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

[Guest guest]

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_03/06JUN01/iviews.htm