Sai message for the day

[Guest guest]

Bhagavata, besides extolling God and His divinity, also deals with

the greatness and nobility of His devotees Watching devotees shedding

tears in ecstasy on listening to your discourses on Bhagavata has

been our experience. Would you kindly tell us, Sai Baba, the essence

and the main principles embodied in this text to be followed by both

youngsters and us adults, for our benefit?

 

There is always an intimate relationship between God and His

devotees. God makes His devotees realise and experience His

omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence through His divine

miracles. The Divine and the Devotee are interdependent and one is

meaningless without the other. Therefore, Bhagavata, while praising

the glory of God, also speaks of the devotion, the spirit of

surrender, the nature of the spiritual path and the sense of

detachment of the devotees also.

 

Bhagavata proposes the doctrine of devotion with which action must be

performed, thereby leading to wisdom. No intermediary can stand

between God and the devotee. They are directly connected with each

other. It is only your devotion that makes God confer grace on you.

It can also be said that the culture of Bharat has these three main

components, bhakta, Sai Baba and bagavatam. God is the only refuge of

a devotee. He is his wealth, life and everything.

 

The young boy Dhruva wanted to sit in the lap of his father. But his

stepmother did not allow him to do so. He returned home heavy hearted

and after informing his mother, decided to go to a forest and do

intense penance. In the thick forest, unmindful of the heat, cold and

rain, he undertook penance. God was pleased with him and manifested

Himself before him saying that He would grant any boon he wanted.

Dhruva then said, " Swami! I want you! " God responded thus: " Dhruva!

You wanted one thing for which you did all this penance and now you

are asking for another thing. Initially you wanted the boon to be

granted to you so that it would entitle you to sit in the lap of your

father. But, now you say a different thing, that you want Me. Have

you not heard that your thought, word and deed should be one and the

same - manasyekam , vacasyekam , karman yekam mahatmanam. A noble man

should see that there is harmony in thought, word and deed. First,

get your desire fulfilled. Rule your kingdom for some period of time

and discharge your duties in the years to come. Finally, I bless you

such that everybody will remember you after you leave the earthly

scene. You will remain the only glittering star eternally fixed in

its own home in the sky. " This is what is meant by " The proper study

of mankind is man " .

 

Prahlada, in spite of being thrown down from a mountaintop into a

raging fire, or made to drink deadly poison, or trampled under the

feet of a huge elephant, or drowned in a turbulent ocean, did not

even for a short while stop chanting God's name. He went on singing

His glory unceasingly. He did not pay heed to the teachings of his

gurus, Chanda and Amarka. He even went a step further when he said to

his father, " You could conquer the whole world. You could control the

movement of stars and planets, the sun and the moon and all others.

You could control all the five elements, but you couldn't conquer

your inner foes! " When his father, Hiranyakasipu asked him where God

was, he said, " You don't doubt his presence at any point of time

anywhere in the universe. God is everywhere! " Hiranyakasipu

asked, " Prahlada! Is your God present in this pillar? " Prahlada

replied, " Yes. " When Hiranyakasipu broke the pillar, as you all know,

from there sprang up the Lord in the avatar of Narasimha.

 

Here you should know the inner meaning of this momentous event. A

pillar is an upadhi, a vesture or body. `Breaking down the pillar'

means `giving up the body-attachment'. So long as you have the body

attachment, you will be full of ego, pride, possessiveness, jealousy,

etc., which will blind you to the omnipresent Divinity. Prahlada's

unconditional love of and surrender to God was total.

 

Gajendra, the king of elephants, was caught by a crocodile, and

couldn't come out of the river. Gajendra struggled and exerted all

his strength to come out of the jaws of the crocodile, but without

any success. He came ultimately to a stage when he was left with no

strength and energy of his own to continue the struggle. He cried out

in a fervently prayerful voice to Govinda, his saviour, " Oh God! You

are my only refuge, my only succour. I don't know anyone and you

alone can save me from this inextricable predicament. Who else can

come at this hour to my rescue? Oh God! Save me, save me, save me! "

It was then that he was saved from the jaws of the crocodile.

 

You should know the inner meaning of this whole episode. The river is

your life. The crocodile represents your desires and sense-

indulgence. Gajendra, is the jiva, individual. He initially caught

hold of a tree tightly with his trunk and prayed. God did not

respond. It was only when he loosened the grip and lifted the trunk

upward and prayed to God whole-heartedly for his rescue that God

saved him. You should take this episode as another instance of

unconditional devotion or surrender. Sri Mahavishnu, the Lord sending

his wheel called Sudars'ana killed the crocodile and saved

Gajendra. 'Su' means `Good' and `dars'ana' means `looks of grace'

(compassion). So, it is His grace that saves you and not your

strength, power, wealth, etc. God reacts only when you surrender to

Him absolutely.

 

Similar was the situation of Draupadi when she was humiliated and

sought to be disrobed in the open court. She held her sari tightly

with one hand and prayed to God, trying to save and protect her

modesty. God did not react. It was only when she joined both her

hands in namaskara later that Krishna saved her.

 

It means that the ten fingers of both her hands were brought together

when she was praying to Krishna. The jnanendriyas, five senses of

perception and the karmendriyas, five senses of action represented by

the five fingers of each hand have to be surrendered to God by

joining both the hands while we pray to God. God never favours

partnership. He never accepts part-time devotion. A devotee should

think of God and sing His glory everywhere all along and not merely

when he is in distress and difficulties. A child will never leave its

mother alone even if she beats it. It hugs its mother all the more

strongly when it is beaten. Similarly, there is every need for you to

cling to God and grow ever more in faith when you face difficulties.

Man's adversity is God's proximity. Man's calamity is God's

opportunity. You are not at all a devotee if you run away from God or

lose faith in Him because of the difficulties you encounter in life.

Like this, the entire Bhagavata is full of such episodes elucidating

the sincerity, steadfastness, unflinching faith, total surrender and

deep devotion of certain devotees of outstanding stature while at the

same time glorifying and extolling the grandeur, love and compassion

of God.