SRI SAI SATCHARITA and SATHYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM [61]

[Guest guest]

Om Sri Sai Ram

Ganesha Mantra: AUM Gung Ganapathaye Namah

Ganesh Gayatri

Tat purushaaya vidmahe

Vakratundaaya dheemahi

Tanno dhanti prachodayaat

SRI SAI SATCHARITA and SATHYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM

The Life Stories of the Two Avatars of the Age – [61]

SATHYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM - PART IV

The Life of the Divine Avatar Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - [1973-1979]

N. Kasturi M.A., B.L.

NO REACHING

"By what path can we reach You soonest?" once asked a doyen of Hindu

metaphysics. Baba replied, "I am too nearer you to prescribe a path for you.

You cannot reach Me. If you need Me, I am yours." W.G. Steve, an architect from

Honolulu, narrates, "The little interview room was crowded, and Baba launched

into a spiritual discourse, with specific comments directed towards some but

seemingly applicable to all. Then came the individual session during which He

quickly cut into the secret depths of our being - our problems of health,

previous meetings when He had contacted Irene in a dream (!) and,

would you believe, the details of that dream, difficulties we encountered in our

individual efforts in Sadhana, the personal desires of each of us, and our own

internal turmoils. Vibhuthi was also manifested. All this was quickly,

naturally and spontaneously delivered and conferred with love and

understanding, which rendered new meaning to old words. Here was a confidante,

guide, doctor, friend, father, mother and god beside us both, as One."

How is this supremacy of the spirit attained? When Baba says that we too can

attain it, what does He really mean? Dat Pethe sheds light on this: "Whenever a

meeting of two individuals takes place, it is really two separate psychological

setups that meet, each set-up confronting the other with a complex of

innumerable experiences, stored memories, sentimental attachments, bias towards

various matters and situations, and countless idiosyncrasies. These form the

background and the source from which the words used in conversation by the two

individuals originate. But when Baba is talking to somebody, one is struck by

the discovery that on His side there is no such set-up at all. And He gives us

the power to get over the handicap of our own confused and disorganized

set-up."

Once, to an earnest aspirant clamoring for an interview, Baba said, "I am giving

you interviews everyday (through the inner voice). It is you who always avoid

granting Me an interview, an enter-in-view, from viewing you as Me, in Me."

When we realise the truth in Baba's declaration, "I am in you and you are in

Me; we are really One," the so-called 'interviews' with Him become superfluous.

Jerry Bas writes, "A fellow pilgrim from the United States, when about to return

home, prayed to Baba for an interview. Baba stood before him for a few seconds

and said, "Be great! Be great!

In reality, you are great... Interview? Interview is small; it makes you

separate." That reply is worth pondering over in silence for some time.

DABBLING AND DIVING

THE COSMIC VISITOR

Jonathan Swift wrote in his characteristic, caustic style, "When a true genius

appears in the world, you may know him by this sign - that the dunces are all

in confederacy against him." Vilification is the tribute that envy offers to

mystery. Ignorance breeds either humility or obstinacy; it seldom blossoms into

inquiry and illumination, for it cannot recognise itself. It clothes itself in

pride and revels in the petty practice of slander.

Dr. Gokak describes Baba as the 'Cosmic Visitor'. Baba Himself announced in His

twenty-first year, "No one can comprehend My glory, whoever he may be, whatever

his method of inquiry, and however sustained his attempt." No wonder He

attracted a campaign of vilification when He was just fourteen years of age.

His father threatened to beat the alleged 'megalomania' out of His head.

Brandishing a heavy stick, he accosted Him saying, "Are you God or a fraud?"

when Baba replied, 'I am Sai Baba come again; worship Me,' the stick dropped

from His father's hand. Miracles soon convinced him that it is best to leave

his Son alone. Baba's elder brother drew His attention to the barbs of

pettiness and prejudice aimed through rumor and scandal at the dazzling, new

phenomenon Who had arisen from a 'hamlet between the hills'. Baba wrote

to him, "These people have to be pitied rather than condemned. They do not know.

They have no patience to judge aright. They are too full of lust, anger and

conceit to see clearly and know fully, so they make all types of allegations.

If only they knew, they would not talk or write like that... People are endowed

with a variety of characteristics and mental attitudes, and each judges the

other according to his own level of perception, debates and defends his point

of view in accordance with his particular degree of enlightenment."

Slanderers prowl around those who stand above the common level. Peggy Mason,

editor of Two Worlds, writes, "A great light arouses detractors. Jesus was

scorned as a wine bibber and a consort of publicans and sinners, who had

received his healing powers through the good offices of Belzebub." Baba, too,

was scorned while yet a boy of fourteen, as being possessed by a spirit. His

brother and parents subjected Him to a painful process of exorcism. The

villagers of Puttaparthi spread the story that the boy was possessed by some

local sprite which, through their efforts in that direction, would soon set him

free. Baba says that detractors only help in separating the chaff from the

grain, and even this by itself is sufficient reason to welcome them.

Baba is an open book. There is nothing exotic or esoteric about Him, nor is

there any trace of abracadabra in His teachings; His ministration has no

mysterious ceremonial or initiatory rite; He is ever intent on giving and

forgiving; He never accepts for Himself any gift or offering or present; if you

need Him, He says, you certainly deserve Him; He is by your side when you call,

no matter where you may be; and love is the only currency He deals in.

INVOKES A SENSE OF UNITY

Therefore, institutions trying to propagate and promote special cults, purveyors

of dubious remedies and agents of 'exclusive' roads to the Abode of God,

naturally try to keep their own flocks intact by means of slander. Baba

declares before hundreds of thousands of people, belonging to every caste,

creed and religion, and assembled from every part of the globe, "There is only

one caste - the caste of Humanity; there is only one religion - the religion of

Love; there is only one language - the language of the Heart; there is only one

God, and He is omnipresent." This message demolishes the walls laboriously

built and vigilantly preserved by petty, separative minds, who readily take

refuge in slander and vilification as their first line of Defence against this

Cosmic Visitor.

Blatantly yellow journals felt encouraged to turn their slander towards the

divine phenomenon by forces that could not, however, disturb it in any way.

They spun spicy tales, which they hoped would distort and damage its image and

fetch them quick returns. Periodicals that were restrained were prompted into

this nefarious adventure by those having vested interests. But Baba, being the

embodiment of Love, has only love to offer in return for such presents. He

says, "In every age, in every land, these unfortunate people drudge for their

daily bread. I stand between the heap of praise and the heap of blame, blessing

both. You recite My name in your homes; they shout My name along the lanes and

by-lanes, and all over the marketplace. Why do you begrudge the few Paise they

earn by selling their stuff to provide their children a

little food?"

Baba, in His infinite compassion, advises, "Pity them, they do not know... Pity

them, for they cannot know. When I proposed to publish the first part of His

biography, 'Sathyam Sivam Sundaram', in 1954, after a six-year stay in His

presence, He at once demurred, saying, "Readers will not accept the book as

authentic, since they do not and cannot know My truth. They will treat it like

a fairy tale, as they do the Arabian Nights. Wait, I have still to make the

world eager and ready for that book. Now, people will doubt your sanity; later,

they will blame you for underestimating Me." And exactly this happened. The book

was released in 1960. On 8th February 1962, I received a letter from Swami

Abhedananda, for long a resident of the ashram of Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi in

Thiruvannamali, who had recently met Baba: "In my humble

opinion, an avatar is only a particle of the supreme Brahman, descending on the

earth simply to moderate the ups and downs of humanity, and to alleviate their

imaginary woes." He then went on to charge me with the sacrilege of

underestimating Sai Baba, saying, "He seems to me to be the perfect, Poorna

Brahman, personified to end the unsettled state of the world, to rectify human

defects and to bring man to realise his own true nature and its bliss."

THE SUPERSTITION

Another group of people, who cannot be happy with a divine phenomenon in their

hemisphere, are the 'rationalists'. They are allergic to the very idea of God.

And here is Baba declaring that He is God, and that every one is God, including

those who deny God. Such people adore only their ego or their ism. They called a

halt to their logic somewhere about the forties of the present century, before

Eddington, Jeans, Freud, Jung and Einstein highlighted the limitations of

science. Science has now humbled itself before the inscrutability of the

cosmos. "The universe is a thought of God," says Jeans. The cell and the atom,

matter and energy, are dealing surprise after surprise on syllogisms and

systems laboriously built by hoary pundits of science. The once-respected

faculty called ‘intellect’ has been discarded as a superstition

by front-line thinkers in biology, psychology and physics.

As Paul Brunton writes, "If any one considers all the evidence of intention and,

failing to believe that a higher power directs all, comes only to atheism, it is

because the mind which such a person considers as evidence, is already closed by

bias or ill-balanced by emotion, upset by suffering or too distracted by the

five senses, or is faulty in yet some other way." Atheism is kept alive by the

tendency to rebel against adult beliefs; it is a sign of juvenile stubbornness.

Some propagate this cult because they have no courage to accept a stance

considered out of date, while others behave in that manner for, being unhappy

themselves, they desire to undermine whatever happiness is available to others.

A group of so-called rationalists once initiated a project with great fanfare,

to 'investigate' Baba by means of certain tests, which they announced in

various periodicals. "We shall ask Baba to take off his gown. What about his

hair - it may be fake; some say it is, so we shall have to find out. Perhaps we

would have to use metal detectors to check if he is concealing some things on

him," they announced.

"Grotesquely ridiculous and grossly insulting," exclaims R.K. Karanjia, editor

of Blitz, who had himself in the past openly questioned and criticized Sathya

Sai Baba. The faithful followers of the 'investigators' thereupon-vilified

Karanjia as having been bribed, bought out, hypnotised, converted, or otherwise

influenced by Baba!

The sallies, which such persons indulge in, remind us of the adventures of Don

Quixote and his companion Sancho Panza. It is now well established that what we

call 'reason' is only a state of mind, and it is perverted and polluted by

unreasonable likes and dislikes. It can be distorted by propaganda. It is so

riddled by self-love that one sees things only as one wishes to perceive them.

Child experiences, too, create bias towards persons, principles and procedures.

But more than all other defects, our reason suffers from a tendency to

nationalise prejudices, in order to salve the conscience and shield the ego

from guilt.

"Take off the gown... Pull at the hair... Pass a metal detector over the body!"

No wonder the Sancho Panzas were laughed off the stage. Many were aware of Dr.

Osis' remark that "in the scientific community, as in every establishment,

there is inertia, conservation and hostility towards anything radically new."

But no one could have expected such a caricature to emerge from this community.

Baba says, "How can science, which is bound by physical laws, investigate

transcendental phenomena, for these lie far beyond its scope and

comprehension... I have repeatedly declared that those who want to understand

Me are welcome here. It is the spirit of investigation that is important.

Foreign para-psychologists have come here and examined Me in a positive and

constructive spirit. They do not write slanderous letters or make public

demands. But the very approach of these people (the 'investigators') was wrong.

That is why I refused them. I want people to come, see, hear, observe and

experience Me. Only then will they understand and appreciate the Avatar."

DIVING INTO SAI

Dr. Karlis Osis, a Director of Research from the prestigious American Society

for Psychical Research, and his friend and fellow-worker, Dr. E. Haroldson,

visited India three times, met many people who had a long association with

Baba, journeyed thousands of miles on fact-finding assignments, and stayed at

Prashanthi Nilayam for months together - seeing, hearing, studying, observing

and experiencing. Dr. Osis writes, "The abundance of the phenomena encountered

and the magnitude of the miraculous effect, were a complete surprise to

seasoned para-psychologists like us... I have been an active searcher for

twenty-five years and have traveled widely, but nowhere have I found phenomena

which point as clearly and forcibly to spiritual reality as the daily miracles

of Baba."

Baba says, "Those who wish to secure pearls must dive deep to get them. It is

useless to dabble in shallow waters and claim that the sea holds no treasures."

Dr. Sandweiss journeyed to Prashanthi Nilayam and 'dived' with the intention to

prove its barrenness, but to his own amazement, his efforts yielded pearls

aplenty. His apprehensions about mass hypnotism, group hysteria and uncanny

influences, were quickly laid low. Before he started on his voyage of

investigation, he had written, "The opportunity of observing such events at

first hand and of investigating their psychological mechanisms myself was very

appealing. I felt that observing Baba in person would give me an idea of what

might have taken place at the time of Christ to propagate those incredible

stories." He has since written the now well-known book, 'Sai Baba',

on the last page of which he has described the 'pearl' he secured, thus: "It has

been my good fortune to draw close to Him at a time when it is still possible to

become friendly with him on a personal level, and see the clear signs of His

greatness in a close and intimate way. Yet I feel that soon Baba will become

but an orange speck on the horizon, surrounded by millions of eager faces. And

like the people in His village who were once blessed to know the sweetness of

His being from daily personal contact with Him, I, too, will one day be

saddened by having to view Him only from a distance."

Karanjia, too, on the suggestion of both, Baba's devotees and adversaries,

finally decided like Sandweiss to 'dive'. He now recalls, "I myself went to

Puttaparthi to put all available criticisms straight to Baba, and to obtain His

answer... The encounter was fantastic, almost shattering... Sathya Sai Baba

revealed Himself as a scientist of consciousness, showing mankind the way to

realise the indwelling God through love, devotion, detachment and selflessness,

to evolve to a higher level of enlightenment.

"The false dichotomies created by Western thought between man and God, Purusha

and Purushottama, simply do not exist in the Hindu scriptures, which propagate

the mergence of God in man and man in God as the basis of religion. Baba

personifies this philosophy... Baba's holy mission leads us deep into the

spiritual significance of the Cosmic Drama. It aims to first unmake the

materialistic, ego-bound man, and then to remake him in the image and likeness

of God."

Karanjia goes on to quote the English version of a Telugu poem, which Baba once

sang as a prologue to one of His discourses:

I am the Dance Master;I am Nataraja, the Lord of Dance.You are all my pupils.I,

alone, know the agonyOf teaching you, each step of the Dance.

Ruminating over the cosmic dimensions of the agony that this poem tries to

express, Karanjia writes, "To one who carries the burden as well as the glory

of human agony, campaigns of calumny indulged in by a few misled people can

hardly touch him." And as simply and naturally as Christ's plea from the cross,

for forgiveness for those 'who know not what they do,' Baba blesses the

calumniators.

To those who are troubled by His assertion that man is Divine, the question

asked is, "As God is omnipresent; can He not be found in man?" To those who

feel hurt by His treating the rich as lovingly as the poor, the reply is, "They

bring to Me their troubled hearts and sick minds. I cure them by asking them to

divert their wealth and power to spiritual ends like Seva." Those who will have

Him 'perform' a miracle, which suits their taste, must first understand that He

is no 'performer'. What we call a 'miracle' is, in fact, only a concretization

of His love. Baba also explains, "Articles that can be worn by devotees are

given by Me, so that by wearing them the recipient can keep contact with Me

throughout his life."

Most questions and doubts arise only from cleverness. The reason is used, as

Aldous Huxley says, "to create internal and external conditions favourable to

its own transfiguration by and into the spirit." Huxley goes on to assert that,

"cleverness has given us technology and power. Therefore, we believe, in spite

of all evidence to the contrary, that we have only to go on being cleverer in a

yet more clamorous way, to achieve social order, international peace and

personal happiness."

In accordance with Bhagawan’s constant advice, let us now resolve to understand

ourselves by transfiguring reason into spirit, rather than disfiguring it into

cleverness, let us determine to resolve our own mystery. Only then, says Baba,

can we hope to understand Him, to understand that we are a part of Him. Then

the truth, 'My Me is God', will shine. Let little minds dabble; we shall dive.

TOMORROW

"O God! How does it happen?In this poor old world

That Thou art so great,Yet nobody finds Thee;

That Thou art so near,yet nobody feels Thee;

Thou givest Thyself to everybody,yet nobody knows Thy Name.

Men flee from Thee and saythey cannot see Thee;

They turn their back and saythey cannot see Thee;

They stuff their ears and saythey cannot hear Thee."

Thus lamented Hans Denk, as have also countless other human beings. God heard

the cry. He pitied this poor world, and willed to rescue us. He incarnated as

Sathya Sai.

Sai has come as small as man, so we can find Him amidst us.Sai has come as near

and dear, so we can feel Him close.Sai gives Himself to everybody, yet no one

knows His name (All names are His!).Sai is everywhere, so as to whichever

direction we flee, we find Him there.Sai is behind us, beside us, before us, so

we can never turn our backs on Him.Sai ever resides within our hearts, so with

ears stuffed we still hear His voice.

HUMANS NEED NOT LAMENT THEIR WEAKNESS ANY MORE. SAI, THE AVATAR OF DIVINE LOVE,

IS HERE. LET US REJOICE AND LISTEN TO HIS VOICE. THE POOR, OLD WORLD OF TODAY

WILL BE THE HAPPY NEW WORLD OF TOMORROW.

Jai Sai Ram

Glossary - List Sanskrit Words

A

Aaram: relaxation; rest.

Abhyasa: practice; discipline.

Adharma: unrighteousness.

Adwaitha: non-duality.

Aham: I

Amrit (h)a: immortal; divine nectar.

Ananda: joy; bliss; eternal bliss or peace.

Angavastram: a cloth, usually brocaded, slung over the shoulder.

Arati: to offer a camphor flame before one's guru or deity.

Artha: wealth; purpose.

Asana: posture.

Ashram: a meeting place or residence for spiritual aspirants.

Asura: demon.

Atmanivedanam: self-surrender.

Ayurveda: a traditional Indian system of medicine.

B

Bhadram: careful; secure; happy; full of joy and confidence.

Bhajan: devotional song or hymn.

Bhakti: devotion; self-surrender.

Bhakti yoga: path of devotion.

Bharat: India.

Bhavan: Hall.

Bilva: a sacred tree, associated with Lord Siva.

Bodhaka: teacher.

Brahman: the Absolute; the Creator.

Brahmajnani: one who has known Brahman.

C

Chakra: wheel.

Chamatkara: inexplicable, miraculous act.

Charanamrit: water sanctified by washing the feet of one's guru or deity.

Chit(th)a: consciousness.

D

Daivic: of or like a god; godly.

Dal: petal.

Dana: charity.

Darsan: the act, by a saint or a revered person, of giving an audience to devotees.

Deha: the body.

Dhanya: grain.

Dharana: inward concentration; the negation of all activity.

Dharma: duty; nature; a code of ethics.

Dhoti: loincloth.

Dhyana: meditation; contemplation.

Dosa: a South Indian dish.

G

Ghats: slopes; mountain range.

H

Haldi: turmeric.

Homa: rituals that involve making offerings in the fire alongside a recitation of hymns.

I

Idlies: a South Indian dish

Iswara: the Lord.

J

Jala: water.

Janata: the people.

Japa: prayer; meditation; contemplation on the Divinity.

Japamala: rosary.

Jaya: glory; victory, success.

Jhoota: false; fake.

Jnana: knowledge; wisdom; knowledge of the Attributeless.

Jnana yajna: a fire ritual performed in search of knowledge.

Jyoti: flame.

K

Kaliyuga: the last of the four 'ages' as described in the Puranas.

Kalyana: well being; prosperity; success; freedom.

Kalyana mantap: a structure raised for the purpose of an auspicious occasion or event.

Kama: fulfilling the legitimate pleasures of life.

Karma: action; deed.

Koham: who am I.

Kshetra: field; region; place.

Kumkum: vermillion powder, considered auspicious.

L

Laddu: an Indian sweetmeat.

Leela: miracle; divine sport.

Lingam: an oval-shaped symbol of the Absolute.

M

Mahima: an expression, a manifestation of divine glory.

Mala: rosary; garland

Mai: mother.

Mandir: temple.

Mangala: auspicious; propitious.

Mangala sutra: auspicious thread, worn by married women.

Mantap: a commemorative structure.

Mantra: a word or group of words having power to illumine the mind.

Mata: mother.

Matha: a cult; a school of thought.

Mathi: mind.

Maya: illusion; ignorance; erroneous perception; the perceptible world.

Moksha: liberation; freedom from all bondage.

Mithya: illusion.

N

Nagarsankirtan: an early morning chorus of street singers, usually the residents of that area.

Namaskara: an Indian way of paying obeisance, by joining one's hands and lowering one's head.

Namaste: see namaskara.

Namavali: a lyrical string of names expressing divine attributes or the nature of the Divinity.

Nava: nine.

Nishkama: selfless; without desire.

Nityavadhan: constant vigilance.

Nirguna: attributeless; the Absolute.

Nirvikalpa: the ultimate stage of mergence with the Divinity.

Niyama: self-control.

O

Om: an Upanishadic symbol which unfolds the Absolute.

P

Pada: feet.

Pan: betel.

Pandal: an outdoor seating arrangement.

Parabhakti: absolute devotion; complete self-surrender.

Paramatman: the Universal Atman; the Absolute.

Peetha: base; a place.

Parinirvana: total liberation from all bondage.

Paropkara: service (rendered to others).

Poorna: full; whole; complete

Pradesh: region.

Pranamaya: the vital sheath

Pranayam: to discipline, have control over one's breath.

Prasad: anything received with devotion to god.

Prasanthi: perfect peace or bliss.

Pravesh: entry; advent.

Pratyahara: withdrawal of the senses (sense-urges).

Prema: love; devotion.

Puja: worship.

Pujari: priest.

Purusha: an individual consciousness.

Purushottama: the Universal Consciousness.

Putra: son.

R

Raga: attachment.

Rudra-adhyaya: a section in the Vedas dealing with the hymns of Rudra (Siva).

S

Sadhaka: spiritual aspirants; students or seekers of spiritual knowledge.

Sadhana: prayer; spiritual values; spiritual discipline.

Saguna: having specifically definable attributes.

Sakshatkara: Realization.

Sakhya: friendship; companionship.

Samadhi: tomb; absorption in the Absolute.

Sambhasan: dialogue; discussion; speech.

Samsayatman: a person (an atman) afflicted with doubts.

Samsara: a life of limited existence, of joys and sorrows; the world.

Samskara: refinement.

Sanathana: timeless, eternal.

Sanathana Dharma: a way of life followed to discover the Absolute; another name for Hinduism.

Sankalpa: will.

Sankirtan: singing aloud the praises of God.

Santhi: peace; inner peace.

Sanyas: (a life of) renunciation or ascetic.

Sanyasin: a male or female renunciate or ascetic.

Sakthi: power; power of creation.

Sarathi: charioteer.

Sathwic: pure.

Sath (yam): truth (absolute)

Savikalpa: the penultimate stage of mergence with the Divinity.

Seva: service, usually that rendered to others.

Siva (m): auspiciousness; goodness (absolute)

Sivoham: I am the Absolute.

Soham: I am That.

Siddhi: ascetically acquired power.

Sundara(m): beauty (absolute)

Swaroopa: embodiment; essential nature.

Swa-swaroopa: one's own truth or reality.

T

Tantra: mystical techniques followed in worship in order to accomplish a material objective.

Tapas: spiritual discipline.

Thath: that.

Thwam: thou.

Trisul: trident (usually referred to the one wielded by Lord Siva)

Tulsi: basil leaf.

U

Udasina: a posture of complete relaxation and detachment.

Upadesh: teachings; the imparting of spiritual knowledge.

Upasana: contemplation upon a limited form of the Absolute.

V

Vahini: stream.

Vairagya: detachment; dispassion.

Vibhuti: sacred ash; a manifestation of divine glory.

Vichakshana: analytical; discriminating.

Vidya: learning.

Vidya peeth: a place where knowledge is imparted.

Viveka: intelligence.

Y

Yajna: a fire ritual.

Yama: self-control; having mastery over the senses.

Yatra: journey; trip

Yogasana: any posture prescribed in yoga.

Z

Zari: brocade.

CONTINUED…

With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of the beloved Divine Lord and Mother Sai

And with Sai love from Sai brother M. Palaniswamy

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