Glorious Sai - His Power [Part 4 of 6]

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GLORIOUS SAI - HIS POWER

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.

 

 

 

 

‘Miracles’

What you call ‘miracles’, are only manifestations of My Love, Swami has often

said. “Every miracle of Baba is a gift of Grace, “ Prof. Kasturi records in

Sathyam Shivam Sundaram,

“It may be a pinch of sacred ash, a piece of candy, a picture created before us;

it may be a shower of ash, or the emergence of Kumkum (vermillion) or fragrant

sandal or nectarine honey, on a picture, an ‘Om’ in ash on the floor, a

continuous flow of scented oil or Amrith (nectar) from a Linga or locket.

It may also be a series of paper slips on which counsel or warnings are written

in the language you understand, that come from His hands in the portraits you

worship. It may be given to you while you are awake, asleep or dreaming - or

come to you as a book or as a parcel through the post, in reply for an order

that you may not have placed. It may be a vision of Himself, subtle,

substantial, momentary or more lasting, but, always, it is a sign of His Love

and Majesty.”

 

Power Over Nature

This year has been full of natural disasters of various kinds. First there was

the tsunami, after which there were the hurricanes that hit America, followed

by floods in China and India, especially in Mumbai. As if this were not enough,

Taiwan and Vietnam were slammed by typhoons; a little later, hundreds of people

lost their lives in Guatemala in the mudslides and to cap them all, there was

recently, the massive earthquake in Kashmir, killing tens of thousands and

leaving millions homeless, even as winter was setting in the Himalayas.

In earlier issues we have covered some of these disasters. Again and again

people ask: “Why does God punish mankind with such natural disasters?” Somehow,

people forget that God does not punish but sends help. At times, He personally

comes to the rescue. He did this as Krishna, when He saved the villagers of

Gokul from a torrential deluge by lifting a hill on His little finger.

In the October issue, we carried the story of how, in the form of Lord Rama,

Swami came to the rescue of the people of Madurantakam in South India,

following an earnest prayer by Col. Lionel Price of the East India Company. Now

we have for you a story of how Swami controlled the elements, to rescue the

people of Puttaparthi, even as He did in His earlier incarnations.

This happened way back in the year 1971, and the incident was narrated to us by

Mr. Chiranjeevi Rao, who was the caretaker of the Ashram for many years and had

a ringside view of the whole incident.

 

That year, there was a deluge and Chithravathi River was in full spate. The

water entered the village and drove away hundreds of villagers from their huts.

The Ashram being the highest point of the village, the villagers all flocked

there. Swami in His mercy and compassion not only allowed them all inside

giving refuge, but also arranged food distribution for the refugees.

Meanwhile, the water level was rising menacingly and threatened to enter even

the premises of the Ashram. That is to say, water was almost at the Ganesha

Gate. In those days, there was almost nothing between the river and the Ashram.

Swami now decided on Divine intervention. He summoned Mr. Chiranjeevi Rao and

along with him, walked up the flight of stairs in East Prashanti. Together they

went to the terrace, and moved close to the parapet wall. Looking down from

there, they saw water on the street below, the level of which was rising.

Swami then said something softly. Mr. Rao says he could not exactly hear what

Swami said but it seemed as if He was speaking something. Bhagavan then raised

both His hands in benediction and said: “Shanti, Shanti, Shanti” (Peace, Peace,

Peace). The moment He finished, most miraculously, the water started

withdrawing! It all happened very quickly.

Mr. Rao has with him a photo taken during that period which he has kindly made

available to us. That photo is what you see on the left. You can see Swami

amidst the villagers who had taken shelter in the Ashram. Behind is Mr. Rao.

Instances of such nature that are recorded are many, which is only a fraction of

what is happening all the time all over the world. When terrible forest fires

broke out in the Chunchuma Ranch, Tecate (Mexico) where Indra Devi has her Yoga

Institute, Swami in India said, “No more fires!” and the flaming conflagration

retreated in a trice! Sri Indulal Shah will tell you how Swami with a gentle

wave of His hand dispatched the clouds that were threatening to disrupt a

public meeting in Malleswaram, Bangalore in the summer of 1965 and again in

Dharmakshetra, Mumbai in 1967. Mrs. Ratanlal once narrated how Swami showed a

miniature moon – same brightness and coolness as the real moon - in His palm

while talking about the moon and the spots on the moon’s surface to the

devotees.

Master of Matter

Anybody who has been in Swami’s vicinity would have been a witness to

innumerable materializations that Swami does from the thin air everyday to

confer small gifts of love and grace in the form of Vibhuti, or a ring, a

chain, a watch, etc. Why does He do it? Is it to draw people? Swami once said,

“No. it is just a spontaneous expression of My love. When you wish to show

affection to your son, or if you want to make someone happy, you make him a

sports shirt or buy him a present, do you not? (In the same manner) Swami also

wants to give you happiness with these small gifts.”

On another occasion, in an interview that He gave to a newspaper editor, many years back, He said,

“It is never for ‘pradarshan’ (or show), it is always for ‘nidarshan’ (or

evidence), it is just like a play, sport - My natural behaviour. It is a sign

which helps to turn into faith, devotion, inquiry and realization of their own

Atma (spirit). As the intention or the will arises in the mind, the thing is

made! It is ready when I want it. The moment it is willed, the thing comes to

hand or happens where I will it to happen.”

He is the Master of matter and energy!

 

When He created that exquisite cross for Dr. Hislop made out of the same wood on

which Jesus was crucified, it was to remove the veil on some very important

facets of Christ’s personality; or when He transformed a small rock into a

sugar candy for the hard-nosed scientist-geologist Dr. Rao, it was to drill

deep into him that there is God beyond protons and electrons in the rock; when

He multiplied food just by a mere tap on the lid of the vessels on so many

occasions whether on the sands of Chitravathi or at the residence of a host in

Bangalore, it was to feed so many people and/or to protect the host from

embarrassment. His actions or miracles are always for a purpose just like His

gifts which are a sign of eternal protection and love.

 

 

 

Miracle Cures

More than the material objects which serve as a constant reminder of His

presence, Baba has gifted the most precious possession – good health - to so

many devotees, sometimes physically, sometimes telepathically, sometimes

through vibhuti, sometimes through a mere glance, sometimes appearing at the

bedside of an ailing man, sometimes through a dream… His means are as varied as

the ailments.

The medical miracles of Bhagawan - be it giving eye-sight to Dr. Ravi Kumar, a

lecturer in Swami’s college in Bangalore, not once, but twice; or canceling the

cancer of Captain Oberoi, the first aerodrome officer of Sathya Sai Airport; or

curing the torn muscle of Sunil Gavaskar, the legendary cricketer, in the West

Indies; or making the handicapped little Ketu, daughter of a Parsi gentlemen,

Mr. Russi Patel, from Mumbai, walk and talk; or curing an old man from Nellore

with chronic diabetes and sinuses in the arms in a day by materializing vibhuti

for him; or… this list is endless – but each is an amazing expression of His

supreme power and infinite compassion.

Resurrections

But most remarkable is the Gift of Life that Swami has bestowed on not one or

two but so many devotees over so many years of His Avatharhood. In fact, we ran

a cover story on this theme in the June issue of Heart2Heart. (Go here to read

it again). There you will find detailed accounts how Swami brought back Mrs.

Vijayakumari’s father from death (Smt. Vijayakumari is a long standing devotee

who came to Swami in the early 1940s); gave a new lease of life to Sri

Seshagiri Rao, the temple priest of Prashanthi Nilayam; resurrected Mrs.

Subbamma, Swami’s foster mother; and similarly breathed new life into so many

other devotees, old and new.

The Real Divine Sign

To narrate comprehensively Swami’s power and miracles is like trying to measure

the ocean and the sky. There is nothing that He cannot do for He is omnipotent

and omniscience,

"I can, by My Sankalpa (will), change the earth into sky and the sky into earth,

but that is not the only sign of Divine Might. It is the Love, the compassion,

the supreme patience to deal with all this frailty and fanaticism, it is the

Resolve to cure them all - that is the Unique Sign," Baba explained on one

occasion.

The divine consciousness sees the past, present and the future, wholly and

truly. “If He is all-powerful, why did He not answer my prayer?” one may ask.

Perhaps it was because, in His all-seeing wisdom, He knows what you want will

not be good for your spiritual welfare. He is like a mother who will not give

to her child what will be harmful to him, no matter how hard he cries and begs

for it. Clouded by our limited understanding, we might often lead ourselves to

believe that Swami can do only this and this and not this. But the truth is

that we try to measure with our limited human minds the immeasurable and the

infinite. Elaborating on the same lines, on Christmas Day in 1970, Swami

declared,

"There are many who cannot bear to tolerate the splendour that emanates from Me,

the Divinity expressed in and through every act of Mine. These people label them

as acts of mesmerism, miracles or feats of magic! Their vocabulary is small.

Their experience is limited. They hope, by these words, to cast a slur. Let Me

tell you this:

 

‘Mine is no mesmerism, miracle or magic! Mine is genuine Divine Power. Small

minds and limited intellects cannot comprehend them. They have no strength or

stamina to grasp the magnificence and the majesty. God can do anything. He has

all Power in the palm of His Hand. My Body, like all other bodies, is a

temporary habitation but My Power is eternal, all-pervasive, ever-dominant.’ ”

The Everyday Miracle We Miss

Prof. Kasturi in Sathyam Shivam Sundaram – III, narrates a beautiful incident

substantiating this very aspect of the Sai Avathar,

“Nearly twenty years ago, arriving one morning at the Prashanthi Nilayam I found

a group of young men from a Bangalore college praying to Baba to take them to

the top of the hill on the left bank of the Chitravathi river. They hoped that

once there, Baba would take from the famous tamarind tree, fruits of different

species. I too joined in the appeal, but Baba was determinedly silent for a

while, then said sharply, "Do I require that particular tree? Any tree can do."

 

We were filled with hope. He would give us fruit from another tree and make

that immortal! But He said, "Why do you think I want a tree? Sand is good

enough."

That meant He would give us something from the river bed! We were soon disillusioned!

"Do I need the sands of a riverbed? Is not any sand equally good?"

Since the building work was in progress at Prashanthi mandir, truck loads of

sand had been heaped to one side. "We shall sit on this heap itself, Swami!" I

said.

"Do you think that the creation of something out of sand is the only miracle?

Is sand so essential?"

We did not know what to say - we had to be satisfied by the miracle, creation of

Vibhuti by the mere wave of a hand.

 

"Should I create something so that you can see a miracle? Is not your existence

itself a miracle of Mine?" He asked. Then He rose and walked away leaving us

aghast at the revelation of His being the Trinity, of His being the Incarnation

of the One Universal God.”

Yes, He is truly the one universal consciousness which responds to a Muslim who

prays to Allah, provides strength and solace to a Christian who cries before

Christ and confers blessings to a Hindu who worships Lord Shiva. He is

all-powerful and all-pervasive and His grace is there in abundance for

everybody like the refreshing drops of rain, only our hands and pots should be

ready to collect and preserve them.

- Heart2Heart Team

 

Source: Radio Sai E-Magazine November 2005

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