XXXIX. How Do Masters Redeem Devotees?

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XXXIX. HOW DO MASTERS REDEEM DEVOTEES ?

STEADY UPLIFT ENDING IN FREEDOM FROM CYCLE OF BIRTHS

 

How do Saints or Samarthas help humanity? This interesting question is

answered in the following statement prepared jointly by B. V. Narasimhaswami

and Bharatananda.]

The Supreme Being is thought of as having five aspects or functions with

names appropriate to each :

Creation : Brahma in conjunction with Saraswathi.

Maintenance—Vishnu or Narayana in conjunction with

Laxmi. Destruction —Rudra in conjunction with Kali.

Iswara in conjunction with Maheswari. Redemption—Sadashiva in conjuction

with Kripa.

There are avatars combining often several of these elements. The life work

of a Samartha Sadguru lead one to identify him with the Redemption aspect of

the Supreme Being.

Jivas, like ourselves, are going on from birth to birth. They are the

Supreme Being, but shot out of Him by an initial act of nescience (Maya).

Then the initial ignorance developed by a series of their Karmas, whirls

them at a terrific velocity in the circle of Samsara. The Jivas feel

powerless to get out of it. They are moved by desire (Vasana) to acts

(Karma) which in turn strengthen desire. So the vicious circle of Karma and

Vasana catches the Jivas in its powerful grip; and unaided they feel they

cannot wriggle out. If they try to do so, they only get more and more

entangled—more and more involved in Samsara. How are these Jivas then to be

helped out of this involution in evolution, so that they may evolve

themselves back into the state of the Supreme Being?

Avatars to Help:

At special times Avatars of the Supreme Being come down to raise humanity

in masses. The Avatars do not as a rule set to themselves the task of

caring for particular Jivas spiritual advance. So the work of the

Avatars finds its supplement and fulfilment in the work of the

Samartha Sadgurus. These with the vast powers, knowledge and bliss of the

Supreme proceed to deal with individual Jivas and help them out of their

involution to evolve into the Supreme Being. Samarthas like Sri Sai Baba are

called Samarthas because of their vast—nay unlimited, power, wisdom and

bliss and they are called Sadgurus, because they appear in order to act as

the Guru for individual Jivas to lead them into the Sat or Supreme. The

powers of Samarthas may, to a superficial view, appear like the

feats of a thought-reader, magician or necromancer. But there are

unmistakable differences between these two sets of powers in respect of

their origin, their nature or limits, the manner of exercise and the

purpose or motive of such exercise. The magician and others of his like

acquire their power and exercise it with great effort; and its exercise is

within definite limits of time, space, etc. and the purpose of the

exercise may be either sordid or at any rate clearly personal. The

Samartha, on the other hand, has not to work for the powers; the powers

come as pan of his realisation and perfection; and exercise of his powers

is not the result of effort. These powers are not limited to any

particular sort or class, as even Ashta Siddhis are limited in comparison

with the Samarthas. The purpose of the Samarthas, exercise

is pure mercy for the Jiva, whose spiritual advance is distinctly

furthered thereby.

How They Work :

We may proceed to examine the main feature of the work of the Samartha

Sadguru.

The point at which a Jiva's involution or Samsaric life turns to evolution

or the Path of Redemption is the appearance of the Sadguru to that Jiva. How

did the Jiva start his Jiva-hood? By forgetting its original, its real,

nature as Brahman and thus disturbing the harmony of the Gunas that

prevailed in Brahman till the forgetting. At that moment, a disturbance in

the Gunas took place and the Jiva started its samsaric career. The original

Brahmic state was the clear unruffled waters of the ocean. The disturbance

caused in it a small whirl. This whirl is the Jiva; and it fancied itself

(and this is the primary ignorance) different from the waters of the ocean,

by reason of its being a whirl. The Sadguru comes and restores theharmony

that pravailed before the Jiva started this whirling. The Sadguru shows the

whirl that it is water after all; the Jiva realising that truth sinks into

peace as part of the ocean; and thus primal harmony is restored by the

Sadguru. This is the essence of Sadgurus work. But the general lines of his

work we shall next consider.

 

(To be contd...)

 

 

(This is from the book"The Wonderous Saint Sai Baba" written by Pujyasri

V.Narasimaswami,founder President of All India Sai Samaj,

Chennai...........This book can be read from www.saileelas.org)