What should we learn from Lingodbhavam? - By Prof. G Venkataraman

[Guest guest]

festival 2006, which has some very significant reflections on what Lingodbhavam

means. Loving Sai Ram and greetings from Prashanti Nilayam. Normally, you

would have heard in this time slot, a talk by me on the life of Shirdi Baba.

Today I interrupt that serial to share some of my thoughts with you, concerning

some memorable moments we witnessed during Sivarathri celebrations last week. As

you are aware, this year, Sivarathri, or Maha Sivarathri to be more precise,

fell on Sunday, February 26. The Divine Sivarathri Schedule As per

Prashanti Nilayam traditions, typically, this is how Sivarathri is observed. On

the morning of Sivarathri, Swami’s boys sing songs; after that, there is Bhajan

and Swami retires. In the afternoon, everyone assembles in the Divine presence

for a Discourse, which would then be followed by all-night Bhajan singing.

This all-night Bhajan singing is a phenomenon in itself and merits a talk on

its own but I shall skip that. On the following morning, some time after dawn,

Swami comes back to the Hall, listens to Bhajans for a while and then gives one

more Discourse to bring the observance of Sivarathri austerities

to an end. After that, there is Prasadam distribution, which too is an event in

itself. This, so to say, is the standard script for a non-Lingodhbhavam year,

and this was the way it was for many years until Swami revived the

Lingodhbhavam a few years ago. Last Year, No Lingodbhavam Last year, it

was announced well in advance that there would be no Lingodhbhavam, and, as was

to be expected, this resulted in a sharp decline in the crowds attending the

function. By the way, although it was announced last year that there would be

no Lingodhbhavam, what actually happened was that after Swami finished the

Discourse in the

evening and sat down to listen to the Bhajans, suddenly there were strong

symptoms that a Lingam might emerge. However, Swami summoned His car and went

away; ultimately, there was no Lingodhbahavam, at least in public. This year

too, the crowds were much smaller; probably because everyone expected that

there would be no Lingodhbhavam, and Sunday evening passed off without any

Lingam emerging from Swami. In a sense, many were glad because you know Swami

has to undergo enormous physical stress and strain, while making the Lingam

come from within Him. Devotees told one another, “Ah, this year, Swami has

mercifully spared Himself the torture He has to undergo while bringing the

Lingam out.” The Morning Heralds A Great Event Came Monday morning and

Swami came out at around 6.45 and sat in His chair. Bhajans were going on as

usual. Meanwhile, a big group of Swami’s boys got busy bringing in fresh hot

Prasadam from the Canteen in huge vessels and placing them in the Sai Kulwant

Hall for distribution after the conclusion of the proceedings. I noticed though

that they were doing things somewhat differently to the routine they usually

followed. I knew, however, that this must be on the explicit instructions from

Swami; in all such things, it is Swami who is truly the Manager; He decides

even minute details, and nothing can ever happen unless He personally orders

it. OK, all this is fine but this is not what I wish to talk

about. There we were, all of us waiting for Swami to start on His morning

Discourse, when I saw a few boys rushing into Swami’s Interview room. In

itself, this is nothing unusual.

Swami often gives instructions and Swami’s boys are so agile and alert, that

they dash to implement the instructions. A minute later, I saw these boys go

back to where Swami was seated, with flasks, towels and tumblers in their

hands. The moment I saw this, my antenna went up; I said to myself, “Looks like

Swami is going to bring out a Lingam.” And it was not just me; the whole of Sai

Kulwant Hall suddenly woke up from its drowsiness, coming at the tail end of an

all-night vigil, singing Bhajans. Something that not normally does not happen in

the morning session, was about to happen. After last year, everyone assumed

that for the second time in the history of this Avatar, Lingodbhavam would come

to a stop. What I mean is that way back, Swami used to bring out Lingams

regularly but then

put a stop to it for years and years. And then most unexpectedly, it became a

star attraction so to speak. While everyone was thrilled to see this

spectacular phenomenon, devotees also realised that Swami went through much

physical pain and suffering before the Lingam emerged. Thus, many even prayed

that Swami should spare Himself this agony and stop the Lingodhbhavam. That’s

exactly what happened last year and this year too, till Monday morning, that

seemed to be the case. When it became clear that there would be a

Lingodhbhavam, the huge audience snapped to attention, while the singing of

Bhajans picked up in vigour and tempo. Everyone waited with bated breath, while

Swami started drinking glasses and glasses of water, as He normally does just

before the Lingam emerges. The Agony of the Birth of the Lingam A big

group of boys was seated behind Swami, pouring out water from flasks into

silver tumblers. Two boys kneeling on either side of Swami, were tensely

focussing on Swami, ready to support Him by holding Him. One of them would

place the tumblers in front of Swami and offer the water to Swami whenever He

signalled, which was every fifteen

or twenty seconds. Swami would take the silver tumbler from this boy, and

drink the water. He would then hand the empty tumbler, which this boy would

pick up and hand over to the crew behind and position the next tumbler in

readiness for offering to Swami. Swami was evidently feeling very hot, and

coolers were placed on either side to blow cold air. After drinking water,

Swami would wipe His face. And so, kerchief after kerchief was offered.

Frequently, Swami would use a small hand towel to wipe His face

and mouth. Any number of towels were passed on. Meanwhile, some of the boys

sitting behind would run to Swami’s Interview room to fill the flasks, bring

more kerchiefs and more hand towels. In a sense, all this was not new; we

had seen this for many years now, except last year of course. But what was

unusual this time was the very long time it took for the Lingam to come out.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, half an hour, forty-five minutes,

and still the Lingam would not emerge. By now, almost everyone was absolutely

shattered and silently prayed, “Oh Swami! Please, let this agony end this very

minute.” But Swami’s suffering continued.

Impassioned Bhajan Singing Meanwhile, the Bhajan singing went almost

haywire. Normally, when the Lingam is expected, the team of singers, boys from

Swami’s Colleges in Brindavan and Puttaparthi and girls from the Anantapur

College for Women, would take turns and sing fast, powerful, and inspiring

Bhajans on Lord Siva. This time too it started off like that; but when Swami’s

suffering became prolonged, the singers could no longer maintain the

traditional drill and rhythm; instead, they cried out in their own way, perhaps

coaxing the Lingam to emerge and bring Swami’s suffering to an end. Here is a

sample of those

extra-ordinary moments. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO [547 KB]

Creation Manifest I hope that gave you an idea of how things were.

Meanwhile, Swami’s body continued to suffer so much, that everyone seated

everywhere could see it plainly. It seemed like an epic story in which a frail

human

body embodying the Incarnation of God was struggling to rise to the enormous

demands of a mighty Divine Power within, to bring forth the ultimate symbol of

Creation. Finally, about one hour after Swami started showing the symptoms of

yet another Lingodhbhavam, the much-awaited Lingam appeared ever so suddenly.

It was about 8.15 A.M. Listen now to the sounds of that historical moment.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO [110 KB]

Lingodhbhavam Demonstrates Divine Creation I would now like to digress

and reflect for some moments on the significance of Lingodhbhavam itself. People

come from

far and wide to witness the extra-ordinarily Divine event and feel thrilled by

it, but what exactly does that event signify? That is what I would now like to

dwell upon.Briefly, when Swami brings out a Lingam from within, He is reminding

us, among many other things, that behind Creation, there is a Creator. If there

is a painting, then there must have been a painter who painted the picture. If

there is a child, then there must have been a mother who gave birth to that

child. Everyone accepts these facts without any dispute whatsoever, including

the so-called rationalists and atheists. But when it comes to the Universe

itself, say God created it and see how many feathers you ruffle. It is not

just that some people feel offended by the reference to God; the more important

point is that their vehement denial of

God has done much harm to Society. What we call good thoughts, good acts etc.,

spring basically from God. Goodness is the representation of Divinity at the

human level. Swami as Krishna, Shirdi Baba and in His present Incarnation has

made very clear, that goodness springs from Godliness. Where there is Love

there is God. Without God, there simply cannot be any Love and without Pure

Love, there just cannot be any sacrifice, and without sacrifice, there cannot

be any goodness. A very large number of people are good by nature, and

silently they do a lot of good to Society. Without the sacrifice of these

people, without the compassion shown by these people, without the selfless

service done by this people, without

the sense of duty exhibited by these people, Society would come to a stop. All

these virtues are the manifestation of Divinity within. So, the first point

about the Lingodhbhavam is that it is a powerful reminder to us of the basic

fact that behind Creation there is a Creator, and that Creator is God. These

days, there is a lot of talk about the DNA test. Where heredity is concerned,

everyone knows that the child must have the genes of the mother and the father.

In the same way, if every atom in the Universe has come from God, should not

every atom and all things built from atoms have “Divine genes” if I may say so?

This exactly is what Swami tells us often. He says: “Everything

in the Universe is Divine, and there is nothing other than God.” Swami has said

this to us not once, not twice, but any number of times. And yet, why do we

fail to take notice of it? Because we are so obsessed with the outer form of

everything in the Universe. This is all the result of a terrible disease called

body-consciousness. In its most virulent form, this disease makes everyone see

just the outside, but not what is hidden within. The Disease of

Body-Consciousness Let me give a few examples, starting with the Sun. Today,

thanks to our knowledge of Science we say, “The Sun is but a gas cloud that is

burning. Deep inside, it burns elements like

hydrogen via thermonuclear reactions. And the energy produced in these reactions

is what comes out to us as solar radiation.” Yes, all this is true of course.

But how come all this is happening? The modern scientist would just shrug and

say, “Oh that? It is all Nature.” This kind of reaction may not be harmful but

then one thing leads to another, and it is really dangerous to ignore the

Omnipresence of God. Let us take violence; if people saw God in others, would

anyone raise a sword to strike another person? Remember those famous stories

about animals and Shirdi Baba? How Baba taught one woman that He came as a dog

and she rained blows on Him? And how He told another woman that He came as a

pig and she fed Him most kindly? Yes, as the Vedas proclaim, God is in

everything, from the atom to the galaxies.

And, as Swami often reminds us by quoting a powerful line from one of Saint

Tyagaraja’s song, which says that God is in the ant and in the Cosmos as well.

What I am driving at is that Lingodhbhavam is NOT a spectacle. But most

unfortunately, that is what most of us tend to reduce it to, by clamouring more

for the photos and videos of that event, rather than pondering about the deeper

implications and the message that Swami is sending to us. Let Us

Contemplate… Let us take a minute off to reflect on why Swami undergoes

so much suffering to bring out the Lingam. Is it merely to thrill us? Is it

merely for showing the Lingam to everybody by going round? Indeed, why does He,

after going through so much physical pain, take extra trouble to go round,

holding up the newly-created, brilliantly shining Lingam for all of us to see?

The suffering of the Divine body that we saw this year was something quite

unusual and exceptional. In fact, Swami mentioned to a few devotees even on the

previous day that He was beginning to experience pain inside. So it was not just

the painful struggle we witnessed on Monday morning. Unknown to the world, the

birth pangs of Creation, if I might call it that, had commenced 24 hours

earlier. The Golden Splendoured Lingam We all say that Swami brought out a

Golden Lingam. Yes that is true but for a moment just reflect on this fact. Can

anyone have so much gold inside? The answer is no. Then wherefrom does the gold

needed to form the Lingam inside Swami come? It comes from the five elements

that form Swami’s body as well as ours. In our bodies, those five elements

cannot specially combine to form gold. However, they do inside Swami’s body, as

the result of Divine Leela. Next, the gold that forms inside thus must

aggregate, become liquid, acquire the shape of a Lingam, solidify, and then

only emerge. It is all very much like a baby growing in the womb, starting from

a single cell. I am sure you are aware that gold is a solid at room temperature.

If it has to exist as a liquid, and that is what happens at start during the

Lingodhbhavam, then it must be a very high temperature, something like 600

degrees. Now at that temperature, the stomach of ordinary mortals would simply

burn away and turn into ashes. But such is the control exercised by the Divine

that the inner organs of the Avatar, do not get destroyed, though they

experience excruciating pain. By the way, it is to counter the enormous burning

sensation within that Swami drank so much water. Frankly, I have never seen any

one consume so much water. But then,

there was a reason for it in this case. The Sacred Message of Lingodhbhavam

In short, I personally believe that through the Lingodhbhavam, Swami is sending

us many subtle signals. The first of these is that we must see God everywhere

so that we do not disturb Society and harm Nature, both of which, each in its

own way, are an aspect of God. When an individual fails to see God in Society,

it then becomes very easy for that individual to slide into actions that harm,

injure and even have the capacity

to destroy Society. People do not realise that corruption harms Society;

promoting permissive behaviour harms Society; unfair competition harms Society;

creating unwanted desires in the name of expanding the market harms Society;

promoting junk food harms Society; treating education as a business harms

Society; marketing weapons harms Society; peddling pornography harms Society –

the list is almost endless. Why do people do all this? Because they are

dominated by greed, by the quest for power, by the urge to dominate, etc. If,

as Swami says, people see God in Society, would they dare to do such things?

In earlier years, I have many times seen big groups of Sai devotees from

various

States in India come to Prashanti Nilayam to invite Swami to their town or city.

Swami would call the group for an Interview and the devotees would walk in with

big smiles, hoping to persuade Swami to accept their invitation. After about

half an hour or so, the door of the Interview room would open and out would

come these people, everyone of them with a long face. Why? Because Swami had

ticked them off. What for? For not having unity. This has happened many

times. The point is that why should there be such a marked absence of unity

among Sai devotees, when Swami keeps hammering the message of unity all the

time? If we saw Swami in each other, could there be such disunity as to make

Swami refuse the prayer to visit? Mind you, I am not trying to preach or

pontificate. I am just trying to say that we must take

seriously Swami’s advice that we must see God in every entity in Creation, as we

go through life. Important Lessons to Practise One might ask what exactly

does this mean? Many years ago, when I was giving a talk to a group of

devotees, I said something similar; I said we must see Swami in all. A devotee

who was a businessman objected to my remark and said, “Listen, you obviously

have no idea what business is. I do padanamaskar to Swami. I offer whatever I

can to Swami free. Surely, you do not expect me to fall at the feet of everyone

I am trying to make a business deal with, do you? And do you expect me to give

away free, various things to my

customer, things that I am trying to sell?” There was a lot of laughter and

everybody was wondering how I was going to respond. I simply said, “You know

what Swami’s name is? Sathya. All I ask is that a businessman must deal with

his customer in a truthful manner, with integrity and not try to take the

customer for a ride, that is all. I am not asking you to do padanamaskar or

give away things free. I am just asking for honesty. Is that asking for too

much?” The point about all this is that seeing God in others does not mean we

abandon

normal worldly code of conduct. What it means is that no one should hate others;

if one hates others, it is tantamount to hating God. No one should hurt others

wantonly, especially with malicious intent. We would not hurt God, would we? In

the same way, we should not hurt others because God resides in all. The long and

short of it is that seeing God in every entity means recognising that God is the

core all entities, animate and inanimate. From Society, let me for a moment,

turn my attention to Nature. If man saw God in Nature, he would not recklessly

cut down trees. If man saw God in Nature, he would not mercilessly hunt whales.

If man saw God in Nature, he would not shamelessly pollute air and water. If man

saw God in Nature, he would not so thoughtlessly harm the ecosystem created by

God for the good of all living beings. The list

goes on. What I am trying to get at is that the Lingodhbhavam is really a

profound lesson, teaching us the following: The Universe exists because the

Creator has specifically willed it to be so. Everything in the Universe is

Divine at the core, though we might see bewildering diversity on the outside.

Man must live in harmony with Society and Nature, and this he must do by God

everywhere. This does not mean we go around saying, “Oh snake! You are God,”

or “Oh tiger! You are God,” and things like that. That would be entirely

artificial. Rather, we must love all living beings on earth, both humans and

of other species, and must not deliberately cause harm to anyone or anything. On

the contrary, if we can help, we should. We must also remember that since we

have come from God, we must get back to God, the sooner the better. And

getting back to God would be possible, only if we try to purify ourselves. You

would remember that this year, the theme of the World Conference held at the

time of the 80 th Birthday was: UNITY, PURITY and DIVINITY. In simple terms

this means: first we must feel one with all beings not only on earth but in the

entire Cosmos. Next, we must strive to be internally pure, meaning we must keep

a long distance from our eternal enemies, you know the usual fellows, Kama,

Krodha etc. And when we achieve this sense of oneness with everything and are

also pure, then

we can become united with God and enjoy bliss forever. I do not know whether you

would agree with me, but according to me, these are the lessons, subtle lessons

I should perhaps say, that Swami is teaching us through the Divine and

extra-ordinary phenomenon of Lingodhbhavam. Mankind has not seen

this before and I am not sure mankind would see it subsequent to the Sri Sathya

Sai Avatar. We who are privileged to witness it, must seek a higher meaning in

it, rather than see it simply as a rare and spectacular event. Just think of

the one hour of long agony that Swami went through. Being Divine Swami could

easily have made the Lingam come out in jiffy; but He did not. Why? Because He

wants us to know that anything good and beautiful cannot be created without

pain and sacrifice. All babies are beautiful. But just recall how much pain the

mother has to go through for giving birth to the baby. It is those lessons that

Swami is recalling and reiterating. I wonder how many of us realise that

sacrifice and purity go together. Some of you may recall the famous story of

Siva swallowing poison. The essence of that story is that when people get

together for doing anything collectively, there are bound to be a lot of bad

vibrations generated in the beginning by the evil lurking within humans. If any

good is to be achieved, then those bad vibrations must be quelled, and that can

be done only with sacrifice. Since in the story concerning Siva, He makes a big

sacrifice, He is also known as Tyagaraja or the King of Sacrifice. Back to

Sivarathri Morning Let me now get on with the rest of the story of that

unforgettable Monday morning. The moment the Lingam emerged, Swami’s face

instantly brightened. He then put the Lingam on a silver plate and called for

the moving chair that is actually a seat in His small Toyota car. Swami sat

on that chair and went round Sai Kulwant Hall holding up the Golden Lingam in

His right hand, to let devotees see the Lingam from close quarters. In fact, He

went round many times giving Ananda to all. Swami Blesses the Orphans and

Their Carers We thought that after this Swami would signal for Aarathi and

Prasaadam distribution. But that was not the case. He went to the place near

where the boys of the Primary School sit and whispered something. Soon, a red

Hyundai car [kept in readiness] was brought there, and Swami graciously blessed

Mr. Paramahamsa, by presenting him the car. It must be added that Mr. and Mrs

Paramahamsa live in the Ashram and have been serving Swami for many, many

years, particularly by taking care of destitute children and mothers who have

been given protection by Swami for nearly a decade. In fact,

Swami has built an entire village to accommodate the destitute mothers and their

children. Swami spoke highly of this devoted couple. After Mr. and

Mrs. Paramahamsa were honoured, they signalled to the children they are

taking care of to come near Swami. What followed then was truly memorable. Swami

became overwhelmed with Love as He distributed sweets to these erstwhile village

kids. Swami spoke to them softly. We could not hear what He said since there was

no mike but we could make out from the reactions of those standing near Swami

that He was very happy the way these children had shaped after coming under His

protection. Mr. Anil Kumar then very kindly gave the huge gathering some

background to the whole episode. Just listen to what Anil Kumar said - CLICK

HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO After that, the former destitute children

expressed their gratitude to Swami in many ways, including by singing a song or

two. Here is one of them. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO This song is set

in folk song style, making it abundantly clear that these boys are really from

the villages. A couple of boys also made speeches in which they not only

expressed their deepest gratitude to Swami, but also promised to spend their

lives with Swami, serving Him in every possible way. Concluding Points

Looking at it all, I felt that through this impromptu function honouring Mr.

Paramahamsa, Swami gave an opportunity to the vast gathering in Sai Kulwant

Hall, how one must reach out to the forlorn, shower love and compassion on

them, and bring cheer into their lives. This is one very effective way of being

in resonance with Society

and therefore also with our Creator. Swami’s entire life is a saga of

Love and Compassion. But this Sivarathri, He gave a new meaning to both these

words, by first undergoing tremendous physical suffering to highlight the

crucial role of sacrifice. The result of that personal suffering of His was the

emergence of the Lingam, which taught us that without Creator, there cannot be

any Creation. Next, having come into this world with the human form, itself a

great blessing of the Lord, we must use the opportunity to serve Society with

Love and Compassion. Here again, Swami gave us an example by reminding us of

the children He had taken under His wing, bringing hope to their lives.

Altogether, it was a memorable Monday morning, with a wide shade of experiences

from the utterly sublime to the very practical. I was deeply touched by it, and

I felt absolutely electrified by the extra-ordinary message that Swami sent

through His suffering, of which we saw just one hour. I then resolved that I

must share my feelings so that you can get at least some idea of the great

Divine drama that we witnessed.

That is why I am interrupting the normal schedule of the talks on Shirdi Baba to

tell you something about what I saw. In conclusion, I would like to quote a

comment I overheard while returning to my room at the end of the proceedings.

Two young ladies were walking by, talking to each other. They spoke in Tamil,

which is my mother tongue. One girl said to the other, “Did we really have to

witness all this horrendous suffering?” Indeed, and so, let us all pray that

Bhagavan will not tax His physical body from now on, and give us the Buddhi

(intelligence) to absorb and practice the profound lesson He has taught us this

year, after much physical suffering. Thank you and Jai Sai Ram. -Heart2Heart

Team Source: Radio Sai E-Magazine, April

2006http://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_04/01APR06/musings-lingodbhavam.htm