A Discourse for Devotees, by Michael Goldstein. M.D. - PART I

[Guest guest]

Sent by: Bon Giovanni

Pranams

For some time SatGuru has been in receipt of two discourses given by Dr. Michael

Goldstein in Spanish to South America sevaks recently. Devotees among the

Spanish-speaking audience have described the speeches as rich and delightful,

encouraging and wise, ever spoken with perfect grammar as well as apt idiom and

choice metaphor. Such fluency however does not transfer easily into another

language save for the most skillful and insightful translators. With hopes that

you find their skill adequate, sevaks now offer this translation into English as

an offering to you.

[Note: The speech is very enlightening and informative. In view of its length we

propose to present the full text of the speech to our ‘’

members in FOUR PARTS.]

A Discourse for Devotees, by Michael Goldstein. M.D. – PART I

My dear Brothers and sisters:

Sai Ram to you all.

I am happy to be with you and very grateful to Swami for this opportunity to

speak to you. We are in a good place today, and in fact, we are here together

on this planet Earth, living our human lives given to us by God, for the

purpose of loving and raising one another to the experience of pure love.

Spiritual realisation is the constant realisation of divine consciousness. That

is the reason why we are here together today and why we live these human lives

which God has given us.

As devotees of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, as sincere spiritual aspirants, as

people with common sense, we recognise the importance of time, the time spent

in this good place and the time which we spend embodied in these human lives,

given by God. This time is limited. Hence we focus on the most important: "The

nature of God and man, our spiritual purpose and our plan, and time, time,

time.

Now is the time to amplify our perspective and contemplate the human passage

from birth to realisation, from the entrance into this world and its obstacles,

to the transcendence which goes beyond the illusions of Maya! Now is the time to

move towards becoming aware of our innate divinity.

Today I am speaking to you about these themes, but I must ask myself, "Am I

prepared, and am I worthy?" What do ‘prepared’ and ‘worthy’ mean?

Recently, our beloved Swami gave me a profound and poignant lesson on the

significance of being prepared and being worthy, a lesson which is applicable

to all of us, in every moment and in everything we do.

While at Prashanthi I was immersed in a conflict which was the result of my own

attachments. I had serious differences of opinion with my brothers of the

Organisation. Unresolved differences of opinion breed conflicts. Conflicts

breed bitterness and deception. Bitterness and deception breed anger. Anger is

the antithesis of spirituality.

This particular day, Swami had planed to give a discourse. He came out to give

Darshan; he walked among the multitudes and exuded his Divine Love. We were all

seated there, waiting to hear His discourse.

Generally, His discourses are a preceded by one or two orators pre-selected by

Swami. That day, I did not have the privilege of being pre-selected. Swami came

to me and to my great surprise he asked, "Goldstein, are you going to speak?" I

answered, "Swami did not give me instructions to speak today, but if it is Your

will, then I will do so." Swami then asked, "Are you prepared?" I replied, "If

it is Your will, then, Swami, I am prepared." He moved away and continued to

give Darshan. A little later He returned and once again he asked, "Are you

prepared?" I repeated to Him, "If it is Your will, then I am prepared."

He entered his room for some moments, and came out again walking among the

devotees. Before sitting in His chair for the Divine Discourse, for a third

time He came up to me and asked. "Are you prepared?"

This time full of eagerness, anticipating the happiness to have been selected by

Swami to speak in His Divine Presence, I said, "Yes Swami, I am prepared!"

Swami then leaned close to me and said softly, "To be prepared… Is a state of the inner self."

Instantly I knew the significance of His words!!! "PREPARED AND WORTHY ARE ONE"

I had thought I was prepared to speak, but I was experiencing inner unrest.

Your words must reflect what you think, feel and do. Then you will be prepared

and you will be worthy. I was feeling uneasiness and conflict with respect to

matters of the Sai Organisation and so was not prepared to speak of peace and

love.

My interior world was not in peace nor in harmony. "To be prepared is a state of

the inner self" and obviously I was not prepared, and I must tell you that I did

not speak that day. For us, Sai devotees, to be prepared and to be worthy are

one and the same.

With a simple word or phrase, Swami teaches us many lessons at many levels. That

is the nature of Divinity. One of the reasons for telling you this story in

particular is that I know that many of you have bad feelings about our Sathya

Sai Organisation.

Now I beseech you to search deeply within yourselves and ask your conscience,

which is your master, if these sentiments are noble, spiritual, free of all

egoism and worthy. As always, we want a spiritual experience! So let us look as

the result of those meetings and programs offered by the Organisation, the true

spiritual experience and not only mundane achievements.

Now I must repeat my mantra for today, the nature of God and man, our purpose

and plan, and time, time, time.

And God?

When the Lord allows himself to manifest himself among Man, it is to ennoble him

and allow him to understand the Divine Essence and the purpose of human life.

The Lord, to make Himself known, allows Himself to manifest Himself to Man in

many ways. God has created nature for us, that we may find our own divinity. It

is like playing ‘hide and seek’. Being the omnipresent Lord, He hides

everywhere. Candidly we look for Him outside of ourselves, as we mature

spiritually we look within, in our own hearts. There we find our true self, our

divine self, our self…. free of all egoism.

The knowledge of God is immanent in all the experiences of life.

In so many ways the Lord allows himself to be recognised by man. Unquestionably,

the greatest of all is when he takes the form of man, embodies as Avatar, as

God-man and walks amid us. The Bhagavad Gita teaches us that this occurs when

civilisation suffers a spiritual and moral downfall, to the point that darkness

befalls us. The Lord comes to the world as a divine light, loving and

enlightening, and he enables us to recognise the outstanding characteristics of

true humanity, of nobility, of character, of excellence. He manifests himself in

the universal human values; Sathya, Dharma, Shanti, Prema, Ahimsa; truth, right

conduct, peace, love and non-violence.

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai has embodied for this purpose. Contemplate and rejoice!

The lamb and the lion of God are amidst us!!!!!

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, our Beloved Sai, is merciful and compassionate,

peaceable and loving. He is the Lamb of God.

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, our beloved Swami, is all powerful, omniscient,

omnipotent. He is the lion of God.

Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, our beloved Swami, is the divine synthesis of

sweetness and strength, of innocence and of knowledge, of attainability and of

invulnerability.

He is both the lamb and the lion of God.

Frequently, through the years, many people have asked why I travel to India,

being so far away and so often. Before answering the question, I contemplate my

experiences with Swami in the last 25 years and I ask myself the same questions,

which I have just mentioned.

Who among men, knows all that we have thought, felt, said, done and also dreamt?

Who among men, is not limited by the law of time and space, nor matter nor

energy, as our scarce knowledge allows us to understand God’s creation?

Who among men can comfort the ignorant, or the suffering, with a look, a smile,

a simple touch and so many other imperceptible ways?

Who among men has given his life for the good of humanity so magnanimously, and

so free of all egoism, always giving and forgiving, never taking and

forgetting?

Who among men spontaneously speaks the eternal truth with fundamental authority?

Who among men can inspire the pure and innocent love of a child in the hardest

and most cynical of hearts?

According to my experience, Sathya Sai Baba does all of these things. For me,

that confirms His Divinity. Ironically, Swami himself has said that only an

idiot goes out into the world to look for God, because God resides in the heart

of every man and woman. So, perhaps I have made so many journeys to India

because of stubbornness and being hardhearted.

But I feel a great unprecedented love and rejoicing, when I am in the presence of Sathya Sai Baba.

The life of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba demonstrates Divinity and inspires our

own spiritual transformation.

The message of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba teaches us the nature and paths of

Divinity and inspires us to look for the spiritual purpose of life.

The work of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba exemplifies the omnipotence of Divinity

and inspires us to emulate Him to transcend our imagined limitations.

[Continued in Part II]