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Oct 16, 2004
Is Sai Baba Living and Helping Now? - Devotees' Experiences
Is Sai Baba Living and Helping Now? - Devotees' Experiences
Sai Baba seems determined to solve the above question to the satisfaction of innumerable enquiries found here, there and everywhere in the country. It is not merely a question arising from curiosity. It often arises from necessity. Persons there are in thousands who get into trouble and cast their eyes about in every direction in quest of relief. ‘Is there no God? Is there no Saint? Is there no Mantra? Is there not anything that will come to my resque?’ Is that what a person cries out. At such stages when there is some person or other in the neighbourhood connected with Sai Baba, then that person in distress runs up to Sai Baba, with the assurance (born of need) that He is not only living and helpful, but that He is the only person that can help one in such junctures. Therefore it is of the utmost importance that people throughout the country should be kept informed in their own languages or in any common language, English or Hindi, of the fact that Baba is now living and working to benefit all and sundry in a way in which no other person known to us is shown to be working. There is no other person shown to have such chamatkaric superhuman power and intent solely upon benefiting all persons that put their trust in him. Of course, mere chamatkar or magical feats or psychic power, unaccompanied by a noble purpose or by divine qualities is not worth the attention of pious persons intent on achieving their own spiritual welfare. But supranormal events always draw the attention of the educated and cultured classes and of others. So, without further excuse, we shall proceed to describe and narrate various circumstances and events which carry conviction to the mind of even the dullest that Baba is living, is powerful, is beneficent and is just the divine person that one needs in any juncture.
Baba's lilas or chamatkars are very varied and have extended over a very long period. Somewhere about the close of the last century they began. They are continuing still up-to-date, and from time to time in new places and in varied ways. Baba is showing all people irrespective of religion, caste, age, sex, position etc, that he is that superhuman, beneficent power that people call their Ishta or Ishta Devata or Guru-Deva, and that he is available to any earnest soul and responds to every earnest call. There are several books (notableGospel of Sai Baba and Sai Satcharita) setting out Baba's lilas upto recent times. For the sake of convenience, we may begin with Baba's recent lilas through Matru Sri Krishna Bai of Ramacbandrapuram nearRajahmundry, East Godavari District, Andhra State. Her husband is Mr. Sehagiri Rao, Superintendent of the office of the Accountant General, Posts and Telegraphs, Simla. That gentleman got first a very superficial contact with Baba, as numerous South Indians at Nagpur (where Mr. Seshagiri Rao was at the time) were adoring Baba and communicating facts about Baba, It is the need, as we already stated, that creates faith. On one occasion in 1946 Mr. Seshagiri Rao was in a tight fix. In his official capacity as Senior Divisional Accountant, Nagpur Telegraph Division, he was entrusted with the Treasury keys, and be had put them in a drawer and kept the key of the drawer alone with him. One morning when he came and opened the drawer, to his dismay he could not discover the keys. There was no sort of explanation for the disappearance of the keys. All the same he would get into hot waters with his superior and might suffer in his prestige and position. He did not know what to do. So, he suddenly offered a prayer that if Baba is really powerful and helpful, he should discover for him the keys. Soon after making that prayer he went to the box again and opened it. This time alone, behold! the keys were there right in front of him, and it was a wonder where they had gone, how not found at so many previous searches by himself and his servants, and how suddenly they reappeared. So, he had some faith in Baba. But it was his wife that had to play the all important part of a very powerful, spiritual dynamo for the spread of Sai propaganda, She also had at first only a very superficial knowledge of Sai Baba. In 1950, in May-June, she was with her father at Ramachandrapuram and her husband had come from Nagpur to stay at Ramachandrapuram for recuperation of his health. He wanted to start back on the 16th June 1950 to Nagpur. But suddenly on the 14th she took ill. She did not get up from her bed until 10 in ths morning, whereas her usual hour for quitting bed was between 5 and 6. So, the husband went into her room at 10 a.m. to see what the matter was. She slowly opened her eyes and called him to her side. Her voice was feeble. She said weeping. “I am going to die; please look after my children”. This was a stunning statement and a great shock to the husband. He asked her, 'What are you ailing; from !' She Said, “I cannot say what I ail from, but 1 feel terrible pain.'Mr. Seshagiri Rao thought that this must be heart attack. Then she pointed to a portion of the room, and said 'There, that fellow, that fellow; 1 am nearing my death by reason of that fellow ' Then Mr. Seshagiri Rao thought that it was all hallucination, and the best thing would be to get medical aid. But she again said, "You do not believe me. I see that fellow is there. You tell me that I will become all right." Mr. Seshagiri Rao asked his father-in-law to get medicine. She could not even gulp down water. So, some medicine was forced down her mouth, and yet she was restless. In the evening at 6 or 7, she again called her husband to her said, and repeated, “I am going to die. You do not believe me.”To overcome her fears, the husband took a photograph of Sai Baba (which had been given to him by his Nagpur clerk) and kept it under her pillow and told her, 'This Sai Baba (photograph of Sai) will ward off all evil spirits.” He was not quite sure that Sai would, but necessity made him say it. Then he went upstairs to sleep. Downstairs the lady was sleeping and her father was watching. At 12 midnight the lady cried out, 'Father, father, I am dying. Somebody is taking out my life.' Then the father got up and rushed and saw that her body had already been partly dragged out of the cot and her legs were dangling down. H» put her body into her bed and retired. Thon a conversation was heard in her room. The lady was uttering the name of Sai Baba and Raghavendra Swami. She said that these two had come to rescue her. She asked her father, who ran up to her. 'Lift up the pillow. Take out a packet, and put its contents into my mouth.' That gentleman thought she was raving, as nobody had put any packet of medicine under her pillow. But she repeated her words, and said, "simply obey; do not argue." Then the father lifted up the pillow, and there was a packet there. That was opened. It contained a tulsi leaf as big as a betel leaf. There was also Vibhuti. Then he took up both these, put the vibhuti into her mouth and retired. She then had very good sleep. The father on further examination found that the wholeof her sari was covered with vibhuti and (here were "Kolam" borderline marks of vibhuti on all the four sides of the cot. Then the husband came down and saw all these things for himself. In addition, he noted the impression of a hand on her head. Thereafter she recovered completely. Some time later Krishna Bai said that Ragbavendra Swami and Sai Baba wanted one anna nickel piece to be kept under her pillow. Her husband placed it under the pillow. They were waiting to see who would take that one anna piece, and how it would disappear. They went for their meals. At that time, in Krishna Bai's room some conversation was going on. He got up and entered the room. He found the room was full of a sweet smell. She said that the one anna coin was taken away by these two, namely, Raghavendra Swami and Sai Baba, and in its place they had left something, and she wanted them to see what it was. The husband removed the pillow, and found that there was no one anna piece, but in its place, there were fresh lulsi leaves and bilva leaves. These were left as a protection to her. That is what she said. That day she was all right, and, therefore went upstairs to sleep. At 12 midnight again there was some conversation in this lady's room. The husband went up and found that she was reciting four Gita stanzas.
B.C. IV (7)(1) Yadayadahi
B. G. (8) (2) Paritranayasadhunaro
B. G. V (22) (3) Ananyaschintayantomam
B. G. XVIII (66) (4) Sarvadharma Parityajya
Raghavendra Swami had asked her to get these by heart. She pleaded that she did not know Sanskrit, it seems. But Raghavendra Swami did in fact, teach her these four stanzas, and other parts of Gita, explaining their meanings also. She said that Raghavendia Swami and Baba had kept three things under her pillow, in addition to tulsi leaves and bilva leaves. She said, “Please look for them”. Seshagiri Rao lifted up the pillow and searched. He found three things, namely, (1) a packet of vibbuti (2) a big tulsi leaf enclosing kumkum and (3) mrittika, that is, the sacred earth of the tulsi plant used with great reverence by Madhvas especially - the lady belongs to the Madhva Sect, Later her husband went to his own room, and found under his own pillow sandalwood paste in two pieces. His father-in-law also had the same in his room. They were all fragrant. These evidently were shown to them to put faith in Baba and to believe that there is some superior and great powerful force which cannot be easily understood by ordinary men.
From that time onwards, as a regular feature at about 6-30 p.m. vibhuti marks would appear on the forehead of the lady. This went on for 8 months, that is, till about February, 1951. That was seen by many people. Then Sai Baba asked the lady to do Sai puja on all Thursdays. Her puja was very peculiar. During that puja, she would be going on talking in an undertone, something midway between delivering a lecture and loud thinking. On closer examination of what she spoke, the husband found she was discoursing on philosophic truths, Gita slokas, their meanings, the definition of Maya, Prakriti, etc. Some phenomena also began to be exhibited through her or by her. At the beginning of the puja she would place an empty dubba (a closed receptacle) in front of her, and at the close of the puja, mysteriously that empty dubba would be found to be full of vibhuti. This is from Baba himself This vibhuti was distributed to all people as Sai prasad. Another remarkable fact was that Baba said on one occasion that 'this lady had eight more births to get Mukti (Liberation) but he would compress all those eight births into this very birth on account of his infinite compassion for her. He could not prevent prarabdha but could compress prarafadba. So she had to die and come back to life every month in the course of eight months. During her monthly period, she would become hopelessly ill, her face would show signs of a dying person, i.e., livid pallor. Yama kinkaras would come, their songs and shouts would be heard in the room etc. There were also other indications of impending death, that is, on all the four sides of the cot, lines which bad been drawn with Vibhuti previously would disappear. At such times, Baba. said, 'She and all connected with her should make Nama Smaran' i.e. remember God. Even doctors who attended on her at such times would join in the Nama Smaran. At 12 midnight, she would cry out, 'lam dying”. Immediately Mr. Seshagiri Rao and others would cry out 'Baba! Baba!' Her life actually did depart from her body which became a livid, corpse, and then Sai Baba again gave her life. On one occasion, she vomited blood from her mouth. Sixteen times are vomited, and the vomit still went on. Seshagiri Rao just then returned from his office. All the medicines he tried to stop the vomit failed. Then he took Baba to task for not curing his wife. Baba through the mouth of his wife answered. "Your husband is abusing me, because I do not cure you. I can cure anybody but not you. If you are to be cured now you will have to take another birth to work out your prarabdha. So you must undergo this trouble now. Again he said,'When I have assured him that there is no danger to life, why should be be angry?' So saying he stopped the blood vomit in a most miraculous way. As she was lying down, something like a root fell on her hand from above, and that stopped the blood vomit. Sai Baba was not opposed to cure her disease, but be wanted that her prarabdha should be worked out. On the last and final, occasion, the Lord of Death himself came (Yama).
All people including Seshagiri Rao were by the side of her bed. They left a sudden fragrance in the room and an overwhelming fear in their hearts. That indicated that Yama was present. Then some conversation was going on in the room between the unseen Sai Baba and the unseen Yama. Yama said that he had to do his duty. Baba said,'Go on. Carry out your duly. Sounds alone were heard by those in the room. Then Mr. Seshagiri Rao and others were all overjoyed. Thus, all her future janmas due to prarabdha were wiped out. She recovered her health soon. The lady through Baba's favour was able to have clairvoyant ideas as to what things were going on and where. On one occasion, she and her husband had to leave Rama-chandrapuram for Nagpur. The lady said at 3 p.m. ‘Let us start’. But by starting at 3 p.m. they would not get any train at Rajahmundry for Bezwada, according to the railway time table. At Rajahmundry they would have to wait for several hours. But as his wife insisted, the party started, and by bus they reached Rajabmundry at 6 p.m. They went to the booking office and asked about trains. The booking clerk said, 'The train which should have come in the morning has come only just now. You can start and go to Bezwada.The booking clerk gave them the tickets. So they reached Bezwada at 1 in the night. They were so late that they did not know where to stay. But at Bezwada there was Mr. Seshagiri Rao's cousin. Mr. Seshagiri Rao did not know his address. There was no one to tell them of his address. Suddenly, a young boy of sixteen came and said, 'I will take you to the house of a municipal councillor who will direct you.’ He took them to the municipal councillor who showed Seshagiri Rao the house of his cousin. The young man suddenly disappeared. The lady said, 'That young man must be Baba himself.' Again, sometime later, Mr. Hanumantha Rao, the father of the lady got a letter which bore the mark of Shirdi as the despatch station with a signature purporting to be that of Sai Baba attached to the bottom of the letter. The postal mark was Rahata Post. The letter said, 'Go and see the puja peiformed by your daughter at Nagpur.' It also contained Gita slokas. There was also warning that Hanumantha Rao should not treat the lady merely as his daughter. He must treat her as Baba's disciple. So, in obedience to the letter, he came to Nagpur and saw her puja. There he was impressed with the wonderful spirituality of his daughter's puja.
Baba said that he must carry out certain things through Krishna Bai. In order to communicate his ideas Baba was writing on plantains. This was one of the things which the father saw. Baba wrote sometime on several plantains but at other times on one. Sometimes Baba would write on very small leaves in microscopic letters. One evening when Seshagiri Rao was meditating in his room, Baba appeared and told Krishna Bai in her room, 'Your husband is praying to me in his room. Why not your husband come here? When the husband went to her room, he saw a wonderful thing. The table near her was smeared with vibhuti. On that, a huge person sat. That was Baba. The breadth across the two parts of his nether body on the table were over four feet. This phenomenon was repeated at Ramacbandrapuram also twice or thrice. One of the men said at a puja, 'Let us see how Baba is eating." The pooja room was full of a number of Baba's pictures. On one picture, under the mouth, a small peda was placed. This peda moved from the mouth of one photograph to another photograph, and, after going to the last photograph, disappeared. Then the audience said, 'We are satisfied as to your eating.' Again this lady's grandmother came up one day and said that she would believe in Baba if Sai Baba himself put one peda prasad into her mouth. People laughed at the idea. But late in the night, she suddenly woke up and said something like a lizard had fallen into her mouth. Light was brought, and it was discovered that it was not a lizard but a peda that was in her mouth. So, she got convinced that Baba was working lilas there. Mr. B. Venkataratnam, Ex-Minister of the Madras Government, attended her pujas. On one occasion, when she was going on talking in a peculiar, unconscious way, like one possessed, she asked him whether on such and such a day some body did not go to his house for food, whether he had not tried to send him away, and whether he did not accommodate that man on that day when he insisted on accommodation. Again Baba through her asked, 'Did he not ask for Rs. 2 when leaving the place?' Mr. Venkataratnam's reply was in the affirmative to all these questions. Again Baba asked Mr. Venkataratnam, whether on the day previous to his coming to Ramachandrapuram, be did not give a two-anna piece to a beggar on the way. Mr. Venkataratnam admitted it. Then Baba said, ‘I was that beggar.' Similarly, Sri G, Viswanatham Chetty, Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies, attended her puja. He said while leaving the place that he had a heavy programme and therefore could not return for a long time. But after he left, the lady said, 'You will see that he comes back and for three days attends the puja.' Actually for a variety of reasons, Mr. Chetty could not leave Ramachandrapuram for three days and he did attend puja on all the three days. (The above are extracted from Mr. K. Seshagiri Rao's lecture at the Mylapore A. I. S. S. Sai Mandir in February 1953 in obedience to Baba's order to him to publish all he knew of Baba's lilas as manifested through Srimathi Krishna Bai).
Mr. G: V. Chetty had plenty of experiences of a most convincing sort, and therefore, he is a staunch bhakta. On one of the earlier occasions, that is, at the commencement of his contact with Sai Baba, there, he had striking proofs of Baba's being alive, being useful and responding through human voice to the callsof his bhaktas. Out of true devotion, when be was proceeding one day to Ramachandrapuram from Kakinada, he got a very large rose garland, called 'Nela Malai' in Tamil, because its rolls from the neck to the ground. That garland was full of roses and the number of petals may therefore be easily guessed to be something in four figures. This garland was placed round Baba's neck i.e. on the portrait. He also carried flowers, fruits, etc. When the puja was over, he noted that somehow (mysteriously) every petal of every rose in that huge garland had on it written (OM SAI. If any one of us attempts to write 'Om Sai* on rose petals, the chances are that very few petals would be left on the stalk, and the petals would all be on the ground. Besides, it would be a matter of several hours for us to complete the inscription on thousands of petals. On the other hand, suddenly in a few minutes the whole garland became full of inscriptions. Mr. G. V. Chetty was blessed with response in other respects alto. The plantains he took got inscriptions on them. He had taken an apple and placed it before Baba. At the close of the puja, the lady asked him to take the apple. Then he wondered ‘What, with no signs of Baba accepting, am I to take the apple?' He only thought so but said nothing. But Baba knew it, and through the mouth of the lady said, 'What does he say that there is nothing worth of note? Let him lift up the apple.’ When the apple was lifted up, it was noted that the bottom portion had disappeared, cut of clean with a knife, and the cut portion had disappeared, that is, accepted by Baba. Inscriptions and removal of cut part were all done by invisible hands while he and all were in the pooja room. Seeing that Mr. Chetty was quite happy and quite sure that his offering had been accepted by Baba, Similar to this, numerous other incidents took place. Mr. Chetty got also specific answers for his problems about his son, his daughter, etc. Baba's answers were so clear and full that be (Mr, Chetty) could answers clearly the question at (be top of this pamphlet without a moment's hesitation, that Baba is undoubtedly living and is undoubtedly helpful at least to those who have faith (bhakti) in him. Now, on one of those occasions, Baba's lilas took a peculiar shape. One Mr. Ramachandra Rao from Nagpur, businessman and a devotee of Baba, through that lady, and some others came to Ramachandrapuram. They had an idea that a temple must be built for Baba, and that instructions must be got from Baba. They put the question to the lady. The answer was that Sri B. V. N. Swami, President of the AH India Sai Samaj, must come.Sri B. V. N. Swami, and with him a number of bhaktas started from Madras. The chief amongst the bhaktas was one Mr. S. N. C. Sriman Narayana Chaudhry, formerly Public Prosecutor (at Guntur) whose mental health was affected, and who consequently, could not practice. They took with them three apples and one casket (sampatam) full of halva, and this was opened by Swami and again closed after noting that it was full. All these with other fruits and flowers were taken to Ramachandrapuram, which was reached at about 11-30 a.m. on I8-3-I952 and placed in the small puja room about 10'xlO*, where puja was going on, and where the entire ground floori was full of bhaktas and their offerings. On a wall 'there were many pictures of Sai Baba, The lady herself (Krishna Bai) was In deep concentration and going on with Sai puja. At the close of the puja (i.e. by noon or 12-30 p.m.) her father asked the devotees the question. 'Have you counted your offerings?" The swami and others laughed, because there was no necessity to count what they offered to God. But then S. N. Chaudhry said that he had placed three apples for naivedya, but there were only two then. It was Impossible physically for anyone to get into the room across the seated bhaktas and carry away one apple. But there it was, that one apple had disappeared. The lady herself then lifted up the casket and opened the lid and lo! and behold! there was a deep ploughing up of the halva. A finger had evidently been inserted and a good quantity or halva removed. Where the removed halva had gone, and who removed It was a. mystery. The only explanation was that Baba had accepted the halva prasad also. On the fruits that had been placed, inscriptions were found. It was made clear to S. N. Chaudhry, Sri B. V. N. Swami, and others that Baba was gracious enough to accept the presents of the party. Then Mr. S. N. C answered to himself the question at the head of this pamphlet. He felt firmly convinced of the truth that Sri Sai Baba is living now, and is mysteriously helping his devotee by acceptance of their gifts. This at once effected a change in him. He was no more abnormal. He lost his diffidence fear, etc. From that day onwards, he began to attend to his private and other work, and he could also attend court and is now having good practice. So, many other persons also got convincing answers to the above question. As for the Swami, he found that the lady at the close of the puja was rapidly lecturing away in Telugu on matters of philosophy and religion. The best lawyers and pandits there could not repeat or translate what she said. On the second day, questions wore put to Baba through her. The answers came. The answers related to the health of some of the visitor present, their relations and other matters. On the whole (he answers were intelligent and satisfactory. This again helps us to answer the question mentioned above. As for the main matter, for which Sri B. V. N. Swami was invited, the answer was that Sri B. V. N. Swami's present work was quite satisfactory, that he need not do anything more than simply remain at headquarters and ask his devotees and friends to carry out Baba's work, and that everything would get on all right. That settled the question of Sri B. V. N. Swarai's responsibility for a new temple building. But Sri B. Venkataratnam Garu was there. He is the President of the Co-operative Bank at Rama-chandiapuram. He, with the help of others, has succeeded in building a beautiful temple and placing in it marble images of Sai Baba, Radha and Krishna and he has carried out the other instructions of Sai Baba, as to the fitting up of the temple and the pratishta itself. That installation took place on llth April 1954, that is, on the Rama Navami day. The puja by the lady is now going on in that temple.
The best way of winding up this small pamphlet is to refer to very recent instances in the East Godavarl District. Some twenty miles from Pithapur Railway Station are the Thotapalli Hills, and on them, His Holiness Sri Omkara Swami has put up a Shami Ashram, that is the main mother Ashram. He is carrying on his life of peace and propaganda for peace with the aid of an English Journal Peace and a Telugu Journal Shanti. The Swamiji's work is mainly philosophical. He is the author of 'Cosmic Flashes’. showing his elevation of thought and dignity of expression with a mastery of style rarely to be seen.
What, however, came to this philosophical Swami at the beginning of this year was Sri Sai's grace to inspire in him some more spiritual development based on attachment to Sai. It is for such spiritual developments that Baba shows his chamatkars. About March last, chamatkars began in the Thotapalli Shanti Ashram in a strange way. There was Birthday celebration going on and some lady devotees of the Swami had gone there. They were staunch Sai bhaktas, and they carried their Sai pictures, etc. with them. After the usual pujas on that Ashram were over, these ladies sat up in a small room and carried on their Sai puja. Others of the Ashram and visitors joined them. This Swamiji, seeing the vast crowd and the insufficiency of the room, asked them to go upstairs to his own meditation room. Then perhaps as a result of the Swami's dedication of his meditation room for Sai Mandir, Baba's lilas began to be shown abundantly. Naivedyas placed included plantain fruits, and inscriptions in Telugu letters (Sai) appeared on these fruits. On the flowers placed before Baba, inscriptions similarly appeared. People were wondering, and one of those present placed a wood apple as an offering to Baba and prayed that an inscription should appear on it. The letters 'SAI’ appeared on it. His Holiness Omkar Swami himself came up with a coconut without bark, and placed it as an offering before Baba. Then the letters 'SAI’ in Telugu were found to be written on the two sides of the coconut. The Swami is retaining that coconut with these inscriptions. Faith, full faith began to develop all round. Sri Rajaji of the Ashram had a gold ring and he offered it to Sai Baba with these words. 'Baba, I will give this to you in case you write your name on it’, and placed the ring before the picture in the puja. At once the Telugu letters 'SAI' appeared on the ring. Some others who did not believe began to offer watches, chains etc, and placed them before Baba, and the name 'Sai' appeared on every one of them.
Some one present, feeling that the rich and the well to-do classes alone were the beneficiaries in the chamatkars, wanted something to be done for the Daridra Narayana and sickly Narayanas. He took up a ball of Vibhuti and offered it at the puja. Lo.'and behold, in a few minutes, the letter ‘SAI MANDU' in Telugu appeared on the ball. Mandu means, medicines. The whole ball was therefore the medicine which was consecreated by Baba and could be given to all and sundry. There was a patient with high fever in the Ashram. A bit of that Vibhuti ‘Sai Mandu' with water given to him removed the fever and enabled him to discharge his normal duties immediately. The Ashram cow had some disease, and the milk drawn from its uudder was blackish and this Mandu was smeared over the cow, and Lo! and behold, thereafter the milk yielded by the cow was sweet and normal. So, Sai had really given his 'Mandu' medicine for the benefit of the dumb, the poor and the helpless. Faith in Sai was very powerful and combined with the previous faith of the Ashramites. This was shown in a remarkable incident one evening. A lady taking leave of the Swami at his Ashram at dusk was going over the lawn to reach her room, but, on the way a serpent crawled over one of her feet and she placed the other foot on its tail. At once she noticed that it was a serpent. She cried out 'OM SAI'; and the serpent instead of striking at her quietly bowed its head, retreated and climbed up a tree.
People said, ‘Baba is here doing wonders. So we must build a permanent temple for him', Then a piece of paper was found in front of the devotees with the following written on it, namely, "This is Sai's Sarmidhya (or presence)" in Telugu. The same Telugu letters were seen simultaneously to appear on the wall of the puja room. People were convinced that undoubtedly Sai Baba was present, and was responding to the devout and earnest prayers of the bhaktas there. But as the Swamiji said, Sai being a form of God, He is present not only in one place, and people should not overstress the miraculous appearance of Baba's lilas, though He is more easily communed with there. So Omkar Swami invited and invites people to go there for such holy communion. On RamaNavami night he got up at midnight and wrote out a manifesto containing all the above facts and extending an invitation to all devout bhaktas to go to Shanti Asnram for communing with Sri Sai and not for the mere curiosity or fun of getting inscriptions on watches and chains. As for himself, the Swami declares that he felt that a Divine presence was now covering him up both inside, outside, and on all sides. He has composed songs in English and Telugu mentioning that he felt identical with Sai, and that the feeling was one of Bliss. This appeared in an issue of the Telugu journal ‘Shanti' and has been broadcast. This is an excellent answer to doubting Thomases who still ask, 'Is Sai Baba living and will he help or can he help?' Even the dullest intellect must now see that such questions are ludicrous or flippant. We need not repeat other instances where Baba had come to help. The number of such instances now is legion. Baba has shown His powers at Coimbatore, Madras, and so many other places. We may perhaps make an exception in favour of Coimbatore and Ahmedabad and close this pamphlet.
Coimbatore
Coimbatore was specially lucky in having extraordinary benefits granted to some of its citizens.
During the last great world war, a Coimbatorean, (Medical) Captain Devaraj, was in the Mediterranean on board a ship. The enemy attacked that ship with bombs, and the vessel very badly suffered damage. Captain Devaraj was at one end, and Sri Sai, his Guru-Deva saved him completely from any harm.
This became widely known, and at Coimbatore many bhaktas turned their hearts to Baba. Amongst these one prominent devotee was Sri Soundararajan. He started Sai puja and Sai Bhajan at home. He constructed a small cottage for the public 10 carry on puja and bhajan at one end of the town. One evening when puja with bhajan was going on, there was a fairly good crowd, and amongst the crowd came in a snake. It crawled over the foot of a boy who in fright cried out ‘snake, snake’. But he was the only one frightened. The snake stood coiled 5 or 6 feet from the crowd and seemed to follow the music of the bhajan. It was dangling its head from side to side but kept its place. People who looked at it were wondering what sort of snake it was that was not frightened at the sight of men and could appreciate the bhajan music. It kept on there from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., the time for closing the bhajan temple. The men who were all anxious to depart went away then and came back next morning. What a strange thing was it for them to note! The next morning when they came they saw the snake was still in the Temple. The temple was a mere thatched cottage and not a pucca building. It is near the road side. The people there made up their minds that the snake was nothing but Sai Baba, and that they should offer their worship to Sai Baba by taking heaps and baskets of flowers of samanai (Chrysanthemum). A number of devotees stood all round this snake and picked up these flowers and dropped them over the head of the snake uttering the
Ashtothra Namavali of Sai Baba, namely, Om Sri Sainathaya Namah, etc. The snake stood all this quietly and when over a thousand flowers had fallen on its head, it was still in their midst, and then they were quite sure and perfectly convinced that this snake was nothing but Sai Baba, and they called it Naga Sai. Then one of the devotees said, 'You are undoubtedly Baba. If we tell people that we worshipped you like this, they will not believe us. So we must take a photograph of you. So, Baba, you must remain in your position till a photographer is brought from the town.' It took more than half an hour for a photographer to come, but the snake was still there. The photographer placed his camera close to it and took an excellent snap of it. Even men - let alone children - snake there heads at the time of taking photographs, and thus spoil the photos. But Sai did not quail in the least. The firm attitude of Naga Sai was shown by the excellent photograph that was the result. Then after 11 a.m. the Naga Sai that had come in at 5 p.m. the previous day left the place. This place is fairly close to the town, and Coimbatore being highly pupulous, thousands of people, hearing of the marvel, came from the town and beheld Naga being in the midst of the temple and getting worshipped. The photograph is now a standing proof of Baba's lila. Baba showed this lila evidently in order to strike the attention of even the dullest in these days of atheism, indifference, and scorn at religious matters. Something wonderful is necessary to shake people out of all this. So, Baba showed these chamatkars to convince them. This result was that more and more, thousands upon thousands, came day after day to look at the place where Baba came and got worshipped. They put up a Naga Sai temple of Baba at Coimbatore and it is highly popular.
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad is a still stranger-though not so very dramatic - instance of Baba's chamatkars. Here a well-known lawyer of good standing, Sri C. C. Mankewallah, was the person to whom or for whose benefit Baba's lilas were performed. We may give his experience as it appeared in the September 1953 issue of the Sai Sudha, in the words of Sri Mankewallah himself.
From 1948 to 1952, for five years continuously, I suffered from Dropsy and gastric ulcer. I had no appetite. I vomited blood and could not eat anything or even take water. My weight became abnormal, viz. 300 pounds last year, from January onwards. I was bed ridden. Doctors attended on me. About 1952 April, the chief doctor of the hospital and other consulting doctors of the city gave up hope of my recovery. On one day, the chief doctor noticing that blood in profuse quantity was coming out of my mouth and that my weight due to dropsy was abnormally high, viz. 300 pounds said that there was no sufficient blood in the body and that surrounding poisons would prove fatal in 2 days. Some friends and relations had advised me to worship Sai Baba (whose temple was opposite to my house) in April, 1952 and I had hung up Baba's picture in front of me and worshipped him. After looking into his photo, I got affection for him. First, I had apprension that I should not worship a Mohammedan Saint. But, the continuous attraction of His photo on my mind and relation's talk gave me a sudden vision of Baba when I was awake at 6 p.m. He then said to me. "I am not a Fakir. But I am an incarnation of Guru Datta. There are nine gems (including me) who are incarnation of Datta, namely. Tajuddin Baba of Nagpur, Dhuniwala Dada of Khandwa, Vishnu Debananda Saraswathi of Narmada, the Mahant of Akkalkote, etc." The next day, I got 2 books in Gujarati on Baba and read them. Some days later when the doctor completely gave up hopes and stated that life will pass away in 2 hours (at noon), then Baba appeared in front of me at about 1 p.m. First a light came from the door and Baba came in that light, and my mother Sri Sivaganga and I saw Him and Heard his words. He said "Baccha, Mad gabra tumara sub dukha me hardeya" to me; and to my mother he said "Tumara sub dukha me hardeya" which means, "Child, fear not, All your disease (or troubles) I have taken away." "Send your grandson Turt immediately to Shirdi."
Then he disappeared through the door. As my son had not sufficient experience of travel and as my sudden death would necessiate the presence of my son for funerals as apprehended by some, I and my mother had to consult together, but we told my son to start in the evening for Shirdi, and he did. At 6p.m. on that day, Baba again appeared and told us. "Do not be afraid. I am with your son also. Tomorrow at 12 O'clock you will receive a wire from your son that he has reached Shirdi safe." After 6 p.m. the doctor visited me. He again gave up hopes of my survival and mocked at the above experience which was narrated to him. He said. "This is mere hallucination."In 1 or 2hours, life would depart. This he said to my mother, and other close relations. Next day, at 12 noon, I got my son's wire "Reached Shirdi safe." Then from that moment, I began to purge. I purged continuously for 24 hours. Urine also passed. No blood passed. Next day, all poisons had passed out in that way, in the stools and urine; and my body became light. It is weighed. The weight was 75 pounds. The heart beating and the pulse were normal. The doctor came when the purging was going on. He was surprised. He was present at the weighing and the resumption of normal pulse and normal beating of the heart. The doctor was satisfied that I had now become safe and was saved by the "mysterious ways of Baba". From that date of my health regularly improved. In 2 months, I could and did take ordinary food. I am alright since then. I am doing regular lawyer's work now as before. I am always praying to Baba. In other matters, e.g., domestic, Baba is guiding me and protecting me. Then I went to Sbirdi and I have now completed all my South Indian pilgrimages. I will visit Shirdi again on my way back home. I came to Madras 3 or 4 days back, as the guest of Mr. Ambalsi Khapadia of Adyar. On 8th night and on 9th morning. I had a vision of Baba (about 5 a.m.). He commanded me to visit his temple in Mylapore and all his devotees there. So I came here yesterday and to-day.
In 1953 was the first appearance of Baba to Sir Mankewalla but this did not stop with 1953. In 1954 he had repeated appearance and help of Baba. That was for his benefit. But Baba appeared before him in August 1954 for the benefit of the public. This pamphlet had been written, and attempts were being made to print it in August. There was inordinate delay on the part of some printer who undertook the task of printing it. Meanwhile Baba made use of the delay for furnishing the best answer to the question at the top of this pamphlet. He appeared on the morning of 23-8-1954 to Sri Mankewalla and the message he gave was for publication and broadcasting in this pamphlet and in the History of Sai Baba that was being written by Sri B. V. N. Swami and nearing completion for which also the following message in the best Epilogue as it is for this pamphlet. This message published in Sai Sudha, September, 1954, runs as follows:—
“It is with great sense of surprise, joy, and blessedness that I am penning these few lines to you, being yester night reminded by ShreeSai Baba, who, with His habitual smiling face, inspired me in semi awakened state at the dawn of the morning to refer this matter to you, and to bring to your notice that Shree Baba is always present before his bhaktas. He is the guiding and all pervading power that shapes the ends of devotees and even of the universe. He has once saved me from the jaws of death, and he only guides me in all my and everybody's career, in this world. I saw Baba standing before me with his stick laughing, and telling me the above fact and especially asking me to refer the same to you. Why? That I do not know.”
By the grace of Shree Baba after I recovered from (attack of the icy hands of Pluto) death I appeared in many civil and criminal cases including cases under sections 302, 307 I. P. C. murder, and homicide, and I have become successful in all cases. Every moment in life, I feel the presence of Shree Baba. I always feel that like a parent taking care of his child, He always takes care of me. I have sometimes to pass through severe tests in life. I had to struggle hard with worldly affairs, but in all, lam triumphant. Even in spiritual worship, Baba's presence is felt. He always reminds me at the proper time and make* me feel that he is present watching all my movements, and guiding and shaping my life's career in a wonderful way.
I again remind you that I am writing you this at the express command of Shree Baba, who has commanded me to refer this matter to you."
Again to make assurance doubly sure, Baba was invited to write his name at Thotapalli hills, Santi Asram on a silver plate. His autograph in Telugu was, accordingly found on the plate. That by the kindness of Sri Omkar Swami was sent to Sri Rajeswarananda who presided on 6-10-54 at the 81st birthday celebration of Sri B. V. Narasimha Swami and presented by him to Sri B. V. Narasimha Swami. It is now kept among articles in the pooja room of the A.I.S.S. Mylapore Sai Mandir to enable all devotees to see for themselves how Baba is the "Living" God of his devotees actively helping every cne in the universe.
From all these the above instances are only an infinitesimal fraction of the miracle and benevolent acts done by Baba throughout the country - one would see that Sai Baba is undoubtedly now living and retaining the same nature and carrying on the same mission. During his life in the flesh up to 1918 at Shirdi, Baba said 'Malm Allahnm.' His nature functions and mission were all divine. There are undoubtedly to help people who put faith in God, especially in the form of Sai. So, Sai is still carrying on his mission of removing the distress, of strengthening faith, of helping devotees of trouble, (Paritranaya Sadhunam), and of leading those who surrender themselves to him to the highest goal that man can attain, (Dharina samstapanartaya). Baba is continuing his life in ethereal or Apantaratma shape without any fleshy body, though whenever he chooses, like Narada and Bhrigu, he does put on his fleshy body and appears to people in order to carry out his high and divine plans for the benefit of individuals or society. This will, therefore, suffice for this short pamphlet to enable people to shake off their doubts, fears, and inertia, and rouse them into a determination to get to know more of Baba, to get more contact with him, and to get all that they want, especially freedom from disease, trouble, etc. with his aid, ultimately freedom from all bondage, sorrow and misery.
"BOW TO SAI PEACE TO ALL"
Source: http://www.saileelas.org/books/issaibaba.doc
Posted at 12:09 pm by saiavatar
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Oct 15, 2004
Navaratri - An Exposition by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Navaratri - An Exposition by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Meaning
"Navaratri means nine nights. Darkness is associated with night. What is this darkness? It is the darkness of ignorance." Sai Baba, SS, 11/92, p. 267
"Navaratri means 'nine nights'. What does the nine signify? There are nine 'Grahas' (planets according to astrology). The human body has nine openings. If a deep inquiry is made, it will be found that mankind is dependent on the planets (Grahas). Although astrologers speak about nine, in reality, there are only two planets that matter. They are 'Raga' (attachment) and Dwesha (hatred)." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94, p. 289
"The six enemies of man are eating into his vitals, embedded in his own inner consciousness. They are the demons to be killed. They are lust (Kama), anger (Krodha), greed (Lobha), attachment (Moha), pride (Mada), and malice (Matsarya). They reduce man to the level of a demon. They have to be overpowered and transmuted, by the Supreme Alchemy of the Divine Urge. Then, the nine (Nava) nights (Ratri) of struggle will become new (Nava), a new type of night, devoted to the purification of the mind, illumination of the soul - the night described in the Gita as "the day of the worldly". What is clear and attractive to the ordinary man is uninteresting and unknown to the Yogi. What is clear and attractive to the Yogi is uninteresting and unknown to the worldly man. This is the nature of this topsy-turvy world." Sai Baba, SSS, Vol. VIII, dis dtd 12-10-69, p. 107
Shirdi Sai Baba Was Born On The First Night Of Navaratri
"All festivals have been designed to teach men how to lead a godly life while carrying out worldly activities. It is to teach this truth to mankind that Avatars and saints made their advent on earth from time to time. This day (the first day of Navaratri) has another special significance. Shirdi Sai Baba was bom on 27 September 1838. He was born in a poor Brahmin family in a village of Aurangabad District".
Sai Baba, SS, 11/92. p. 255. Discourse date: 27 September 1992
Purpose
'The Navaratri is a festival to commemorate the victory of the good over the evil. The Embodiment of Divine Power (Para-Shakti), in its various manifestations, Satwic (as Maha- Saraswati), Rajasic (as Maha-Lakshmi), Tamasic (as Mahakali) was able to overcome the forces of vice, wickedness and egoism, during the nine days' struggle and finally, on Vijaya Dashami (Dasara, the tenth Day commemorating victory), the valedictory worship is done". Sai Baba, SSS, Vol. VIII. discourse on 12-10-69, p. 107
The purpose of the Navaratri celebration is to enable man to get rid of nine types of darkness, which have taken hold of him. Sai Baba, SS, 11/92, p. 267
"The Navaratri festival is observed by contemplating on God for ten days, cleansing one's self of all the impurities to experience the Divinity within." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94. p. 291
"This festival (Navaratri) is intended to make man realise his true worth as the most precious object in creation. All things in the world derive their value from the labour and skill of man." Sai Baba. SS, 11/94. p. 289
"It is a festival of thanksgiving. Gratitude is Divine. Ingratitude is demonic. But while offering the homage of gratitude, you must also try to discover who was killed, who was saved, and why." Sai Baba, SSS, Vol. VIII, discourse on 12-10-69, p. 107
"The Navaratri celebration is an occasion for revering nature (Prakriti) and considering how natural resources can be used properly in the best interest of mankind. Resources like water, air, power and minerals should be used properly and not misused or wasted. Economy in the use of every natural resource is vital. Pollution of the air has many evil consequences. The inner significance of observances like Nagar Sankirtan and Bhajans is to fill the atmosphere with sacred vibrations and holy thoughts. The inauguration of the Navaratri celebrations means that you should use this occasion for offering worship to nature and resolving to make sacred use of all natural resources." Sai Baba. SS, 11/92, p. 269
"So, the Navaratri is to be dedicated by all for the propitiation of the outer as well as the inner divinity, so that the outer and the inner worlds may have peace and joy. By means of systematic Sadhana, it is possible to tap the inner resources that God has endowed on man, and elevate yourselves to the purer and happier realm of the Reality. That is the message of Navaratri, the Nine Day's Festival celebrating the victory of the Primal Energy. That energy, when it is manifested in its quiet aspect (Satvic), is delineated as the Great Teacher and Inspirer, Maha-Saraswati; when it is active and potent (Rajasic), the great Provider and Sustainer, Maha-Lakshmi; when it is dull and inactive, but latent and apparently quiet (Tamasic), as the Great Dark Destroyer and Deluder, Mahakali. Since Shakti is all-pervasive, omni-potent, infinitesimal as well as all-comprehensive, it can be contacted everywhere, in outer nature or inner consciousness. Prahlada told his doubting father: 'Why doubt, discuss and delay? Seek it anywhere; you can see It.' It is near and far, before, behind, beside and inside, everything in the known and the unknown world. People dare describe Her or Him, as thus and thus; that reveals only their faculty to guess. No description can portrait in full." Sai Baba, SSS, Vol. VI, discourse on 4-10-67, p. 83
"Our Vice-Chancellor described Swami's love as that of a thousand mothers. But, one who cannot understand the love of one mother, how can he understand the love of a thousand mothers? So, first and foremost try to understand and experience the love of your physical mother. Go on adding to the physical mother's love a millions times. The divinity principle of the God lies in this love, which is your life principle. Experience this love and understand the significance of mother worship in Navaratri." Sai Baba, SS, 7/99. p. 186
Three Phases Of Navaratri Celebrations
"The Navaratri has been divided into three parts. The first three days are dedicated to the worship of Durga, next three days to the worship of Lakshmi and last three days to the worship of Saraswati. All Hindu festivals have a sacred purpose. Unfortunately, now-a-days the festivals are observed only with external rituals without understanding their inner meaning. In the performance of all forms of worship, there should be steadiness of mind and body. Only then concentration can be achieved. Today men are unable to maintain steadiness of body and mind." Sai Baba. SS, 11/92, p. 268
Purpose Of Devi Worship
"Ichcha-Shakti (the Will Power) arises from thoughts. This 'Iccha-Shakti' is the source of several other potencies like intellectual power, the discriminating capacity and others. To develop this 'Ichcha-Shakti' (Will Power), one has to worship Devi. This calls for the cultivation of renunciation or detachment. For instance, if one has a desire for various drinks, he can bring the desire under control by giving up, to begin with, the desire for some of them. Thereby the Will Power (Ichcha-Shakti) is developed, and in due course, it becomes easier to give up other desires. In Vedantic parlance, this is described as 'Vairaagya' (renouncing all attachments). Vairaagya is not abandonment of hearth and home and retiring to a forest. It means developing godly thoughts and reducing worldly feelings. It is when this balanced development takes place that one acquire-control over the powers of nature (Praakrita Shakti). When these powers are got, the mental power in a person increases." Sai Baba, SS, 12/92, pp. 304 & 305
"The Devi Puja performed during Navaratri is intended to get rid of worldly attachments and divert-the mind towards God." Sai Baba, SS, 12/92, p. 305 -
Devi Is Satya-Swaroopini
"You worship Devi (goddess) in these nine days of Navaratri. You consider Devi as your Divine Mother. This Devi is called 'Sathya Swaroopini', which means she is the embodiment of truth. So, worshipping Truth amounts to worshipping Devi. If you understand and follow this truth, you will be successful in every field. The Vedas also proclaim this Principle of Truth." Sai Baba. SS. 11/98, p. 283
Symbolism Of Devi Worship
"The world is a manifestation of three Gunas (Satva, Rajas and Tamas qualities). The Divine is worshipped as "Devi". The term "Devi" refers to the feminine aspect. The term "Stree" is used to denote a woman. There are three syllables in this term: "Sa", Ta" and "Ra". "Sa" symbolizes the Satvic aspect of a person. The Satvic quality is the very first quality that manifests in man. The feeling of love develops from the mother. It is impossible to describe the nature of maternal love. The mother converts her own blood into love and gives it as milk to feed the child. Therefore, the first quality represented by "Sa" is the Satvic quality. The second syllable is "Ta". This does not represent "Tatva" or "Taamas" as eating and sleeping. In the term "Stree", the syllable "Ta" represents bashfulness, modesty, self-esteem and other such traits which are the characteristics of women. Shyness is a predominant trait in women. They attach great value to their honour and reputation. It is because of these sacred qualities that her "Tamasic" aspect is significant. The common view regarding the "Tamasic" quality does not apply to them. The third quality symbolized by the syllable "Ra" is Rajas. Such qualities as sacrifice and high-mindedness in women reflect the Rajasic aspect of their nature. When necessary, women will be prepared even to sacrifice their lives to safeguard their honour. Without regard to the difficulties and troubles they may encounter, women are ready to make any sacrifice to protect their honour and self-respect. When the "Tamasic" elements attempt to subvert the Satvic qualities, they are ready to combat and vanquish them.
The term "Devi" thus represents the Divine Power which has taken the Rajasic form to suppress the evil forces and protect the Satvic qualities. When the forces of injustice, immorality and untruth have grown to monstrous proportions and are indulging in a death dance, when selfishness and self-interest are rampant, when men have lost all sense of kindness and compassion, the Atmic principle, assuming the form of Shakti (energy/ power), taking on the Rajasic quality, seeks to destroy the evil elements. This is the inner meaning of the Festival. When the Divine Goddess is in dreadful rage assumes a fearful form, to pacify the dreaded Goddess, her feminine children offer worship to Her with red kumkum (sacred powder). The Goddess seeing the blood-red kumkum at Her feet, feels assured that the wicked have been vanquished and assumes Her benign form. The inner meaning of the worship of "Devi" with red kumkum is that thereby the Goddess is appeased. During the ten days of the (Navaratri and) Dasara, the demons in the form of wicked qualities have been routed. Rakshasas (demons) do not mean demonic beings. Arrogance is a demon. Bad thoughts are demons". Sai Baba. SS, 11/91, pp. 284 & 285
Forms And Manifestations Of Shakti
"During these sacred nine days (Navaratri), people go through the sacred texts such as Devi Bhagavatam, Ramayana and Mahabharata. People also worship the deities Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Goddess Gayatri is the presiding deity of our senses. Savitri is the presiding deity of speech. All these three are within the same Principle of Truth. Gayatri Mantra begins with 'Om Bhur Bhuvah Svah'. 'Bhuh' means materialization (Body); 'Bhuvah' means Vibration (Life Principle); Svaha means Radiation (Atma).
During these nine days, Goddess Shakti (Energy Principle) is worshipped. Truth, righteousness, peace, forgiveness are all expressions of the Principle of Shakti. Truth is the primal cause. There is nothing other than this. All faculties of energy are present in this Truth. So, consider Truth as your mother and follow it. The Vedas proclaim, 'Satyam Vada; Dharmam Chara', which means speak the truth and follow the righteousness. Unfortunately, today people do not follow this. On the contrary they follow Asatya (untruth) and Adharma (unrighteousness)" Sai Baba. SS, 11/98, p. 284
Durga, Lakshmi And Saraswati Symbolize Three Potencies
"Bharatiyas (people of India) have been celebrating the Navaratri festival from ancient times as a mode of worship of Devi (the Divine as Mother). They worship Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati during these nine days. Who are these? They are three forms, which have fascinated man. Their esoteric significance is represented by three potencies (Shaktis). They are Karma (action), Upaasana (worship) and Jnana (wisdom). Their potencies have been given other names". Sai Baba. SS. 11/94, p. 282
"The significance of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati has to be rightly understood. Three represent three kinds of potencies in man. Ichchaa Shakti (will power), Kriyaa Shakti (the power of action) and Jnana Shakti (the power of discrimination). Saraswati is manifested in man as the power of speech (Vaak). Durga is present in the form of dynamism (the power of action). Lakshmi is manifested in the form of will power. The body indicates "Kriyaa Shakti". The mind is the repository of"Ichchaa Shakti". The Atma is "Jnana Shakti". "Kriya Shakti" comes from the body, which is material. The power that activates the body, which is inert and makes it vibrant, is "Ichchaa Shakti". The power that induces the vibrations of'khchaa Shakti" is "Jnana Shakti" which causes radiation (of energy). These three are represented by the Mantra "OM Bhur-Bhuvah-Svah". "Bhu" represents Bhu-loka (earth). "Bhuvah." represents the life-force (also means conscience of man), "Svah" represents the power of radiation. All the three are present in man. Thus, Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati dwell in the human heart." Sai Baba. SS. 11/94. pp. 283 & 284
"The Vedas declare that whenever the mind wanders, the three worlds will be perceived. What are these three worlds? All are familiar with the pronouncements in the Gita and in the Gayatri Mantra. The three worlds are: Bhu, Bhuvah, Svah (the Bhu-loka,Bhuvar-loka and Swarga). These three are present in man: Aadibhoutika, Aadidaivika and Aadhyatmik). These three worshipped by our ancients are: Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Every form is that of Durga, the deity that is associated with energy (Shakti). There is infinite power within man, power that is beyond comprehension and which is divine. But he makes no effort to recognise it. What is the power that makes the earth revolve round itself? It is not any machine or mantra. The power is within the earth itself. This energy, present in man and other objects, has been characterized as cosmic power. The sun derives its energy and effulgence from this cosmic source. It is the same cosmic source that accounts for the power of the human mind and the marvellous power of the eye to see the most distant stars." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94. p. 287 & 288
"The energy in man is a primordial power (AdiShakd). It is termed 'OM'. This power permeates the physical world (Prakriti) of matter. There is another power, which animates this material substance. This is the power of vibration. It is termed 'Prana Shakti (the Life-force). It is this Life-force which activates every part of the human body. This is termed 'Bhuvah'. Lakshmi symbolizes this power. Lakshmi is the embodiment of that power, which enables a human being to see, to hear and to do many things. Lakshmi represents the power to see what is good, to hear what is good, to speak sweet words, to entertain good thoughts and to do good deeds. The Lakshmi principle accounts for the good, happy, auspicious happening in the world. The third form of energy is symbolized by Saraswati. She is regarded as the Goddess of Speech (Vak Devata) Lakshmi is Praana Swaroopini (the embodiment of the life-force) Durga is Shakti -Swaroopini (embodiment of physical energy). (These) three in their unified expression represent the Atmic Principle." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94, p. 288
Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswati Symbolize Three Qualities
"Men are prone to exhibit Rajasic qualities like anger and hatred. They are menacing manifestations of Durga. The extolling of the Divine in song and poetry and the pleasing vibrations produced by them indicate the power of Saraswati. The pure qualities that arise in man such as compassion, love, forbearance and sympathy are derived from Lakshmi. When people worship Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati externally in pictures or icons, they are giving physical forms to the subtle potencies that are within them. The unfortunate predicament of man today is that he is not recognising the powers within him and developing respect for them. He goes after the external, attracted by the physical forms. The relationship between the material and the subtle has to be understood." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94, p. 284
Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswati Natural Powers
"During the Dasara festival, three goddesses - Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati -are worshipped according to certain traditional practices. Durga represents the prodigious power of nature (Prakrit-shakti). As against this power of nature is the Paraa-Shakti (the power of the spirit). When spiritual power is predominant, the power of nature is kept under control. When spiritual power is weak, the power of nature becomes predominant. This is illustrated by the example of smoke and fire. When smoke is predominant, the fire is suppressed. When the fire is blazing, the smoke vanishes. Hence, to enhance the power of spirit and limit the power of nature, man has to cultivate detachment (Vairaagya). To the extent that power of nature is under control, to that extent spiritual power grows. "Ichchaa-Shakti" is one of the of several other potencies like intellectual power, the discriminating capacity and others. To develop this "Ichchaa-Shakti" (will power), one has to worship "Devi". This calls for the cultivation of Tyaaga (detachment or renunciation). For instance, if one has a desire for various drinks, he can bring the desires under control by giving up, to begin with, the desire for one of them. Thereby the Will Power (Ichchaa-Shakti) is developed and in due course, it becomes easier to give up other desires. In Vedantic parlance this is described as "Vairaagya" (renouncing attachments). Vairaagya is not abandonment of hearth and home and retiring to a forest. It means developing godly thoughts and reducing worldly feelings. When this balanced development takes place, one acquires control over the powers of nature (Praakrita-Shakti). When these powers are got, the mental power in a person increases. Durga represents the Praakrita-Shakti and Lakshmi represents the Thought Power (Sankalpa Shakti). Vaak-Shakti (the power of speech), is represented by Saraswati. In order to acquire these three powers, various forms of worship are performed during the Navaratri festival. But prayers alone are not enough. Prayers should not be just from the lips. They should emanate from the heart. The heart (Hridaya) symbolizes the Ocean of Milk (Ksheera-saagara). When Lakshmi emerges, purity of speech follows. Whatever you speak should conform to truth." Sai Baba, SS. 12/92. pp.304 & 305.
Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswati Symbolize Mother
"Recognising one's mother as the very embodiment of all divine forces, one must show reverence to her and treat her with love. This is the true message that the Navaratri festival gives us. The Supreme Shakti manifests herself in the form of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Durga grants to us energy - physical, mental, and spiritual. Lakshmi bestows on us wealth of many kinds, not just money, but intellectual wealth, the wealth of character, and others. Even health is a kind of wealth. She grants untold riches to us. Saraswati bestows on us intelligence, the capacity for intellectual enquiry and the power of discrimination. The Navaratri festival is celebrated in order to proclaim to the world the power of these goddesses. One's own mother is a combination of all these divine beings. She provides us energy, wealth, and intelligence. She constantly desires our advancement in life. So, she represents all the three goddesses that we worship during the Navaratri festival. If the Pandavas were able to become so dear to Krishna and make their lives worthy by serving Him, it was not on account of their own merit or austerities. It was Kunti Devi's love for them that brought to them such a great fortune. Even when they had to live in the forest or in the House of Wax, she always stayed with them and prayed for their welfare. The Pandavas also reciprocated her love, and that accounts for their final victory. Lakshmana, likewise, was able to dwell in the forest with his brother Rama, serving ceaselessly, only because of his mother Sumitra's blessings". Sai Baba, SS, 11/88. p. 290
"There is no need to propitiate Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati for material prosperity, energy and worldly knowledge. If we love and adore the mother, we shall be showing our love and devotion to all these goddesses. One's mother is greater than heaven itself. Sri Rama himself declared that one's mother and motherland are greater than even heaven. The Navaratri festival teaches this profound truth. One must remember that reverence to one's own mother is one's paramount duty. If one's mother is unhappy, all expenditure one incurs and all the worship one offers in the name ofDurga, Lakshmi and Saraswati in the Navaratri festival will yield no fruit". Sai Baba, SS, 11/88. p. 291
Durga, Lakshmi & Saraswati Symbolize The Supreme Divine
"The Navaratri festival should not be observed as a festival for worshipping the consorts of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. These goddesses symbolize divine potencies. All these potencies are derived from Vishnu. The entire cosmos is a manifestation of the myriad forms of Vishnu. People must recognise this oneness underlying the different forms. All beings breathe the same air as their life-breath. Likewise all the five basic elements are the stuff of nature. But in the Para-Tatwa (the Supreme Principle, the Divine), these do not exist. The elements are mortal. The Divine is immortal. To proceed from the mortal to the immortal, the easiest means is the cultivation of the Divine Love (Prema). The heart is like a sky wherein the clouds in the form of thoughts hide the Buddhi (the intellect) and the mind representing the sun and the moon. Vairaagya (detachment) is the means to get rid of thoughts and desires arising from them. The Devi Puja performed during Navaratri is intended to get rid of worldly attachments and divert the mind toward God. There are four different qualities in man: humanness, the animal nature, demonic nature, and divine nature. When man follows the dictates of the body, he is a prey to his animal nature. When he is subject to the vagaries of the mind, he becomes demonic. When he is following the Atma (conscience), he is manifesting his divinity. When he is governed by all the three- the body, the mind and the Atma, he is human". Sai Baba, SS, 12/92, p. 305
"Vishnu pervades the cosmos as His body. All things in the cosmos are limbs of the body of Vishnu. Hence, no one should have any aversion to anything in the universe. He should not hate anyone, because the same Divine is present in you and in everything in the universe. The cosmos has three forms: the gross, the subtle and the casual. The physical universe represents the gross form. The subtle form is the mind, and subtler than the mind is the Atma". Sai Baba, SS. 11/92. p. 270
Lakshmi Puja
"Let me tell you frankly, I do not like this Lakshmi Puja, which people do, expecting to grow rich and accumulate wealth. They even speak ofDhana-Lakshmi and special Stotras to propitiate her. Lakshmi or wealth accrues by fair means as well as foul. Money is earned by gambling, by various forms of deceit, by highway robbery itself, by high and low, by all and sundry. Worship Lakshya (goal), I shall appreciate you. Keep the Lakshya, the goal of expanding your love till it embraces all beings, till it sees every being as your own self. Keep it ever steady before your mind's eye, then Lakshmi will, other own accord, favour you to the extent necessary for realising the goal. Never doubt that. Never falter at that." Sai Baba. SSS. Vol. III. p. 35
Significance Of Tripura-Sundari Puja
"During the Navaratri festival, Tripurasundari is worshipped. Unfortunately, from ancient times people have been observing only the external forms of worship without understanding the inner significance of these festivals. The entire cosmos is a temple. The Lord pervades the cosmos. Nature (Prakriti) teaches the spiritual truth about Navaratri. Realise the love of Sai through spiritual practice (Sadhana). The Lord has to be realised through Sadhana. Sadhana does not mean adoring God in a particular place or in a particular form. It means thinking of God in all that you do wherever you may be. It may be asked whether this is possible. The answer is that it is possible by dedicating every action to God". Sai Baba, SS. 11/92. pp. 270 & 271
Significance Of Anga-Arpana Puja
"During Navaratri there is a form of worship called Angaarpana Puja. In this form of worship, all the limbs of the body are offered to the Divine in a spirit of surrender (Sharanagati). Surrender means offering everything to the Divine and giving up the idea of separation between oneself and the Divine. There can be no true surrender if there is a sense of separation. There must be conviction that it is the same Divine who dwells in all beings (Ekam Vasi Sarvabhuta-antaraatma). In the performance of Anga-Arpana Puja, there is a form of self-deception. When a devotee says: "Netram Samarpayaami"(I offer my eyes to the Lord) and offers only a flower to the Lord, he is indulging in a kind of deception. The proper thing would be to say that he is offering a flower. Actually Mantras like "Netram Samarpayaami" arc intended to indicate that one is using his eyes only to see God. The real significance of the Mantra is that you think of the Divine whatever you see or do. Therefore, the true meaning of Anga-arpana puja is to declare that you offer all your limbs in the service of the Lord. This means that whatever work you do should be done as an offering to God. Now-a-days selfishness is rampant among devotees and they love God, not for God's sake but to get their selfish desires fulfilled. As long as selfishness prevails, the Divine cannot be understood". Sai Baba, SS, 11/92. p. 271
Significance Of Aayudha Puja
"The Navaratri festival is observed by contemplating on God for ten days, cleansing one's self of all the impurities to experience the Divinity within. The penultimate day of the festival is dedicated to what is termed 'Aayudha Puja' (worship of weapons). The weapons to be worshipped are the divine powers in man. When the Divine is worshipped in this way, one is bound to progress spiritually." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94, p. 291
"Today is Ashtami. Ayudha Puja is performed on this day. What is the significance of this Ayudha Puja? After Mahishasura and other demons were slain by Chamundeshwari, there was no more use other weapons. So, the weapons were kept aside and worshipped. The Ayudha Puja is being celebrated since ancient times. But of what use arc such weapons to us? In fact, our weapons are Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema. Prema is more powerful than hydrogen and atom bombs of today. Why worry when such power is within us." Sai Baba, SS, 6/2001. p. 191
Significance Of Using Kumkum For Worship
"During the Navaratri festival, for the purpose of eradicating one's demonic tendencies, the deities are worshipped with Kumkum (sacred red powder). The red powder is a symbol of blood. The meaning of this worship is offering one's blood to the Lord and receiving in return the gift of peace from the Lord." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94. p. 290
Devi' Compassion And Grace
Among the many lessons driven home to the students in Brindavan by Bhagavan Baba in His evening discourses in April, 1997, in Trayee Brindavan', one was concerned with the need for firm determination on the part of a devotee to earn the grace of the Lord. Bhagavan related an episode from the life of Adi Shankara as a young lad.
"The great Acharya was barely four years old at the time. His father, a devout scholar, used to offer daily worship to Goddess Raajeshwari every morning. Meditating before the Goddess with closed eyes, he would offer a bowl of cow's milk to her. When he opened his eyes after meditation, he would find that bowl was only half-full, the other half having been accepted as an offering by the Goddess. One day, he had to go to a neighbouring village for three days. He told his wife to arrange worship of the Goddess in the customary manner with the offering of milk, with the young Shankara deputizing him in the worship. In accordance with his father's instructions, the young lad sat in front of the Goddess in the sanctum and performed the prescribed ritual. After meditation, when he opened his eyes, he was astonished to see that the bowl of milk offered to the Goddess remained full. He felt sad and cried out: 'Divine Mother! What wrong have I done? I cannot bear this punishment. Please show your grace on me as you did for my father.' He prayed intensely for some time with closed eyes. When he opened his eyes he saw that the bowl was now totally empty. All the milk had gone. He was in distress again and cried out: "Devi! You have consumed all the milk. Where is our share of the Prasadam? If we are denied this, what mother will say and what will others think? I will not leave this place till the bowl is refilled.' In response to fervent prayers, the Goddess spoke: "Dear child! When the river has joined the river, how can it be redirected? Shankara said: 'Nobody will believe me when I say that no milk was left in the bowl after my worship. They may think that I drank all of it. I cannot face them. Devi! Without your Prasad, I will not leave this place. I will lay down my life at your Feet.'' Swami concluded this moving account of the episode with the following finale: "Devi Raajeshwari's heart melted on hearing the young boy's appeal. She took the bowl and poured her Divine breast-milk into it and gave it to the young devotee.' The compassion of the Divine, Swami said, has no limits." Sai Baba. SS. 6/97. p. 153
How To Celebrate Navaratri?
"The Navaratri festival should be used as an occasion to examine one's own nature whether it is human, animal, or demonic, and strive to transform the animal nature into the human, and divinise the human nature. Wisdom cannot be acquired from outside. It has to be got through inward Sadhana". Sai Baba, SS, 11/92, p. 271
Sai's Message On Navaratri
"The Navaratri festival should not be observed as a festival for worshipping the
consorts of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma. These goddesses symbolize Divine potencies. All these potencies are derived from Vishnu. The entire cosmos is a manifestation of the myriad forms of Vishnu. People should recognise the oneness underlying the different forms. All beings breathe the same air as their life-breath. Likewise, all the basic elements are common to all. These elements are the stuff of nature. But in the Paratatwa (the Supreme Principle, the Divine), these do not exist. The elements are mental. The Divine is immortal. To proceed from'the mortal to the Immortal, the easiest means is the cultivation of the Divine love." Sai Baba, SS, 12/92, p. 305
"It is essential to celebrate festivals in a sacred spirit. It is not enough to do this for only 10 days during the Navaratri festivals. It should become the rule throughout one's life, even as one draws one's life-breath till the end." Sai Baba, SS, 11/94, p. 291
Glimpses Of Navaratri Celebrations At Prasanthi Nilayam
"To celebrate the Navaratri, new (Nava) as well as nine (Nava), at Prasanthi Nilayam, is indeed a rare chance, replete with wonder and joy. For, this is the Abode of Peace, the peace that ensues when six enemies are destroyed forever. The Prasanthi Flag, which now will be hoisted, is the symbol of this consummation - the conquest by man of the six enemies and the illumination within him of the flame of wisdom installed in the Lotus of Heart. It is the Flag of Swaraj, dominion over oneself, the true independence, when you genuinely claim to be Master of the Realm most related to you." Sai Baba, SSS, Vol. VII, discourse on 12-10-69, p. 108
From the book - Festivals at Prasanthi Nilayam - An Exposition by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - Compiled and Edited by Suresh C Bhatnagar.
http://sai_maa.tripod.com/Nav/Navaratri.htm
Posted at 04:30 pm by saiavatar
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Revelations
Student Sriram Parasuram Sri Sathya Sai Senior Boys Hostel & Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School Hostel Prashanti Nilayam.
Bandipur forest , 1974 They had driven down from Ooty. They camped in a clearing in the forest, for the night. A student asked His permission to Photograph Him with a new Polaroid camera. Swami said, “ I will show you MY True form. Proceed.” They all waited with bated breath for photograph to come out. THEY SAW THE TRINITY!
SWAMI SPOKE that night on the significance of the festival and its relation to the moon. He also said, “The scientists who have been up there, think that there is no water on the moon.
As always, they don’t know the Truth. “ He waved His palm casually and materialized a lucent disk, which just about happened to be the disk to the starry eyed audience of the Master said, “ This is the water on the moon, which tragically has been eluding the scientists.
”The list of such happening goes on and on….( But we are short of time and space ) The effects of the miracles, His visiting cards, as He calls them, are felt not only in the physical presence of the Lord, but all over the Cosmos.
Every act He performs has a Universal significance. In material science it is said, you can not move your fingers without moving the stars”. If this were for man,…. What then for GOD…?
Dig right here. Young Sai told of His more able-minded devotees. The task was carried out and from that spot was unearthed a number of Peethams (based of the lingams). The devotees asked, “The pedestals are here where are the lingams? “
In my stomach” said Sai. They laughed. Some scratched their heads perplexed. Time passed…and then came Sivarathri.
The Bhajans were on. The young Sai was seated on the chair, tinkling the cymbals. Suddenly He stopped…clutched His stomach. Uneasiness. There was a frown on His serene face. He was in pain.
It appears as though spasms of pain had gripped Him. Subbamma immediately got some water. He sipped it. But, the pain was still there. It appear to increase with every passing moment, moving upward…The chest …the gullet . The muscles of His throat tensed and then heaved…His mouth opened…and suddenly—from within came a “Brilliant ball of light.” Nay, a kind of smooth crystal…
He smiled. The relief was obvious as the tense contour of sweet countenance relaxed into Very Familiar Smile…He rose and held it up for all to see…IT WAS A LINGAM! The first ever!
For years, the holy night has witnessed the Lingobhavam and plethora of Lingams emerging from the Lord's stomach. Sometimes only one Lingam is formed, the material being apparently Sphatika, or silver, or Jade, or even Gold (last year). Often, numerous- three, five, seven, or nine! Once the number of Lingams was surprising high number of eleven.
They come in different sizes, but the same shape-ellipsoid. At times the Benevolent Lord has created them even with the Peetams and with Vibuthi smeared on the Lingam. The Night has witnessed even more…
Jai Sai Ram
“All the festivals of Bharatiyas have been designed to promote Divine love among the people. It is to confer such love on the people that the Lord incarnates on earth. He Himself demonstrates how love should be expressed. He showers His love and teaches everyone how to love. Hence experience this love and joy in your life and live in peace. ***BABA***
Source: http://aumsairam108.tripod.com/article/amazing-cure2.htm
Posted at 03:15 pm by saiavatar
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Ways of the Divine
The Pandavas during the time of their exile once walked into the forest of Romarishi. Romarishi was a sage whose body was covered with hair and his beard was so long that it spread like a carpet into the entire area of the forest.
There was a sacred tree in that forest yielding a very special type of fruit which, once tasted by a person, would relieve him of hunger and thirst for years and years. But the fruit was not to be plucked, it was to be eaten only when it fell down on its own.
One day Dharmaraja and Draupadi chanced to come near the tree. Draupadi was very much tempted to taste that luscious big fruit hanging from the tree. She said: "Can we not take that fruit? We can all share it." Dharmaraja shot an arrow and the fruit fell on the ground. He went to take the fruit with his hand. It was so heavy that he could not move it. Dharmaraja tried to lift it with all his strength using both his hands but he could not lift it. Draupadi also tried but in vain. In the meantime, Arjuna arrived at that place. He tried to lift the fruit but could not succeed. All the three tried to lift the fruit but it would not move. The two younger brothers came and tried to lift the fruit but they too could not succeed.
Finally came the mighty hero, Bhima. He asked the others to keep away and said: "I will lift it. But even Bhima failed."
Meanwhile the hair of Romarishi which had spread all over the area, began to stir because when these six people were trampling about to lift the fruit, the strands of hair were being trodden and pulled. He realised that some one must be trying to steal the fruit. He had become furious. His long hairs started coming together and coiling round the Pandavas to tie them up.
Draupadi realised the danger and immediately prayed to Lord Krishna. Krishna appeared before them. Draupadi fell at his feet and prayed to Him for help. Krishna said: "Sister, I am helpless. Romarishi is a great sage. I reside in his heart. How can I do anything against the wishes of my devotees?" Draupadi once again pleaded: "You alone can save us, you can do anything if you wish to." Krishna said: "I will help you, but all of you should be totally silent whatever may be the situation and do exactly as I tell you." Draupadi and Pandavas promised to obey his orders. Krishna went towards Romarishi's ashram and instructed them to follow him after sometime.
In the meantime, Romarishi was so much enraged that he had actually started to walk towards the tree to curse the poachers. Just then Krishna entered the ashram. Romarishi fell at the Lotus Feet of the Lord. He was overjoyed to see Him. He said, "How fortunate am I to have you as my guest. Oh Lord! What can I do for you?" Krishna engaged him in discussing certain spiritual matters till the Pandavas arrived.
As soon as the Pandavas along with Draupadi reached the ashram, Krishna hurried towards them and fell at their feet. The Pandavas were feeling embarrassed but remembering the Lord's command, kept quiet. Seeing Krishna fall at the feet of the Pandavas, Romarishi also fell at the feet of those visitors. Then Krishna asked them to come into the ashram. He introduced them to Romarishi. He praised the virtuous Dharmaraja, valiant Arjuna and Bhima and the intelligent Nakul and Sahadeva, and above all, the devout Draupadi. Romarishi by that time totally forgot about the fruit and the poachers. Krishna informed Romarishi that the Pandavas were the people who were tempted to taste the fruit being unaware of the unique nature of the fruit. Romarishi desired to please those who could please the Lord Himself. He said: "Let them take the fruit. I would like them to have it." By eating the fruit the Pandavas were able to live without hunger for a long time.
It is difficult to understand the ways of the Divine. All that we can do is to always remember Him with love and pray with faith for His matchless grace.
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Source: Chinna Katha II, 140
http://beaskund.helloyou.ws/askbaba/stories/s1049.html
Posted at 05:02 am by saiavatar
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Oct 14, 2004
A letter from Howard Murphet - Reflections by Dr G Venkataraman
A letter from Howard Murphet
Reflections by Dr G Venkataraman
Sai Ram. It is some time since I did a reflection piece – unfortunately, I have been too busy to attend to this responsibility of mine. Yet, recent events have compelled me to abandon my [untenable] excuse, and what compelled me to do so was an open letter from Howard Murphet that somehow found its way to me, via the miracle of modern electronics.
Just prior to receiving this moving essay, I was deluged by a whole bunch of negative newspaper comments in Britain, triggered by an unsavoury documentary produced by a TV channel on Swami. Determined though I was not to be affected by this news from the gutter, being human, I could not help feeling some pain in my Heart. That was when this letter came to me – I guess it was Swami's way of sending me some soothing balm.
Murphet came to Swami a long, long time ago. An Australian, he had seen action in World War II as a soldier. War over, he turned, being of a spiritual bent of mind, towards oriental philosophy, Theosophy, occultism, etc. In his explorations, he came across a book on Shirdi Baba. About this he writes:
It was a book written by an Englishman [The Incredible Sai Baba, by Arthur Osborne] and published in England that first introduced me to the strange, fascinating figure known as Sai Baba of Shirdi. Later I learned more about this miracle-working God-man from other writings, including the four-volume biography by B.V. Narasimha Swami, but from the first introduction to him, I felt a deep stir within me – as if something pulled on a cord attached to the core of my innermost self. I could not understand what it meant.
Murphet picked up the book on Shirdi Baba (sometime in the early sixties) while in England. Later he toured Europe, and started on the return journey to his native land.
On the way, he decided to stop over in India. Concerning this he says:
 After spending some time in Europe, my wife and I decided to stop for a while in India on our way home to Australia. We had two purposes in view. One was to go more deeply into Theosophy by attending the six-month 'School of Wisdom' course at the International Headquarters of the Theosophical Society, in Adyar, Madras.
Our second purpose was to travel through the country to discover if there was any deeper spiritual dimension in the life of modern India. …..Our search took us to several of the well-known Ashrams throughout the length of India, and to a few little-known ones. We sat and talked with ascetics and hermits in their caves in the Himalayas. We met a good variety of Sadhus, and teachers of different types of yogas.
From the hermitages of the Himalayas and the Ashrams along the sacred Ganges, we came back to New Delhi. There, at a leading social club, we met a top business executive who said, "So, you are looking for the spiritual life of India. There is none! That's all past. We are looking for what you have in the West – material progress." In another place, a Professor of History also tried to dampen our enthusiasm. "Believe me," he said, "there is no spirituality left in this country. In the India of old there was, but it died a thousand years ago."
Murphet did not accept these negative views. He felt it in his guts that all these people were wrong, and went to an ashram near Agra to have talks with the people there. In the course of his conversations, he heard a story. According to this, a young seeker asked a Guru: "How do I find God Incarnate?" The reply given was: "Pray everyday to God that He will lead you to the Man in whom He is at present incarnated." The man who narrated this incident to Murphet added, "I suggest the same to you now. Such a prayer will undoubtedly be answered.And when it is, please write and let me know!"
Murphet stored this advice away in his brain, and continued his wanderings, in the course of which, he came across a yogi. This was a turning point. Let us hear about it from Murphet himself.
I first heard the name of Sathya Sai Baba from a wandering yogi. He had not himself met this Holy Man, he said, nor been to his ashram at a village called Puttaparthi. This, he had heard, was a difficult place to reach, being in the wilds of the interior; one had to do the last part of the journey on a bullock cart or on foot over rough tracks. Still, the Swami was no doubt worth the effort, the yogi thought, if I had the time and interested in phenomena. He was known to have Siddhis [occult powers] and to be a great miracle-worker.
"What kind of miracles?" I asked.
"Well, it is said that he can, for instance, produce objects from nowhere. Of course, there are other men who have some of the Siddhis.They can do a few super-normal feats, but from the reports, Sai Baba's powers are much greater. And he performs miracles frequently. Anyone can see them."
Such talk certainly aroused my interest and curiosity. I had heard [who had not?] that India was the crucible of wonder-workers. I had read of the great adepts, occultists, saints of the past who knew Nature's Inner Laws. But I had doubted their actual reality. And even if they once existed, could they still be found?
This, I thought, might be my great chance to find out if the fantastic tales that have come out of India belong to the realm of fact or fiction. I decided that I must see Sathya Sai Baba as soon as convenient. Later when I heard that his followers regarded him as a reincarnation of Sai Baba of Shirdi, my desire to meet him became even stronger.
To cut a long story short, Murphet did see Bhagavan shortly thereafter in Madras, when he was attending the school mentioned above. At around the same time, Swami also had come to the city at the behest of many devotees there.
Murphet had the Darshan of Baba, saw miracles, was astonished at first, then wondered about them, and finally realised that the Divinity of Bhagavan was primary while miracles were merely a manifestation of His Love. Murphet quickly caught on to the fact that Baba is an Incarnation of the Lord, and that when the Lord comes in human form, He is to be recognised not by superhuman phenomena or aspects but by the Divine qualities of Pure Love, Compassion, Selfless Sacrifice, and limitless Forbearance.
His prayers having been answered and having seen the Incarnation with his own eyes, Murphet spared no pains to share his 'discovery' with the rest of the world. He did this through many books and of course also lectures, especially in his country. Result: incredulous foreigners started flocking to the remote hamlet of Puttaparthi in increasing numbers, to come face to face with the Living God. Murphet himself made many trips India to have Baba's Darshan, and continued doing so even after he passed the ripe old age of ninety. He it was who 'introduced' Baba 'Down Under', to Australia.
Naturally, Swami always had a soft corner for Murphet and would greet him by asking, "Murphet, are you perfect?" Invariably, it produced laughter all round. To the devotees present, Swami would introduce Murphet as the 'Old Australian Tiger!' The merit of earlier births earned for this nice old gentleman the privilege of spreading Swami's Name and Message in his own way, and earning more Divine Grace thereby. As Krishna says in the Gita, blessed are they who speak about the Lord, and spread His Message.
Murphet is now 95 years of age. He has been blind now for many years, but still writes, using a Dictaphone from which others then transcribe. The letter reproduced below is one of his latest writings. What devotion and what commitment! And how, despite his advanced age and handicap, he is prepared to speak out boldly in the cause of Truth!
I found in Murphet's letter all the courage and inspiration I needed to snap out of my fleeting spell of despondency. I hope you, dear Reader, will find it to be so too.
Dear Devotees,
My good friends - or some of them - in the Sai movement have expressed the opinion that the present time is really the dividing of the ways, "the sifting of the chaff from the grain", or what the Bible might call the dividing of the sheep from the goats. Whichever the way we see it this is a difficult time for some people, especially for those followers of Sai Baba who are fairly new.
Many of you will have read some of my books, so you know perhaps that I am probably the first from the Western world to come to Sathya Sai Baba.I came as a Western sceptic and stayed with Him, or near Him, for some six years, trying to solve the problem of His identity and why He is here in the world.
I returned to the West, but I have been back many times, pulled by the strong magnet that the Avatar is.
I have studied Baba's relationship to ordinary human beings in the world, and how His purpose is to lead those who are ready to their own inner Guru, or the God within. I did not immediately accept Him as an Avatar, but did so after He taught me, in a humble manner, what an Avatar is, and how we are all Avatars, descendants from God, without being aware of it. As I stayed on, I became more and more certain that He was indeed an Avatar. This is not based on the fact that He materialises things.
I know that there are others in India who have the Siddhis (occult powers) for materialisation. Some of them are masters on the right path while others are on the left hand path of the black magicians.In most cases they have trained servants in the astral realm who carry out things for them, as they desire - I mean bringing material objects such as trinkets, food and so on. So you might say that the fact that Swami materialises things is really no proof that He is an Avatar of God.
In His case, though, He goes further than that. He does what only a Being bearing the Christ Consciousness or the Divine Consciousness on Earth can do, and I have witnessed many of these phenomena. One instance is the conversion of one type of matter to another, which labels Him as a 'Master of Matter'. One such instance that I was a witness to was the conversion of a piece of granite rock into edible candy, while the rock never left my sight. I examined it before, and afterwards ate some of the candy. Only the Divine One can do such a thing as that. Another example that He did when the necessity arose, was to convert a bucket of ordinary water, drawn from a well nearby, into a bucketful of petrol by stirring the water with His forefinger. It was then poured into the petrol tank of the car, and the car continued on the journey, using the petrol that Swami had converted from water.
These incidents, and other juggling of the atoms to change one type of matter to another, are things that convince me of His Divine Consciousness, which shows that He is the Master of Matter - being able to create it, convert it, and destroy it.
When He produces a Sivalingam from inside Himself - which I saw Him do as long ago as 1966 - if there is nobody present worthy of receiving the Lingam, then He dematerialises It. This happens when there is no one who will faithfully do the regular Pujas (rituals) that are required to keep the Lingam auspicious. In other words, He then sends It back to the unmanifest. This might be called the destruction of matter.
You must have read about all of this in my books, yet the greatest of His miracles is the Divine Love by which he brings about a deep change in the nature of people, His followers. I have described this inner change which might be called the 'Birth of the Divine Child Within Us', or the initiation into Divine Life. Many, many people, throughout the years, have been changed in this way - this deep-rooted inner change is really your first step on the homeward journey.
Then there is the great compassion of Sai Baba, which requires miraculous action for its fulfillment.
You have read in one of my books that some years ago - in fact in 1982 - when I was diagnosed as having an incurable disease, I prayed very earnestly to Sai Baba, my Guru. I was in a beautiful room in the Adelaide Hills, while Sai Baba (in the body) was of course at that time in India at His Ashram. My prayer was so intense that after a sleep on a couch where the sun was shining through the windows, I woke up to see Swami's head and arm as it circled over me, and I knew that He had come and that this was a healing gesture.
I saw it in that brief time between sleep and being fully awake, which, as you may have heard, is a time when everybody has a short period of clairvoyance. When that short period passed, His hand and body disappeared from my vision, but He was still there in the room. I knew this by the unbelievably soul-moving sense of the luminous in the room. In fact the room was filled by it, and it penetrated the wall to where my wife was sitting in the breakfast room, and then when Swami left, the luminosity went too.
This is what the ancient Romans called "the sense of the Presence of the Divine" (the luminous or Lumina). Well, I knew then that I was cured of the disease, and tests afterwards proved that this was so.
There are people I know who have had the clairvoyant vision of Swami's subtle form, almost every day, and He has the power to appear in more than one place at a time. When He was younger, He used to go into a trance in order to make the necessary out-of-body journeys to help people. But, for many years now, He carries on with whatever He is doing, while sending out a subtle form to do whatever is required for accomplishing His work of helping mankind. Of this I have had many proofs, and I have no doubt whatsoever about it. Through these experiences and my contemplation of them, I have come to a firm, unshakable conviction that we have with us, in Sathya Sai Baba, one of the greatest Avatars of all time.
All these petty and ridiculous allegations that are circulating about One who is God - One whom we should realise cannot be measured with the measuring tape of the ordinary human mind - I find myself paying no heed to whatsoever. They arise through the activities of some egos, anxious either to bring the Great One down to their own level, so that their own personal egos may grow, as they try to climb the ladder of Divinity. At the same time, they are serving the dark forces that are battling hard today against the Light that the Avatar is shedding on Earth.
I know, too, that He is being supported by many workers in the force-field of light, such as the Ascended Masters, two of whom I had much to do with while I was researching the biographies of the outward founders of the Theosophical Movement. They are Master El Morya and Master Kuthumi, who are two of the most powerful Masters behind the launching of the Theosophical Society in the last century. Their purpose, in Their own words, was "to turn the crest wave of intellectual thought that was being enlarged by the rapid growth of science during the latter half of the last century, to turn this - or at least some of it - towards the spiritual shores instead of letting it all break on the rocks of materialism."
These two great Ascended Masters have given the weight of their spiritual perception and knowledge, to confirm what I myself, and many others throughout the world, have experienced. I feel beyond doubt that we are greatly honoured to have an Avatar of the calibre of Sai Baba on Earth amongst us today. The two Masters stated in the book, 'The Light will Set You Free' that, "Avatar Sai Baba is carrying the Divine Consciousness in the world today."
Another great Indian saint and seer, about whom you have all read in the 'Autobiography of a Yogi', by Paramahamsa Yogananada, is Ananda Mayi Ma, whose photo is in the book. She has stated to a Sai devotee that, "Sai Baba is not only a great Avatar, but the greatest that has ever walked the earth."
No doubt many people may waver, and other faithless ones may turn away from the Avatar, but it will not change His mission, which is to raise the Consciousness of people in the world. When enough of them have evolved, it will bring about a quantum leap in the Consciousness of humanity, and thus start the new Age of Truth (the Sathya Yuga).
I can only tell you my own convictions in this matter, and let you make your own decision as to which road to travel. One leads to the Light, and the other to the darkness through which the world has suffered during the long centuries of the Kali Yuga. It is entirely your choice of course, but I pray that you may make the right one, and lead as many others as you can to choose likewise. Those working against the Avatar, unless they go to the unredeemable level of being demonic, will some day, in some life, come back to the Divine Feet. This I pray for as I send them my love. God bless you, Sai Ram.
Now tell me, isn't that amazing!
Jai Sai Ram.
G Venkataraman
From: http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_02/18Oct01/Home.htm
Radio Sai E-Magazine, 1st October 2004
Posted at 06:45 pm by saiavatar
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Master of Nature
It was on a cloudy June evening that Sathya Sai Baba was addressing an open air meeting at Mercara. The sky was overcast and gloomy rumblings of approaching rain could be heard, not far away. In fact, the rain poured on the hills on the horizon, stepped nearer and nearer, and came as far as Mahadevpet, half a mile away. Baba spoke quietly and calmly, holding the audience spell-bound, for over an hour and a half; at the end, He said, " Now, you can go home, for in about ten minutes you will get the rain that ought to have drenched you by now. "And, wonder of wonders, the rains came, as announced, ten minutes later, to the very second!
The Chitravathi River at Puttaparthi is subject to sudden floods, for it rises in the Nandi Hills and heavy rains in that region in Mysore State will bring down the waters many feet deep all along the miles. The Prasanthi Nilayam was built on an eminence away from the village to avoid these periodical floods which in some years invade the old Mandir, entering the prayer Shed, the kitchens and all the surrounding area. On many such occasions, Baba has stood on the edge of the water and said, "Ganga! It is enough, go back." and the waters have not risen more. Some years ago, during Navarathri, when the (Narayana Seva) feeding of the Poor was on, it rained all round the Nilayam, but not a drop fell in the precincts where people were being fed.
http://www.srisathyasai.org.in/pages/bhagawan/miracles/Nature.htm
Posted at 05:04 pm by saiavatar
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Oct 13, 2004
Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Quotations on Love
Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Quotations on Love
The highest type of Love sees the Divine shining in all and never wanes. It does not see men as belonging to different faiths or nations or classes or castes; it sees all as embodiments of Divinity.
Cultivate Love; sow the seeds of Love in all hearts, shower Love on the desert sands; let the green shoots, the lovely flowers, the luscious fruits, the sweet harvest of nectar be earned by mankind.
Love and you will be loved in return. Promote love, look upon all with Love and hate will never be your lot. If you want to attain the Lord, cultivate Love. This is the one lesson I teach always and that is My secret too.
Love lives by giving and forgetting. Self lives by getting and forgetting.
The highest type of Love sees the Divine shining in all and never wanes. It does not see men as belonging to different faiths or nations or classes or castes; it sees all as embodiments of Divinity.
Cultivate Love; sow the seeds of Love in all hearts, shower Love on the desert sands; let the green shoots, the lovely flowers, the luscious fruits, the sweet harvest of nectar be earned by mankind.
God is Love – Live in love.
Start the day with love
Fill the day with love
End the day with love
That is the way to God.
There is only one caste and that is the caste of humanity. There is only one religion and that is the religion of Love. There is only one God and that is the religion of Love. There is only one God and that is the Omnipresent God. There is only one language and that is the language of he heart. Hence Love is God.
Without cultivating Love for others, you can never cultivate Love for yourself.
Prema or Love is the awakening of the Soul and the blossoming and expansion of the heart and spontaneous outpouring of Love towards all. It springs from intuitive awareness and perception of the Divine as abiding in all.
Love is sweet like ice-cream
Love is joy like ice-cream
Love is cool like ice-cream
And love is pure like white ice-cream
Once you fill your heart with Prema, it really does not matter what path you adopt. It will become possible for you to reach the destination.
My message is this: Be embodiments of Prema: Do not hate anyone or fear anyone. Develop Love towards all; understand the grief and the joy of all; be happy when others are happy; don’t exult when others are in misery
Love is to become patent as selflessness; self, if it is thrust forward become patent as lovelessness.
Without cultivating Love for others; you can never cultivate Love for yourself.
Love is like sugar, you can mix it with any material. But the essence of sweetness in sugar consists of divinity only. Without this value of love, we cannot develop other values.
Love should not be rationed on the basis of caste, creed or economic status or the intellectual attainment of the recipient. It should flow full and free, regardless of consequence, for it is one’s nature of Love; one cannot but pour out Love, one cannot but seek out the dry, dreary wastes in order to water them with the spring of Love and make them yield a harvest of Love.
A farmer ploughs his land and irrigates it to grow the crop of his choice. The bhakta is the cultivator for the field of his heart. He must irrigate the field of his heart with the water of Prema, manure it with Sadhana, sow the seeds of the Divine name, fence it with spiritual discipline.
Performing your daily work sincerely, filling your hearts with Love, and feeling the presence of divinity amounts to true surrender.
You are Messiahs. You are all children of God. Live in Love. Be God. Be Love…..and freedom will be there waiting for you.
The transforming power of Love is boundless. St. Paul, who was originally an inveterate critic of Jesus, was transformed by Christ’s Love into the greatest apostle of Jesus.
Love is God. Live in Love.
Divinity is embodied in all creatures and this fundamental truth should be exemplified in practice by man. He must extend the field of his Love until it encompasses the entire creation. It is only then that he will deserve to be a worthy recipient of God’s Love.
The religion of the people of this country and the endeavor of its people have always been to sow the seeds of Prema, to promote Prema and love between the fellow human being. This indeed has been the aim and objective of the culture of this country.
Unless you have Love, you cannot claim kinship with the votaries of God; mere ritualistic exactitude or pompous adoration, or loud acclamation will not entitle you to enter the portals of Go-loka. They are as tin and trash before the treasure – chest of love. Love is the bridge which helps passage from birth to deathlessness, from death to birthlessness.
When you rise from the Jiva-sense to the Deva-sense, human-ness to God-ness, then there is no more birth or death. Liberation happens when you Love every being so intensely that you are aware of only ONE. Soak your heart in Love, soak your acts in righteousness, soak your emotions in compassion; then you attain God soonest.
God as Love dwells in your heart and therefore the kingdom of Heaven is within you. When you know that God who is Love, dwells within you, when you realize this truth in the freshness and beauty of the immortal spirit then your life will sing the music of Love.
Without love you live in death. Love is life. All are one; be alike to every one. Inquiry is of great importance. Who am I? No reply No. ‘I’ am ‘I’
Duty without Love is deplorable. Duty with Love is desirable.
The end of wisdom is freedom; the end of education is character; the end of culture is perfection; the end of knowledge is Love. Self-confidence is the basis of faith in God also.
Cultivate love; sow the seeds of love in all hearts; shower Love on the desert sands; let the green shoots, the lovely flowers, the luscious fruits, the sweet harvest of nectar be earned by mankind.
Love is the path. Start the day with love. Spend the day with Love. Fill he day with Love. End the day with Love. This is the way to God. Expansion is Love, not contraction and selfishness, not ‘my’. Such practices as meditation, Japa, mantra, bhajan are like soap. Without water soap is not used. The water is likened to love. It is the water that is important.
You should fill your hearts with Prema. That is the only way in which you can reach the eternal truth of God. You should work with a determination to fill your hearts with Prema and reach this goal.
Where there is Faith, there is Love; where there is love, there is peace; where there is peace, there is God, and where there is God, there is Bliss.
Love liquidates the blows of fate. Love is Truth, Truth is Love, for it is only when you Love that you have no Fear. And fear is the Mother of falsehood. If you have no fear, you will adhere to Truth.
Prema makes you humble; it makes you bend and bow when you see greatness and glory.
Love all; revere all; help all to the best of your ability. The words that you utter will be as holy as the scriptures. His sadhana will lead you to realization.
Prema can be truly called Prema only when it recognizes the Divinity and only when it realizes that we should love the divine. That kind of Prema alone can deserve to be described as true Prema.
Best Sadhana is Love all serve all.
Posted at 03:16 pm by saiavatar
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Oct 12, 2004
Dasara - From Discourses of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Dasara - From Discourses of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Scene from the Veda Purusha Jnana Yajna held during Dasara, October 1988 (Esoteric Significance of the Veda Purusha Jnana Yajna )
What is the inner significance of Devi Navaratri? People worship the Triune Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Sarasvathi during these nine days. Who is Durga? She is the embodiment of all powers. Sarasvati is the presiding deity of speech and wisdom. The Gayatri Mantra begins with "Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvah." 'Bhuh' means materialisation. It represents matter which is subject to change. Bhuvah represents life principle, i.e., vibration. Savitri is the presiding deity of life principle. You must have heard the story of Savitri, who restored her dead husband back to life with the power of her devotion and surrender. Sarasvati is worshipped as 'Jnana Devata' as she confers good intellect and wisdom. This is described in the Vedas as Prajnanam Brahma. Prajnana does not mean worldly knowledge. It is Constant Integrated Awareness, which is changeless and eternal. The divine mother has three names: Gayatri, Savitri and Sarasvati. Gayantham Trayathe Iti Gayathri (Gayatri protects those who sing her glory). Gayatri, being the presiding deity of our senses, helps us to master the senses. Savitri, being the presiding deity of the life principle, protects our life. Sarasvati bestows on us the changeless and eternal wisdom. Gayatri, Savitri and Sarasvati are present in every man, but he is not able to understand and experience their presence. Consequently, he is giving room to wicked qualities and indulging in evil deeds, thereby ruining his life. His bad habits are responsible for his downfall. First of all, man has to develop good habits and transform himself. How could Savitri revive her dead husband back to life? She transformed the vibration in her into divine vibration by contemplating on God incessantly. That led to the resurrection of her husband. When you develop divine feelings, nothing is impossible for you. Any mighty task can be accomplished through pure and selfless love.
The Yajna that we are performing now is meant for Loka Kalyanam (good of the world). Do not think that we are performing the Yajna just because people are performing Yajnas elsewhere. This Yajna is being performed with total spirit of sacrifice. We have no desires or expectations. Our only desire is that everyone should be happy. People perform Yajnas and Yagas to overcome famine and drought situations. But I don't take such things into consideration. I do not give scope for such constricted vision. Famine, drought, etc., come and go. Whatever you do should confer everlasting happiness on all. It should help you to attain Divine grace.
Divine Discourse: October 9, 2002Divine Discourse: October 10, 2002Divine Discourse: October 11, 2002Divine Discourse: October 12, 2002Divine Discourse: October 13, 2002Divine Discourse: October 14, 2002
Our ancients have prescribed the worship of Maha Kali, Maha Durga and Maha Saraswati during these Navaratris (nine nights). Durga is the embodiment of all powers. Durga represents the combination of all the powers of body, mind and soul. Maha Kali symbolises destruction of evil with the help of these powers. Maha Kali and Maha Durga are not elsewhere. They reside in every man. When the mind and the senses, instead of following the dictates of conscience, follow wicked qualities, man becomes a slave to evil habits and turns wicked. The main purpose of celebration of Navaratris is to annihilate cruelty and wickedness in man to bring forth the principle of the Atma in pristine form.
Having absorbed the divine vibrations out of the seven days of Yajna, try to achieve spiritual transformation. Wherever you go, do not give up God and pray for the welfare of all. Tanks, bombs and other armaments do not provide the protection that a constant contemplation of God yields. A true human is one who has strong faith in the Self (Atmabhimanam). Therefore, comprehend this faith in the Self. That is the nature of the bliss that Swami confers on you on this sacred occasion of the Poornahuti.
Divine Discourse: October 20, 2001Divine Discourse: October 21, 2001Divine Discourse: October 22, 2001Divine Discourse: October 23, 2001Divine Discourse: October 24, 2001Divine Discourse: October 25, 2001Divine Discourse: October 26, 2001
Navaratri is dedicated to Maha Durga, Maha Kali and Maha Lakshmi. These three deities are not different but one and the same. They are the forms of energy. Saraswati is the presiding deity of speech. Lakshmi is the form of Ananda. All three are present in every man. We do not have to search for them elsewhere. Man is Divine, humanity is Divinity. Consider man as Divine and the body as temple of Divinity, enjoy the bliss of God.
The proper study of mankind is man. There should be unity of thought, word, and deed. Especially students should recognize this. It is not enough to praise Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati in poems and songs. When you cultivate good qualities, you yourself will become Lakshmi. Once you control your senses, you will become Lakshmi. When the mind is under your control, you will become Durga. When you speak words of truth, you will become Saraswati. The other name of Saraswati is Bharathi. Some people say that our country Bharat is named after Jada Bharata or the brother of Rama. But who named them? There should be a basis for all these names. That basis is the name of Saraswati i.e., Bharathi.
Brahma is the creator, but the one who sustains the creation is Saraswati. Bharathi is her name. This country is named after her. But this is not very widely known. Indian culture has many such secrets. But none endeavors to know these secrets inherent in the Vedas, Sastras and the Itihaasaas. What is the significance of Ayudha puja? After the slaying of Mahishasura and other demons by Chamundeswari, there was no more use for Her weapons. So the weapons were kept aside and worshipped. This Ayudha puja is being celebrated since ancient times. But of what use are such weapons to us? In fact, our weapons are the values of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema. Prema is more powerful than the hydrogen and atom bombs of today. Why worry when such power is within us?
Divine Discourse: October 1, 2000Divine Discourse: October 2, 2000Divine Discourse: October 3, 2000Divine Discourse: October 4, 2000Divine Discourse: October 5, 2000Divine Discourse: October 6, 2000
The purpose of the Veda Purusha Sapthaha Yagna is to attain truth. God is the Veda Purusha. This Yagna is performed for seven days. Seven is an auspicious number for it corresponds to the number of Rishis (Saptha Rishis), oceans (Saptha Samudras), colors (Saptha Varnas) and sounds (Saptha Swaras).
Since ancient times various types of Yagnas have been performed in this sacred land of Bharat. Yagno Vai Vishnuhu (Yagna is the very form of Vishnu). Some people are under the mistaken notion that they can please God by offering highly valuable items. What one has to offer God is the pure heart. Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati (as is the feeling, so is the result). If you are aspiring for good results, offer only good feelings to God and there should be perfect harmony in your thought, word and deed. Manasyekam Vachasyekam Karmanyekam Mahatmanaam (he is a noble soul whose thought, word and deed are in perfect harmony). Adveshtaa Sarva Bhootaanaam (Do not hate anybody).
Divine Discourse: October 19, 1999
Today is Vijaya Dasami. This is the Samaapthi (conclusion) of sacred Navaratri festival. Samaapthi is that which confers Praapthi (deservedness) in every possible way. This also happens to be the day on which Shirdi Baba left his mortal coil. Having left His mortal coil on this day, Shirdi Baba reincarnated here after 8 years. This is an ample testimony to the existence of Divinity in humanity.
Divine Discourse: October 1, 1998
During these sacred nine days (Navaratri), people go through the sacred texts such as Devi Bhagavatha, Ramayana and Mahabharatha. People also worship the deities Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi. This Trinity is present in the principle of Truth. Goddess Gayathri has three heads. They are: Gayathri, Savitri and Saraswathi. Gayathri is the presiding deity of your senses. Savitri is the presiding deity of Life Principle. Saraswathi is the presiding deity of speech. All these three are within the same principle of Truth. Gayathri Mantra begins with "Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvah". 'Bhu' means Materialisation (Body); 'Bhuvah' means Vibration (Life Principle}; 'Suvah' means Radiation (Atma).
During these nine days Goddess Shakthi (Principle of Energy) is worshipped. Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Forgiveness are all the expressions of the Principle of Shakthi. Truth is the primal cause. There is nothing other than this. All faculties of energy are present in this Truth. So consider Truth as your mother and follow it. The Vedas proclaim, "Sathyam Vada; Dharmam Chara", which means speak Truth and follow Righteousness.
Divine Discourse: September 25, 1998
Navarathri means "nine nights". What does the nine signify? There are nine grahas (planets according to Astrology). The human body has nine openings. If a deep enquiry is made, it will be found that mankind is dependent on the planets (grahas). Although astrologers speak about nine planets, in reality, there are only two "planets" that matter. They are raaga (attachment) and dwesha (hatred).
In the worship of the deities during Navarathri, every day, one of them should be worshipped, not externally but with one's heart and soul. Bodily actions are ephemeral. The body derives its value from the spirit within. Hence it should be regarded as a sacred temple. During the Navarathri festival, for the purpose of eradicating one's demonic tendencies, the deities were worshipped with kumkum (sacred powder). The red powder is a symbol of blood. The meaning of this worship is offering one's blood to the Lord and receiving in return the gift of peace from the Lord.
Therefore, the Navarathri festival is observed, by contemplating on God for ten days, cleansing one's self of all impurities, to experience the divinity within. The penultimate day of the festival is dedicated to what is termed Aayudha Puja (Worship of weapons). The weapons to be worshipped are the divine powers in man. When the divine is worshipped in this way, one is bound to progress spiritually.
Divine Discourse: October 14, 1994
Bharatiyas have been celebrating the Navarathi festival from ancient times as a mode of worship of Devi, the Divine as Mother. They worship Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati during those nine days. Who are these three? They are the three forms which have fascinated man. Their esoteric significance is represented by three potencies or shakthis. They are: Karma, Upaasana and Jnana.
The significance of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati has to be rightly understood. The three represent three kinds of potencies in man. Ichchaa Shakti, will power, Kriya Shakti, the power of purposeful action, and Jnaana Shakti - the power of discernment.
Saraswati is manifest in man as the power of speech, Vaak. Durga is present in the form of dynamism. Lakshmi is manifest in the form of will power. The body indicates Kriya Shakti. The mind is the repository of Ichchaa Shakti. The Atma is Jnaana Shakti. Kriya Shakti comes from the body, which is material. The power that activates the body that is inert and makes it vibrant is Ichchaa Shakti. The power that induces the vibrations of Ichchaa Shakti is Jnaana Shakti, which causes radiation of energy. These three potencies are represented by the mantra: Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvaha. Bhur represents Bhuloka, the earth. Bhuvah represents the life force, conscience in man. Suvaha represents the power of radiation. All three are present in man. Thus Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati dwell in the human heart.
Men are prone to exhibit rajasic qualities like anger and hatred. They are the menacing manifestations of Durga. The extolling of the Divine in song and poetry and the pleasing vibrations produced by them indicate the power of Saraswathi. The pure qualities that arise in man such as compassion, love, forbearance and sympathy are derived from Lakshmi.
When people worship Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi externally in pictures or icons, they are giving physical forms to the subtle potencies that are within them. The unfortunate predicament of man today is that he is not recognizing the powers within him and developing respect for them. He goes after the external, attracted by the physical forms. The relationship between the material and the subtle has to be understood. The remedy for man's life is contained within himself. But man seeks remedies from outside.
What is it you should do during these ten days of the Navarathri festival? Convert your ichchaa sakthi into a yearning for God. Convert kriya sakthi into a force for doing Divine actions. Convert your Jnaana Sakhti into the Divine Itself.
Divine Discourse: October 9, 1994
The term Devi represents the Divine power which has taken the Rajasic form to suppress the forces of evil and protect the Satwic qualities. When the forces of injustice, immorality and untruth have grown to monstrous proportions and are indulging in a death-dance, when selfishness and self-interest are rampant, when men have lost all sense of kindness and compassion, the Atmic principle, assuming the form of Sakti, taking on the Rajasic quality, seeks to destroy the evil elements. This is the inner meaning of the Dasara festival.
When the Divine Goddess is in dreadful rage to destroy the wicked elements, She assumes a fearful form. To pacify the dreaded Goddess, Her feminine children offer worship to Her with red kumkum (sacred red powder). The Goddess, seeing the blood-red kumkum at her feet, feels assured that the wicked have been vanquished and assumes Her benign form. The inner meaning of the worship of Devi with red kumkum is that thereby the Goddess is appeased.
During the ten days of the Dasara, the Rakshasas (demons) in the form of wicked qualities have been routed. Rakshasas do not mean demonic beings. The bad qualities in men are the demons. Arrogance is a demon. Bad thoughts are demons. Ravana is depicted as the king of Rakshasas. He is said to have ten heads. He was not born with ten heads. Who is this Ravana and what are his ten heads? Kama (lust), Krodha (anger), Moha (delusion), Lobha (Greed), Mada (pride), Maatsarya (Envy), Manas (the mind), Buddhi (intellect), Chitta (Will) and Ahamkara (the Ego) - these ten constitute the ten heads. Ravana is one who has these ten qualities.
Each one can decide for himself whether he is a Ravana or a Rama according to his qualities. Rama is the destroyer of the bad qualities. When engaged in this act of destruction of bad qualities, He manifests His Rajo-guna. But His Rajasic quality is associated with His Satwic quality. Even in cutting off Ravana's ten heads, Rama showed His love. This was the only way Ravana could be redeemed.
When the Lord metes out a punishment, it may appear harsh. But what appears externally as Rajasic is in reality Satwic. In a hailstorm, along with rain there will be hailstones. But both the rain and hailstones contain water. Likewise, there is Satwic quality even in the Lord's Rajasic actions. Similarly there may be Satwic quality even in Tamasic actions. These depend on the time, place and the circumstances in which the Lord acts. Butter can be split with a finger. But a powerful hammer is needed to break a piece of iron. The Lord deals with Satwic persons in a Satwic way. He applies the Rajasic weapon against Rajasic persons.
People worship the Lord as Roudraakaara, attributing dreaded forms and qualities to the Divine. This is not proper. The Divine has only one attribute: the embodiment of Love. It has been said: "Love is God. Love pervades the Cosmos." Hence, one should not view the world from a worldly point of view. It should be viewed through the eyes of love.
Embodiments of Divine Love! All the festivals of Bharatiyas have been designed to promote Divine love among the people. It is to confer such love on the people that the Lord incarnates on earth. He Himself demonstrates how love should be expressed. He showers His love and teaches everyone how to love. Hence, experience this love and joy in your life and live in peace.
Divine Discourse: October 18, 1991
In the human body the Divine flows through all the limbs as Rasa (The Divine essence) and sustains them. This Divine principle is called Rasaswaroopini (Embodiment of Divine sweetness). Another name for the same is Angirasa. These Divine principles that permeate and sustain the physical body should also be worshipped as mother goddesses. Then there are the great sages, the Maharishis, who investigated matters relating to good and evil, right and wrong, what elevates man or degrades him, and, as a result of their labors and penance, gave to mankind the great scriptures, indicating the spiritual and mundane paths and how humanity can redeem its existence. These sages have also to be revered as Divine Mothers.
The cow, the earth, the presiding deities for the body, the sages and the guru are all worthy of worship as the embodiments of the Divine Motherhood. Although these five appear in different forms and names, they have one thing in common with the mother. They play a protective and sustaining maternal role for mankind and hence should be revered and worshipped as Divine Mothers.
Conversely, the mother of every child displays in relation to the child the attributes of these five entities. The mother nourishes the child, provides the necessaries for its growth, teaches the child what it should know and what it should avoid and leads it on the path of righteousness.
The life of a man who cannot respect and love such a venerable mother, is utterly useless. Recognizing one's mother as the very embodiment of all divine forces, one must show reverence to her and treat her with love. This is the true message that the Navaratri, the nine-night festival gives us. The supreme Shakti manifests herself in the form of Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Durga grants to us energy - physical, mental and spiritual. Lakshmi bestows on us wealth of many kinds - not just money but intellectual wealth, the wealth of character and others. Even health is a kind of wealth. She grants untold riches to us. And Saraswati bestows on us intelligence, the capacity for intellectual inquiry and the power of discrimination. The Navaratri festival is celebrated in order to proclaim to the world the power of the goddesses. One's own mother is the combination of all these Divine beings. She provides us energy, wealth and intelligence. She constantly desires our advancement in life. So she represents all the three goddesses that we worship during the Navaratri festival.
Divine Discourse: October 14, 1988
Other Dasara Discourses by Bhagavan Baba25 Sep 1998 26 Sep 1998 27 Sep 1998 28 Sep 1998 29 Sep 1998 30 Sep 1998 1 Oct 1998 5 Oct 1997 6 Oct 1997 7 Oct 1997 8 Oct 1997 9 Oct 1997 11 Oct 1997
Source: http://www.eaisai.com/baba/docs/dasara.html
Posted at 06:49 am by saiavatar
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Oct 11, 2004
Howard Murphet on bowl materialization
Howard Murphet on bowl materialization
Once, they said, on the birthday of Lord Krishna Baba was walking aimlessly, it seemed, about the sitting room of their Madras home. Suddenly he turned to Mrs. Hanumantha Rao and remarked: "There are some devas (angels) here waiting to give me a bowl of sweets."
As she looked, seeing nothing, he held out both hands and took from the air, as if from some invisible person, a large, carved-glass bowl. The bowl seemed suddenly to materialise. Baba handed it to Mrs. Hanumantha Rao. It was filled, as they described it, with "divine-tasting sweets of many varieties from different parts of India".
Howard Murphet, Sai Baba, Man of Miracles, pp. 73-74
Posted at 05:05 pm by saiavatar
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Baba's Self-Realized Devotees
Baba's Self-Realized Devotees
Baba is said to have many Self-Realized devotees quietly doing His work in various locations around the globe. So far I've personally met four of them – and to my mind, nothing proves Baba's perfection more clearly than His divinized devotees. (As Jesus said, "By their fruits you shall know them." These are very sweet mangoes!)
Gopalakrishna Baba
The first is a man named Gopalakrishna Baba, who lives in a small Sai Baba temple in Bangalore. His parents were ardent Sai devotees, but from his early childhood Gopalakrishna was intensely drawn to the local Sri Ramakrishna Temple, where he would spend all his time absorbed in devotion and meditation, cherishing the dream of becoming a monk in the Sri Ramakrishna order. He became so immersed in God that he almost never felt the need to sleep, and would remain awake throughout the night repeating the Divine Name. In his mid-teens, when Gopalakrishna was alone in the house one day, vibhuti began miraculously manifesting on Sai Baba's photos in his parents' puja room, leaving a strong impression on the young man. Soon afterwards He visited Baba's ashram, and, as he tells it, "My heart instantly recognized in Sai Baba the same Divine Being who had lived as Sri Ramakrishna." His devotion for Baba soon became the overwhelming force in his life, and in the coming years he often visited Baba's ashrams, and received many blessings from Him. However, in 1990, when Gopalakrishna went to Baba's ashram for the Birthday celebrations, due to the massive crowds he was unable to see Baba the way he wished, and therefore told Baba internally, "Next year I will celebrate Your Birthday in my own home, so please come there to receive my worship!" Clearly the Lord was listening, for the next year on Baba's birthday, while Gopalakrishna was performing a puja in his home, Baba suddenly appeared before him in a living form, manifested a beautiful Lingam, and gave it to Gopalakrishna, an event witnessed by others. In those precious divine moments Baba told him, "Every Monday, perform worship to this Lingam. I am with you always."
And so it is. Gopalakrishna is now established in changeless Peace, knows the thoughts of all around him, and possesses many miraculous powers. His foremost Western disciple, a beautiful man from Holland, told me an interesting miracle story. It seems that on one of his first trips to India, he had come down with dysentery, and when he reported to Gopalakrishna that the medicine prescribed by a doctor could not be found in the local shops, Gopalakrishna simply waved his hand and instantly manifested a strip of the required tablets. Some people have reported that by drinking the water used in Gopalakrishna's worship of the Lingam they have been healed of long-standing diseases; others say they have had their personal problems solved, while others say that his grace has enabled them to find the most precious gem of all, peace of mind. It seems that Gopalakrishna Baba is a genuine wish-fulfilling tree.
Devi Amma
The second great devotee is a woman named Devi Amma, who lives near Baba's ashram in Whitefield. She is radiant with saintly Love, and my intuition is that she is a fully-Realized Saint of the highest order. Devi Amma speaks fluent English, and tells delightful stories, often bubbling over with laughter. She humbly says that on the inner plane she often finds herself in a group of Spiritual Masters gathered around Sai Baba, saying it has been given her to keep one foot in that realm, and the other in our realm! She speaks with great familiarity about the various forms of God, and the ancient Sages and celestial beings, for it seems they visit her on a regular basis. "There are many levels of angels," she said to one questioner. "They look very beautiful, so beautiful! When they reach the highest level of angel, they become almost as beautiful as Lord Jesus."
Devi Amma's life story is amazing. When she was 15, her uncle died unexpectedly, and the tragedy led her into deep introspection on the meaning of life. In the spontaneous meditations that followed, she began hearing the sound "OM", and soon after this, a blazing sun of spiritual light appeared in her room. From within that effulgence gradually emerged the form of a divine man with a radiant aura, who introduced himself as the ancient Sage Agastya, the first of the great Rishis. (She says, with all humor and humility, that in a previous incarnation she was Agastya's daughter.) Agastya declared that he was her Guru, and began appearing before her on a daily basis, instructing her in meditation and the secrets of spirituality, and by the age of 20 she had attained Enlightenment. One night, Sathya Sai Baba unexpectedly appeared in her room, His form repeatedly changing into the form of Lord Subramaniam (her family's chosen Deity) and then back into the form of Sai Baba, thus revealing His oneness with God. Some years later, when she finally saw Sai Baba in person, she had the same experience: "Sai Baba - Subramaniam! Sai Baba - Subramaniam!" She says that while Agastya is her Guru, Sai Baba is the Poornavatar, and is now working through her to bless and uplift humanity.
Little Heart
The third great devotee is an Australian woman who calls herself "Little Heart." She says she attained union with Baba through the path of Love, and now sees God everywhere, and is always aware of her true Being as all-pervading Consciousness. She lives near Baba's Brindavan ashram, writes beautiful books, and gives sage advice, so to speak, to those with questions.
I recently had an interview with her, in which she said, among other things, "A Poornavatar like Baba doesn't exactly come along at every tick of the clock!" (We are indeed fortunate to be alive at this time, and be aware of His presence on the Earth!)
Having lived a very full life in the world before coming to Baba, including two marriages and two divorces, Little Heart is in an unusually good position to know the struggles Westerners go through in making the transition to a life of spirituality. I always find it encouraging to meet a Self-Realized Westerner. (Yes, it is possible...!)
Sai Lakshmi Ma
Then there is Sai Lakshmi Ma, who says that in 1980 Baba came into Her body and has never left. In the several hours I spent in her presence, I witnessed a steady stream of delightful miracles. As soon as she placed a garland on the altar, amrit began trickling from a large photo of Baba. Then she held her palm towards Baba's photo, and it was instantly filled with amrit, which was passed out to all. I had brought her a bag full of grapes and laid it in front of her altar; five minutes later she opened the bag, and showed me that a number of the grapes were now half-eaten, a sign that Baba had received the offering directly! She held up to Baba's photo some bananas which my friend had brought, and after ten seconds, showed us that each banana now had clear teeth marks in the skin! Another friend of mine put three laddus (sweets) on the altar in a bag. A few minutes later Sai Lakshmi Ma indicated he should open the bag - and one of the laddus had a large bite taken out of it! (The specially blessed food was passed out to all.) Necklaces handed to her for blessings were returned a minute later, smelling of rose perfume or dripping with amrit. Empty containers passed to her would be returned miraculously filled with vibhuti or kumkum. When questions were asked, her responses seemed to indicate that she was hearing Baba's answer directly and then passing it on. I was told that many people have received healings through her prayers to Baba.
Although it wasn't clear whether or not she is fully Self-Realized, the miracles were definitely genuine. At the very least, she is a great servant of God, and an extraordinary channel for Sai Baba's blessings.
Vasantha Sai, Vijai Shankar & Others
I've also read about an elderly woman in Madurai named Vasantha Sai, who has attained God-Realization through her intense devotion to Baba, whom she considers to be "the reincarnation of Sri Krishna." She says that Baba has told her internally that she is the reincarnation of Radha, the childhood consort of Lord Krishna; this identity has been confirmed by several ‘palm-leaf prophecies.' She is now giving subtle help to many seekers. (My psychic friend Mary visited her and reported that she is truly a Saint, and does indeed have an Enlightened aura.)
I've also heard reports about a man named Vijai Shankar, based in Houston, who realized the Self through Baba's grace, and is now traveling the world teaching advaitha (the philosophy of non-duality) and Atmic abidance.
In addition, I've heard that among Baba's devotees today is the reincarnation of Saint Francis, the reincarnation of Mira Bai, the reincarnation of Sarada Devi, the reincarnation of Swami Vivekananda, and the reincarnation of Paramahansa Yogananda! (Hey, could be...)
It's always inspiring to have the darshan of those who have reached life's goal by following my own chosen guide. Jai Sai Ram!
By R.D. Awle
Source: http://www.saibaba-aclearview.com/contents2.html
Posted at 04:11 pm by saiavatar
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