Mesmerized, Totally Spellbound and Dumbfounded

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Sairam.

 

Mr. Shrinivas, in his late 70's, shares his experience in Brindavan in Brindavan (http://groups.google.combrindavan)

 

Sairam.

 

Humbly yours

Viswanathan (http://azhagi.com)

 

 

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Brindavan - the abode of eternal peace

Cc: seenufour

10 August, 2007 3:16 AM

Sathya Sai Baba and humble me

 

With folded hands I beseech everyone who would have chosen to openthis mail to forgive me for the long-drawn-out and meanderingcontents, if only for the Sake of Sri Sathya SaibabaBy my very nature, I have never been dogmatic about any beliefs or forthat matter even the so-called ‘scientific’ disbeliefs. All the same,I am a person who is thoroughly convinced about the limitations ofordinary mortals in the same way I have an unwavering andindefatigable belief in God. Further I thought it was a sheer wasteof time, arguing and debating about His existence or Non-existence.The same nature of mine had kept me from prying into or‘investigating’ the veracity of different people’s attributingDivinity to different famous persons at different times. As long ashumanity was benefited, and its sufferings mitigated by these greatmen, what necessity was there for men, who should attend to the workcut out for them, such as family’s welfare, or if the could do more,social welfare?Now I wish to narrate a few incidents, in my life, as briefly aspossible. I chucked my job as an executive company, in a huff, becauseits management changed hands between an American firm and an Indianone, disregarding the advices of my friendly co-executives and otherfriends. Though, an incorrigible spendthrift, I banked upon my familylanded property and had planned to go back to my village and startagriculture! As, fate would have it, It was at that very time, mybrother (older to my about 10 years) had decided to settle down in ourvillage. For some reasons, he was repugnant to my joining them in thecultivation of our lands. I returned to Bangalore with may family withhopes of seeking employment.At that time, my father-in-law (who happened to be my own cousin)offered to look after my wife and our children on the condition shewould leave her husband (poor me!) in Bangalore to fend for myself. Mybeloved wife rejected the offer outright. She told her father she,with her husbands with their children would share the misfortunes andfortunes undividedly with total surrender to the Lord.It was during the above period, on the birthday of my second daughter,my wife, a (very orthodox lady, who would never missed her daily pujaduring morning and evening), prevailed upon me to go, with her and ourchildren, to Brindavan for a Dharshan of Sathya Sai Baba, passivelyand mechanically, took them all to Brindavan and stood on a row alongwith hundreds of devotees who had thronged on both sides in front ofthe entrance. At present the crowds piling up daily, at Brindavan forBaba’s Dharshan, have become thousand-fold of what we used toexperience, those days (1968).Baba came out of the entrance and began to walk along the path betweenthe excited rows of devotees. Every one began to fall prostrate on hisfeet. When I too did so, my sunglasses fell to the ground much to myshame and surprise. I heard Baba say in Telugu, Oh! Oh! your glasseshave fallen down. By that time I picked up my glasses, Baba had gonefurther away blessing the devotees, lined up on both sides of hispath, for about a furlong or so. I saw that while walking upto the endof the row and returning, Baba chose to pause before only a handful ofthe devotees and listen to whatever they expressed. Thus, on hisreturn, he stood before me. Out of my heart I wish to inform everyonethat I was simply mesmerized by his August presence. Even when he bentdown slightly to listen to whatever I wished to say, I just remainedtotally spellbound and dumbfounded. Baba quickly brought out afragrant “magizhampu’ I don’t know the botanical or English word forit) flower and offered it to me saying in Telugu “everything will turnout quite wellâ€. Thus saying directed his look towards my seconddaughter. Only then, I spluttered ‘this is her birthday. ImmediatelyBaba brought out a handful of fragrant vibhuti and offered it to thechild and blessed her with open hands. Our entire family fell at hisfeet (this time, my sunglasses tucked away in my pocket)While I remained speechless, several devotees came up to us to tellhow blessed and lucky we were to receive such heaven-sent gifts andBlessings from Baba.The most unexpected happening after we received Baba’s Blessing wasthis. One of my boyhood friends who passed I.A.S and eventually becamea highly respected Secretary in Government Of India had come toBangalore on a short visit to his elder brother who was living nearbyto our home in Indiranagar, Bangalore. After he learnt that I am theirneighbour and about my family’s condition, he called on me just tocall me a ‘mad and hasty fool’ for quitting my high post in a reputedcompany.

A few days after he returned to New Delhi, the secretary of my formercompany came to our home in his car just to tell me that his boss(General Manager) has asked me to see him, the next day.When I went and saw the General Manager, this is what he said. “TheChairman’s Advisor has asked me whether it would be in order if I callyou and offer the same post which you, of your own accord had left†Iimmediately gave my consent because I know about your acumen and moreimportantly your sincerity and honesty†Now what do you sayMr.Shrinivas? For me his question was like asking a poor and hungryman what to do with too much bread.I don’t know what others may say about the above happening. For me itcertainly was in a way a miracle.Later, over the years, I have remained a steadfast devotee of Baba.Unseen, he has saved me from several excruciating circumstances.Divine Baba’s Immortal advice“Help Ever, Hurt Never. Love All Serve Allâ€Om Sri Sai RamI give below an extract from the book “Almanac of the Uncanny†firstpublished in 1995 by Reader’s Digest, only with a keen desire to letthe public know how hesitant the Westerners to accept the glorioustruth of India and its truly Divine Saints. The last lines of thearticle (highlighted by me in red) will show how cunningly (in asubtle way) they have, used two negatives to prove one positive viz:Baba is, all questions asked, is Divinity personified.“It is said that even as in infant Sri Satya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi,near Bangalore in the south of India, had the amazing ability toproduce sweets from an empty bag. In 1940, at the age of 13, he wasstung by scorpion and from then on seemed gifted with increasinglypsychic powers, The guru, now known as Sai Baba claims to be thereincarnation of a Hindu miracle worker called Sai Baba of Shirdi, whodied in 1918. Sai Baba has an estimated 50 million followers.Sai Baba has been seen to materialize large quantities of vibhuti, orholy ash from his fingertips, pluck egg-shaped objects from his mouth(my comment Reader’s Digest peopled couldn’t even identify it withsacred Linga), produce gold objects, jewellery, food, photographs andcoins liquids, make flowers thrown haphazardly onto the ground, formperfect words, and cause statues to appear from sand. His followerssay he resurrected a man who had been dead for three days, and heregularly performs healings to person of at a distance. He claims tohave complete telepathic knowledge of all his devotees’ activities.Although Sai Baba does not read books or meditate and has had littleformal education, he quotes from the Bible, the Koran and Karl Marx,as well as from ancient Hindu scriptures.Some investigators point out that Sai Baba’s miracles are performedamongst people steeped in superstition and belief in the supernaturaland that his followers may exaggerate or even invent in order topromote their master. Dale Beyerstein, a biophysicist at Simon FrazerUniversity, Vancouver, Canada challenged the guru’s claims in seriesof articles entitled ‘Sai Baba’s Miracles, An Over-view’ in the IndianSkeptic during 1992-1993. Beyerstein dismissed Sai Baba’s telepathicawareness of his followers and demonstrated that his allegedlyprofound knowledge on subjects is often wrong. His resurrecting thedead is unsubstantiated, and some say he practices tricks known to allstage magicians. Mr. B. Premanand, a former Sai Baba devotee, now theconvener of the Indian Committee for the Scientific Investigation ofClaims of the Paranormal, has spent year in investigating Indian holymen and can replicate more than 1200 feats attributed to Sai Baba andothers. But scientific observers have yet to find definite proof thatSai Baba is not a genuine man of miracles “Now I wish to reproduce here below, two quotes from Baba.

Words of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba taken from his Biography:

"MyMission is to grant you Courage and Joy, to drive away Weakness andFear. Do not condemn yourselves as sinners; sin is a misnomer for whatare really errors, provided you repent sincerely and resolve not tofollow Evil again. Pray to the Lord to give you the strength toovercome the habits which had enticed you when you were ignorant."

(Taken from the link http://vahini.org/sss/index.html)"I have come to light the lamp of Love in your hearts, to see that itshines day by day with added luster. I have not come on any mission orpublicity for any sect or creed or cause nor have I come to collectfollowers for any doctrine. I have no plans to attract disciples ordevotees into my fold or any fold. I have come to tell you of theUniversal, Unitary Faith, this Path of Love, this Duty of Love, thisObligation to Love." (4 July 1968, Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

Both the above quotes taken from the link http://www.saibabalinks.org/The second quotation has a special significance for me, because, ByBaba’s Grace I had the good fortune to attend that Prayer Meeting andlisten to the speech (as usual, translated from Telugu, then andthere, by one of his disciples –unfortunately, atthis moment, I am unable to recall his name he was a retiree from adistinguished position in Government Service).Read the 16 Precious and Pithy Sayings of Sri Sathya Sai BabaTHERE IS ONLY ONE RELIGION-THE RELIGION OF LOVETHERE IS ONLY ONE LANGUAGE- LANGUAGE OF THE HEARTIT IS BETTER TO BE A FISH THAN SELFISHLIFE IS A CHALLENGE - MEET IT!LIFE IS A DREAM - REALIZE ITTHE END OF EDUCATION IS CHARACTERWORK IS WORSHIP DUTY IS GODMONEY COMES AND GOES, MORALITY COMES AND GROWSFOLLOW THE MASTER, FACE THE DEVIL, FIGHT TO THE END, FINISH THE GAMEMY LIFE IS MY MESSAGELOVE ALL SERVE ALLPEACE AND JOY CAN BE SECURED ONLY BY REALIZING THAT THEY ARE ONE'S OWNTRUE NATURE!TIME WASTED IS LIFE WASTEDWATCH YOUR WORDS, ACTIONS, THOUGHTS, CHARACTER, HEART (If you join thefirst letter of each word it is ‘watch’GOD IS LOVE, LIVE IN LOVETHERE IS ONLY ONE CASTE, THE CASTE OF HUMANITY