Speech by Vice Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Sri Anil Vinayak Gokak (23rd June 2005)

[Guest guest]

Speech by Vice Chancellor of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Sri

Anil Vinayak Gokak (23rd June 2005)Bhagawan Baba, Brothers and Sisters of Sai

family!

My Pranams (salutations) at the Lotus Feet of Bhagawan Baba.

He has commanded that I should say a few words now. I therefore would talk to

you about some of my personal experiences. Baba has graciously permitted me to

do so and also about His Avataric Mission about which I spoke this morning to

my young friends. My father (Late Sri Vinayak Krishna Gokak, 1st Vice

Chancellor of SSSIHL) came in contact with Bhagawan Baba sometime in 1965 in

Hyderabad. He in his younger days believed in God, but at that time, God was

merely an abstract entity to him. But he felt that God existed when he found

himself in a hospital in Edinburough. He had gone to see an exhibition.

Suddenly, he felt an acute pain in the stomach. He rushed to the hospital and

he was told that he had to be immediately operated and thereafter he got

admitted. He did not know what to do because his examination in Oxford

University was over but the oral test was yet to be completed. He thought that

his entire trip to England was a waste. But then a telegram came from the

University of Oxford stating that on the basis of his performance in the

written test, they had decided to exempt him from the oral test. Therefore, at

that point of time he realised there was someone called God but He was nearly

still an abstract entity. Then for the next 20 years or so he came under the

influence of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo passed away in 1950 and thereafter

after a gap of 14 years, he came in touch with Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I

may tell you that it was Bhagawan Baba who prolonged the life of my mother by

18 years and of my father by 5 years. There in no slightest doubt about it. My

mother had to be operated and the doctor whom I consulted had given just 2 to 3

months. But when it was brought to the notice of Swami, He said there was no

need of operation. When the X-rays were shown once again to the doctor, he

said, "Everything is fine". Thereafter she lived for 18 years from 1976 to

1994.

Once when they were sitting in Brindavan along with students, Swami materialised

a small casket and it was passed on from one student to the other. When it came

to my father, it was slightly damaged and he brought it to Bhagawan’s notice

and apologized for it. Bhagawan said, "Let it be with you". What did it

contain? A commentary on the Bhagawad Gita!

Let me come to myself now. When Bhagawan visited our house for the first time in

1965, I was away in my district serving as an assistant collector. At that time

Bhagawan told my father, "Your son has no faith in God". That was, to be frank,

very correct. It was in 1969 that my parents took me and my wife to Bhagawan

Baba. Bhagawan very affectionately materialised a necklace for my wife and also

out of nothing a magnificent apple and gave it to her. At that time surely I was

attracted and I felt that there was some power here. Later on, more and more

events of this type took place strengthening my faith in Baba. It was in 1973

that I had another wonderful experience. Baba told me "You will go to Delhi"

and I did go. That apart at a very critical stage of my career, He advised me

again to be in Delhi which I did. At another critical stage I wanted to be at

Bangalore to take care of my ailing mother. He said, "No, you shall not go to

Bangalore, you shall go to Delhi again and whatever be the post you are

planning for, will not come your way. I waited for 6 months for that post only

to find that the whole thing fizzled out and I was back in Delhi. But at first

stage I was attracted more by miracles. But later on as I became a senior

administrator, I started taking interest in social welfare activities and

without of course actively involving myself in activities like Seva Dal, Bhajan

Mandali, study circle, I found that behind each activity there was a purpose.

Then came the stage of a big water project. I visited that project in 1995 and

gave a report to the Government of India and let me tell you that report was

very much appreciated - "Here an NGO (Non Government Organisation) could

achieve what even State governments couldn’t achieve." This was the stage when

I felt that Bhagawan Baba, let me honestly use the word that comes to my mind,

a Vedantic Socialist. These are the words which were used by Dr. V.K. Arya Rao

in his book on Swami Vivekananda. He described Swami Vivekananda as a Vedantic

socialist, that is one who is deeply immersed in Indian traditions and yet

wants to take care of the welfare of the common man. That was the 2nd stage of

my perception of Bhagawan. Later on as I progressed in my career and attained

higher positions, I realised that He was something beyond that also and this

realisation dawned on me when I had occasion to travel all over the globe at

regular intervals in my capacity as secretary in the telecommunications

department. I realised that the world was getting smaller and smaller, but

mankind was getting divided equally fast because of differences in religion,

culture and the outlook on both of them. At this stage, I was very much moved

by the book "The Catholic Priest meets Sai Baba" which the Italian devotee

Mario Mazzoleni wrote. In the book, he has explained why he has developed

immense faith in Baba and how Baba is the one God who teaches you to respect

your own religion. Though he was excommunicated by the establishment, he said I

am unswerving in my loyalty to Bhagawan Baba. So, here was a who is trying to

teach the whole of humanity how unity is very much desirable and how in fact

all the religions of the world aim at one and the same thing.

Then came the year 2002, Bhagawan commanded that I should address the students

in Summer Course at Whitefield. I started making preparations for my talk and

during the course of preparation of that talk a number of events sped past my

mind including the one that took place in September – the bombing of WTO (World

Trade Center) on 11th September 2001. After that I felt that only an Avatar like

Baba can act as a saviour of the world. Because that was a terrible event, a

terrible blow to the survival of mankind, it was the ugly head of

fundamentalism that sprang up and tried to destroy the fabric of the entire

world. When I analysed the matter again and again, I found that due to

pressures of globalisation, many people in fact have started feeling that their

culture will be uprooted by the Western powers and therefore, they by way of

reaction want to adhere to things which they consider to be the essential core

of their culture, and that fanatics determined what that essential core is.

That essential core is imposed on everyone else and fanaticism gets stronger

and stronger. In such a world what matters is a deep and accurate understanding

of the commonalities that underlie all religions, cultures and civilization.

That was the trend which I found in books written by a number of scholars

including Prof. Huntington in his book "On the clash of civilizations". So, in

2002 that was the matter and thereafter in 2005, He commanded that I should

come here. Let me say again with you my profound feeling that I regard Him

today as the saviour of the world. If there is anyone who can save the world

today, it is Bhagawan Baba and nobody else. This is because of the universality

of His teachings are rooted in the past, they look to the future too. The emblem

of Prasanthi Nilayam which has the symbols of all religions of the world gives

the same message. There is an underlying unity and underlying similarity among

all the cultures and religions of the world and it is this commonality that you

have to discover and act upon. I therefore forget the other differences which

are minor. So the essential core had to be understood and that essential core

is nothing but "Soham" (I am That). That is the message of Bhagawan Baba and

here emphasis on rituals, scriptures is reduced to the bare minimum. You go

direct to the innermost shrine of divinity on the strength of your own inner

experience. I would also like to repeat what I said in the morning today -

Bhagawan Baba is not a Vyaktinath (master of individuals), but He is a Lokanath

(master of the world). He believes in multitudes not in solitudes. He wants to

elevate humanity to higher levels of spiritual consciousness and His aim is

different. The nature of His mission is also different. In Bhagawadgita, Lord

Krishna said, "I am born from age to age" (Sambhavami Yuge Yuge). But if you

read "Saitree", you will read the expression used is "Sambhavami Padhe Padhe"-

I am here to guide humanity at each and every step so that humanity is elevated

at every level of consciousness. The role of an Avatar is that is that of a

pilot. Dr. John. S. Hislop says that the Avatar comes with the plane on the

ground. But the fact that the plane is grounded on the land does not mean that

the plane belongs to the land. The pilot waits for the passengers and then

flies high up in the sky again. So the Avatar ensures that you elevate yourself

spiritually under His guidance and when He is satisfied that you have attained

the requisite level he takes you along with him to the skies. So, Bhagawan is

modern in all his analogies, comparisons and similes. When He talks about human

body, He says that human body is like an example of the law of gravitation. The

falling stone may be visible but the law is invisible. Similarly, human body is

visible, but the divine spark within you is invisible. So, Baba is scientific,

modern in His comparisons, is yet very deeply rooted in our traditions and He

by the imaginations, vision and if I may say so strong intellect, please don’t

forget that. By the combination of all these, He ensures that the dynamic

movement towards the attainment of divinity is not interrupted in any way.

There is dynamics, but there is no instability - that is the greatness of

Bhagawan Baba. I am afraid I have exhausted whatever I wanted to say very

briefly and once again pray to Bhagawan Baba for all His blessings and strength

which are necessary for me to carry out this noble task that He has so

generously and nobly entrusted to me.

Sai Ram

Source:

sssbpt.org website

http://sssbpt.org/Pages/Specially/Memoirs_Gokak.htm