Heart is the light bulb

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Answering to a question by John Hislop about pointed concentration on

the form of God, Sri Sathya Sai Baba says:

 

The best sadhana is that every act through the day be done as worship

of God. God is like the electric power. Heart is the light bulb. The

wiring is the discipline. The switch is the intelligence. Just turn

the switch and there is light.

 

John Hislop describes how Sri Sathya Sai Baba answers to his question

in respect of the divinity and universal omnipresence of Swami.

 

H. Swami, here just now we actually witnessed a part of this amazing

story. How can this all be? Swami holds the entire universe in His

Hand. He bears the responsibility for the inconceivably immense

entire universe. And how can he at the same time give this detailed

attention to the lives of individual devotees?

 

Sai : It is as you say. Swami holds the universe in His hand. But

devotees learn of the glory and majesty through Swami's attention to

each one, personally. That Swami holds the universe, yet at the same

time fully cares for the lives of his devotees even to the smallest

detail is the measure of His glory that the devotee can understand.

That Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai is the translucent, all-pervasive Light

that never was on land or sea in recent times after the dawn of

kaliytiga nearly five thousand centuries ago cannot be called in

question. We have not only the concrete and irrefutable evidence of

astrology, Sai Baba's birth chart at the time of his nativity, the

opinion of experts in reading the aura surrounding the faces of

eminent human personalities, but also the personal testament of

devotees.

 

Most of these evidences have been discussed at some length in the

author's earlier volume, Sai Baba: The Rose-Fire of Heaven. However,

a brief resume may be given here for the sake of coherence and

continuity. The first evidence is that of the ancient Jyotish Shastra

enumerating the principles of astrology. The position of the

ascendant in the lagna, the nakshatras and other major planets or

constellations at the nativity time of the subject is supposed to be

very crucial and significant in determining the life and character of

the subject. The study of the birth chart of Sri Sathya Sai Baba

reveals the nature and quality of his divine descent. Born in Akshaya

Kartik when as many as four powerful planets were staying in

conjunction in the ascendant. The combination of Sun, Saturn, Venus

and Mercury indicated beyond any shadow of doubt the advent of a Maha

Purush, a great being or an avatar was born as the very quintessence

of Light and Love in order to herald a golden era for humanity.

 

Many sai devotees even believe that the advent of the Sai Avatar had

been prophesied thousands of years ago in the Upanishads as also in

Bhrigu Samhita, Nadi documents scribbled on palm leaves by ancient

sages and seers and in Satcharitragrantham, the repository of ancient

wisdom. These priceless records describe the divine attributes of Sai

Baba whose principal task is dharma paripalan, paropkar and bhakta

samrakshan. He has laghima, anima and mahimas, the power to shower

grace and splendour. He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. It

is also predicted that his powers would increase tenfold at the time

of pralaya, calamity and dissolution. He will show himself at many

places as column of light and perform many divine manifestations like

keeping an airplane airborne without petrol. Finally, it is mentioned

that he will unfurl a dharma dhwaza after the completion of his

avataric mission at Whitefield, Bangalore. It is difficult for us to

disbelieve all these predictions. From the recorded evidence of so

many miraculous manifestations of the omnipresence and omniscience of

Baba and his Christ-like power of resurrecting the dead, multiplying

the quantity of food etc., one is inclined to believe in the divine

advent of Sai Baba.

 

However, the greatest achievement of Sathya Sai Baba is to turn

people Godward and plant in the human hearts the seed of faith and

impregnate those hearts with the elixir of pure, selfless love and

thus bring about the transformation of hearts.

 

Another strong evidence of Baba's divinity comes from an entirely

different source, Frank Varoneshky, a professor at the University of

Arizona, U.S.A., who has earned the distinction of being an

undisputed expert in the study of the halo or aura that surrounds the

faces of individuals. He has the privilege of studying the aura on

the faces of eminent individuals in all walks of life. According to

him, the attendant aura speaks volumes about the character and

personality of the subject. Whereas the aura round the faces of

ordinary mortals is, more or less, non­descript, null and void, the

aura encircling the face of a superhuman person or an avatar is

expansive and its lustre extends up to the sky which is limitless.

Professor Varoneshky was bewildered and enthralled to see the aura

round the face of Sathya Sai Baba. According to him, it was a white

and pink aura of the colour of love. This aura became golden like sun

and turned into blue colour, which is the colour of love when the

Majans were being sung. Professor Varoneshky suggests that this aura

signified the boundless energy of love and he has no hesitation in

saying that aura wise Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai was God, the diamond

like brilliance of his eyes expressing the unfathomable depth of his

love.

 

The personal experiences of many a devotee richly substantiate this

aspect of Sai Baba, the dramatic operative principle of his divinity

manifested as a Ray from the Supreme. The present author himself

experienced the surge of waves and waves of unearthly light emanating

from the eyes of Sri Sathya Sai Baba on that fateful day of summer,

1973 as he stood face to face with Baba in an attic room by the side

of the interview room. It was not only ecstasy, but also sublimity

that filled the vessel of his being. The author still recapitulates

that moment of epiphany, akin to the intersection time when one is

very near illumination and experiences the process of being burnt out.

 

An American devotee Jack Scher records his intimate experience of his

first encounter with Sai Baba in images of poetry. He says:

 

One personal leela was my discovery that during bhajans I could close

my eyes and suddenly the whole scene I had been watching turned into

beautiful shades of intense rose, pink, mauve and orange. At first I

thought it was an after image but the scene kept changing. The

audience would fade and I'd see huge palaces with gigantic walls and

turrets. When Baba came outside, I could close my eyes and the whole

scene would turn into a soft and yet vivid pink. He lit the sky with

his presence. We are aware that in some of the materializations,

specially photographs and cards, there is the imprint of three

words : T.P.S. -Howard Murphet records in one of his books, Sai Baba:

Avatara. Baba answered his query and explained the fact that T.P.S.

was his trade mark. It meant Tara Parthi Sai. We can conjecture that

it also might mean Tara Patri Sai and Tara Prema Sai.