Devotion to Shri Sai Baba by Sanjay M. Padia

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Devotion

to Shri Sai Baba

We all know that to obtain the blessings of divine personalities

such as Rama, Krishna, Maruti, Shiva, Ganapathi, etc... it takes years of unfailing devotion, before we are able to

reach their expectations. Any break in our devotion in the middle would create

a setback which may again take several years or more. Great saints such as Narasingh Mehta, Meerabai, Bhakta Prahlad spent most of

their lives immersed in devotion to Lord Krishna and as a result achieved not

only liberation but also sainthood. But the intensity of devotion which they

had cannot be compared to that of the devotees of today. I would not say that

today's devotees are insincere but the difference in the time factor is

obviously there.

 

We all belong to the 20th century when science and technology has

advanced so rapidly that the belief in the existence of God itself is being

doubted. The absence of belief in God is very much present amongst our youth,

who are more engrossed in their worldly pleasures than anything else.

 

In our country for instance, we see around us a lot of modern

hotels, clubs and bars where most of our young people are found to visit these

days. This has resulted in not only a deviation from the traditional Indian

culture but also a sharp decline in our moral standards. By imitating the

negative side of the Western culture, our youth's morale has stooped to a

record low level.

 

I am not against Western nations as such and

very much appreciating their economic development, science, technology, disci­pline

and honesty but instead of accepting these good points, we have chosen their

bad ones. In the midst of all this wholesale negative import, religion has no

place whatsoever.

 

I have met many friends and most of them often say that they doubt

the existence of God. I have no desire to elaborate to them on this issue since

they would refuse to believe even if I do so. But there are some who say that

they do believe in God and Personalities such as Rama,

Krishna etc. but they hardly have any time for devotion or thinking of God. And

there are also some who say that they do believe and even spend a little time

on prayer but find no relief from their miseries.

 

Let me first contradict the statement of those friends who say

that they don't have time for any devotion. Is this statement on their part

justified? Definitely not; Because time as a fact is

never available at all. It is we who have to create it. Just as we spend say 8

hours in sleep, 9 hours at work, and the balance 7 hours for entertainment we

are actually booking time accor­dingly. Assuming that we must sleep for 8 hours

and that we must work at our office for 9 hours we leave a balance of 7 hours

to be adjusted to suit our entertainments. Out of those 7 hours do you think

that these friends cannot spare even 15 minutes on devotion and that is

believable? I don't but I cannot say about our readers. Let us say the

available time is only 4 hours at the most. But even in these four hours can

they not spend 10 minutes at least? The actual underlying fact is our friends

just put forward a lame excuse. The real reasons are

a) They are not interested in any form of prayer, or devotion.

They would rather opt for interesting entertainments instead.

b) They are lazy.

The first reason is most obvious. Belief in God for such type of

youth is confined to the word ‘belief’, only. That belief does not

necessarily imply that they must be devoted also, according to them.

The other group of friends tells me that though they spend a

little time on prayer, their mind remains perturbed, and there is no end to

their difficulties. This is the point

that my topic in this article relates to:

(to be contd………)

Sanjay M. Padia

 

Calcutta (West Bengal)

Source Shri

Sai Leela Magazine June

1985