Delta
of Delight
Lucky are the
seekers of love and light, who get the privilege
of seeing Baba, the perfect embodiment of being,
awareness, bliss, Atma;
witnessing His divinity, hearing His teachings
of universal love and on pursuit of absolute
truth. Luckier still amongst them are those who
implement His advice and ever remain in the
consciousness of the divinity pervading the
entire manifestation. They consider His advent
as a chance for their own adventure into heaven.
They celebrate His Birthday as their own.
Charles Penn exclaimed, "Our Lord's Birthday!
1965 was the year of my birth, for I came to
know Baba that year. Now I am only three years
of age," he wrote in 1968.
The 43rd
Birthday (1969) was celebrated all over by
groups of devotees in rejoicing and in
thankfulness, with a variety of programmes dear
to Baba. In Kakinada they had Bhajans for 42
days prior to the auspicious day. In other
places, the celebrations included Bhajans in
hospitals, jails, homes for disabled and
defectives, mass feeding and giving of clothes,
plays and entertainment items for children,
discourses, musical recitals, special worship,
processions, Gîtâ recitation
contests and a number of other spiritual items.
Vedic schools, Sanskrit classes, Telugu lessons,
libraries, service homes, eye treatment camps,
Seva Dals, and study circles were inaugurated
that day. Baba blessed them in their own places,
by various signs of His Presence and sometimes,
by appearing in His Own Form for all to
see!
'Concierto' -
MP3
-
'Concierto'
'Cosmic
Notes'
At Prasanthi
Nilayam, the Conference of the Office Bearers of
the Sathya Sai Organization of Andhra Pradesh
met on 21st and 22nd November, and so, the
atmosphere was full of consecrated
faith.
"Every
one," He told the delegates, "has three
sources of power: as an individual, as a
shrine where God is installed, and as the
Atma which is God Himself. Hanuman once told
his Master, Rama, 'When I feel I am this body
you are my Lord; when I feel I am a
Jiva
among many, impelled by the Grace of God, I
am the reflection and You are the Original;
when I know I am the Atma, I am You and You
are I.' God walks along the road of truth;
Man, His shadow, if he holds on to His Feet,
can safely traverse fire and water, dirt,
hollow and hill, and reach
Truth."
He told them
that the Organization was intended as an arena
where they learn the value of cleansing the
mind.
"Whether
it is meditation that you are encouraging,
Bhajan you are organizing, a discourse you
are announcing or clothes you are offering,
or worship that you are conducting, the
object to the achieved is cleansing the mind
of the tarnish of egoism, greed, hatred,
malice, lust and envy. In place of all these,
fill the mind with Love. That is the sign of
the Sai Devotee."
During the
discourse that Baba gave, prior to hoisting the
flag on His birthday, Baba spoke about devotees
who develop and demonstrate fanaticism when
speaking about Him or adoring
Him.
"I
have no wish to draw people towards Me, away
from the worship of My other Names and Forms.
Perhaps you guess from what you call the
'Miracles,' that I am attracting and trying
to attach you to Me and Me alone. They are
not designed to demonstrate or publicize;
they are spontaneous and confirmatory proofs
of the Divine, which can change the sky to
earth and earth to sky. I am yours whether
you like Me or not; you are Mine, even if you
hate Me and keep away from Me. Therefore,
what need is there for impressing and
attracting, exhibiting My Love or compassion
to win your adoration? I am in You, You are
in Me. There is no distance or distinction."
He declared, "you have come to your own home.
This is your home, not Mine! My home is your
heart!"
The Birthday
Celebrations, which began virtually with the
Conference on the 21st, continued until the
27th.
Dr.
Vinayak Krishna Gokak
said,
"If we want to see truth with a capital T, where
can we see it and realize it, except in Him? If
we want to experience and realize beauty with a
capital B, where else can we have it except in
Him and through Him? He is goodness incarnate,
showering succor on humanity and healing it in
distress. He is Love incarnate, Love that
fosters and protects even those who have not
visualized His Divinity and Power! He has come
to transform the rampant disorder of the Present
into a New World Order. For our guidance and
benefaction, He has put on the robes of
mortality. He bears on His Atlantean shoulders
the burden of Humanity."
A dramatic
instance of the succor and healing that Baba
showers was noticed by over 20.000 people on the
23rd, at the huge Auditorium, during the morning
session.
Baba was taken
in procession from the Nilayam to the Auditorium
by devotees; there were students of the Vedic
School reciting the invocatory hymns; there were
Bhajan parties; there was the beautifully
caparisoned elephant, Sai Gita, intelligent,
sensitive and even, one can venture to say,
'devoted'. Above all, there was the Mother of
Baba, revered Easwaramma, by His side,
for this was a Day to commemorate the Day of His
Incarnation.
At the
Auditorium, on the dais, Baba seated Himself on
the silver chair, amidst the acclamation of the
immense gathering. Then, Baba graciously allowed
some devotees to place a few drops of
consecrated oil on His Head: they touched His
Feet and placed flowers on them. The mother who
has won the gratitude of the world for ages,
placed the oil, first. Then, a few others
followed: Begum Tahira Sayeed, a Persian and
Urdu poetess; M.S. Dixit, a revered old devotee
who had served Baba even in His previous body,
while He was at Shirdi; the Rajmata of Jamnagar;
the Rajmata of Sirohi, Dr. Gokak and Indra
Devi.
While Indra
Devi was placing a few drops of oil on His Hair
with a flower dipped in the cup I was holding,
Baba saw a certain Mrs. Anderson who had come
from the United States. She was a chronic
invalid, unable to walk or use her lower limbs,
being helped around by her husband in a wheeled
chair. As soon as she came to Prasanthi Nilayam,
she was admitted to the Hospital so that she
could be nursed there by professional hands.
Baba presented her, and all other ladies from
beyond the seas, saris on the 22nd, so that they
could wear them on His Birthday; He deputed some
ladies to help this one to wrap it around her.
On the 23rd, she was brought down from the
Hospital hill and allowed to watch the function
from the far end of the dais, where she sat on
her inevitable wheel chair, which had become
more or less a part of her anatomy!
Baba turned to
me and said, "That lady in the wheelchair will
be happy if you take the cup to her, and get a
flower dipped by her in the oil, which can later
be placed on My Head." I was thrilled by His
compassion but, there was more to
follow.
Before I could
turn to the left and proceed towards her (the
distance from the silver chair of Baba to her
wheelchair was over 40 feet), Baba stopped me
and said, "Wait! I shall Myself go to her!"
People were astonished when they saw Baba
descend from the chair and proceed towards the
invalid lady, with me holding the oil cup. Baba
bent His Head before her, so that she could
place a few drops of oil on His halo of glorious
hair! The gathering was overwhelmed with
grateful joy, when they saw this spontaneous
flood of Divine Mercy, and the happy glow of
ecstasy on the pale face of a foreign invalid!
She applied the flower three times. The third
time Baba held her hand, saying, "Stand Up" ...
and she stood!
The gathering
was amazed with delight! "Come with me!" Baba
said. And she walked the forty feet, towards the
silver chair, keeping pace with Baba! I was so
overcome with joy that I ran towards the mike
and announced to the entranced gathering that
Mrs. Anderson, who had not walked for years, was
cured of her illness, and that she has risen
from her wheeled chair at the bidding of Baba
and got her limbs back in perfect condition.
Every one was thrilled by this miracle of
healing. "Normal feet" was the Birthday Gift she
received from Baba.
Speaking on
His Birthday, Baba said that children are born
for five ordinary unnoticed reasons. There are
Nyasaputhras, born in order to realize
the value of some deposit that they had made
with you in the previous life which you had
misappropriated and misused. There are
Runaputhras, those born in order to
recover undischarged loans given by them to the
man who has now come as the father. There are
Suputhras, those born as a consequence of
the blessings of God, and there are
Upekhaputhras; these are the
Avatars, with no sense of attachment
towards the parents, kith or kin, with no sense
of obligation of them, with love and compassion
for all. This was a revelation of Baba's
attitude towards the parents, which has puzzled
many, as different from the attitude of even
Rama and Krishna.
On December
4th, Baba left Prasanthi Nilayam for
Bangalore where He spent about a month, with
devotees from America and other places, helping
them in their spiritual exercises. He was in
contact personally with the arrangements to open
a Boys' College in the premises of
Brindavan, where He stayed.
On Christmas
Day, He blessed the Christian devotees with
gifts and on Vaikunta
Ekadasi
which came five days later; He created
Amrita
(Ambrosia) which He Himself distributed to about
4.000 people who had gathered for Bhajan. On New
Year Day, he gave a discourse on "The Spiritual
Resolutions" one must make for the New Year, and
the practices and attitudes one has to ring out
with the old! January 13 saw Him back at
Prasanthi Nilayam, for Makara Sankranthi, the
day of the tropic of Capricorn, when the divine
half of the year begins, with the northward
movement of the sun in the northern hemisphere.
Baba said
"The
Sun journeys north from today. But, be
concerned more with your own journey from
birth to death and then again to birth from
death, until you set yourselves free working
out your sentence, through good
behaviour."
On the 16th
January, '69, Baba was at Rajahmundry, on the
Godavari River, a river dear to Him since Shirdi
days, on the first lap of a whirlwind tour of
the coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. The
Godavari flows near Shirdi; and it has saturated
itself with the glory of the Previous Body of
Baba and learnt to love the Name. Every one who
went to be blessed by Baba while in His previous
abode at Dwarakamayi in Shirdi used to
take a bath in the Godavari. Now, too, by some
trick of divine dispensation, the east and west
Godavari districts are studded thick with Bhajan
Mandalis and Seva Samithis heralding the new Sai
era of devotion and dedication. Some one from
the east Godavari district wrote to Baba that,
"there is no house here without Your picture in
the altar; there is no house that does not
resound to the chanting of songs on Your
glory!"
and Baba replied to him:
"Reserve
your joy for something grander! My Name and Form
will soon be found getting established
everywhere. They will occupy every inch of the
world."
On the 17th
and the 18th, mammoth gatherings assembled at
Rajahmundry to hear the discourses of Baba, Sri
V.K. Rao, I.C.S. and Swami Karunyananda of the
Gouthami Jeevakarunya Sangham, spoke on the
great good fortune of the present generation in
being contemporaries of Baba. Baba spoke on the
conquest of the Mind as necessary for liberation
from the world of change.
"Know
the One; attention must be concentrated on
the One. Alternations of acceptance and
rejection, affirmation and negation, are but
appearances on the One. Let nothing move you;
be still, be detached, be but a witness. The
world is but a play enacted and directed by
Him. Let your love and longing, desire and
search be directed towards
God."
He asked them
to give up inflammatory assertions, malicious
talk and angry negations.
"With
the twenty six letters of the English
alphabet, all English books in existence are
written, composed and printed. The letters
themselves are without attributes, they are
neither good nor evil, but out of their
combinations in various ways, are made either
dull, insipid, trashy books or books with
cosmic revelations of the highest order. So
too the operations of the same mind can make
or mar the career of man here or
hereafter."
On the 18th,
Baba visited the Andhra Paper Mills and gave a
discourse to the staff and labour, in which He
emphasized the sacred partnership and the mutual
love and respect that must govern all dealings
between them. That evening, Baba inaugurated a
school named after Him and run as per His
message and teachings. Baba felt great pity,
such as God feels at rare intervals, when He sat
facing the children. He said,
"The
spacious mansion called Sanathana Dharma
erected with great toil and travail by the
sages of the past of enable succeeding
generations to live in peace and prosperity
is, alas, being condemned today as
uninhabitable and fit only to be given up as
dilapidated! The peace which those sages had
envisaged is noticeable in the faces of these
children, having no envy, no greed, and no
hatred in their hearts. When they grow up,
the joy is turned into grief and the peace
peters out into anxiety and fear. The elders
have lost the art of regaining, retaining or
transmitting peace and joy."
"Children
must grow up in the atmosphere or reverence,
devotion, mutual service and cooperation. Now
they learn only copybook maxims, devoid of
any sincere urge to put them into practice.
Parents drink, gamble, scandalize others and
utter blatant lies in full hearing of these
tender flowers! Do not sow hatred or contempt
of any caste or class, faith or cult in the
virgin minds of these fresh blossoms. Parents
first, teachers next, playmates and
companions later and the leaders who command
the allegiance of community or region last,
have to be on the alert, constantly examining
themselves whether they are fit examples for
the children of the land. This school bears
My name; so, it has a high responsibility; it
should inspire all schools in this region, to
treat little children with love and care and
fill the atmosphere with the fragrance of
Divinity."
'Children' -
MP3
-
'Children'
'The
Betrayal of the
Dream'
Words that
announced the advent of the new era of Truth,
Virtue, Peace and Love!
For five days
from the 20th, Baba moved on a merciful mission
of Love along the road of the delta and a few
beyond, showering grace on nearly a million
souls gasping anxiously to secure it; the visit
to more than a hundred villages and a score of
towns has transformed the viewpoints of everyone
whom He rewarded with a smile or a glance, a pat
or a word, a gift of holy ash or a precious
memento. Like the many canals that emanate from
the Dhowaliswaram Anicut and take the waters of
the Godavari into a million fields to confer
life and vigour to the crops, Baba went along
the roads on the banks of these same canals,
taking with Him the infinitely more sustaining
waters from Heaven itself to grant immortality
and infinite Bliss.
[See
also: Srîmad Bhâgavatam: Canto 1,
Chapter 11]
The
Godavari of Grace consisting of a caravan of
over twenty cars moved out of Rajahmundry very
early in the day; tidings carried delight and
exaltation throughout the Delta; for, the
Darsan of Baba, listening to His enthralling
discourse and perhaps getting the rare chance of
touching His Feet are benedictions for which
even the remotest villagers were pining. Every
yard of road was lined on both sides with men,
women and children in their best clothes; the
roads were swept clean; miles ahead of every
village designs were drawn with rice flour by
devoted women; inside the village, decorated
sheds were put up, so that Baba may ascend the
dais underneath them and give Darsan to
the vast concourses that sat there, doing Bhajan
for hours, in expectation of the golden moment.
Festoons, flags, lines of green leaves were hung
across the main roads; hearts were beating
faster this day in the hope of Divine Darsan.
Sometimes, elaborate and even costly arches of
welcome were erected on the roads that lay
through the towns or that led into them, the
townsmen spending hours on end to make the arch
a picture of exquisite charm.
Baba's car led
the way. At Kesavaram, Baba directed the other
cars to stay on the main road itself, while He
drove into the hamlet, for, as He said, there
was not enough parking space there. The deltaic
region utilizes every square foot of land for
cultivation and so, open spaces are hard to
find. Baba was received by most of the villages
with the piping of primitive instruments, the
blowing of long brass horns and the vigorous
beat of drums, expressing folk
delight!
Baba moved
slowly up the passage between the men and women,
and ascending the dais, spoke a few words on
Namasmarana,
the efficacy of Bhajan and the necessity of
continuing it sincerely, with deeper faith.
Then, the cars moved on to Palathodu, a bigger
place where all the cars could find space to
drive in and halt. Here too Baba emphasized in a
short speech the need for
Bhakthi
and Sraddha,
the two wings of the bird Jnana,
which flies towards Realization of the
Reality.
On the 21st
the caravan took another road and every human
habitation accessible by that road and its
tributaries throbbed with delight, for He had
chosen to bless them that day! The entire
population of the countryside seemed to be
ranged as a never-ending guard of honour for
Baba; they shouted 'Jai' when they espied the
cars; Baba slowed down His car, so that they may
have Darsan. His Hand could be seen waving to
them, long after He had passed the place where
they were standing. Halts were made often and
Baba condescended to open the door and stand on
the footboard, so that the surging masses could
have better Darsan, for, only then they could
imprint that portrait on their hearts for
worship in the silence of their
altars.
The Delta is
acclaimed as the granary of Andhra Pradesh. And
it is full to the brim with populous villages,
barely a mile or two apart. Baba alighted at
most of these on the way, and even a little afar
- Gummileru, Pinapalle, Gangavaram, Pamarru,
Narasapur, Rapurpeta, Rajupalem, Anaparthi,
Kuthukulur, Someswaram and finally Sampara
tobacco barns, rice mills, locks and pump houses
were the landmarks that raised their heads over
the level green. At Sampara, the entire village
was in the mood of
Gokula
welcoming
Gopala
back home! As a matter of fact, this village has
lived on the
Bhagavatha
[ see also: Bhagavatha
Vahini]
for many years, since a great exponent of that
ancient text on Bhakthi, Sri Kadiyala Seetharama
Sastry kept the village conscious of its
teachings and message for years, through his
heart-touching expositions. Baba stayed there
for some hours and discoursed on the practice of
the constant presence of God. He also sang a few
Bhajans, to arouse in them the ardour to glorify
God. Then the party returned to Rajahmundry
itself.
On the 22nd,
the road led towards Thamrada, and Peddapuram.
At Peddapuram, Baba went to Challa Appa Rao, a
devotee since many years, and there happened a
miracle restoring him to health. He was
bedridden since three years; his condition had
worsened eight months back, "but," says, Dr. G.
Kesava Rao, "he relied solely on Baba and
refused to take any medicine. He had acute
anaemia, due to bleeding piles. His body was
swollen. The haemoglobin percentage had gone
down to as low as 30; urination was affected.
Many doctors and I advised blood transfusion,
and warned that his chances of survival without
it were one hundred percent nil! When some
anxious friends approached Bhagavan to
persuade him to resort to medicine,
Bhagavan retorted,
"Why? Do they not die, the people who take
medicine?"
When He
visited Peddapuram, Baba went to his house and
sat by his bedside. Baba created a
Linga
while seated there. He directed that it be
bathed in water ceremonially, with appropriate
rites. The Thirtha or consecrated water
was to be given internally to the patient daily.
"Wonder of Wonders!" writes Dr. G. Kesava Rao,
"the patient was transformed the very next
moment into health. The swelling oedema
completely disappeared. Evacuation and urination
became normal. Bleeding stopped dramatically.
Exhaustion was overcome. Within a month, he was
quite refreshed, shining with new youthfulness."
Appa Rao described the blessing thus: "Before
the visit of Baba, I was a corpse; after the
visit, I was the victor over death."
After
addressing a public gathering, Baba laid the
foundation for a Center for the Sathya Sai Seva
Samithi at the village. He then moved on to
Kotapadu, and Medapadu, where He inaugurated a
Sathya Sai Mandir. Reaching Vadlamuru He laid
the foundation for a Sathya Sai Mandir, and
proceeded to Kothpeta where a mammoth gathering
engaged in Bhajan was waiting since hours for
Darsan. The college campus was full of people
who had trekked miles on foot or by cart or
cycle or omnibus or country boat. Baba turned
aside a mile and a half from the highway to
bless devotees at Palivela. He reached
Ambajipeta, where too, a big gathering
brightened when He gave Darsan and spoke a few
words of advice and exhortation.
Emerging into
the main road, the flood of Divine Compassion
moved on towards Bandaralanka, a famous center
of weaving as a cottage industry. Here, the
community of weavers, with great enthusiasm,
heralded the arrival of Baba. They had put an
imposing reception structure with arches and
greeneries and flowers, adjacent to the road
itself. Baba alighted from the car to bless them
and spoke a few words of encouragement so that
they may earn peace, and understand the purpose
of life.
Then, Baba
motored to Amalapuram, where nearly fifty
thousand people had gathered to hear Him and
fill their eyes with His Charm. Baba chided the
person who made the welcome speech! Really, this
conventional item on the programme of public
meetings has no bearing, for, how can Baba who
is present everywhere at all times be either
welcomed or taken leave of? And, the welcome
speech was in the English language! Baba said
that the region with Amalapuram as the focal
point was known geographically as Konasima
(Delta), but, lovers of Bharathiya Culture knew
it as Vedasima, the region which was the
nursery of Vedic scholars and the
Academy where Vedic Science and
Vedic Research were pursued with avidity by
generations of scholars. "Why thrust down the
ears of these simple people and the pundits
learned in ancient lore, a language they do not
know?" He queried.
On the 24th,
Baba left Amalapuram very early for Manepalli.
After visiting an aged devotee on his sickbed at
Tatipaka, He moved on to Razole, where elaborate
arrangements were made for a public address, and
a sizeable gathering had assembled. After
satisfying their thirst, Baba proceeded along
the main road towards the next destination.
While driving fast, Baba noticed an
insignificant token of adoration hung across the
road, near a village which is barely mentioned
in maps, Poathumatla. It was a thin festoon of a
dozen mango leaves, strung from one coconut tree
to another with a piece of paper pinned in the
centre waving in the wind, with the word
'Welcome' inscribed on it by a hesitant hand.
The car had gone on about fifty yards when He
wanted it to stop, and turn back to where that
paper 'Welcome' called Him. There were two old
women standing there with garlands in their
wrinkled hands. Baba opened the door, so that
they could touch His Feet, leaned forward so
that they could put the garlands round His neck.
He invited them to do so without fear.
"Here is your Swami! Quite near you! Come on,
garland Me!"
That was the happiest moment of their lives, and
Baba too appeared equally happy! One lady
extended her hand and asked,
"Prasadam,
Swami?" She wanted something to treasure
from the Divine Hands. Baba plucked some petals
from the flowers of the garlands they had
offered and placed them in the hands of both and
moved on.
While driving
on, Baba noticed two very old women tottering
forward with the help of sticks held in their
shaky hands. His Divine Pity flowed towards
them. He asked the car to stop near them. When
the car pulled up, He inquired, where they were
going to. They said in quaking voices,
"to see Sai
Baba".
Baba laughed and said,
"I am Sai Baba, don't you
know!"
They thought some one was ridiculing them and
they walked forward. The others in the car got
down and persuaded them to retrace the few steps
they had taken, and have a good look. Baba
created Vibhuti for them, filled their
hands with fruits, and told them to return
home.
Lakkavaram was
reached soon, and after a mile or two, Baba
turned into a sandy fair-weather road, a road
that was rambling wildly across the fallow
wastes into what appeared to be no man's land;
the party wondered where Baba was leading them,
but Baba told the nervous interrogators that
there was a devotee in the village Kaththi Manda
that lay a mile ahead. His wife had died and he
had married again. She lost a number of children
when they were quite little babies, a tragedy
which superstitious villagers ascribed to the
machinations of the deceased wife's ghost! Baba
allowed the next child to be born in the seventh
month of pregnancy at the Sathya Sai Hospital,
Puttaparthi, so that she may be rid of the fear
that was haunting her... and the son had grown
now into a chubby boy of three! Baba was going
to that place in order to bless that boy and his
parents!
Returning to
the main road, Baba proceeded to Kadali, a small
village set in the midst of coconut trees. They
had erected a dais and decorated it with sincere
artistry. Baba addressed the peasants who had
come in large numbers. He visited the house of
the Principal of the Veda Sastra Patasala,
Prasanthi Nilayam, an unrivalled reciter of the
Vedic hymns, a master of the complicated
styles of rendering the Vedic syllables
in the orthodox complex of permutations and
combinations, who recognized the Divinity of
Baba, the day he first officiated at a
Yajna
he was asked to supervise at Prasanthi
Nilayam.
Baba sent all
the cars that were trailing behind Him to move
on and wait at the canal bank, a few miles off
and He went to Sakhinetipalli, to the home of
Sri Ramalingaraju, Minister for Religious
Endowments, in the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
The cars waited for full four hours, exiled from
His presence, with ears attuned to the horn of
Baba's car so that they may catch the signs of
His arrival to restore joy in their hearts! At
midnight, Baba's car was spotted proceeding
towards them. The caravan then returned to
Rajahmundry on the Godavari.
The 25th day
of January, was a Day of Delight for the
devotees of Rajahmundry. Towards evening, about
three hundred of them boarded three motor
launches, and went over the Godavari with Baba
to the sand dunes on one of the islands formed
by the Godavari when its waters subsided after
the monsoon floods, which make the river one
vast roar of raging waters. Baba sat on the
sands surrounded by Bhaktas. Bhajan was sung;
stars listened intently from above. Then, Baba
answered a few questions on
Sadhana
put by some Sadhakas,
and while elaborating the directions He gave
while quoting from the Bhagavatha, He drew forth
from the heap of sand before Him a golden idol
of Krishna, crawling as a child, with a
ball of butter in his Hand.
Baba
was at that time speaking of the inner meaning
of butter; the purity of intention attained
after the churning of Sadhana and of the
theft of such butter committed by
Krishna.
The questions
then turned towards Siva and the
Linga symbol, with ramifications of
conversation into the various types of Lingas,
the Earth Principle Linga, the Water Principle
Linga, the Fire Principle Linga, the Wind
Principle Linga and the Sky Principle
Linga.
Then He spoke
of the places sanctified by the installation of
these Lingas and referring to the Akasa Linga in
a temple, He explained that the Linga there
hangs in mid-air with no support! Devotees
stared in awe for they could not understand how
this could happen, and continue to happen. Baba
explained that the Linga is of some ferrous
material and that two magnets, one on top, on
the underside of the roof and another fixed on
the floor, exercise equal and opposite pulls on
the Linga, so that it remains in the center, in
mid-air, without support. Then, He asked, "O! Do
you desire to see it? I can dislodge it from the
pulls and bring it here!" Saying so, He waved
His Hand and Lo! The egg-shaped ferrous ball was
in the Hand. It was passed from one person to
another until all had the feel of it and the
thrill. Then Baba wrapped it in a kerchief and
gave it to a young man to be kept with him. The
entire group of three hundred sat for dinner on
the sands, with Baba in their midst, joking and
keeping every one in the best of spirits. It was
about eleven at night when the launches returned
to Rajahmundry. The young man was shocked to
find the ferrous Lingam gone!
On the 26th,
Baba addressed the Lions Club.
"You
are members of a Club that bears a great
name, the Lion. The Lion and the Elephant are
natural enemies according to poetic
convention. There is a great lesson latent in
this fact. The elephant wanders free and
furious in the thick entanglements of the
jungle; it is the symbol of the mind which
rambles, goaded by whim and appetite. But, it
surrenders before the superior skill and
sinew of the lion. The lion is the intellect;
the elephant is the mind; the intellect
distinguishes between the real and the
unreal, the transient and the eternal. When
this winnowing is neglected, man moves from
one illusion to another. If the intellect is
sharpened and sublimated, peace and harmony
will reveal the one basic reality, behind all
the apparent contradictions and confusions.
So mere compassion and the passion to do
service are not enough; they may even be
dangerous, if no enquiry is made into the
causes of suffering, and into the safest and
surest means of alleviating the suffering,"
Baba advised. "It must be understood that the
root cause of suffering is due to the lack of
wisdom which enables you to realize the
indwelling unity amongst apparent diversity,
and the safest and surest means of uprooting
this sufferance is by removing ignorance,
resulting in the Realization of the
Real."
Baba then left
the Godavari, and began His return journey, with
a halt at Eluru, where the office bearers of the
various units of the Sathya Sai Seva
Organizations met Him and received His guidance
and blessings. Leaving Eluru, He reached
Gudivada and addressed a gathering there.
Resuming, He went to Vijayawada, into which city
trains and buses, cars, scooters and cycles had
brought thousands of people. On the 27th, He
went on a short visit to Aukiripalle, near
Vijayawada, and from there, He left for Madras,
after a hectic week of beneficence and
benediction.
Howard
Murphet, an Australian Sadhak and writer
exults in this strain:
"How inexplicable fortunate are we - the few -
who have found here in physical form one who can
say as Christ said long ago, 'I am the
Way.' This statement soon becomes a
self-evident truth for those who can accept it.
We see in Him qualities we have always
associated with the idea of Divinity. Love and
compassion flow from the heart which hitherto
had been no more than a dream. When in His
company, we are elevated to a golden world where
the atmosphere vibrates with inner joy and all
mundane things are forgotten, or, at least take
their correct place well down the scale of
values."
"Only
India through ages past has been able to provide
a suitable land for the birth of Avataras, such
as Rama, Krishna and Sathya
Sai Baba. It is only in India that
Buddha can be born, to attain
Nirvana.
The spiritual heart of India is the heart of the
world. It is my spiritual heart, as an American,
for were it not there, surely life would be a
living death, of ashes and despair,"
writes
John Hislop.
One fact is
interesting and may be mentioned here, since it
has provoked many into a very profitable line of
thought. I shall quote the letter written by one
such inquirer, R. Ganapathi of the 'Kalki'.
"Sri
Aurobindo,
who by the power of his integral Yoga delved
into the Cosmic Mind was suddenly absorbed in an
intense awareness of the Supramental Light's
descent into the earth-consciousness. On page
208, of the book, 'Sri Aurobindo on Himself and
the Mother' (1953 Edition), it is said, '24th
November, 1926, was the descent of
Krishna into the physical.' 'A power
infallible shall lead the thought, in earthly
hearts kindle the Immortal's Fire, even the
Multitude shall hear the Voice!' It is almost
certain that the Descent noted by Sri Aurobindo
was the Incarnation the previous day, November
23, 1926, of Sri Sathya Sai Baba."
John Hislop,
on Sivarathri Day prior to the hoisting
of the Prasanthi Flag by Baba, said,
"What an amazing thing has come to happen! This
slender body walking so gracefully amongst us,
the charming personality exhibiting all the
qualities of God, omnipresent, omniscient, and
omnipotent, with boundless power to create,
maintain and
destroy."
Hislop's words meant more than he anticipated!
For, that evening, the unique Lingodbhava
acquired a still more unique importance; it was
beyond the power of words to
describe!
Sivarathri,
as Baba expounded that morning, means that man
must transform by Sadhana the
'Rathri' into 'Sivam',
the night of darkness and fear, doubt and
delusion, into the day of wisdom, courage, the
certainty of faith and realization.
Rathri means night; Sivam means
auspiciousness, victory, triumph. The vigil that
is prescribed for the festival and the fast,
relate not to the eye or the stomach, but to the
senses which have to be starved and the
intelligence that has to be alerted against
complaisance and the tactics of casuists
(experts)
The atmosphere
of Prasanthi Nilayam becomes vibrant
with the flag carrying the symbol of the
ascendant Sadhak who has overcome lust, anger
and hatred, who has broadened his love and
universalized it, who has established himself in
Yoga and ascended through the various
stages of Sadhana, resulting in the
blossoming of the Lotus in his heart, and
thereby attained Pra-kanthi, higher
illumination, Prasanthi,
highest tranquillity and Param-jyothi,
the higher splendor of realization, merging his
'imagined self' into the Universal Self;
conquering sleep, sloth, Thamas,
and the clamorous demands of the senses,
Rajas,
winning the unshakeable equipoise of the wise,
Sathva.
The Vedic
recital, the procession from the Mandir to the
Auditorium, the astonishing emanation of
Vibhuti from an empty pot to consecrate the
silver idol of Shirdi Baba and fill the area
with fragrance and ecstasy and the evening
gathering of 25.000 people facing the Santhi
Vedika where Baba sat on the Dais, while
Bhajan was sung by devoted souls - these
incredible experiences injected the atmosphere
with vibrations of supreme purity. [See:
'the
Wave of the
Hand']
The
Lingam that had been growing in Baba's
stomach since some days was to emerge in a few
minutes. 'Lingam' means that in which all things
merge and out of which all things emerge. The
Absolute, the Ultimate Reality, Brahman or God
has no opposites, no polarities, no
contradictions, so, it is represented by the
most perfect mathematical symbol, the sphere.
When the basic desire, Ekoham Bahusyam,
'I am One, let me become many,' disturbs the
perfect balance of the One, the sphere divides
itself into two, we get the ellipsoid. The
Lingam is ellipsoid. The One Brahman has become
Siva-Sakthi, the primary polarity principle of
the positive and negative.
Cars and buses
were speeding up from Bangalore, Madras, Bombay,
Hyderabad and other places to reach
Prasanthi Nilayam in time for witnessing the
emergence of the Lingam from the
Brahman. And, Baba was with each of them,
for, it was due to His Grace that they were
present in that sanctified atmosphere. "We
yearned long to witness the Sivarathri
Festival," says Dr. A. Ranga Rao, the renowned
ophthalmic physician and surgeon of Madras, he
came in a car that gave continuous trouble! The
engine got too hot every ten miles! When the
flag hoisting took place, they were at Ranipet,
250 miles off; when Vibhuti Abhishekam
took place he was at the border of Mysore, 180
miles off! 60 miles away from Puttaparthi, the
car came to a dead halt! While the chauffeur was
tinkering with its entrails, says Dr. Ranga Rao,
"To our utter consternation, petrol got ignited!
Big tongues of flames shot up. The poor fellow
jumped off in the nick of time and saved
himself. His clothes were on fire; he managed to
scotch the flames. I threw some handfuls of sand
from the road on the fire, calling out Sai
Ram, Sai Ram! And the miracle happened! The
fire became extinct, the car was saved, though
the tank was three quarters full and it was
petrol! I went back to Chikballapur, by bus, (12
miles) and got a mechanic from that town. At
3.30 p.m. we were still at the place of the
mysterious fire. Cars coming from Bangalore
stopped and sympathized and some even offered
lifts. But, I said, "No, we will be there to
witness the Lingodbhava, you can move on;
Baba will bring us to Him." At 5.30 p.m. we were
50 miles off, with that rickety car! I sat at
the wheel, the mechanic sat in the 'dickie',
shaking the pump whenever it struck work! We
raced and rushed. When we stood gasping at the
Lotus Circle in front of the Prasanthi Nilayam,
Baba was slowly proceeding from the Nilayam to
the
Santhi
Vedika!
While passing,
Baba, smiled at us and said, "O, you have come!
Santhosham! Santhosham (happy,
very happy)." With tears of gratitude welling
from my eyes, I said within myself, "Lord! While
thousands of devotees were adoring you here, you
heard our anguish! You quenched the fire and
drove the car safe, to bring us in time to
witness your Glory. Here is my heart; my life,
my hopes, my everything, at your
Feet!"
Dr. S.
Bhagavantham and Dr. K. Bhaskaran Nair, both
Doctors of Science, one in Physics and the other
in Zoology, one the Vice-chancellor of two
Universities and the other the Director of
Collegiate Education of a State studded with
colleges (Kerala) spoke of the gathering on the
Avatar of the Age. Dr. Bhagavantham
spoke on the implications of Baba's statement
"My Life is My Message". "It has
astounded me to see that, though He has no
wants, nor is He ever in need, He is so busy at
Prasanthi Nilayam or elsewhere, at all times
with a multitude of problems concerning the
devotees! Not only does He expound
Nishkama
Karma, but He also practices it Himself,
setting the best example," Dr. Bhaskaran Nair
confessed, "My life has acquired a richness and
a validity as a result of my surrendering to
Baba's Lotus Feet. I still continue to be a
student of science. I know where science has to
walk warily and where it can walk in confidence.
I cherish the culture of this land which bowed
to the spirit and honored sages and saints, more
than men of might. Sivaji placed his Empire at
the feet of his guru Ramadas; the Kerala
Monarch, Marthanda Varma dedicated the entire
kingdom at the altar of the God installed at
Trivandrum, (Thiru-ananthapuram). Asoka
renounced war when his conscience was torn into
shreds as he witnessed the blood, the fury, the
falsehood and the agony that war caused! And, he
ruled more than twenty years over a peaceful
prosperous empire, even after publishing the
fact of his having renounced the use of the
army, publishing it on pillar and rock, all over
the land, from the Himalayas to the Kaveri, from
Kandahar to Kamarup! Today when values are being
lowered, and the infection of wild excitement
and depressing drugs is attacking youth in all
countries, the traditional values of
Sanathana Dharma have to be asserted, for
they have perennial value. The advent of
Bhagavan is positively significant in the
history of the world."
Baba spoke for
about forty minutes on the mind and its manifold
tactics to confuse and confound, and how man has
to discover the strategy by which it can be
controlled and made subservient to the
intellect, thereby leading to the realization of
the Atmic reality. Suddenly the gushing stream
of superb eloquence and supreme guidance was
interrupted by gasps and gutterings -
premonitions of the emergence of the
Lingam - which Baba endeavored to put down,
a little while; then, He signaled for
Bhajan to start and Himself sat on the
chair, behind the table. No one heard the
Bhajan, though they were mechanically uttering
the words in the tune allotted to them. For, the
crucial moment was fast approaching and no one
in the gathering wanted to miss it. All senses
were now concentrating their efficiency on the
eye, so as not to miss the Divine
Event!
Baba was under
the flood lights, squirming, turning, twisting,
sitting forward and leaning backward, sipping
water and showing signs of exhaustion, all parts
of the amazing Drama that He was now allowing
these thousands to witness, so that they may
stand witness in their own lives to the glory of
being contemporaneous with the Avatar! Fifty
thousand eyes were focused on that serene Mouth
- for over fifteen long laborious minutes! "Ah!
It has emerged, in one leap; a blue shaft of
light, was it? No it was the blue Lingam oval
shaped, oval sized gem, celebrated in the
Sastras as specially sacred, on account of the
color and the size." It has fallen from His
mouth into the cupped palm of Baba. He held the
Wonder in his Hand, high in the light, to be
seen better by the vast gathering, now in the
height of Bliss.
Baba continued
sitting in the chair. He would, usually, descend
from the Dais on the Santhi Vedika and
move into the Nilayam; but, He sat in the chair
and remained motionless. We thought that another
Lingam may emerge after a little while. But, no!
He was getting stiffer, and motionless. The
right hand was lying flat on the table. The left
was erect, the elbow fixed on the table, fingers
near the eye, the head was slightly inclined to
the left, the thumb held apart, the ring finger
and the little finger folded, and the other two
straight up - the breathing was slow; it became
slower.
Who dare touch
Him? Who had the courage to draw His attention
away from the place or mission on which He had
gone? I was sitting on the left of the chair and
Dr. Bhagavantham and Dr. Bhaskaran Nair on the
right. Five minutes sped by - I expected Him to
return from wherever He had gone. For, this is
special occasion, where anxious souls were
getting alarmed. At no time previous had He left
His Body on a transcorporeal journey when so
many were looking on!
But, his
Compassion knows no limitations of festival or
gatherings. When the devotee calls out in agony
He rushes to his side, whoever may be with Him
or whatever the work he is engaged in, at that
time. On other occasions, He has fallen on to
the floor, but this unusual posture amazed
everyone; anxiety was imprinted upon each
face.
After twenty
minutes, I could restrain myself no more. I
leaned towards Him on my knees and, in a subdued
voice called 'Swami! Swami!', as if He would
come back when we call, from where He had gone
in response to the sincere yearning of some one
in pain. His mission of
Bhaktharakshana
knows no bounds of class, creed or nationality.
He blesses, whatever be the name by which He is
called.
Thirty minutes
... all eyes were now watching the face for the
slightest sign of any movement; they prayed as
never before ... The fortitude of the devotees
was being transformed into nervousness ... the
hand was stiff, upright, the finger did not jerk
or come together... the angle of the head was
the same since the past fifty
minutes.
One or two
from the Bhajan party came on to the dais ... a
few began to weep, here and there ... courage
faltered before the onslaught of
concern!
Fifty five ...
Ah ... a slight movement of the fingers ... of
the left hand! The hand came down ... I broke
into tears ... His eyes opened ... He saw! He
smiled!
Fear and doubt
vanished shamefacedly from the gathering. Baba
rose ... the fateful minutes were
over!
Baba went into
the Nilayam, and when some of us, including Dr.
Bhagavantham followed Him, He said that He had
gone on a Manasa-sanchara,
round the World!
He went in
order to give signs in every home or hall where
Sivarathri was celebrated that hour,
that the Lord is here, that His Grace is
available in plenty for all who need it, and
pray for it, with pure and sincere faith. He
showers mercy; and they become humble, wise,
victorious.
What we were
privileged to see that night was the sight of
Baba journeying far and wide to confer peace, to
foster the erring brood of willful, peevish,
half-blind children, into ways of justice,
peace, love and righteousness. He was converting
the Rathri of Rajas and
Thamas that was darkening the horizon of man
into the Sivam, the splendor of love and
joy. We saw two Udbhavas (oncomings)
that day - the Lingodbhava and the
Premodbhava (bhava: being,
becoming).
'Brightness
in the face, splendor in the eye, a determined
look,
a noble gaze, pleasant voice, open-hearted
charity,
unwavering goodness: these are the signs of a
progressing will
to attain the vision of God.'
Can this be
true, the sceptic may ask! I can only give the
answer which Baba gave to another such question
put to Him by a celebrated sceptic, hailed by
many as a redoubtable doubter. Baba told him,
"How can you understand Me? Can a fish know the
sky? It may see the reflection in the water of
the lightning flash; it may hear the echo of the
rumbling thunder - but what can it know of the
mysteries of the ethereal region, being sunk in
an element from which it cannot escape and
survive".
We are bound by Maya; how can we gauge the glory
of One, who controls Maya?
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