The Call Divine

[Guest guest]

The Call Divine

By Janak

Laroiya (Noida U.P.)

We were all born in this

world to learn to know ourselves as souls. How are we going to know our true

selves, if we don't conquer this little self, this flesh, and this emotional,

moody, constantly changing mind? And it can be done, by self-discipline and by

practice of deep meditation, by devotion to God, making Him the Polestar of our

lives; by fixing the mind on that one Goal. Man's consciousness is always

centered in something. It may be sex, money, or possessions. One has to be

fixed in something, whether an object, an emotion, or in the soul. Our choice

is as simple as that. What is it going to be? Every one should learn to be

anchored in Him who is changeless. That is the wisdom taught by Lord Krishna in

the Bhagavad Gita.

Sri Sri

Daya Mata heard Sai Baba's name for the first time in 1958, when I was

working in the Indian Embassy at Katmandu, Nepal. Perhaps the time was not ripe for my anchorage to Lord Sainath. In 1959, I was posted back to New Delhi and from my Office-Secretary I got a picture of Sai Baba, books on him and Sai Leela magazine.

 

I began worshipping Sai Baba and got all my prayers answered by Him. I started

penning my experiences to 'Sai Leela'

magazine. Day by day my devotion to Sai Baba

increased. After a couple of years, I got an invitation from Shirdi Samsthan to participate in

the Annual gathering of contributors to Sai Leela magazine. We had not visited Shirdi

till then and I took this as a sign from Sai Baba

that we should be at His feet.

 

I did not even know the

route to Shirdi. From New Delhi, I landed at Bombay and then hired a taxi to reach Shirdi

next morning. It was a new moon day and was raining heavily. Indeed it was a

difficult job for the driver also because of bad road condition and pouring

rain. It was Sai grace that we avoided a few mishaps

on the way and reached Shirdi safely.

 

On arrival at Shirdi we forgot all the discomforts of the previous night

journey. Myself and my wife were treated as V.I.P.

guests and comfortably accommodated. I had good 'darshan'

of the Master and went round Dwarakamayi, Guru Sthan, Lendi Bagh

etc., Baba was pouring His grace on us.

 

Since a few of my articles

had appeared in Sai Leela

magazine, I considered myself a great author and a very great Bhakta of Sai Baba. This ego made

me consider myself too great and looked upon other shabbily-dressed devotees as

not worthy of attending this annual gathering of Sai Leela contributors.

 

But in the ensuing

sessions, I found to my great dismay that there were stalwarts, people from all

walks of life - IAS officers, Doctors, Professors, Engineers, Scientists etc.,

and all of them were much ahead of me spiritually. In that session, Baba was

talking to me in whispers about my shortcomings and how I could correct myself.

By the time the gathering concluded, my mind was cleansed and Sai Baba made me consider 'absolutely nothing'. We thanked

Baba and took leave from Him to return home.

 

This

process of learning on my maiden visit to Shirdi has

made me more humble in the last forty years. Sai Baba

made me read a lot and take every event as 'divinely sent'. But I still feel I

have miles to go to reach the goal of 'Self-Realisation'.

 

(source Shri Saipadananda

Special Magazine)