SAI BABA AND THE COSMIC CHRIST - By Ron Laing - THE FAMILY OF HUMANITY By Dr. Sara Pavan

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SAI BABA AND THE COSMIC CHRIST By Ron Laing

THE FAMILY OF HUMANITY By Dr. Sara Pavan

This is the month of December, the holy month of Christmas, when thousands

gather at Prashanthi Nilayam to pay their homage to their "Father". Here is an

interesting article celebrating this sacred month. SAI BABA AND THE COSMIC

CHRIST

Sai Baba and Jesus - Extraordinary Identity

I had studied the life and teachings of Sathya Sai Baba for two years before

going to India, and I had come to the certain conviction that once again the

Word had been made flesh, that the Divine Principle had incarnated to save the

world from destruction. Everything Swami said and did struck a note in the core

of my being. He crystallised virtually everything I had come to believe in 65

years of search. I had come home.

What also impacted me increasingly was the extraordinary similarity in the life,

teachings, miracles, and personality of Sai Baba and Jesus of Nazareth. They

even seemed to express themselves in the same phraseology. Of course it is true

that all world teachers basically assert the same truths, but there is an

extraordinary identity between Sai Baba and Jesus which is quite unique.

In 1968 Albert Eckhart wrote,

'The difference between Sai Baba and Jesus Christ is that the first is living

and his miracles are confirmed by men, whereas the miracles of Jesus are

reported in the Bible only. Nevertheless, the behaviour and the deeds of both

are nearly and often the same.'

The teachings of Jesus spread across half the globe. Sai Baba, in a little over

40 years, is said to have 50 million devotees and there are Centres in 64

countries of the world. (This article was written in 1984. Now there are Sai

Centres in about 180 countries and correspondingly a much larger number of

followers - H2H Team). Puttaparthi is rapidly becoming the Vatican of the East.

At the Birthday celebration in 1980 there were 350,000 people accommodated on a

campus of 100 acres.

 

On Swami's 50th birthday Dr Diwaker, an Indian scholar and statesman, said this:

'Once Swami was a village urchin, uncared for, untutored, unloved. Now on his

50th birthday we assemble from the four quarters of the globe and what do we

find? Philosophers and politicians, educators and legislators, scientists and

technologists, the learned as well as the ignorant, the rich as well as the

poor, and from all nations and from all religions, if this is not a marvel and

a living miracle I would like to know what is!

Sai and Jesus...Same Love

Jesus went about loving people and healing the sick. Sai Baba, too, does just

that — loving people and healing the sick, serving mankind 24 hours a day. Both

interpret the purpose of human life in exactly the same way. The symbolic

meaning of the Cross is the eradication of the ego — the vertical stroke

represents the T with which we are born, and the horizontal stroke the erasure

of the ego. Baba's interpretation is identical. 'The sole purpose of your

incarnation is the crucifixion of the ego on the altar of compassion.'

Both have made stupendous statements. Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and

the life. I and my father are one.'

Baba has made even more incredible statements, 'My power is immeasurable. My

truth is inexplicable, unfathomable. I am beyond the reach of the most

intensive enquiry and the most meticulous measurement. There is nothing I do

not see, nowhere I do not know the way, no problem I cannot solve. My

sufficiency is unconditional. I am the totality — all of it'

Both proclaim the brotherhood of man and the universality of the message. 'Go ye

therefore, and teach all nations,' said the Christ.

'My mission is for all mankind,' says Baba, 'I have not come to collect

disciples for any particular sect, creed or religion, such as the Hindu

religion. I have come to light the lamp of love in the hearts of all humanity.'

 

Sai and Jesus - Same Teaching and Message

The teaching of both is exoteric and esoteric. Christ taught the masses in

simple parables, yet astounded the scholars and theologians with the scope and

insight of his knowledge. Baba also teaches the masses in parables, yet was

explaining the most abstruse passages in the Vedas to India's pundits at the

age of ten. Both come over as men of the people, intensely human and lovable,

albeit divine, rather than as cloistered holy men. One might say 'divinely

human and humanly divine'. One feels this about Jesus, at one and the same time

a friend and a god-man. So too with Baba — at one moment borrowing a razor from

Dr Gokak when travelling, and then suddenly performing some stupendous miracle

(like 'cancelling' the cancer of a devotee).

We are told that Jesus commanded an audience of thousands, and was acclaimed by

virtually the entire city on his entry into Jerusalem. Baba commands an

audience of tens of thousands on a whirlwind visit to a big city. Both started

their mission when children. Christ taught in the temple at the age of 12. Baba

was performing miracles at 6 and started his mission at the age of 13.

The teaching on karma and reincarnation is common to both, although most of

Christ's teaching on these truths were expunged from the four Gospels which

were kept, at the Council of Constantinople in 553 A.D. They are, however,

still intact in the Aquarian Gospel and others. 'A man reaps what he sows,'

says Jesus. 'Whatsoever acts a man does, good or bad, follow him,' says Baba.

'The Kingdom of heaven is within you,' said Jesus. 'We make our worlds

ourselves,' says Baba. 'God is your best Guru, and He resides in your heart.'

Christ upheld the role of women and tried to raise their status above the level

of mere chattels. He was often surrounded by women. Swami, too, reveres women,

and elevates them in their vital role of motherhood as being the custodians of

future generations. 'The mother is the child's first guru,' He says. Three of

His first six colleges are for women only (and every year November 19th is

celebrated as Ladies Day in Prashanthi Nilayam and all Sai Centres).

 

Christ preached joy and the life abundant. 'I am come that they might have life,

and that they might have it more abundantly.' Joy is the very essence of Baba's

personality and teaching. Listen to those who know Him intimately — Howard

Murphet, author of three books on Baba: 'We who struggle on through sorrow and

passing joy, see in Baba the embodiment of perfect joy.' Or to Dr Sandweiss,

author of The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist, 'He appears to be in a state of

constant bliss. His face and body are lit with an aura of energy which I have

never observed in a human being.'

Of course the cornerstone of the teaching of these two god-men can be summed up

in the one word - love. No newcomer to the Gospels, unconditioned by theology,

could possibly read them without gaining the over-whelming impression that the

paramount message contained therein is one of love. "Thou shalt love the Lord

thy God . . .' and 'Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two

commandments hang all the law and the prophets.' Sai Baba, too, is the

embodiment of love. It is the essence of all His teaching, the golden thread

which runs through everything He says and does, the criterion by which He

judges everything.

There is the same similarity in the detailed teaching. 'Avoid killing, theft,

adultery, greed, sensuality, anger, impatience, hatred, egotism, pride.' Are

not these exhortations an appeal to the Christian values? In the ten volumes of

Baba's Discourses can be found every precept of the Sermon on the Mount. I give

here a few of the sayings of both.

The Sermon on the Mount

Jesus : 'Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.'

Sai : 'The pure heart becomes inspired; it sees beyond intellect and reason.'

Jesus : 'Search not for the mote in your neighbour's eye but look for the beam in your own.'

Sai : 'Instead of seeing faults in others, search for those in yourself.'

Jesus : 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'

Swami: 'Do not judge others, for when another is judged you are yourself condemned.'

Jesus : 'Cast not pearls before swine.'

Sai : 'Do not discuss devotion with those who have none; it will lessen your own.'

Jesus : 'Love your enemies.'

Sai : 'Carry on even if you are hated.'

Jesus : 'Not everyone who sayeth 'Lord, Lord' shall enter the kingdom of heaven;

but he that doeth the will of the Father.'

Sai : 'The secret of liberation lies not in mystic formulas and rosaries, but in

stepping out into action.' (Love and Service)

Jesus : 'For as much as you do injury to one of these, you do it to me.'

Sai : 'Do not slander or injure anyone, for you are slandering Me who is in him.'

Jesus : 'For Thine is the power and the glory.'

Sai : ' No man can claim achievement, for all are but instruments in the hands of the Lord..'

Jesus : 'Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.'

Sai : 'Bring Me the depths of your minds, no matter how grotesque, no matter how

ravaged by doubts or disappointments. I will not reject you. I am your Mother.'

 

 

Sai and Jesus - The Same Divine Charisma

As with the teachings, so with the personalities and miracles. It is clear that

Christ had a radiant transparency, a divine charisma, with no trace of

affectation, pride or ego; that he was motivated solely by love which radiated

from him. The impact of meeting him must have been soul-shattering. How else

could a man walk up to a small group of illiterate fishermen, talk to them for

an hour, and then say, 'Follow me,' and have them do just that, abandoning all?

Sai Baba has a similar effect. The sight of Him changes men and women. Often

souls are instantly transformed. Dr Sandweiss was an example. When Swami first

looked at him he wrote: 'What was communicated in that brief moment? The world!

Something broke inside me. Some of Baba's love and joy penetrated my soul and I

found myself laughing like a child ... I felt somehow transformed in one

dazzling, incredible minute. I was left with my mouth hanging open.'

The Christ is said to have had an aura that reached out for a mile, so that

'sensitives' who came within it were psychically aware of his presence and were

uplifted. Sai Baba's aura has been described by Dr Baranowski, a clairvoyant and

Kirlian photography expert from Arizona University, as almost limitless. 'The

white (energy) filled the entire room, the pink (intense universal love) went

beyond the walls of the building and beyond this were bands of gold and silver

reaching to the horizon.'

The Christ had X-ray eyes, instantly knowing thought and character. Baba has

said, 'I see into the mind and heart. I see who has an urgent problem and needs

the help of an interview.' He sees the past, present and future of everyone he

meets. His omniscience regarding the past and present is constantly proved.

One gets the impression that Christ preferred simple people with a good heart.

He mainly chose simple men as his disciples.

Baba often rails at the scholars and pedants, with their 'desire for disputation

and the laurels of victory over those preening themselves as learned'. 'Be

simple and sincere,' Baba tells His devotees. Both show their dislike of the

Pharisee type. Christ called them 'whited sepulchres'. Swami calls them 'dry as

dust scholars exulting in their casuistry and argumentative skills.'

Both have clearly shown their love of children. Jesus rebuked the disciples who

wanted to keep the children away. 'Suffer little children to come unto me' .

Baba shares this love. When a large group of children from the Wellingborough

Centre (UK) went to the ashram they were too excited to sleep on the first

night. Baba came to their quarters and asked them if they would go to sleep if

He, too, went to sleep? Whereupon He lay down on the floor and pretended to

sleep. Soon the only sound was blissful breathing — and Baba crept out on

tiptoe.

Both demonstrate a capacity for vehement 'righteous indignation' when necessary

for a purpose, as, for example, when Jesus drove out the money-changers from

the temple with a leather lash because he opposed the buying of animals for

sacrifice. A friend of mine who is a close devotee told me how one day a man

with a very wealthy father, who was dying, actually came to Swami to seek

financial advice about his coming inheritance! Swami thundered at him, with an

emotion which astonished my friend, for thinking of money when his sick father

needed his care, and dismissed him — only to revert to His normal loving self

in a second. The 'anger' was just a necessary 'act'. As He says, 'Sometimes I

have to make a noise!'

Jesus and Sai - The Same Personality, the Same Miracles

Both also show a combination of deep humility and commanding authority. Jesus is

often referred to as 'one who spoke with authority' - one envisages a tall,

commanding figure. Yet he knelt down and washed the feet of his disciples.

Swami might often play and joke, but should anyone take undue advantage of it,

in the twinkling of an eye He resumes His authority. Once, when a devotee

enquired if he might ask a favour, Baba replied, 'Of course. I am yours. I have

no rights.' At one time a servant of mankind, at another the Lord.

Both, of course, have been maligned and persecuted. 'Calumny is the lot of all

great souls everywhere, at any time. It would be unnatural if it were not so,'

says Baba. He is oblivious to praise or blame. Christ was accused of being a

wine-bibber, of mixing with publicans and sinners. Baba has been criticised for

allowing 'sinners' to use the ashram. Their replies were similar: 'I came not to

call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'

Baba has said, 'Sinners have more need of me than you have.' Christ was accused

of healing by the powers of Satan (Beelzebub). Baba has been called a black

magician.

There is also a remarkable similarity in the miracles. Christ healed the sick.

Baba heals the sick daily. Christ raised Lazarus from the dead when his body is

said to have been in a state of decomposition. Baba has raised the dead on at

least two occasions. The body of Mr V. Radhakrishna was also in a state of

decomposition. (In fact, there are many occasions, when Swami has given the

Gift of Life to chosen devotees, please go here to read our cover story on

Resurrections - H2H Team).

Both multiplied food — Christ at the feeding of the five thousand, and Baba on

many occasions when the food has run out. Christ changed water into wine. Baba

has changed water into petrol and fuel oil. Christ could control the elements

and calm the seas; likewise Baba has made a rainbow appear, and made floods

recede. Christ could levitate and walk on the waters. Baba was levitating as a

child to the top of the rocky hill at Puttaparthi.

The Divine Assurance of Sai

Christmas is a major festival at the ashram and celebrated with much more

fervour than in the West where it has become so grossly commercialised. Baba

often gives talks to small groups of Christians and points out the excisions

and interpolations in the Gospels.

To those who feel a sense of disloyalty to Jesus He has on more than one

occasion manifested a figure of Jesus above His head, thus identifying the two.

There are also accounts of people praying before a statue of Christ and seeing

it transform into an image of Sai Baba.

Finally, on Christmas Day 1972 Swami was talking to a group of Christians. He

referred to a statement of Jesus which He said had been excised from the Bible.

One day Jesus said to his disciples, 'He who sent me will come again. His name

will be Truth. He will wear a red robe. He will be short, and have a crown (of

hair).' Of course this description exactly fits Sathya Sai.

When I read about this it completely fascinated me, for I had already come to

believe that Sai Baba was the great Celestial Being who had overshadowed Jesus

- the One whom Jesus referred to, and prayed to, as 'the Father'.

Well, in January 1980 I plucked up courage during a private interview with only

my wife present, and referred to Baba's statement on Christmas Day 1972. I

said, 'Swami, does this omission in the Bible mean that it was You who sent

Jesus of Nazareth into incarnation?'

'Yes,' He replied. Then came the question which lay at the very core of my soul,

'In that case, are you what Western Christians call the Cosmic Christ?'

'Yes,' He said again.

 

 

It is impossible to convey in words the tone, the quiet assurance in which He

affirmed these two questions. Gently, lovingly, with total conviction, with a

sort of ineffable simplicity, and perhaps most of all, with a total lack of

self-consciousness impossible in a human being. He looked straight into my

eyes, which were no more than twelve inches from His, and just said, 'Yes'. I

only know that it was impossible not to believe Him.

- From Sathya Sai Baba Magazine - Spring 1984.

 

 

THE FAMILY OF HUMANITY

By Dr. Sara Pavan

 

This is a true story of the experience and practice of Baba’s Message – “There

is only one caste – the caste of Humanity” through love and service at the

Wayside chapel in Sydney, Australia.

"Haven’t you gone yet?” asked Swami, as He materialised Vibhuti and poured it

into my hands at Darshan when we visited Prasanthi Nilayam in December, 1984.

Nonplussed, I couldn’t respond to Swami’s enquiry and the Lord continued

gliding onwards, leaving His footprints on the golden sand. I couldn’t solve

the riddle until I read a letter from Rev. Ted Noffs that was awaiting our

return from India. Only then I realised what Swami had meant when He asked me

that question and I inferred that Swami wanted me to meet up with Rev. Ted

Noffs.

In that letter Rev. Noffs invited me to participate in the 21st anniversary

celebration of the founding of the Wayside Chapel. Swami says, “It is good to

be born in a church, but it would be sad if you die in the same church!” He

also stresses the need for expansion. In His 60th Birthday Message Bhagavan

asked: “What is this ‘Sai Family’ you are claiming about?” He declared, “The

whole world is One Family.” He emphasised the importance of the ‘Integration of

the World Community.’

In an interview in December 1982 Swami had blessed me to start publishing a

quarterly Sai Newsletter for Australia. By 1984 we had several hundreds of

rs from all around the country. In October 1984 I received a letter

from Elvie B., a r from a remote farming countryside in Queensland. I

did not pay much attention to what she had written in her letter because I

receive letters from many devotees about their experiences of Baba. In her

letter Elvie claimed that Swami ‘stood in front of her’ during meditation and

commanded her to write to me, that I should meet Rev. Ted Noffs, the pastor of

the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, Sydney, in whom I would find a true

spiritual friend, who cares and serves humanity beyond human barriers.

Until then I hadn’t heard of the Wayside Chapel of Kings Cross or Rev. Ted

Noffs. All I knew about the Cross was that it was a dangerous area in the city

and the hub of all kinds of vice and crime. I had no interest whatsoever to go

to Kings Cross and even felt why I, a Hindu by birth, should be associated with

a Church! Around this time I happened to receive a parcel of books - Embodiment

of Love and Eastern View of Jesus Christ and Christianity - from Peggy Mason,

then the editor and publisher of the Sai Newsletter of U.K. and wife of Ron

Laing, who was the first president of the Sathya Sai Council of U.K. In my

enthusiasm to share Bhagavan’s Love with broadminded people like Rev. Ted

Noffs, I posted a copy of these two books to him before leaving for India to

spend Christmas with Swami.

Having enshrined Swami in my heart, since 1980 I had spent most of my spare time

doing my best to serve in His Divine Mission. Now, five years later, Bhagavan

opens another window in my life for spiritual expansion – to understudy Rev.

Ted Noffs and experience spirituality in action! Did Bhagavan have a plan thus,

in exposing me to the concept of the “Family of Humanity” and expand my

spiritual horizon through personal experience? At this point let me outline the

background of Rev. Ted Noffs and the Wayside Chapel.

The Story of the Wayside Chapel and Its 'Family of Humanity'

Ted Noffs was a Methodist minister, part of the Uniting Church in Australia, and

had served the aboriginals with love and understanding in the outback of

Australia. In 1964 the Uniting Church ventured into an experiment at Kings

Cross and asked Ted Noffs to take charge of this unique ministry for the

forlorn in the crime ridden suburb, among the ‘Godless’ people indulging in

vice and crime. Ted Noffs was free to set aside some of the ‘religious’

traditions and constraints to carry out his unique ministry. He renovated a

dilapidated old building in Kings Cross and called it the ‘Wayside Chapel’ and

flung open its doors to all and sundry.

Seeing the Chapel not even remotely having any semblance of a Church with its

pews empty and located where no one would ever build a church or a temple, a

fledgling journalist then and media personality now, sceptically remarked, “Mr.

Noffs! You may find for your congregation some of the beatniks who live down the

road.” (Beatniks were young persons in the 1960s who did not accept society’s

customs and principles but who valued personal experience instead, and who had

long hair and wore untidy clothes).

It is interesting to note that our Swami too had several such youths from

America around Him in the sixties. Ted Noffs set off to meet these youngsters

the next day to see if he might lure them to the Chapel. He told me that it was

like walking into a lion’s den, for these beatniks hated any kind of

establishment, especially the church.

Ted discussed philosophy, politics and current events with the beatniks and

found them well informed and highly intelligent. As Ted was amiable they

offered him a cup of coffee, which he gladly accepted in spite of their unkempt

place and a sink full of unwashed utensils. There was no milk in the fridge and

one of them dashed out to buy some milk and Ted accompanied him to the nearby

shop. When the beatnik asked for a pint of milk Ted pulled out his wallet and

asked for six. The young man turned to Ted and said: “Mr. Noffs! We live by a

bottle of milk a day.”

Ted was taken aback by the resolve of this young man, who literally summed up

the words of Jesus Christ, “Take therefore no thought, for the morrow shall

take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day are the evils

thereof.”

Ted reflected upon the happenings of the day and realised how restricted the

church was. They wouldn’t even undertake an activity without having the

resources upfront. His faith in God deepened as he reflected upon the kind of

ministry Jesus had with ordinary people and how Jesus, with faith and

conviction, always looked to his Heavenly Father to provide. Bhagavan Baba also

reminds us that God will always provide the means when we undertake noble tasks.

The Chapel doors were open for all people irrespective of creed or race, and

migrant communities – Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs – who had no place for worship

of their own those days started using the ‘Wayside Chapel’ for their prayers

which Ted Noffs would participate in.

Soon he realised the urgent need for religious amity, which inspired him to have

his own creed at the Wayside Chapel:

“I am a child of the stars. My religion, like the clothes I wear, belongs to the

dust of the centuries. My spirit is immortal. Our children are sons and

daughters from an eternal kingdom and are here to inherit the riches and

resources of this planet for a span until they journey through time and space.

I AM a Catholic,

I AM a Protestant,

I AM a Jew,

I AM a Hindu,

I AM a Moslem,

I AM a Sikh,

I AM a Buddhist, Because I AM a Human and I belong to the Universe, nothing in

the world can be alien to me.”

Ted Noffs later added: “The world today is torn apart on the basis of caste,

creed, colour, nationality, as well as the socio-economic divide, and is in

dire straights towards self-destruction, needing the Einsteins and Galileos of

the spirit to show the human race a scientific basis for a spiritual life.

Religions are man-made, here today and gone tomorrow. Blessed are those who can

distinguish between religion and spirituality and abide by the Universal Spirit

of Love to build a better world for our children and their children.”

The “Family of Humanity” became functional and realistic, based not on religious

dogmas but spiritual unity as the bedrock for a caring and sharing society

through Love and Service. An outreach programme to help the lonely and

helpless, Life-education for children and the ‘Naming’ Ceremonies and Marriages

in the name of the “Family of Humanity” were pioneered by Ted in the seventies.

Bhagavan Baba has always emphasised the importance of “Brotherhood of man and

Fatherhood of God.” The weekly open forum at the Chapel became the voice of

conscience of the people on many a controversial issue in society.

His acceptance of other religions and ‘Inter-faith’ practises at the Chapel

landed Rev. Noffs on heresy charges during his ministry. Regardless, Ted

continued courageously with his work, which not only became well known

throughout Australia, but also attracted attention from other countries as

well. Ted Noffs was awarded the highest award of the country twice – ‘The

Australian of the Year’. His Life-education programme spread to several

countries. The Readers Digest of March 1986 had a feature article about the

Wayside Chapel titled, ‘The Biggest Little Church in the World'.

I attended the 21st anniversary of the Wayside Chapel in February 1985. Some

leading politicians and some media celebrities were amongst the vast gathering.

Ted Noffs came up to me before the service commenced and I had to introduce

myself. He was so delighted to see me there and said, “I want you to speak on

behalf of Sai Baba on this special occasion.”

What a request? I was terrified and wished I could disappear underground! I

prayed to our Lord saying, “Swami! You have put me in this situation and you

alone can save me now,” tightly clinging to the wooden pew. Throughout the

service my heart pounded away as I continued praying to Swami. The merciful and

omnipresent Lord gave me some confidence by giving me the imagery of Swami

Vivekananda at the parliament of religions in Chicago, a century earlier.

Rev. Noffs invited me to speak thus: “I have great pleasure inviting Dr. Pavan

from the Homebush Sai Baba Centre to speak on behalf of Sai Baba.” These words

were enough to put me into a tail-spin, but I felt assured of Swami’s help. I

spoke with confidence, as if Swami had whispered into my ears to start off

thus: “Brothers and Sisters of the Family of Humanity! I have come with a

Message of Love from my Master, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who is God Incarnate for

those who have had the experience of His Love. …”

That was enough to get started and the words were flowing as I filled my speech

with Swami’s gems. Before concluding my speech I thanked Ted Noffs for giving

me this rare opportunity to share the Love of my beloved Bhagavan with such an

august gathering. At the end of the service many of them came up to me and

embraced me and wanted to know from which book I had found such beautiful words

of wisdom. I replied they were my Master’s simple but universal teachings.

The Multi -Faith Logo specially designed by the HomebushSai Centre for the Inaugural Service

Wayside Chapel altar - Neville Fredericks who is presently theAustralian Central

Co-ordinator speaking

That was the beginning of our spiritual alliance, a true experience of

Inter-faith. In July, the same year, Ted Noffs and many senior members of the

Wayside Chapel participated in our Sai Baba Centre meeting at Homebush,

Australia. They were very much at home at our Sai centre and Ted Noffs reminded

us of our common objectives and invited us to join forces in serving the wider

community. The Homebush Sai Centre held the first Sai Baba service at the

Wayside Chapel in August 1986 with all the senior office bearers of the Sai

organisation taking part.

A special Sarvadharma logo was unveiled as a mark of Unity of Faiths and this

logo has become a permanent fixture in the Chapel. The Homebush Sai Centre has

continued with this special Sai Baba service at the chapel once a year ever

since. The Sathya Sai Organisation in Sydney invited Ted Noffs to deliver the

keynote speech on Swami’s 61st Birthday celebration in Nov 1986.

Rev. Noffs had never been to Swami and yet, intuitively, was fully aware of

Swami’s Divinity. The following are just a few of the highlights of his speech:

“We are honouring a great spiritual giant who may be described only in Messianic

terms. Even if nothing else has been achieved in the world, the fact that Sai

Baba has brought a sense of spiritual unity and awareness among men of their

family-hood in itself is a great achievement. How can I speak about someone who

has influenced the world a great deal already? So often the Messiahs of the past

were recognised long after their death, but this great Master in His own

lifetime is already recognised world over, and that in itself is something!

We have in Him someone constantly manifesting new and great things in a world

full of destruction, which is a mark of a person who has come from God. How can

we celebrate His birthday? You have to be co-workers with the Divine Power and

reach the level of spirituality to be Christ-like. Jesus was a man who became

the Christ.

In our outreach programme we looked after a lonely person. He died at Concord

Hospital and his hospital records showed the next of kin as the Wayside Chapel

- not a brother, sister or any relative. If this little Chapel is the next of

kin to this lonely man, can you imagine the countless millions around the

world, whose next of kin is Sai Baba?

At the end of this function you go home and feel good about your wonderful

singing (Bhajan), your children’s drama and the variety of delicious food, and

if you do nothing to help the needy in your neighbourhood, I am sure, your

Master would be very disappointed with you. You have to reach out the needy and

serve them, be a friend and helper of the helpless people in your community.”

When we reflect on the above extracts from Ted’s speech made almost two decades

ago, who had not even visited Swami, but aware of the Avatar and His Mission of

UNITY, LOVE and SERVICE, it is a reminder that we need to put in more effort to

get the most from the Avatar in this lifetime itself. Bhagavan Baba is the

Cosmic Father, come in human form to show humanity the way to peace and

prosperity through the realisation of:

ONE CASTE, THE CASTE OF HUMANITY

ONE RELIGION, THE RELIGION OF LOVE

ONE LANGUAGE, THE LANGUAGE OF THE HEART

ONE GOD, HE IS OMNIPRESENT

 

None of the Masters, Messiahs, Prophets and Saints came to earth to start a new

religion. They came to validate the ONE ETERNAL TRUTH, ONE GOD, ONE LOVE, ONE

CREATION, although periods in history, places on earth, cultures and traditions

prevalent in their times may differ. In recorded history, Bhagawan Baba alone

has so emphatically declared that all religions are different facets of the

same Truth and that the redemption of humanity will be by Love and Love alone.

Bhagavan Baba says, “Ego will not allow two good men to stay together and work

together.” It is obvious that divisions among men are man-made. It is human

weakness and ego that has brought about such religious multiplicity and

conflicts in the entire creation, which essentially is ONE. The dawn of this

wisdom is God-realisation or Liberation from the bondage of darkness and

ignorance.

Let us remind ourselves that Jesus was a Jew and not a Christian at birth.

Buddha was a Hindu and not a Buddhist at birth. They did not start a new

religion in their names. The multiplicity and divergence that has taken place

with passage of time, centuries later is man-made. This is division, fission or

break-away, which is a product of ego. All religions are different instruments

playing the ONE melody, of Love and Unity. When the conductor brings them

together, he will create a beautiful symphony, although the instruments may

appear different.

The Messengers, Messiahs, Prophets and Saints are the different instruments sent

by God for man to realise his inherent divinity. Now God Himself has come as

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, as the Conductor for the Divine Symphony.

Millions of Sai devotees from different religions already practise Unity of

Faiths around the globe and also are convinced beyond doubt that GOD IS ONLY

ONE.

The reverse of fission or disintegration is fusion or integration. The ego of

man has caused the fission and created multiplicity - fragments that are

essentially one and the same. Love alone can bring about the fusion or

integration of these fragments. Bhagavan Baba is Love in action. Love is His

sole property and He alone has the power to bring about this fusion and

synthesis through Love.

Lokha Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu - May Everybody Everywhere Be Happy .

Dr. Sara Pavan is an Anaesthesiologist from Australia, serving at the Sri Sathya

Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Prashanthi Nilayam since 1993.

online source: radio sai - heart to heart

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