The
Shirdi Feet
The Bhajan
continued constantly during Mahasivarathri,
the Divine Night. The next morning Baba spoke on
the significance of the vigil of the fast, and
on the value and auspiciousness of Bhajan. Then,
He Himself distributed the consecrated food with
which the fast is to be broken. The morning
marks the close of the celebrations. But the
crowd of over 25.000 persons does not depart so
soon, as they wait for the chance to touch the
Lotus Feet and to get a share of the Holy Ash,
which had been miraculously created for
Abhisheka (surprise gift) on the Sacred
Day.
So, Baba goes
through the meandering lines of squatting men
and women, slowly and smilingly, giving each one
a packet or two of the curative ash! He
autographs a portrait of His here and there when
some ardent seeker stands up to get that sign of
Grace; He touches at the big packets of
Vibhuti which devotees desire to take home,
charged with curative potency by that contact;
He pronounces the welcome word, 'Santhosham' or
'Accha' or 'Very Happy', so that they could move
away, satisfied that they have had
Darsan,
Sparsan
and
Sambhashana
(seeing Him, touching Him and listening to His
Voice).
Many have
traveled in crowded trains, from long distances
into a State which speaks a different language,
and undergone huge expenses, and gone through
physical strain. But these, as well as the sun
and the cold, the open sheds and the tree shades
where they had to spend the days at Puttaparthi,
were forgotten of or even welcomed, when Baba
looked at them or smiled at them or patted them
or gave them the precious lump of food or the
coveted pinch of Vibhuti.
Others stay
on, hoping that Baba will call them for a
private talk! They spend the whole day, sitting
in front of the Nilayam, in lines facing each
other, for the off-chance that Baba might come
any moment and call them in for a private
interview.
Baba is
considerate. He spends more hours than usual in
a task of ministration. He selects at first the
patently ill - the paralytics, the
polio-affected, the arthritis patients who sit
on chairs, the wheelchair occupants, those with
crutches, artificial limbs, plasters and
bandages, and those suffering from chronic
illness. He also selects the old, the blind, the
defective and the feeble minded. This takes at
least two or three days, and so, one evening,
Baba usually announces that those who have
urgent work in their own places either in
offices or factories or commercial
establishments or farms need not wait for His
formal permission to go, but can take the
announcement itself as permission with
blessings. Since He is traveling home with each
of them and remaining with each of them and
working with each of them in farm or factory,
they need not feel that they are going away or
that Baba is not by their side.
This
announcement persuades a large number to leave;
but many wait on! "They are all my people; My
Kith and Kin, come for Me," Baba acknowledges.
From early dawn till deep into night, Baba is
busy for more than ten or twelve days, curing,
consoling and counseling, either individually or
as families or in groups from each town or
state, so that the gathering gradually melts and
leaves in high spirits, light, full of courage
and joy, with a confident gait and a firmer
step.
The number of
visitors gets lessened in about a week, and
after bestowing His blessings upon them all,
Baba leaves for Brindavan, Whitefield, 12 miles
away from Bangalore.
The summer
months of March and April He spends there, so
that devotees may not suffer the piercing sun at
Puttaparthi. Brindavan is a cool comforting
garden, with an imposing bungalow situated at
one end, within an inner gate. Devotees gather
here too, and engage themselves in Bhajan under
a vast shady tree. Baba comes out of the
bungalow - a beam of charming sunshine -
whenever He realizes that people have been
waiting too long, and slowly moves among the
lines of adoring, anxious, avid aspirants for
Grace. He sheds benediction and joy on all. From
dawn to dusk, here too, Baba gives His time and
energy to those who seek health, happiness, and
wholesome spiritual guidance from
Him.
Dharmakshetra
was established in Bombay, on May 12th, 1968
[see also: Attention
world at prayer].
It is the center where
Sanathana
Dharma,
as well as its offshoots and progeny,
Buddha-Dharma,
Jaina-Dharma,
Islam-Dharma,
Zoroaster-Dharma
and
Christ-Dharma
are respected, and their followers find
friendship and fellow-feeling amongst each
other. It has also proved to be a source of joy
to the devotees in Bombay as Baba visits Bombay
during the second week of May every year, when
the City celebrates its epochal event,
conferring the boon of further spiritual
advice.
Baba arrived
in Bombay on the 8th May, and until the 12th, He
was the cynosure of all eyes, the Figure on whom
all affixed their minds, the subject of
conversation in thousands of homes. The Bhajan
Sessions at Dharmakshetra were thrilling
experiences for tens of thousands of eager
participants, both in the morning and evening
hours. Baba met sizeable groups of teachers and
principals one evening, Rotarians and Lions
another day, and Sadhakas another
evening.
To the
Sadhakas, He spoke of such matters as how to
hold and roll the rosary, the significance of
the number 108, the chanting of
Soham
as a continuous psychic discipline, and the
verity inherent in variety. To the
Rotarians, He spoke of the utter ridiculousness
of imitating the culture of America, a malady
that is fast spreading its maleficence in India,
rich in her own invaluable traditions.
"Some people hear through American ears, see
through American eyes, and think through the
American brains that they have transplanted into
themselves,"
He said.
History, climate, vegetation, language,
neighbouring cultures, alien influences and foes
- all shape and mould the cultural trends of a
people. Indiscriminate adoration and imitation
tend to destroy individual and social peace, He
warned. To the teachers, He spoke of the
spacious mansion of religion erected by the
sages to provide peace, prosperity and
contentment. He exhorted them to study the basic
principles of religion and apply them in their
own lives.
"A teacher must be an example of happiness
and joy chiseled by attachment to God and
detachment from worldly greed. Then alone can he
be a person worthy of his job,"
He said.
Dharmakshetra
is a Jnanavahini ('stream of spiritual wisdom';
for further reading, see Jnana
Vahini),
in brick and mortar! The entrance door of the
Sathyadeep, the Prayer Hall, has embossed on it
in polished brass, the symbols sacred to every
religion: the Pranava
(OHM),
the Cross,
the
Crescent and
Star,
the Conch,
the Wheel,
the Flame,
the mystic letter
Sri
and the Chalice.
It proclaims,
"Every religion is a lamp that illuminates the
path of truth; every religion traverses the
region (Kshetra) of Dharma
(Righteousness);"
that is the message with which man is greeted
here. As you enter, there shines facing you, the
lamp, in answer to man's eternal prayer:
Thamaso maa Jyothirgamaya: From darkness, lead
me unto Light.
And on both sides of the lamp, held aloft by the
hands of devotion drawn as a fresco on the wall,
we have symbols of the Five elements, the
components of the Universe, the primordial
substance of Brahman.
*
Prithvi,
Earth,
cognizable through all five senses, having
smell, taste, form, touch, and sound;
* Ap,
Water,
cognizable through four senses, having no
inherent smell;
* Tejas,
Fire,
cognizable through three senses, having no
taste;
* Vayu,
Atmosphere,
cognizable through two senses, having no form;
and
*
Akash,
Ether
or Sky,
cognizable only through one sense, having only
sound.
On the other
side, we have symbols of
Sathya,
Dharma,
Santhi,
Prema
and Ahimsa,
resp. the Jnana-mudra,
the
Oil Lamp,
the Lotus,
the
Moon
and the
Palms folded in
Prayer.
In the Prayer Hall, half way up the ridge, Baba
has got painted the Âtmâ
Ramâyana [for further reading on the
Ramâyana, see the Ramakatha
Rasavahini]
and the Âtmâ
Mahâbhâratha [see
Vahini-links],
reinterpreting the great epics into lessons on
the fundamental steps in the Sadhana for
self-realization.
His discourse,
therefore, on the Anniversary of the
Inauguration Day was on the message that the
Building trumpets forth:
"The human body is the Kshetra: it has to be
transmuted into the Dharmakshetra! When the
owner of the body discards desire, passion,
injurious impulse, and pernicious propulsions,
then the body is Dharmakshetra."
On the 15th,
Baba flew to Ahmedabad, the biggest city in the
Gujarat State; the chief justice of the High
Court, Gujarat State, had arranged a reception,
at which the governor, the chief minister and
other ministers had come; they got a chance to
know Baba's universal outlook, and His emphasis
on the fundamental unity of all faiths. In the
evening Baba addressed a mammoth gathering for
over an hour.
"Yoga
and Thyaga are two chief instruments of
spiritual progress. By Thyaga (detachment)
you escape from pathetic entanglement with
the objective world; by Yoga (self-control)
you attach yourself to the Divine Principle
that is immanent in the universe, in truth,
beauty and goodness wherever
found,"
He said.
"I
bless you that you succeed in the Sadhana in
which you are engaged; if you are not
practicing any now, I advise you to take up
the simple preliminary step of Namasmarana,
reciting or singing the Name. Also, reverence
towards parents, teachers, elders and service
to the poor, the sick, the deserted, the
distressed, the defectives. See in every one,
God, in that disguise, come, to accept the
offering of Love you place at their Feet,"
Baba declared.
Gujarat,
already resounding with the sweetness and purity
of Sai Bhajan in every village and town,
received a great big spurt by this
visit.
On the 14th of
June, during a meeting at the residence of the
Minister for Agriculture, Sri P.K. Sawant, when
the members of the Maharashtra Branch of the
Prasanthi Vidwanmahasabha had gathered to solve
from Baba many dilemmas encountered during
Sadhana and study, the Editor of 'Nava Kaal', a
Gujarati newspaper, was also present. His paper
was then running a series of articles on
'Miracles' and he desired to ask Baba about them
and publish His answers. Baba graciously
permitted him even encouraged him by His
replies. "I
know the background of your
questions,"
He said, with a smile, in order to put him at
ease.
We must be
thankful to the Editor, as well as to Sri P.K.
Sawant, Sri T.S. Bharde, speaker of the
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, and others at
that meeting who prodded Baba through
appropriate questions, so that we have from Baba
an authentic analysis of the meaning and
significance of these 'miracles.' Many amateur
Sadhakas and half-baked monks declare that
miracles are sacrileges on God and they provoke
divine anger and invoke divine punishment. One
such person, when asked specifically about the
'miracles' of Baba replied in writing, "I do
abhor the performance of miracles, be it Christ,
Krishna or Sai Baba." "This opinion is shared by
all the sensitive beings," he wrote, implying
that those who do not share his abhorrence, like
Suka,
for example, are not 'great' Rishis. He
continues his purblind pronouncement: "An
integrated human being has a lot of power over
the cosmic happenings, but, to interfere with
the law of the divine is a sin."
Dr. S.
Bhagavantham, D.Sc., F.N.I., Scientific Adviser
to the Ministry of Defence, spoke of this
'interference with the law', at a meeting in
Madras, in April, 1967. He said, "Professor
Gokak read a poem before you at yesterday's
session wherein he described Baba and His
activities: He 'comes like a storm,' He 'pours
kindness like a shower of rain.' [See:
'Facets
of Truth'
and 'Cities
Aflame'
to read more about Gokak] All that was very
nice; I liked them. But, towards the end, he
trespassed upon my field. He said, 'Baba defies
the laws of physics and chemistry.'
"Having learnt
physics and chemistry for many years during my
youth and having practiced physics and chemistry
for many years later and taught them and learnt
them while teaching, for a number of decades, I
cannot understand any individual like you and
me, or even like the best of men on this planet
defying the laws of physics and chemistry and
getting away with it!"
Perhaps, it is
this line of argument that made the person who
'abhorred miracles,' to write further, "There
are historical moments when we have to interfere
with the divine law, and for this, according to
the law of the cosmos, the individual suffers."
'You cannot get away with it,' as Dr.
Bhagavantham said!
The man who
abhors miracles is a popular exponent of
Krishna's teachings. But, that does not hinder
him from writing. "Krishna died of an arrow
wound and Christ died in great agony on the
Cross." So, the author seems to say, "Sathya Sai
Baba! Beware!"
Let us now
listen to what Dr. Bhagavantham has to say. Does
he accuse Baba of 'interfering' and warn Him of
'dire punishment,' as the arrow killed Krishna
in vengeance for the Govardhangiri miracle and
the Cross, for the loaves and fish, or the cures
and visions? No. He is wiser than the
monk.
Dr.
Bhagavantham says, "Baba went on breaking one
law after another! I have asked His permission
to tell you one or two of these happenings, for
they are essential to establish my bona fides. I
was an eye witness to a surgical operation which
He performed. When it was over, He turned to my
son who was present, and asked, "Have you got a
length of bandage?" as if He who produced from
nowhere the knife and the needle could not
produce the bandage cloth! My son replied, "Yes!
Father is the head of this Institute of Science;
there is a dispensary here; I can telephone to
the doctor, and get a bandage strip in two
minutes." Bhagavan replied, "Oh! Two minutes is
too long! Don't worry." Then, He waved His hand,
and the bandage was ready for use!
With due
respect to the expertise of Professor Gokak in
the use of the English language, I would have
preferred him to say, instead of 'He defies the
laws of physics and chemistry,' 'He transcends
the laws of physics and chemistry'. Now, arguing
further, with my training in the laboratory, and
in logic, I cannot accept that He is like you
and me and yet, He is transcending the laws of
physics and chemistry. No, how can it be? The
fact is, He is a Phenomenon... He is
Transcendental... He is Divine."
"This is a
well-known feature of science. Science develops
from stage to stage. Skeletons of discarded
theories mark the road along which science
progresses. A law is enunciated to explain known
phenomena; when something comes up, inexplicable
by known laws, the scientist takes that
experience too; and that becomes another law.
Since what I have seen of Baba, and what I am
seeing, and what I no doubt will see, does not
come under the known laws of science, I simply
enunciate the law, "Bhagavan transcends the laws
of science," and this becomes another law of
science."
Baba Himself
has referred in some of His discourses to the
alleged 'sin' of breaking the laws of science.
Addressing the All-India Conference of the
office bearers of the units of the Sri Sathya
Sai Seva Organization, Baba
said,
"Some
elders try to confuse you. Krishna showed
many wonders, with an amazing disregard of
the laws of nature and so, according to them,
He had to meet death from the arrow of a
hunter! Jesus, they say suffered crucifixion,
for, He too manifested many miracles! Their
argument is that, since I am defying the laws
of nature, I too will suffer likewise! They
hope to create panic and spread alarm. But,
these are the prattlings of weakness,
ignorance and envy. They cannot understand
this Glory, nor do they desire to tolerate
it!"
On Christmas
Day, 1970, He declared at
Bombay,
"There
are many who cannot bear to tolerate the
splendour that emanates from Me, the Divinity
expressed in and through every act of Mine.
These people label them as acts of mesmerism,
miracles or feats of magic! Their vocabulary
is small. Their experience is limited. They
hope by these words to cast a slur. Let Me
tell you this: "Mine is no mesmerism, miracle
or magic! Mine is genuine divine power. Small
minds and limited intellects cannot
comprehend them. They have no strength or
stamina to grasp the magnificence and the
majesty. God can do anything. He has all
power in the palm of His hand. My body, like
all other bodies, is a temporary habitation
but My power is eternal, all-pervasive,
ever-dominant."
Sri Bharde who
was in the group present when the Editor of
'Nava Kaal' interviewed Baba on this subject of
miracles, had himself written a few weeks
earlier in the same paper, "I have not so far
seen any person who does miracles as naturally,
as spontaneously as Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He
stood before the idol of Rukmini at the famous
shrine of Pandharpur, and waved His Hand saying,
"The most important jewel is not found on the
idol!" as He said so, a necklace of gold, the
auspicious jewel, appeared concretized! That
jewel which He then placed round the neck of the
idol is still there!
Sri Bharde
asked Baba that day,
"Is your power to create things,
inexhaustible?"
Baba answered,
"It is limitless. It is as the ocean,
inexhaustible. Every one wherever he is, whoever
it be, can take from it whatever he needs, to
his heart's
content."
At this, Hon'ble P.K. Sawant was emboldened to
put in a query.
"If it is inexhaustible, and limitless, why is
it not used to cure the poverty and misery of
mankind?"
At this, Baba
laughed outright, records the 'Nava Kaal':
"You equate poverty and misery with the
non-possession of things! Sovereigns can command
all things that confer happiness and joy; but,
are they content? Are they having mental peace?
My task is to confer mental equanimity. I do not
give things to people in order to make them
richer: I give, in order to foster devotion and
faith in them."
Yes! A very
rich business man told me, while showing a
diamond ring created by Baba and placed by Him
on his ring finger, (it fits exactly) "Mr.
Kasturi whenever my eyes fall upon this ring and
this big-sized diamond, I am reminded of the
pregnant words with which Baba put it on my
finger".
"This is not a diamond; this is an
Upadesh,
a constant warning for you: Die Mind! Let the
mind with all its likes and dislikes disappear,
leaving you in peace."
Baba told
Sawant,
"A sick person comes to Me. I give him something
I create, Vibhuthi or some other article. He
becomes conscious of divine power. He acquires
mental peace, that cures, that comforts, that
consummates his wish. It is not that I give
these things only to those devoted to Me; I
give, whenever it is necessary to turn the
afflicted towards God."
The Editor
asked,
"What is the power which works these
miracles?"
Baba answered,
"It is wrong to call them miracles or Chamatkars
or to say that Chamatkars are done in order to
earn Namaskars!
It is only Nidarsan (evidence) not Pradarsan
(exhibition). It is just like a play, sport - My
natural behaviour. It is a sign which helps to
turn into faith, devotion, inquiry and
realization of their own Atma.
As the intention or the will arises in the mind,
the thing is made! It is ready when I want it.
The moment it is willed, the thing comes to hand
or happens where I will it to
happen."
The Editor
asked,
"It is said that by miracles, things that are
already somewhere are transported. Are they
transported or created?"
This is a
question that many have longed to ask. Dr. K.M.
Munshi, the founder of the Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, a famous lawyer, statesman, and writer
says, "Baba happened to perceive that my
right hand was slightly trembling, as it always
did on account of Parkinsonism. He rose from His
seat, held my fingers, covered them with his own
fingers, and rubbed them with sacred ashes,
which came out of His hand. Then, He waved His
hand with a sweeping gesture and materialized a
ring, which He slipped on to the little finger
of my right hand. I immediately perceived that
the stiffness of the fingers had considerably
disappeared; so had the slight trembling in the
right arm and leg! When we bade Him goodbye, He
again created sacred ashes and rubbed them over
the right hand. Bringing a ring by apport did
not surprise me; however, the sacred ash applied
and produced by Baba must have weighed a pound a
day, and could not have been stored somewhere
else. If so, it is not apport, but something
more."
Dr. Munshi did
not know that the Vibhuti created is
more than a pound a day on busy days when grace
flows profusely; it is also of many grades of
smoothness, of many colours from white to dark
brown, of many tastes, sucrose to bitter, and of
many smells from rose to camphor and iodine! You
cannot have all these varieties stored in such
quantity, somewhere, and produced when
willed!
And, what
exactly is apport? It is a word that only means,
'mysterious'. By using it, one can feel content
that the miracle has been explained and
understood! Howard Murphet, in his book,
"Sai Baba, the Man of Miracles," writes,
"The theory behind apports is that the object
which is already in existence somewhere is
dematerialized and brought in that state by
psychic force to the place where it is
rematerialized!" Very facile, indeed! As if that
explanation is clear and convincing
enough!
I believe it
is easier to produce a thing ab initio,
rather than go to the botheration of
dematerializing, transporting through long
distance by psychic force exercised upon the
dematerialized substance and again,
rematerialize it! All in a trice, quicker than
the speed of light!
Therefore,
Baba answered the question of the Editor
thus:
"They
are all created newly. Transporting means,
they should come from somewhere else, isn't
it? That would be deceit. Things are created
at the very moment I will them. I give also
things that are found nowhere. This Power it
is impossible to comprehend."
I know many
occasions when He created such new materials,
like Sri Ramakrishna's portrait with Baba's own
picture at the four corners and in the center;
the miniature portrait of the Guru of the father
and grandfather of Dr. Gokak, a Pantji of North
Karnatak, created for him as soon as Baba saw
his photograph in the shrine room of Dr.
Gokak.
The Editor
asked further questions too.
"From when have you begun to give these signs of
divine power?"
The answer was,
"From childhood." "At school, I used to create
chocolates, marbles, and other articles for the
children around
me."
To make things clear, the Editor ventured to
ask,
"At what age did you acquire this divine
Power?"
Baba said,
"From My very
Birth,"
And, after a pause, He added with emphasis,
"From before
that,"
for, was He not at Shirdi as Sai Baba in
the years before He incarnated in the Raju
family at Puttaparthi? And was He not
Krishna long before that?
Naturally, the
Editor was struck with wonder. He exclaimed,
"That is to
say...?"
And Baba continued:
"That
is to say, I resolved upon My Birth. I
decided who should be My Mother. Mere humans
can choose only who is to be wife or husband:
the Mother was chosen by the
Son in the
Rama incarnation and in the
Krishna incarnation.
Then too, the task for which the birth was
decided upon was, conferring
Prema
(Love)
on
all, and through that Prema, foster righteous
living."
"My
acts are evidences of Divine
Sakthi,
signs and signals of Divinity. I am granting
things out of Prema. My Prema will never
diminish. I have no desire of any kind. I
talk of Love, I guide you along the Path of
Love, I am Love."
Returning to
Bangalore and Brindavan (Whitefield), Baba was
busy with the Arts and Science College
affiliated to the Bangalore University. The
College was inaugurated on the 9th day of June,
1969. On the 18th, a gathering of poets met at
Brindavan from all parts of Mysore, men who had
attained renown as inspirers and interpreters of
the Kannada-speaking region. Dr. D.R. Bendre, a
fiery mystic emitting more light than heat,
echoing in verse the tears and tragedies that
soften the hearts of man, was there. He
translated White-field as Panduranga, Pandu
meaning White and Ranga meaning Field! That line
sent a thrill among the thousands who heard him.
Dr. V.K. Gokak who stands in the front rank of
Kannada poets, and is a great name in English
poetry too, was persuaded to read his poems.
There were Dr. R.S. Mugali, a doyen of classical
studies and romantic poetry; Professor G. P.
Rajarathnam, an ardent student of Buddhism and
Jainism, a popular poet delineating the feelings
and aspirations of the common man; Professor
R.G. Kulkarni, saturated with Aurobindo's
Integral Yoga, Dr. G.S. Sivarudrappa, mystic and
Sadhak, following the footsteps of the medieval
saints of Karnatak but, nevertheless in touch
with the heartbeats of Tagore and
Gandhiji and Sri K.L. Sivappa, a warbler of
the woods, free and bold, sweet and
strong.
When
they had finished reading their poems, Baba sang
a beautiful poem composed by Him on the
Thandava Dance of Siva. It had all
the rhythm, power and cosmic sublimity that
words can limn, about that sempiternal Lila
which swings worlds in space. Baba is the
'Kavimkaveenaam,' the Poet of Poets, an
appellation ascribed to God in the
Vedas.
In the last
week of June, Baba visited Madras. Devotees in
their thousands flocked wherever He went and
drank in the nectar of His discourses. Baba in
His teens had mysteriously appeared at the
bedside of a certain Loganatha Mudaliar in
Madras and cured him of a brain malady brought
about by black magic. "You are God," he
said, holding on to the Feet of Baba. He decided
to build a temple for Baba on his land at
Guindy, a suburb of Madras, but, he had a dream
wherein he was instructed to install, instead,
the idol of Shirdi Sai Baba, the
previous Body of Baba, therein. Baba too wrote
to him, confirming the dream. So, the temple was
built and in 1948 Baba Himself installed the
idol! Howard Murphet, who visited the temple and
saw the idol in 1968, writes, "Like
Michelangelo's marble Moses in a little church
in Rome, it gave me personally the immediate
impression that It was alive."
On the day of
installation, the Mudaliars had the unique
privilege and pleasure of washing the Feet of
Baba and placing flowers upon them. They prayed
that they may be given an impression of the
soles on a piece of silk, that they had brought
for the purpose. Baba agreed and they applied
sandal paste mixed with turmeric powder on the
soles, and asked that he stand upon the silk
cloth. Baba said, "Why My Feet? This day, I have
installed here the Old Baba. I shall give you
the Feet of the Old Baba Himself!"... and, then
He stood on the silk cloth. When He stepped
aside, the impression left was not of the
slender, soft, rather teenage Feet of Baba, but,
the long heavy ponderous Feet that walked the
lanes of Shirdi, 32 years ago!
Baba
visited that temple, and addressed a large
gathering of people there. "This is a temple,"
He said, "where I have installed twenty one
years ago, the idol of My Shirdi Form. The word
Vishnu is used for God, since it means ,
'present everywhere at all times'. When people
are told about an Idol of God, who is Vishnu,
they laugh and condemn it as a foolish
superstition. But, when it is desired to drink
the ambrosia that is God, don't you require a
spoon, a cup, or glass? The idol is a
contrivance by which you can consume the Bliss.
The cup can be of any shape or size or design;
it is just a container of the Joy "Raso vai
sah" - God is Ambrosia. He is sweet,
sustaining, strength-giving. You can imbibe Him
through a cup designed as Nataraja, or
Durga, or Krishna, or
Ganesa, or Linga, or Christ
or Sai Baba. Many of you yearn for
a cup shaped like this idol, designed as Sai
Baba; so, I allowed you to have this idol, here.
This is the Sai Form, which sat and taught at
Dwarakamayi Mosque at Shirdi."
On the
Guru Purnima,
29th July, Baba sent a message to the Samithis
all over India and to devotees overseas where He
quoted the prayer of Prahlâda as an
example to be adopted.
"Grant me, O Lord, the adoration of Thy Lotus
Feet, the comradeship of those who adore Thy
Lotus Feet, and give me Compassion, deep, vast,
unlimited towards all beings in all the world."
[For further reading about
Prahlâda: Srîmad
Bhâgavatam, Canto 7, Chapter
9]
"Start
the day with Love, live the day with Love,
fill the day with Love, spend the day with
Love, end the day with Love, this is the way
to God,"
He wrote.
During the
discourse that He gave that evening at the
Prasanthi Nilayam, He warned against
institutionalizing religion, and
compartmentalizing society.
'It is good to be born in a church, but it is
not good to die in
it,'
He declared.
"One must travel beyond the limits set by mind
and reason and reach the boundless expanse of
the Absolute and the Eternal
Atma,"
He advises.
The birthday
of Sri Krishna was celebrated in the
presence of 'Sai' Krishna, at the
Prasanthi Nilayam. Baba has incarnated in order
to revitalize Dharma, and this is done
through a variety of means and methods. As a
matter of fact, every minute of Baba is being
spent in correcting some misconception or other
that has led man astray or curing some optical
defect which dulls or diverts the vision of man
away from the Truth.
[*]
Krishna
is the most misunderstood of the
Avatars
of God [*],
thanks to the innate lasciviousness of ordinary
man and the acrobatics of erotic poets, who have
disregarded even patent facts in order to paint
the luridness they coveted. Baba takes hold of
every chance to inject sense into pundit, poet
and sadhak, so that the mind of modern man may
become as pure and as saturated in the Divine,
as the simple cowherd maids of Gokul,
"Krishna is in
you"
He said,
"He is 'Sarvabhutha Anthar Atma', the
Inner Core of all beings. If He is not in you,
how can you exist as an
entity?"
Baba asked. [*]
"He
is in you as power, strength, love,
happiness, enthusiasm, passion and
compassion. Go into the deeper esoteric
meaning of all the parables and metaphors.
Brindavan is the jungle of Life; individual
beings are the 'go', the cattle He tended,
Go-kula is the herd of Jivis,
Krishna is the Divine Principle that shines
in every being, craving for the purity that
is churned in the full of good thoughts and
feelings. He guides and goads, He blesses and
showers benedictions."
The Vedas
describe the Divine as the streak of lightning,
flashing through the thick blue clouds! In
Telugu streak is known as 'Geetha'. That
Githa activates, illumines, and spreads
splendour and wisdom. Since Baba has declared
often that He is the indweller in all, listeners
saw before them the Krishna Principle Itself
embodied in the Sai Form, and bearing the Sai
Name. It was an exhilarating
realization.
Hilda Charlton
of New York expresses it as follows:
From
out Thy lips doth blow the mighty winds
That sway the trees in dancing rhythms
And yet again Thou art the very trees
Whose swaying boughs whisper the ancient
Om.
Thou
art the beginning and the end of all
And, even before the beginning, Thou wert
Thou art the ever-ending ever-beginning
life
Thou art the Light, the Love
And, I am Thine Own, Thyself!
Krishna
Murâri
Text
Bhajan
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