Sai Baba - The Ultimate Teacher

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Sai Baba - The Ultimate Teacherby Dr. Somenath Mitra - U.S.A.

Being in the teaching profession, I know how difficult it is to communicate even

the simplest ideas. Swami, being the source of all knowledge and the indweller

of every heart, is the ultimate teacher. He gives exactly the lesson a

spiritual aspirant needs and is capable of receiving. He does not merely impart

the knowledge, but provides for deeper realization. Here are two examples where

He taught me profound lessons in His own unique way.Lesson II was a guest

lecturer at Swami's college and was invited by the professors to sit with them

during Darshan. It was overwhelming to be at such close proximity to Baba. One

day all of a sudden He stopped in front of me and I had my first conversation

with the divine:Sai: "What is your name?"I replied: "Somenath Mitra"Sai: "You

gave lectures three days ago?"Somenath: "Yes, Swami."Sai: "What is bad?"I was

completely taken by surprise, could not answer.Somenath: (after some thought)

"Good is with you Swami" (an intelligent answer I thought)Sai looked

dissatisfied, gestured no, no...; moved His hand around and said "Good-Bad,

Good-Bad..." I could not understand.Sai: "What is pain?"I put on a blank

look.Sai: "Pain

is the interval between two pleasures. What is pleasure?"Somenath: (I had heard

this before and readily caught on). "An interval between two pains."Sai: "Yes!

Pain, pleasure all the same. Pain shows the pleasure and pleasure shows the

pain. Similarly good and bad are all the same, the good shows the bad and the

bad shows the good."The message came to my mind "Yes! there is no good, no bad,

there is only Sathya Sai". Sai: "How are you?"This turned out to be a really

difficult question. What do I know about myself ? Nothing. I thought for a

while, could not come up with an answer for the Omniscient; He waited

patiently. Eventually I just shook my head.Sai: "Air pockets, air

pockets?"Normally I would not

have understood this. During my flight to India, I was reading a book where

Swami tells the author that you live your life like an airplane going through

air pockets. Every time the plane hits an air pocket it goes down. Similarly,

every time something disturbing happens, you lose your equanimity. I clearly

understood what He meant and hoped that people around me did not. An amazing

example of His omniscience!

Somenath: Yes, Swami. Sai nodded knowingly.

I got the impression that He will take care of the air pockets. He talked to me

so lovingly almost the way I talk to my three year old daughter. In such simple

terms Baba elucidated a complex concept that for the divine there is no good or

bad.

Of all the things, Swami chose to tell me about good and bad, so it must have

some direct significance in my life. This is what I think it is. Even as a

teenager, years before coming to Sai, I used to wonder if the world is an

illusion, whether good and bad were also not illusions. Every now and then I

disagreed with conventional sense of good/bad and it would be a source of

conflict within myself. For example, I would see a street dweller sleeping

peacefully in a crowded city street and wonder, how come some of the

established members of the society (who have everything such as, wealth,

family, scholarship) cannot sleep at night? Which of the two individuals is

doing better? Is there really a difference? Does it matter? There is even a

possibility that based on their respective Karma, these two individuals could

switch places in their subsequent births. Looking back, I feel that if there was

one doubt that I wanted clarified from Baba it would have been the one about

'good and bad'. Being Antaryami, (In-dweller) Swami answered my query on His

own.

Now that there is no good or bad, do I have the permission to indulge in all the

so called "bad" actions? I certainly have. However, I have to accept the "pain"

resulting from a bad Karma with the understanding that pain and pleasure are

the same. Baba compared good/bad to pain/pleasure, so there is an implicit

warning that there is unity in good-bad only at a level where there is unity

between pain-pleasure. These are just other aspects of "unity in

diversity".Lesson IIThis incident took place during the same trip to Parthi. My

parents were with me. One day Swami called the three of us for an interview. At

the end He said, 'come back tomorrow, we will talk some more'.

During the next morning Darshan, my heart was beating fast: Sai Ram! Sai Ram!...

Finally He beckoned me to the eagerly awaited interview. When I stood up, He

walked up to me and asked, "where is mother - father?".

I pointed at the mass of devotees and said "they are there". Baba walked away

without saying anything. We had the most wonderful interview. After a few days

I came back to New Jersey, and life went on.Several months later, while

attending Bhajan, I had a vision. I was sitting in the Darshan line, and Swami

stood right in front of me. I had my hands clasped, and I was repeatedly

telling Him, "Swami! You are my Father". This whole sequence was quite vivid.

Although I called Him Baba, I had never really thought of Him as my father.

This was new to me and I was a bit puzzled. The next morning during my Puja the

same vision reappeared, again I was saying "Swami! You are my Father". All of a

sudden Swami's words "where is mother-father?" flashed in my mind. I had

assumed that He was

inquiring about my parents, but now it became clear that the reference was to

the divine mother-father. Instantly I realized that He is my real Mother (Sai)

and Father (Baba). Not only mine, but every animate and inanimate being's.

Unfathomable are the ways of the Lord. His lessons are so subtle, yet so lucid.

It has lasting impact because it is based on a deeper experience. If I had

listened to hours of lectures and read volumes of books about

fatherhood/motherhood of God, I would not have learned what Swami explained

using just four words "Where is mother-father?". Thus, Swami is the ultimate

teacher. He uses the whole domain of the conscious and the subconscious

experience as His class room. The lessons are particularly exciting when they

come in the form of His divine leela. When I was a student, I seldom remembered

what was taught in the previous lecture. However, these words of Swami are

locked up in my heart with the key thrown away. I recollect each word again and

again in an effort to re-live those glorious moments.Dear brothers and sisters!

We are fortunate to be on the earth at this point of time. We can learn and

realize in a short time what normally would have taken us several life times

because the Lord Himself is here as our teacher.

Courtesy: “The Splendour of Sathya Sai”, Page-159

Sent by: Ram Chugani, Kobe, Japanrgcjp

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