The greatest sculpture of Christ ever made

[Guest guest]

Dr. John S. Hislop

USA

 

Dr. John S.Hislop was an ardent devotee of Bhagavan. He spent

considerable time with Bhagavan, when he was alive, experiencing the

Divinity of Bhagavan in varied ways. He authored several books on the

Divinity of Bhagavan. The following experience is extracted from his

book 'My Baba and I', carried in the bimonthly newsletter of Sri

Sathya Sai International Centre, New Delhi for July - August 2004.

 

'The evening before the Mahasivaratri Day of 1973, we were told to be

ready in the early morning for a trip. Our destination was the

Bandipore Game Sanctuary, several hours away in Mysore State. We

arrived at the forest rest house in the early afternoon. The next

morning, we drove through the hills and chose a place for our

congregation in the evening.

 

We returned there at dusk. The cars halted at the side of the road

and we started to climb down the bank to the sandy river bottom. I

was beside Baba. As we passed a bush, Swami broke off two twigs,

placed them together and asked me, 'what is this Hislop?'

 

'Well, Swami, it is a cross,' I answered. Baba then closed His

fingers over the twigs and directed three somewhat slow breaths into

His fist, between thumb and forefinger. Then he opened His hand to

reveal a Christ figure crucified on a cross, and He gave it to me.

 

He said, 'this shows Christ as he really was at the time he left his

body, not as artists have imagined him or as historians have told

about him. His stomach is pulled in and his ribs are all showing. He

had no food for eight days.'

 

I looked at the crucifix, but found no words. Then Baba

continued, 'the cross is wood from the actual cross on which Christ

was crucified. To find some of the wood after 2000 years took a

little time! The image is of Christ after he died. It is a dead

face.'

 

I noticed something odd and asked, 'Swami, what is that hole at the

top of the cross?' Baba replied that the cross had been originally

hung from a standard.

 

Within a few weeks we were back at our home in Mexico. The cross is

so small that the details on the figure of Christ escape the eye. A

friend, Walter, came down to our home and took some colour

photographs of the crucifix. Walter made some enlargements to bring

out the details. When we saw the enlargements, my wife and I were

astounded. I wrote to Walter and said that if the pictures were seen

around the world, they would create an art sensation. I am sure it is

the greatest sculpture of Christ ever made. In my estimation, it is

the most extraordinary object Sri Sathya Sai has ever created for the

joy of his devotees.'

 

-- Dr. John S. Hislop.

With Sai love from ''