See God in all beings!

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The Upanishads, the Geeta and the Puranas, all teach us to perceive God or

Divinity in all things in Creation. The significance of worshipping God in so

many names and forms is only this. We are told that Lord Ganesh has an elephant

head, and that Hanuman is a monkey. We worship God as Durga, Shiva, Vishnu,

Shanmukha and so on. We are encouraged to worship Tulasi every day, and even a

snake on Nagapanchami. Some, who belong to other religions do not understand

the meaning of these teachings and say Hindus worship several gods. To the

contrary, our ancient sages taught us that there is one and only one God and He

is everything. Therefore, one can address Him in any name and any form. For the

same reason, when we worship the idol or a picture of a deity, the idol is

simply a help to focus on the all-pervading and everlasting God in a form that

is within the scope of our imagination. We do not think that God is only in the

idol and nowhere else.

Although all this sounds so simple, in our daily lives, we do not know how to

recognize God in fellow human beings and much less in animals, birds, and other

things around us. Shri Sai Baba of Shirdi guided His followers to see God is in

all beings, using ordinary daily experiences in the case of some devotees and

spiritual experiences for others.

To Mrs.Tarkhad, He showed that the dog that she had fed was no other than Baba

Himself. To Mr. Tarkhad and son, He said He was hungry because Mr. Tarkhad

forgot to offer food to the portrait in their puja. During Shama's trip to

Kashi, Prayag and Gaya, Baba in the form of His portrait, kept His word to be

ahead of him. Baba demonstrated to devotees many other times that He and His

portrait are the same. I wonder why "idol worship" is forbidden in some

religions. Once, Baba asked Ruttonji first for a Dakshina of Rs. five but then

said that He has already received Rs.3-14-0 from him, and that he should pay

the balance only. It turned out that Ruttonji had already paid a Mohammedan

Saint, by name Moulisaheb. The point is Baba wanted to show Ruttonji that He

was one with the other saint. When Haribhau Karnik wanted to give Baba a Rupee,

but already left Baba's Masjid, Narsing Maharaj at Nasik asked one Rupee from

Karnik and Karnik realized that giving

to this Maharaj was the same thing as giving it to Baba. Baba explained to Deo

that He did attend his mother's Udyapan Ceremony as the Sannyasi in Bengali

dress, who came with two other lads.

The chief artist of the Madrasi Bhajani Mela saw Baba as Sitanath. Megha, a

devotee of Shiva, hesitated to bow to Baba in the beginning because Baba was a

Muslim. But Baba was not Muslim, not Hindu, not Christian and not Buddhist. He

was all of them. So, with Baba's grace, after a while, Megha could see Shiva in

Baba.

Baba has assured "I always think of him who remembers Me. I require no

conveyance, carriage, tanga, nor train nor airplane. I run and MANIFEST MYSELF

to him who lovingly calls me.

(Contributed by Syamala Hari)source:saibaba.org

Arun Reddy Nukala

+44 7946 595063

http://groups.msn.com/

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