic,
little realizing that even while this was being
done, Baba had refused the pageantry of a
procession and was walking the very road upon
which they were spreading their nefarious
falsehoods. In fact, Swami Sadananda referred to
this leaflet and made plain how absurd it was.
He congratulated the delegates and organizers on
their good luck in securing Sai Baba to guide
them on the path of divine life.
In His keynote
address Baba said the divine life was the
inspiration, the birthright, the motive force,
the be-all and end-all of everything in
creation; from microcosm to the macrocosm.
Divine life is the rain that falls from the
clouds of truth, love, and non-injury. It
comprises all acts done in pursuit of Reality.
Baba says that the desire to attain Reality or
the Divinity behind the illusiveness of material
things is inherent and immanent in every
individual as butter is in milk. Just as one
churns milk to separate the butter, man must
churn his mind with good deeds and good company.
Between the eternal spirit and the evanescent
world the mind of man oscillates; therefore it
is the duty of societies such as Divine Life
Society to fill the minds of its members with
holiness, and help in removing the dross of
passion and lust. For this transformation,
everyone is a worthy candidate, and the taste of
that bliss is the same for all. The Society,
Baba said, should endeavor with humility and
equal love for all to further this process of
transformation for as many as possible. It
should strive to wipe out the root cause of
anxiety, sorrow, and ignorance.
The next
morning when the Convention met at the theater,
Baba said that Hindu religion could survive the
series of onslaughts, cultural upheavals and
foreign invasion only through the efforts of her
spiritual leaders who stood watch over its
treasures and re-established the creative
principles of eternal truth in the hearts of the
people. He said that He always wanted to light
the lamp of love in every heart, and He advised
everyone to preserve an atmosphere of reverence
and love. Speaking on the three qualities of
nature, Baba illustrated their character by a
simple simile. Pointing to a kerosene lamp, He
said that the glass chimney was the
Satva
guna,
the tranquil quality; the soot inside was the
Tamo
guna,
the quality of sloth; and the dust outside,
Rajo
guna,
the quality of passion.
The next day
at the special gathering of delegates, Baba
appealed to them to cultivate single-minded
devotion to their teacher, and to demonstrate in
their lives the divine life to which they had
dedicated themselves. When the meeting was later
converted to a public session by the admission
of an eager throng of visitors, Baba spoke for
over an hour, exhorting all to lead lives of
devotion and surrender. "What would you like to
be in the hands of the Lord?" He asked. He
Himself suggested the answer, "The flute." He
wanted everyone to go straight without any
crookedness, without any pride, ego, will, or
idea of self; to inhale only the breath of God;
to transmute that breath into melodious
music.
Swami
Sadananda spoke on "Communion with God." In
reality he communed with Baba and spoke what He
prompted him to say, he confessed. Then rose a
great pundit, famed throughout Andhradesh for
many Vedantic books. He spoke on the most
abstruse problem in Indian Philosophy, "Who am
I?" People say that the
Advaitic,
the non-dualistic teaching, makes men
other-worldly and dry, but this scholar was poet
enough to appreciate Baba's picturization of the
flute on Krishna's lips. He related with
pleasure Baba's ideals and quoted a few Sanskrit
verses on Lord
Krishna
and the unique good fortune of that "flute." He
began his discourses with a personal statement.
"I came to Venkatagiri for this Convention
primarily to meet Sri Sathya Sai Baba, for I had
heard all kinds of versions of His greatness,
and I was eager for the chance to test them. In
short, I came to defy! And I am going back
'deified', made aware of my inner divinity. I
apologize to Baba for my error." This is just
another instance of the fog of misunderstanding
disappearing before the warmth of Sai Baba's
Presence.
Baba moved
freely among the holy men and scholars and gave
each a long interview before departing from
Venkatagiri. Swami Satchidananda said, "As soon
as I went in, Baba embraced me and said He was
happy to see me. He then spoke of a rare mystic
vision I had the good fortune to experience
thirty-seven years ago and congratulated me on
the steady pursuit of the ideal which culminated
in that vision. But He chided me for squandering
my time and energy on efforts toward collecting
funds, meeting people, and discussing plans and
institutions. When I attempted to justify my
present activities as contributing ultimately to
the welfare of the world, He laughed and asked,
'Have you not heard that good thoughts and waves
of surcharged wisdom have a way of emanating
from a great soul, and overcoming all obstacles,
shaping and changing the thought currents of
others?' He advised me to retire into solitude
and resume my spiritual exploration. He assured
me He would provide me succour and sustenance
wherever I chose to be! This point of view had
never been placed before me in such clear and
authentic words, and I was very much touched by
His Love and Mercy. I was surprised that He knew
of an intimate secret experience of mine which
dated some years previous to His birth, and I
questioned Him about this. He answered me with
the questions: 'Am I born? Do I die?'
It was indeed
a unique experience for all - the interview, the
diagnosis of their deepest doubts, the
prescription of appropriate remedies, the
assurance of continued Grace, the weighing of
achievement in the balance of progress, and the
revelation of Baba's Omniscience and
Omnipresence. When Baba returned to Puttaparthi,
He was joined by Swami Sadananda and Swami
Satchidananda. They were both eager to spend
more time in the Divine
Presence.
One evening
Baba took Swami Sadananda with a party to a
natural spring in the hills behind the Nilayam.
Sitting beside the spring, Baba spoke of the
existence of chaitanya,
super consciousness in man, beast, vegetable
and stone. Swami Sadananda quoted passages from
the Upanishads to show that the same ideas were
to be found in India's ancient texts. Suddenly
Baba assumed an authoritative tone and declared,
"You call them ancient; I know them all; I am
beyond space and time." The discourse then
drifted to Saivism,
to the conception of God as Siva and the symbol
of Siva
known as
Linga
and its significance. Swami Sadananda had
written a thesis, "The Origin and Early History
of South Indian Saivism," while at Madras
University.
It was the
Tamil New Year's Day and Baba gave everyone a
"poli,"
a sweet preparation which every Tamil housewife
must prepare on that auspicious day. He
manifested them by a mere Wave of the
Hand!
When Baba left
after a few days for a short stay at Kodaikanal
Hills, Swamis Sadananda and Satchidananda also
joined the party. The six weeks on the Hills
provided a great number of opportunities to the
ascetics to receive the Lord's Grace in ample
measure. They were able to catch a glimpse of
Baba's unique divinity.
Swami
Satchidananda spoke about this at a meeting at
Puttaparthi at the inauguration of the
Meditation Grove on the twenty-ninth of June,
1957. He said that whatever others may take Baba
to be, he was convinced from personal experience
that He was Super consciousness itself,
Omniscient, the motivation of beings, the
Inner-Resident of all beings. He then described
how he became convinced. He was in Baba's room
one afternoon. Baba was reclining on His bed.
Suddenly He stood up and shouted in Telugu,
"Don't shoot," and fell upon the bed in what is
called a trance, but is best described as "going
on a trans-corporeal journey." His Body became
stiff and remained in that condition for about
an hour. When He returned to His physical frame,
He looked at those around Him and requested a
telegram be sent immediately to an address at
Bhopal. He dictated the message and the address.
It stated, "Don't worry; the revolver is with
me. Baba." Swami Satchidananda expressed a doubt
whether the postal authorities would accept the
message for transmission, for it spoke of a
revolver, which comes under the Arms Act. Others
agreed with him, and there was discussion pro
and con. Baba wanted the telegram to be sent
quickly, and alternative words to bypass the
rules were discussed. Satchidananda suggested
the word, "instrument," for revolver, and Baba
agreed that it would convey the meaning intended
so far as the recipient was concerned. The wire
went quickly to its destination, a thousand
miles away.
Everyone was
anxious to know what the nature of the averted
tragedy was. Baba, however, put aside all
attempts to draw the information from Him. On
the fourth day a letter arrived revealing that
Baba had saved an individual in distress. The
writer of the letter had served in the Second
World War and was high in Government Service. He
was very much upset by the administrative
arrangements following Reorganization of States,
for persons far junior in service were promoted
over him. He had no one nearby to assuage or
comfort him or even to listen to his tale of
woe. His wife was at her parents' village.
Distracted by the unlucky turn in his career, he
decided to end his humiliation by means of the
revolver. There was one handy. He tried one shot
just to see whether his hand would be steady for
the fatal second. But before he could shoot
again, Baba had shouted, "Don't shoot!" There
was a loud bang at the door! Baba had come! Not
as Baba, but as an old college-mate accompanied
by his wife and a porter with a trunk and a
"carry-all," to make the scene authentic in
every detail! The officer ran into the bedroom,
placed the revolver on the bed, threw a sheet
over it, hurried back into the front hall and
opened the door! There were the three forms of
Baba ready to play their parts. The college chum
was very boisterous and demonstrative. Baba had
become by instantaneous materialization a friend
who had just the qualities that would remove
melancholy and could give the officer the tonic
that would cure him of despair. He responded to
the treatment and became normal very soon. He
even smiled and laughed at the jokes of his old
friend, and as the conversation proceeded, his
thoughts of suicide melted away. The lady also
joined in the talk; but when they discovered
that the mistress of the house was away, the
visitor put on an air of profound disappointment
and said that he would prefer to stay with
another friend. In spite of the appeals of the
person whom he had saved, the friend departed
forty-five minutes after he materialized, with
the lady, the porter, the trunk, and the
"carry-all," thus drawing the curtain on a
superb dramatic performance!
After seeing
them off, the officer hurried into the bedroom;
he was perplexed to find that the revolver was
not there or anywhere in the house! Who could
have removed it? He had gone to Puttaparthi once
with his wife, who was an ardent devotee. Could
it be ... Baba? Ah! It must be He! He locked his
house and ran in haste to the address to which
the college chum said he would be going. His
doubt was confirmed; there was no one there. The
three visitors had "melted into thin air" with
the trunk and the "carry-all!" On returning
home, he was reflecting on the stunning events
that had happened that day when all of a sudden
he was startled by another knock on the door! It
was the telegraph messenger with the wire from
Kodaikanal: "Don't worry, the instrument is with
me. Baba."
Swami
Satchidananda said that this incident is much
stranger than the "Parakayapravesam"
extolled in Puranic
texts of ancient India, which is the entering
into the body of some person. But this was the
creation at the very moment of the willing of
three bodies and making them act their roles;
the impersonation of existing individuals,
correct to the minutest detail in voice and
inflection, gait and gesture, idiom. and
idiosyncrasy, and the recitation of incidents
and anecdotes relating to past decades when they
were both students at the same college! "This,"
said Satchidananda, "is possible only for an
Incarnation of the Lord."
No wonder that
he and Swami Sadananda wrote to their Guru,
Swami
Sivananda
Saraswati
of Rishikesh, about Baba and His divine
attributes. The two Swamis also accompanied Baba
to Cape Comorin from Kodaikanal. They had a
glimpse of Baba's universal message when they
saw Him creating a rosary with the
Holy
Cross
and the figure of Jesus Christ in order to bless
a Christian. When Sai Baba walked along the
sands of the seashore at Kanyakumari, crystal
beads formed themselves at each step; these were
collected by the devotees and kept in a
sandalwood receptacle; there were 84 of them.
Baba said that there must be 108 in all, and
when they were counted again, there were 108! A
rosary was made out of these miraculously formed
beads, and Baba gave it to Swami
Sadananda.
After visiting
the Periyar Dam and the Wild Life Sanctuary
there, Baba proceeded to Madurai and Mayuram,
and returned to Puttaparthi via Salem where
Swami Satchidananda had stayed for some years.
Thus it came about that Baba had soon to reply
to a letter of invitation from Swami
Sivananda
Saraswati,
President of the Divine Life Society, Rishikesh.
This was vigorously followed up by many
reminders and telegrams in quick succession, and
Baba agreed at last to proceed to North
India.
Baba is not
enamored by tours to see places or admire
scenery nor has He the urge to go on
pilgrimages, for He is the goal of all
pilgrimages! When a mother once complained to
Him that her son would not accompany her to
Puttaparthi, but had instead left for Tirupathi,
the famous Hill Shrine of India, He said, "That
too is coming to Me, for I am not different from
the One who is on that Hill." By mere willing,
Baba can be at the farthest corner of the world,
for He is beyond space and time. Baba said, "I
am not moved by the craving for a change, or for
recreation, or travel. Where there is a desire
for mental tranquility, I hurry to grant it;
where there is melancholy, I hasten to lift the
drooping heart; where there is no mutual trust,
I restore it; I am ever on the move to fulfill
the mission for which I have come."
Swami
Satchidananda left before Baba for Rishikesh,
because misconceptions about Sai Baba had to be
corrected and brother monks apprised of the
divinity of Baba.
Baba started
from Puttaparthi by car on the fourteenth of
July, 1957. He halted at Medkurthi, sixty-seven
miles away, in order to install the silver image
of Sai Baba of Shirdi at the Ayodhya Ashram. A
large group of village folk had been waiting
there since noon, and Baba addressed the
assembly. He said that any work, such as the
building of the hermitage, should be carried out
in a spirit of devotion, without conceit and
with no desire for profit other than the work
well done. Baba condemned the studied neglect of
the body as a means of realizing God. "It is the
tabernacle of the Lord; it is the boat with
which one has to cross the ocean of birth and
death with the twin oars of discrimination and
detachment; and so it has to be kept in perfect
trim." Turning to the women who had assembled,
He spoke of the need to infuse devotion,
courage, self-respect, and the habit of truth in
the children. "No one need go anywhere in search
of bliss," He said. "It is there as a spark; it
has only to be fanned into a big flame and
fire." He declared that although He can
transform the earth into sky and sky into earth,
people who come to Him get only what they ask
and choose. He said that discrimination and
detachment can come about by the relentless
examination of every thought on the touchstone
of goodness and truth. "The true devotee must
conquer emotion; the tree recluse must cultivate
intellectual sharpness; the true helper or
server must develop strength of mind," He
said.
The party
reached Madras on the fifteenth of July. Four
days later Baba and the devotees whom He had
chosen for the tour emplaned to Delhi. He was
very much amused when He found His name entered
on the ticket as Mr.
S. S. Baba!
He had a hearty laugh over the "Mr.!" Baba moved
about inside the plane, dividing His time among
the passengers so that everyone could have the
privilege of His Grace. He even granted an
interview over the Vindhya Mountain Range to a
passenger who prayed for the chance because he
knew who Baba really was. The man was quite
surprised when Baba advised him to marry the
school teacher whom he loved, for no one, he
thought, knew of this chapter of his life! Baba
promised to make his parents agree to the match
and to give up their unrelenting
opposition!
The plane
landed at Palam at 4:30 in the afternoon. Within
an hour of His arrival at the Sundarnagar
bungalow which had been prepared for His stay,
Baba had a "call" from a devotee at Bangalore.
He "left" His Body and hastened to relieve the
person from what He afterwards described as a
dangerous paralytic stroke! The
Bhajan
Hour,
"singing of songs of love to God," twice a day
attracted the devotees of Delhi as well as
friends and their relatives who had heard of
Baba's glory.
On
the twenty-second of July Baba left New Delhi by
car for Rishikesh. Swami Sivananda's monastic
disciples escorted Him from Hardwar. When He
reached Sivanandanagar at 6:30 that evening,
Swami Sivananda called a special gathering of
the disciples at the Ashram and offered Baba a
hearty welcome. While Sivananda greeted Baba
with folded hands, as was his custom, Baba
acknowledged the greeting with His posture of
the Hand which means, "Do not fear," a sign that
has given peace to thousands of troubled
souls.
Sivanandanagar
nestles on the lap of the evergreen mountains,
banked lovingly by the kindly right arm of
Mother Ganges. The left bank of the river, when
it comes into view occasionally as the curtain
of mist is wafted away, is resplendent with a
line of temples and edifices housing the
hermitages: Gita,
Bhavan,
and the Swargashram.
More impressive than these are the forest-clad
mountains on every side that seem like
superhuman sages lost in silent contemplation of
the Infinite. They have turned their eyes inward
and are blissfully unaware of
history.
The Ganges,
daughter of earth and sky, famed in lore and
legend, sought after by devotees in every Hindu
home for thousands of years to sanctify every
ritual, to purify every rite, to exorcise every
evil, to cleanse every sin, immortalized in
poetry, symbolized in art, embedded in
architecture, idealized in sculpture, humanized
in painting, extolled in music, revered as the
vehicle of bliss, tells a scintillating story
which is related by a million mothers every
nightfall to the toddlers on their laps. Ganges
rolls majestically by, reminding everyone of
India's message and India's grandeur. When the
students of the hermitage arranged a gathering
of devotees the next day, and requested Baba to
give them a message, He referred to the Ganges,
comparing it to a sincere seeker of God speeding
to the sea. He said that every river knows that
it has come from the sea and it is prompted by
that knowledge to hurry toward the sea,
irrespective of all obstacles of the earthy
terrain. He commended the quietness of
Sivanandanagar,
the Ashram of Swami Sivananda, and said that it
was also a good place to acquire spiritual
quietness. Referring to the appellation of
"Bhagavan"
which was used while introducing Him to the
gathering, He said that
Bha
meant "creation," Ga
meant
"protection" and Va
meant "change" or "transformation."
"Bhagavan is capable of all three. That is My
secret," He announced.
Speaking of
the things that He is accustomed to make and
give, He discounted all spurious explanations
and said that His Will is immediately fulfilled.
He materializes things to give joy to His
devotees, just as a father gives sweets to his
little ones, not to advertise his generosity or
parenthood. He gives them to save people worry
or anxiety, to ensure peace of mind, help
develop spiritual concentration, and in many
cases to keep up His own "contact" with the
careers of the recipients. They are not intended
to attract anyone; they are the products neither
of rites nor ritual. They are produced the same
way all articles are produced, except
instantaneously. They last as long as all
material objects. "My best gift is love;
devotees should strive to acquire that, as well
as discrimination and detachment which only the
Guru
can give,"
said Baba.
He then
materialized by the mere Wave of His Hand a
magnificent Rudraksha
garland of 108 beads, a rosary made from a
berry. It was of exquisite workmanship, each
bead encased in gold, and all were strung in
gold with a five-faced king-bead in the center.
He presented it to Swami Sivananda Saraswati. He
also manifested a large quantity of Sacred Ash
and applied it to the sage's forehead. That
evening when the Swami entered the
Satsang
Hall wearing the unique garland, everyone was
awed by its luster and workmanship and the
miracle that brought it forth. Swami Sivananda
spoke of Bhagavan and His message. He expounded
on the efficacy of Namasmarana,
the remembering of the Name of God, and appealed
as a medical practitioner for a daily dose of
dispassion to be taken by every person along
with the regular diet of the Lord's Name. The
Ganges was mentioned in the talk Baba gave that
evening. He began by saying that
Naram
meant "water"; the Ganges rolling
majestically along was God, Narayana
Himself, "God in man." Indeed the hills and
dales, the sky overhead, the forests, the rocks,
all things everywhere were but manifestations of
the One. God willed, "I am One, let Me become
many," and He became the world and all the
beings therein. The one sun is reflected in the
water of faith. Faith itself leads one to
wisdom. The man with steady faith quickly and
easily realizes the Lord is immanent in
everything, and that He is the One and
Only.
Baba's
speeches and conversation were so full of rare
and deep wisdom that the next day a number of
senior monks and neophytes came to see Baba and
plied Him with questions designed to clarify
their doubts. Swami Sivananda also had hour-long
discussions with Baba every evening and was
given fruits and Holy Ash materialized specially
for improving his health. Day by day the Swami
became better and better. One day Baba took
Ganges water in His Hand, and lo, it became
sweet and fragrant nectar. He gave it to the
Swami to be taken as a cure. It came as a
pleasant surprise to many in the Ashram when
they saw, on the day Baba departed, Swami
Sivananda enthusiastically taking Baba around
his hermitage, for on the day Baba reached the
Ashram, and for a number of days thereafter, the
Swami had been pushed around in a wheel
chair!
The
twenty-sixth of July, 1957, was full of pleasant
memories for the devotees and the residents of
the Sivanand-ashram,
for Baba boarded a bus and proceeded along the
bank of the Ganges to a palace of the Rani of
Garhwal for a quiet morning.
The scenery
all along the way was very elevating. Here and
there among the mountains one could discern a
lonely hut with the Gerua Flag of a monk
indicating a battle with the lower self.
Suddenly the road turned and the bus was halted
in front of an artistic little bungalow set like
a gem in the center of a well kept garden by the
side of the Ganges. Baba saw a
jambu
tree full of fruits; He plucked and distributed
them to the members of the party, then sat under
a tree on the river bank. Some asked Him
questions that were troubling them, including
those about the nature of the scriptural texts
and their value to modern times. He said they
were like sign posts indicating the road; the
road has to be traversed in order to experience
the joy of reaching the goal. There was one
question on heaven and hell both of which, Baba
said, do exist here in this world. Monks
inquired about the realization of the universal
and the melting away of the delusion attached to
the individual at that time.
On the way
back Baba stopped the bus at a place where a
thin little iron post carried a half-distinct
nameplate reading, "The Cave of Vasishta." He
descended the rather precipitous incline to the
river bank as if He had been there often before,
and as if He were aware of a prearranged
engagement with the occupant of the cave. The
Ganges curves widely near the cave, and so the
scenery was doubly attractive. The cave bears a
hallowed name; it has been sanctified by the
austerities performed therein by many great
recluses and monks in the past. Swami
Purushotamananda, a disciple of Swami
Brahamananda of the Ramakrishna Order, had been
initiated into monastic life by Mahapurushji,
another direct disciple of Sri Ramakrishna. The
Swami had been in the cave for thirty years. He
welcomed Baba as if expecting Him. He was more
than seventy years old and had spent the major
part of his life in asceticism of a most
rigorous kind and in the study of scriptures.
His face had the genuine glow of spiritual joy
and the slightest mention of the glory of the
Godhead sent him into Samadhi,
the depths of inner bliss. When a young man of
twenty-seven, Brahamanandaji had read his palm
at Kanyakumari and predicted that he would go
into a cave for continuous
meditation.
Baba reminded
the Swami of the travails he had endured when he
first came into the cave, the struggles with
leopards and cobras, a three-day trek to
Rishikesh, and the desperate search for salt and
matches! He spoke of the help that came to him
through sheer divine intervention!
Baba repeated
the visit the next evening in spite of a
thunderous sky and the grumbling of those who
accompanied Him, but both ceased by His Grace.
Baba sang a number of songs while at the cave,
and when one of the Swamis attending Swami
Purushotamananda requested Him to sing a
devotional song, Swami Kalikananda said he was
longing to hear "Sri
Raghuvara
Sugunalaya."
Baba sang the song to make him happy. No one had
heard Him sing it before; so this was an
unexpected surprise for which they thanked Swami
Kalikananda. Hearing that Swami had been
suffering from chronic stomach-ache for many
years, Baba "took" some candy from nowhere and
gave it to him with instructions about diet. He
also gave Swami Purushotamananda a rosary of
shining beads which He manifested.
More
mysterious and significant was the Vision that
He gave to Swami Purushotamananda that evening.
As early as 1918, the Swami had written to his
Master, "All is false and I cannot rest
satisfied until and unless I come face to face
with Truth!" After sending everyone outside the
cave, Baba and the sage went into the inner
room. Sri Subbaramiah, President of the Divine
Life Society at Venkatagiri, describes what he
was able to see from outside the cave: "Even now
that picture is imprinted in my memory. I was
standing near the entrance to the cave. I could
see what was happening through a chink in the
door. Baba placed His Head on the lap of Swami
Purushotamananda and lay Himself down. Suddenly
His entire Body was bathed in divine brilliance.
His Head and Face appeared to me to have
increased very much in size. Rays of splendor
emanated from His Face. I was overwhelmed with a
strange inexplicable joy. The time was about
10:00 p.m." When later asked to divulge the
nature of the Vision, Baba informed us that it
was a Vision of the glory of the
Lord.
While
returning from the cave, Baba "left" His Body
for a short while. When asked later, He told
where He had been. He had gone to save a great
Yogi
from a watery grave. This aroused the curiosity
of everyone around Him and they gathered closer
to hear further details. He brushed their
questions aside and said that Subrahmanyam would
be able to say who it was! Later Subrahmanyam, a
member of the party, was asked by Baba what he
had seen that evening while at the cave. He
begged pardon for not informing Baba immediately
about it, for he had seen a corpse floating down
the Ganges; but being a thing of evil omen, he
refrained from mentioning it in the holy
atmosphere of the cave. Baba laughed and said it
was not a corpse at all, though the
Yogi
who was
floating down the flood was so dead to all
external appearances that he did not even
cognize his plight. He was being swept down by
the torrent. It seems he was seated on a rock by
the side of the river, lost in meditation. The
current, meanwhile, was fast eating into the mud
underneath the rock which tilted over, throwing
him into the flood. "It was all like a dream for
him at first," said Baba. Later when he found he
was being carried away by the Ganges, he began
to pray to the Lord. Baba heard his call; He
slowly led the floating "corpse" to the bank, a
few miles above Sivanandanagar where there was a
home-stead available to give him warmth and
comfort.
Raja Reddy,
who was at Rishikesh, writes, "We heard Him
narrating the incident. During the 'trance' He
had His Palms one over the other, as if
enclosing something. It was to protect the
Sanyasin's heart that Baba had kept His Palms
closed. The Sadhu was saved after a thirty-mile
float! But one or more of the following three
conditions must be fulfilled before the S.O.S.
of the person draws Baba's attention. He must
either have something from Baba in the form of a
materialized article of Grace for protection, or
he should call on the Lord, heart and soul,
whenever danger threatens him. In case the
person in distress fails to qualify himself in
either of these ways, he should at least be a
man of truth and sincerity. It does not matter
if he is not a devotee. In calling upon Baba, no
particular Name is essential -
Rama,
Krishna, Jesus, Allah,
Sai,
be it any. All Names and Forms being His and His
alone, He is only too ready to answer the cry of
the one in distress and to avert it. The
Yogi
was not a devotee of Baba, nor had he ever
seen Him. But his life was saved." This incident
of the unknown Yogi
was a
great revelation to many of Baba's Universal
Love and Presence.
Baba's cottage
at Rishikesh was a busy place during His stay.
Inmates of the Ashram and the students of the
Academy gathered there and plied Rim with
questions on the various steps in spiritual
discipline. There was also an unceasing train of
pilgrims who discovered that Rishikesh had
acquired another focus of holiness. The
scholar-saint Sri Shad-darsan-acharya Swami,
whose name means "Master of the Six Schools of
Philosophy, " came twice with his disciples and
students. Swamis Sadananda and Satchidananda
found themselves surrounded by eager inquirers
wanting more and more information about Baba,
His life, His glory, and His Prasanthi
Nilayam
at Puttaparthi. Swami Sadananda told a young
Brahmachari
that Baba can roam at will through the regions
of the soul, the supersoul, and the oversoul,
and can reveal whatever happens anywhere at any
time. He also said He is all-powerful and had
seen Baba converting a grain of rice into a
grain of ivory and transforming that grain of
ivory into a hundred and eight elephant
figurines, each one finely carved and clearly
recognizable by means of a magnifying
glass!
Baba left
Swami Sivananda on the twenty-eighth of July and
went to New Delhi. On the thirtieth He proceeded
by car to Mathura-Brindavan, the scene of His
past Divine Career. The devotees were eagerly
looking forward to seeing Him in that background
and to being with Him in that atmosphere charged
with the fragrance of the Maha-Bhagavatha,
the epic of that Incarnation. The devotees left
New Delhi in a bus which made a detour via
Aligarh and broke down near a small hamlet some
twenty miles beyond Aligarh! Another bus had to
be requisitioned, and by the time it arrived and
Mathura was reached, it was nearly 3:30 p.m. The
party was exhausted, hungry and depressed. Baba,
kinder than any mother, welcomed and consoled
them so tenderly and lovingly, that to many in
the party, the breakdown seemed positively
worthwhile! He comforted them with His own
characteristically sweet words of solace. "Come
nearer the fan," "Stretch yourselves a little,"
"Do not stand up when I come," "Here! I have
prepared this cool drink specially for you,"
"Take this, you are awfully tired," He said
while tending them. In a trice, they were
restored to their former energy.
Baba led them
all to the bank of the
Yamuna,
as if He knew every inch of the place, and
pointed out the hallowed localities. Who can say
what reminiscences were activating the
Consciousness of Baba as He showed the places
where the serpent
was humbled, the Gopis were chided, the
cart
was
overturned, the twin
trees
were plucked. Every little wave of the
Yamuna
seemed to dance to the music of His Voice; every
cow that was seen seemed to be seeking the warm
touch of His Divine Hand!
While
returning to Mathura, Baba casually walked into
a Radha-Syam Temple where Krishna and the Gopis
were worshiped. Arrangements were being made in
front of the Temple for a
Rasaleela
Show,
a play on the "Dance of Krishna among the
Gopis," in which He appeared as many
Krishnas.
When He went and stood in front of the shrine,
suddenly the lights went off; everyone wondered
why! Baba said, "Don't worry; we shall take this
idol of Krishna
to Delhi and you can perform your adoration to
it there!" He waved His Hand across the door of
the shrine where one could see the lovely marble
image of Krishna
in the dim light - in His Palm there
materialized an idol, the exact replica of the
one installed inside!
On the second
day of August, 1957, Baba left for Srinagar by
plane and reached the Kashmir Valley at noon.
From the air one could see the complicated
network of canals that feed the Punjab plains,
the Golden Temple of Amritsar, and the rugged
approaches to the Banihal Pass and the Kashmir
Valley. Once the pass is crossed, the enchanting
loveliness of the valley that has aroused the
covetousness of monarchs from as far as
Macedonia and Mongolia spreads itself before the
eye. The gurgling waters, the long rows of pine
trees, the luscious greenness of the grass, the
signs of quiet toil, fill the mind with joy.
Though the Head of the Shankaracharya Monastery
of Srinagar pressed Baba to accept his
hospitality and take up residence there, Baba
preferred to stay in a houseboat named Alexandra
Palace. His party occupied two neighbouring
boats known as the Prince of Kashmir and the
King's Roses.
Baba
encourages everyone to appreciate the beauties
of nature. He directs attention to the charm of
a flower, the colourful magnificence of a
sunrise or sunset, the grim grandeur of an
overcast sky, the timorous twinkling of the
stars in the midnight sky or the quick-moving
jasmine-garland of cranes in flight. He took the
party to the Shalimar and Nishat Bagh Gardens in
the evening, but as He remarked while returning
to the houseboat, the snow-covered Himalayas in
the far distance were a far lovelier garden
designed by the Lord to draw men's eyes away
from the valleys in which they
wallowed.
On the third
of August Baba departed for Gulmarg and
Kilanmarg to show His party, which consisted of
merchants and businessmen, lawyers and
professors, writers, poets and musicians,
administrators and agriculturists, the snows of
the Himalayan Ranges. Horses were engaged at
Tanmarg, and during the long and arduous climb
of over twelve miles to approximately 14.000
feet above sea level, Baba kept the party lively
by His quips, jokes, occasional gifts, or Ash.
He rode His horse, Raja, the tallest and most
impressive of all, with ease and dexterity.
Never once did He get down to rest. The winding
road over the hills was full of pebbles, broken
cobblestones and the tangle of pine tree roots,
but the horses cleverly picked their way along
until the snow line was reached.
Baba,
barefoot, played in the snow, rolling snow balls
and throwing them at the party, laughing at the
frightened faces of those who slid down the snow
banks in makeshift toboggans and chiding those
who complained of the chilling wind. Everyone
was tired and complained of aches and blisters,
but Baba was fresh as a rose when they returned
to the houseboats about 10:30 that
night.
The Alexandra
Palace became very soon a replica of
Prasanthi
Nilayam;
many from Srinagar came to pay homage to Baba
and receive His blessings. There was an old lady
who said she had been directed to go to that
very boat by some messenger in a dream she had
the previous night. Baba accepted the invitation
of a few families in Srinagar to visit them in
their homes. At one such home He placed a
garland around the neck of a baby, saying, "He
will become a great
Yogi!"
Strange to say, the grandfather of the child
declared, "That was exactly what the astrologer
who prepared the horoscope of this child
predicted when he was born!" He said so only
after Baba asked him, "You have already been
told so, isn't it?" That was the house of the
secretary of the travel agency which had made
arrangements for Baba's tour of Kashmir. Baba
gave him a ring, set with gemstones, which He
materialized on the spot. During the
conversation, when someone asked Him at what age
He had "given up hearth and home," He said, "How
can I, whose home is the world, give up hearth
and home ?"
The stream of
questioning pilgrims to Alexandra Palace
continued unabated for two full days. Baba's
answers illumined the Divinity of His Being.
Leavetaking was naturally a prolonged and
painful affair for the large throng of devotees
who had come to the airport on the sixth of
August. The plane finally departed for Delhi.
Next Baba flew to Madras for a short stay and
reached Puttaparthi on the fourteenth of August.
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