(Taken
from: 'My Baba and I' by John Hislop, pp.
17-21.)
The
crucifix was created by Baba on a most
auspicious day, Mahasivaratri. Baba
had reached a decision to halt the yearly
public viewing of the birth of the lingam as
it flashes from his mouth and comes to rest
in his hands, cushioned by a silk
handkerchief. Although that public portion of
the holy festival of Mahasivaratri was
now terminated, nevertheless the lingam would
be created by Baba each year again and again,
for it is a principal sign by which we may
know the Avathar. In respect to the
oval, eggshaped lingam which Baba produces
from within his body on Mahasivaratri
night, he says, "It is not possible for you
to understand the divine purpose and gauge
its potential, or to know the significance of
its manifestation. In order to bear witness
to the fact that Divinity is among you, it
becomes necessary for me to express this
attitude of mine. Otherwise the atmosphere of
hatred, greed, envy, cruelty, violence, and
irreverence will overwhelm the good, the
humble, and the pious. ... it is the most
fitting symbol of the Omnipresent,
Omniscient, and Omnipotent Lord. Everything
starts from it and everything is subsumed in
it."
We may also
know the Avathar by the sixteen signs
that accompany him: creation, preservation,
dissolution, knowledge of incarnations,
special Grace and the power to bestow it;
each of these in the past, present, and
future, thus totaling fifteen, with the
sixteenth being Paramathma, the
Divine, resident in the heart of each being.
To these sixteen signs of the divine
incarnation of the Avathar, Baba adds
another sign, which he terms the most
significant of all --divine love, universal
and impersonal, yet personal.
The lingam
has been seen by the writer a number of
times. On the occasion of one
Mahasivaratri night, I was sitting
quite close to Baba. When the moment came, I
saw a flash of gold come from his mouth and
saw the lingam caught in the silk
handkerchief held by his hands. It was of
gold. How an object that size came up Sri
Baba's throat cannot be explained. At another
Mahasivaratri, the lingam was
translucent, and there was a clearly visible
flame in the center of the lingam.
The evening
before the Mahasivaratri Day of 1973,
we were told to be ready in the early morning
for a trip; and that when the cars were
loaded and ready, we would know the
destination. Swami had decided that only a
handful of people would be with him when the
lingam became manifest.
Our
destination was the Bandipur Game Sanctuary
in Bandipur Forest, several hours away in
Mysore State. We arrived at the Forest
resthouse in the early afternoon. The next
morning, we returned to our cars and, guided
by the Forest people, took various winding
roads, hoping to come upon one of the
Forest's wild elephant herds. As we moved
through the trees and the open areas, in our
minds we were hoping for a replay of the
dramatic and fascinating encounter between
Baba and a wild elephant herd which had taken
place some years before when Swami and some
devotees had made a holiday expedition to the
Game Sanctuary. This time, however, the
elephants remained in their secret places and
not even one was seen. But the drive through
the hills had another and more important
objective. Swami intended to find a correct
site where we could gather at dusk for the
sacred event of the lingam birth. It was on
this great and most mysterious occasion,
unknown and beyond imagination to the world
at large, that the crucifix came into
being.
As
we crossed a bridge above a sandy, dry
riverbed, Baba indicated that this would be
the place. He said we would all return here
just at dusk, and this we did. The cars
halted at the side of the road, and we
started to climb down the bank to the sandy
river bottom. I was beside Baba. As we passed
a bush, Swami broke off two twigs, placed
them together, and asked me, "What is this,
Hislop?"
"Well,
Swami, it is a cross," I answered. Baba then
closed his fingers over the twigs and
directed three somewhat slow breaths into his
fist, between thumb and forefinger. Then he
opened his hand to reveal a Christ figure
crucified on a cross, and he gave it to
me.
He said,
"This shows Christ as he really was at the
time he left his body, not as artists have
imagined him or as historians have told about
him. His stomach is pulled in and his ribs
are all showing. He had no food for eight
days."
I looked at
the crucifix, but found no words. Then Baba
continued, "The cross is wood from the actual
cross on which Christ was crucified. To find
some of the wood after 2,000 years took a
little time! The image is of Christ after he
died. It is a dead face."
I noticed
something odd and asked, "Swami, what is that
hole at the top of the cross?" Baba replied
that the cross had been originally hung from
a standard.
We
continued down to the river bed, and Baba
seated us in a rectangle, with himself at the
head. It could be seen that Swami's body was
already in labor, and the group at once
started singing bhajans (sacred songs
of devotion and praise to Divinity). This
continued without interruption until the
lingam came out from Baba's throat and was
caught by him in a silk handkerchief. After
the lingam had been admired by everyone,
Swami put it aside. He then raised a small
heap of sand in front of his knees, and with
his finger sketched an outline on it. Then in
a moment or two, he dug his hand into the
sand and brought forth a silver flask filled
with amrith. Then he moved his hand
and created a small silver cup. Everyone,
from his hand, was then given a portion of
the amrith, nectar of the Gods. How
delicate and delicious was the taste! It is
unique. There is no other taste to compare it
to.
Within a
few weeks we were back at our home in Mexico
and were soon to witness an amazing series of
events in relation to the crucifix. The cross
is so small that the details on the figure of
Christ escape the eye. A friend, Walter, came
down to our home and took some color
photographs of the crucifix. The over-all
length of the Christ figure is only one inch,
and Walter was to make some enlargements to
bring out the detail. When he mailed us a
sample of the prints, my wife and I were
astounded. I wrote to him and said that if
the pictures were seen around the world, they
would create an art sensation. I am sure it
is the greatest sculpture of Christ ever
made. In my estimation, it is the most
extraordinary object Sri Sathya Sai has ever
created for the joy of his
devotees.
A few weeks
later, Walter and his wife returned with
color enlargements of the cross. These, along
with the actual cross, were spread out on the
dining room table, next to large French
windows overlooking the sea. The time was
about 5 p.m. The details revealed by the
photographic enlargements were so
extraordinary that all persons present were
concentrating on this amazing vision of
Christ, and on the mystery and wonder of Sri
Bhagavan. On this afternoon, the sky along
the Mexican coast was clear and peaceful. But
suddenly, without any warning, there was a
loud crash of thunder, and as our eyes turned
to the windows, lightning flashed from a dark
cloud where a moment before there had been
only clear sky. A violent wind rushed through
the house, causing windows and doors to open
and shut with such force that glass was in
danger of shattering. The curtains were
flying in all directions. We were much
startled by this turn of events, but my wife
at once said, "It is 5 p.m., the time Christ
died on the cross, and what is now happening
is described in the Bible." She later brought
a Bible and we looked until we found the
pertinent paragraph, which said that at the
moment Christ gave up His life, a violent
storm arose with lightning and thunder, and
winds rent the curtains of the temple. We
concluded that we had witnessed a wonder
totally beyond our power of imagination.
Before our eyes had occurred nothing less
than a recapitulation of events related to
the crucifixion. The following day newspapers
in San Diego carried a brief story commenting
on the sudden and mysterious storm that had
arisen without warning on the Mexican coast,
near Ensenada. We and our friends concluded
that this recapitulation of an event which
had taken place some 2,000 years ago upon the
crucifixion of Christ implied a great power
connected in some way with that small cross
and Christ figure materialized by
Baba.
A year or
so later, I sent a description of the event
to Dr. Eruch
B. Fanibunda for his book, Vision of the
Divine. He showed the memo to Baba. After
reading the memo, Baba said that the event
occurred as described and that the
significance attributed to it was
correct.
It might be
thought that the story of the cross was now
complete, but there is still a sequel. In
1975, I made an unannounced trip to India to
consult with Baba about arrangements for a
visit to America that we hoped he would
undertake. Swami had not been informed of my
visit and was away on a tour when I arrived.
On that day, he was having lunch with a few
senior devotees and he said, "Hislop arrived
in Bangalore just now and is
waiting."
One of the
men at the table (who later told me of the
scene) remarked, "You made a crucifix for
him."
Baba
replied, "Yes, I made it for him. And when I
went to look for the wood, every particle of
the cross had disintegrated and had returned
to the elements. I reached out to the
elements and reconstituted sufficient
material for a small cross. Very seldom does
Swami interfere with Nature, but
occasionally, for a devotee, it will be
done."