October 4th - the same test

[Guest guest]

In my schooling days, one frequent problem I used to face was like this:My teacher would come and announce a set of questions as " important questions

" . That means there is a very high probability for those questions to appear in the question paper in the forthcoming examination. So, I would sit and cram them a hundred times so that I would be ready to answer even if you wake me up at 12 AM in the mid-night and ask me. And finally in the examination hall, I would be shocked to see a lot of new questions in the question paper for which I do not know the answers! I leave them un-answered and go back to fight with the teacher. I would say to her, " None of the questions you specified as 'important' appeared today in the paper! "

She would calmly take out the paper and ask me to read the questions again. After a little investigation, I would realize that the questions in the paper were indeed the same as the ones which were already announced as 'important'; it's just that they were re-framed a bit and I fell for it! When I analyzed the causes, I found the following led to my failure in recognizing the 'same' questions that were 're-framed':1) I crammed the questions, without caring to understand their essence.

2) The " exam-hall-tension " and anxiety, the worry about results, did not allow me to analyze the questions coolly. So, I failed to answer the questions though I already knew their answers.I saw a similar challenge thrown at us by the Universal Teacher.

The 'pre-announcement' of the test:

An excerpt from Discourse of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Vijayadhashami, Prashanthi Nilayam, 1953Secret of spiritual Success

Once Krishna and Arjuna were going together along the open road. Seeing a bird in the sky, Krishna asked Arjuna, " Is that a dove? " He replied, " Yes, it is a dove. " He asked Arjuna, " Is it an eagle? " Arjuna replied promptly, " Yes, it is an eagle. " " No, Arjuna, it looks like a crow to Me. Is it not a crow? " asked Krishna. Arjuna replied, " I am sorry, it is a crow beyond doubt. " Krishna laughed and chided him for his agreeing to whatever suggestion was given. But Arjuna said, " For me, your words are far more weighty than the evidence of my eyes; you can make it a crow, a dove or an eagle and when you say it is a crow, it must be one. " Implicit faith is the secret of spiritual success.

The Lord loves, not the Bhaktha (devotee) but his Bhakthi, remember. The Lord's grace is like rain, pure water, falling equally everywhere; but its taste gets changed according to the soil through which it flows. So also the Lord's words are sweet to some, bitter to others. The Lord's ways are mysterious; He blessed Vidhura with the words, " Be destroyed " and Dhusshaasana with the words, " Live for a thousand years; " He meant that Vidhura's 'I' will be destroyed and that the wicked Dhusshaasana will have to suffer the ills and tribulations of this world for ten centuries. You do not know the real reasons behind the actions of the Lord. You cannot understand the motives of other men who are almost like you in everything, actuated by the same motives and having the same likes and dislikes! But yet, how easily you discover the motives of One who is far, far above the level of man! How glibly you talk and judge of something that is as strange to you as atmosphere to a fish!Full Discourse at:

http://laluni.helloyou.ws/askbaba/discourses/d1953/d19530000-1.html

Now, the actual test - a 're-framed' version of the dove-eagle-crow Leela:

October 4th 2007 evening, 5:40 PM

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba announces to all the devotees (the Arjunas of the new age) that there would be a Viswa Virat Swaroopa Darshan. The devotees say " Yes " and went along with Him.

7:30 PM: The sky is filled with clouds. The Lord returns to His Mandir.Devotees: ?The challenge is same as the one He threw at Arjuna that day, it's just that He 're-framed' it a bit. And moreover, both the challenge and its solution were already announced and explained by Baba Himself in His Discourse of 1953. That day, He said it was a dove and then a crow. Arjuna simply said, " Yes, Lord, it is! " Today, He said it would be a Viswa-Virat Swaroopa Darshan and then returned to His Mandir.How would the Arjunas of this age react now? Will they win the test as the one in Dwapara age did, with implicit and unconditional faith in whatever He says? Or would they be deluded by a simple " re-framing " of the challenge done by the Lord, having committed the same two mistakes as I committed during my school examinations?

In this context, the mistakes would be 1) Cramming the spiritual knowledge and the Divine Discourses of Baba as if they are text books, and not being prepared to face them practically2) Giving place to anxiety and fear about what others might think of your implicit faith and total surrender to your Baba.

The Lord alone knows the results of this test for He is the One who evaluates each one, being seated in their hearts as their very own conscience.Jai Sairam.Sandesh