What Is Baba's Mission

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What Is

Baba's Mission

By

H. H. Sri Saipadananda

Radhakrishna Swamiji

Mysticism denotes that attitude of mind which involves a direct Immediate,

intuitive apprehension of God. It signifies the highest attitude of which man

is capable, namely, a beatific contemplation of God 'and its dissemination in

the society and the world.

- Gurudev Ranade

 

All roads lead to Rome. All paths margas lead to Sri Baba, Sri Krishna, and Sri Rama are all

divinely gifted or perfected souls and expressions of divinity transforming

every one who comes into contact with their divine personality - especially

those who are drawn through Rinanubandha by their

divinity and that are the purpose or mission of their lives. So, Baba has not

one mission, but a hundred missions. Protecting the good (virtuous) punishing

or reforming the wicked, establishing Dharma (virtue) or its hold on the

people, are the functions of divine personalities and Baba was performing all

these functions. A mission may come in. as a part of these functions.

 

Saints expound all the margas and find which marga or

combination of which margas would suit each

approaching devotee and give the same to him. Thus Baba adopted every marga but in particular one may not that predominance in

his methods was neither for ritual nor for Vedic study, but for living in

consonance with the supreme manifestation of Divinity in Him. His mission is to

help every one; that means, of course, every one capable of benefiting —

not persons who come in an unreceptive mood. Baba quoted occasionally his

master's or Guru's behest that " as he has received liberally from his

master, he must similarly distribute liberally amongst those that approached

him. " Baba was distributing not merely wealth, worldly relief and comforts

but also spiritual blessings to all and sundry those were capable of receiving

those benefits.

 

To us Sai devotees, Baba is not only a

teacher but a controller from within the ever watching Guardian Angel. He

regulated the lives of those who wholly surrendered to him. While doing service

incidentally the work of conveying moral teachings was carried on by Baba and

he gave occasional talk about morality.

 

‘Behave properly,’ 'Behave

with integrity and probity. Hurting others is sinful was the advice given by Baba

to Shama and Rao Sahib Galwanker

which will suit us too. Baba expected people to act us to this teaching.

 

When a great saint lending a perfectly

pure life as a Samartha Sadguru

and helping thousands that came to him in the course of about half a century on

their way to God is to be described, his utterances are sure of ethics and

spirituality and it is neither possible nor desirable to make anything like an

attempt to give a fall account of his moral teachings - Baba's influencing

devotees was not and is not mainly by any sort of express teaching. He was

molding his children as he called his devotees, from inside and he used not

merely words but also his gaze, his touch and even his aura or the will power

to remove undesirable tendencies and influences and replace them by useful and

holy ones.

 

Even today it is his inner working that

counts in the improvement and building up of the devotee. His presence, his

gaze, his touch had all their effect. Each of these had its own peculiar effect

as intended by Baba. Baba in many ways sowed seeds of morals and spirituality

in the hearts of those approaching him, and some-times almost imperceptibly. Whenever

he rendered any worldly help, that help was accompanied by a spiritual seed

sowing and the beneficiary remembered Baba with faith, love and admiration for

his power, guidance and kindness. These thoughts were the seeds from which a

huge tree of faith would grow up later on and Baba who sowed the seeds mostly,

watered and manure his plant and in many a case, beginning with worldly

benefit, the devotee got on to higher and higher spiritual levels.

 

(to be contd…..)

(Source Shri Sai Padananda April 1993)