The Grand Glory of the Ongoing Current Mission
of
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the Subtle Body
The phrase 'Christs in the Making' in the caption for cover photo, 'The Divine Father and His Christs in the Making', is taken from 'The Revelation of Ramala', and the beautiful photo of Swami with Christmas season drama troupe of 1989 was sent by one of the participants.
First free e-book edition, Easter, 2018.
With the blessings and guidance of Baba
When the book was compiled with His inspiration and the typescript with some incomplete chapters was shown to Him for His Divine blessings, during a group interview which He granted out of His free grace and unmerited favour, even before flipping through the pages, He commented, "It is incomplete; complete it and bring".
When again the 'completed' typescript was taken to Him after three months, touching it, He said, "Not yet complete."
Afterwards, He inspired to include three important chapters and a couple of paragraphs in other chapters. Then, after forty days, He blessed it only when the last batch of the editorial corrections were duly incorporated in the typescript.
(The entire process of compiling Swami's glory – successive drafts of manuscripts, several revisions of typescripts, coordination with editors in different time zones, interaction with peer reviewers who are in a cloister of spiritual seekers out of network range – has been a sadhana and a joyous experience. At a particular time when the process, for a moment, appeared to be herculean, exactly at that moment the following passage arrived:
"Sri Aurobindo worked upon it ['Savitri'] for five decades. As you know, he was a born poet. Poetry was natural to him. He wrote his first poem in England when he was thirteen and it was a pastime with him to write poetry. But this particular poem, 'Savitri', he revised and re-revised, some portions as many as twenty-one times. When he was asked why he needed to revise when he had already received the overhead inspiration, he said that the revision also came from there. He explained that he was striving for a perfect perfection.")
Email ID: sai.sannidhi@outlook.com
The Grand Glory of the Ongoing Current Mission
of
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the Subtle Body
A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God's truth is attacked and yet remained silent.
— John Calvin
[...] So many of you have become awakened but not all of you have taken advantage of that awakening to spread the Divine Message to the world.
— Swami's Message to Lucas Ralli,
'Sai Messages For You And Me, Volume V'
`
Indeed that voice is from the King, although it comes from the lips of His devotee.
— Masnavi 1:213, Rumi
Dedication Om Sai Ram
It is His Glory
Sung with His words and tunes Compiled with the insights given by Him
And with humility dedicated at His Divine Lotus Feet.
May we express gratitude to His saints, seers and prophets,
May His prophets continue to proclaim His will and alert us to the path.
May His instruments in the Mission, whom He brought along with Him, Give us the opportunity and benefit of their good company – satsang – And thereby inspire us to join His majestic, fast-paced, ongoing Mission.
May He keep us safely under His wings during the tumultuous times before The dawn of the Sathya Yuga, the Swarna Yuga – The Golden Age – And May we enjoy His Divine Proximity and be a part of His majestic glory.
Samasta lokaah sukhino bhavantu Samasta lokaah sukhino bhavantu Samasta lokaah sukhino bhavantu Om shaanti shaanti shaantihi
Spiritual Oases around the World
"The Ramala teachers often use the analogy of a lifeboat to describe the purpose of the Ramala Centre and its teachings. They say that the Earth can be likened to a ship on which humanity is sailing. At present, the ship of Earth is sailing through relatively calm waters and, even though storms can be seen ahead, no-one is particularly interested in building lifeboats or practising lifeboat drills. But, when the ship does sail into stormy weather, then humanity will rapidly become interested in the lifeboats, and, should the ship of Earth appear to be foundering, then many will rush to the safety of these lifeboats. The Ramala Centre, therefore, is but one of many centres preparing a lifeboat — not a physical lifeboat but a lifeboat of consciousness, as did the prophet Noah before the last great planetary upheaval six thousand years ago. For what was the Ark but a lifeboat, a lifeboat of human consciousness? The purpose of the Ramala teachings is to help humanity to prepare for this great moment of transformation and transmutation so that we may be ready for the Golden Age that is to come."
* World map designed by Evening_Tao / Freepik
— From 'The Wisdom of Ramala'
Table of Contents
The Time Is Near – Let Us not Treat God's Word Lightly 16
Prophecies about the Current Mission 18
God Is Trikal Darshi and the Eyewitness-Consciousness of Everything 22
The Unprecedented Precedent–Sporadic, Yet Powerful 27
When the Truth Is Obvious and Shining Forth, Is It Still Necessary to Rely on
This Part of My Mission is Performed in Absolute Silence 30
I Am against This Year's Sun; I Only Accept Last Year's 33
Our Collectiv e P ra yers to Swa mi 'to Sp eak t h rou g h Us' Have Been Answered! 35
They Cannot Tolerate the Splendour of the Divine 37
He Will Go on Attracting More and More Devotees 43
The Resurrection is the Foundation for Joy 44
Aren't You Beginning to Be More Sure of the Invisible Than the Visible? 46
A New Definition of the Martha Syndrome 48
God's Very Special Chosen Instruments – His Own Scribes and Communicators 52
Recognising a Tree by Its Fruits 56
A Divinely-Chosen Mother's Love Attracts All Faiths to Her Lotus Feet 59
' We Belong to Sai' versus 'Sai Belongs to Us' – Which Category Are You
The Question of Sustainability 66
The Hadiths (The Words of Prophet Muhammad) Relevant to the Current Mission 68
A Tiny Pebble Which Is Filled with Unfair Hatred in the Love-Filled Mighty River Niger 70
" Chi Sputa In Su, Lo Sputo Gli Torno Sul Viso"– ' If You Spit in the Air, It Will
How Swami Glorifies His Previous Avatars Including How He is Glorifying the First Phase – the Pre-transition Phase – of His Present Incarnation 75
Powerful References to How We Are Moving into the Golden Age 77
Code of Conduct Prescribed by Swami for Ashrams 79
Now More Powerful Than Ever 82
Swami's Message to the Meeting of the Sai Organisations of Europe through the Vocal Cords of Lucas Ralli on 12th May 1989 84
The Fastest Phase of Swami's Avataric Mission 86
'Nen u tva ra lo p a lan e p ra p an ch a m tour ku d a ch esta an u ' – I Will Undertake a World Tour Shortly! 88
The Golden Age of Many Years of Peace 93
He is Here and There – and Everywhere, and He is a Living and Loving Presence 96
"A true Master is not the one with the most students, but
one who creates the most Masters.
A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but the
one who creates the most leaders.
A true king is not the one with the most subjects, but
one who leads the most to royalty. A true teacher is not the one with the most knowledge,
but one who causes the most to have knowledge.
And a true God is not one with the most servants, but
one who serves the most, thereby making Gods of all others."
— 'The New Revelations: A Conversation with God' by Neale Donald Walsch.
Sri Indulal Shah ji, in his preface to his book, 'Remove the Curtain Between You and Me', published on 27th March, 2009, on the occasion of Yugadi (Gudi Padwa), writes, "The Phenomenon of His Divine Holiness Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has generated an unprecedented interest and yearning in mankind all over the Globe to know more about Him."
When Baba, after 2011, returned in His Subtle Form to continue His Mission, the interest and yearning to know about Him became even greater.
Here is an humble effort to share with fellow spiritual seekers some insights about Swami's ongoing Current Mission in His Subtle Form: some of the lesser known hints about the Current Mission given previously through several instruments of God and also by Swami Himself; the way the Mission is happening simultaneously everywhere across the globe; about the heralding of the Golden Age; how the sceptical are staying away from the Mission and so forth.
While approaching Swami in His Subtle Form for His Divine Darshan or while approaching a book on the Subtle Form or any spiritual book for that matter, an attitude of sincerity and an attitude of open heart and mind is a prerequisite.
The duration of time in which the Subtle Form is to be freely available for us being very short, and the pace at which the Mission is going on being very rapid, there is no time left to analyse unendingly before taking part in the Mission, like the proverbial pilgrim who went to the holy shore of a sea and waited and waited for the waves to subside before taking a holy dip, which never happened! As Swami often says metaphorically, we should not 'miss the bus again', meaning we missed the bus of the first phase of His Sathya Sai Avataric Mission and we are going to miss the ongoing Mission in His Subtle Form as well.
In this connection we may also have to remember the following anecdote of our Swami:
"Some professors of Benaras University once ridiculed another from the same seat of learning for wasting ten minutes in the morning and ten in the evening in meditating on a non-existent God. He replied, 'Brothers, if God is, as you say, non-existent, I agree I am wasting twenty minutes every day. But if God exists, as many believe, I am sorry you are wasting your entire lives!'"
— Divine Discourse, 27th September, 1979.
As our In-dweller, He is just a thought away; or, if we want to meet Him, He is available during His world tours and approachable, within a stone's throw from our area anywhere in the world; or, if we want to interact with the devotees and get the benefit of the synergistic effect, they are there close to us; as regards the information on this wonderful phenomenon, it is just a click away!
Swami says we are all Gods in the making and He is making all of us Sai Babas.
"Ask Me for My presence and help before beginning each and every work. Call Me with an open heart and mind, and let Me subtly direct you and carry out your work the way I want. Stay open to My energy and suggestions with your mind and heart turned towards Love. A prayer uttered quietly to Me will help you do this. Pray and ask."
—Swami's message to Daniel Ostoja as recorded in his free e-book 'First Steps Towards Love : Conversations With A Spiritual Master'
God's Mission Statement
"The ways of the Divine are not easy to comprehend. Wishing the welfare of everyone in the universe, the Divine uses a myriad of methods."
— Divine Discourse, 28th May, 1990, Summer Course in Indian Culture and Spirituality.
In His Sookshma Form, Swami has assured us that He will be with us ceaselessly, seen or unseen, working for our realisation and using His chosen ones to help Him.
" [...] My Mission will not be over till the last person on this Earth is transformed into the Divine. I will take some Form, some Name and keep coming till I accomplish that. I was there before, doing the same thing; I am now doing the same thing, and will continue doing the same thing, maybe assuming a different Name and Form. For I am not attached to any name, place or people. I am attached only to My work that I have come for. And I will go wherever My work is being done. I will be with whoever is doing My work. For that is dear to Me. I am with all those who are there for Me, who are here to grant joy to people around. To help people come back to the right path when they have strayed away. And to give the poor and needy what they lack. Whoever does these three, I am there with them, whether seen or unseen, whether known or unknown, whether realised or unrealised. I am there with all those who lead their lives on the basis of this truth, goodness, and beauty. That is My work which I love. I love those who are doing that and I will be with them, wherever they are. Today I am here because My work is being done here. And I know much more of My work will be done here. For there is no other way but to follow Swami in order to redeem the world.
"In times to come, having become fed up with all the greed, selfishness, violence, and hatred, the world will look forward to peace, to camaraderie, and brotherhood. At that point of time, My people and My places – these Centres – will serve as beacons of hope and guidance to all those who seek. I am moving around travelling and meeting people to establish such beacons of hope and love. The scriptures say ekoham bahusyaam – the One becomes many. That is how it is with God. Just as the same sun is shining in the sky and reflects in all ponds, all puddles and all bodies of water, likewise one God becomes many in the hearts of devotees. Likewise, where there is purity of heart, Divinity will manifest. In the hearts of such pure devotees I reside and through them I do My work. In times to come, there won't be just one Sai Baba; hundreds, thousands will transform themselves into the Divine! The Vedas declare sahasra sheershaah purushah
sahasraakshah sahasrapaath – the Purusha, the Supreme Being has thousands of heads, He has thousands of eyes, thousands of feet. He pervades the entire Cosmos.
"The meaning is: in the hearts of such pure people God resides, and through their hands, through their feet, through their eyes, through their faces He manifests.
"If you move a magnet in a pile of sand and iron filings, it will attract the filings and leave the sand. Likewise, as Swami moves from place to place and country to country, He is attracting all His people to Himself, who will not merely be a witness, but they will be a part of it. He will identify and attract those iron filings, those pure devotees from a pile of sand or the crowd. Otherwise, how else do you explain, with so few people, how so much is being done. Because they are not operating at their limited human capacity. They are operating at unlimited God capacity. For their purity and their selflessness have made them nearer to their Divinity. As they live closer to the magnet, they themselves become a magnet.
"There is a great transformation happening around the world. A silent (SAIlent) revolution is happening. Slowly, slowly but steadily and gradually. Good people are coming together who are willing to sacrifice for the sake of others, who are ready to put their individuality behind for the sake of the collective good and who are courageous enough to discard their pettiness to embrace the vastness of Divinity. I am searching and searching and finding My people, and developing them, training them, evolving them to be Me. So that, like mirrors, you all reflect the same love that I am. You all become the expressions of that Divinity which is within you. That is the purpose, that is the point to which I am working. Don't be fooled by all this that is happening; that is not the end. Don't be guided, rather misguided, by Names and Forms. For I am beyond. And I reside till the last person on the planet is transformed into the Divine. I will keep coming in some Form, in some Name, in some place, and through someone I will keep doing My work. That is My Divine work, which I am attached to and I love. And if you want to enjoy this Divine Love, Divine Joy, then you must also work. By repeating the name of the food even a thousand times, your stomach is not going to be filled. By staring at the picture of the food, your stomach is not going to be filled. And by talking and listening to talk about food, your hunger is not going to be satisfied. Only when you eat will you be satisfied. It is time to put all that which you have learned, heard, read, seen, into your life, so that you digest it, assimilate it, and get energised.
"Each one of you is nothing but Me, but covered with lot of rust and dust. Once you remove that, it is only Me inside. With the water of love and soap of service,
all this accumulated dust can be cleaned up and the Divinity which is within will shine forth. Not only will it brighten your path, it will also brighten the path of others. May you all lead your lives in accordance with these principles. May you realise your truth and teach this truth to others by practice. May you revel in that Divine bliss and share it with others. And as you walk and transform yourselves on the path of spirituality, help others and make them transform. That is the help
that you can give Me, by helping another person reach his Divine destiny. [...]"
— From Swami's Divine Discourse in Bogota, Columbia, 13th October 2017.
"But one should not make the mistake of thinking that the plane is a ground machine because they see it on the ground. In like fashion, although the Lord has made a landing here on Earth, so to speak, He is not limited to His human form."
— Baba
The Time is Near – Let Us Not Treat God's Word Lightly
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.
— Revelation 1:3
Swami tells us that we need to adapt and change to be able to be part of the Golden Age.
During His visit to The Netherlands during April 2016, after His Divine Discourse, Swami gave an opportunity to devotees to ask questions. While answering one of the questions, Swami mentioned the dawn of the Sathya Yuga, the Golden Age.
A devotee asked: "Swami, I want to see the beauty in the universe where we live. I have two beautiful sons and, through their eyes, I can see their discovery of the world and things they find beautiful. However, when I turn on the eight o'clock news, I see many horrible things and find it difficult to see Swami in these things,
such evil and violence in the world."
Swami in His Answer said: "The whole universe is governed by three laws: the law of Creation, the law of Sustenance, and the law of Destruction. Based on these three laws, the universe moves forward. Creation is as beautiful as sustenance; Sustenance is also as beautiful as Destruction, for all the three are God's wish.
"In a given season, a certain flower blooms. It stays for sometime, but then it withers away and dies. As the seasons change, it cannot continue living.
"As we were coming here in the car, the boy told us that the largest garden of flowers is here, in The Netherlands. However, this happens for only three months in the year. For three months, all the flowers bloom and then they wither away. As the seasons change, they cannot continue to remain and you have to wait for another season to see them again. Likewise, in this creation, all beings are created, they live for a certain time and when their time has passed they must leave, too.
"The seasons are changing. The Golden Time and Golden Age are coming. Those who will not fit into the new Golden Age, some way or the other, will be annihilated. Therefore, those who do not become pure, those who do not remain
kind and those who cannot develop their Divinity, will not be in service in this new season. It is a natural law; in some way or another, they will be destroyed. If you look at the whole universe from this point of view, you will understand the beauty in it. I am putting in effort all the more, and so must all of you, to become worthy to move into the Golden Age. If you do not change and adapt yourself to adjust to the Golden Age, you will not be able to move into it. Look at the whole world from this point of view and pray for those who are unable to understand.
"Swami has given you two beautiful children. See to it that they grow into golden ones. Help as many as you can to become golden. For those whom you cannot reach, pray for their welfare.
"Arjuna had a similar dilemma in the Bhagawad Gita. When he saw the Virata Rupa, the Viswarupa of Krishna, he understood the secret: everything is born out of Krishna, is sustained by Krishna and finally merges into Krishna. Those who follow the path of dharma will continue in the coming Sathya Yuga, Dharma Yuga, Suvarna Yuga, which is the Age of Truth, the Age of Righteousness, the Golden Age.
"You have been seeing all these things happening in recent times because the season has changed. Let it go on as a part of creation. Pray and help many to make the transition from this age to that age. You help many people to move
from this to that, and, for the rest, just pray."
Hilda Charlton, an ardent devotee of Swami, received dictation from Skanda and recorded in her book 'Skanda', out of which a small passage is given here:
"Mankind has fallen so low that we of the celestial abode will no longer tolerate man's darkness and waywardness. Great numbers will have to leave the Earth unless they change their ways. You, My faithful ones, must keep your hearts, full of love and faith, stayed on the highest during this time soon to come on Earth."
"A very spectacular, extraordinary and never-before-seen time is approaching. Purity is the ticket if you want to see it with your own eyes and experience it. Without purity, it is not possible to board the bus and
proceed further. Develop selfless and pure love."
— Excerpted from Swami's Discourse given to devotees from Hyderabad, 6th March, 2015 at Sri Sathya Sai Anandam, Muddenahalli. Source: 'Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Volume Seven, Divine Discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in The Subtle Body'
Prophecies About the Current Mission
Before the LORD God does anything, He tells His plans to His servants, the prophets.
— Amos 3:7
Just before His physical transition and afterwards, several decades before, and even centuries before that, Swami hinted and shared with His saints and prophets, with His instruments and functionaries in His Mission, the exact details about His ongoing Current Mission. We are all familiar with the details about His sharing His Divine plan of His early transition with Sri Isaac Tigrett; about His stay in and continuing His Mission from Sathya Sai Anandam, Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, with Sri B N Narasimha Murthy; about His worldwide Health Mission and other details with Sri C Srinivas; the minutest details of the unfoldment of His majestic Mission with Brother Madhusudan, and several other details with His instruments, functionaries, devotees, seekers and even to apparent strangers all over the world.
Here are some lesser known, but astonishing, hints about the current phase of Swami's Mission.
(i) Hints given to an ardent devotee of Swami, who is a well-known journalist from Mumbai:
In her book written in 2011– written by Swami through her instrumentality – and published in 2012, she says that the title of the book, 'Self-Realisation in the Kali Yuga at the Dawn of the Golden Age', the cover page, and everything else, was decided by Swami. Here are brief excerpts from the book:
"When I leave this Body, I will be Formless and then again with Form. My work will continue. There will be peace and happiness. My work then is to keep the peace and happiness. All is well; all will be well. [...]
"Do not grieve for the Body. I am always with you; I live in your heart. "I will be back. [...]
"The Golden Age has begun in pockets. Just as the Kali Yuga began in pockets and then spread all over the world, the Golden Age has begun in pockets and the winds of change will blow it to the entire world. That is when the Mission of this Body will be complete. Prema Sai will come when the world is in the thick of the
Golden Age. He will sustain it with Love; that's His Mission. (In the Inner View to her on 11th May 2011) [...]
"I am Pure Energy. Even 'Om' is just a part of Me. It is a symbolic representation of Me. Before light and sound, there was complete darkness. I am That... I am Nothingness. [...]
"You are a good example of a devotee to whom I have not spoken while in My Physical Form or given interviews; but I give you Inner Views, I talk to you. I appear to you in your dreams and I am transforming you. [...]
"I am not in My Physical Form now, but I am there. I am as Myself, behind the veil of creation. My devotees must continue with their daily sadhana. I live in their hearts. If they continue to look to Me, I will continue to appear to them in their dreams, they will hear Me as their Inner Voice and they will continue to get Inner Views. I will be back... I will usher in the Golden Age. There will be peace,
happiness, food for all. All will be One. Give this message to all."
(ii) Swami gave weekly messages during 2011, written in His own handwriting, dated and signed, indicating the exact time, to an ardent devotee in New Delhi. Swami's letters and messages have been manifesting in her Bhajan Hall for many years, but the letters of the year 2011 are very significant.
In one of the weekly Thursday letters of 2011, He wrote: "My miracles have just now started and will not end till the whole world becomes one big Sai family." [...](From Swami's letter of 28th April, 2011)
In His letter of 12th May, 2011, Swami, among other things, writes, "I need people to take My spiritual work ahead. I choose; that is why I manifest through them." [...]
Here is one more sample passage from the letters: "I am very sad that My students, My close devotees – My pillars have not acknowledged these messages. This is your Swami writing. Come, unite, leave your ego and small-mindedness. Unite in love and faith."
(Many of the devotees are aware of these original English letters of Swami in His own handwriting and the transcription alongside. Swami's handwriting is crystal clear, as it is familiar to the devotees. The devotee's Vasant Kunj address is
known to many; with a view not to cause too much disturbance for her personal
sadhana, the details are omitted here.)
(iii) Sensei David Steadman Davies realised that Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was an Avatar. He was born in 1925 and cast off his physical body in 2010 – born one year before Baba's Advent and left the physical one year before Baba's transition! He says in 'Afternoon Tea With Sensei' by Kathy Haler, "Jesus came to lift humanity to a higher level of consciousness and, to do that, He took some of the negative karma of the world and placed it in His physical body. This was a deliberate act of compassion. Jesus first said that He was a Messenger of God. Then later on He proclaimed He was the Son of God, and at the end He said, 'God and I are One'. Now the Father has come.
"Trying to comprehend the ways or laws of karma is like trying to comprehend the source of creation; it is beyond the everyday mind. Karma is for the evolution of the individual soul, not the body. The karma of all souls is called world karma. Baba is taking on world karma, taking on the negative vibrations that have built up over the centuries; that is why His body is as it is. One day Baba will do something about the world's karma He holds within His form; He will blast it to
smithereens. [...]"
(iv) Vasantha Sai amma, with the support of mind-boggling sacred naadi readings compiled by ancient rishis(most had the same theme as this one, "when Swami comes again, He will not be in an aged body or a young body, but middle aged"); Jiten Thakrar, in his wonderful film 'Sathya Sai Baba's Return'; and Sreejith Narayan, in his beautiful book 'Sai Thy Kingdom Come', which is available for free in about twenty languages, all postulated that Swami will be back to continue His unfulfilled Mission. One who reads Sreejith's book, (the time frame in which the book is written and published quoting different religious Scriptures and world-famous naadi grandhas including his own naadi reading) can understand that it is indeed Swami's inspiration!
(v) Brother Anthony Bong is an ardent devotee of Swami and very active in His Current Mission. Around Mahashivaratri of 2011, when he approached a psychic, he channelled a Taoist mystic, who revealed that Swami would be leaving His physical body very soon.
Again Brother Bong went to the same psychic on 29th April, 2011. This time the psychic channelled a Javanese Sufi mystic. He revealed how Swami timed His departure to prevent a big disaster – the Fukushima nuclear reactor meltdown; how He would come back and how He, in His Subtle Form, would communicate with a young man who, in turn, would pass His words on to others. And he even revealed the name of the young man. When Brother Bong could not make out the name containing multiple syllables, he told him the two-syllable name 'Ma dhu'.
He was able to link the fulfilment of these prophecies when Bhagawan's Kodaikanal Discourses were published in May 2014, where there was mention of Brother Madhusudan Naidu. Swami visited his house in Kuching, in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, during January 2016 and reminded His devotee of the promise to visit his place that He had given him twenty-two years earlier!
(vi) Half a century ago, a devotee, by the name Sri K. Gopala Rao, wanted to know how great a God Baba was. He heard about a psychic, who channelled very high beings, and approached him. The psychic, reading out from the automatically-written sheet of paper, told the devotee: "Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba is the highest GOD in all the fourteen worlds." Later, the devotee started a high school in Swami's name in Repalle town in the Guntur district. The school is one of the earliest schools in Swami's name and achieved high standards, and several students from that school studied in Swami's Anantapur and Prasanthi Nilayam campuses.
(vii) Sister Smt. Shanti Bhawalkar compiled a wonderful book, 'From Him to Me'. The book, which is translated into several languages, contains valuable messages she received from Swami. Brother Sunil Gavaskar, in his wonderful foreword, mentions how this book will help all those who cannot directly receive messages from Baba. Swami, through these messages, exhorts His devotees to transcend the form; not to get trapped in duality but grow beyond it; and to feel His constant presence. In one of His messages, Swami says how He likes the game of hide-and-seek and tells us, "I will be hiding and you have to seek Me!"
"As the word of the Lord comes to me, so do I utter, O Lalo."
— Nanak, 722, Adi Granth
God is Trikal Darshi and the Eyewitness-Consciousness of Everything
Swami's new Ashrams that He is founding and preparing for Prema Sai are being modelled on the plan that He gave several decades ago.
He also warned through an allegory in a message not to depart from His principles.
Swamini Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda from the USA was an ardent devotee of Baba, and she received Divine Revelations from Baba and other Avatars between 1968 and 1995, which she compiled under the title, 'Divine Revelations Rendered by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna'. She was an accomplished musician and performed in Swami's Divine Presence. She was well-known among music lovers, Sai devotees, and spiritual seekers. She guided many groups of seekers from the USA to Swami. In 1983, following the Divine directive, she established the Sai Anantham Ashram in Chumash Pradesh, near Malibu, California, on a fifty-acre piece of sacred land. The Supreme Lord has provided her with the wisdom, knowledge and guidance required to engage in spiritual service to humanity. Her disciples are spread all over the world and some are running their own Ashrams. Details of two aspects of her mission which are relevant to Swami's Current Mission are given here.
The first is her Ashram itself: Swami appears to have inspired His wonderful instrument to start this Ashram as a prototype for a score of such Ashrams to be started after two decades all over the world. The size of her Ashram premises, the sylvan setting, streams and brooks criss-crossing the Ashram land, beautiful hills in the background, natural flora and fauna, indigenous people in the vicinity, prayer halls and eco-friendly cottages, entry for all spiritual seekers from various faiths, inputs consisting of universal truths from scriptures of all religions, dress code and code of conduct in the Ashram, the Divine-Valley-like ambiance of the whole area and so forth are almost identical to those Ashrams being started now as part of His ongoing Current Mission. There are also Sunday EHV classes for children, regular study circles, worship services for the people from the surrounding community, a well-stocked bookstore and facilities for the production of radio and TV programmes. The names of many Ashrams and foundations started now are almost homophones of Sai Anantham, including Swami's residence in Muddenahalli.
Just as the small Veda paatashaala (school) started by Swami gave birth to a
world-wide movement of Veda chanting; an orphanage (dheenajanodharana pathakam) started by Swami inspired many to establish similar orphanages elsewhere in each district or town, it appears that Swami inspired Turiyasangitananda to start this Ashram, in a sense, as the forerunner and pioneer of many such being started now all over the world.
The second is the Message she received from Lord Rama on July 19, 1971, wherein He narrated an episode which allegorically points to the early physical transition of Baba in 2011, His Majestic Reappearance to carry on His Mission, the happenings during the brief interregnum – and how His devotees would forget His teachings and totally identify Him with His body.
Here is the Divine message received by A.C. Turiyasangitananda on July 19, 1971, as contained in her book, 'Divine Revelations Rendered by Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna':
"On this day, the most glorious Lord Rama said, 'Centuries ago, on the continent of Africa near the banks of the Nile river, there was a peaceful village presided over by a wise, old chief named Olan. He was insistent upon regulative adherence to traditional and spiritual values. Peace and order were to be strictly maintained under his leadership. One day, the chief decided to examine the obedience and sincerity of the people in a specific way. Thus, he devised a plan, one that required the cooperation of the elders.
'The plan involved his enacting a pretence of his illness and death. It succeeded. After the funerary rites were over, he obscured his identity in such a way that he could walk amongst the villagers and observe them unnoticed. What he found disturbed him. He saw the people involved in unspiritual practices and deplorable conduct with complete disregard for ethical and traditional values. The chief decided to cast off his disguise. Suddenly, [by his] removing it, his identity was revealed, to the utter shock and dismay of the people. They became contrite and ashamed of themselves. Olan admonished them and warned against the dangers of living an immoral, unspiritual life. They begged his forgiveness and promised not to return to their unspiritual ways'" [...]
Here is another Message received by her on July 3, 1975:
On this day, Lord Sri Rama said, "Several persons in this country (USA) are inquiring amongst themselves, 'How does an American, black, Christian lady
become an East Indian Swamini'?"
"In this regard, Baba said, 'It matters not whether public inquiry and opinion are favourable or unfavourable; one's country and nationality are not the underlying criterion. If one has dedicated one's life in devotion to God, one can be selected
to become a candidate for initiation into the renounced order of sannyas'."
Light vs Darkness
"You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself."
— Margaret Atwood
Right from the beginning of creation, members of God's inner circle – His saints, sages, monks and devotees – have been subjected to attacks and made objects of derision and scorn. Even God Himself, when He descended from time to time as Avatars, was not spared!
Let us see what Connie Shaw, the Marian visionary and ardent devotee of Swami, says about the attacks from her contemporaries:
"At the personality level of challenge in dealing with my unfolding life's work, there have been brief moments of self-pity that have had to be healed when friends and neighbors, out of scorn or jealousy, suddenly refused to continue friendships after learning of Mary's visitations. Various clergy and theologians have attacked me, asking in stinging tones of disbelief, 'Why on Earth would Mary appear to someone like you when I myself have a doctorate in theology?!' or, 'I am a minister, a nun, a Sunday school teacher.'
"The answer has always been that:
1. Mary says everyone is special, therefore no Marian visionary is special – just lucky.
2. In the future, most people will be able to see through the veil of illusion to perceive Her, the angels and other Masters.
3. After ten years of testing to see if I would carry out simple requests, I was told that I was dependable and would be given more service tasks in the future.
4. We are not our roles! Even the role of 'being a messenger' can be the most subtle trap, thus a hindrance to experiencing our True Nature."
— From Connie Shaw's wonderful book 'Mary's Miracles and Prophecies – Intimate Revelations of a Visionary'
When the Lord incarnated as Rama, He was sent into exile; when He completed this 'sentence', again society 'forced' Rama to send His consort Sita to the forest. When the Lord came as Krishna, His own maternal uncle put His parents in prison, and His birth itself took place in prison. Furthermore, His cruel uncle made several attempts to kill Krishna when He was still a child. Even after seeing
His Divine miracles including His Cosmic Form, society continued to criticise His actions and doubt His intentions. Jesus Christ was crucified, His apostles were tortured and martyred and the early Christians were persecuted. Most Meccans ignored and mocked Prophet Muhammad and persecuted his followers. Even Shirdi Sai was not spared. The villagers of Shirdi, whose village gained prominence and popularity because of Baba's glory, neither believed His Divinity nor respected Him. There came a fake guru who claimed that Baba was his disciple. God was so humble that He acted as a true disciple of this fake guru till the villagers themselves realised who the real Guru of the world was and exposed the fake one!
The smear campaign against our Swami during the first phase of His Mission – the phase up to the year 2011– was widespread, because of the reach of print and electronic media and internet! The same perpetrators then became stronger, joined by others, and continue to react in negative ways towards our Swami – who is now in His natural, much more accessible, and energetic Subtle Form – as well as towards His saints and instruments in the Current Mission. For the same reason – the reason mentioned in Margaret Atwood's quote above – the perpetrators are now asking similar questions to those society asked Connie Shaw two decades ago.
It is God's unfathomable Divine play that whenever He comes with so much light and splendour to accomplish His Mission, there have been dark forces also challenging His might. It may be that it is only then that God reveals to us His full Glory and His miracles are known to all! God's Divine Plan conceals subtle secrets.
"Why is it that when we talk to God, we're said to be praying, but when God talks to us, we're schizophrenic?"
— American Comedian Lily Tomlin
The Unprecedented Precedent – Sporadic, Yet Powerful
Just as all those things part of Swami's Current Mission happening from Sathya Sai Grama are God's official things, the following account is also one hundred percent official.
Place: Hamburg, Germany Time: 12th to15th May 1989
Occasion: The meeting of the Sai organisations of Europe Motto for the meeting: "Love in Action"
There were participants from Sai Organisations of all the countries of Europe and invitees and guest speakers from USA, Thailand etc.
The beauty and significant part of the meeting is Swami's Message to the meeting.
Can you guess how Swami gave His Message to the meeting? Did He send His written message by post?
No!
By fax? No!
By Email?
No, the facility was not there in 1989. By recorded voice?
No!
Then how?! You will find out if you read on.
Those whose hearts are open already know or can find out the answer easily. As for others – let the suspense continue, keep guessing. Spirituality does not come on a platter of gold!
When the Truth Is Obvious and Shining Forth, Is It Still Necessary to Rely on 'Expert' Opinions?
"The truth has one useful asset, that it can be checked. So, you can find it out yourself."
— Swami's Message to Daniel Ostoja, as recorded in his free e-book 'First Steps Towards Love – Conversations with a Spiritual Master'
Once a group of students from a Sailand visited their neighbouring country on a study tour. As part of their visits to places of historical importance, they had been to a museum. An exhibit attracted the attention of a boy from the visiting group. It was a small skull like object. The boy enquired what it was. This is the answer
he received: "It is the skull of the young Buddha!"
The boy is now grown-up, dons ascetic's attire and is running his own monastery in a quiet corner, guiding his fellow spiritual aspirants, but he still holds the belief that what he saw in the museum was really the relic of his Master when he was young. This is the reason for his conviction or rather misplaced conviction: the day the students visited the museum, the director of the museum, who is the overall head of the museum, himself, took them around the museum, as the visiting team brought a letter of recommendation from their minister of tourism and foreign affairs. The director himself explained the 'minute' details of each exhibit, including the exhibit in question.
The monk believed that the expert, in this case the man overall in charge of the museum, who has several degrees in history and archaeology, could never be wrong!
Can the expert's opinion be contrary to the reality? Let us see. Here is another calamity wrought by another expert: the doctor bent over the lifeless figure in bed. Then he straightened up and said: "I am sorry to say that your husband is no
more, my dear."
A feeble sound of protest came from the lifeless figure in bed; "No, I am still alive."
"Hold your tongue," said the woman. "The doctor knows better than you." Have we been conditioned to believe in the experts' opinion rather than reality?
Are these so called experts always right?
Do we tend to fall into the trap of a high regard for experts' opinions rather than going by the facts?
In the process of our depending on experts, do we at times miss the reality? Do we still keep doubting the contemporary Avatar and keeping ourselves away from His Mission and are we going to miss the bus this time also?
Should we question the experts? If not, why not?
Following Krishna's command, when the citizens of Brindavan stopped worshipping Devendra, thus ignoring the expert opinion of the village elders, and instead worshipped their real benefactor, Krishna blessed them with His abundant grace and also an opportunity to witness the great miracle of the lifting of the Govardan Hill. Krishna made Devendra realise the truth that, whereas Narendras are rulers of human beings, Devendra is the fixed-term ruler of the demi-gods; but He, Krishna, is the Lord of lords! Lord Krishna made Devendra clearly understand that He is the one from whom Devendra and his subjects, and also all the beings in all the planes, draw their sustenance.
"And here is My new blessing: blessed are those who smile often, for pure rejoicing is what God likes," [...] "Smile. A smile helps to live. When a man of pure heart smiles, God is delighted." [...]
"Joy is the path to Divinity."
—Swami's message to Daniel Ostoja as recorded in his free e-book 'First Steps Towards Love – Conversations with a Spiritual Master'
This Part of My Mission Is Performed in Absolute Silence
The title sentence of this chapter is taken from that landmark message Swami gave to Charles Penn. The entire message is applicable right now to the current phase of Swami's mission. It appears that what Swami had achieved by 2011 is only 20 percent of His Mission and the remaining more than 80 percent is being accomplished now in the Ongoing Mission in His Subtle Form. It seems that a different Pareto principle is in operation, the Divine Pareto principle – without proportionate human effort but purely by Divine Will – through the instrumentality of His chosen instruments.
And, also, this is going on in absolute silence. When the rest of the world was still mourning Swami's transition from the physical, the instruments of Swami, following His command, were working with missionary zeal and starting to accomplish project after project – a school in Gulbarga (which now has grown into Sri Sathya Sai University for Human Excellence, Gulbarga) with a beautiful pentagon structure, a free children's Super Specialist Heart Hospital, Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospital at Naya Raipur, Chaattisgarh State; schools and colleges in different districts of Karnataka State; another hospital near Delhi, Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani International Centre for Child Heart Care & Research , Palwal, Baghola, Haryana; a college near Hyderabad; breakfast seva for school children in hundreds of villages and towns; eighteen Ashrams in different countries; hospitals in Nigeria, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia and other countries.
What about the publicity? For Swami's activities, no publicity is required. Swami attracted those required for His Mission as a magnet attracts iron filings.
If you still want to know how people are getting to know about the Grand Mission that is unfolding with its headquarters at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, Chikkaballapur district, Karnataka, here is an analogy that can help you understand.
Lord Krishna as part of His childhood pranks would steal butter and fresh cream from His house and neighbours' houses. One day, He, along with His 'accomplices', prepared a plan of action to steal butter from His own house. Little Krishna, along with a group, entered the corner room of the house where butter, curd and fresh cream were kept in earthen pots and safely hidden in a fibrous netting sling and suspended from the beam of the house. He kept a couple
of cowherd boys outside the room in order to alert them in case any of the elders approached from that side.
Mother Yashoda came that way, suspecting some mischief from the kids. Even without any provocation from Mother Yashoda, the boy on sentry duty
announced, "Mother! Krishna is not there in the corner room."The clue was
enough for Mother Yashoda; she caught hold of her little Krishna, and pretended to be angry, and the very next minute took her child into her lap, cuddled and caressed Him and enjoyed His Divine proximity. Then she thanked the sentry boys in her heart!
That is how the handful of elders, who are busy tomtomming 'He is here, not there', are in fact guiding the devotees to Muddenahalli! Till then people had a vague idea about the location of Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, that it is just a place close to the highway that connects Puttaparthi to Bengaluru, but now they know exactly that it is just five kilometres from Chikkaballapur, the district headquarters, and also just twenty-five kilometres from the Kempagowda International Airport, Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian State of Karnataka; and about twenty-five kilometres equidistant from Doddaballapur and Gauribidanur railway stations.
Those who try to prove that God is not there at a particular place are inadvertently hinting at His Presence, like the friends of Krishna in the above story! Having failed (or should we say having achieved!) their mission, most of them are now silent!
Swami says there are no atheists. Those who say "God is not there," in fact, are first declaring "God is" and then they are adding "not there." Swami says 'Devudunnaadu' is the panchaaakshari mantra – the five-syllable mantra (De-vu-du-nnaa-du), which is the English equivalent of the five-letter mantra, 'GOD IS'.
Even the Bal Vikas children are aware of God's power of omnipresence; even in their early years, they know that Swami, as a small boy, could be seen simultaneously both inside a Hampi temple in place of the deity and also outside, guarding the baggage of His entourage, which included His elder brother, sister-in-law, the Municipal Commissioner of Bellary town and other devotees.
But these handful of elders who go on criticising have forgotten the fundamental attributes of the Divine Personality – His power of Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence.
I Am against This Year's Sun, But I Accept Last Year's
"Blind is not he who does not see. Blind is he who is disinclined to see."
— Baba
"All divine incarnations, without any differentiation, are one and the same. The one and only God dips into the ocean of life and, upon reaching one shore, is called Krishna. When God dips again and reaches yet another, He is called Rama. In a similar fashion, on the mighty tree of sat-chit-ananda (Truth-Consciousness-Bliss), Rama, Krishna, Christ and Allah – one God in different Forms
– hang as several bunches of fruit. From these bunches, one or two of them descend to the Earth to bring in mighty transformations. When Sri Ramachandra incarnated on Earth, only the sapta rishis (seven Rishis of the Vedic world) could know that Ramachandra was God incarnate. Only very few comprehend the divinity of an incarnation."
— 'Sathya Sai Sath Sambhashana' , written by Swami decades ago
and published in 2012; the book contains scanned pages of Swami's own handwriting along with English text.
Rumi condemned the ignorance of people who accept one prophet and reject another one. Rumi could never even have visualised such ignorance as that of accepting one phase of an Avatar and rejecting another phase of the selfsame Avatar!
Now let us look at an excerpt (just to create interest and make you read the full book) taken from the wonderful book, 'Teachings of Rumi' by Andrew Harvey, and understand how these words are as relevant today as they were eight hundred years ago in helping us understand Swami's continuing work.
In the chapter 'One Light, Different Windows', Rumi says, "The prophets are like one single being. If you refuse one of them, you refuse them all.
"It is like a ritual washing. If you don't wash one of your organs and wash all the others, it will be of no use. So, as the prophets recognise each other, if you don't admit one of them, it is as if you had admitted none of them. In fact, there is only One Light that appears through different windows and which reaches us through the person of each prophet. All of these lights stream from the same sun.
"If you refuse a part of this light, that shows that you are a bat. You are like a bat who says, 'I am against this year's sun, but I accept last year's'. In fact, this year's and last year's sun are not different in any way. Whatever difference you think you perceive comes from the fact that you didn't really experience last year's sun."
There have even been devotees who, out of delusion, extended their ignorance to one of the previous Avatars of Swami, when they said, "Rama of Ayodhya
(Rama's birth place) is the only Rama, but not the Rama of Chitrakoot Hill, or the Rama of Dandakaranya forest or the Rama who fought the wicked forces in Lanka!" It would seem those ardent devotees forgot for a moment that Rama of Ayodhya simply spent His first Avataric phase playing with his siblings and mastering the various branches of learning that would be required for accomplishing His future Mission. But, later, while in the forest, in subsequent phases of His Mission, He single-handedly killed the demons and fought the evil forces. Afterwards, before fighting with the wicked Ravana, He consolidated various friendly forces to organize a mighty army. (Swami, in one of His recent visits to a country in the Asia Pacific region, revealed that people from that country also helped Him in the war, as the vaanaraas!)
Rama's Grand Mission – for which He descended on earth – actually started after He left His place of birth. Of course, it is always a delight to His devotees to have the Darshan of any Avatar, whether God is in His cradle or in His mother's lap or while He is performing childhood pranks and leelas.
If treating one saint better or worse than another is misguided, how much more so it would be to discriminate between the different phases of the Mission of the same Avatar!
When Shishupala, a cousin of Lord Krishna, started abusing his Divine cousin in an august assembly, all the devotees of Krishna, who were also the rulers from different countries, left the scene covering their ears because they knew that, according to the Scriptures, not only those who insult the Lord and His devotees but also those who hear such insults lose their punya (merit).
Our Collective Prayers to Swami 'to Speak through Us' Have Been Answered!
"Let your faith grow and open like a flower in full bloom: My Love, My harmony, My bliss dwell deep within your own hearts. Let it flow forth and bless all and create a new world. Become My spokesmen and spokeswomen, My liaisons upon this Earth plane. Hear these words and profit thereby.
"I, Sri Skanda, Son of Siva, have spoken."
— From 'Skanda'1 by Hilda Charlton. This book is a record of dictation that she received from Skanda, also known as Subramanyam, Muruga, and Karthikeya.
Hilda Charlton was an ardent devoteee of Swami. She was a spiritual teacher, author, dancer, and healer who touched and uplifted the lives of many thousands during the twenty-three years that she taught classes in meditation and prayer in New York City. In the foreword to her book, 'Divine Mother Speaks', she writes, "For those who have ears to hear, She speaks. For those who have eyes to see, She takes form, if form is needed to give faith. To some, Her form is but the symbol of the manifesting force called Shakti."
In any meetings of Sai organisation, school assemblies, Sai centres' meetings, spiritual retreats and in any programmes in the Divine Presence, all the speakers invariably start their speech with this opening sentence: "Swami! Please speak through me." And immediately they recite this Sanskrit verse:
Mookam karoti vaachaalam Pangum langhayate girim Yatkripaa tamaham vande Paramaananda Maadhavam
This means, "I salute You, Lord God. You are the source of bliss. Your grace makes the dumb man eloquent and the cripple cross mountains."
And at the end they again reiterate, "I said whatever Swami spoke through me.". But these same people, now that Swami chooses to speak through one of their younger brothers, have difficulty accepting it.
Here is a joke from a children's drama:
It is our common experience that, when food is offered with love and devotion, the deity partakes of the food and leaves the empty container, or in some cases takes a little, and in yet other cases leaves a sign that He has touched the food. The deity partakes according to the feeling with which we offer the food. Just recollect the song 'kaun kehta hai Bhagawan kaate nahi, ber Shabri ke jaise khilate nahi' – 'who says God doesn't eat? You don't offer berries to God the
way mother Shabari did'.
In this school drama, a social worker encounters a miserly character who pretends to be a devotee and worships God in a hypocritical way. The social worker teases him by asking, "If one fine morning, God were to partake of your offering, would you continue to offer Him food?"! And the fact is that he wouldn't!
Now back to our brothers; if only they could listen with open hearts and minds to the recent Discourses available in the public domain, they would more easily understand that it is the same love of our same Swami, the same simplicity and profundity. His message, of course, comes out through the voice of our brother Madhusudan, and loud and clear for the whole world to benefit from. It is the same concern for the seekers' progress with which He encourages them to ask questions, and the same omniscience that answers in a way perfectly suitable for that particular seeker and all such seekers for generations to come.
Have faith that you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
— Matthew 21: 22
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1Lord Skanda's assurance and direction: "Though the lessons herein were spoken by Me through the Daughter of Light for those who gathered at the full moon each month, I want to emphasize that My blessings go out to all who hold this book in their hands to read. All who struggle upon your Earth plane are equally dear to Me. All you who have chosen the path of righteousness belong
to the Hierarchy and are overshadowed by its Light.
"I make one last plea before I close this book, requesting that you dedicate your lives to help the downtrodden and those striving against darkness, and thereby save humanity from a great calamity that awaits it unless all those of the Light help. A life is worthless that does not reach out a helping hand to others.
"This invocation I sing from the highest heavens for you, that the Light may reign within you in these coming years and may clear your way. Tread your path firmly and bravely, and remember that, when you call My name, I will hear." (from the epilogue of 'Skanda')
They Cannot Tolerate the Splendour of the Divine
God's Power cannot be comprehended or overcome.
In this chapter and in the next, brief excerpts are taken from Swami's Divine Discourses of year 1970 and 2000 from 'Sathya Sai Speaks' to give a glimpse of how misguided forces try to tarnish the image of Avatars but end up, at the same time, glorifying the Avataric Mission. Jealousy in contemporary society has been the same as two thousand years ago with Jesus and forty-eight years ago and eighteen years ago with Swami. Elsewhere in the book, it is briefly mentioned how it is the same, even now, with Sookshma Swami.
"Embodiments of the Divine! This is the best time to tell you something about the authenticity of this Advent. I am saying this, not for establishing a claim for superiority or importance for this Body; I only wish to communicate the Truth. There are many who cannot bear or tolerate the splendour that I am manifesting, the Divinity that is expressed in every act, the wonders and the amazing happenings that are the result of Grace; these people label these as acts of mesmerism or miracles or feats of magic! They hope to bring these down in the estimation of people. Let Me tell you this: Mine is no mesmerism, miracle or magic. Mine is genuine Divine Power.
"There are others who cavil at these, and whisper that miracles are not conducive to spiritual development, that they will be handicaps in the process of realisation of God, and they persuade you to stray away from the true path. These people are too weak to conceive the Divine; they have no strength or stamina to understand its magnificence and majesty. They have small minds and limited intellects.
"Kamsa, the wicked uncle of Krishna, knew that he was to meet his death at the hands of Krishna; so, he was so terror-stricken that he saw Krishna wherever his eyes were turned! He saw Him beside him, before him, above him, all around him! So, he shook his fist against the appearance, and, saying, "Krishna, fie upon your magic! I spurn your tactics to terrify me!", He boasted that his physical prowess could overpower the effects of the perceived magic. But, when the little seven-year-old boy, Krishna, jumped up in the arena and gripped him by the neck, and sat on his chest, when he fell, to pound him to death, He shouted into his ear, 'Uncle! This is Magic! Magic! Magic! You cannot declare that you have understood a phenomenon when what you do is simply to slight it by the use of a certain word!
"God can do anything; He has all power in the palm of His Hand! My Powers do not abide in Me a while, and then, fade away! Indhra jaalam idham – All this is apparent manipulation by Divine Will! My Body, like all other bodies, is a temporary habitation; but My Power is eternal, all pervasive, everlasting! This Body has been assumed, to serve a purpose: the establishment of dharma and the teaching of dharma. When that purpose is over, this Body will disappear like a
bubble on the waters [emphasis added]."
— Divine Discourse, Dharmakshetra, 25th December 1970.
Do Not Be Afraid of Any False Publicity
What mistake can there be if one loves God?
"[...] In this sacred land, many men of nobility and virtue had to face hardships and criticism, yet they remained firm in their resolve to set an ideal to humanity.
"Today you have to remind yourselves of the ideals Jesus stood for. From time to time, many noble souls, endowed with immense spiritual power, have taken birth to propagate sacred teachings to the world. They struggled hard to make the world a good place to live in. But without understanding their noble intentions, foolish people tried to ridicule and persecute them. Right from his birth, Jesus had to face many trials and tribulations. When the name and fame of noble souls spreads far and wide, many people become jealous. [...]
"No one needs to be afraid of .... false allegations. Why should one be afraid of the mistake that one has not committed? [...]
"We should not criticize anybody. But I am forced to tell you all this, as it has now become the demand of the situation. Do not be afraid of any false publicity. [...]
"Salute even those who criticize you because divinity is present in all. Do not spoil your mind by harbouring feelings of anger, etc. Pray to God with love. All noble souls and incarnations in the past had also to put up with criticism. You may ask why such criticism should arise? Criticism, in fact, adds to their glory. Pleasure is an interval between two pains. Shadow follows light. One should not be afraid of shadow. There is light even in shadow. Light and shadow cannot exist separately. [...]
"In future, you are going to witness many more glorious events. There is nothing that Sathya Sai Baba cannot accomplish. In fact, people will be struck with awe and wonder by His deeds. [...]
"Since Jesus bore all the difficulties with fortitude, he is being adored and worshipped to this day. [...]
"One should install God in one's heart. In fact, you don't need to install Him; He is already there. It is enough if you know the truth that God is present in your
heart. Once you recognise this truth, you will become God yourself. "Embodiments of Love!
"Be fearless. Do not be afraid even if a thunderbolt were to land on your head. Death comes only once and not twice. It is bound to come one day or the other. So do not be afraid of death. Be ready for anything. Do not be afraid to follow truth. Fill your life with love. Only then will your life be sanctified. No spiritual practice like japa and dhyana can redeem your life, if you do not adhere to truth and love. Whatever happens, hold on to these values. These values alone can give happiness and prosperity to the entire world. Develop love more and more. Do not pay heed to the criticism of others; because you are not committing any mistake. What mistake can there be if one loves God? Have unflinching love for God till your last breath. Do not entertain conflicts or doubts.
"Everyone has to face the consequences of his actions. None can predict when and how, but you are bound to face them. However, when you constantly think of God, you will never be put to suffering. He will always be with you, in you, around you, safeguarding you. You may worship God by any name – Jesus, Rama, Krishna, etc. But remember that God is one, the goal is one, truth is one and love is one. Love is God. Enshrine this unity principle in your heart and have firm faith in it. Then God will certainly take care of you, wherever you are – in a forest, in the sky, in a city, in a village, on a mountain top or in the middle of the deep sea. No one has the right to deny your God. [...] One should strive to earn the wealth of love. When you have the wealth of love in your possession, you will never suffer [emphasis added]." [...]
— Divine Discourse given at Christmas, 25th December 2000, Brindavan.
"Hard is the world-redeemer's heavy task; The world itself becomes his adversary,
His enemies are the beings he came to save. ||109.1|| Those he would save are his antagonists.
This world is in love with its own ignorance, Its darkness turns away from the saviour light,
It gives the cross in payment for the crown." ||109.2||
— From Sri Aurobindo's epic poem 'Savitri'
A Devotee's Dilemma
The LORD asked Moses, "Is there a limit to the LORD's power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true."
— Numbers 11:23
This is about those devotees who put limits on God's capacity. The Phenomenon finally took place in broad daylight. It lasted for months in the doubter's own home. He had denounced them all along when such phenomena occurred elsewhere, in devotees' houses!
There was an ardent devotee, a fine instrument in Swami's Mission and an office bearer in the Sai Organisation. Whenever any of the humble devotees from his province shared the happy news about Divine 'visiting cards' falling in their houses, he used to threaten them with dire consequences, like reporting them to the police, or threatening them with visits from fact-finding teams etc. One fine morning, the miracles started manifesting in his own home! Now see his predicament. Who is going to inform on the most powerful and principled politician and Swami's wonderful instrument, whom the people of the province revere as a SAInt? Or can the office bearer do so, himself? If so, to whom can he complain, against whom, to which police officer can he turn?
Naturally, he rushed to Swami. When he was about to inform Swami that a copious flow of honey was being manifested in his house, Swami – being the Source of the miracle – interrupted and corrected him saying, "It is not honey; it is amrit" – the celestial ambrosia!
The devotee had seen with his own eyes God causing bigger miracles but doubted His small acts of love in his chosen devotees' prayer halls. It is like someone who has seen God, in His childhood, lifting the mountain on His little finger but again, due to the power of delusion, doubting and questioning how He could catch hold of the demon-horse and toss him to a great distance, a subsequent childhood leela!
Likewise, people believe in the fact of a saint (Sant Jnaaneshwar1) making a buffalo recite the Vedas, but they don't believe it if the GOD of the saints speaks through one of them.
Here is an anecdote relevant to our theme. An alumna of Swami was working in an Ashram of a saint in the north of India. During his interaction with the student,
the saint was so impressed by her devotion and knowledge of nutritional values of various staple food grains and herbs, that he wanted to know from which institution she had acquired all this knowledge. When she said she was the student of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the saint, in ecstasy, instantly uttered "Baba tho rishiyonke Eashwar hai," meaning Baba is Lord of saints. Though the saint was already self-realised, his sadhana attained consummation when he understood that our Swami was the Supreme Lord.
Coming back to the Sai office bearer, like the Sai devotees of Thailand making it Sailand, and devotees of the United Kingdom transforming it into Sai Kingdom, and, like devotees of Sri Lanka filling their country with the love of Sai and making it Sai Lanka, and like devotees from New Zealand referring to their country as New Sailand, this office bearer also, with his efforts coupled with Swami's grace, made his province earn a holy sobriquet associated with 'Sai'.
-------------------------
1A 13th century saint. Many miracles came to be associated with Sant Jnaaneswar's life, one of which was the revival of his disciple Sachchidanand's corpse. During Jnaaneswar's visit to Paithan, to obtain a certificate of purification, he was confronted with a man who violently lashed at an old buffalo. When Jnaaneswar expressed concern for the animal, he was ridiculed by Brahmins for being more concerned about a beast than the teachings of the Vedas. Jnaaneswar retorted that the Vedas themselves
held all life to be sacred and a manifestation of the Brahman. The outraged priests pointed out that his logic implied that beasts
should be able to learn the Vedas as well. An undeterred Jnaaneswar then placed his hand on the buffalo's forehead and it started reciting a Vedic song. According to Fred Dallmayr, the story signifies that to be "divine is not a property of the learned elite; rather, it is a spread out gift, a largesse, over all creation".
Mukta Bai, Sopan and Nivrittinath were Sant Jnaaneswar's siblings. Jnaaneswari, the saint's wonderful commentary on the 'Gita', is a regular paaraayana book for many spiritual seekers.
He Will Go on Attracting More and More Devotees
" I have greater love for those who deride Me and I draw them nearer to Me. I derive great joy from this."
— Swami in Active Workers Conference, 21st November 1989
"[...] In the next ten years, a lot of things will happen all across the globe. Swami will manifest Himself in many, many ways in many places, at the same time. I am not telling any lies. I have said this earlier, that there will be a day when you
will see Me everywhere at the same time, and this is what is happening. [...]"
— From Sookshma Swami's Kodaikanal Discourse, 16th May 2014, Morning.
After His Grand 92nd Birthday celebrations in 2017, Swami performed bhoomi pooja for the Navi Mumbai Hospital, and participated in the 1st Anniversary celebrations of the Palwal Hospital (near New Delhi) and took devotees on a pilgrimage to Mathura, Brindavan and Rishikesh. On His return to Muddenahalli, He gave a Discourse to the devotees on the 3rd December 2017. Here is an excerpt from this Divine Discourse:
"[...] Nevertheless, Swami's Mission, Swami's glory and Swami's devotees will grow, grow and grow, both in quantity and quality, in times to come. Next November, We will see many glad tidings – the opening of the Mumbai Hospital, the bhoomi puja for yet another hospital at Kolkata and another wonderful trip to the Himalayas (loud applause). Therefore, be prepared, be ready, be deserving for such an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime, in fact lifetimes, because it is
not something that comes to everyone just like that!"
God's wonderful heart-changing Grace can even turn Sauls into Pauls, persecutors into defenders and promulgators, and faithless people into faithful servants of His Mission.
"Who says you need to be perfect to love God? You have to be earnest in your intent. Even a moment of sincere love for God will make you His instrument for life."
— From 'The Power of Transformation: Inspirational Writings' by Seema M. Dewan.
The Resurrection is the Foundation for Joy
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
— Hebrews 13:8
Let us study here three assertions from the Avataric Missions of Master Jesus, Shirdi Sai Baba and Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, which have much in common.
1. A verse from New Testament:
If Christ hasn't come back to life, our message has no meaning and your faith also has no meaning.
— 1 Corinthians 15: 14
Jesus' resurrection is history's most significant event. He died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures, He was buried and He was raised on the third day in agreement with the Scriptures. Resurrection strengthens our belief in God's
promises and His great power and in His ultimate dominion over death and life.
"And one reason why He could not be any longer under the power of death or the grave, was because He was the Son of God as well as the surety for His people; and had paid every demand of law or justice, even the whole debt. So, the preaching of His incarnation, sufferings, or death, is of no use or avail if He has not abolished death, and brought immortality to light, first, for Himself, then for His people."
— 'The Earthen Vessel and Christian Record & Review, Volume 3'
2. Many of the devotees are well aware that Shirdi Baba left His body in 1886 and reentered it after three days and then lived for 32 years till 1918, when He finally left the body. About this event – leaving His body and reentering after three days – B V Narasimha Swamiji, who was acclaimed as Shirdi Baba's apostle, writes as follows:
"What did the passing away from earthly life and the return to it in 1886 mean? Baba evidently returned to the world because more of the Avataric Mission of the Sai body, that is the original intention of His coming into this body, His mission, remained unfulfilled, and therefore He had to get back into the same body to work out the remaining portion of the present life. This is a noticeable or remarkable feature of His life, that is, leaving the body and returning to it, which we do not find ordinarily in other cases. Now what was the main thing that He
did after His return? By observing the nature and results of His activities after the return, we can easily see why He returned to the body in 1886. If He had left the body finally in 1886, no person in India, certainly not in the South and in the other States, and not even in Bombay (Now Mumbai) or Maharashtra, nor even in the other parts of Ahmednagar District, would have heard about Him or felt His influence, and all the grand work of His that is being described in this book would never have taken place. The essential part of Baba's life is that which comes after 1886, perhaps that which is yet taking shape though this is grounded upon the earlier part, especially upon the training He had and the work He went through in the earlier stages [emphasis added]."
— 'Life of Sai Baba Volume II' by B V Narasimha Swamiji.
3. Looking at the plans revealed by Swami in His Subtle Form, and going by the speed and progress at which the Mission is unfolding across the globe simultaneously, and the visible, mammoth structures all around that one can see for oneself, one can conclude that by 2011 only one fifth of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Avataric Mission was completed and the remaining four-fifths is being accomplished now in His Subtle Form. A chain of modern hospitals, which give a tertiary level of healthcare totally free of cost, and schools in each district of Karnataka are already functioning. Out of the 18 Ashrams that are already coming up in different countries, some are equipped to cater for the entire continent in which they are situated and some are meant for the entire country and the neighbouring ones. A time will come, say after five years, while recording the history of this glorious period, that even the secular historians will acknowledge this fact.
Just as Jesus' resurrection fulfilled God's promises, now the Mission in the Subtle Form of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba will fulfill His promises made long ago – the 96-year Mission, His world tours, uniting mankind with the message of universal love, heralding the Golden Age and so forth. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ is considered to be the single greatest event in the history of the world, then imagine how Swami's Mission accomplished over a period of several years in His Subtle Form will be described in future!
Jesus' Mission did not end at the cross, nor Shirdi Baba's Mission in 1886 or 1918, nor Swami's Mission in 2011 because they eternally guide humanity and interact with humanity.
"All the newspapers and TV channels went on proclaiming that Sai Baba was gone! Am I an ordinary human being to go away so easily? Not at all! Only the body has gone. I am not the body, I am the Indweller."
— Divine Discourse, 13th March, 2015, Malaysia, taken from 'Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Volume Seven'
Aren't You Beginning to Be More Sure of the Invisible Than the Visible?
May the invisible be more present to you than the visible.
Both the above headline and this quotation are taken from Gabrielle Bossis' book "He and i". In this wonderful book, Gabrielle recorded the messages she received from the Supreme Source.
"Achintyaa khalu ye bhaavaaha nataam starkena yojayet" — Mahabharata. "Things which are inconceivable should be understood by the authority of the
scriptures; it is not proper to try to understand them by logic and argumentation."
"We ought to wonder what might be hiding in plain sight around us."
— Lee Smolin
Human beings cannot always see things which are only a short distance away. If there is no light, they cannot see things which are in front of their eyes. It is no wonder that such people cannot grasp the principle of Divinity!
As Tulsidas says to Lord Rama[...] "Chidaanandamaya deha tumhaari bigata bikaara jaana adhikaaree [...]" – "This world is a spectacle and You are its spectator; nay, You make even Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver) and Shambhu (the Destroyer) dance to Your tune. Even these latter know not Your secret; who else can know You? In fact, he alone can know You, to whom You make Yourself known; and the moment he knows You, he becomes one with You. It is by Your grace, O Delighter of the Raghus, that Your votaries come to know You, O Comforter of the heart of devotees. Your body is all consciousness and bliss and is devoid of change; it is the competent alone who realize this. It is for the sake of saints and gods that You have assumed a human semblance and speak and act even as worldly monarchs do. The stupid are puzzled, while the wise feel delight when they see or hear of Your doings. All that You say or do is true; for one should play the role one has assumed on the stage."
— From 'Ram Charit Maanas'
As Sookshma Swami has explained to us, "Everyone in this world has four types of bodies: Sthoola shareera – the physical body; sookshma shareera – the subtle body; athi sookshma shareera – the higher subtle body; and para sookshma shareera – the omnipresent super subtle body. Sthoola shareera is the physical
body, which anyone can see.
"Now, I am not in the Physical Body, but in the Sookshma Shareera (Subtle Body), which is beyond the physical. In My Sookshma Shareera, I can move to any part of the world without taking any time. In My Athi Sookshma Shareera, I enter the dreams and meditations of people and guide them. In the Para Sookshma Shareera, I am present in every atom.
"At this point of time, you are in the physical body. If you are in a room, you cannot see what is outside, since there is a wall in between. However, the Sookshma Shareera is not bound by desha, kaala and paristhiti (space, time and circumstances) and, therefore, cannot be seen with the physical eyes."
"Baba appeared before Charles Penn at his U.S. Residence and said,
'You, Charles, saw at Bombay the tens of thousands of seekers of Liberation, striving to catch at least a glimpse of Me. These numbers are but a drop in the ocean, compared to the countless unseen souls who try to reach Me from beyond mortal bounds. To all I give My Light and Love, and help each forward, towards Liberation.
'All who come to me in their concrete form have fortunately reached the stage when they are beginning to 'see' the reality. Those who cry for the chance to see Me in the concrete form have their prayers answered; to each I give every opportunity for Darshan, for they deserve and receive My Love.
'Then, Charles, there are those who may never see Me in the concrete form. They have, all the same, reached Me through a friend, a book or a photograph. To each of these, if they yearn deeply, I give My Darshan inwardly. These, too, I love as deeply for they have begun to see themselves as being beyond their body, as Divine Souls. This is true advancement towards self-realisation. Liberation and peace can be theirs through loving the Lord in meditation. All who meditate upon Me as the One with many names and forms will have shanti.'"
— 'Sathyam Sivam Sundaram: Volume 3' By N. Kasturi, also reproduced in 'Finding God: My Journey to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba' by Charles Penn.
A New Definition of the Martha Syndrome
It is easy to forget that God's sankalpa can bring about absolutely anything!
Just remember what Mary and Martha were doing when the Divine Master visited their house. While Mary was sitting at the Divine Lotus Feet, Martha was busy with a hundred and one household chores. Hence, according to the traditional definition of the Martha syndrome: when a devotee lets something else take the place of or interfere with her or his relationship with God, then he or she is said to be suffering from the Martha Syndrome. The Martha Syndrome is when we let the pressure of life take over and displace our relationship with God and become distracted from what is most necessary. Swami often reminds us that to derive JOY we have to put Jesus first, Others next, and Yourself last.
Before we formulate the new definition, let us look at an incident recorded in the Aquarian Gospel, as transcribed from the akashic records by Levi H. Dowling (1844-1911):
"12 Now, Mary, Martha, Ruth and Lazarus were in their home, when they heard the rumour that their Lord had risen from the dead. Then Martha said,
13) 'It cannot be, for such a thing has never happened since the world
began'.
14) But Mary replied, 'Did not the Lord bring back our brother from the
dead? So He could surely bring Himself to life again'.
15) And, as they talked, the Lord stood in their midst and said,
16) 'All hail! For I am risen from the dead, first fruitage of the grave!'
17) And Martha ran and brought the chair in which the Lord had ever loved to sit, and Jesus sat down on the chair (Ch 175 : 12 – 17) [emphasis added]."
Here is a suggested new definition of the Martha Syndrome: To sing God's praise after seeing His power to perform miracles and awesome deeds but later go on to forget what He has done. This makes God small by our disbelief.
Our forgetfulness is an indication of our ingratitude towards God. The old definition makes Martha's behaviour acceptable, as she is busy making arrangements befitting her Divine Guest and His apostles. Furthermore, Scriptural code prescribes that 'the guest is equivalent to God', and here God Himself came as Martha's guest. (As mentioned in 'The Philokalia, Volume Three', the Lord's answer in Luke 10:41,42 is not in order to disparage acts of
service, but so as to distinguish clearly what is higher from what is lower. For how could He not give His sanction to service, when He Himself performed such service in washing His disciples' feet, and was so far from discountenancing it that He bade His disciples to behave in the same way towards each other [cf. John 13 : 4 – 16]?) But, in this new definition, she has actually forgotten about her own brother Lazarus' resurrection after the decay of his body had begun. While Lazarus' name will be eternally used to connote 'resurrection and physical restoration to life', his own sister 'forgot' the miraculous fact within months, even when he was still enjoying his second lease of life – a new birth bestowed by the Master.
Likewise, some devotees who have seen many similar things during Baba's physical sojourn on Earth are now doubting and giving vehement opposition to what is now happening in Muddenahalli! They have seen Baba's bi-locations, and multilocations and omnipresence and at least two resurrections in their own extended families, but they still doubt that God Himself 'has come back' in His Subtle Form to continue His Mission.
Lord Sri Krishna, when he approached Dhritarashtra as Emissary to prevent the impending war, conferred vision on the blind king, Dhritarashtra, to enable him to see His grand Cosmic Form. Dhritarashtra had seen the majestic power of Krishna with his own eyes. But the blind king feigned forgetfulness out of greedy desire to hold on to the kingship and he did not prevent his son from waging war. His forgetfulness and greed clouded his common sense and, as a result, ultimately he lost all his hundred sons. His spiritual blindness was the cause of his ruin.
Just like Dhritarashtra, biblical Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea and some others also knew the Divinity of Jesus but used to meet Him in private – at night, for various reasons. Having received the Master's Message, later Nicodemus spoke in support of His Master, by advising his colleagues to hear and investigate before making a judgment. He questioned them, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" He finally became a follower of Christ, and came with Joseph of Arimathaea to take down and embalm the body of Jesus.
Even now, there are devotees like Nicodemus who are meeting the Lord in His Subtle Form, 'in private', and getting His personalised attention. He, being the Universal Teacher, always shows the same concern towards His slow-learning students and finds time to interact with them, so that they can learn the truth which will bring about the needed transformation in them!
Here is what Swami said, some twenty years ago, about such devotees who do not want to appear to be devotees in front of others!
"Be fearless. Lead your life without fear disturbing it. Do not be guided by the opinions and advice of others around you into actions not in line with your conscience. There are a few who piously place the mark of vibhuti on their forehead while at home but wipe it off the moment they step out. Some are even ashamed to say that they are coming to Prasanthi Nilayam and tell their friends that they are going to Anantapur. Why should you worry about their opinion? Is it something wrong to come here? There are so many wrong things that people do without any fear, then why are you afraid of saying that you are going to see God? One should never be afraid of expressing one's faith in God. Be courageous and bold. These days, people are afraid of performing their cultural and spiritual practices or good deeds.
"Give up fear and live in bliss. Involvement in worldly life engenders a sense of fear in you, and you forget your spiritual way of living. The bliss that is experienced when you are with God is beyond words; it is unimaginable. Words and thoughts return in utter futility, unable to describe this experience. It is this type of divine bliss in which you should lead your life. That is how a human being should live."
— Divine Discourse, 23rd November, 1999.
God's Chosen Instruments
"Where I am, there shall also be those who love Me above all else"
— Chapter 285, 'From Hell to Heaven - Volume 2', Lord Jesus Christ dictated to Jakob Lorber during the middle of the 19th century.
"Our Friends,
All the Groups on your planet have been prepared for the Golden Age, that is, for the present days. [...]
You, who are the investment of the years as the residents of the Golden Galaxy, are in your world at the moment on a mission, by the plan, as peace missionaries, by the command of the Divine ranks."
— The Knowledge Book, originally revealed in Turkish, dictated by the Supreme Assembly to the Light Teacher, the Spokesperson Mevlana, Vedia Bulent Corak.
"Mark My words – in the years to come, thousands of people with a sense of sacrifice and service will appear on the world stage and undertake acts of selfless
service to benefit mankind."
— Divine Discourse given by Bhagawan, 26th January 2015
at Muddenahalli, p 85, 'Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha – Volume Six'
When Swami announced His Current Mission in His Subtle Form, His chosen instruments readily recognised Him and became part of it. They included devotees who have been in His Mission for decades, working in various countries as administrators, medical doctors, engineers, scientists, vice-chancellors, saints, EHV gurus, scholars, writers and full-time functionaries in the Mission. While some are already active in His Mission, others have been constantly – notwithstanding Swami's physical transition in 2011 – praying and waiting for an opportunity to actively serve in His Mission. The prayers of all such devotees are now being answered in miraculous Sai-ways. Because of the devotees' readiness to serve and Swami's Divine Will, the Mission is unfolding simultaneously in different parts of the world.
"You are not on Earth by chance at this difficult and perilous time, but have taken incarnation to be My helper, to help usher in the Age of Truth. You must remain firm and stalwart, My soldier, nay, My general, to help guide those who might flounder, not knowing what is happening around them." — From 'Skanda' by Hilda Charlton. Hilda recorded the messages as dictated by Skanda, Shiva's son, also known as Subramanya or Muruga.
"Lend Me your hand to write. Lend Me your voice to teach the little ones the living truth. Lend Me your gestures to love them. And to cheer your pastor in his duties, lend Me your kindness. In this way, through you, I shall be among them, among yours. Your influence will be increased and you will think less of yourself. 'This is not the fruit of my own effort,' you will say. 'Jesus
was there with me.' Say it to yourself over and over again; it will keep you humble. And humility is truth.[...]"
— From 'He and i' by Gabrielle Bossis (Here is a reader's remark about this wonderful book: "How often I have paused in reading 'He and i' in the last four years and asked, 'Am I really reading this; is this book really in print?' I would love to see it done in leatherette, gilt edged, like some of the old manuals of devotion, for example 'The Imitation', etc. 'He and i' will be around for 100 years.")
God's Very Special Chosen Instruments – His Own Scribes and Communicators
"Other people are challenged by the idea that I exist, let alone that I can be so easily communicated with, and that anyone can start doing it, that you don't have to be some spiritual master, some great yogi, some advanced being from the planet Koo-Koo, to get telepathic with God, with me."
— From 'God Consciousness' by God, the contents of the book were dictated by God to Robert Farmilo from September, 2009 to January 2010. Mr Farmilo wrote down each word as dictated with no changes or editing.
This chapter is dedicated to presenting the details of four chosen communicators of the Divine.
Before proceeding further, it is worthwhile to just take a look at this Divine Statement:
"It is all in the Lord's plan. Consider, for example, how, long before the Gita was spoken, the Lord had got ready a Sanjaya, who could see and hear whatever was done or spoken at a distance; his mission was to preserve the Gita for humanity."
— From Divine Discourse, 9th March 1962.
1. Jakob Lorber, who described himself humbly as a 'scribe servant of God', was busy taking dictation from God for twenty-four years from 1840 to 1864. This work contained 24 books of almost 500 pages each.
Let us hear what he communicated, in answer to a question of a friend concerning the Inner Voice, on May 16, 1858:
"With regard to The Inner Word and how one hears it, speaking of myself I can say little, in fact not much more than that I perceive the Holiest Word of the Lord always in the region of the heart, like thoughts expressed with the greatest distinctness, clearly and perfectly, like words spoken aloud. No one standing even quite close to me can hear any kind of voice; but, for me, this Voice of Holy Grace sounds nevertheless more clear than any material tone, be it ever so loud."
2. Lucas Ralli, an ardent devotee of Swami, and who also served as the President of the UK Council of the Sri Sathya Sai Organisation, received daily messages from Swami, and the same were authenticated by Swami personally. When, during one of the interviews, he wanted to know whether the messages were definitely from Him, Baba commented, "Where do you think they come from?
From the sky?"
With Baba's permission, those messages were compiled into five volumes, 'Sai Messages For You And Me, Vol I to V', and translated into more than ten languages. The forwards to these volumes were written by well-known instruments in the Divine Mission like Prof Kasturi, Sir George Trevelyan, the winner of the alternative Nobel prize for peace, Peggy Mason, and Phyllis Krystal.
Here is what Lucas Ralli wrote about the messages in his introduction to 'Sai Messages For You And Me – Volume II':
"During the last few years, many people have asked me how I receive the messages. Clearly, it is a thought process, the result of close attunement with Bhagavan Baba. In this state, the messages flow very easily, often in response to questions. It is therefore a two-way communication and, at the time, I feel as
though I am with Baba, just talking to Him."
3. Glenda Green is well-known for her wonderful book 'Love Without End: Jesus Speaks', containing messages relayed from Jesus to all of us. And her beautiful painting 'The Lamb and The Lion' is familiar to many.
About the conversations she had with Jesus, she writes:
"In a presence as real as life but manifested from realms divine, Jesus appeared to me and was with me for almost four months between November 23, 1991, and March 12, 1992. During this time, we spoke... as friends do... of matters large and small. [...]
"This was a deeply personal experience, yet it was also external to myself. Not only was there a sacred presence before me, visible to my eyes, but there was a beautiful voice, and I responded to it with my own. The words you are about to read are not the result of automatic writing or channeling. We are all channels for God. Nevertheless the practice of channeling as an intentional process was not used. Channeling, as a way of direct communication from other realms into this one, is a very ancient practice currently revived in its popularity. My reason for mentioning it, however, is neither to commend nor to disparage – merely to distinguish. The words Jesus spoke to me were audible, and I responded in full consciousness [emphasis added]."
4. Brother Madhusudan, Swami's alumnus and chosen communicator, before
starting to articulate each of Swami's Divine Discourses, prefaces the same with a sentence or two of his own, confirming Swami's Divine Presence in His chair placed in the auditorium and also the colour of the robe Swami is wearing on that particular day. Before starting one of the Divine Discourses during December 2017 in Rishikesh, Brother Madhusudan prefaced the Divine Discourse a bit more elaborately, because the audience, which included the monks and seekers of the Himalayas and tourists visiting Rishikesh, were new to this phenomenon. The audience also included Swami's students and His chosen devotees from thirty-five countries. Here is the excerpt:
"Very revered Swamiji1, Mataji2 (as Swami has rechristened her), and all the devotees and seekers of Truth who have gathered here!
"I am only here to convey Baba's Message; I have no voice of my own, no thoughts of my own. I am a mere 'mike' through which His voice is heard by many. He is very much here in our midst in a Form that the Vedas declare yato vaacho nivartante apraapya manasaa saha – that Form which cannot be described in words and which cannot be grasped by our limited minds. He is very much here in His Sookshma Roopa (Subtle Form)." With that introduction he delivered Swami's Message.
Swami, during His visit to Croatia during April 2017, while answering a devotee's question about a channelled book through a lady from Turkey, confirmed that, "God has been speaking through very many." He also said, among other things, that all the Vedas were received by more than four hundred rishis in the state of contemplation.
Swami, in His wonderful Discourse to global translators on 24th November 2015, gave details of how one can hear words of God's wisdom within oneself by undertaking spiritual practices.
The speed at which the Current Mission of Swami is going on in His Subtle Body is amazing. He is just continuing where He left off while in the Physical. The emphasis and areas of priority are the same; the compassion and His constant availability to His devotees are the same; and the daily interviews are going on as usual, whether to those who are in need or to those who are His instruments in the Mission, or functionaries in His various institutions. The Divine visits, to places wherever His Devotees are calling and wherever His Mission is happening, are the same, the only change being now that they are on a global scale.
While the long-standing devotees can instantaneously reestablish their rapport
with their beloved LORD, new devotees will not take long to become convinced that He is the Indweller of their hearts. There are now even cases of new devotees who have not even heard of Swami being called by Him in a dream to His Mission in Muddenahalli. It is the same flow of love that prompts His gifts of objects of love like rings, bracelets, and other sacred things to His devotees, and this is accomplished through the instrumentality of Brother Madhusudan and other chosen instruments.
"Today we know how radio and television broadcasts are transmitted to all parts of the world by radio waves. Is it unbelievable that Krishna was able similarly to appear in the homes of Gopikas simultaneously? If a Yantra (machine) could achieve such a result, how much more power should be attributed to Manthra? The power of the divine name and form is all pervading. The electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere can preserve sounds and forms for all time.
"When Swami was recently in Hyderabad, His activities there were seen on the TV in various parts of the country. If a mechanical contrivance could achieve this, is it incredible that much more could be done by the divine power of manthras? What is needed is the power to tune in to the Spirit just as appropriate tuning is needed to receive a radio or TV broadcast. Regard your heart as a radio receiver. Your concentration is the tuning device. You will experience the Divine when you tune your heart properly. This calls for firm, unwavering concentration. The inauguration of the Navarathri celebrations means that you should use this occasion for offering worship to Nature and resolving to make sacred use of all natural resources."
— Divine Discourse, 27th September 1992.
----------------------
(1 H.H. Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji. He is the President of the Paramarth Niketan Ashram, the largest Ashram in Rishikesh. His Holiness participated in the inauguration function of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Hospital near New Delhi during 2016. Sri Narendra Modiji, Prime Minister of India, in his address on that occasion, acknowledged the presence of His Holiness on the dais.
2 Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji. She is from the USA and has been living in India for the last twenty years. She is a disciple of His Holiness Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba during this visit to the Himalayas rechristened her Mataji, saying she was no longer a seeker and had attained the stage of Divine Mother!)
Recognising a Tree by Its Fruits
A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit.
— Luke 6:43
"I continue to work, continue to meet My devotees and give them these opportunities because I like being with devotees who are pure-hearted. Bees get attracted to a flower full of nectar and will not go anywhere near a plastic flower, however beautifully the flower may be painted or however big it might be ... Then not even a mosquito will go, let alone bees!
"Only hearts that are full of pure love will attract God. Like a bee, He will come all the way to drink from this nectarine love in the hearts of the devotees. If you apply vibhuthi (sacred ash), a bit of kumkum (vermillion), don white clothing and sing bhajans at the top of your voice without having any purity or love in your
heart, it is like an artificial flower to which God will not come."
— Divine Discourse, 11th August 2016, at Sai Ananda, Malaysia
"There are so many flowers here. These days, people make flowers in many colours, out of paper and plastic. Though the paper or plastic flower looks beautiful, not even a single bee will go to it. Why not? Externally, the flower may look beautiful, but the real nectar is missing, and that is why no bee will go to plastic and paper flowers.
"It is not good enough to call oneself a devotee, wearing white clothes and vibhuti, putting your hands together and always chanting 'Sai Ram, Sai Ram'. If there is no devotion within, this is artificial, not 'heartificial'. In the same way that the bee does not approach a plastic flower, neither will God go to that kind of devotee. What you need to develop is inner beauty – not physical beauty, which is nothing but ostentation. For external beauty, just five things are required and the body is a part of it."
— Divine Discourse, 3rd April 2016, Suffolk U.K.
"If, within a few months of My visit, so many people are migrating to Murwillumbah, you can imagine that within a few years the whole of Australia will be here (laughter). No, it's not a joke. It is the truth. When a flower blooms, the bees will find their way to it. Bees won't want to come, if it is artificial. If the flower is real with the nectar inside, you don't have to send invitations. The bees will find their way to partake of the nectar which is in the flower. This is just in
bud now. This whole place will become a very big Sathya Sai Centre, an Ashram (a spiritual community), as time progresses. I have begun by sowing the seed here; now it has grown into a small sapling with a few buds. In time, it will grow into a big tree full of flowers and fruits and, automatically, it will attract people to itself. Let it take its natural course. In the country of Australia, this will become like a Sathya Sai Ashram in times to come and, as Tigrett said, this is all
preparation for the next Avatar, rather than the present one."
— From Swami's Divine Discourse in Australia during September 2015, taken from the Divine Booklet.
"Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works."
— James 2:26
In reply to a devotee's question during His visit to The Netherlands, Swami nicely elaborated how one can perceive Swami's presence by looking at the various service projects happening everywhere.
Here is the devotee's question and Swami's answer:
Question: "Swami-ji, we have heard from the eloquent speakers of the great works that You have done and the inspiration You have given to the rest of the world. Yet, we are in a quandary, hearing the drums beating from Puttaparthi, where they are reiterating that Swami-ji does not need a 'third party'. Can You
please settle this doubt for us?"
Swami: "I just gave an entire discourse about the oneness of all. Where is the 'third party'? All hands are Mine; all eyes are Mine; all heads are Mine; all ears are Mine; all feet are Mine. Who and what is not Mine? Those who see the reflection as different from them will bark out of fear. Whereas those who know the nature of God – who is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent, and can do anything He wills – will understand.
"Who is Swami, again I ask? Swami is nothing but the same Divinity, the truth – the truth which you are. Avatars come to show you that; they come to take you to your Divinity, which is within you. If you think that way, even an Avatar is a third party to you and your Divinity. Why do you need an Avatar at all? You are yourself Divine. Because you do not know, you need a teacher to teach you that.
"You can find out the nature of an object by looking at its reflection. If you see the shadow of a tree, you will know that the tree is behind you. If you see the
reflection of a boy in the mirror, you will know that the boy is behind you. You might not see the tree, you might not see the boy, but, by looking at the shadow or the reflection in the mirror, you can ascertain that both exist behind you. Likewise, Swami's reflection is service. If love is the object, service is the reflection or shadow. All the service that is going on right now is, itself, the proof of Swami's presence. If you think Swami was just the body, even that body was only a third party. It was your own Divinity that had to take a physical form to show you who you are.
"Even now, Swami is Divinity, nothing less, and again He is here to teach you, to remind you of your Truth in various ways. As I said, a pure and calm mind can see the reflection clearly. A mind that is afraid and ignorant will always see duality.
"When Swami manifested in Puttaparthi, the whole world did not believe. Even today, how many in the world know or believe that Sai Baba is God? There were always many people who did not come to know or did not believe, and that was Swami's will.
"Even now, it is only Swami's will – whom He wants and whom He does not, at this point. In the darkness, you may mistake a rope for a snake and be afraid. In the darkness of your mind, you do not realise the truth. When you light the lamp of love, then you can see in its reflection the truth. Just as nobody can eat for you, breathe for you or sleep for you, nobody can tell you where Swami is and where He is not. It is your own experience; it is your own understanding that will be a witness to it. You must understand and experience it yourself to know the Truth – and truth alone will free one from all the fear of ignorance [emphasis added]."
A Divinely-Chosen Mother's Love Attracts All Faiths to Her Lotus Feet
No human being can control how, when or where God chooses to manifest.
From Garabandala in Spain to Our Lady of Good Health in Vailankanni, Tamil Nadu, India, and from Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City to Gunadala Mary Matha Shrine in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India, the globe is filled with Mother Mary's shrines and daily occurrences of the Virgin Mary's apparitions, miracles, and messages, which can be seen in all those places. The Blessed Mother is touching millions of hearts from these syncretic shrines.
To give an instance, during the annual festival, over a million devotees attend Mother Mary's shrine near Vijayawada. And as a result, all of them are reaching out in love and compassion to assist others who are suffering. All Divinely-chosen mothers are mediatrixes of God's grace to mankind, the intercessors of God to His children. It is the experience of many devotees and Bal Vikas children that, by praying to Mother Easwaramma, the chosen mother of our Swami, for Her intercession, they get their wishes fulfilled. Devotees recount countless favours they obtained through Her intercession.
The believers flocking to these sites are not just from a particular denomination or religion; they are from diverse religions including Hinduism and Buddhism, like the famous Sufi Saint Bande Navaz Darga of Gulbarga in Karnataka, which is being visited by Muslims, Hindus, and Christians alike.
The devotees are not concerned whether the apparitions are approved by their respective religious heads or not; they simply go by what they see with their eyes and what they feel in their hearts. They judge by the mental peace that the Blessed Mother confers on them, the dramatic cures they obtain for their ailments, including birth defects, with the Mother's intervention, the transformation the Holy Mother brings into their lives and so forth. In fact, often the true believers in any faith are ignored both by their respective religions and the census authorities of their country, because either the believers, themselves, prefer to be incognito or the data collectors routinely include them in some or other denomination or religion by default!
While thousands of believers daily and millions yearly go to these Shrines and find solace and progress spiritually by so doing, there are some who say Mother Mary is there on that hill but not on this hill. There are still some priests who say
Amma was there on this particular hill in Her resplendent glory, magnificence, and omnipotence only for the first eighteen years or eighteen months after Her apparitions started way back in 1981. But the believers are still flocking to this site, and have been for the past thirty-six years, with the same enthusiasm, ignoring the unsolicited advice, because the believers know full well the intentions behind such advice and because their hearts tell them the truth loud and clear. Will any experienced astronaut follow the advice of a member of the flat Earth society? In the process, shrines, monasteries, Ashrams, and headquarters of various other faiths are also recording increased pilgrim flow, as these places are on the itinerary of Marian pilgrims.
To confine the Holy Mother's presence only to a particular hill is ignorance. It is comparable to that of some interpreters, who say Lord Narasimha hid in that particular pillar only, at that point of time only, and emerged from there to honour his devotee Prahlada's word! But the truth is, the Avatar Narasimha came down to prove to the world that God eternally exists in every particle of the whole universe. And so, to declare that Mother's miracles were authentic for a particular period only is another sign of limited thinking. It is like the ignorance of that museum official who displayed the second skull-like object for the same Buddha Avatar!
While believers believe the Holy Mother's miracles right from the beginning, the sceptics do so only after the confirmation by the fact-finding team, as if their predecessors started breathing oxygen only after Joseph Priestley's discovery!
Medjugorje's future glory was correctly predicted by a villager Mate Sego, who said that Medjugorje would become an important place one day; that people from all nationalities and colours would come; the congregations would be so vast that churches would not be able to accommodate them; Gospa (Croatian for Virgin Mary) would come, and blessed are those who believe and remain in prayer.
He further said, "There will be lots of buildings, not like the houses we have nowadays – some of the buildings will be huge. Our folks will sell their land to foreigners who will build hotels. Medjugorje and the surrounding hills will be a holy place. There will be so many people on our Crnica Hill that you won't be able to sleep at night. They will come for my Gospa! Be kind and hospitable to
those who come here and all will go well for you."
— From 'Medjugorje: The First Days' by James Mulligan.
Now we will see what our beloved Swami told His devotees about the glory of the Holy Mother on the Medjugorje Hill:
(1) When a devotee from Slovenia came to Puttaparthi for Swami's Darshan, He asked her in the Interview room why she had come all the way to Puttaparthi to have His Darshan when she could have felt His Presence on the Medjugorje hill in her nearby country of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
(2) Yor Glory Amma in her wonderful book 'Divine Revelations of the Third Millennium from the Avatar Sri Sathya Sai Baba', narrates her conversation with Baba. The following brief passage contains the conversation she had with Baba on 8th October 2009. (Many seekers have this book, and another wonderful book by Yor Glory, 'Talitha Kumi 2000 Years Later An Experience with the Avatar Sri
Sathya Sai Baba', as their constant companions.)
"When I asked for explanations of the messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje, Baba replied:
'The Spirit intervenes with the language most agreeable to those who are to receive their mission, for them to accomplish the task of spreading the Word of God.
'In that context, the people in question could and can perceive the basic words underlined by you (words often repeated in the messages, namely: intercession, confession, sacrifice, fasting, prayer) to change their lives and set an example for many others.
'The faith and culture of My messengers is respected to facilitate their mission that will continue for the rest of their lives.
'In brief, it is Divine Love that always shines through those messages inviting all humankind to pursue "salvation." You were there precisely ten years ago, the 7th and 8th October 1999, and perceived My Presence on Apparition Hill.
'I deliberately left no room for useless, imaginary speculations because the language addresses large masses of believers, mostly of the Catholic religion.'"
Here is a beautiful passage where Swami tells us about the intermediary role of Mother Mary in a conversation with His wonderful devotee, Geesje Lunshof:
"Baba: The form is in the process of being transformed or has already been transformed and in doing so the Atma has created itself as form. Even if the form is dissolved again, it will also at all times keep on existing as form for
whoever calls on it, or to whomsoever it wishes to reveal itself. Q: Just as, for instance, Krishna or Jesus also still exist as form? Baba: That is right.
Q: Before You existed as the form of Sai Baba, was the appearance to others not possible in that form?
Baba: Exactly, that is the importance of the 'divinised' form. Once it has manifested itself, it will be there as long as the Earth lasts.
Q: Are saints divinised forms as well?
Baba: Some of the saints are. Those who chose to be so.
Q: Mary for example?
Baba: Yes, she is a divinised form, who is, through the form, able to act as an intermediary between people and God.
Q: Not all saints are?
Baba: Some have merged in God, without having to perform another task on Earth. Both Atma and form have merged in God. With others it is the Atma that has merged, whereas the form is still able to manifest itself on Earth. Others again manifest themselves, Atma and form, on Earth.
Q: Like you?
Baba: I am the totality of all forms, the divinised as well as those that still have to become divinised. In Me it merges. In Me everything will eventually merge.
Q: Then there will be nothing anymore?
Baba: Then there will be everything."
— From Chapter 21, 'Inner Dialogue with Sai Baba' by Geesje Lunshof.
It will be appropriate to conclude this chapter with one of the two Messages given by the Blessed Mother of Medjugorje on Christmas 2017:
December 25, 2017 Message to Jakov
The apparition began at 2:07 pm and lasted 10 minutes. Afterwards Jakov transmitted the message. "Dear children, today, on this day of grace, I am calling you to ask the Lord for the gift of faith. My children, decide for God and begin to live and to believe in that which God is calling you to do. To believe, my children, means to surrender your lives into God's hands – the hands of the Lord who created you and who loves you immeasurably. Do not be believers only in words but live and be witness to your faith through good works and through your personal example. Speak to God as to your Father. Open and surrender your hearts to Him and you will see how your hearts are changing and how your life will marvel at God's works in your life. My children, there is no life without God and that is why, as your mother, I intercede with, and pray to, my Son to open your hearts and to fill your life with immeasurable love. Thank you for having responded to my call."
"Easwaramma was the chosen one. I chose her to be My mother. That is the intimate relationship between Mother Easwaramma and Myself."
— Sri Sathya Sai Baba
'We Belong to Sai' versus 'Sai Belongs to Us' – Which Category Are You In?
Here Swami nicely explains how people who think that 'Swami belongs to us' always find difficulty and those who think that 'we belong to Swami' will never experience conflict. In His Question & Answer session during His Divine Discourse given on 3rd April, 2016, in the UK, Swami clarifies a pious devotee's doubt. Here are the details:
Question: "With the sudden and extensive expansion of Swami's work, is it unavoidable that conflict will arise? Is conflict the result of the sudden expansion, which we have seen in other faiths like Christianity, which spread far and wide along with its divisions? Or like Islam, which spread far and wide with its divisions? Or Buddhism, which, too, spread far and wide with its divisions? Is the expansion and intensity of activity unavoidable? Why is there conflict? When Swami was in His physical form, He established an organisation. Now, in His subtle body, He is working so extensively; so, is conflict unavoidable? Please clarify, Swami-ji."
Swami: "Krishna, before Mathura, lived in Brindavan – a small place with a few devotees, gopikas and gopalas. All He did was play with them and teach them great spiritual truths in a simple way. He taught them love for God and how to redeem themselves by loving selflessly. Whilst playing with Him, those children never imagined that, one day, the same Krishna would rise to kill Kamsa and become the most important person in the city of Mathura.
"Who would have thought that a cowherd boy, playing a flute and taking the cows and calves for grazing, could later have risen to such a powerful position? Little did they know about Krishna. When Krishna decided to move on to Mathura, leaving Brindavan behind, what was the attitude of the gopikas? Their attitude was of surrender; they said, "Lord, You know best. Over the past 14 years, You have played with all of us here, all day, but what You are going to do in the future is completely Your choice, so we have nothing to say. We are here only to surrender at Your feet. Make use of us in whatever way You can." To have stopped Krishna's chariot and tried to talk Him out of leaving Brindavan, because they were going to lose His company and proximity, would have been a very narrow way of thinking. However, their devotion for Krishna was such that, even though they were uneducated, they knew Krishna was on His Mission and the best thing they could do was to avoid standing in His way – to let Him do whatever He wanted; then, there would be no conflict.
"Because there was complete surrender, they put no obstacles in Krishna's path as He was leaving. Of course, they shed tears, but that was more from the memories of their time with Krishna. Finally, what happened was that each of these gopikas discovered Krishna within themselves and they achieved bliss. There were no more pangs of separation, no more misunderstandings, no more conflict.
"One who has that kind of humility and surrender towards the Lord, will never find it difficult to understand the Lord's ways. One who thinks that the Lord belongs to them will always find difficulty, but one who thinks that he or she belongs to God, will never experience any conflict. It was the Lord's wish; He chose to be born in one place and to work in another. He may choose to move to another place tomorrow; who are you to stop or question Him? If you have surrendered, let Him choose and let Him do as He pleases.
"It is very difficult to compare with the missions of other Avatars, which happened in the past, because there is no real point of comparison between this and that. Each is unique and this, again, is unique. My mission is unfolding now at what you may think is a great pace, but I am constantly scolding Narasimha Murthy for his slowness.
"In My estimation, there is so much more to be done. One Narasimha Murthy and one Sreenivas can do so much, but ten of them would change the world. I am looking for such people and always have been. Up to now, I have been preparing the ground; I sowed the seed and, now that it has sprouted and is growing into a tree, suddenly the growth appears fast. The truth is, all the while the seed was germinating within. That was the only time it was truly growing fast, but you could not see it. Now you are able to see it, so you feel that it is fast. This is the way Sai has designed His Avatara, His Mission, and this is the way He wants to take it forward. A surrendered mind will immediately understand, for it will believe it belongs to Sai. However, for those who have not surrendered, they think Sai belongs to them and they will always experience conflict. Surrender, and there will be no conflict [emphasis added]."
Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
—Matthew 13:58
The Question of Sustainability
Even when you're old, I'll take care of you. Even when your hair turns grey, I'll support you. I made you and will continue to care for you. I'll support you and save you.
— Isaiah 46:4
During the Interfaith Service and Inauguration of Sai Grace at Potton Hall, Suffolk, UK on 3rd April 2016 – in the Morning Session, a participant expressed a doubt about the sustainability of Swami's projects. This is the doubt even the most ardent devotees have in their minds, out of love for the Mission, forgetting for a moment the fact that it is God's own Mission! But the faultfinders express
this doubt because it is their nature to criticise everything, just as the cricket that destroys clothes does not have any idea whether it is destroying a costly silk saree or a dust-cloth!
This was Swami's answer:
"All the worlds, including the material world you are all living in, are governed by certain laws: laws of finance, laws of business, laws of commerce – but My world lives by only one law – love. When I created the universe, I did not think, 'Who is going to pay for the oxygen being used? Who is going to pay for the water being consumed? Who is going to pay for the land on which people will walk?' I created it out of love and I knew it would happen. It is others, with narrow thinking, who have divided up the land, earth, sky and water and have started charging for it.
"My creation is always sustainable, because it is based on love – and that love will reach out to millions of people who have that type of heart, and it will sustain itself. Love will sustain love. I always tell them, 'As long as you are running it with absolute, selfless love, without any iota of 'I' and 'mine', nothing on Earth can stop any of My work. The only person who can stop My work is you, yourself, if you lose the selfless love within. As long as you do everything with love, absolutely selflessly, love itself will sustain the whole universe'. [...]
"Sreenivas, did not such questions arise when you started the Puttaparthi hospital, too? Tigrett appeared from somewhere and built a hospital, and many more will come in the future; and so it will continue. I am the Sanathana Sarathi (The
Eternal Charioteer) and I will guide people to do what they need to do (applause)."
— Divine Booklet UK April 2016.
"My very little one, don't be afraid to come and drink at the fount of My power. It never runs dry; nothing ever comes to an end in Me. Does anyone diminish the ocean by taking water from it? What riches do I lack? Do the blessings I give now seem to be fewer than the ones I have been giving since the beginning of
Creation? Would I be God if, in giving, I became poorer?"
— From 'He and i' (God's original words to His chosen instrument, Gabrielle Bossis, as contained in the French original 'Lui Et Moi', were translated into English by His holy and ardent devotee Evelyn M. Brown. The translator humbly says that she considers herself the dot over the 'i' in the title.)
The Hadiths (The Words of Prophet Muhammad) Relevant to the Current Mission
Many Sai devotees described in dozens of their books the physical characteristics of the Hazrat Mahdi (the expected Messiah of Muslim tradition), as described in various Scriptures like the Hadiths of the Prophet. Based on the features like a broad forehead, a space between the middle incisors, a protruded mole on the cheek, a straight nose with a dip in the beginning and an orange robe, scholars concluded that these are exactly applicable to our Bhagawan. At that time, the scholars did not mention the other features which are applicable to (i) the early transition of Swami in 2011 (ii) His very brief [apparent] occultation after 2011
(iii) the 'reappearance' of Bhagawan to continue His Glorious Mission.
However, for the Supreme Lord – Who is eternally present everywhere in the entire Universe – there is no coming and going, and the apparent appearance and disappearance are just a leela, His divine Sport!
These are the astonishing details in Bihar Al Anwar 'The Promised Mahdi', including the mention of time-assignors, those who decreed that His Mission ended with the death of His physical body!
"One who denies His Eminence during the period of occultation is like one who has denied the sun when it is behind the cloud.
"Sometimes, when the sun is behind the clouds, it is for the good of people. In the same way, the occultation of His Eminence is better than His reappearance, due to their immature state of receptivity.
"It is ordinarily not possible to see the sun directly when it is not behind a cloud. It can lead to blindness, if one sees the sun with naked eyes. In the same way, the sun of His Eminence may cause incapable people to be blinded by the truth.
"Sometimes, the sun comes out from behind the clouds and some people see it. In the same way, during the period of occultation some people will see His Eminence and will be honoured to be in His service.
"Behold, He will have an occultation during which ignorant individuals will be perplexed and the invalidators will perish and the time-assigners (those who decree that His Mission was over on a certain date) will lie. Then he will
rise." [...]
"His luminosity will remove the darkness of ignorance and oppression and the truth will be unveiled. He will distribute wealth among the people equitably. He will place the sword back into its case and then never shed any blood. People will live a life of prosperity and comfort and he will establish justice and peace in the world and restore the rights of the oppressed and deprived. There will be celebration everywhere. Due to his justice, blindness and ignorance will
disappear. He will fill the Earth with justice and equity."
"All people are afraid of the reckoning of the Day of Judgment, whereas I long for it. At last, Allah will address me as 'O, My servant!'"
— Rabia Basri
A Tiny Pebble Which Is Filled with Unfair Hatred in the Love-Filled Mighty River Niger
Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
you people who have my teaching in your hearts; do not fear the reproach of others,
and do not be dismayed when they revile you.
— Isaiah 51:7
Can a pebble block the flow of the mighty Nile? Is there any force that can delay the Mission of the One who is himself time personified? Is there anyone who can catch unawares that all-knowing One for whom all time – the past, the present and the future – is NOW? Is there a single particle in the universe of which He is not aware, or is there an atom that can try to harm Him? Is there anyone who can avert the design of Divinity? But the pebble forgot that it was meddling in the affairs of the One whose power can shatter the everlasting mountains and level the eternal hills! This is a tale of a solitary marijuana weed in a garden of holy basil. This weed is the only one of its kind across a continent full of wonderful Embodiments of Divine Love. While many from the country and also the entire continent – priests and fathers, students of His schools and peasants from remotest of villages, His devotees and alumni – are jubilant to receive their LORD, this weed remained the odd man out.
To the question as to how it came about that such an obnoxious weed could grow among wonderful sacred plants – because normally weeds, also, will be of the less damaging kind among the more delicate plants – the answer and explanation the agronomists and anthropologists give is that it is a recently-infiltrated exotic weed!
Let us see how this is a case of failure to show gratitude to God and His devotees: 'When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God'. – Leviticus 19:33, 34. The other blatant transgression is, by denying justice to the visitors, the weed is guilty according to Ch 24, Verse 19 of Deuteronomy, which says: 'Cursed is anyone who denies justice to foreigners, orphans, or widows'. Incidentally, through an unfortunate turn of events, the weed in its own subcontinent, had, in the past, itself become a refugee and fled to another part of the same subcontinent and enjoyed its generous hospitality. Now, here, many years later, in this new holy continent in search of greener pastures
and, with the newly-acquired affluence and power, it even forgot to show a bit of gratitude to the visiting people of its place of origin – the Indian subcontinent.
Enough about the weed, now let us concentrate on the main crop.
Maybe looking at the apparent wickedness of the perpetrators behind the episode, it might appear to deserve to be condemned; but, for mortals, it is very difficult to fathom the Divine significance behind it. Here are some pointers that may help us to understand its significance:
(a) In the otherwise silent Mission of God, the episode alerted and woke up both believers and non-believers to see for themselves the grand glory of the ongoing Mission of Baba. Only after this incident did people come to know about the mega service projects started in Naya Raipur in the central part of India four years earlier and many others elsewhere across the globe.
(b) Contrary to the popular belief that the character of Kaikeyi is a wicked one in the Raamaayana, Swami eulogises her role in His Mission as the one who worked in His Mission as per His script and still earned a bad name. Knowing full well the nature of the role, she willingly accepted to play it in an earlier Avatarhood of our Swami.
(c) In any story, even that of a God, the twists and turns are an integral part, maybe to make it interesting and lively. The 'They lived happily ever after' type of stories may not attract an audience. They need Hitchcock's suspense and Charlie Chaplin's comedy and all the nine forms of expressions from sadness to anger that any good book or play must contain. To transform the audience of the size of a universe, our Swami's story also needs all these navarasas (nine aesthetic flavours of parental love and filial piety; laughter and comedy; compassion and mercy; fury; heroism; horror and terror; disgust and aversion; wonder and amazement; and peace, tranquility and composure). Only then will the devotees enjoy His Story for generations to come in various forms – in print, art form, audio, and video – as they are now enjoying the childhood heroic acts of Rama and Krishna.
(d) Maybe He is gathering all the hatred and jealousy from the whole world and planting it in a small pebble till He can blast it, as Sensei prophesied, as mentioned elsewhere in another chapter.
(e) With the earlier Avatars, according to the Divine script, God's servants – His door-keepers at His Celestial Abode – were born as demons and challenged God
at every step and, in the process, they were in constant remembrance of God, even more than His devotees who remember Him with love. Finally, these demons also attained liberation, because chanting God's name, even with inordinate hatred, is also a form of devotion!
(f) God does not desire anyone's damnation; He saves all. He simply removes the pests and white ants from the tree with an application of mild bio-pesticides and saves the tree. When the washer-man removes the stains from the white shirt, what remains is the pure white shirt. Likewise, since God's creations are inherently good, when God removes the bad, all that remains is good, the original goodness.
(g) As this Avatar is only concerned with the transformation of the wicked and not their destruction, the treatment may not be like that of the one narrated in Matthew 13:30; only God knows what is beneficial to the individual and to society.
"Let not another's mistrust of Me become yours; let not another's agitation with life become your source of losing rest; and let not another's blindness to Me result in your pretence of losing vision, too. If you have
found Me – you must keep Me!"
—Swami's Message excerpted from 'Living in the Presence of God – Volume 1',
Divine messages received and recorded by Seema M. Dewan.
"Chi Sputa In Su, Lo Sputo Gli Torno Sul Viso"– 'If You Spit in the Air, It Will Hit You in the Face'
Nothing can interfere with Divine Will.
Recently some greedy people tried to put obstacles in the path of the unfoldment of Swami's Divine Plan. They agreed to sell their land for the construction of a school and later backed out demanding more than three times the agreed price. This is the Divine Declaration in connection with this incident:
"I and mine is immorality; we and ours is morality in society. "Love is morality;
Sacrifice is reputation.
These are the innate qualities of the human race.
"Human beings without love and sacrifice are worse than animals. Where there is love, definitely there will be sacrifice, because sacrifice is the reflection of love. If there is no sacrifice, there is no love. We should lead our lives with both love and sacrifice. A bird can fly with two wings. Likewise, man also, if he wants to fly from the human level to the Divine level, should have the two wings of love and sacrifice. Since these people established these institutions with so much love and sacrifice, we came here in spite of our preoccupation with other activities.
"Three days ago Narasimha Murthy was very worried. He has been worrying as these programmes [the ground-breaking ceremony for the Karwar school] were arranged in Swami's Name. He was concerned that Swami's Name should not be damaged [by the cancellation]; it is not in the name of others. Who are you to spoil the name of Swami? Since My name is at stake, I will protect My name; it is not possible for you (loud applause). If the bhoomi pooja (ground-breaking ceremony) has to happen, it will happen; it is Swami's Will! Whatever anybody may say, whatever anybody may do, Swami's Will must happen. If they spit on the sky, the spittle will fall on them; it cannot contaminate the sky (applause). Likewise, it is not possible for anybody to harm God or to do any act of impropriety against God. Swami's Sankalpa (Will) is Divya Sankalpa (Divine Will), Vajra Sankalpa (Will that is as strong as Diamond); it will happen, come what may. You are just acting as instruments to achieve this.
"Two years ago when we came here, he (Dr Anant Raikar) offered [land] at
Swami's Divine Lotus feet with a lot of love and devotion. He also wrote a letter with the request, "Swami! I am offering my entire land at your lotus feet, kindly utilise it for Your Divine Mission either for an education or health project." But that was not the right time. I waited for a right time. Nothing will fructify, if it is done at an unseasonable time. If you sow the seed at the wrong time, it will not yield fruit. Similarly, when we do something based on the right place, time and circumstances, it will give proper results. This is the right time. All the devotees also gathered here with a lot of devotion and love in their hearts. All these things are required. When we are establishing an Institution, it is a mistake if you think that we are just constructing a school for children. I am telling you the truth: this will develop as a Spiritual Centre for this entire region (applause). Hence, the right people should join, the right time should come, and the right land should be acquired in a way befitting such a Centre. We have established so many Institutions, and so to establish this one is not a great thing for us. But to demonstrate the devotion of this sadbhakta (pious devotee) to the whole world in this way, I scripted this play (applause)! Uttamo para devata – A noble person is the Supreme God. They are not ordinary people. Because of his devotion we are
establishing this Institution [emphasis added]." [...]
— Divine Discourse, Kodibagh, Karwar, 22nd October 2017.
It may be mentioned as an important postscript to this chapter that The ground-breaking ceremony took place on exactly the same day, at the same time as originally planned!
Sri Sunil Raikar, Sri Anant Raikar's son, who is a financial advisor to the Government of Oman and had come down from Muscat for this function, spoke briefly, offering the land to Swami. He pleaded with the audience not to consider the land as belonging to the Raikar family, as it always had been Swami's since it was purchased by his mother 20 years ago. "The announcement of the Campus in this land might have come today, but Swami had planned it 20 years ago", he remarked.
How Swami Glorifies His Previous Avatars Including How He is Glorifying the First Phase – the Pre-transition Phase – of His Present Incarnation.
It is not surprising that many people who worked with Swami until His physical transition do not believe in His continuing Mission in the Subtle Form, because the majority of Shirdi Sai devotees never recognised Sathya Sai as His second Avatar.
Whoever visits Bhagawan Baba, He instills in them a better faith in whichever religion they follow and sends them back as a better follower of that faith. Whether the pilgrim is from any of the major religions or tribal faiths or those who worship their departed ancestors, when they go back, they take up many service activities and pursue spirituality in their chosen path with more conviction.
Swami toured the entire length and breadth of India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Badrinath to Somnath and sanctified the holy places and energised the shrines and deities. He glorified all the previous Avatars from the Gods of the Upanishads to His immediate previous incarnation, Shirdi Sai Baba. He installed the first statue of the Shirdi Avatar in Guindy, Chennai, in the year 1949. The statue in Shirdi was installed later, after five years. Till then there was only a framed photo of Baba on the Sannidhi in Shirdi. The first movie on Shirdi Baba, 'Shirdi ke Sai Baba', was produced by the Sarla Charities Trust of Sri Indulal Shah. An excellent instrument in Swami's Mission, Sri Indu Bhai (as Sri Shah is affectionately addressed) produced the film at the command of Swami.
After the success of the film and after devotees started congregating in big numbers daily from all over India and abroad at the Shirdi Shrine, the Shirdi Trust authorities expressed their gratitude to Sri Indu Bhai. The Shirdi Trust periodically invites there Manoj Kumar, the Bollywood actor who wrote the screenplay for this feature film and played a role in the film and also took an interest in organising the cast of the movie. The Trust named one of the main roads of Shirdi after Manoj Kumar. In one of the functions organised to congratulate him, the actor expressed his gratitude to Swami and recalled how Swami sent word to him with Sri Indulal Shah in connection with the film on His previous incarnation.
The actor also shared in the function that all the actors acted in the film without taking any remuneration, and the profits earned from the film were utilised by the
Sarla Charities Trust to finance the service projects run by them.
Swami has been teaching devotees with individual signs and confirmations that it is the same Shirdi Avatar come again as Sri Sathya Sai Avatar, but there are still many who doubt this fact. While all the devotees of the Sri Sathya Sai Form believe that He is Shirdi Sai come again, the devotees of Shirdi Baba do not believe that Shirdi Baba was reborn as Sathya Sai Baba, eight years after leaving His physical body, as He Himself disclosed to His close devotees that He would be, as recorded in Shirdi Baba's official biography. When people are not even ready to connect these two Avatars, it is not surprising that they are not able to believe in two phases of the same Avatar, the physical and the subtle. Those in the Subtle Sai's current Mission visit all the Shrines, including Prashanti Nilayam. However, just as those devotees of Shirdi's Form do not believe in the Sathya Sai Form, similarly those who are strongly connected to the first part of His Mission do not believe in this new phase in His Subtle Form. They are still watching the progress of the Mission from a distance. As He rightly said, He has drawn a Lakshmana-rekha (impregnable barrier-line) which allows only those whom He calls to enter the Muddenahalli Ashram.
In the same way that Swami glorified His previous Avatar by the feature film earlier, now He has commanded His dedicated instruments to produce a feature film with the story of the full span of the Avataric Mission – pre- and post-2011 phases!
All the devotees, and all those associated with the current Mission and all the beneficiaries of various projects in the current Mission, know that it is the same compassionate Lord continuing to help His children.
Jesus believed that the Old Testament was Divinely inspired. He referred to the Scripture as 'the Commandment of God' and as the 'Word of God'. He claimed that He was 'I AM' and identified Himself as 'I AM', which exists eternally.
Shirdi Baba used to pronounce Allah as a synonym for God. For paaraayana (recitation of a Scripture in a fixed time, e.g. in a week), He used to suggest the ancient texts, either the 'Raamaayana' or the 'Bhaagawatha' or the 'Gurucharitra'. He never asked His devotees to glorify His Name and Form only.
Powerful References to How We Are Moving into the Golden Age
"Great changes are coming on your plane called Earth. The Earth itself is being raised in vibration and therefore will have to shift its position. Before long the Kali Yuga Age will recede and the Age of Sathya, Truth, will dawn. The preparatory changes will be immense and awesome. The mind must be kept firm, the emotions calm. Wisdom and understanding must be your weapons to come through unscathed. You must prepare yourself by raising your vehicle, the body, to a higher vibration as I help you accelerate and activate your atomic structure in preparation for the dawning of the New Age of God."
— From 'Skanda' by Hilda Charlton, Hilda recorded the messages as dictated by Skanda, Shiva's son, also known as Subramanya or Muruga.
Here are brief excerpts from the book 'The Light Shall Set You Free', received from Ascended Masters by Dr. Norma J. Milanovich and Dr. Shirley D. McCune, published in 1996. These are powerful references to the year 2011:
"The date of entry into the Fifth Dimension is scheduled for the year 2012, says Kuthumi. He emphatically states that all vibrational conditions will be in place for this transformation to occur by the year 2011. This he calls the 'end of the world'. This, he also says, must be the turning point for all the cleansing to be complete, for it will be at this moment when the critical mass should be ready to take that leap of consciousness into the Fifth Dimension of time/space.
"This phenomenon will consume all that has existed before".
Here is Swami's testimonial to His servants – the saints and messengers – and how they carry out His Will:
"The connection between Me and the perfected yogis, masters and messengers is the connection between the principal and the teachers of the school. God runs the Universe as a university. He who started it, to promote the knowledge of the Self, does not always come to teach in the classes, though He administers and manages the whole affair, just like a principal. He has teachers who go to teach the subject to the students. He entrusts them with the great responsibility of spreading the wisdom of the Self, but His teachers are not just preachers – they are people who teach through what they practise. [...]
"Many people think, 'There are so many great masters around the world who are so devoted to God. Why do they not know about Sai Baba? When Sathya Sai Baba came as an Avatar, why is it that so many masters and gurus did not come to pay their obeisance to Baba?' That is all your imagination, with your limited understanding. A student may not always get to see the principal, confined to his
class with the teacher. Nevertheless, the teacher and the principal are always connected. They meet often to discuss the work and seek guidance from the principal. Therefore, do not limit your thinking to just 'Masters and their bodies' and 'Swami and His body'. You are all connected at a much deeper divine level. It is the same Divinity that exists in each of them, by which they are guided and through which they teach – and what they do teach: to become the divine nature that is already there within you and to help you to restore what you truly are and get rid of what you are not. That is why complete education is Educare; to bring out what is latent within you, which is your own Divinity. You are all connected and working together, like various schools and teachers, but there is only one
principal. That is how it is."
— Excerpts from Swami's answer to a devotee's question about the connection between the 'perfected men', who are the Masters of Wisdom in the Theosophical tradition, and Swami, during His visit to Croatia on 24th April 2016.
"Today, the world is sick, poisoned by man. But all is not lost and the day of awakening will come and lead to a new golden age. All of you should play a part in bringing forward that transformation, and the instrument you should use is LOVE.
"Let the world be filled with love, loving thoughts pouring out from a million sources. That is the way to cleanse the world and overcome the evil that has soiled the very atmosphere.
"LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, that is My medicine! And it is already there in such abundance, but man is so blinded by his past that he does not see the vast ocean of love surrounding him on all sides. You must become part of that ocean once again, for that ocean is God , the ocean of love, and I AM THAT."
— Swami's Message to Lucas Ralli, from 'Sai Messages For You And Me, Volume II'
The Code of Conduct Prescribed by Swami for Ashrams
Swami warned gurus not to impose restrictions on their devotees by forbidding them to go to other Ashrams or preventing others from joining their Ashrams.
Swami has enumerated in detail how a guru should conduct himself and how he should run his Ashram. He should work for the happiness of his devotees, and endeavour to gladden the hearts of his devotees and so forth.
Swami called those gurus who do not work for the welfare of the devotees and who dishearten them as 'gorre' (Telugu for sheep), not guru (teacher/shepherd). He further called them beasts of burden!
The book, 'Sandheha Nivarini,' in which the above advice of Swami is recorded, is like Swami's 'Vahinis'; it is in His own handwriting; it is a commandment engraved on a stone – like biblical verses inscribed on bronze and gold tablets – and will be a part of the code of conduct to be observed by all in the times to come!
Let us follow His command as He is the totality and He can see the whole picture.
The glorious story of Don Mario Mazzolini will remain fresh in the minds of devotees: how in around 1990 when an Ashram excommunicated him and His great God welcomed him to His Ashram in Puttaparthi and how He looked after him by providing him all temporal and spiritual requirements. Though the Church had excommunicated him, he continued to love Her as his Mother.
Devotees are also well aware that Rev. Father Charles Ogada was excommunicated by his people as they did not like his frequent visits to Puttaparthi and he is active now in Swami's continuing Mission. Swami in His Divine Discourse on 9th November 2017 mentioned the trials and tribulations undergone by Father Ogada and the great spiritual heights attained by him and
how he has become His chosen instrument for that part of the world. In this Discourse, referring to his excommunication, He emphatically declared, "Dikku leni vaariki Devude dikku" – "God Himself is the protector for those who are devoid of any protector"
When God Himself admitted such 'banished' people into His Ashrams and gave a place in His heart, it was more comforting than the revocation of the so-called excommunication order would have been.
Here is a demonstration of how people are being fed with a blinkered view of reality and false and distorted facts, and how they themselves don't want to see the truth. The fake gurus and caretakers of Ashrams, because of the strong coterie and huge resources at their disposal, think they are greater than God. It is nicely brought out in the story of the egoistic king who asked his minister, "Who is the greater, me or God." And the wise minister, who got his shelter and salary from the king, naturally replied, "You are, O king! For you can banish anyone from your kingdom, but God cannot banish anyone from His Kingdom, because God rules over the entire earth, the sky and the heaven. There is no place in this universe that does not belong to God."
Here it is appropriate to recall a practice in ancient Rome where there was a custom to prevent the emperor from getting the impression that he was a living God.
When the emperor went in procession through the main streets in his royal glory, he was seen as, in some way, divine, representing the god Jupiter. One of the most interesting parts of the royal procession was that behind the emperor in the chariot stood a slave, holding a golden crown over his head, and whispering to the emperor throughout the procession, "Remember you are a mortal, remember you are only a man", reminding him that he was a man even when he was triumphing. The emperor should remember that he was being exalted for his services to Rome and not for his personal glory.
Father Charles Ogada in his preface to the book 'Love and Suffering: My Road to Liberation' by Nooshin Mehrabani, says, among other things, "In this state of oneness, all barriers of division and separation are broken and humanity enjoys the harmony of brotherhood and the unity of Divinity, where a brother will no longer kill another brother in the name of God and where a sister will no longer tell another sister, 'My religion is different from yours.' Nooshin's book gives us hope that this time will be here sooner that we expect it."
"Embodiments of love! I continue to call you as such, though you are lacking in love! You need not cultivate anything but love. That will be equal to any amount of penance you can possibly do.
"When new devotees come to the Ashram, you must welcome them as the air-hostesses do on a plane."
— Divine Discourse, 3rd July 1996.
(All the devotees working in the Divine Mission could do well to read this full Discourse, at least on every Thursday. Just like Gandhiji's following quotation for service organisations, this Discourse of Swami contains several instructions for those working in any Ashram.)
"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him.
He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider to our business. He is part of it.
We are not doing him a favour by serving him.
He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so."
— Mahatma Gandhi
It is worth recalling what Mother Theresa said in this connection, "Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier."
"I am the Satguru...
Satguru means a teacher that is True to His disciples...
True to the word He teaches... True in example...
True to the life He lives... True to His promises... True to His love...
And true to all that hold on to His Feet."
— From 'Sai Darshan Part II' by Seema Dewan.
Now More Powerful Than Ever
Divine Missions continue long after the Divine figure-head leaves the physical plane.
"He's allowing me to speak about His work tonight because He wants you to know about the formless. Sai Baba is not going to be here to hold you in His hands physically much longer. What are you going to do? Who are you going to worship? What are you going to feel? Do you need Him? Do you need this Form? Do the Christians need a walking Jesus? Do the Buddhists need a walking Buddha? They are having a big turnout tonight at the Christian Church next door to praise the teachings of a Master whose Form passed to the formless 2007 years ago. Yet, His Truth and powerful light beam on a billion of His devotees in the world this very day. If they call to Him, He will come. When Sathya Sai Baba moves into His True Formless Nature, He will be more accessible than ever....forever. Sai Baba never arrived...so how can He leave.......to where [...]"
— Excerpts from the speech given by Brother Isaac Tigrett in Singapore in the year 2007.
"I discovered that He only keeps His body to capture our interest. He is a phenomenon of light."
— Page 195 from the book 'Journeys To Love',
by Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen.
"I went to Singapore and gave a brief introduction on Rama, not the whole story. What happened during His lifetime was very surprising, but, after His lifetime was over, many more things happened. What happened during the lifetime of Jesus was much less than what took place after He left the body; just take a look at what He achieved. The body is a big limitation. With the body, I could do only a few things, not everything. Now, because I do not have a body, I have infinite power. Within a moment, I can go anywhere.
"The time will come when I will be seen everywhere; I will appear in the sky. Very few devotees still believe in Me and are prepared to do anything for Me – the rest have lost their faith and gone away.
"Now, the time has come when the real work is happening. You thought that work takes place only when the physical body remains. I never said that. I told you that a time would come, and now that time has come. Just believing what
you see cannot be called faith. It is merely fact, not faith. When you believe in something that you cannot see, that is true faith."
— Divine Discourse, 4th January, 2015, Pages 158, 159 'Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Volume Five'
"So, sacrifice involves the release of physical matter and, once you have learned to release it, as did the Master Jesus, then you, too, will be resurrected. You will change form; you will release new energy; you will experience a new dimension of life. The primary lesson of the Master Jesus, the essence of his whole life, was in the nature of his death. That is why the Christian religion holds onto it, the Resurrection: the fact that one does not die, that one is not forever encased in form, fixed in shape, the fact that there is always another life, another form, another shape, another purpose, another level of being. You are cosmic beings who have eternal life. You dwell for the most part beyond the realm of Earth and after your physical death you will return to higher and more familiar realms."
— Form 'The Wisdom Of Ramala'
Swami's Message to the Meeting of the Sai Organisations of Europe through the Vocal Cords of Lucas Ralli on 12th May 1989 in Hamburg Germany
Swami communicating His words and wishes through an official human instrument is not new. It had a precedent in 1989 (and on a couple of other occasions).
The following Message came out from the instrument's lips as a first-person Discourse, because it was God speaking through the instrumentality of His chosen servant, Lucas Ralli!
Message
Love, love, love! That is the motivating force in the Universe. All else is as dust, of no lasting value or consequence, regardless of its worldly appearance, however attractive or fascinating it may seem.
My children, God is love and there is only God.
I am the Creator and I have created each one of you in My own image. There is no second, only the one. You and I are truly one.
But today, man is lost and he is wandering without direction, attracted here and there by this and that, things of the world.
The time for change has come, a moment of great awakening and the opportunity for man to realise his own divinity, for that is what he is, divine.
The journey through life, many lives, leads man on and on along a path until one day he begins to see the light. I am that light and I am here with you today in your very midst, aware of every detail of what is happening, even the thoughts that are passing through your minds.
Love in action is the theme of your meeting, and, if all of you allow My love to flow through you, the world will be cleansed and man will find his own way towards salvation.
All of you are torch-bearers and you have been given this unique opportunity to carry out the work of the Lord. Do not have any fears about the outcome. My Mission will succeed and My love will cleanse the Earth and lead mankind to a new Golden Age.
Let My love flow throughout the world. Let every thought and action be motivated by love. That is the way ahead.
The Fastest Phase of Swami's Avataric Mission
Na tasya kaaryam karanam cha vidyate
Na tat samashchaabhyadhikashcha drishyate Paraa sya shaktirvividhaiva shruyate
Swabhaaviki jnaana-bala-kriyaa cha
— Svetasvatara Upanishad
For God there is nothing to be achieved or done.
There is nobody similar to Him, how can one speak of anyone greater than Him? His power with various potencies is matchless.
Supreme knowledge, strength, and actions are natural to Him.
The present phase of Swami's Mission is going forward at tremendous speed.
To accomplish His Mission, Swami has given opportunity to His chosen instruments in different countries, from Australia to Nigeria and from America to Russia, to establish Ashrams in eighteen places.
Swami says all these places will become very important. He said in Australia on 16th September 2017,"See, if you want to disinfect a tank full of water, you do
not have to add a tankful of disinfectant. You just have to add two drops of a disinfectant like chlorine, and the water will become clean. In the same way, to clean up this entire world, you do not have to create a whole new world of the same size, you just have to create a few Centres like this that will take care of the rest of the world. That is how it will happen. It will happen with the
passage of time."
We are all aware of the silver medallion created by Swami in Ooty during the Summer Course in the year 1976 and His Divine Discourse on that occasion to a limited audience after the scheduled programme was over for the day. The medallion with the map of India contained markings studded with gems at eighteen locations where eighteen Ashrams would come up in the future and Sanskrit inscriptions containing the names of Swami's chosen instruments who would be in charge of these Centres. If we imagine the glory of a worldwide network of Ashrams as narrated by Swami in His Discourse during His Australian visit, what He has shown on the silver plaque is just a fractal unit in the big diagram – just a facet of the huge picture on the canvas, which is as big as
the surface of the Earth! Maybe, along with India, similar fractal units will emerge simultaneously in different parts of the world when He wills them to manifest. Or maybe He created the India map instead of a world map as the world was not ready to believe or even able to conceive, four decades ago, of the possibility of a majestic, worldwide Mission. We humans cannot comprehend God's ways; it is like a tricky maths riddle to a kid, way beyond his ability.
Just look at this riddle: If the lotuses in a pond get doubled each day and it takes fifteen days to fill half of the pond, then how many days will it take to fill the entire pond?
In the first place, it is beyond the grasp of the boy or, if he attempts it at all, as he is just learning to count, he may triumphantly declare, 'thirty days'! Only with some hint will he know that by the sixteenth day – the very next day – the tank will be full. Likewise, Swami can secure the critical mass required for accomplishing His Mission with a snap of the fingers. What is happening now is not the result of the small phenomenon of just the 'hundredth monkey effect' in small, isolated islands near a small country, but it is the majestic, millionth SAInt effect happening across the globe!
'Nenu tvaralopalane prapancham tour kudaa chestaanu' – I Will Undertake a World Tour Shortly!
Swami, many years ago, gave several hints about the approaching Mission in His Subtle Form and His availability to His devotees in this Form.
1. The headline is taken from Swami's landmark Divine Discourse, given on 16th February, 2007, during the Shivaratri celebrations.
Two years before this declaration, during the Buddha Purnima celebrations, Swami said,
"Prema Swarupullaara! Nenu tvaralopalane lankanu kuda darshistaanu, meeku shaashvatamaina anandaannandistaanu' ... Adi meeru manasulo pettukondi' – Embodiments of Love! Very soon I will visit Sri Lanka and bestow eternal bliss on all of you (thunderous applause). ... Have that firmly installed in your mind. – Buddha Purnima, 23rd May, 2005, Brindavan (Whitefield). [actual Telugu statements of Bhagawan are given to show that there are neither additions in
translation nor any kind of editorial embellishment]
After His declaration about a visit to Sri Lanka, for additional emphasis He asked the devotees to firmly fix in their minds and cherish in their hearts this sacred feeling about the soon-to-be-fulfilled grand occasion. Both the occasions being important festivals, devotees in large numbers congregated from all countries and all of them, immediately after Darshan, shared this happy news with everyone back home through emails and phone calls, and also carried the relevant audios and videos. It appears Swami chose the vantage point of this festival day to have His chosen devotees from all countries as witnesses to this memorable proclamation!
He did not share this with a small group in the interview room; it was public evidence where everybody was present and His Divine Discourse was recorded and translated into many languages. It was not a purposeless comment, or allegorical expression or reference, or a fantasy to occur in some Divine realm, or metaphorical expression, but it was a significant and wholehearted statement by God. His words are the essence of the Vedas. For God, all time is now, just like a movie in a storage media where the full story is already there and it unfolds frame by frame when we switch it on. Furthermore, the story scripted by God has additional features – multiple outcomes are already embedded in the story, just as
different outcomes are incorporated into a computer game, or different counter moves in a chess game based on the moves made by the player.
These words of Swami were fulfilled by His Divine visit to Sri Lanka in the year 2015, and, by the year 2017, He had completed His Divine visits to all the continents. By 2017, He had visited Russia, also, whose devotees He had specifically and specially mentioned in His above landmark Discourse of 2007. His expression "very soon" took ten years to be fulfilled in both the cases – His delays are not denials. God is in charge at all times, in all places, here and there – and everywhere, whether His body appears to be old or He appears to be exhausted or He is in His omnipotent, formless state.
Entertaining even a small doubt that God is not capable enough of making His own prophecy come true is not respectful. Let us not mock God's promises.
2. The extract which follows is taken from a Discourse given by Swami during the early decades of His Mission. Look at the applicability of those hints given half a century ago about the Current Mission:
"The sky itself will have to be the roof of the auditorium of the future; I will have to forego the car and even the plane when I move from place to place, for the crowds pressing around them will be too huge; I will have to move across the sky; yes, that too will happen, believe Me."
– Divine Discourse, 21st October, 1961.
We can appreciate the significance of this statement in the light of His comments during the Current Mission: during overseas tours, He often refers to His travels as being 'by skyline' as opposed to 'by airline', the mode of travel of the members of His entourage!
3. Swami, in His letters to John Hislop, used to write about the need to buy a helicopter for Swami's use. But He did neither buy nor accept offers of copters by several of His devotees in those days; probably He was foreshadowing far-future events (His forthcoming Mission in the Subtle Body) by His letters to His wonderful instrument in the USA. During His first phase of the Sathya Sai Avatar, He rarely travelled in a helicopter – once to give helicopter Darshan to multitudes of devotees during His fiftieth Birthday celebrations, once while going to Latur in Maharashtra, once to go to Alike in Karnataka, and while going from Madurai to Kodaikanal; and on a few ceremonial occasions to shower petals on the devotees during Birthday festivals in the Hill View Stadium. But,
now Swami's entourage uses copters frequently to visit various campuses; the need is greater because of the rapid phase at which the Current Mission is progressing.
4. In one of His Divine Discourses, from which a brief extract is given below, Swami, as if foretelling what is happening today (what was to come after twelve years), talked about 'psychotronic' and 'bioplasmic' powers. In His lengthy Discourse, full of scientific concepts, He mentioned that soon everybody would be able to understand the intimate relationship between psychotronics and bioplasmics. He also mentioned that very soon everybody would be able to experience the super-Divine power themselves.
It is interesting to hear the actual audio clipping of Swami where He used many jargon terms familiar to quantum physicists and metaphysicists, such as matter and energy, transcendental powers and hidden powers, magnetic powers and atomic powers, psychotronic and bioplasmic powers, and direct experience of super-human Divine power. [He is the Supreme Expert among any group of experts, whether it is a symposium on fluorosis or a conference of cardiologists. While scientists in the symposium held in 1994 came out with costly and cumbersome procedures for eliminating the fluoride content from drinking water, Swami gave cheap and simple tips which can be followed even by villagers using the things available locally! And, in a conference of saints, monks and nuns of Andhra Pradesh and neighbouring states held in 1987, where the participants recognised Swami as the Avatar of the age, He encouraged them and explained how their role is more relevant in the changing times.]
"The whole world is permeated with magnetic energy. Green pasture attracts the cow. A flower attracts the honeybee. The mother attracts the child. You are unable to understand the magnitude of this power of attraction and are taking it for granted. There is a power of attraction between human beings, birds, animals, and even insects. The world cannot exist without magnetic power.
"For a long period of time, scientists were under the mistaken notion that magnetic power is the same as atomic power. Only of late have they recognised the difference between the two. This magnetic power is present in the human body, from top to toe.
"There are innumerable unseen powers present in man. They are known as transcendental powers (atheeta shakti). Scientists know that energy, which is infinite and unfathomable, can be neither created nor destroyed. From time immemorial, man has been investigating the nature of this energy. Scientists have
come to the conclusion that the whole world is based on psychotronic power, which is also termed bioplasmic power. This is present in every cell and every vein of the human body. The human mind cannot comprehend the nature of this power.
"This power is also called ajnatha shakti, that which is not known. All these powers are not visible to the naked eye. It was this power that enabled mother Sita to lift the mighty Siva Dhanush (bow of Siva) with her little finger. It was then that king Janaka decided to give his daughter in marriage to one who was equally powerful. Sage Viswamitra, who had understood the intimate relationship that exists between Divinity and transcendental power, took Lord Rama to Mithilapura and solemnised the marriage.
"Very often, scientists refer to the two terms – matter and energy – but truly only energy exists. Whatever appears as matter also becomes energy in due course of time. None can describe the glory and grandeur of this transcendental power. Yatho vacho nivarthanthe apraapya manasa saha (this energy is beyond the comprehension of the mind and description in words). This transcends the powers of body, mind, and intellect. Who has created this power? Under whose control does this power lie? In whose hands does this power exist? Who can manifest these powers and prove their existence?
"Manifestation of these powers can bring about a divine transformation in the hearts of men. Swami wants such changes to take place from now on. It is impossible to say when, where, and how this power will manifest itself. Merely listening to the glory of this power may not evoke interest in you. You will understand only when you experience it. This is the super-human divine power. Very soon you are going to witness it."
— Divine Discourse, 15th October, 1999 taken from 'Sathya Sai Speaks Volume 32'.
5. Nearly half a century ago, Swami appeared to a devotee in her vision in Raipur and informed her that He would be visiting that place on a particular day. The devotee's husband, Sri Natarajan, Asst. Engineer in Indian Railways and Sri C. Subhrahmanyam, an officer of IRTS cadre who later became Chief Commercial Superintendent in Railways at Kolkata, made all the arrangements to receive Swami and decorated a big stadium near the Railway Engineers' colony. As anywhere in India congregations throng to see Swami, here also people came in thousands. Swami didn't visit the place for reasons known to Himself, or postponed His visit! Imagine the predicament of the organisers! As if to compensate for that, Swami, now in His Subtle Form, has been visiting Raipur
several times. Swami used to talk to the Railway employees whenever they visited Prasanthi Nilayam, and Swami gave a house to Sri Natarajan in Mother Easwaramma Sannidhi street near the University staff quarters. Devotees donated this flat to Swami and, in turn, Swami gave the same to this devotee at a nominal cost.
At Swami's command, one or two State Presidents announced His visit to their respective states. Later, when the visits similarly did not take place, and the Presidents shared the news with Swami about how the devotees of their area were accusing them of having made the announcement without confirmation from Swami, then Swami commented, "I know the truth; then, why do you bother about public opinion?"
Swami sometimes tells His students who have finished their studies that they are going to get jobs in a particular month, but it so happens that, even after the expiry of that month, that year and even the following couple of years, they do not get their jobs. But they do, finally, get settled in nice jobs exactly in the month indicated by Swami but after several years! God's timing is perfect whenever it happens. In one of His poems, He says one of the reasons for His advent is to 'fulfill the boons He granted to His devotees in the treta yuga' (the treta age when He incarnated as Lord Rama)!
"This is an historic and momentous time in the progress of man. At this time the veil is being rent in two and that which has been hidden through the ages is now to be revealed. The secrets of the sages will no longer be secrets, for all shall know about them." ('God Spoke to Me', p.81)
"This is an exacting time for each of you, a time of deep changes within and without, a time of seeking and sorting, a time of moving into new realms and new dimensions. This period of transition is not easy. You can help by accepting change without resistance.... You will see the seemingly impossible become possible, black turned to purest white, evil intent changed in midstream, man at last beginning to see the errors of his ways.... He will become awakened at last to the things that really matter in life, the things of the Spirit." ('God Spoke to Me', p.110)
— Eileen Caddy, one of the founders of the Findhorn Foundation.
Eileen Caddy was instrumental in creating the international spiritual community centered around the Findhorn Foundation in the north of Scotland, and, in 2005, she was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) from the Queen for her lifelong service to spiritual inquiry. She is the author of 'The Dawn of Change', 'Footprints on the Path', 'God Spoke to Me', 'The Living Word', 'The Spirit of Findhorn' and so forth.
The Golden Age of Many Years of Peace
Swami has already unfolded the Golden Age. It is humanly impossible to visualise how majestic it will be when the whole world basks in its glory. In its full Glory, the whole world will be a better place to live in and to pursue spirituality and to attain Divinity. Nations will be ruled by God's own people and all the heads of nations will meet in God's Supreme Abode.
Students will pursue knowledge but they won't have to purchase it. Education required for both the here and the hereafter will be imparted free. Teachers will be teaching through precept and example. Educational institutions will be like modern gurukulas, like Victor Kanu's miracle schools of Zambia. Education will be given free, and, in turn, the students will work for society.
All households will become Bal Vikas schools and every mother will become an EHV guru, teaching children the values when they are still young. The senior gurus will develop the course content for the Guru Vikas programme. Governments will recognise the need for a values education and include the syllabus in the curricula.
Concern for the environment will increase. Mother Earth will feel happy and bestow bounteous yields, and communities will have their own local, renewable, energy units.
Healthcare will be delivered with love, without any commercial angle. There will be less and less dependence on conventional systems of healing, and an increased incidence of miraculous healings with a pinch of Vibhuti or a sprinkle of water from a Marian Shrine or a sacred river, or a spoonful of holy water from a sacred stream like Nanak Jeera or a night vigil in a Sufi saint's durbar or a complementary therapist's gentle touch or a couple of sugar globules 'medicated' with Divine vibrations under the tongue or regularly eating food after saying grace.
The Ashrams being established by Swami all over the world will be great spiritual centres for the entire region or continent in which they are located, welcoming people from all faiths to progress spiritually through prayer, service, and contemplation. They will prepare God's apostles of Love, who can spread the Religion of Love all over the world through the universal fundamental truths contained in all religions. These apostles will stand out as leading lights and these
Ashrams will be lighthouses, guiding humanity towards their goal of God. The boundaries of these centres will expand, so that all faiths and cultures can coexist in harmony, and God's glory will be sung in a myriad of languages and tunes. Villages and towns will wake up to the chants of nagarsankeertan, which will keep the people in constant communion with the Divine throughout the day. Seekers will understand the power of Now and continually abide in God's presence. When people see God all around them, they will consider everyone as their kin and the whole world as a single family!
God's devotees will progress spiritually, while serving society by creating valleys of saints, huge Findhorn-like communities, sustainable-living centres of seekers and peaceful hamlets like Ariyaratne's Shramadana centres and the Serthar Tibetan Buddhist Institute in China. There will be eco-villages, where dignity of labour will be respected and spiritual harmony with Nature will be maintained, modelled on the already existing, over four-hundred Anastasia-inspired settlements across the world, as described by Vladimir Megre.
God's Discourses will be made available to all devotees across the world in their own languages in print, audio, and video. There will be thousands of dedicated scribes like Vivekananda's stenographer and disciple, Goodwin, to accomplish this. More and more people will live for others and God, and not for their own desires, and their talents will be used to glorify God.
Village squares and other gathering places will no longer be idle gossip centres for drinking, smoking and drug consumption. They will become satsang halls, filled with devotees participating in study circles, discussing a recent Discourse of, for example, Swami, or a passage from a lucid commentary on 'A Course In Miracles' or some other spiritual classic.
Pilgrimages will become journeys to love instead of picnic tours; pilgrims will gather life experiences for growth and not tinsel and trash which burden them. All along the way, people will encounter pilgrims who are chanting ceaselessly, 'peace pilgrims' relentlessly walking for a cause, Meeras melodiously singing Krishna bhajans unmindful of the surroundings, Baul mystics constantly feeling their 'sai' inside, Good Samaritans, and angels in plain clothes doing random acts of kindness. All along the way, there will be shade-giving trees, water points, langars and soup kitchens, and free accommodation.
Technology will be being used for spiritual growth and helping others – to book a free surgery appointment or to tune into a spiritual radio programme or to watch an episode from 'Shirdi Sai Parthi Sai Divya Katha'; the time saved by using
gadgets will be used for gainful purposes – to tell a chinna katha to a child or to serve the needy.
The need for visas will be a thing of the past and movement will be free, like between the colonies of the British Empire during Raj days or during the ancient journeys of travelling Buddhist monks. Borders will always be kept open for those people with good intentions.
"The time that you are living in is one of the most glorious times in this age, as this has not happened, nor will it happen ever again. Today, as you live through this time, you do not understand the very meaning, the very value of what you are experiencing or going through but, a few years from now, as people look back at this glorious Mission of Swami and the devotees who are a part of it, it will be written in golden letters in the history of mankind. Love God for God's sake, then you will experience God everywhere."
— Divine Discourse, 11th August, 2016, Sai Ananda, Malaysia.
He is here and there – and everywhere, and He is a Living and Loving Presence
Here, experiences of a couple of chosen instruments of Swami are given – how they received insights and how they were inspired to share the same with the other devotees.
"Sri Sai Kumar, IAS, a senior officer in the Tamil Nadu Government, and ardent devotee of Swami, mentioned to us a dream of his, which is worth recapitulating here. He had been praying to Swami seeking His blessings to go to Puttaparthi. Swami appeared in his dream and told him, even if he came to Sundaram, that would be sufficient and told him, 'Sundaram is also My home'. He also told Sri Sai Kumar something which shocked us. Swami said, 'Tell the State President and the Trust Convenor (that's me!) that they are not looking after My personal needs – for example, in My room upstairs at Sundaram My bed and pillow have been removed. They don't keep water for Me. Just because I have left My physical body, they think they need not look after My room and make Me comfortable'. Both the State President and I were shocked when Sri Sai Kumar told us about this dream. It was true, after the Mahasamadhi, we stopped visiting His room upstairs. When we made enquiries, we were told that it was true that the bed, bed sheet and pillow had been removed and put away after the Mahasamadhi. The very next day we ensured that Swami's room was restored exactly as it had been when Swami was in His physical body. Subsequently, we have often observed that there are signs that Swami has used the room."
— From 'Sathya Sai Baba Lives on ... Glimpses of Divinity Based on My Personal Experiences' by Dr V Mohan, First Edition Nov. 2017. (Dr Mohan is an
internationally acclaimed diabetologist and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, Prasanthi Nilayam, and the Convenor, Sri
Sathya Sai Trust, Tamil Nadu. This wonderful book, published by Sri Sathya Sai Sadhana Trust, contains many miracles. While the book was being reviewed numerous instances confirming Swami's omnipresence were discovered.)
In the following paras, a brief account is given of how a vice-chancellor recognised the loving and living presence of his Master after His physical transition and shared his experiences during his inaugural address in the Summer Course. It appears Swami chose him to be the vice-chancellor of His University at the most crucial phases of His physical transition and also reappearance in Subtle Form to continue His Mission. Being at the helm of affairs he considered it his duty to share what he had perceived in order to boost the sagging faith and
morale of his students and colleagues. He being an eminent scientist and ardent devotee, the occasion being an important annual spiritual retreat comprising of participants from all over the world and Swami's students and faculty from all His campuses, whatever was shared from this dais is considered as a scientific paper.
Here is a passage from his talk:
"We can also appreciate His presence by realising how he has been working in the minds of some people and in revelations to individuals in creating new institutions for carrying out His legacy. The universe, and our Mother Earth in particular, is a creation of God, i.e. our Swami. The Creator and creation cannot be separated or distinguished. All the animate and the inanimate objects, and the laws of nature – be it physical, biological or chemical – which govern their behaviour, are all encompassed in the creator himself. Let us ponder over the beautiful concept of physics known as wave particle duality. The presence of any particle in gross form is identified in the probability amplitude of the wave which is the subtle form. As Swami is the law Himself, He can manifest in gross as well as subtle form. Just as the particle or the wave nature is observed depending upon the experimental situation, Swami's presence is observed by some and
not by all depending upon the extent of the faith, surrender and connectivity."
Continuing his talk he said, [...] "A few days ago I visited a Sai temple near Srirangapatna (near Mysuru), which was my base for testing the possibility of miracles in 1970 when I was of the view that miracles could not be performed. The miracles that I experienced four decades back are continuing with the same intensity. Sometimes, we find ourselves bothered by the question as to why in the Kingdom of God we face trials, tribulations, sorrows and difficulties. This can't be understood or solved by the presence of a personal God with form alone. The answer to this can be obtained if we are able to visualize the impersonal, formless God. This is one of the basic tenets of Vedanta. In Vedic literature, we come across a mythical bird called Homa, which was half male and half female, reminding me of Ardhanareeswara. This has a mention in Persian mythology and Sufi fables as well. This bird is also supposed to be in perpetual flight without descending to the earth. It builds its nest in the sky and lays its eggs; the eggs fall from the nest, they break open and out come the young ones. The young ones open their eyes, the wings become strong, and, just when they are ready to crash on to the earth, they fly with a bang and reach their mother.
"This has a message for us all. Swami is now in His formless form encompassing the whole universe as cosmic energy. We should try to connect ourselves to His
Cosmic form; all of us bits and fragments of His totality, although we are living on this Mother Earth like the water on the lotus leaf. Then, we can experience and enjoy His presence in His impersonal aspect."
— Prof. J. Shashidara Prasad, Vice-Chancellor, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, in his inaugural address during the Summer Course in Indian
Culture and Spirituality in 2012, held at Poornachandra Auditorium, Prasanthi Nilayam.
During His visit to Kalady, Kerala, on 28th February 2018, Swami elaborated on how devotees with love in their hearts only can recognise Him in whichever form He comes. Here is a small excerpt from His Divine Discourse:
"God's ways are mysterious, nobody can decide how it should be, or where it should be how it should not be, where it should not be; this is God's decision, not others'. In this very same land (Kerala) He decided to come half-man, half-animal out of a pillar for His devotees' sake. In the same land He came as a Dwarf and grew into a Virata Swaroopa (Cosmic Form) at His own will. So in which form, in which name, in which way, from where He will come nobody can tell other than Him. However a devotee's heart knows the love. And this love is alone the proof of one's own understanding of God's presence. Did Prahlada ever see Vishnu as half-man, half-lion? Then how did He recognise Him as Lord? Did Bali Chakravarthi see Vishnu as a little Dwarf? Or as the Trivikrama (the Form which expands to all the three worlds)? Never! But when the whole world, the father of Prahlada failed to recognise God, when the very guru of Bali Chakravarthi failed to recognise God, it was Prahlada and Bali Chakravarthi because of their purity of devotion that they recognised the Lord in whichever form He came. That is why the Vedas say, 'yato vaacho nivartante apraapya manasaa saha' – The one whom words cannot describe, and the one who cannot be understood by the mind, He is That. Therefore, in your heart of hearts it is only through love that you can understand God, that you can experience God.
"It is the tongue that tastes; even if the eye sees, it cannot taste. Even if the tastiest sweet is kept in front of you, if you put it on your eyes you cannot taste the sweetness. But even if you don't see the sweet you close your eyes but you put it on your tongue, without seeing it, you really taste and enjoy the sweet. God is like that! Like that sweet which has to be tasted by the tongue not just be seen by the eyes. It is the heart that experiences and enjoys the Divine, all other senses are useless and of no avail in this matter."
"I have been promising every year that I will come, I will come, and I will keep up My promise, I will never break My promise (applause). Every year, every
single year the devotees of Kerala have come; they have only pleaded with Swami to come to Kerala, and they even booked flights to bring Swami to Kerala. They even arranged the whole flight, they said, if Swami says, tomorrow the flight will be ready and any number of people we will bring to Kerala. But, as I said, how, where, when, in which way God acts is God's prerogative. Therefore, it is better to leave that decision to God. But we as devotees have to be always be prepared, 'whichever form, whichever name, whichever place, in whichever way You come, we are here to receive You with love'. That is God's love." [...]
"Cease to make Me a symbolic God in the heavens. I am real. I am alive. I am omnipresent. Wake up this moment and know My aliveness. Sit quietly and feel My power to conquer enter you. Breathe quietly and feel My Love, My perfect Love, enter you. Let your heart center become alive as you softly breathe in and out, in and out.
"I am real. I am alive. I am within you as your own perfection lying dormant, ready to burst forth. Believe in yourself; believe in the real, alive, vibrant Me. I am not a myth. I have come down to be among you.
"I am Skanda, Son of Siva. Love Me and My Love will enfold you, Children of the Rainbow, Children of the Light.
"I, Sri Skanda, have spoken in Love."
— From 'Skanda' by Hilda Charlton.
God's Heavenly Abode on Earth
Here a brief account is given about (a) Swami's residence, Sri Sathya Sai Anandam at Sathya Sai Grama, Muddenahalli, and (b) His other residences where He feels more at home – our hearts.
Swami, long before His physical transition, chose the place that was to be the headquarters of the later phase of His Mission. The construction of His heavenly abode, Sri Sathya Sai Anandam, was completed well before 2011, even before His 85th Birthday celebrations.
While wayfarers can discern from the outskirts they are approaching a village by looking at the tall gopuram, the entrance gate of the village temple, the pilgrims approaching this global spiritual village can spot this 120-Ft-high building perched on the highest point of a hillock. The prominent clock tower is visible from far away. Rising high into the sky, the clock tower projects from the petal-like red shell roof, making the building look from afar like a lovely flower.
The podium of the Anandam Residence is located about 50 feet above ground level on the hillock, and a beautiful 6-metre-wide winding ramp leads to an 8-metre-wide forecourt which provides access to the ground floor of the building, from below. Architecturally, the building has been conceived in the form of Adhisesha – the Serpent god on which God reclines – with its geometrical forms, a combination of circles, squares, covered with a conical, folded - plate roof, all symbolising the form of the snake when viewed from the air.
The 8-metre-wide circular ramp has been built with twin columns cantilevering circumferentially with radial beams. This gives the forecourt the floating effect on top of the hill. The ground floor has an area of 256 square metres and it comprises the entrance car porch which leads in to the bhajan hall, lift and a stair case further leading to the upper floors. The first and second floors have an area of 214 square metres each.
From the terrace floor, or while circumambulating the Anandam from the ground floor, one can experience a breathtaking view of the natural beauty of the surrounding village. Perhaps the most captivating of all is the marvellous view of the lofty Nandi hills (the river Chitravathi originates in these hills) on the Southern side of the towers.
During a group interview or a family interview or during a satsang in Anandam, one can feel the wonderful vibrations of the Divine Abode. The best time appears to be during nagarasankeertan time, when everyone feels as if they were gliding in slow motion on the circular ramp.
While this is the basic structure made up of bricks and mortar, God's constant presence and the steady flow of His devotees, and their prayers and devotion, constantly add to the glory, magnetic power, and elegance of the structure.
Once, with practice and God's grace, we learn to concentrate on the Form of God in the outer temple, we can easily turn inward and find Him there. While it requires architects, engineers, cement and steel to construct a residence like this, with just our effort and sadhana we can build an even better house where God can settle down and be perfectly at home. If we purify our heart by removing the weeds and trash of bad thoughts and bad feelings, and wash it with the water of love and devotion, and the soap of service and earnestness, and rub it on the stone of sacrifice and fill it with light, love, and joy and make it beautiful, God will rush in to live there. May Swami sprinkle holy water and holy ash on us and purify and give us new hearts and new minds.
All the members of the top management of Larsen & Toubro Limited, the engineering and construction company which constructed this unique structure, and members of the family of one of the co-founders of the company, Mr Soren Kristian Toubro, are all ardent devotees of Swami. They have taken up Swami's projects at cost price or with low profit or as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The company achieved record growth in India and abroad after it involved itself in Swami's construction projects! Dr A Ramakrishna, Deputy Managing Director of L&T, an ardent devotee of Swami, was also the person in charge of Swami's construction projects. Dr Ramakrishna offered his house in Kovvur town in West Godavari District to the Sai Organisation, where a music college has been started (Kovvur and Rajamahendravaram are on either side of the river Godavari, just as Paramarth Niketan and Sivananda Ashrams are on either side of the Ganges in Rishikesh). His family's dedication and sacrifice is similar to that of Mr Victor Kanu and Mrs Genoveva Kanu, Walter and Elsie Cowan, Smt. Girija Nair amma, Smt Saralamma and Sri Indu Bhai, Sri Madiyala Narayana Bhat, and the devotees from different countries who are active in the Current Mission of Bhagawan.
Both the Bootywada in Shirdi and Sathya Sai Anandam in Muddenahalli were constructed under the direct physical instructions and guidance of the respective Avatars, and, as both Avatars indicated during their physical sojourn, they are
being used eternally as their residences during different facets of their respective Avataric Missions. It is important to recall a conversation that occurred between Baba and Booty when the construction of Bootywada was under progress: one day while passing through the temple site Baba gave some suggestions and at that time Bapusaheb Booty asked whether a statue of Muralidhar could be installed on the ground floor. Baba approved it and replied, "When the temple is built, We shall inhabit it and ever afterwards live in joy."
Being contemporaries of this great phenomenon and
God's decision to accomplish His Mission through this phenomenon, let us become part of His Story, History.
Let us not bury our reason.
Let God open our hearts by untying the knots of our ego.
Let us not merely be witnesses, but be participants in this Great Mission.
Let us leave the ring of observation and enter the inner circle – the ring of participation.
May our Lord give us the chance to be the pioneer band of dedicated workers in His Mission.
May we constantly remind ourselves that the most special
thing about us is that we are His special choice – His specially-chosen instruments.
May we constantly remind ourselves that He loves us and wants the best for us and from us.
May we constantly remind ourselves that there can be no failure
when we are working for His Kingdom under His constant inspiration, training and guidance.
May we re-examine our priorities in the light of eternity, as we have only 'one life to live and shortly it will pass;
only what's done for God will truly last'!
Om Sai Ram
'A Course In Miracles': The book ACIM was scribed by Helen Schucman as dictated to her via inner dictation which came from Jesus of Nazareth. Yaani Drucker, in one of her talks shared this: Sai Baba told Connie Shaw that 'A Course in Miracles' was the advaita (the highest spiritual non-dualistic teachings) for the West.
Akashic records: An energetic imprint of every thought, action, emotion, and experience that has ever occurred in time and space. The akashic records can also be understood as an imprint of all the experiences of all lifetimes in all realities.
Amrit: The nectar of immortality.
Ashram: A sanctuary where a spiritual community lives and progresses spiritually through chanting, meditation, selfless service and other spiritual pursuits. The inmates make sincere efforts to progress spiritually but they don't unduly feel the burden of their transformation. (The literal meaning of the word ashrama is the place where no strain is felt).
Bal Vikas: Sunday classes run by Sai devotees for children between 6 and 15 years of age. Baul mystics: Wandering mystic minstrels of India and Bangladesh. Through spiritual practice, the Bauls transform worldly love into Divine love, individual love into universal
love, and conditional love to unconditional love. Bhoomi puja: Ground-breaking ceremony. Bootywada: The main Temple of Shirdi.
Ceaseless chanters: Devotees who constantly remember God like Narada and the pilgrim in the spiritual classic on prayer, 'The Way of a Pilgrim'.
Chinna Katha: Stories and parables collected from Swami's Divine Discourses and
compiled as several volumes of Chinna Kathas.
Chitrakoot: In the deep forests of this hill in the central part of India, Lord Rama, Mother Sita, and Lakshman spent a few months of their fourteen-year exile.
Dandakaranya: The forest where Lord Rama spent thirteen years of His fourteen-year exile.
Darshan: Sighting, vision. Seeing a Divine person or manifestation of God.
Dharma: Virtue, righteousness, religious faith, right action, code of conduct, morality, duty.
Dhyana: Meditation.
Divine Pareto principle: While the Pareto principle follows 80/20 rule, the Divine Pareto law, as God can do anything as explained in Ephesians 3:20, accomplishes things beyond the
known parametres, and more than all that we can conceive of. In contrast to what was accomplished during the long 85-year Mission when Swami was in the physical, in the short balance period of His 96-year Mission in His Subtle Body He is going to accomplish more than 80 per cent.
Durbar: A shrine or an audience chamber.
EHV: Education in Human Values
Goodwin: Josiah John Goodwin, a British stenographer and, later, a disciple of Vivekananda, who could keep pace with the Master's rapid speech. It is thought that without his efforts
most of Vivekananda's works would have been lost.
Gopikas and gopalas: Cowherd maidens and cowherds of Brindavan who were worshippers and great devotees of Lord Krishna.
Gospa: Croatian for Virgin Mary
Guru vikas: A unique Mission of developing and training teachers. Swami has launched the Guru vikas programme world-wide to work on the blossoming of the hearts of the teachers through self-transformation.
Gurukula: Residential schooling system in ancient India where pupils live with their teacher serving him and learning from him.
Hampi: Ancient temple town in Karnataka, now a village and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
IAS: Indian Administrative Service, the premier civil service of India.
IRTS: Indian Railway Traffic Service, an organised Group 'A' service (cadre) of the Government of India.
Jakov: The youngest of the Medjugorje visionaries.
Japa: Recitation of the names of God.
Karwar: A port city in Karnataka, close to Goa.
Krishna: Bhagawan Lord Krishna, the Avatar of the dwaapara yuga.
Langar: Free kitchen service, a noble tradition in the Sikh faith.
Mahashivaratri: The great night of Lord Shiva observed once a year with prayers, fasting, and vigil. It falls during February/March, before the arrival of summer.
Medjugorje: A town in Bosnia and Herzegovina, close to the border of Croatia, where Mary, the Mother of Jesus, has been giving Her darshan to devotees since 1981.
Meera: Also known as Meera Bai, a mystic poet and an ardent devotee of Krishna.
Mithila/Mithilapura: The birthplace of Mother Sita.
Naanak jeera: A holy spring in the Sikh Shrine, Guru Nanak Jhira Sahib, in the town of Bidar, Karnataka State.
Nagarsankeertan: Processional singing of holy hymns in the early hours.
Noah's Ark: A massive ship, built at God's command, that saved Noah, and his family, and two of every kind of land animal, from the global flood that took place six thousand years
ago.
Oasis: Spiritually, an oasis is where God is. It is a place where one can interact with God, and make friends with God. We can make our hearts and homes oases – places of peace, safety or happiness in the midst of trouble or difficulty.
Peace pilgrim: An American non-denominational spiritual teacher, mystic, pacifist, vegetarian activist who walked across the United States for 28 years.
Philokalia: A collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters of the Eastern Orthodox Church mystical hesychast system. The writings of the Philokalia help seekers to attain union with God.
Ramala: A spiritual retreat centre in Glastonbury, England – 'A School on Earth Teaching the Truth of the Heavens'.
Raghu (lineage): The dynasty of Kings to which Lord Rama belongs.
Rishi: A sage.
Rumi: Sufi mystic of the 13th century. Sadhana: Spiritual practice. Sankalpa: Will, resolve, Divine will.
Sannidhi: Nearness, proximity; holy place, a temple.
Sannyas: Renunciation.
Sarla Charities Trust: The Trust which produced 'Shirdi ke Sai Baba' at Swami's command and now producing 'Baba Sathya Sai' (His Story, including the ongoing Current Mission in His Subtle Form).
Satsang: The company of the noble.
Saul: Saul of Tarsus, the original name of Paul the Apostle. Prior to his conversion, Paul was dedicated to persecuting the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem!
Sensei: An honorific term for teacher that refers to masters of their profession in Chinese and Japanese.
Serthar: A province in China where Larung Gar, the largest Tibetan Buddhist Institute is situated.
Shabari: A tribal woman, ardently devoted to Lord Rama.
Shramadana: A gift of labour for a social cause.
Srirangapatna: A town close to Mysuru. The taste of Baba's amrit from the Sathya Sai Temple maintained by Sri Halagappa in this town is familiar to devotees.
Sundaram: Swami's abode in Chennai. Sathyam in Mumbai, Shivam in Hyderabad, Sundaram in Chennai and Anandam in Muddenahalli are the main Abodes of our Swami.
Now Swami is building 18 more spiritual centres around the world.
Swamini: A female guru.
Trikal Darshi: The One who knows everything about the past, the present, and the future.
Tulsidas: A saint, renowned for his devotion to Lord Rama.
Viswarupa: Cosmic Form.
Vladimir Megre: Author of the best-selling series of books, 'The Ringing Cedars of Russia'. The books became a basis for the back-to-the-land movement based on permanently
sustainable, self-sufficient, simple living.
Yuga: Era or a great age.
Yugadi: New Year's Day for the people of some of the states in India.
Index With Reference to Chapter Numbers in Which They Appear
Advent, the authenticity of this, Ch 11 Alice Coltran Turiyasangitananda Ch 4 Anthony Bong Ch 3
Apparent manipulation by Divine will Ch 11 Authenticity of this Advent Ch 11
Avataric Missions, full span of the, Ch 15 Be fearless Ch 12
Believe in the real, alive, vibrant Me Ch 35
Calamity that awaits Ch 10
Cater for the entire continent Ch 15
Cease to make Me a symbolic God in the heavens Ch 35 Charles Penn, Baba appeared at his US residence Ch 16 Chumash Pradesh, Malibu, California Ch 4
Citizens of Brindavan Ch 7
Communicating His words and wishes through an official human instrument is not new Ch 31
Connection between Me and the perfected yogis Ch 28
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Ch 36
Different phases of the Mission of the same Avatar Ch 9 Divine Pareto Principle Ch 8
Do we at times miss the reality? Ch 7
Doubt that God is not capable enough of making His own prophecy come true Ch 33 Expert's opinion, can it be contrary to the reality? Ch 7
False allegations Ch 12
Feature film with the story of the full span of the Avataric Mission Ch 27 First-person Discourse, because it was God speaking through Ch 31 Forgotten, the fundamental attributes of the Divine Personality Ch 8
Formless Nature, when Sathya Sai Baba moves into His True, Ch 30 Four types of bodies Ch 16
Fractal units Ch 32
'From Him to Me' Ch 3 Global scale Ch 19 Glorious events Ch 12
God Himself is the protector Ch 29
'GOD IS' Ch 8
God rules over the entire Earth Ch 29
God's capacity, devotees who put limits on, Ch 13 God's official things Ch 6
Golden Age Ch 2
Golden Age, those who will not fit into the new, Ch 2
Have we been conditioned to believe in the expert's opinion rather than reality? Ch 7 He is allowing me to speak about His work Ch 30
Heads of nations Ch 34
Helicopter, about the need to buy Ch 33 His chosen servant, Lucas Ralli Ch 31
His other residences Ch 36
His teachings, how His devotees would forget, Ch 4 Historic and momentous time Ch 33
Holy continent Ch 25
Homophones of 'Sai Anantham' Ch 4 Honoured to be in His service Ch 24
How, where, when, in which way God acts Ch 35 Human semblance Ch 16
I am not a myth Ch 35
I am very sad that My students, My close devotees – My pillars Ch 3 I can be so easily communicated with Ch 19
I scripted this play Ch 26
If they call to Him, He will come Ch 30
If you have found Me – you must keep Me! CH 25 In accordance with the Scriptures Ch 15
In times to come, there won't be just one Sai Baba Ch 1 Inadvertently hinting at God's presence Ch 8
Inconceivable to be understood Ch 16 It is not honey; it is amrit Ch 13
It is the same love of our same Swami Ch 10 Joke from a children's drama Ch 10 Krishna's childhood pranks Ch 8
Lakshmana-rekha Ch 27
Landmark Bogota Discourse Ch 1
Larson & Toubro, all the members of top management of Ch 36 Lazarus's resurrection Ch 17
Leap of Consciousness Ch 28
Let us not mock God's promises Ch 33 Letters of Vasanth Kunj, New Delhi Ch 3
Liaisons of God upon this Earth plane Ch 10 Lily Tomlin Ch 5
Limitation of body Ch 30
Long before the Gita was spoken, the Lord had got ready a Sanjaya Ch 19 Lord of saints, Baba is Ch 13
Love itself will sustain the whole universe Ch 23 Margaret Atwood Ch 5
Mediatrixes, all Divinely-chosen mothers are, Ch 21 Meeting the Lord in His Subtle Form 'in private' Ch 17 Mesmerism, label these as acts of, Ch 11
Millionth SAInt effect Ch 32 Miserly character Ch 10
Missing the bus Ch 7
Missions continue long after Ch 30 Most glorious time Ch 34
My miracles have just now started and will not end till the Ch 3 My power is eternal, all pervasive, everlasting! Ch 11
Never-before-seen time Ch 2
Newspapers and TV channels Ch 15
Next ten years, a lot of things will happen Ch 14 Nine aesthetic flavours Ch 25
No one has the right to deny your God Ch 12
Nobody can decide how it should be Ch 35 Notwithstanding Swami's physical transition Ch 18
Now, because I do not have a body, I have infinite power Ch 30 Now, the time has come when the real work is happening Ch 30 One can see for oneself Ch 15
One Light, Different Windows Ch 9
People will be struck with awe and wonder by His deeds Ch 12 Phenomenon, you cannot declare that you have understood a, Ch 11 Place of birth, actually started after He left His Ch 9
Plastic flower Ch 20
Prepared for the Golden Age Ch 18
Preventing others from joining their Ashrams Ch 29 Promises made long ago Ch 15
Quantum physicists, their jargon terms, Ch 33
Raipur, Swami appeared to a devotee in her vision in, Ch 33 Reentered after three days Ch 15
Remember you are a mortal Ch 29 Riddle to a kid Ch 32
Rumi, teachings of, Ch 9
Sarla Charities Trust Ch 27 Sauls into Pauls Ch 14
Secular historians will acknowledge Ch 16 She is a divinised form Ch 21
Shishupala Ch 9 Silent revolution Ch 1
So much more to be done Ch 22
Spirituality does not come on a platter of gold Ch 6 Spokesmen and spokeswomen, of God Ch 10
Swami had planned it 20 years ago Ch 26 That is My medicine Ch 28
That will take care of the rest of the world Ch 32 The beauty and significant part of the meeting Ch 6
The first movie on Shirdi Baba 'Shirdi ke Sai Baba' Ch 27 The Mission is unfolding simultaneously Ch 18
The power of the Divine name Ch 19 The proof of Swami's presence Ch 20
The success of the film and after devotees started congregating Ch 27
The time will come when I will be seen everywhere Ch 30 Therefore, be prepared, be ready, be deserving Ch 14 They are not looking after My personal needs Ch 35
They still doubt Ch 17
Things which are inconceivable to be understood by the authority of Ch 16 This is the way He wants to take it forward Ch 22
Turning point Ch 28
Vice-chancellor recognised Ch 35 Virgin Mary's apparitions Ch 21
When the temple is built, We shall inhabit it and ever afterwards live in joy Ch 36
Whenever He comes with so much light and splendour Ch 5 Where do you think they come from? From the sky? Ch 19 Who can catch unawares that all-knowing One Ch 25 Whole world as a single family Ch 34
Will continue to care for you Ch 23
Will help all those who cannot directly receive messages from Baba Ch 3 Will that is as strong as diamond Ch 26
Without seeing it Ch 35
Would I be God if, in giving, I became poorer? Ch 23 Your grace makes... Ch 10
