Is there a future?

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IS THERE A FUTURE?

By Thomas Wolke ©

According to many psychics, prophets, ancient scriptures, and channeled

information, the coming years will be characterized by massive earth changes,

social chaos, and devastating wars. If the old Chinese curse went, "May you

live in interesting times.", then our times should be utterly fascinating. It

remains to be seen, of course, whether any of these dire predictions will come

to pass, but if they do, we may wonder about our fate. Will we live to collect

social security checks stamped "insufficient funds" from a bankrupt Uncle Sam,

or will we become road kill on the spiritual path? After all, it's supposed to

be a bright future ahead, at least for those who make it past the massive

extermination of our species. You might want to stock up on bereavement

sympathy cards while you can.

Sathya Sai Baba has said that he will bring in a new golden age before his

present incarnation is history, but I don't believe he has ever mentioned

giving Mother Earth a makeover. According to one source, however, he did

materialize a map of the world showing that, in the future, a trip to Ocean

City may well require diving equipment. It may not be a good time, then, to

play the futures market.

Being a Sai Baba devotee is not necessarily a guarantee that you'll live longer

than George Burns. Your round-trip ticket from and to the light was purchased

when you left the spirit world for planet earth, that ever popular tourist

destination for souls seeking an educational experience. It has the date and

time of your return flight stamped on it. But I suspect that most devotees who

incarnated now, in this lifetime, came for the purpose of helping Sai Baba in

his mission. As they used to say, nice work if you can get it. In fact, Sai

Baba has said that he's been grooming us for our supporting role over many

lifetimes. Apparently, it's show time.

What will the work entail? Swami hasn't said specifically, except to say that

his loving radiance will shine through us to those around us, provided, of

course, that we don't let our ego pull the blinds shut. Interestingly, many

so-called "new agers", particularly those who regard themselves as aliens in

human disguise, think that their purpose on earth is to act as light bearers.

Perhaps Swami is confirming that. If so, your radiance will attract people to

you as surely as moths are drawn to a light. But if you use your newly bestowed

light to attract people to you for selfish ends, chances are, Swami's gonna pull

your plug.

Acting as Sai Baba's light bulb might guarantee you a bright future, but there

will probably be something more demanded of you than merely shining. In a time

when not just real estate values are plummeting, but the real estate itself,

and armed gangs maraud your neighborhood, led by your mother-in-law, and the

light at the end of the tunnel is a nuclear detonation, you might encounter

people who are wild-eyed with fear. As Sai Baba's rep, it might not do Swami's

public relations campaign much good if you're among them. Instead, you might

want to be a calming influence, a beacon of hope and love, a rock of stability,

and a source of comfort. You want to be the one who looks like you've had a

Valium® and Prozac® cocktail. When people look for hope, your job will be to

lead them to God. Not necessarily by leading them to the Sai Baba form, but by

the example of your faith and calm, and by the divine light you radiate.

So if life does become more uncertain than a marriage between Elizabeth Taylor

and Mickey Rooney, will you calmly accept and work Sai Baba's divine will,

regardless, or will your friends see you frantically stashing food and ammo in

your new backyard bunker? Well, Sai Baba has said that when you mount a picture

on the wall, you test the nail to see if it will hold before you actually hang

the picture. Likewise, he tests his devotees before he gives them any

responsibility for his work. So if it seems like you've been nailed to the wall

lately, and life keeps hammering on you, now you know why. Swami's testing you

to see if you'll hang with him, or fall down on the job.

Swami has said that his devotees will start falling away from him in the future.

Presumably, only his true devotees will remain. As he says, there are many who

claim to be devotees, but not too many who really are. You might wonder what

might provoke you into switching from thinking of

What if those types of attacks increase in frequency and ferocity? What if even

more evidence is produced showing Sai Baba to be a fraud or worse? Will your

love and faith in Swami be shaken? And why shouldn't it? Any doubts you may

have about him will be magnified, and you'll be more confused than when you

tried to program your VCR. But as bad as that could be, when it comes to Sai

Baba, the cost of loving may be more expensive than the cost of living. When

Jesus was being crucified, his disciples, fearing for their own lives, either

fled or denied knowing him. If being a Sai devotee should become an

occupational hazard sometime in the future, what will you do?

Swami is not waiting until the last minute before he hands us the final exam.

We're all being tested now. It's not that he doesn't know what the outcome will

be. Every exam we're given by Sai Baba is only to let us know where we stand.

When we pass or fail, we know if we're really Swami's instruments, or just

playing at it. But Swami is not testing our devotion to his form. That doesn't

really matter. You can be devoted to any form of God and still be his

instrument. What he's testing is whether you're learning his lessons. If you

are, you'll always be his. If you aren't, you can't be. That's because his

lessons are designed to remove the ego that stands between the real you and

God. As long as that ego is there, you will live in fear. And if you conceive

of God as that short, afro-haired guy in the orange robe, but aren't entirely

certain of it, how easy will it be to abandon him when times get scary? So what

Swami wants us to realize is how

devoted we are to our ego as opposed to how devoted we are to God. If you merely

believe in Sai Baba as the result of an intellectual acceptance of his miracles,

works, or teachings, then realize that your beliefs are fragile and subject to

change. If you know Sai Baba because you feel his divinity in your heart, then

nothing can change that. But knowing Swami in your heart requires getting the

ego out of the way, and that process is what he's testing.

New Age. types say that time is now speeding up. Could be, although I haven't

noticed my daily commute getting any shorter. But from my own experience, I

know that the lessons and the tests are coming faster than ever. Lately, for

example, you might be meeting people who, like a magnifying mirror, reflect

those less than desirable aspects of yourself that you have refused to face.

Same with me. Of course, now my fear is that I'll find Michael Jackson on my

doorstep some day. Yet, courageously facing the worst parts of yourself is

necessary if you hope to change them. We all live in a world of illusion that

our ego has created for us. Swami has been steadily shattering those illusions,

with me, at least. And after you've identified those qualities of ego that you

need to change, he's probably been bringing incidents and events into your life

that test whether you really have. If you pass the tests, Swami will rely on you

to do his work. If not,

he'll work on you until you do. When I was a kid, my Mom used to wake my brother

and me for school by yelling, "Rise and shine!" I preferred to stay and burrow.

Now Swami is waking us and telling us to rise above ourselves and shine with

his light. But it's always easier to remain as we are and entrench ourselves in

our habits and beliefs. Yet, we're being asked to participate in the greatest

event in human history, the transformation of human consciousness. But first,

we have to transform ourselves. Then we can help create the new golden age.

COLLECTION:PREETHAM SAI P.V.

MANGALORE,INDIA.

 

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