Gloriuos Sai - His Wisdom [Part 3 of 6]

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GLORIOUS SAI - HIS WISDOM

This cover story is in six parts. The below is the first part, which is a

Preamble to the rest of the five parts. Click on the links below to read the

other parts.

 

 

 

 

Profound Philosophies in Parables

In one beautiful discourse in June 1989, Swami said,

“You use a mosquito net to avoid being bitten. As long as you have the net, no

matter how many mosquitoes there are outside, you don't have to worry. However,

if mosquitoes are inside the net, nobody can save you from them. (Similarly) if

you put up a net to protect yourself, but foolishly allow mosquitoes in, it is

like visiting holy places, keeping holy company, doing holy deeds, but not

clearing out the defects within.”

The evil tendencies within man are just like the mosquitoes inside the net which

can ruin man irrespective of the ‘mosquito net’ of good company and holy deeds,

Swami tells us. What a beautiful example to convey a valuable idea!

On another occasion, Swami said,

“A landowner may own all the fields up to the horizon on all sides, but he will

deign only to sit on a patch that is clean! In the same way, when the Lord

chooses the heart of a devotee, He will select a clean one. It doesn't mean all

the other hearts are not His, it’s just that they are not clean, that is all.”

Therefore, one must cleanse one’s heart by the towel of spiritual practice and

the tears of repentance and so that the Lord might install Himself therein,

Swami explains.

 

Such similes and stories from Swami that convey important ideas are infinite. In

innumerable interactions over the years, Baba has conveyed the most complex of

philosophical truths in such a simple and lucid manner through parables and

anecdotes, analogies and imageries that the message has always gone straight

into the hearts of devotees. In fact, this is an attribute, you will agree,

which is common to all great masters who have walked on this earth over

centuries, be it Jesus or the Buddha, Guru Nanak or Adi Shankara.

 

Divine Pun...Deep Wisdom

The way Swami sometimes plays with the words to convey great ideas are something

fantastic. For example, to a very affluent devotee, Swami once said,

“‘Properties’ are not ‘Proper Ties’ which only bind you to this world. True

property which will always be there with you at all times is God’s Grace - make

efforts to accumulate that property. “

Similarly on a very humorous note, Baba once asked another devotee,

“How do you spell wife?”

“W-I-F-E”, the devotee responded. Then making an acronym of the word ‘wife’,

Baba mischievously teased the devotee saying,

“It means Worries Invited For Ever”. The devotee put on a downcast expression.

To cheer up the devotee, Baba changed it instantaneously saying, “No – it’s

Wisdom Invited For Ever”.

 

Such instances are galore. Every individual who has had the opportunity to

interact with Swami will have a story to tell.

 

 

 

 

“Baba’s Scholarship is Overwhelming” – Dr. V K Gokak

Every word spoken by Swami is significant, every interaction with Swami is a

revelation. Sribhashyam Appalacharya from South India, a very distinguished

scholar and a repository of ancient scriptural wisdom, writes after staying for

a few days at Prashanti Nilayam,

"Bhagavan is a Veda (Authority on Knowledge) - what He says, happens; Bhagavan

is a Sastra (Spiritual Guidebook) - what He does, is exemplary. He elaborates

the truth with many a metaphor, simile and story as a Purana (mythology) does;

His words are the highest poetry, for they confer bliss and liquidate the

littleness in man."

In fact, in countless discourses delivered for several decades now, Baba has

covered the whole spectrum of human thought. There is no realm of human

activity that Baba has not talked about sometime or the other (you will realize

this when you listen to all His discourses right from early years of His

Avatharhood) and all this, mind you, from a personality who 'dropped out of

school' when He was just 14!

Late Sri V K Gokak, a great literateur and a scholar which was also the

vice-chancellor of Bangalore University and later the first vice-chancellor of

Swami’s University, writes,

“Baba's scholarship is overwhelming. With hardly any formal education, He has on

the tip of His tongue, atomic formulae, Vedic hymns, medical recipes, and

Tantric mantras.”

Ask the Vedic scholars who conduct the Yagnam during Dasara every year and they

will tell you how time and again they have been baffled by His intricate

knowledge of Vedic rituals and scriptures. Let’s take just one instance here

narrated by late Sri G V Subbarao, a UN official for decades and also a great

Vedic scholar –

“I was once present when some of the most learned Vedic scholars gathered at

Prashanti Nilayam. Two adepts had differences over the complex procedure of the

performance of the Vedic 'Soma Yaga' sacrifice as to the exact configuration or

arrangement of the sanctified bricks in the construction of the main altar.

They confronted Swami with their respective standpoints and doubts backed up by

citations of authoritative ‘Shroutha’ texts.

Apparently even the great ascetic heads of the Math's (monasteries) are

themselves not familiar with purely field practices of the elaborate yagnas.

They are more familiar with Vedantic and philosophical subjects than with the

details of complex ritual sacrifices. Perhaps these pundits came to test Swami

in a remote area of Vedic ritual knowledge. This is an area of Vedic knowledge

which has been the preserve of only a handful of traditionally trained

specialized scholars. But to their astonishment Swami specified and

demonstrated the correct configuration of the sanctified and ritual place.

Swami's procedure did not coincide with the expert view of either of the two

pundits. They later checked up their palm-leaf Shroutha texts to confirm that

what Swami had elaborated was exactly the same for that particular sacrifice!

The assembled scholars were greatly amazed and some of them returned humbled as

well as greatly impressed

by Swami's knowledge in the field of Vedic knowledge.”

It is the same experience with professionals from every discipline of modern world.

Embodiment of All Knowledge

Engineer Par Excellence

The engineers who were to construct the 65 feet high Hanuman Statue in the Hill

View Stadium in Prashanti Nilayam for the 65th Birthday were at a loss

regarding the design of the huge structure taking into account the huge weight,

the load distribution on all sides, stability, etc. When they approached

Bhagavan, Swami told them that a certain pose of Hanuman would give them the

required structural stability, and to illustrate what pose He had in mind, He

materialized on the spot a golden idol of Hanuman, the way He wanted!

Later, the engineers did a complete structural analysis through computer

simulation and discovered that indeed this particular structure was far more

stable than anything they had come up with earlier!

 

Advocate Supreme

Amar Vivek, a former student of Swami’s Institute and a distinguished lawyer

serving in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, recently shared over an

interview with the Radio Sai team how Swami came to his rescue in a very

critical case.

This happened in May 2001. Amar decided to fight the case of a retired school

teacher whose house was being illegally grabbed by a police officer by forging

the documents. The notorious officer, in retaliation, framed 30 false

allegations against Amar but that did not deter Amar in going ahead with the

case. On 15th May, 2001, Amar returned home tired, exhausted and nervous after

presenting his case in the court. Very apprehensive of the verdict, Amar went

to his bedroom and started praying and crying in front of Swami’s photo. Just

as he was doing this, he heard Swami’s soothing voice from the photo!

Swami told him that it was actually He who was handling the case for him and

even mentioned three specific instances as evidence. The first – a few days

ago, a person by name Rishi, a government employee, had dropped by Amar’s house

and given him some very crucial documents for the case. Swami told Amar 'Who do

you think arranged for that?'

The second and the most important – in the court when Amar was cross examining

the police officer, to his utter bewilderment, the police officer answered all

the questions against himself! It was a grueling 4 hours session and all the

time the police officer said what Amar had never expected! Swami said to Amar

'Who do you think sat on his tongue and changed his words?' The third – Swami

mentioned to Amar the exact date of the verdict, 17th May 2001 and even told

him that it is the holy day of Thursday and that Judge Sant Prakash (his name

meaning, The Sage's Light) will read out the verdict in his favour. Needless to

say, Amar won the case, thanks to Swami’s grace.

Doctor Divine

Instances where Swami has guided doctors are innumerable. Doctors in Swami’s

Hospitals, both in Puttaparthi and Whitefield, know it better than anybody

else. Here we give just one incident narrated by Dr. Shantamma of Swami’s

General Hospital.

This happened in 1985 concerning the baby of the present principal of the Higher

Secondary School, Sri Shivramakrishnaiah. This baby, Sujaya, was actually

Swami’s gift to the couple as the couple did not have any child for 14 years

and she was conceived after Swami gave prasadam to the principal’s wife. When

Sujaya was brought to darshan, Swami blessed the child and told the mother to

take the child to the hospital immediately. Dr. Shantamma who was attending on

the patient says,

"When the baby was brought to the hospital, she was in a collapsed condition. It

was 18th July 1985 . The baby was dehydrated…. we started Oxygen inhalation. We

were not able to get the veins as all had collapsed. I wanted to make a small

cut on the skin under local anesthesia so that a cannula or a needle can be put

into a deeper vein, but the parents cried and refused. I came to Swami, told Him

about it, and He said, "Don't do the cut as they are very much scared. Go and

see the baby again."

The anesthetist and myself went and saw that there was a prominent vein on the

hand itself, which was not there earlier! We started I.V (Intra Venous) drip.

The baby had severe peritonitis – inflammation of the abdominal membrane.

Copious greenish fluid was coming through the naso gastric tube.

With all necessary antibiotics and other medicines, the baby's condition did not

improve. It was already one week, the I.V (Intra Venous) Line was changed 2-3

times. We were tired of pricking the baby repeatedly. I went and told Swami.

Swami said, "Don't worry, the baby will become all right". He materialised

vibhuti and told me to apply it all over baby's body. It was done.Distension of

abdomen-lessoned, bowel sounds appeared, and the baby passed motion, the naso

gastric tube aspiration became lessened. We were a bit relieved of our tension.

 

 

 

 

After 2 days, the baby developed high fever, and the temperature went up lo

104-106* F. In spite of all medicines, and good nursing care, the baby became

delirious, and restless. Once again I went and told Swami, "Swami please take

over the management of the baby, I cannot handle the case any more in this

condition of the baby. The parents are very anxious and worried. They have

given up all hope". Swami looked at me deeply and said, "Yes, it is my

responsibility, you do as I say" I agreed, Swami materialized vibhuti, and told

me to apply it all over the body.

When I came back to the hospital, we applied vibhuti, removed all the tubes and

stopped all medicines as the baby was in this condition for nearly two weeks.

We allowed her to sleep peacefully. We told the parents that was all we could

do and started praying to Bhagavan. The baby slept through the night and her

heart beat, pulse, respiratory rate, and motion became normal! The next

morning, Swami asked me, “How is the baby?” I said, “It is a miracle. The baby

has improved.” Then Swami said, “You say improved? It is all right now, fully

normal.” Swami made her well without physically visiting the baby patient."

 

 

Manager Divine

Question the Dean of the MBA programme, Prof. U S Rao, about Swami’s inputs on

Management and he will tell you, “Bhagavan explained the concepts of

'Reengineering' and TQM (Total Quality Management) to the management students

and asked us to incorporate them into the core courses of the MBA programme

more than ten years back when no other management Institute had thought of

introducing these into their core syllabus.”

Ask a few management students and they will tell you how Swami chose the project

and research topics for them and how He actually guided them in their work.

Shirish Patil, a management student of Swami’s Institute belonging to the

1996-98 batch, recollects a revealing incident -

 

During my second year of MBA), all my classmates had decided to offer our

project work at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan Baba. During the evening darshan, we

kept all the projects piled up for Bhagavan Baba’s blessings. My project work

(Analysis of the Indian Petrochemicals Industry) happened to be the bulkiest

and when Bhagavan Baba asked, “Whose work is this?”

I raised my hand; Bhagavan Baba asked me to hand over the project work to Him.

As Bhagavan Baba went through the project, I knelt by His side.

He then said, “You have made a mention of Rakesh Mohan Committee in your

analysis,” and before I could react, He turned the pages (about 150 pages) and

straight went to that particular page and said, “See I told you”.

Then He asked, “Why should I have interest in what is written in your project

work? I wanted to show you that I know everything!” I took Bhagavan Baba’s

Padanamaskar (salutations at His Feet) and He then created Vibhuti for me.

Thus, Bhagawan is the invisible guide for their project work for every student in the Institute.

Sai Is At The Heart of Science

The students of the Physics department of the Institute will gladly recollect

how on so many occasions Swami had elaborated on Energy, Laser, Optics, etc.

And the faculty of Chemistry Department will tell you how Swami once explained

in detail the composition of petroleum and all its products and by-products,

their uses, their composition and their demerits.

And what to say of biology, zoology or the environment! Swami has dealt in so

much detail about all these topics on so many occasions. Of course, Swami’s

favorite is Spirituality and like a great master He beautifully provides a

spiritual dimension to all disciplines of human knowledge. Yes, He has talked

about the mysteries of the Universe, creation, the distance between galaxies,

the planets and the constellations….everything on the earth and in the sky!

 

 

“Mine are not Lectures, they are Mixtures” - Baba

Swami often says His discourses are not lectures but ‘mixtures’. A wholesome mix

of the spiritual and the standard, which makes it practical, interesting and

illumining. He is the greatest of teachers and a Teacher by example and advice.

 

A philosopher can learn from Baba the art of laying bare enigmatic thought

processes in a simple and straightforward manner. A painter of genius meets his

challenge in the ever-varying expressiveness of His face and eyes. An actor

learns from Him those subtle inflections and intonations of the voice that best

express the soul. A trained teacher finds a master of profoundly new methods in

Baba. As the Geeta says, "The Divine is the best, the mightiest, the most

charming, the wisest, the highest and the most intricate Being; an incarnation

of the Divine bears this stamp on its personality."

Not only is He Himself an inspiring theme; His charm and every conversation

releases springs of inspiration hidden away for a long time in the minds and

hearts of people. And how they are transformed for good! Prof. Kasturi

beautifully narrates this process in Sathyam Shivam Sundaram saying, “…His

speech with even casual visitors becomes a pat on the back, often a prick to

the bubble, a stab to the ego, a candle in the darkness, a stick to the lame, a

path in the wilderness, a rose amidst the thorns, a beacon that beckons to

nobility and divinity.”

 

- Heart2Heart Team

Source: Radio Sai E-Magazine November 2005

Issuehttp://media.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_03/11NOV01/coverstory_glorious_Sai_wisdom.htm