Filling
the Emptiness
Addressing a
huge gathering in Kampala, the heart of Africa,
Baba said, on the 8th of July,
1968,
"Embodiments
of Love, cultivate love undimmed by selfish
motives, and live up to your name and
heritage. Learn the international language of
the heart, and spell it out in action. Your
neighbors too pray to the same God in
anguish, for favours. They may be speaking in
different languages, their pose at the hour
of worship may vary as well; but their
physical needs are the same as yours, and
they are satisfied by the same type of food
and drink. Try and sympathize with them when
they are in great difficulty and feel happy
when they are joyous. Share their joy;
sharing transforms joy into bliss -
Ananda.
Let your love expand towards entire creation.
Stagnant water becomes foul; so, let in flow.
Love is joy, love is power, love is light,
love is God."
"My life is My
Message," Baba says. Being Himself the
embodiment of love, He teaches us to love all
unselfishly, and declares that each one of us
can become God, Madhava,
through love. He often says that "If you want to
label Me, then call Me, Premaswarup."
It is through
pure love that Baba transforms us from
selfishness to unselfishness, from contraction
to expansion. "I am so happy that I am able
to be of service to the Lord. It is my joy to be
acting as secretary for the Book Centre. Since
learning about Baba, our entire lives have been
changed. We never knew such happiness before. It
is such a joy to be serving Him even in a small
way." On Christmas Eve, Gary and Sharon held
a Bhajan meeting in their home. The most
wonderful thing happened to them while they were
preparing for the meeting. Sharon was packing
small packets of Vibhuti,
and all of a sudden she saw something odd - sort
of hard - in the Vibhuti. It was a tiny medal
with Baba's picture on it. Gary was so happy and
so was Sharon. They were so happy that Baba gave
them this blessing on Christmas Eve! We were so
happy for them.
"Actually
His miracles that are really wonderful are the
ones He performs in the consciousness and lives
of His devotees. He changes you so gently and
gradually that you do not even realize that
anything is happening until one morning you
really take a good look at yourself and see that
you have changed. This is the real miracle. One
day you realize that you are much happier than
usual and you have lost some of your bad habits
and gained a few good ones," writes Dorris
Babb, Secretary of Sri Sathya Sai Book Centre of
America, Tustin, California.
Swami
Karunyanandaji is the founder President of a
vast organization for Seva
that has grown on the banks of the Godavari at
Rajahmundry. This Organization, established 45
years back, has set up a LeprosyHospitaland a
Home for the destitute and the
disabled.
One morning
the Swami came out of his residence and found a
young woman in extreme distress; she had been
escorted by an unknown sympathizer from Palasa
by train. She had a two-year-old daughter in her
arms. He got her admitted into hospital and took
the child to the hostel, entrusting its care to
the women inmates. Her condition improved
rapidly for she was due to give birth to a child
within a week. There was a portrait of Baba hung
on the wall of the hospital, in which He is
playfully leaning against a coconut tree. In
this picture Baba appears more as
Sakthi.
This pose was known as the
Sadhuvamma
Pose,
meaning Saintly
Woman.
It was perhaps just the right picture for the
patient, whose recovery and her impending
confinement was being looked after by Baba from
that picture.
One evening,
those in charge of the clinic, went to see a
movie, and when they returned they found that
the woman had given birth to a son. The baby was
washed and wrapped in white towels and kept in a
cradle. The mother had received due attention.
They were filled with surprise and on asking her
who had come, she replied pointing to the
picture, "She had taken care of me at the
critical moment. She has gone to attend to
another patient and will be back soon." That
is the measure of His love. To help the helpless
is the only way to please, follow and reach
Him.
In February,
1969, four tribal leaders from the villages, of
Rumgong, Panya, Disi and Jining, in NEFA, along
with Sri Boken Ette, Political Assistant, an
Architect, and a Deputy Secretary of Nefa came
to
Prasanthi
Nilayam.
Later in the afternoon they were selected for an
interview along with some foreigners and some
persons from Goa. The party remained with Baba
for about two hours. Baba spoke to them on
spiritual matters and thereafter each one was
granted a private interview through which they
found solace, and were encouraged to re-plan
their future lives. The deputy secretary writes,
"As we sat on the floor, Baba Himself sat
amongst us, and not on the chair kept for Him.
The room was hot because the fan did not work
due to the failure of electricity. When the wife
of the chief secretary of Goa attempted to fan
Him with her folding fan, He said that it was
not right to do so when others were suffering
that heat. The room was too small to accommodate
22 persons. So Baba drew us nearer and we found
the atmosphere conducive and homely. In the
august presence of Baba, language is not a
barrier in understanding the international
language which flows from the loving heart of
Baba. His spiritual declarations were grasped by
each one of us directly and personally,
corresponding to the color of our minds. When an
English lady said that she was unable to
concentrate, Baba promptly materialized a red
heart shaped article by a wave of His hand
saying, "This represents your heart, it will
help you to concentrate." He also created a
diamond ring for the wife of the chief secretary
saying that she would be able to see Him in it.
He said, "This
is die-mind (!) not diamond. Meditation on God
results in the elimination of the desires that
now make up the mind and its
sport."
This was fine spiritual
Upadesh
indeed! He created a talisman to cure the
illness of another woman from Goa, and a handful
of sweet
Prasad
for all of us. He poured the sacred ash, which
He created, into the palm of a tribal leader and
asked him to apply it on the foreheads of
everyone of us. Another wave produced eight
pictures of Him which He gave to each one of
us.
Thereafter He
took each one of us aside for a private
interview. We were amazed to find that He knew
all our problems and ailments, and also
prescribed remedies for them. Sri Boken Ette
sought His blessings and advice for the
construction of a Sun and Moon
Temple in their tribal area in response to
the wishes of the people there. Baba told him
that opinions differed amongst the people as to
what should be installed in the proposed temple.
As we were standing, He with a vigorous sidewise
circular motion of His two hands materialized a
disc on the spot with the Sun and the
Moon embossed on it. It was a sheet of
alloy of five metals, gold, silver, copper,
brass and iron, the Panchaloha, out of
which temple idols have to be made.
"This
disc should be installed in the temple and
should be worshipped on every Sunday as well as
on every full-moon day. Light a perpetual oil
lamp at the
altar."
He suggested. "Animal
sacrifice does not propitiate God; subdue
animality, sublimating it with the reason
endowed to man by God. If you must perform the
literal ritual, then do so outside the
temple,"
He said. Advising on the plan for the temple,
Baba drew an outline, drawing a circle in front
of the central shrine for the tribal dances. The
architect in the party was pleasantly
surprised."
After a
private interview one is left with a feeling
that Baba is certainly with you. Being
All-Knowing, Baba told Sri Boken Ette that he
had halted at Calcutta to get himself medically
examined by eminent specialists and seek their
help for the cure of a malady that had defied
the doctors of Dibrugarh. He gave him some
packets of curative
Vibhuti
which relieved him with the intake of the first
packet. Since then there had been no relapse.
The tribal leaders were recipients of the love
of God. "Love
asked, and Love
given."
Baba says: "When
father gives gifts to us, he does not give with
pride or in the hope of
requital."
It is this
everflowing stream of love that fertilizes our
desert heart with faith, hope and charity and
culminates in the experience of Bliss. Dr. B.
Janakirama Rao wrote to me about an instance of
Infinite Love. "At 2 a.m. Dr. K. Bhaskara Rao
and I were with a patient whose pulse could not
be felt, blood pressure could not be recorded,
and therefore we felt that he was sinking fast.
At this the patient was removed from the general
ward to a room. An injection of coramine was
given to him and we slipped some
Vibhuti
into his mouth, out of the packets Baba had
given us for him.
Next morning
at 8 a.m. we found that his pulse was normal.
The patient told us that at night he had been
helped by someone! Who could it be? The nurse
and attendant did not know anything about it,
nor had they helped the patient. What an
inexplicable incident at the hospital! We
wondered... Needless to add, the patient
recovered soon and went home hale and happy. Dr.
A. Ranga Rao while driving from Madras to
Prasanthi
Nilayam,
noticed sparks of fire emanating from his
petrol. He cried; "Sai Ram" and threw hands full
of dust. The flames subsided, and he drove
merrily to the Nilayam. Colonel Raja told me
that a huge bamboo cluster near his bungalow at
Tezpur, Nefa, had caught fire. The flames were
ascending yards high. His wife ran out in fear
that some huts nearby, where Nepalese lived,
might be burnt down. She shouted, "Sathya Sai
Baba, Sathya Sai Baba," and to quote the
Colonel, "The fire got extinguished in five
seconds; even a dozen fire engines would not
have succeeded in doing so." Another revelation
of the fountain head of Divinity which is ever
present, everywhere.
"My brother
had fractured his thigh bone six months ago.
When Baba was due to visit my house at
Trichinopoly, I brought my brother and made him
sit on a chair in the rear hall. When Baba came,
the Bhajan was on in the main hall. But, He
quietly went towards my brother knowing that he
was still ailing. Baba materialized
Vibhuti
and asked him to swallow it, applying a fraction
of it on his forehead. Then He walked into the
hall and came near me and said,
"I
have set right your brother's
leg."
Within three days my brother began moving about
in the house and in a week he ventured into the
garden without help, and before the month was
over he resumed his daily constitutional walk."
This letter is from Sri S. N. K. Sundaram,
Founder and Director of the Pandyan
Bank.
Dr. M.S.
Ramakrishna Rao, a talented Opthalmic surgeon
writes about the miraculous effect of
Vibhuti,
concretized by Baba's love. This doctor was
treating a friend for conjunctivitis in the
routine way. He found in the course of his
treatment that his patient had the much dreaded
dendritic ulcer in his right eye, which is
caused by a virus. IDU manufactured in America
was the only drug which can cure this virus. But
unfortunately it was not available inIndia. In a
few days the other eye also got infected, which
was rather unusual. "Efforts were being made to
get the IDU, but in its absence all that I could
do was to pray to Sathya Sai Baba, and doing so
I put His
Vibhuti
into both eyes of the patient and bandaged them.
That very night, my Professor Dr. R.
Suryaprasada Rao was able to procure the
precious drug. I felt happy that Baba had
responded to my prayers. Next day when the
patient came to me I opened the bandage, anxious
to apply the IDU. But to my utter astonishment
and joy I found that there was no ulcer in
either eye! I examined the eyes under the
corneal microscope, but no trace of the disease
or even a scar was visible."
John Hislop, a
highly educated business executive in America,
who could normally be expected to dismiss
abruptly any talk about a living
Avatar,
has developed an irretrievable faith in the
Avatar. He says, "I am, as a young son in the
household of a wise father and a loving mother,
in whom I have unreserved trust. The almost
incredible personal experiences of Swami's
devotees draw the portrait of an unique and
beautiful human being, with attributes extending
beyond anything we have ever conceived as
belonging to man."
In order to
awaken man from sloth and slumber, Baba often
employs some supernatural or suprahuman methods.
Sri Bhagavandas from Unai writes. "I have seen
scented ash appearing on a photo of Baba in my
neighborís home. We were thrilled by it,
and are very eager to have
Darsan
of Baba." This is one of the innumerable ways in
which Baba introduces Himself, and manifests His
Presence, announcing the advent of His Divinity.
In Nefa, a far off region, where the sanctity of
Vibhuti
is not
generally understood, sweet thick nectar or
honey, or at times butter, rice grains or
precious stones emerge from the holy photos
forming a decorative pattern, or the
Pranava
symbol.
Such Grace is
available even to those who have not seen, heard
or met Baba. Sri J. Gogoi from Shillong writes,
"When flowers are offered at the feet of the
photo,
Amrith
appears! What a Sai Leela!"
Sri P. Tshering fromCalcutta writes, "While my
wife was busy cleaning all photographs of Baba
for worship she suddenly saw
Amrith
coming out of the picture of Baba, all over the
body." Dipendra Dass of Bhubaneswar writes,
"Since the last few days, from the photo of
Bhagavan
Sri Sathya Sai
Baba
some watermarks seem to be appearing. In order
to be more confident, I wiped out all those
watermarks. To my utmost surprise, two lines of
streaming water came down from the knees of the
Lord."
Dr. J.
Vighnesam of Berhampur writes, "I have not
informed any one that
Vibhuti
comes from the picture of Baba in my house, but,
please tell me what I have to do? How am I to
worship the picture hereafter? What are the
rules of ceremonial purity to be observed? Food,
drink, smoking etc.?" From Delhi, a telegram
arrives, "Honey dropping from Thy Lotus Picture
at residence. Pray continue Thy Grace to evoke
devotion. H.P. Misra!" At Sonapur Tea Estate
where a
Sathsang
or friendly rally of the Sai devotees was held.
As soon as the party returned from
Nagarasankirtan,
when
Arati
was done,
Vibhuti
and
Amrith
appeared on the picture of Baba. "We were all
thrilled when we realized that Baba was present
amidst us," writes Dr. Barua. "This day, two
devotees of Lord
Venkateshwara
joined us in the Bhajan.
When
Arati
was performed, something fell from the picture
of Baba. It was found to be Sripadarenu,
given to devotees at Thirupathi, after the
worship offered to Lord
Venkateshwara
there!" writes Sri Muralidharan, the station
director of All India Radio, Kohima.
Any sign of
Grace, corresponding to individual temperament
or to the peculiar predicament, creating the
desired impact, in awakening a seeker or
arousing others towards Sadhana,
is useful. "Not very long ago, I was almost
dead," wrote Marie to her teacher Hilda Charlton
at New York. "Dead, both internally and
externally, for I was deeply involved with
drugs, mostly heroin. When I managed to give
this up, I developed hepatitis, and was sick
with this disease for quite a while. Then Marc
Schles sent me some of Baba's Holy Ash from
Indiawhich helped to cure me. I was sunk in
despair, without a home, and seemingly without a
future. But, thanks to Sai Baba, I am really
happy now, for I am living at home with my
mother and making plans to return to college.
Three of my dear friends who were involved with
drugs have stopped too. I shudder to think how
close to death I was, through overdoses of
drugs; I would like to express my gratitude to
Baba."
Pedagottapalem
Janakiramiah had heard of Baba, but was not
drawn to Him, as he thought of Him as merely
another addition to those large bands of
Sadhus
with which this country abounds. His God was the
idol installed in a temple five miles from
his village. This was a
Shivalinga
that had been worshipped for centuries by his
forefathers.
Shivarathri
was
drawing nearer and the temple celebration was to
be held on 15th February. But while he was busy
with the preparations, diphtheria affected him.
He had high fever and great pain. There were no
facilities for hospitalization; he could neither
swallow food nor drink. Some kitchen remedies
were tried, a few quacks tried their hand, but
all was of no avail. On the night of the 13th,
he remembered a plaster of Paris bust of Sathya
Sai Baba that a relative had brought to the
house. He had been told of His miraculous
powers. Why not pray to Him? Keeping the little
bust by his bed, he gazed at it for long, and
gradually fell asleep. In a dream, Baba asked
him to drink some water, but Janakiramiah
protested that he could not. Baba however
insisted and in the dream his wife appeared with
a jug full of water, which he drank down to the
last drop. With the last gulp, he awoke; it was
11 p.m. The fever had gone and so had the
diphtheria! By the 15th he was able to carry out
all his chores at the temple! With a heart full
of gratitude he wrote to me requesting
directions for the journey to the Nilayam. "He
is Shiva;
I must fall at His Feet," he wrote.
"It was my
third bout of pneumothorax" says Eruch K. Wadia
of Madras. "I was advised to consult the doctors
of the Victoria Hospital, Bangalore, since I had
exhausted all other lines of treatment. But
before implementing that advice, I went to
Prasanthi
Nilayam
for Baba's Darsan.
I prayed to Him from a distance, and then had to
come away, to consult the doctors. After the
consultation was over the doctor said, "Who told
you, you had pneumothorax?" I was sent for a
further check-up to the SDS Sanatorium, there I
was told, "Your right lung, the affected one, as
you say, is better and stronger than the left.
Nothing need be done." Wadia says, "His
Blessings cured me completely;
Darsan
is enough."
Holtander
Nicholas had a different type of experience.
"Even before I ever saw Baba personally, I had a
deep affection for Him; I was working on His
portraits; by the time they were completed, I
knew I simply had to go to Indiaand see Him. I
came to India, reached
Puttaparthi
three days before the
Dasara
Festival. The Festival itself was full of
experience, but I will not dilate on them. Right
after the festival I had a cold which grew
steadily worse, together with such a high fever
that I could not even think straight! The doctor
from the hospital, while giving me medicine,
exclaimed, "Sai Ram! Only You can make him
healthy!" I heard these words and prayed,
"Baba, give me the chance to do my duty in
Europe, I should not die here, for I can now see
clearly that there is work to do. Suddenly, I
saw Baba's eyes - and then the hair around His
head; these kept coming and going, something
akin to the lights I often see in meditation. At
the same time I heard the
AUM
vibrating all around me. In the morning I was
much better, and one of the Westerners, a
stranger, came into my room and said, "Baba was
talking of you. He asked me, "Do you know Nick?
(Nick! So He knew my name) the old man who sways
during the Bhajans? Tell him that he had a
serious heart-attack last night, but he is now
quite safe, for I was with him all night!" My
eyes were opened. I understood the vision. All
doubts were resolved. Now I know that Baba will
come to us, if we really need Him."
Baba makes His
presence felt in a thousand different ways to
those in distress. When Dr. Ramakrishnan of the
Institute of Science, Bangalore, was at
Prasanthi
Nilayam,
he was summoned by a phone call from Hyderabadat
9.30 p.m. and told that his mother had been
removed to hospital in a precarious condition
due to cerebral thrombosis.He managed to
communicate this to Baba, even though He had
retired for the night. Baba sent the messenger
back, "I
was at the hospital; she is all right now; let
him have a good night's
rest."
Meanwhile at Hyderabad, about9 p.m. his father
saw her open her eyes and exhibit an interest in
her surrounding; so he anxiously enquired if it
was necessary to summon her two sons to her
bedside. But the lady replied, "There is no
need; Baba was here just now; and while giving
Prasad,
He assured me that I would be quite well." She
returned home, quite well, within the next few
days!
Baba may
indicate His Grace, His Love, in some other
manner. Sri K. Dutt Gupta writes. "At Rangia, 30
miles from here, Principal Biren Bardoloi has
two small photographs of Baba under the glass of
his dressing table. Baba has caused to appear on
one of them, in his own handwriting, the words
"Blessing
- Sri Sathya Sai
Baba."
Sometimes, outlined in
Vibhuti
He leaves a footprint or two - an indication
that He had come, or is present.
The
mystic, Meister Eckhart writes, "The Lord
told the people, I stand at the door and knock
and wait. If any man lets me in, I will sup with
him." You need not look either here or
there. He is always near, make Him dear to see
Him vividly in your pure heart. He is the
Reality of your being; you exist, so long as He
inheres in you. Baba is ever ready to respond to
your sincere prayers.
Baba asked the
Sitaramans from London why they had retired for
the night leaving the gas flame alight with a
container of oil upon the stove.
"What
would have happened if I had not turned the gas
off?"
He asked. R.G. Gholap writing from Nandurbar,
Maharashtra, "At about 4.15 a.m. I heard a voice
asking me to wake up. I heard it thrice, but, I
said to myself, what will I do getting up so
early? A moment later I heard,
"At
least open your eyes and
see!"
Most unwillingly I opened them, and what did I
see? - A thief! As soon as I raised alarm, he
ran away! Who had aroused me, I wondered. Then I
saw a trail of
Vibhuti
from my room to the outside veranda. I knew it
was Baba."
From Coorg, C.
M. Appiah writes, "The electric current had
failed; so it was a dark fortnight in August.
Kumar finished his frugal supper and went to
bed; he was living in a dilapidated building.
Lighting a candle and a stick of Agarbathi
(incense) he placed them near Baba's picture
while singing some
Bhajan
songs. Then, he slept. The wind howled and the
rain fell in torrents. Suddenly there was a
whisper in his ear, 'Kumar run!' Opening the
door he ran out in the dark. As soon as he
reached the road, he heard a loud thud. The
house had collapsed! In the morning he found the
only undamaged item amid the ruins was the
picture of Baba framed in glass!"
One day
Sethumadhavan Nair received a letter written in
blood, with the skull and crossbones which the
Naxalities parade on their note paper. The
letter said, "Stop the
Bhajans,
for you are only cheating and bluffing people.
If you do not stop within seven days of the
receipt of this warning your head will be
chopped off." The devotee knew of only one armor
against such threats - the name of Baba! Without
any fear, he continued the
Bhajans
during the next seven days and nights. Enraged
by this, the letter writer was now determined to
carry through his dastardly plot and so at dawn
on the eighth day, he stealthily approached the
house and peeped through an open window. Nair
was quietly washing his hands at the bathroom
tap. Filled with hate and violence the writer
aimed, swung, and threw a heavy chopper at the
unsuspecting victim! But Baba is ever-present,
everywhere. All Nair could say later was that a
sudden whirlwind of orange-red flashed before
him, while a gentle hand held and pushed him
into a corner of the room.
He
heard the weapon clatter to the floor and the
sound of fast running footsteps, as the Naxalite
made good his escape. Hearing the noise, Nair's
wife and a family friend who had been repeating
OM
rushed into the room to find it filled with a
strange fragrance, and Nair covered with
Vibhuti.
He was unable to speak immediately, but they
knew it was the Naxalite chopper and the
Omnipresent Saviour.
On another
occasion group captain Bose, driving with his
wife and father-in-law from Ambala to Gauhati in
a high powered car with low clearance was unable
to move on the slushy road near Hariharganj. The
entire area was dangerously flooded by
serpentine heavy rains; the road was a lake. The
back wheels of the car sank completely into the
mud, while up front, one wheel was stuck in a
ditch! At that late hour of 11.30 p.m. no help
was available, nor would it have been of much
avail since all efforts to free her only
succeeded in making her sink deeper. The
occupants were able to procure shelter in a
nearby school, and slept on bare benches at
night. Mrs. Bose felt that Baba had spared them
a long and hazardous journey, driving through
the night, but her husband was determined to
reach Gauhati where he had to preside over a
Court Martial. "Duty is God. Work is
Worship," he quoted Baba.
When dawn
broke, no passing car or truck would agree to
help, nor would the small crowd of amused
villagers lift a finger! Their enjoyment of the
pitiable spectacle only fanned the flames of
despair. Unfortunately Mr. Bose had a little bit
of ego left in him; he decided to rely on horse
power rather than Sai Power! Ropes were
procured, but the car would not move; the engine
was restarted, but she only sank further into
the slush. Eventually, an exhausted Bose flopped
to the ground, saying, "The Lotus Feet of
Baba is our only refuge." Almost immediately
a gentle looking man with a strong physique came
towards them. No one seemed to recognize him,
nor could they guess his whereabouts. Handing
his umbrella to Mrs. Bose, he became master of
the situation. Bose was asked to get into the
car and take the wheel - a sweet fragrance
flooded the interior, but before the engine
could be switched on, or the gaping crowd could
offer assistance, Mrs. Bose saw the man 'put his
right hand under the bumper, and with one lift,
he placed the car forward upon hard ground, all
wheels safe out of the awful mire.' Then all the
occupants were requested to get into the car!
Puzzled, they tried to thank him and to ask who,
and what he was, "Oh, I am a
Chowkidar
(watchman)," he said, and walked away.
Disengaging itself from the now vociferous
crowd, the car moved away, and soon caught up
with the man, walking briskly down the road.
Bose begged the man to accept something but he
refused. Then He spoke one sentence,
"Why
did you not call for me last night
itself?"
The Lotus Feet had indeed come to
them!
This incident
illustrates clearly how necessary it is to
devalue the 'ego'
the little personal
'i',
and to recognize that the God of our prayers,
our aspirations, and highest hopes is embodied
in this 'Tiny' human frame of Baba. What after
all constitutes a true 'man'? Only he who looks
up to God and submits completely, giving up all
he has including the little personal ego, who is
perfectly detached, who knows the mystery of God
as Man, and Man as God! On two occasions, forest
fires raged around the farm of Indra Devi at
Tecate, on the Mexican Border. In the first
instance they roared around the Sai Nilayam
where
Sadhakas
have a retreat, consuming trucks and tents,
coating the walls with soot, but the inmates ran
up a hill; the shrine room itself was left sweet
and fresh as ever. On the second occasion Indra
Devi was at home and ran into the prayer room,
trusting Baba. The flames rolled back! When next
she was in India, Baba gave her as an expression
of His Compassion, a figurine, saying 'No more
fires!'
Muralidharan,
station director of All India Radio, was with
Baba during his tour of Kerala and tape recorded
His speeches and Bhajans, without omitting a
syllable or a note. From these tapes a newsreel
programme was prepared depicting the ceremony
when Baba laid the foundation stone for the
Hospital for children, in my native village of
Trippunittura, when the Health Minister,
Wellington, presided. He played that reel and
felt happy, remembering that Baba, in his speech
at the Town Hall, Ernakulam, had promised to
tour Kerala again after Sivarathri.
He had assured them that He would tour from
Cannanore to Trivandrum and stay longer in each
place. When a friend came to his office a week
later, Muralidharan chanced to communicate to
him the good news. Muralidharan said that if
Baba would not fulfill his assurance, he would
take the tape containing His promise to
Puttaparthi, play it back to Baba, and
'challenge' Him. The friend was thrilled by the
confident tone of Muralidharan; he wanted to
hear the assurance in Baba's own voice, and so
the tape was replayed for his benefit. Wonder of
wonders: those sentences were not recorded on
that tape! The Telugu sentences spoken by Baba
and the simultaneous Malayalam translations of
the assurance spoken by me were not there! And
to make the miracle complete, there was no gap
either!
It was Basant
Panchami, but the people concerned did not know
this was so. They motored to Lakshimpur to catch
a plane to Gauhati, then on to Calcutta, Madras
and Bangalore - and finally by car to Baba's
Feet! Their hearts were burdened by a sorrow
which only He could lighten. While at the
airport they received a phone message from home.
It was a Minister of the Government of Nagaland
that was speaking. "What have you done to the
picture of Baba in our room?" "Why, nothing at
all! What has happened?" "You have pasted some
red thread and a tassel on to the place where
His left wrist is." "What? I never did anything
of the sort! Leave it as it is" "It has grown on
the glass and it must have some meaning - He
won't do anything without some significance,
anyhow I shall..." "The thread is on the
picture, not on the glass - underneath the glass
- do you understand?" "Ah! I shall keep that in
mind." It was his wife, who said it.
"My
hands and feet are
everywhere."
He says in the Gîtâ,
when He has decided to confer joy, then nothing
can stop Him.
Beethoven has
written in his own hand on a piece of paper
preserved in the Royal College of Music, London,
some seminal ideas of his; it includes the
following about God. When we think about Baba,
these lines strike us as singularly appropriate:
"From what we are able to perceive in His works,
we conclude that He is eternal, Almighty,
Omniscient, and Omnipresent."
Baba wrote in
a letter to a member of the governing body of a
College, "Sai
Sankalpa is
Vajrasankalpa."
(The Will of Sai is irresistible like the
thunderbolt. It can never miss aim). It is
irrevocable, inexpungeable, infallible.
"There
is nothing I desire for myself; I strive, I
desire, I work, only for ensuring and developing
the welfare of
humanity."
Sri Laksh
Kumar has had a brilliant academic career,
having taken his Master's Degree in three
subjects! He is at present the divisional
inspector of schools, in the north east frontier
agency, now named Arunachal Pradesh. One day the
mail brought him three books concerning Baba;
"The Life of Baba," "A Lecture given by Him to
the Students," and "A Collection of His
Sayings." He had heard about Baba, and read an
article published in the Illustrated Weekly of
India, Bombay, but was not impressed by the
portrait which appeared alongside. He felt the
article was not worth reading. Nevertheless he
kept the books among the Sanskrit volumes on his
shelf.
While at
college Laksh Kumar developed the habit of
rising at midnight to read a favorite book until
about 3 or 4 a.m., before turning in for another
bout of sleep. But why of all books was he now
trying to master the ancient Sanskrit grammar,
the
Ashtadhyayi
(Eight Chapters) of Panini? "Panini is," he
said, "an absorbing and fascinating writer."
Feeling his works to be the most celebrated on
linguistics, he would sit far into the night, in
the quiet of his Nefa bungalow absorbed in this
scholastic work. One night, struck by an
un-negotiable corner in the grammatical maze he
closed his eyes in order to concentrate.
When he opened them, Baba was sitting in the
chair next to him, in a red flowing garment with
an enchanting smile!
"I did not
feel fear or surprise, as must happen under such
circumstances when a stranger suddenly appears
at dead of night while you are poring silently
over a book! I felt at ease and very much
assured. Before I could ask Him who He was, I
heard His sweet low voice speaking reassuringly,
"Do
not be afraid that I am with
you."
He repeated the statement twice, but the
question still remained. "Who was He?" Before I
could speak, He said,
"I
sent you some
books."
"Now I knew it
was Baba." I replied, "Yes, I have received some
books ..." and would have continued but He cut
me short and said,
"Read
them!"
I said: "There is nothing in them; they are
trash. There is nothing in them for me." But
Baba persisted, and He spoke with sweet
persuasiveness, as a friend, with no trace of
bitterness, "Still,
there will be something worthwhile! At least
read them once!"
He smiled a smile that I can never
forger."
Look at the
depth of Baba's love sending books, pursuing the
process of transformation of the recipient by
going Himself, and despite his callous cynicism
urging him not lose the chance of saving
himself.
In a recorded
interview with Dr. M.V.N. Murthy, Ph.D., Kumar
continues, "Then I felt it was wrong on my part
to damn them as trash, before the very person
who had sent them, without a proper reading. I
said, "I shall read them," and getting up, went
into the inner room to fetch them. When I
returned, He was gone. I always try to keep my
promises, so though this promise was made to a
strange visitor who came to me in strange
circumstances, I felt it my duty to read the
books, I was, till then, interested only in
philosophy, Eastern and Western, and not in
ritual or in the lives of religious leaders as
such; but I found those books explaining all the
great truths of the
Upanishads
and other philosophical tenets of East and West
in a very simple, sublime manner. Whereas I
found in other philosophical books mere words,
Baba's books and utterances touched me because
they sprang from an eternal experience of the
soul and encouraged me to reach those heights
myself."
"Ten days
later when I was up against another passage in
Panini, at about the same hour of night, and had
closed my eyes to concentrate, Baba came again!
He sat in the same chair quite close to me.
"I
know you have read those
books,"
He declared. I said, echoing Him: "Yes, I have
read the books."
"I am quite sure you have liked them, I knew you
would like them,"
He said in a voice of assurance.
"If
you read them, you will surely like
them."
He repeated.
"His voice was
full of love and benediction. I must confess
that I have never heard such a sweet voice. Then
Baba said, "Now
why do you not translate
them?"
I said, "That would be very difficult." Baba
repeated the statement,
"Yes,
it will be difficult, but I am sure you will do
it."
So, I rose and went into the inner room to fetch
the books and some paper. Again, He had left by
the time I returned. Translate? I did not ask
Him, into which language - Hindi or Adi? I was
sure He must have meant Adi, the language of the
tribal area. So I started to work, without
intermission."
"Two weeks
later while struggling for a proper word in Adi
for an abstract idea found in the book, Adi
being not a language to suit the exposition of
abstract ideas - and while absorbed in weighing
one term against a few others, Baba came again.
This was around midnight. It was the same
blissful voice which I loved to hear. He spoke
to me from the chair beside mine.
"You
have started translating
them?"
"I raised my
head and saw Him in His full glory. I replied,
"I cannot do it; I am not satisfied; it is very
difficult." But Baba said,
"You
can do it very well. Why should you shirk?
Anything that is worth doing will of course be
difficult. You can do it, you have done
it."
Then - He disappeared.
I was much
encouraged by this; I finished the translation,
and I decided that I should read it to some Adi
speaking friends and villagers, in order to find
out whether it was worthwhile. Meanwhile I found
that Baba's three visits and His
Darsana
and
Sambhashana
had transformed me. My attitude towards my work
and my subordinates changed. Formerly I used to
get angry and punished people. Now I appreciate
the difficulties of other people and try to help
and sympathize with them. I have become meek;
the
'i'
in me does not assert as much as it used to do.
So I can now declare that while I translate the
books of Baba, Baba succeeded in bringing out
the best in me."
Grammar is as
much Baba's province as any other discipline.
You can reach God, the perfect Grammarian
through Grammar. As Laksh Kumar pointed out, his
study of Panini's works and the translations
were both blessed by Baba who became his Guru.
Kumar was gently guided through all the eight
stages that make up the study of Panini by Baba
whenever he called upon Him; all the complicated
passages were expounded. "I can explain any
Sutra
from any section of the book in all the eight
forms, and so can my three children ranging in
age from thirteen to seven!" Says Laksh Kumar,
now!
Baba is Love
and it is His Love that prompts Him to select
instruments, so that they may feel a sense of
participation in the fulfillments of His
Mission.
Mr. Tidemann
from Norwaywas told,
"You
need not look for a Guru any more; from now on I
will guide you."
A disciple of Indra Devi spoke to Baba about the
"waves of ecstasy" he experienced during
meditation at
Prasanthi
Nilayam.
Baba told him they were
"sample
experiences"
granted by Him, to make him proceed with
confidence. Baba imparts courage, confidence,
counsel and consolation to all who
yearn.
"Be
careful what you ask of Me for I grant what you
seek!"
Why stand under the heavenly
Kalpavriksha (wish-fulfilling tree) and ask
for the gift of a paltry petty article? He knows
what is good for us. Therefore, He of His own
accord gives whatever we need or desire. So it
is best for us not to try to interfere with His
plan of our destiny.
Mr. Bhatia had
three daughters; Baba said,
"You
will have a son
soon,"
and so it came to pass, although the pregnancy
dragged on well beyond the normal range of nine
months leading to considerable anxiety on the
part of the doctors and the anxious father. Baba
had declared that the child would be born on the
day He arrived in Bombay - leaving everyone more
confused than ever! But during the 13th month, a
son was born, and Bhatia hurried to the home of
the Hon'ble P.K. Sawant, where he was told that
he had gone to receive Baba at the Municipal
Limits of Greater Bombay!
His will
always prevails. Recently a sapphire ring was
given to Arnold Schulman, the author of the book
"Sai Baba". He was reluctant to accept it as he
thought that such a valuable ring might cause
trouble with the customs at San Francisco; Baba
said, "I
shall look to
it,"
The official proclaimed it as "worthless" upon
examination. Yet appraisers later valued it at
125 dollars!
Containers of
Vibhuti
given with the assurance that they will refill
as quickly as they are emptied, refill
themselves with alacrity! A Divine
Leela
- usually called a miracle is supposed to point
out that all that we see is nothing else but an
object-portion of Consciousness
(Atma).
It is not an exhibition but is always fraught
with a profound significance calculated to bear
witness to the advent of the Divinity in the
human frame of Baba. It arouses awe and
reverence, deepens loyalty, serves as an
eye-opener, removing the fog of pride. The
so-called sophisticated civilization has
polluted the mind of man completely, helped him
to cultivate a lust for power and possessions,
deluding him in the belief that happiness lies
in their attainment, and thereby leading him to
moral and physical degradation.
He has come to
disinfect and correct, instilling faith and
fearlessness among the wise and the
discriminating, so that He may have sappers and
miners for His campaign against evil. As Murphet
writes, "They build our faith, and help us to
work with new zeal towards the production of a
divine edition of themselves. And this is
accomplished, not only through the great
inspiration of the living examples before us,
but also through the silent transforming ray
that emanates from the Divine One."
One
Leela,
for example, has all the value for the person
privileged to witness, like the
Viswarupadarsana
(witnessing
Krishna
as All) vouchsafed by
Lord Krishna
in the battlefield to
Arjuna
[See:
BG Ch. 11].
One day at
Prasanthi
Nilayam,
while walking with Dr. Y.J. Rao, M.Sc., Ph.D., a
Professor of Geology, Baba picked up a piece of
broken granite, the size of a fist, and turning
to the doctor asked him what it contained. Happy
that he could reel off his pet technical jargon,
he gave the right petrological answers. But,
Baba persisted and wanted that he should go
deeper into its composition. He was prepared for
that question too, and he spoke of atoms,
chemical formulae, electrons, protons, mesons
and the rest of the scientific abracadabra. Baba
stopped him. He said, "No, deeper still!" Rao
was at the end of the technical tether! So Baba
took the rock from the hands of the geologist
and blew on it. It became a beautiful idol of
Lord Krishna
playing the flute. The color was slightly
bluish; the structure had undergone slight
modifications, to suit the curves of stance.
"See!
God is in the rock! You geologists have to be
conscious of that; nothing exists without God,
apart from God."
[drawing by: Colin
Meijer]
Every
Leela
of Baba is a lesson in spiritual discipline and
science. He chides and the chiding strikes a
hidden spring of awareness and
adoration.
There was a
person who worshipped Baba at home reciting the
108
Names
(Sathya Sai Ashtottarashata Nama
Ratnamala),
and on Thursdays the
1008
Names,
at the end of the rite, he fell flat on the
ground in front of the picture, imagining that
he was clasping with both hands the Lotus Feet
of Baba standing before him. There was a gap
between his palms, where he imagined the Feet to
be! Tears would well up in his eyes while he
enjoyed the thrill of that fancy. Later when he
came to Prasanthi
Nilayam,
Baba granted him a private interview.
"Just
look at My Feet as I stand before you! Take note
of the width of space I require to place both
feet comfortably on the ground. Your palms do
not open wide enough; so I have to keep my feet
cramped between them every time you want me.
Keep them a bit
wider!"
There is no
prayer that He does not hear, no sign that is
not recorded in His heart, no tear that He
dismisses as unworthy of attention. He is the
nearest kinsman, the closest friend, the wisest
guide, the fondest mother, the very breath of
our being.
He is present
in this very moment on all the roads, behind
every fast moving vehicle, or often with it,
ready with His warning and loving Hand to avert
calamity. "Driving from Colchester to London on
the afternoon of the 22nd September, my son
asked me to lower his seat as he wished to
recline. This I did, and a truck stopped still
in front of the car almost suddenly, and we ran
into it. The steering wheel was completely bent,
and the car extensively damaged in the front!
Neither my son nor I received a scratch. Baba
had asked him to recline! We had the sacred
Vibhuti
with us, and were reciting the Lord's name. We
bow down to our beloved Lord who intervened,"
writes Shri V. Krishnamurthi.
Professor G.B.
Pillai gives an account of some interest of his
journey from TrivandrumtoMadras, with his
son. The family had known about Baba since 1961,
and had become ardent devotees. While proceeding
towards Maduraion 23rd December, 1969, a
tremendous downpour of rain mercilessly lashed
the train. Alarming reports of the Pamban Bridge
having been washed away reached up, so the train
was halted at Madurai for three hours, but
eventually it was decided that it should
proceed. By then it was 9.30 p.m. and the
Pillais, together with Dr. C.K. Gopi who was in
the same compartment, decided to retire for the
night.
Suddenly the
lights went out, and there was a loud explosion.
The coach itself started to tumble into an
abyss, while the debris of the compartment fell
upon the unfortunate occupants. Professor Pillai
was dropped into the roaring river waters below,
pinned down by the debris - he felt himself
gradually suffocating. "Where was my son? I
thought of my wife and daughters, and cried out,
'Baba, Baba, save me - save my child!" So it
happened. Suddenly the waters seemed to recede,
and the debris were washed away. "I could feel
the ground under my feet. My head was reeling,
my voice was hoarse, my clothes were washed
away. I called out to my son, and he
answered!"
"Baba had
watched over us!" Dr. Gopi, who was also saved
rendered medical aid, for sand and mud had
almost choked the Professor. Later he had to
fight for his life against an attack of
pneumonia, but Baba's Grace helped him to
recover completely.
Most letters
to the author start saying; "Another miracle has
happened!" "Susan, who was miraculously saved by
Baba from suicide, had a son, Kevin, who
survived brain surgery as a child, but was left
totally blind in one eye. Each night Susan used
to place a little Vibhuti
in his eye. Finally when the child's eye was
examined it was found that sight had returned to
it - "even if he were to lose the sight in his
good eye, he could see objects and get around
with the vision in his blind eye." This is from
a letter from Santa Barbara, on the pacific
coast of America.
Nearly twenty
years ago, arriving one morning at the Nilayam I
found a group of young men from a Bangalore
college praying to Baba to take them to the top
of the hill on the left bank of the Chitravathi
river. They hoped that once there, Baba would
take from the famous tamarind tree, fruits of
different species. I too joined in the appeal,
but Baba was determinedly silent for a while,
then said sharply,
"Do
I require that particular tree? Any tree can
do."
We were filled with hope. He would give us fruit
from another tree and make that immortal! But He
said, "Why
do you think I want a tree? Sand is good
enough."
That meant He would give us something from the
river bed! We were soon disillusioned!
"Do
I need the sands of a riverbed? Is not any sand
equally good?"
Since the
building work was in progress at the Nilayam,
truck loads of sand had been heaped to one side.
"We shall sit on this heap itself, Swami!" I
said. "Do
you think that the creation of something out of
sand is the only miracle? Is sand so
essential?"
We did not know what to say - we had to be
satisfied by the miracle, creation of
Vibhuti
by the mere wave of a hand.
"Should
I create something so that you can see a
miracle? Is not your existence itself a miracle
of Mine?"
He asked. Then He rose and walked away leaving
us aghast at the revelation of His being the
Trinity, of His being the Incarnation of the One
Universal God.
Every miracle
of Baba is a gift of Grace. It may be a pinch of
sacred ash, a piece of candy, a picture created
before us; it may be a shower of ash, or the
emergence of Kumkum
or fragrant sandal or nectarine honey, on a
picture, an Om
in ash on the floor, a continuous flow of
scented oil or
Amrith
from a Linga
or locket. It may also be a series of paper
slips on which counsel or warnings are written
in the language you understand, that come from
His hands in the portraits you worship. It may
be given to you while you are awake, asleep or
dreaming - or come to you as a book or as a
parcel through the post, in reply for an order
that you may not have placed. It may be a vision
of Himself, subtle, substantial, momentary or
more lasting, but, always, it is a sign of His
Love and Majesty.
The more you
want, the more He gives; the more He gives, the
more you grow; the nearer you approach Him, the
closer do you approximate to Him.
"Come
with empty
hands,"
Baba says. Throw away all the things that you
hold in the grasp of your hand; cast away the
toys with which you have been playing the game
of gaining and losing, gathering and scattering.
Baba delights in giving. He does not relish
being adored or admired because our praise does
not add anything to His Glory, and criticism
cannot minus it either. He delights in filling
empty hands with lasting sweetness; empty hearts
with lasting joy; empty lives with salutary
substance; empty reeds with His melodious
breath.
Each gift
prepares us afresh to receive yet another, for
nothing is given without significance - it is to
facilitate us to go forward in our search for
Truth. He is not rendered less by giving; our
capacity for receiving is boundless too. So
Manava
(Man) negates and needs, hungers and receives,
and thus becomes ultimately
Madhava,
God, Himself.
While
addressing an audience of Sai devotees, Dr.
Bhagavantham recently said that about a decade
back good photos of Bhagawan in color were not
available. Therefore his son prayed to Baba for
a picture. His son's prayers were spontaneously
answered as Bhagawan materialized a
Lingam
and gave it. This is a pointer revealing the
inner core of the Reality or the
Real.
Once a few
devotees were sitting with Baba at the foot of a
mountain and Baba held a few pebbles in His hand
and threw them towards a devotee, converting
these into sugar candy. At this the devotee
enquired from Baba that if He could instantly
convert those stones into sugar candy, could He
not transform the entire mountain in front of
them into sugar candy? Baba replied,
"It
can be done, but why unnecessarily interfere
with its
nature?"
In fact, no
material or movement is necessary to materialize
anything for Him. His Will (Sankalpa)
is supreme. On one occasion, Baba was talking on
spiritual matters to a devotee, and all of a
sudden the devotee found on his lap a red apple.
The devotee was astonished, and Baba told him,
"Didn't
you say, earlier on, that you did not have any
breakfast?
Eat it now, for you will be having your lunch
only after a couple of
hours."
This was accomplished without any transformation
of any material or without any wave of the
hand.
"Get
detached from the transitory pleasure; boldly
attach yourself with the One, peerless and
perennial, remaining in a serene state of
Blissful Awareness," says
Baba.
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