Righteousness in Sai-ism

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By Anitha Kandukuri, Canberra, Australia

Pari-thranaya Sadhunaam Vinaa-shaaya DushkruthamDharma Samsthapa-nardhaya sambhavami yuge yuge.

"Whenever there is a decay of Dharma (righteousness) and an ascendancy of

unrighteousness, I manifest Myself; and for the protection of the virtuous, the

destruction of the vicious and for the establishment of righteousness, I

manifest Myself in age after age".Bhagvadgita (IV 7-8).

True to HIS promise, Lord, from time to time has manifested HIMSELF in this

universe to put people on the righteous path. God came down in the form of

Saints and Incarnations to lead the stray in the path of good, righteousness

and truth. We are also bestowed with common sense that is to be used at our

discretion and make an informative choice of following this path. These

incarnations also have written many works, which are the gospel of the Lord,

and there are still people in the universe whose reins are taken into the hands

of the Lord and they still contribute to the path of the truth. Do we all

benefit and are influenced by them and their work? Do we understand the

significance of the presence of these saints amidst us? What is our reaction

towards such saints?

First, most of us believe in god and try to the best of our ability to be good

humans, it is very hard to be good, but we always give it our best shot. We are

overwhelmed with god-realized people; we show all the characters of true

devotees such as choking, uncontrolled crying, our whole being shaken up being

in presence of such spiritual persons. We are very much influenced by those

pure souls who have seen truth and have felt God in their heart and heart of

other humans as well. We are truly inspired and give our thanks to Lord for

showing us our guru or spiritual guide and leader who would lead us to the path

of divinity.We are very reverential, and bow to them with sincerity.

We then try to capture their form in a picture and put it in our pooja mandir to

be worshiped every day along with other gods. We then fall into our systematic

rituals of offering food, flowers, and reciting hymns everyday to that saint

along with other gods. We even squeeze few pictures of those saints to drape

our walls that are adorned by other gods and saints. We then develop this habit

of bowing to those pictures and touching them and kissing them every time we

pass that picture, probably about 20 times a day, almost feels like an

obsessive-compulsive disorder to an onlooker. Well, let us truly question

ourselves, is this why God has taken birth again and again in this world, so

that we pay HIM respects and carry on in our life with same old bad habits?

What is the actual purpose of such incarnations? Sure, they are not here to

tell our future and the ways to avoid our misfortunes, there is an ulterior

purpose for their advent in this world.

The purpose of advent of saints on this earth is for humans to emulate them. We

always have had role models from the time we are born. We see our parents and

learn from them, then our peers and the environment that we grow in. As a

result, we acquire some desirable and undesirable characters, which make us an

individual. When lord puts us in contact with such holy person(s), it is for us

to emulate them and to walk in their path towards divinity. The saints are least

worried about the respect they get from others. They are beyond the worldly

influence. In case of Sadguru Sainath of Shirdi, He cared a fig for the outward

respect shown by the other devotees. BABA wanted sincerity in thoughts and

actions. Take for example the incidence in chapter 23 of Satcharitha, which

describes the ordeal of guru bhakti - BABA wanted to demonstrate the sincerity

of Kaka Saheb Dixit. It is these innate qualities that one develops because of

the long association with guru

that matters.

We often find ourselves trying to be good to the people we come across and go

beyond our capacity to please them in helping them do good and bad things, only

to earn their affections. In the process, we are frustrated and end up making a

number of others miserable. If one were good and true to lord and please God

then we would be pleasing the world. Let us focus only on the lord. Satcharitha

tells us to read, develop and implement the qualities of sincerity, compassion,

honesty, humility, and truthfulness; all these qualities are encompassed in

LOVE. If we have love in our heart, these qualities follow automatically. There

should be no sense of showmanship, haughtiness, attachment or identification to

the act of rendering service to BABA. BABA never encouraged such thoughts and

there is no room in Sai Tatv for such feelings. BABA does not need and care for

service, the MASTER who is the creator of this Universe; does HE need somebody's

help to carry HIS

work? Definitely not, service to people is a way of serving BABA, hence BABA

allows for such acts and arranges for such opportunities, which act as a

channel to serve HIM. One must constantly evaluate their actions and destroy

the ego attached to the actions. Statements like - "I am doing this work for

BABA", "I never crave for worldly enjoyments" and constantly justifying and

convincing our good qualities to others also is a sign of conceit. These

feelings develop only when there is ego and attachment. A true follower of

Sai-ism has sense of indifference towards the world but is compassionate to the

suffering and pain. This is a fine line of balance that is hard to tread by

normal humans, but is achieved by the saints.

A true devotee of Sai always listens to the lamenting and greatness of other

devotees and keeps quite. True Sai followers and are those, whose actions speak

louder than their words. BABA himself creates a situation to focus the attention

of the world on such people and their works. They are here only to lead us in

the path of Sai-ism. I bow to such souls. Let us start a movement of action,

where we do not make relics of such saints but carry them in our heart and pay

respects to them by emulating their actions - in blind faith. Let us not wait

for HIS blessings and grace; we must first help ourselves before we look for

help. When we start following the path of our guru with determination then

Guru's grace automatically follows us. This is the greatest guru dakshina that

one can give to the guru and also serves the purpose of the incarnations.

Discharging our worldly duties with sincerity and earning the grace of the lord

by pleasing HIM alone- is the

underlying value of Sai philosophy. "Lord Krishna has also said the same in the

Gita. Therefore, strive not much for food and clothes. If you want anything,

beg of the Lord, leave worldly honors, try to get Lord's grace and blessings,

and be honored in His Court" chapter 6 of Sai Satcharitha reiterates this fact.

-Saibaba.org

Arun Reddy Nukala

+44 7946 595063

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