P O T E N T E V I D E N C E :

[barney 0]

W H O is Sai Baba?

 

by R. D. Awle

 

Testimony of the Modern Day Masters

One of the greatest Saints of this century was a woman named Anandamoyi Ma. (The name translates as ‘Bliss-permeated Mother.’ There’s a photo of her, standing next to Paramahansa Yogananda, in Autobiography of a Yogi.) She was so pure and filled with God that she was widely considered to be a Divine Incarnation herself: there seemed to be nothing in her but God, and her words were Truth itself. According to one of her closest Western devotees, over the years she had often been asked, “Who is this Sathya Sai Baba we keep hearing about?” But for many years she never gave an answer. In the last year of her life, however, the question came up again, and this time she gave the following response: “This body will speak on this question only once; don’t ask again. Sathya Sai Baba is the most powerful incarnation of God ever to come to the Earth. And there won’t be another at His level for another sixty centuries.”6

 

That amazing testimony was recently strengthened for me when I went to one of Anandamoyi Ma’s ashrams in the Himalayas. When I shared the preceding quote with a Swami there7, he said that Anandamoyi Ma had then added, “It’s no wonder you keep hearing about Sai Baba. He is the Avatar of this Yuga!” (Avatar means Incarnation of God; a Yuga is an era lasting many thousands of years.)

 

Other Saints have given similar testimony. Shortly before he left his physical body behind, Paramahansa Yogananda was approached by one of his close American disciples, a woman. “Master,” she said, “I know you are planning on leaving your body. You must take me with you! You are my God!”

 

“Nonsense,” replied Yogananda. “God is God; I am your Guru.”

 

“But Master, if you leave without me, I will commit suicide!”

 

“Enough of that foolishness! God Himself is now incarnate on Earth, in South India. His name is Sai Baba. When I leave you are going to live with Him.” (His prediction proved correct; after Yogananda’s death, that devotee spent the rest of her life at Sai Baba’s ashram.)8

 

Mata Amritanandamayi (also known as Ammachi), Herself considered to be an incarnation of the Divine Mother, was once asked, “Who is Sai Baba?” She replied, “Avatar. Perfect from birth.”9

 

On the day after Sai Baba’s birth (November 23, 1926), Sri Aurobindo, another great Saint of this century, broke a long period of silence to announce, “Twenty-fourth November, 1926, was the descent of Krishna into the physical. A power infallible shall lead the thought, in earthly hearts kindle the Immortal’s Fire, even the multitude shall hear the voice!”10 It seems obvious at this point that his announcement of Krishna’s physical re-embodiment was referring to the birth of Sathya Sai Baba.

 

Mother Krishnabai, the Self-Realized disciple of Swami Ramdas (the great Saint from Kerala), told her devotees, “Sai Baba is an Avatar, a full incarnation of Krishna. He is Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva together in one form!” She recommended they spend as much time in His presence as possible.11

 

Swami Satchidananda, the Enlightened sage who currently runs Anandashram in Kerala, was recently asked about the allegations against Sai Baba. He replied, “Forget about it. He is God!”12

 

Karunamayi (also known as Vijayeshwari Devi, considered by many to be a living incarnation of the Goddess Sarasvati) recently told one of her close devotees, "Sai Baba and Amma [meaning herself] are both watching over you." Apparently she also knows who Baba is!

 

Yogi Ramsuratkumar made it clear on numerous occasions that Sai Baba is an incarnation of God. He often asked visitors from Baba’s ashram, “You’ve left God to see this beggar?”13 (Of course, that “beggar” was himself merged in the all-pervading Consciousness; the beauty of his attainment was matched only by his humility.)

 

Shiva Balayogi, another of the great Gurus of the last century, was once asked about Sai Baba. He replied, “Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar.”14

 

Master El Moya and Master Kuthumi, two of the great Ascended Masters behind the founding of the Theosophical Movement, also declared Sai Baba to be an Avatar. According to author Howard Murphet, in the book “The Light Will Set You Free” these Masters have stated, “Avatar Sai Baba is carrying the Divine consciousness in the world today.”15

 

Maitreya, the mysterious Master who has been miraculously appearing before people in various places around the globe throughout the last two decades, has said (through his spokesman, Benjamin Creme) that He (Maitreya) is the planetary Avatar, while Sai Baba is the Universal Avatar.16

 

Testimony from Gopalakrishna Baba, Devi Amma, "Little Heart" and Vasantha Sai appears later in the website.

 

 

 

Mohammed’s Prophecy

 

As mentioned in Part 1, there is a prophecy written by Mohammed which clearly predicts the coming of Sathya Sai Baba. In God Descends to Earth, Sanjay Kant states:

 

According to an article published in “Two World’s” Magazine of London, an Iranian writer was irresistibly drawn to a huge volume in Tehran. This book, called The Ocean of Light, is in 25 volumes. It is claimed to be the collection of the discourses of Prophet Mohammed. Volume 13 of these discourses is called “Mehedi Moud” in Arabic, meaning “The Great Teacher that was promised.”17

 

The detailed description Mohammed gives of this “Great Teacher” and “Master of the World” fits Sathya Sai Baba perfectly: “His hair will be profuse. There will be a gap between His front teeth. He will have a mole on his left cheek. He will not have a beard but will be clean shaven. His clothing will be like a flame.” (Sai Baba wears orange.) “His body will be small.” (Sai Baba is barely five feet tall.) “His legs and feet will be like those of a young girl.” (Baba’s feet are unusually small.) “He will give gifts that are light in weight.” (Baba most frequently gives rings, pendants and watches.) “He will go around among his devotees and touch their heads with his hand. Many of His devotees will have a dot on their forehead. They will gather under a large tree.” (For many years in His Whitefield ashram, Baba gave darshan under a large tree.) “So as not to be deceived, you should know that the Master of the World will bring things out of His body, through His mouth.” (For many years - including the last three - on the holy day of Maha Shivaratri, Sai Baba has brought forth out of His mouth a ‘Shiva Linam’, an egg-sized sacred stone which had formed within His body.) “All the teachings of all religions of the world will be in his heart from birth. All the science and knowledge of the world from the beginning of time will be in his heart.” (In interviews with scientists and professors over the years, Baba has amply demonstrated full mastery of all fields of knowledge.) “All things which you will ask of God, He (the Master of the World) will give you. All the treasures are under his feet. Every eye that sees him will be happy, not only humans but disembodied souls. He will live 95 years.” (Sai Baba has said that His current incarnation will last for 95 years; this means he will leave his present body around 2020 A.D.) “In the last 20 years of his life he will be the ‘King of the whole world’, but at that time only two-thirds of the people of the world will believe in him.”18 (Sai Baba has literally millions of devotees worldwide. At His 70th birthday party, over three million people came to celebrate.)

 

I recently met an Iranian man who told me that he has studied The Ocean of Light in detail, in the original, and assured me that the preceding quotes are indeed in the prophecy (along with others which point directly to Sai Baba). After years of study, he is personally certain that the prophecy refers only to Sathya Sai Baba.

 

 

 

Baba Takes Venkateshwara’s Place

 

I was recently a partial witness to an incident which provides another powerful clue to Baba’s identity. One of the most famous shrines in India is the hilltop temple to Lord Venkateshwara (a form of Vishnu), in Tirupathi, Tamil Nadu. Venkateshwara is considered by many Hindus to be the Supreme Lord, and the idol in this temple is known all over India for the powerful blessings it bestows. As with many of the sub-sects in Hinduism, there is an understandable quality of exclusivity in the devotees of that shrine, especially among the priests who perform the worship; for generations their families have been single-mindedly devoted to Venkateshwara alone. One day in late November, 1998, the priests were performing a special . puja (foot worship) ceremony to the Venkateshwara idol, when suddenly the idol’s feet were transformed before their eyes into the feet of a living man. Looking up, they beheld, in place of the Venkateshwara idol, the living form of Sathya Sai Baba. “If you want full darshan,” He told them, “come to Whitefield next week!” Baba then disappeared, leaving Venkateshwara in His place.

 

I was in Sai Baba’s Whitefield Ashram on December 6th, 1998, the day the priests from Tirupathi, dozens of them, arrived to receive the full darshan of the living God who had appeared before them in their shrine. (To help the Western reader understand the dynamics of the event, it might be a bit like a group of Catholic Bishops coming to bow before a Protestant, and acknowledging that Christ was incarnate in that form...)

 

His True Mission

 

In understanding Baba's miracles, it's important to remember His own words on the subject: He says that in comparison with His true mission, His miracles are “like a mosquito on an elephant’s back.” He repeats what Shirdi Sai Baba said so often: “I give them what they want, so they will want what I have to give!” He says He has come not to manifest rings or bless us with promotions and healings - the purpose for His incarnation is to usher in a new age of Divine Peace on Earth, and establish divine qualities in our hearts: “This Sai has come in order to achieve the supreme task of uniting the entire mankind as one family through the bond of brotherhood, of affirming and illumining the Atmic Reality of each being in order to reveal the Divine, which is the basis on which the entire Cosmos rests. This Sai has come to instruct all to recognize the common Divine Heritage that binds man to man, so that man can rid himself of the animal and rise into the Divine, which is his goal. This Sai has come to show that Love - Prema - is the easiest way to reach the Divine.”24

 

Baba says He has come to “avert the crisis that has come upon humanity”, and usher in a new age of divine wisdom upon the Earth, a golden age of Love, peace and understanding - and He assures us that He will succeed. In the mid-1980’s He told His students that He would be working directly with the minds of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to bring about a change in the world. I would guess it is no mere co-incidence that the fall of global communism occurred less than ten years after that statement was made! (As Baba said in the ’70s when asked about Communism, “Communists? Come you next!”) Now Baba has thousands of devotees from the former communist nations, spreading His message of Divine Love where such words were forbidden for decades. Surely Baba’s work has made the world a better place; the Earth, by His plan, grown a hair closer to Planet Peace. Perhaps it will be with Prema Sai, Baba’s next incarnation - due to be born in some lucky South Indian manger around 2028 - that the global level of spiritual knowledge will reach critical mass, and the Earth and its atmosphere finally be divinely transformed, into a Paramatma-sphere. May the day come soon!

 

 

 

A Taste of His Teachings

Baba’s teachings cover many viewpoints, and seem to primarily be a resounding, world-emboldening ‘Yes!’ to all legitimate spiritual paths and the basic truths of all religions. Most of Baba’s teachings focus on love - love for God and for all beings - as the essential core of spirituality: “Start the day with Love. Spend the day with Love. Fill the day with Love. End the day with Love. This is the way to God!” And this Love is to be given to everyone, always, without exception: “Love all, serve all! Help ever, hurt never!”

 

Yet as I explored His teachings more deeply, I found that He is also a Master of advaithic philosophy, and a strong exponent of the jnana path (the path of Atmic wisdom). “The main aim of human life is to acquire the knowledge of the Atman. This is the true Purushartha [goal of life]. Human life will find fulfillment only if this goal is attained.”25 The various approaches are beautifully balanced in His discourses, with devotion and Atmic abidance given equal importance.

 

Baba also stresses the practice of what He calls the five primary human values, namely, Love, Truth, Peace, Righteousness, and Non-violence. In many of His discourses He asks us to dedicate all our actions to God and live in tireless selfless service to humanity. He also lays importance on the practice of kindness, and the use of sweet speech under all circumstances, saying, “You cannot always oblige; but you can always speak obligingly.” Baba advocates daily meditation for all, as well as repetition of God’s Names with love, devotional singing, and the practice of seeing and serving God within everyone, laying particular emphasis on continual remembrance of the Divine Reality. “Spirituality means constant integrated awareness.”

 

Interestingly, He does not encourage His non-Hindu devotees to become Hindus, but rather, to use His teachings to become the best Christians, Jews, Muslims or Buddhists they can be. Many of the devotional songs sung at Baba’s ashrams contain the names of Allah, Jesus, Zaroaster, Mahavir, Moses, Guru Nanak and the Buddha, in addition to the Hindu Avatars. It seems to be a clear a way of saying, ‘Hear, O world! The Lord is One!’

 

“There is only one Religion, the Religion of Love.

 

There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity.

 

There is only one language, the language of the Heart.

 

There is only one God, and He is omnipresent.”

 

 

 

As an aid to the realization of His primary teaching - that we are God - He often recommends use of the mantra ‘So Ham’ (meaning “I am He”, or “I am God”). He has also offered His devotees the following maha-affirmation:

 

 

 

I am God! I am God! I am not different from God!

 

I am the eternal undifferentiated Absolute!

 

Grief and anxiety cannot effect me.

 

I am always content. Fear cannot enter me.

 

I am Satchidananda! I am pure Existence, Knowledge and Bliss.

 

I am Omnipotent! I am all-powerful; nothing is impossible for me!

 

I am Omniscient! I am all-knowing;

 

there is nothing which is not known to me.

 

I am Omnipresent! I am present everywhere. I pervade this universe!

 

I am Krishna! I am Christ! I am Buddha!

 

I am Sai! I am Sai! I am Sai!

 

I am God! I am God! I am God!

 

 

 

(Try saying that ten times a day, and see how fast your life changes...!)

 

 

 

Baba Is Also a Perfect Jnani

 

I’ve noticed that many seekers on the jnana path tend to misunderstand Sai Baba, and look down on Him because of His miracles, believing they mean He is merely an un-Self-Realized 'showman' capturing immature hearts with yogic tricks. I would like to give a brief answer. If the testimony of Anandamoyi Ma and the other Saints quoted above can be trusted, Sai Baba is a full incarnation of God, the likes of which the world hasn’t seen for thousands of years. Jesus and Sri Krishna also worked miracles frequently, didn’t they? Does anyone imagine that means they weren’t Self-Realized? Simply put, working miracles is one of the fundamental aspects of the Avatar's job. When God takes birth on Earth, He always comes with a huge mission to accomplish; Baba’s mission seems to be to lift the Earth from an age of materialism and nuclear madness into one of divine understanding and peace - and to do this, He must establish faith in God in the hearts of millions of non-believers. Miracles are simply the most efficient way to accomplish this. (It is surely as true in today’s world as in the days of Jesus: unless we see signs and wonders, we will not believe!) If someone miraculously materialized a necklace before your eyes, lovingly put it around your neck, and then told you the innermost secret of your heart - would it ever again be possible for you to doubt the existence of a higher Reality? Wouldn’t those small miracles have gone a long way to proving God’s love for you?

 

The advent of a Divine Incarnation such as Sai Baba might be a bit like when Alfred Hitchcock played a role in his own movies. Although Hitchcock wrote and directed the whole movie, his character on screen might be only an ice-cream salesman in the background, visible for a minute or so, and many in the audience wouldn’t even notice the character. But those who recognized Hitchcock would say, ‘That’s not just a bit part - he’s the author and director of the whole movie!’ Similarly, there are those who look at Sai Baba and see only a ‘miracle showman.’ Look closer, my friends. He’s written this movie, and cast you in your role! (But don’t worry - your performance is getting rave reviews: ‘Exquisite! As if God Himself were playing the part!’)

 

 

 

 

In addition to His role as Incarnation of God, the Avatar is also a Self-Realized Master; in fact, this is the Avatar’s primary qualification. He is the Paramatman, the infinite expanse of pure Awareness in which the whole realm of time and space floats like a tiny bubble - and the Avatar will always be fully aware of His identity as the Paramatman; otherwise He could not be called an Avatar! I humbly submit that Sathya Sai Baba, miracles and all, is a perfect Jnani, and fully capable of leading a seeker on the jnana path (or any other path, for that matter) all the way to Self-Realization.

 

 

 

Baba and Ramana Maharshi

And speaking of Jnanis, at the moment of the death of Ramana Maharshi (one of the greatest Self-Realized Masters of the last century), and extraordinary event occurred in Baba's ashram, giving us a clue both to Baba's identity and His relationship with Ramana. A Sai devotee named Varadu reported what happened:

 

 

"...the night when Ramana Maharshi passed away in Tiruvannamalai [14th April, 1950], I was with Swamiji [sai Baba]. Krishna [another young devotee] and myself were both there. That evening, around 9:00, we continued whatever it was we were doing (I think we were doing a puja) when suddenly Swamiji looked up at us. There was a peculiar way of looking He has which means that He wants to go to His room. The moment Krishna and I went through the door into the room and closed it, Swami fell down. I was ready for it. Krishna and I both held hands, and Swami was lying across them. Then [He] rose up into the air, from our arms. He was as stiff as a board. He started murmuring - something about 'Maharshi has reached my lotus feet.' And then the sole of His right foot split open, and nearly two kilograms of beautiful, well-scented vibhuti poured out from the sole of His foot. I collected the vibhuti while [He] was still levitating in the air.

 

Then [He] came down and returned to [His] senses and asked what [He] had said. I said, "Swamiji, this is what You said: 'Ramana Maharshi has passed away.' And this is what came out of Your feet." He said: "Put it into packets and give it out as prasadam."

 

A day or two after this incident, we learned from the newspapers that [Ramana] Maharshi had died. It had been at the time that Swami said Maharshi had reached [His] feet."26

 

 

So, at the time of his death, Ramana Maharshi merged in Baba's feet! Is it not therefore clear that Sai Baba is a full embodiment of the Divine Self, the supreme Atmic Reality that Ramana had realized at the age of 17?

 

 

CHILDREN OF IMMORTALITY

 

 

 

Children of Immortality!

 

Remember that you are created

 

In my image and likeness.

 

Perfect!

 

 

 

Live up to this image, in every way, in all planes.

 

Live like Masters!

 

 

 

Walk this earth with your heads held high,

 

Your spirits soaring...

 

Your hearts open to Love...

 

And believe in yourself and God within you.

 

Then all will go well.

 

 

 

Earth is but a manifestation of My Being.

 

Made out of My Life!

 

 

 

Wherever you look, I am there.

 

Wherever you walk, I am there.

 

Whomsoever you contact, I am that person.

 

I am in each, in all My Splendour.

 

 

 

See Me everywhere,

 

Talk to Me and love Me,

 

Who am in each.

 

 

 

Then from each, I will respond

 

And bring you into Glory.

 

You cannot see Me in one place and not in another,

 

For I fill all space.

 

 

 

You cannot escape Me

 

Or do anything in secret,

 

For there are no secrets with Me.

 

 

 

Live... Live... Live... in perfect accordance

 

With My laws, and wonders will ensue.

 

 

 

Think now. Does error clog the free flowing

 

Essence of My Being through you?

 

Ask Me this moment to reveal to you your errors

 

In the silence of your meditation.

 

 

 

Let old memories well up in you,

 

From My subconscious in you...

 

Old patterns...

 

Old forgotten feelings and thoughts.

 

 

 

Now plunge them into the Ocean of Light,

 

Burn them from the consciousness

 

So that you may be true emblems of My Being.

 

 

 

Right now,

 

Visualize My burning flame

 

Rising higher and higher

 

As it burns through you.

 

 

 

It is a flame that is cooling,

 

Cleansing and healing,

 

That soothes the hidden sorrow...

 

And leaves you calmed and quiet.

 

 

 

Rest in my Love.

 

Let all that you have been through

 

In your many lives up to this day,

 

Melt away in My redeeming Light.

 

 

 

Children of My Being!

 

Dissolve your sorrows and fears in Me.

 

Let me efface

 

All your karma.

 

 

 

Come back into My Consciousness, which is

 

Your own true Consciousness.

 

Let your petty human self fade away, right now,

 

As you come to Me, who am your Inner Self.

 

 

 

You are now My radiant glorious Self...

 

No longer separate from Me.

 

Melt with Me... Merge with Me...!

 

Become Me!28

 

 

Sathya Sai Baba

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

That was great!

[Guest guest]

who you claim as to support Sai Baba?

 

If not, it's easy to make up stories and propagate such things, without the ability for most saints to refute those statements.

[barney 0]

Why question, go and wittness yourself if in doubt. Doubt destroys faith.

[Guest guest]

if it is a matter to be personally xperienced what's the use for you to propagandize?

 

stop talking and let us experience

[Guest guest]

Please do not make up trash to justify your faith in Sai Baba. I have never heard of any such quotes from Yogananda, Anandamoyi maa, Mataji Krishnabai or Swami Stachindananda before.

 

 

[Guest guest]

You have done a great job by reporting that testimony here.

 

I had known that Sai Baba is a living incarnation before.When I tell it to someone, they would mock me. Some throw the sex-abuses which are constantly published by anti-indian sites.Then i would go into silence out of those abuses.

Some rationalists of my place have been dying hard to prove that chemical substances can create vibhuti between fingers.

 

Such non-believers are cheated by their fate. Like the dwapara-yuga men, they also dont realize an incarnation, and further abuse them.

[Guest guest]

"I have never heard of any such quotes from Yogananda, Anandamoyi maa, Mataji Krishnabai or Swami Stachindananda before."

 

I believe much of what barney has gotten comes from a book about satya sai baba by Howard Murphet, correct?

 

If so, I would say that particular account is unreliable, and unsubstantiated. I found the book to be uplifting, but at the same time I am wary of its truthfulness.

 

I believe Satya Sai Baba has some power, but I do not believe he is the one and only incarnation of God or any such thing. I have read Yogananda's autobiography of a yogi, and it does not seem to be consistent with his philosophy at all to say that Satya Sai Baba is truly God incarnate.

[shravankm 0]

No Offence. If Satya Sai Baba is really god, then why dont he shuts up mouth of people who point fingers at him? Why dont he do something very godly, so that everyone is convinced that he is god?

 

As far as producing things from mid air are concerned, Why does he only produces things small enough to conceal? Why dont he produce a elephant/mountain out of mid air and show that he is real god?

 

[Guest guest]

though.

 

And God himself has never removed the doubts of man throughout the ages, there are some who will never believe no matter what.

 

So we can't expect Satya Sai Baba to convince everyone.

 

Honestly, I believe that Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna, etc. were self-realized masters but they taught only small groups and their influence wasn't as drastic as commonly perceived today during the time they actually lived. It was only after they died that their teachings spread.

[Guest guest]

I follow Lord Swaminarayans teachings. He himself said avtaar or his saints are always predsent on teh earth. From what i see and hear with Shirdi Sai BAba i feel he was Avtaar. But the one present at the moment i cnat tell.

[Guest guest]

Do you think, Now in the world population 2 out of 3 have faith in him? Take in India, do you think more than 30 crore people trusts !!