BHAGAWAN SATYA SAI BABA- THE SUPREME AVATAR

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advent of an incarnation can benefit humanity, the only condition is that one

should be prepared to follow the guidelines set by him and walk the straight

path, that is the great highway to God. Baba says: The way in which the Avatar

has to be used for one's liberation and uplift is: watch his every step,

observe his actions and activities, follow the guiding principles of which his

life is an elaboration. Mark his love, his compassion, his wisdom and try to

bring them into your own life. One of the tasks of the present Avatar is the

deliverance of all those who have earned the right of liberation or mukthi from

the ceaseless whirlpool and cycle of birth and death. Baba gives the analogy of

an aeroplane: The airplane has to land at certain places in order to take those

who have won the right to fly by the tickets they have purchased. So, too, the

Lord has come down that those who have won the right to be liberated

may be saved; incidentally, others too will know of the Lord, of his grace, of

ways of winning it, of the joy of liberation. Verily the Avatar is a ray from

the Supreme, come to light the lamp of love and to illumine the hearts and

souls of men and women; all one needs is to listen to him with reverence and

learn the lessons taught by him, and obey him with love, hope and faith. It is

as simple as that. Since the light from above has descended on earth, it is our

The Ray Supreme and the Voice of Our Calling duty to bathe in the effulgence of

its radiance, warmth and grace. If we miss this chance, there is no knowing

when we shall get another chance. Our great Lord Sathya Sai Baba is the very

quintessence of the Divine principle. He is a loving and forgiving God, ever

ready to stand by his devotees and true spiritual aspirants. There have been

numerous instances of his deep compassion, profound pity and mercy. While

engaged in

running the cosmos and the entire universe, he takes time out to attend to the

needs of his devotees whom he holds near and dear to himself as his very

breath. He has expressed this in answer to a query from John Hislop: H.: Swami.

We have just now actually witnessed a part of this amazing story. How can that

all be? Swami holds the entire universe in his hand. He bears the

responsibility of this inconceivably immense universe. And how can he, at the

same time, give the detailed attention to the lives of individual devotees?

Sai: It is as you say. Swami holds the universe in his hands. But devotees

learn of the glory and majesty through Swami's attention to each one

personally. That Swami holds the universe yet at the same time, fully cares for

the lives of his devotees even to the smallest details is a measure of his glory

that the devotees can understand. The same point has been stressed again in a

different context, which illustrates

the universal omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence of Bhagwan Sri Sathya

Sai Baba: H.: Baba has the inconceivably immense task of the universe. How can

he afford to spend time talking to people like us? Sai: Baba, with his

limitless bodies, is everywhere doing his tasks, a thousand heads, hands, feet

- Sahasra sheershaa purushah samraksha, sahasrapaad‑it is just this body

that sits here talking to you. That is Baba's omnipresence. The Avatar is

beyond the five elements. He is the Creator ... God is not subject to any

limitation. He is the creator of the elements, their modifier, their preserver,

their destroyer ... Baba means Being Awareness-Bliss-one Reality. W.H.

Mackintosh, a renowned British writer and intellectual who had the occasion to

review Dr. Samuel Sandweiss' famous book The Holy Man and the Psychiatrist, has

indeed taken a very empirical, rational and enlightened view of Sai Baba and his

Reality and does

not dispute the idea that Sai Baba may be, in reality, an Avatar. His comments

are so illuminating that this author is tempted to quote it in full : The

embodiment of deity in human form is a rare event; it happens only when the

human condition has deteriorated to such an extent that nothing else can bring

about a redemption. It cannot be denied that the present situation seems to

demand an Avatar's appearance. Dr. Sandweiss, an American psychiatrist, is very

much a man of the time. He is trained to regard the scientific method as the

most consistently reliable way of reaching the truth, and is imbued with the

tenets of modern psychology, which lays so much stress on the need to avoid

repression. He seems to be an unlikely advocate of the spiritual discipline,

which rejects the most cherished beliefs of contemporary materialism. Yet again

and again, he had made pilgrimages to Bangalore to sit at the feet of Sai Baba

and partake of this holy man's

infinite wisdom. He found in Sai Baba a being whose nature and power were

utterly incomprehensible to him. This was no ordinary Guru, a publicity seeking

Swami, but a Master about whom stories were told strangely reminiscent of Jesus,

Buddha and Krishna. Is Sai Baba an Avatar, an incarnation of God? This is an

important question that demands a considered answer. If he is an incarnation of

God, he is the greatest being in the world and indeed the greatest being who

could exist. Like others born and bred in a humanistic environment, I find the

idea scarcely credible. I am bewildered and perplexed by the implications. I

have lived long enough to learn a few lessons, not many perhaps, but sufficient

in number and magnitude to convince me of the limitations of my understanding. I

know too little either to affirm or deny the possibility of a miracle and the

incarnation of God would certainly be a miracle. We have no right to assert

that the infinite intelligence cannot assume a finite embodiment of itself. For,

if the attributes of divinity are omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience,

God's assumption of human shape is a very simple exercise of his power. However

much my skeptical but limited intellect may want to reject the notion of an

Avatar, the deeper insight into reality afforded by imagination and intuition

does not allow me to deny that Sai Baba may indeed be an incarnation of God.

Many witnesses testify to the extraordinary effect, which Sai Baba's presence

has on them. It is not the subtle influence of a God-intoxicated man but a much

more powerful direct emanation and outflow of indescribable bliss which

transforms the consciousness of those present. As I have never been in Sai

Baba's presence I cannot assess the effect to which I have referred. But, as

this book includes numerous quotations and extracts from his teachings, I can

comment on their content

and quality. The style in which they are written is clear and concise. As I read

them I was conscious of an immediate impact, which seemed to penetrate the very

depth of my mind. The emphasis is always on God and his inexhaustible love. Of

course, the review appears to be forthright and candid and may be said to

represent view of the cross-section of a vast number of people who have not had

the chance to experience Sai Baba, but the unending trek from far-flung corners

of the globe continues and the recognition of the divinity of Sai Baba may

become universal in course of time. As a general rule, the recognition of an

Avatar during his lifetime is fraught with exceptional difficulty. How many

recognized Rama and Krishna as Avatars in their own times and how many

considered Jesus Christ to be the son of God? Baba has himself thrown

sufficient light on this problem, and we have to take his words in absolute

faith. Baba says: On previous occasions when God incarnated on earth, the

bliss of recognizing him in the incarnation was vouchsafed only after the

physical embodiment had left the world, in spite of plenty of patent evidences

of his Grace. And the loyalty and devotion they commanded from men arose

through fear and awe at their superhuman power and skills, or their imperial

and penal authority. And further, he has clarified that he had taken upon

himself the responsibility of disclosing his divinity. Not only in his famous

address delivered at the Sathya Sai World Conference in Bombay in 1968 but also

on many other occasions he has been pleased to reiterate that point for the

benefit of his devotees. He says: It is very difficult to demarcate clearly

the manifestation of the Lord, so I am announcing myself, and am myself

describing my mission, the task, the characteristics, the qualities that mark

out the Avatar from the rest. Sri Sathya

Sai Baba's answers to some of the intimate queries of John Hislop clarify many

doubts in this regard. H.: It seems strange that only a few people recognize

the Avatar. Sai: No, not strange! How would you know the Avatar? H.: By

faith. Sai: Faith is one thing. Knowing is another ... You know Swami as an

Avatar? H.: Yes. Sai: No doubts? H.: No doubts, whatsoever. Sai: Your own

experience is that Swami is omnipresent. H.: Yes, that is my direct experience.

Sai: Yet when you leave Swami at Brindavan and arrive at your hotel you think of

Swami as being at Brindavan. You see it is not easy to know the omnipresent

Avatar. Of course, there are always some who know. In the Krishna Avatar there

were some who knew. Likewise, there were some who knew the Rama Avatar. Not

every blossom opens to the sun when it rises.

Only some are ready. There is the factor of ripeness. Not every fruit on a tree

is ripe at the same time. That Sri Sathya Sai Baba is a Ray from the Supreme

should no longer be called in question. The scientists with keenest intellect

think that he is a phenomenon; the rationalists are simply confounded; the

atheists and non‑believers are dismayed and confused and begin to doubt

their previous stance. But those who possess simple faith and natural intuition

do not find it difficult to believe that there are many things on heaven and

earth that philosophy cannot dream of. And God is such a thing. In this regard

the attitude of Mr. Mackintosh seems to be most plausible and correct. One must

wait until such time as the Divine showers his grace and the petals naturally

open up to the sun. It seems quite fair to suggest that one should wait for the

dawning of the light when, all on a sudden, the beloved face of God is revealed

to one in a blaze of light. Most of

the devotees of Sai Baba have had the glimpse of Baba's divinity and his calls

have been unique and extraordinary. It is he who manifests his visiting cards

in the shrines of potential devotees, all those who are destined to see him in

this lifetime, and calls them unto himself by strange logic of circumstances.

This author has absolutely no doubt about it as he has undergone the same

pattern of initiation. This is quite legitimate also as, like Christ, he first

loved us and, then, kindled the flame of that love within us. The experience

of Allen S. Levy, recorded in Transformation of the Heart, ed. by Judy Warner,

deserves to be mentioned here because it is typical of how incessant and

compulsive the call of Baba can be. I walked up the three flights of stairs of

the dilapidated building, a dark contrast to the upper middle class home in

which my brother and I had grown up. I knocked on the door at the head of the

stairs, and a tall young

man answered. In spite of my grave doubts, he confirmed that this was indeed my

brother's place. I could smell a flowery essence wafting towards me from the

interior; I could hear the strangest music, music so joyous that it filled me

with a feeling of sheer delight. I danced into the apartment, moving in little

circles, Jewish style, hand held high above my head. Reaching my brother's

bedroom, I greeted him, 'Hi, Lou.' He was sitting on the floor on a mat, which,

I was startled to learn, he called his bed, and burst into laughter at seeing me

so happy (a strange occurrence), doing an even stranger dance in the middle of

the room. 'What are you doing?' He asked. I enthusiastically replied, 'I'm so

happy. I can't help but dance. This music is wonderful. Who is it? Lou

responded, 'Oh, that's Sai Baba singing bhajans.' 'Who's he? I asked. Sai

Baba: A Ray from the Supreme. His

reply threw me off a loop. 'He's God. He lives in India.' 'God. What God? The

one in your fantasies? Come on!' Lou's response hit me right where my stubborn

intellect was most vulnerable. 'See for yourself. Read about him.' Lou gave me

a book, Baba by Arnold Schulman. Within a few days I reluctantly opened it, and

read. After ten pages I put the book down, my mind numb. In fact, my mind seemed

to have stopped‑an impossible occurrence especially for me. After a few

all too brief moments it began again but all I could think was 'Oh! God. This

is God.' In a state of sheer excitement, I picked up the phone, dialed my

brother. 'Lou, you're right! This is God. Sathya Sai Baba is God. What do I do

now?' He calmly replied, 'Relax. Sit down and meditate. When I see you next

we'll talk more about it. Keep reading.' This was the beginning, and I may add,

only the beginning of magnificent, munificent grace which

Baba would shower upon me. We also have on record the experience of Walter Cowan

who used to make astral travels and return to the body; but one day he was lost

in the astral plane and found difficulty in returning to the body. But he was

rescued by a benevolent figure. Later, when he saw the photograph of Baba on

the title cover of Howard Murphet's book Sai Baba: Man of Miracles, he at once

recognized his helper and benefactor. And from that day onwards, the Cowan

couple became the most ardent devotees of Sai Baba. Even in the case of the

present author, when life had become a saga of perpetual crisis and torments,

the visit of a research student and her offer of a coloured portrait of Sai

Baba set off a series of incredible events cementing the author's staunch faith

in Baba's divinity. Such instances can be multiplied. But it is all the

handiwork of the Divine father and mother to collect his children and open up

the sunlit and rose-lit avenues of

paradise. So, we come to the inevitable conclusion that the present is the most

exciting period of human history to live in as the sacred and hallowed time of

Tretayuga and Dwaparyuga when Rama and Krishna incarnated on earth. And in

Kaliyuga, the self‑same divinity has made its appearance in all its

fullness as Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The question asked by Allen S. Levy seems to

be quite relevant: 'Yes, He's God. Sathya Sai Baba is God. So, what do I do

now?' She found the answer in the teachings of Sai Baba as detailed below. She

describes in her own words: In the following year while reading his books

called Sathya Sai Speaks, Volumes 1, 11, 111, etc. in the midst of a treasury

of teachings, I came across what I thought as a most practical one for an

overworked college student. 'The fruit of action belongs to the actor;

therefore, renounce the fruit. Act, but renounce the fruit of

the action; dedicate every action to God and renounce all desire for the fruit;

call upon God to be the doer of action, and totally and fully, without

recourse, renounce every vestige of attachment to the fruit of action.' And,

strangely enough, this formula worked for her miraculously. She had to write a

final paper on American Civil Rights Movement and Black Political Thought and

was stuck up. So, she resolved to retreat to her brother's apartment, and she

narrates: Thanksgiving eve I sat down, paper on desk, pen in hand, and lit a

candle before a picture of Sai Baba. I prayed: 'Oh God, It's Al Levy calling.

Can you please write this paper on black political thought for me? You are the

doer of all deeds, the speaker of all words, the thinker of all thoughts.

Please, then, write this paper and bear the fruits. I surrender this all to

you. Thanks.' For the next sixteen hours or so, he wrote. Every time I seemed

to reach an impasse, I called

Baba for help, praying as I had done before. Not only this, Allen S. Levy was

able to write her doctoral thesis by calling upon Baba to write the thesis for

her as he was the doer of all deeds, speaker of all words and thinker of all

thoughts and surrendering everything to him and asking him to bear the fruit of

action. It follows from this that Allen S. Levy has been the exemplar of the

highest type of Sadhana, taught by Lord Krishna and Sri Sathya Sai Baba about

the need for disinterested action and complete surrender to the Lord without

any attachment for the fruit of the action. But, apart from Karma yoga there

are other ways of knowing and the method has to be adopted by a devotee

strictly in accordance with his state of spiritual development and the ground

of his beseeching. Apparently, his atmanivedan to the Lord would depend

exclusively on these variable factors. What we call the voice of our calling

is, broadly

speaking, the surge of feeling rising in the inner core of our hearts to adore

the divine and merge with the great God. And whichever path we take, the

central urge or the dominant passion to immerse in the Supreme Godhead remains

basically the same. As T.S. Eliot says in the final movement of Four Quartets,

If you came this way, Taking any route, starting from anywhere, At any time

or any season It would always be the same. And, the quest for the eternal

reality is never-ending: We shall never cease from exploration And the end of

our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the

first time. This, indeed, is the burden of the quest. Only through the

pilgrimage of love can one envision the radiant face of the beloved who is the

Supreme Being, without beginning and end. The journey to the still centre

becomes a distinct possibility. His anchor

and hope is love. Now the light falls on a secluded chapel in Little Gidding as

on the minarets of the temple at Prasanthi Nilayam and the seeker knows the

place for the first time: Through the unknown remembered gate When the last of

the earth left to discover In that which was the beginning; and the source of

the longest river The voice of the hidden waterfall. And the children in the

apple tree Not known, because not looked for But, heard, half-heard in the

stillness Between two waves of the sea. But the trouble is that for most of

us the vision of the Divine is not vouchsafed or even if it is the moment is

lost in the shaft of sunlight. However, the matter is entirely different for

saints: But to apprehend the intersection of Time With the timeless is the

occupation of the saint, not occupation either but something Given and taken in

a lifetime's death in love, ardour and selflessness and self-surrender. Thus,

we see there is Raj Rani Mira who loved Krishna from the very core of her heart

right from her angel infancy and even after she was married to the King, she did

not swerve away from her constant devotion to her eternal beloved, Krishna. Sai

Baba of Shirdi has also said that the true disciple of the Lord thinks of

nothing else except the Lord always and at all times. For him life without the

presence of the Lord has no meaning whatsoever. This is what true devotion is

all about. Even Sathya Sai Baba tells his devotees to yearn for him. This

yearning is the motivating force behind infinite love. Since the basic

assumption in this work is that Bhagwan Sathya Sai Baba is a Ray from the

Supreme and is a full Avatar of Kaliyuga, it becomes the duty of each

individual to crave for him, and express deep reverence,

ardour and yearning for him. What follows in the rest of the chapter is a

blueprint for showing the profundity of our devotion and ways to give a

full-throated expression of the resonance and power of the voice of our

calling. Let us start with a prayer, which has been penned by none other than

Sathya Sai Baba himself. This is a poem, instinct with the feelings of

deathless love and complete devotion to the Lord. This is a prayer, phrased in

profoundly moving imagery and metaphors which find an echo in our hearts:

Prayer Oh Lord. Take my love and let it flow In fullness of devotion to Thee.

Oh Lord. Take my hands and let them work Incessantly for Thee. Oh Lord. Take my

soul and let it be Merged in one with Thee. Oh Lord. Take my mind and thoughts

and Let them be in tune with Thee. Oh Lord. Take my everything and let

Me be an instrument to work for Thee. With love and grace, Baba This

prayer was written by Baba for use by the hostel students at the Sathya Sai

colleges. This may be said to express the innermost feelings and sentiments of

the tender and pure­ hearted boys and girls who love Baba from the very core of

their hearts. But, even the grown-ups, who live at faraway places and have faith

in Baba, can conveniently use this prayer and find the exercise fairly wholesome

and rewarding. Assuming that the Avatar is with us and we have the freedom to

have his darshan, to speak to him and even touch his lotus feet, we can voice

our sincerest prayers and supplications to him and work out our salvation with

diligence. In this sense, we are very fortunate because the physical form of

the Avatar can be seen by us, and the voice of our calling can be heard by him.

If we pray

to God, it poses some problems and difficulties. It requires a sense of no

dualism and complete identification with everything, the beauty and splendour

of the universe. God is without form, but we know him through his creation. We

know of his love and wisdom by seeing his beauty around us. As our divine

vision grows, we begin to see God in everything. He is the essence of the self

and everything that exists. God is ultimately formless, but we perceive him

through form. Only through shape, colour and size can God be known. As Baba

says: The Sadhana (spiritual discipline) can be to realize God as formless

(nirguna) or with form (saguna). When one walks, the right foot and the left

are both necessary. You cannot hop long on one foot. The saguna sadhana and

nirguna sadhana are as the two feet. However, if we are face to face with the

entity in whom all the attributes of the divine are concentrated, our devotion

becomes

much more tangible, concrete and convincing than in our supplication to the

Nirguna Brahman. The first requisite for our loving approach to the Divine

essence is faith, which goes on deepening with the progress in one's spiritual

sadhana. When the edifice of faith is laid down firmly on unshakable

foundation, one proceeds further by cementing it through remembrance of the

name, keeping company of the good and the holy, devotion, meditation,

self-surrender, song and service which is the gift of love. Indeed it is love

that is the quintessence of all. As Baba has pointed out: Love in action is

right action; as speech is truth; as thought is peace; as understanding is

non-violence. And we know that Sathya, Dharma, Prema, Shanthi and Ahimsa are

the five priceless gems that Baba would like humanity to possess as the true

facets of character. And Baba also assures each and everyone of us of his

grace. He

says: You may wonder, 'Why would God pay any attention to me? What could I

possibly offer to Him that He would accept when the entire cosmos is already

His? If even angels and Gods cannot see Him, what chance is there for me? But

such demeaning and belittling thoughts will get you nowhere. As long as you

think this way, you will be unable to earn the grace of God and be fit to serve

Him. Give no place to such displays of weakness. You must install God in your

heart and say to Him 'Beloved Lord. I know you occupy the entire universe, but

you are also here in my heart. With all my power I will keep you here, firmly

established within me. You are, it is true, the greatest of the great but you

are also the smallest of the small. In that minute aspect you reside always in

my heart.' If you have this firm faith in yourself and a steadfast resolve to

fix God unalterably in your heart, you will surely attain Him. It follows from

this that faith is the most

invincible factor that takes one to the summit of belief and engenders the

momentum of the whole spiritual journey. Verily, faith springs from

self-understanding and awareness of one's inner divinity. This internal source

or the Atma is the motivator and is a spring of courage and self-confidence. As

Sathya Sai Baba has rightly pointed out, ... You believe in yourself because

yourself is God and have an unshakable faith in God, deep down in you. Faith in

yourself and faith in God are identical. You tap the strength of the God within

when you stand attention against an enemy without. Knowledge comes from

experience, but first we must act on faith. Baba says that faith is a tender

plant that must be guarded so that it grows into a big tree. Faith can work

wonders and can even impel the Lord to manifest himself. Baba has very nicely

stated that faith in God is vital for the security and well being of the

individual: Faith

in God is the secure foundation on which hope has to be built. The faith has to

be stable and strong. The feeling that God will come to our rescue has to be

vivid and vital, motivating and activating all that we do or speak or think.

What we call the voice of our calling is, for all practical purposes, the

discipline of prayer. It is prayer that works miracles and is the royal road

leading to victory. The sceptic and the atheist may question the validity of

prayer and dismiss it as a figment of imagination. Here two things are of vital

consideration. Does prayer actually work? Is the voice of our calling to God

Almighty phrased properly and does it ring with the true voice of feeling? And

the basic thing is, as we have seen, whether one has strong faith in God and

his absolute power. If the answer of all these is in the affirmative, there is

no doubt that the prayer will work, if not to the extent one imagines, at least

it brings one closer to God. In the words

of Sai Baba, Prayer is the very breath of religion, for it brings man and God

together, and with every sigh, nearer and nearer. There are certain rules that

must be observed while starting the prayer to God, who is the ocean of infinite

mercy and compassion. He is as near to us as we are to him; and the conscious

praying mind establishes itself on the same wavelength and opens up direct

communion with God. At the very outset, we must practise the habit of regular

prayer at a regular time and place, for prayer gives us an additional

advantage, for it helps us concentrate and reach a state of calm, all passions

spent. However, when through regular prayers we find out that God is

omnipresent and we can address him at any time and at any place, we can pray to

him no matter where we are, for the prayer will reach him. Baba has advised: It

is our duty to ask God. Words must be said and the words must correspond to the

thought. The

thought must be put into a true word. It is true enough that the divinity knows

all, but he requires that the true word be said. The mother knows that to

maintain life, the child requires food, but milk is given when the child asks

for it. It is imperative for us to know what we should pray for: Our devotion

and prayer to God should not be for the sole purpose of obtaining something, or

fulfilling some desire of ours. This should be for the sake of the Atma (inner

divinity) and for the sake of becoming one with the Lord and for the sake of

getting the bliss that one can get by being close to the Lord. However, there

is no absolute formula about the choice of one's prayer. Generally speaking,

prayer for the removal of obstacles on the spiritual path has a greater chance

of being answered than those that relate to personal ambitions and desires,

miraculous cures and worldly acquisitions. In any case, it is always necessary

to put absolute

trust in God. He takes proper care of our needs without being asked for, when we

try to live a good life and dedicate all our thought and actions to him. Since

the Lord is our eternal parent, he grants us the boons beneficial for us. In

the words of Sathya Sai Baba, If a bhaktha (devotee) has dedicated his

all-body, mind and existence to the Lord, the Lord will himself look after

everything, for he will always be with the bhaktha. Under such conditions,

there is no need for prayer. But have you so dedicated and surrendered yourself

to the Lord? Sathya Sai Baba has often stated that in the present age,

Namasmaran or the remembrance of the name and form of the Lord is enough unlike

in the other ages where other modes of spiritual exercises were practised. In

the words of Sai Baba, The present age is described in the Sastras (sacred

texts) as very conducive to liberation. In the past ages religious

practice was prescribed as the means; the Kali age in which you are requires

only namasmaran (remembrance of the name of the Lord) to win liberation. But

Baba states the crux of the problem when he says, Namasmaran is the best means

but you do not really believe that it can cure or save you: that is the

tragedy. People only believe in the efficacy of costly, brightly packaged,

widely published drugs; the simple, easily available remedy which is in

everybody's dooryard is ignored as useless. Thus, the name of the Lord, if

remembered with sincerity and feeling, enables us to win God's grace and reach

our goal. The name of the Lord is like a lantern in the forest wilderness of

the world. It is the easiest and the most practical type of sadhana for

everyone. As Jonathan Roof has wisely remarked, We may not command the

spiritual power to rise in meditation to formless bliss. We may not possess the

devotional heart that allows us to float in the warmth of the divine sea. We may

be unable to perform the dedicated service that unfetters the chains of our

actions. But if we hold fast to the name of God, we can still achieve

fulfilment. Constant remembrance of the name is complete spiritual discipline;

it fosters the virtues of devotion, patience and faith. The practice grants us

strength and confidence to travel the spiritual path to its conclusion. In time

it can endow us with God realization. Then we will know that the God we worship

is within us, in our own hearts, ever present and joyful. No wonder that the

name is enough to give you all the results of every type of sadhana (spiritual

discipline). Satsang or keeping spiritual company with the holy has always

been the preoccupation of all those who seek enlightenment. They simply want to

bask in the atmosphere of light and love, which the association with the

saintly and the holy provides them. On the contrary, unwholesome company washes

us away on the dark current of grief, self-indulgence and sin. As Sathya Sai

Baba has put it, The easiest and most fruitful method of keeping yourself free

from dust and rust is satsang (good company). The company of the good and Godly

will slowly and surely chasten and cleanse the persons prone to staying away

from the straight path towards self-realization. That is why in spiritual

life, one must vicariously cling to the company of the good and noble persons

set on the pilgrimage on the Godward path. Good company is desirable and

important both for the advanced spiritual seeker as well as the new-comer. Baba

asks us to join Satsang, the company of the godly. Just as the tame elephants

surround the wild tusker and rope him and bind him hand and foot, and

immobilize him before taming him, the spiritually minded will bring the doubter

around. The benefits of satsang are immense. It can not only generate

tremendous spiritual energy but also inspire us to turn God ward and make our

task of achieving liberation easier. It can grant us a vision of our

destination and provide a model for our journey. While considering the

different voices of our calling, we cannot afford to overlook song or bhajan,

which is the very quintessence of our aspiration and apprehension of the

divine. Song is the tonic for the weary traveller; it lightens our souls and

fills us with the taste of heaven. Spiritual music is the universal language of

the heart; it is the truest and the most resonant voice of our calling, or

atmanivedana. Whereas everyone can express his soulful ardour, devotion and

yearning through the medium of the beautiful songs or bhajans composed by

eminent devotional poets, for the poet it is the outpouring of the sweetest

elixir of the soul. We have

the example of the medieval lyricists, the Sufi poets and of the seventeenth

century Metaphysical poets who have all excelled in composing the greatest

religious poetry. In India, the bhajans composed by Mira, Surclas and Tulsidas

have been set to music and are household bhajans sung by the common man. Group

singing has many more advantages than the singing of Majans in solo. Bhajan can

be indubitably great poetry and can instantly move the hearts of the listeners

and promote the atmosphere of sanctity, love and self-surrender. The bhajans

composed by Mira and sung by M.S. Subulaxmi, the renowned South Indian singer,

leave the listeners almost spell-bound. The same M.S. Subulaxmi sings the Sai

bhajans in her melodious and incantatory voice during the birthday festival of

Sri Sathya Sai Baba and then we come to realize what great poetry and great

music can do. The ecstasy is total and all-inclusive; the greatest impact of

great

poetry and great music sung in chorus can create a lasting effect, that of

elemental joy and tranquillity. Love and devotion well up spontaneously in the

heart. Remembrance of God becomes constant and steady. When we sing in

devotion, joy is likely to remain in our hearts all day long. The effort

results in the expansion of our consciousness and consequent transformation of

our hearts. God, the almighty is no longer afar or abstract or unreachable. He

becomes our kin and we are blessed by the effulgence of his presence. It may

not be wrong to say that song or bhajan is the most emphatic and effective

voice of our calling. Sathya Sai Baba has said in his inimitable style: You

must pass your days in song. Let your whole life be a bhajan. Believe that God

is everywhere at all times and derive strength, comfort and joy, singing in

your heart in his presence the glory of God. Let melody and harmony surge up

from your hearts and let all take delight in the

love you express through that song. The joy, which we derive from song, helps

to sustain and encourage us on the path. It binds us to the Lord and attracts

his grace. At the same time, God derives joy from our joy. The bliss of song

binds us to him as few other practices can. Baba himself admits: The ananda

(bliss) that I derive from bhajan I do not get from anything else. That is the

reason why Swami manifests his presence mysteriously wherever his glory is

sung. At Prasanthi Nilayam almost always at the end of his discourse, Swami

makes it a point to sing a few bhajans, which evoke the feeling of elevation

and ecstasy to the assembled devotees. And that is perhaps the reason why the

pink and blue halo on the face of Swami increases, extending to the limitless

sky and the distant facade of the horizons, a fact that has been noted by

Professor Varoneshky of Arizona University and by many a discerning devotee.

Harmony and devotion must ultimately be the result of a good song meeting. All

who participate must work together with tolerance and the knowledge that the

Lord himself is present. Baba says: Wherever my bhakthas sing my name I am

present there. Apart from the different ways of remembering and calling the

Lord there are a few others which may be said to be of seminal importance.

However, these are not so easy to follow because they involve long and

continuous sadhana costing not less than everything. Some of these also

presuppose a native, inborn quality, an attitude of the mind and natural

tendencies that come from one's inheritance and as rewards for good works done

in one's past lives. In the remaining portion of this chapter, we shall discuss

the two important modes of spiritual sadhana, meditation and fostering of

devotion for the eternal Absolute. While meditation is something that can be

practised by all of us, the

flower of devotion for the Lord can only blossom in the heart that is saturated

with love. Meditation means absorption in God for the purposes of attaining

enlightenment and bliss. Moreover, meditation is not and can never be a

conscious process. So long as one knows that he is meditating, he is not really

meditating. Since meditation is a mystique, in practising meditation, the mind

stops and one gets totally immersed in God. For the spiritual aspirant,

meditation is the inner contemplation. With time, meditation develops true

understanding of the self and thereby leads to the blissful merger with God.

Although meditation is not actually a voice of one's calling or supplication to

the Divine, it does establish a sense of oneness with God. Sai Baba has

described as the most universal the light meditation. Baba suggests that a

small lamp or candle may be used which may help the meditator to visualize the

flame of light and truth. This flame is pictured

between the eyebrows as the light of wisdom; from there it is brought on to the

heart, and visualised as a lotus of love blooming petal by petal. As the light

grows, it purifies all the senses and impulses, taking all in the light of

divine love. Over time, the meditation purifies the individual's thoughts and

actions, making him or her fit for realization of divinity. Sathya Sai Baba has

said: In real dhyana, you soon get over the consciousness that you are doing

dhyana. In fact, every moment in life must be utilized for dhyana. That is the

best way to live. When you sweep your rooms clean tell yourselves that your

hearts too have to be swept likewise. When you cut vegetables, you feel that

lust and greed too have to be cut into pieces. When you press chapatis wider

and wider, desire in addition that your love take in wider and wider circles

and expand even into the regions of strangers and foes. And finally,

Sathya Sai Baba declares: By means of dhyana you can realize that I am the

resident in all hearts, the urge, the motive, the guide, the goal. Yearn for

that vision, that awareness, and make it your priceless possession. Sathya

Sai Baba has explained the full significance of light or the flame in

meditation. In answer to a question put by a western devotee Baba has stated:

Why a light? From the sand, if one takes it will be depleted, from the water

tank, if each one takes, the tank will go dry. But a thousand people can take

the flame of one candle to light their candles and the flame is in no way

diminished. Light a lamp or a candle. Gaze straight ahead at the flame. Then

take the candle flame, the jyoti into your heart and see it in the midst of

the petals of the heart. Watch the petals of the heart unfold and see the light

illumine the heart. Bad feelings cannot remain. Then move the flame into the

hands and they

can no longer do dark deeds. In turn, move the flame in like fashion to the eyes

and ears so they may henceforth take only bright and pure sensations. Then move

the light outward and into your friends, relatives and enemies, and then into

animals, birds and other objects so that all are illumined by the same light.

Christ said, 'All are one, be alike to everyone.' In this way you will no

longer be limited to the body, but will expand throughout the universe. The

world, which is now so big, will become very small. To expand beyond self and

to see that your light is the light of the universe is liberation. Liberation

is not different from this. This kind of pointed meditation ensures expansion

of the self beyond desire to an infinity of love and provides elemental bliss

and serenity that is the sure mark of illumination. Meditation, thus, is the

most useful and effective way of calling the Divine. Total and unqualified

surrender to the divine will and

selfless service to the suffering humanity are the other two vital factors,

which make the voice of the aspirant heard by God. The point to be noted here

is: what do we actually surrender to God? What do we have which we can offer to

him? Since he is the master of the creation, every sentient object of this

shadow world is already his. The flower that we offer to him in worship or the

service that we offer him are all his. So, what we surrender to him is our

acceptance of his divine will ' the renunciation of the illusion of our

separateness from him and our self effacement and abandonment of our ego. We

must perform actions without desire for the fruits of action, surrendering

everything to God. In a different sense, what we actually surrender to God is

our agonizing feeling of dualism. In the real sense of the term, surrender to a

higher power is tantamount to surrender to oneself, to the Atma or the inner

divinity enthroned in our hearts. In the words of Sai

Baba, Surrendering to the Lord is surrendering all thoughts and actions, not

wishing for the fruits of the action, not doing the action to gain its fruit,

but doing the action because it is one's duty. The act is dedicated to the

Lord, and the results, therefore, are borne by the Lord. Such surrender

envisages full faith and complete reliance on God as the doer of all deeds:

Rely on the Lord and accept whatever is your lot. He is in you, with you. He

knows what to give and when. He is full of Prema (love). The path of total

surrender to the will of the Lord is the safest one and is sure to produce the

desired result. The only condition is that the surrender should be true and

complete. Baba emphatically declares: Surrender to me only. When the surrender

is complete and all acts, words and thoughts are dedicated to the Lord along

with all their consequences then he has promised that he will free you from

sin and sorrow. The practice of complete and unqualified spiritual surrender is

a spiritual exercise of a very high order. It costs not less than everything.

The greatest obstacle to this is our ego, the big 'I' which takes pride in its

supremacy over everything and queers the pitch of our surrender. It is

necessary, therefore, to cross the service to suffering and the afflicted is

another sure way of earning the grace of the Lord. Service to the society and

the community is our obligatory duty since we are part of the society and the

community. In fact, we are an integral part of the whole community of mankind.

If we do not serve God in the form of our unfortunate brothers and sisters, how

can we serve God or experience a sense of oneness with the divine father? We

have to work incessantly for the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.

In all important world religions, as well as the tenets of humanism, there is

great stress on service to the poor,

needy, diseased and afflicted. It is said that service to mankind is service to

God. The motivating force for undertaking selfless service to our unfortunate

brothers and sisters is, of course, our love and compassion and the realization

that all are the important components of the same divinity that presides over

the destiny of all mankind. In this sense, the act of serving others becomes a

spiritual discipline, which engenders spiritual joy and satisfaction to the

server. It promotes the awareness within us in no uncertain terms that we are

in others; others' suffering is our suffering and the joy of the others is our

joy. Such a feeling is unique and entirely salutary; it broadens our vision and

widens our compassion. As Baba has rightly pointed out, If the individual is

deluded into believing that he is serving others then woe be to him, for there

is no other at all. All are one; one man's sorrow is everyone's sorrow. The

fundamental flaw is the ignorance

of man. If only he was wise, he would have known that all individuals are waves

on the surface of the Self-same Ocean. Thus service can develop into a highly

beneficial spiritual discipline and with constant practice it becomes

indispensable and essential trait of our very nature. Furthermore, the joy we

derive from selfless service blossoms into detachment. When we serve God in

others, we find that God is resident in our own hearts. The desire for selfish

gains vanishes and we experience lasting happiness. As Baba has said, One

cannot cross the ocean of this cycle of births and deaths by visiting many

sacred places, nor one can do it by performing japa or studying Sastras (holy

books). It is only possible to do so by performing Sewa or service. The

obvious lesson is that service to suffering humanity enables us to grow

spiritually by expressing our love in action. Thus, we should be grateful to

those who offer us

opportunity to serve them and have thus opened for us the glimpse of the

celestial city where God resides. Finally, the supreme motivation for our

resonant call and anguished cry is what we call our devotion to the Lord.

Devotion is the latent quality in the heart of man that has come into his proud

possession mainly on account of his noble and virtuous antecedents in his former

life. As we know, according to the doctrine of karma we reap what we have sown

in our past lives: there is no escape from the consequence of karma. But

devotion to God removes the bad effects of karma. The good, virtuous and noble

deeds done in the past lives influence our prarabdha (earned destiny) and have

the capacity to offset the adverse effect of such karma. It is in this sense

that devotion, whole-hearted devotion to the Lord, burns away all our sins and

shortcomings and makes us a vessel for the blessings of the Lord now and

forever more.

In the words of Jonathan Roof, Devotion is a mystery of the heart. No amount of

argument can persuade us to feel devotion towards the Lord, for it is the bond

between the creator and the created, which surpasses our rational

understanding. Perhaps, it is our nature to feel and express devotion. It may

result from lifetimes of spiritual striving. Actually devotion is comprised of

many feelings, emotions and thoughts. It includes gratitude, reverence,

adoration, love, thanksgiving; even fear of sin, but ultimately all

descriptions must fail. For, in truth, devotion is only experienced by the

bhaktha as the bhaktha is understood only by the Lord. The spiritual path of

devotion to God is called in the Hindu religious texts as bhakthi marg, the

other paths are the way of selfless action (karma yoga) and the way of

knowledge and wisdom (jnana yoga). Each of these paths is difficult to practice

as each

demands the reduction and annihilation of the ego to be able to merge with the

divine principle. However, in the present age, bhakthi marg or the way of

devotion is the easiest to practice. The bhakthi devotee seeks to realize God

by reducing ego to nothing. When our ego disappears, only God is left. Devotion

promotes humility and surrender to divine will. Sai Baba has made this point

very clear when he dwells on the excellence of the devotional path. He says:

Bhakthi is the through carriage. Though it may be detached From one train and

connected to another, if you get into it, You I need not worry; so long as you

stick to your place, It is bound to take you to your destination. Fervent

devotion to the Lord is the first step to the spiritual ladder, always be

tempered with duty and discipline. Baba's injunction to each one of us is:

Imbibe the ideals of duty,

devotion and discipline. Devotion must be tested in the crucible of discipline.

It must be directed on the lines of duty. Devotion is a full‑time

endeavour. It consists in seeing divinity in everyone and in all places. Its

aim not only is self­transformation but also God realization. When grief

overtakes you, you run to God-when joy is restored you throw him overboard.

Bhakthi is not temporary salve. It is unbroken contemplation of God without any

interposing thought or feeling. How do we start on the path of devotion towards

God? There is no formula absolute for such a beginning. It depends largely on

the temperament and sensibility of the aspirant. If his heart is full of love,

universal love, he sets off on his journey pretty soon and with extreme

confidence. Because he loves God already, the Lord himself takes the full

responsibility and becomes his mentor and guide. The devotee establishes his

own particular and

favourite relationship with God. No single relation for all is either necessary

or desirable. One person may assume the attitude of a child towards the

parent; another may love God as a friend or companion; yet another like Mira

may love God as a spouse or a bridegroom. What is of the greatest significance

is the intensity of that love, the sanction of the weight of feeling. All forms

of relationship is accepted by God so long as the craving and the yearning arise

from the very core of the heart. So, we come to the conclusion that there are

different modes of calling the divine master and if we endeavour to please the

Lord and to ~appropriate him through coronets and garlands of deep devotion and

love, God is bound to listen to us and our prayers are answered immediately.

Baba has said that one should yearn for him and lead a life of constant

devotion, ardour and self-surrender. The crux of the problem is the steady,

constant and continual devotion. God is ignored in sunshine; he is wanted only

when there is night. Devotion must persist and flourish, unaffected by time,

place and circumstance. The Lord guides and protects us when we surrender to

his will. To win grace, however, we must immerse ourselves in God and strive to

do his will. It is God's word that if you have devotion in God, he will look

after all your future. He will look after all the welfare that is due to you.

The culmination of full‑time devotion is seeing God in all things. Then,

all events and beings are seen in the light of God. Nothing is separate from

God, for when we are filled with God, we see only God. Then we know beyond

doubt that we have reached the summit of the practice. We experience joy and

peace beyond measure. Sai Baba has said the last word about bhakthi which is

the consummation of our love for the eternal Absolute who draws all of us like

a magnet unto him. Baba

says: Bhakthi is the state of mind in which one has no separate existence apart

from God. His very breath is God, his every act is God, for God; his thoughts

are of God; his words are uttered by God, about God. For like the fish which

can only live in waterman can only live in God in peace and happiness. With

this submission about the supreme and paramount value of devotion as the pitch

and the volume of our supplication to the Divine, we again return to the

glorious and august presence of Sathya Sai Baba in our midst who symbolizes the

Eternal Absolute and the Ultimate Reality, the reservoir and fountainhead of all

love, power and glory. He is a Ray from the Supreme to take humanity to the life

eternal and to offer us liberation from the recurrent and painful cycle of death

and birth. It is indeed our duty to take full advantage of his divine presence.

All we need to do is to follow the guidelines given by him for living up to the

exacting

standards set by him. And the rest is not our business. The loving merciful Lord

who is spreading the splendour of his redemptive love all round through every

nook and corner of the world, will see to it that we reach our destination and

be worthy of his love now and forever more. Sathya Sai Baba, like Krishna and

Jesus Christ, is the path, the way and the pilgrim, the means and the goal. Sai

Baba says that love is his form and that consciousness expands by and through

the fostering, cultivation and expansion of love. Teaching love by love for

love and through acts of love, unconditional, selfless love the Avatar gives

the faith, strength and inspiration to reach for heaven and to that glorious

unitary state beyond. Baba has penned the following inspiring message to all

the spiritual aspirants who strive to reach that blessed state of Being,

Awareness and Bliss: Let the different faiths exist. Let them flourish. Let the

glory of God be sung in all

languages and a variety of tunes. This should be the ideal: respect the

differences between the faiths, and recognize them as valid as far as they do

not extinguish the flame of unity. I have not come to speak on behalf of any

particular religion. I have not come on a mission of publicity for any sect or

creed nor have I come to collect followers for any doctrine. I have come to

tell you of this universal, unitary path, this path of love, this duty of love,

this obligation to love... The totality of divine energy has come into humanity

as Sathya Sai to go to each and everyone to wake up the slumbering divinity of

every human being. Even if in your sleepiness or in your weakness for sleep,

you growl, grumble or groan, kick, criticise, quarrel or cry, I will not

forsake you. I will not let your divinity to go to sleep. Mother never forsakes

the child she carries or lets the child fall down, even if the child works out

its resentment and anger on her. I

have come to help, to accompany and to carry you. I can never forsake you, I

will never fail in my duty to my children and I shall be very grateful to each

child of mine who helps my task... Wake up my children. Wake up to the dawn of

knowledge; wake up to your divine duties, wake up to your divine rights and wake

up to your divine reality. The central basic assumption in this study, which has

now been reiterated and stated precisely and tangibly with enough supportive

evidence, is that Sai Baba is a Ray from the Supreme. He is a divine power

station. As Professor Gokak has beautifully described: ... But these laws of

Nature can be transcended whenever a ray direct from the Supreme penetrates the

universe. This ray is power, will, thought and feeling combined in a solar

flash. The Word, which is at the very root of Creation, is a complex seed

symphony of Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and Love, Delight and Power ... When does

the ray descend?

As the Gita says, whenever righteousness is at a low ebb and the unrighteous

ride on the crest of the wave, the Ray takes human form to establish the reign

of Truth again, to protect the good and to punish the wicked. The present

moment of history is precisely a time of crisis when mankind is poised

precariously at the very brink of a precipice and a conflagration, a veritable

pralaya seems to be imminent, the advent of an Avatar was very much

anticipated. The saints and sages prayed and the Eternal Absolute, the Supreme

Brahman incarnated on earth as Sai Baba. He has been continuing his mission and

with the incessant labours of an Avatar has already cleared many of the mists

that had darkened not only the scenario of the world but also the outlook and

attitude of man. By his insistence on the age-old verities of truth, love,

righteousness, peace and non-violence and by the instrument of the magical

redemptive power of love, he has taken

us out of the black pall surrounding us and we now stand on the summit of the

hill from where we can visualize the resplendent minarets of that celestial

city which is our true home. Mankind has, thus, experienced the vision of the

divine and is engaged in the spiritual sadhana that would take the pilgrim to

his destination. As a fitting sequel to this, our last chapter, we would like

to quote from Howard Murphet's wonderful book Where the Road Ends the portion

that relates the exciting experience of Collin Best, a young technician of

Sydney, Australia who sensed the utter emptiness of the existential encounter

and took recourse to the techniques of meditation and astral projection or

travel outside the body. This is how Howard Murphet describes the momentous

experience of Collin Best: Then one day, after about eight months, he made an

unexpected breakthrough in astral projection. Finding himself outside his

physical body, he was so

alarmed that he went straight back to it. But he persisted, going a little

further each time, until eventually he travelled right around the world... It

was eight O'clock in the evening in the year 1972, he told me, when he made a

desperate effort to breach the solid wall of the mind. He sat cross-legged on

the floor in front of a full-length mirror and concentrated on the point

between his two eyes. For twenty minutes nothing at all happened. Then several

strange things happened. The first was the production of copious saliva from

his mouth. When this stopped, tears began to run down his cheeks, and after

that came a tingling in his scalp ... the fourth was that his image in the

mirror completely disappeared and greyness took its place. A strange voice near

him asked, 'What do you want to happen next?' Somewhat startled, Collin asked,

'Who are you? 'A friend.' 'What is your name? 'Peter.' 'Oh!' said Collin who

had been brought up as a Christian. 'Peter, the fisherman? 'No,' the voice

replied. 'He is on a different plane.' ... Something prompted Collin to ask if

there was anybody on earth today who was as great as, or greater than, Jesus

Christ? 'Yes,' Peter replied, 'There is one who is greater.' 'What is his

name?' 'I cannot tell you.' 'Well, where is he?' 'I cannot tell you that

either! 'Why?' 'Because it's your search.' 'Well, when will I find this one?'

'In fifteen years' time! Collin could think of nothing else but this one living

being on earth greater than Jesus, He could not wait fifteen years. He must

leave his body and find this great one wherever he was on earth. So leaving his

physical body sitting cross­legged before a mirror, he was over to India in a

flash hovering over the country and looking down from

his astral body ... He thought undoubtedly, this great one for whom he was

searching, must be surrounded by a bright light. So, soaring slowly in his

astral body above India, he concentrated on finding this bright light ... It

was no longer before he spotted it outshining the pale street lights ... he

went straight towards the light and says that within the time of a heart­beat,

he was there standing before what looked to him like a temple ... He says, 'In

front of me, sitting on a stage, was a small man, dressed in a red-orange robe

with a mop of fuzzy hair...' Towards the end of his fifteen years' wait,

Collin met a girl named Sue who had similar interests to his own. ... One day

Collin wanted a certain book and Sue told him that he could find it in a

certain bookstall in Sydney. Obtaining the book, he took home and here is what

happened in his own words: 'I turned a few pages and there, lo and behold, was

a photo of the little fuzzy headed

figure sitting in a chair. My heart almost stopped. But now I knew his name and

address.' ... Within a very short time, Collin was at Prasanthi Nilayam sitting

at the feet of Sathya Sai Baba. It was now 1987, just fifteen years after he had

tried in vain to come to the feet of the great one. Stranger is the story of

Klaus Remme, who was told by a German doctor: 'When you are sixty years old,

you will look into the eyes of God. Now prepare yourself by living a good

life.' This was prophesied forty‑two years before Klaus Remme actually

sat on the darshan line at Prasanthi Nilayam and looked into the eyes of Swami.

Earlier, he had seen in a dream vision that Swami held his face in both hands

and said, 'My love for you is eternal.' Klaus Remme responded, 'I love you,

too.' On this note, triumphant note, we would like to close the chapter

knowing full well that in spiritual realm, what we call the end is often the

beginning of an hope that the love and blessings of Sai Baba will be our safe

guide and lighthouse to cross the ocean of the samsara.

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