Inner-view or Inter-view? - By Dr. Sara Pavan

06-02-2005, 09:52 PM

INNER-VIEW OR INTER-VIEW?
Dr. Sara Pavan
"When and where was Bhagavadgita taught? On the battlefield, to solve a mental
crisis. It is when such crises affect man that the Lord starts His mission of
instructions. For those who have realised the goal there is no need; for those
who have known neither the goal nor the path, have neither the thirst nor the
yearning, it is of no use. The instructions will be useful only to those who
are hesitant, affected by doubt with their minds unsteady and wavering, but who
are conscious of the higher power and feebly desiring to make the contact. They
are either ignorant of the technique or afraid of the consequences if they
pursued; it is to such half-eager, half-apathetic devotees that I talk." --
Baba.
Life itself, for most of us, has assumed the nature of a battlefield and we are
stressed out. The art of living is to handle stress without distress and we
need to be resourceful to stay afloat and face the challenges with confidence.
The most important resource of all is inherent in all of us, Self-confidence
through Self-awareness. Without this knowledge we become mere victims of every
adversity. By learning to surrender all our dreams and aspirations to His
Divine Will, with absolute trust in His Wisdom, ("Your Will Lord, not mine") we
may be able to free ourselves from disappointments and failures. Thus we become
fully aware of our true nature - that each one of us is an expression of God's
Will, mere instruments. Only then, with our ego and bondage reduced, will we be
free from anxiety, fear, blame or grief! To acquire this level of unconcern is
not possible without the guidance of a Guru, an enlightened Master, who will
show us a realistic and practical way. We are blessed to have our beloved Sai
as our Divine Guru. He communicates with us at many levels and gives us
guidance through interviews, dreams and inner-views.
INTERVIEW is at the physical level and such opportunities are rare. Swami can
inquire, discuss, teach and instruct on any matter, at
Darshan as well as in the interview room, alone or with a group. His
instructions may be direct or indirect, and directed towards a particular
individual or the group as a whole. He may Himself bring up a subject for
discussion and give His guidance in a simple and direct manner. However, on
conflicting matters and differing viewpoints, Swami could, at times, appear
ambiguous. He is Omniscient and therefore needs no information from us to be
kept informed. And yet, He makes such inquiries to appear as if He is seeking
our help to acquaint Himself with these matters! Swami fully knows the level of
purity and innocence of each individual, especially the motive in seeking His
answers.
Swami is a pure reflection of our own inner thoughts, a perfect witness. We have
to be extremely careful and alert when speaking with Swami, especially when we
try to interpret His remarks or observations. He knows our own hidden agenda
only too well and generally does not interfere with our plans, because we will
learn better and faster through our own mistakes and personal experiences. He
may guide us on important matters and help us look beyond our limited thinking.
However, on important matters He may intervene and give us an opportunity to
revise our plans. Swami will never put us into any situation, which is beyond
our ability to handle. At the spiritual level there is no hierarchy, because
Swami's relationship is direct.
Swami can grant interviews through dreams too. Interpreting what Swami says in
His physical presence, at times, is hard enough. These dream interviews can be
even more difficult to understand, although it is reassuring to know that Swami
does not appear to anybody in dreams without His will. Dialogue with Swami in
dreams must be considered as interviews too. We must understand the context of
such an interview and use our powers of discrimination to ascertain if the
guidance was strictly for the individual alone. Opportunities to converse with
Swami are not easy to come by, let alone dreams. His reasons for granting us
interviews are entirely His. We cannot rationalise or categorise them. It is
generally accepted that Swami intercedes whenever a sincere devotee is
desperate. Often He solves the problems of devotees by His mighty Will
(Omniscience and Omni-will), without any external contact.
INNER-VIEW is to have contact with Swami through our inner windows, the
mind-intellect-intuition, for guidance. It is the inner vision that is
important and that alone is true and sacred. We loose sight of the One Reality,
of our own Truth, because we pay attention only to the impermanent outer vision
and forget completely the permanent inner vision. God's Mission is to restore
this sacred inner vision. Through spiritual practice (Sadhana) we can develop
the proper spirit of inquiry ( Vicharana), discrimination ( Viveka) and
detachment or freedom from bondage ( Vairagya), the three - V's for victory.
Swami says, "Seven-tenths of Sadhana is Vicharana". Well, one may conclude that
most of our spiritual activities - Bhajan, study-circle, Seva etc. - may just
be preparation for
Sadhana, to soften our hearts for spiritual transformation, just as bending an
iron rod is made easier after softening it in the fire. There is no other plane
in which we can transform ourselves than in the earthly plane. Hence, our entire
life, with all its varied activities, must be spiritualised and experienced with
our awareness of Swami’s presence. The greatest breakthrough occurs when we
undertake all activities as worship and offer them to Him.
We begin to realise and experience God speaking to us in so many ways - books,
discourses, incidents etc. - God speaks through all of them. We begin to look
or listen properly without merely seeing or hearing superficially things that
are only pleasing to us. We begin to accept the uncertain ways of God and take
everything as lessons or tests while applying the three - V's in our
Inner-view. The three - V' s become part of our continuous meditation. We
recognise that our own Ego and Desires, acting like shutters, are preventing us
from having our Inner-view with the divine. Unlike the Interviews or dreams,
Inner-view gives access to Him all the time. It may be said, one is "living
with God"when one can constantly communicate with the Sai within, the Real One!

TRANSFORMATION
Both interviews and inner-views help us in our transformation. Without God's
(Sai's) Grace on one hand and our Effort on the other (triple - P's - Purity,
Patience and Perseverance), our refinement and self-transformation would be
extremely difficult. With transformation we experience expansion of love and
freedom from bondage. Narrow ideas that nourish selfishness and fear will
vanish. Swami says, "Everything is Reaction, Reflection and Resound." Interview
gives us encouragement and strengthens our faith. This must be followed by
Inner-view without which we can hardly transform ourselves. May our Inner-view,
like the radar scope, help us see beyond our limitations. May we be blessed to
be worthy recipients of the Grace of Sai.
[Dr. Sara Pavan is an Anaesthesiologist from Australia, residing in Prashanti
Nilayam since 1993 and serving at the Super Speciality Hospital.]
Source: Heart to Heart
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol...N01/iviews.htm