SRI SAI SATCHARITA and SATHYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM [59]

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Om Sri Sai Ram

Ganesha Mantra: AUM Gung Ganapathaye Namah

Ganesh Gayatri

Tat purushaaya vidmahe

Vakratundaaya dheemahi

Tanno dhanti prachodayaat

SRI SAI SATCHARITA and SATHYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM

The Life Stories of the Two Avatars of the Age – [59]

SATHYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM - PART IV

The Life of the Divine Avatar Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba - [1973-1979]

N. Kasturi M.A., B.L.

LETTERS FROM HIM

The Avatar's pen writes letters to persons anguished by doubt or defeated by

disaster. These letters carry His love and mercy into their hearts and heal the

wounds that fester there. Invariably, they feed and foster the springs of

spiritual striving and help in the growth of love.

No occasion is too routine, too trite or too grand for Him to play His role as a

teacher. Writing to a couple on the occasion of their marriage, He tells them,

"You are not just boy and girl coming together. You are Siva-Shakti,

hyphenated, as truly as I am, the right and the left halves of the same body.

May you be ever in the shade of joy and contentment; may you both float as one

on the waves of ecstatic love; may you sway merrily on the flower-bedecked

swing of faith held by the ropes of courage and confidence; may this boat which

you are boarding this day, be loaded with happy comradeship and festivity,

health and wholesomeness, to reach safe and smooth at the lotus feet of the

Lord. Row it forward, both of you, with the oars of self-surrender and service,

and let its sails be filled with the breeze of

grace."

In a letter to a devotee on his sixtieth birthday, He writes, "Awaken! Sathya

Sai, who resides in your heart as your loving Mai (Mother), is heaping Ananda

on you. He is blessing you that you may have a long life, sound health, peace

of mind, devotion to God, detachment from the transient objects of the world

and success in the search for your own truth, your reality. May you, your

children and your grandchildren be happy and prosperous; may you spread delight

all around you; may you achieve the role of the witness content in the

contemplation of the manifold Leelas of God; may you ever be in good and godly

company and may your hours be spent in the recapitulation of the glories of

God. Here, hold forth your palm and receive this Amrita that I am offering, the

Amrita of love. No nectar can be sweeter and more invigorating."

SAI WILL SAVE YOU

To a ninety-year-old devotee fast sinking into the lap of the Lord, He wrote,

"Narasamma, accept My blessings. Sai is in your heart; He will not move away.

Say 'Sai' with every breath; spend every moment repeating that name. Spend all

your thoughts trying to picture Sai standing near you. Sai will save you. You

will be merged in Sai. You will be in Sai eternally." It need not be said that

a gentle calm descended upon the face of this blessed lady. Seconds before her

death she chewed some Vibhuthi, miraculously dropped into her mouth by Sai, who

gave her both Darshan and Prasadam as promised.

His letters quicken the pulse, warm the heart and soothe the pain. A devotee

wrote to Him that he had to sorrowfully forego his visit to Prashanthi Nilayam

during the Dasara celebrations, because his mother was seriously ill. Some

months earlier, the Government had posted him as magistrate in a town only a

few hundred miles from Prashanthi Nilayam, but he had prayed to Baba that he

may be transferred even nearer. However, he was actually shunted to a place a

thousand miles away on the Bay of Bengal, near the Orissa border! Baba wrote to

him, "I got your letter. I accept your prostrations. I am aware of the

anguish, which you communicate to Me. The anguish of separation from the One you

really adore and love is the best Sadhana. Be brisk in that Sadhana. Continue

yearning, more and more ardently. That is the best means of ensuring Sai's

presence in your heart. I know you are happy only when you are in Sai. And,

remember always, that your happiness is My daily food. My dear child! Why are

you sad at not being able to serve Sai during the Dasara festival that is

nearing fast. You are sorry that your mother's illness prevents you from coming

to Me. Well, is not service to your mother, service rendered to Me? The mother

who is called Aay-i, Thaay-i and Maay-i is no other than Saay-i. Serve her, and

through that service, worship her. Why hesitate or doubt or grieve? All the

time, ever with you as close and as alert as the eyelids to the eye, Sai is

guarding you. He is where you are, accepting your day's Pooja, receiving your

offerings and giving you the Ananda of grace. He will not forget

you or give you up; He will never move out of your heart. Convey My blessings to

your mother. Tell her on My behalf to fix her mind on the Atman as Rama, to the

exclusion of every other thought. That is the strongest support, the most

reliable refuge. That is the unshakeable, unseen base; the rest are but

short-lived superstructures, mirages, castles in the air. Tell her to have the

Name always on the tongue and to meditate on God seated on the swing that

oscillates in her heart. Tell her to picture God playing on the waves of Ananda

inside her consciousness. That is the real Sadhana which I teach every day.

"Convey My blessings to your Grihalakshmi (wife, also referred to as the goddess

of prosperity and felicity presiding over the home). You can, very soon, be in

the Presence and derive the Ananda you crave for."

SAI - THE RESIDENT OF YOUR HEART

He wrote to an old lady whose husband had died in an accident: "Marriage binds

two persons together as husband and wife. What were they to each other minutes

before? The one would not have worried for the other if the wedding had not

happened. Where was the son or the brother before conception? Life is an

interlude between what was and what will be. During this interlude one should

not lament over what cannot be helped or set right, but should seek God and

take refuge in Him. Your husband lived a good life in the light of the Truth he

had glimpsed. He did no wrong to anyone; he loved and served the suffering and

the illiterate; he salvaged many families from penury and infamy; he helped

many young people to go through college; many sick persons were saved by his

timely donations; he was ever cheerful and spread cheer

wherever he went; and, at last, God willed that he cast away the body that

limited him. Of what use is it now to calculate what might have happened had he

not gone to Madras that day?

"Your duty now is to sustain the greatness he earned, to follow the ideals that

he had placed before himself. Your husband is here, in My presence, and he will

be here forever as he had wished to be, even when alive. Swami will not allow

him to be separated from His presence, he is now free from all bonds and

boundaries.

"You are indeed fortunate that destiny drew you to him and gave you so many

years of loving companionship with such a fine person. His thoughts were pure;

there was no blemish of envy, hatred, or greed in him. So his place is with Me,

forever. I am writing this letter to you in order to shower on you the cool rain

of love. That rain will scotch the flames of grief that are now raging within

you. Your husband is at Prashanthi Nilayam, in the presence of Sai, having

attained that climax by his spiritual aspirations." The Gita describes the Lord

as the friend of all beings (Sarva bhootha suhrd). These letters reveal that he

is more reassuring than any father, more affectionate than any mother, more

considerate than any kinsman and more just than any human authority. The

blessing that Baba confers on lives dedicated to God

who is enshrined within us is, invariably, everlasting life in Himself.

LETTER TO ME

Let me take the liberty of allowing you to read one of the letters that Baba

wrote to me twenty-two years ago. It illustrates His omnipresence and His

omniscience, as well as His boundless love - attributes that He has decided to

demonstrate in this Avataric form in order to draw into the crucible of

transformation the peoples of the world. I had returned to Bangalore after a

long and arduous pilgrimage to the holy shrines on the Ganges, to Bodhgaya,

Dakshineswar, Kamarpukur and Puri. I was urged to take my mother and wife on

this pilgrimage by Baba Himself. He had blessed us the day we had set out, and

assured us that we would have Him with us during our journey. He had said, "On

three railway tickets, four shall travel." Baba, we knew, is the stowaway in

every ark, which breasts the deluge of delusion; He is the companion of all who

progress on the road of pilgrimage.

When I had finished the assignment He had given me, I wrote to Him at Kodaikanal

hill where He was staying at that time, expressing our gratitude and informing

Him that all three of us had clear and tangible visions of Him at Rishikesh,

Varanasi and Gaya. In the reply that I received, Baba wrote, "Your letter

reached Me at Kodaikanal in time, but since we came down to Madras that very

day, I could not send you a reply. I reached Madras on the 25th, around

midnight. (The letter is dated 26th.) I am happy that you have returned full of

joy after visiting the holy places with your Mathru Devi (venerable mother). How

can delay, disappointment or danger cross your path when Swami is ever with you?

My name is not distinct from My form. The name recalls the form as soon as it is

pronounced or heard. When the form is seen, the name comes into awareness that

very moment. So, since the name is ever dancing on your tongue, the form, too,

has to be before you and beside you. What need is there to mention this in your

letter as a gift from Me? I have to manifest

the form, whenever and wherever My name is remembered with faith or sung with devotion.

"You might say that those visions were boons of grace from Swami. No, I always

say, 'Sadhana first, Sankalpa later'. That is the correct order. My Sankalpa or

Will confers bliss only after assessing the depth of yearning in the devotee.

Sadhana is the essential prerequisite. You were a professor and so you can

understand this easily. You must have evaluated the written answers of your

students. You evaluate and assign them marks only after careful scrutiny of

what they have written, don't you? I, too, measure and weigh the sincerity and

steadiness of the Sadhana you have imposed upon yourself and I frame My

Sankalpa accordingly. Of course, many are not aware that the misery in which

they find themselves can be negated by Sadhana.

"At Kodaikanal, thousands had gathered for the evening Bhajans. They were having

Darshan for the first time in their lives. It was their 'right' to get Darshan

that had brought Me to this hill station. For, as you know, I had not planned

to come here. It all happened so suddenly.

'Your daughter was very upset the other night over her husband's health. His

illness had taken a turn for the worse. I was there when your daughter wrote Me

a letter about his condition. She posted it next morning to the Puttaparthi

address. It has not reached Me yet, but I knew its contents even while it was

being written. When Swami's grace is available in plenty, why fear?"

DEAR CHILD!

Now I wish to quote from a letter written to a devotee who, due to desperate

financial straits, had desired to flee the country and proceed to Malaysia, but

later planned to commit suicide when his steamer ticket and travel documents

were stolen by pickpockets inside the harbor area at Madras. This letter was

written when Baba was twenty-three years of age: "Pattabhi, dear devotee. Swami

is writing to you; see, He is blessing you. Dear child, but what madness is

this? What a letter you have written and left at home! It is foolish to be

hasty. Think over your affairs calmly. Slow deliberation always reveals the

true and the beneficial. Think of the Crores of people the world over who are

in conditions far worse than yours. Remember always, you have Me to guard you

and guide you. How many of them have this fortune? Consider

that. Are you the only victim of poverty and indebtedness? The step you are

contemplating cannot give you rest or peace. It is not right. It is not manly

to run away from responsibility. Listen to Me! Go back to your place, be bold

and face the world with courage, for courage will set you free. It will conquer

all obstacles. Give up your foolish plan to escape." And Pattabhi went back,

recovered self-confidence and made a success of himself.

While with these individuals Baba is so gracious, He does not pardon or pass

over indiscipline or ill-behavior among those He wants should lead exemplary

lives. He wrote to a state president of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi: "There

is no use My writing about the Samithis. I have been saying that the next world

should be gained by man's triumph over the fascinations and fancies of this

world; but the members of the Organisation have given up all thought of future

lives and the other world. They behave as if this life, this world, is the only

one. To them, this seems the only measure, the only goal. For such persons,

illumination can be only as faint as the glow-worm in the night. Though the

stars twinkle in the sky and appear as tiny specks when compared in brightness

to the moon, they are really much more brilliant.

Each of them is a hundred suns rolled into one. But for the limited vision of

ignorant onlookers, the star is a spark and the moon a huge source of light.

Such men think of the future, because of its 'distance', as quite trivial, and

of the present, due to its immediate 'proximity', as very important. They pay

no attention to the stars but continue to be overawed by the moon. Civilization

today is concerned with the atom, but it ignores the Atman."

READ THIS ALOUD

When He is away from Prashanthi Nilayam for long, Baba often writes letters to

be read aloud to the residents. Usually, they are sharp reminders of the need

to respect the rules and regulation He has laid down for them. "Blessings to

all at the Mandir!" He writes. "Tell them all to fulfill their assigned duties

and responsibilities. The daily schedule of Pooja, Dhyana, Bhajan, Sankirtan

and study should be followed punctually and with faithful devotion. People

should move among one another with love and reverence. Of what benefit is

Sadhana if it is done without controlling jealousy, envy, pride, anger and

malice? However long you may live in the ashram, these vices will undermine any

merit you acquire. As the proof of the rain is in the dampness of the ground, so

the proof of Sadhana is in the subjugation of the senses.

Give up all irrelevant and impertinent talk and activity. Cultivate

self-examination and self-discovery and develop, through discipline, the inner

eye. Make the best of this chance acquired as a result of your good actions in

many previous lives. Of course, Swami's grace and love are always with you, but

to earn them more and more, Sadhana has to be done everyday, with greater and

greater enthusiasm. The residents of Puttaparthi and Prashanthi Nilayam have to

pave the way for mankind, so, they have to lead pious, humble and disciplined

lives."

DEAR BOYS

Now for some letters Bhagawan has written to be read out to the students of Sri

Sathya Sai colleges. Since they have had the opportunity of a closer

association with Baba, and more chances of listening to intimate expositions

from Him on the unity at the base of this illusory multiplicity, these letters

reveal the crux of Baba's teachings regarding the individual and the Universal,

the Atman and the Paramatma.

On Janmashtami in 1974, He sent this letter to the college students at

Brindavan. (It may be news to some, but it will not surprise His devotees to

know that these letters are written by Baba Himself in English). "Come, one and

all," He writes, "and see in Me, yourself, for I see Myself in you all. You are

My life, My breath, My soul. You are My forms, all. When I love you, I love

Myself; when you love yourselves, you love Me. I have separated Myself from

Myself, so that I may love Myself. My beloved ones, you are My Own Self." This

is only further evidence supporting Baba's declaration that He created the

universe of Himself, with one word, to become all this diversity (Ekoham,

Bhusyaam).

Let me quote from another letter where Baba indicates that He is the Inner

Motivator: " My boys," He writes, "the bird with you, the wings with Me; the

foot with you, the path with Me; the eye with you, the form with Me; the thing

with you, the dream with Me; the world with you, the heaven with Me - so are we

bound, so are we free, so we begin and so we end, I in you and you in Me."

Viewed superficially, it may appear epigrammatic effusion, but below the

surface lies the treasure of Truth: "I am in the Father and the Father is in

Me" (John 14:11). Essentially man is but a fraction, a fragment,

a fiction in search of a fact. God, alone, adds value to the zero by standing as

an integer by its side.

Gustaf Stromberg from Mount Wilson writes, "The development of a living organism

is in many ways like the building of a machine designed to perform a definite

function in the future. A plan must first be made and this can only be made by

an intelligent being, with his attention focussed not only on his past

experience but also on the purpose for which the machine is constructed.

Nature, apparently, has foresight and intelligence, and it is capable of highly

organized activity. Since an impersonal nature cannot have such characteristics,

we are led to the idea of a personal God." The letter of Baba mentioned above,

is reminiscent of such a One.

THE SELF AND THE SELF

Now the letter unraveling the truth of each of us, addressed to the students on

Janmashtami, Lord Krishna's birthday:

Dear boys,

In the world of today, so full of people who are selfish, unloving and unloved,

the brand of atheism known as 'self-love' has spread to the extent of almost

becoming a universal religion.

What is the Self? It is the Self that says 'not I', for if it says 'I', then it

is the unreal self. The real Self is selfless, and has no thought either of or

for itself. It is the Self that has now forgotten itself, because somehow, it

can visualize itself only in others. It is the Self that loves selflessly,

because pure love is but selfless affection. It is the Self that seeks the

truth with selfless determination, because truth is selfless wisdom. It is the

Self that is quiet, because in silence lies cessation from all worldliness. It

is the Self in wordless meditation, because wordless meditation is the conquest

of the mind through union with the Divine. It is the Self that does not judge,

but evaluates. It does not compare, seek security, or even see itself. It is

the Self that has completely absorbed itself and

yet, in a strange and mystical fashion, it is more itself, more complete and

more real than it has ever been. This is the real Self.

God is love, and love is selflessness. Selflessness is the abolition of all

sense of the ego and separativeness, of all spurious identification with the

isolationist life of that counterfeit thing called 'self'; self is

separativeness, and separativeness is the denial of wholeness, holiness, God.

The denial of God is known as atheism. As can now be understood, atheism is not

the denial of this or that religion or of this or that concept of God. It is

rather the denial of a life of love, which is the nature of God, and the

assertion of the life of the egoistic self. In short, real atheism is the

denial of love and the assertion of selfishness.

The Godward process called 'self-sacrifice' is, in its essence, love. For God is

love, and love alone can lead to Him. As the most godly act is one of love, the

most godless act is one of hate.

But hate, which is separativeness, can arise only when there is selfishness.

Thus it comes to pass, that the most godless, loveless, atheistic act, is the

act of selfishness.

Love must be totally selfless to be Godward, to be Divine. Its criterion must

be, 'the Beloved, first'; its technique must be 'your happiness before mine'.

The way to happiness is to forget oneself and to remember God, Sai Krishna.

With Blessings and Love, Sri Sathya Sai

HIS TWO EYES

There is a mysterious episode concerning an Indian couple who live in America.

The husband, Dr. Y.S. Thathachari, is a dedicated biophysicist who has worked

for some years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and after that at

Stanford

10pt">University and the University of California. As early as 1960 he suffered,

as the doctors suspected, from rheumatoid arthritis. But the experts who

examined him at Stanford - after dozens of X-rays, brain scans with radioactive

mercury, a surgical excision, chemical tests and a biopsy of the scalp lesions

(he had developed several bumps on the scalp) - declared that he had

"aggressively malignant and

metastasising tumors in the skull, the neck, the ribs and the hips, the cancer

having the features of both Ewings and Retiaulum Cell Sarcoma." It was a death

sentence enveloped in medical abracadabra! In a letter to me on this judgement,

Thathachari wrote, "Thus after delivering blow after blow, the surgeon told me,

'Sir, miracles do happen. We hope such a miracle would happen to you.' " That

was in 1962. The couple returned home to Madras to be in the midst of

relatives, while trying out palliative therapies.

In January 1964, doctors at Madras discovered widespread destruction in the

pelvic bones. Soon they pronounced that the liver was affected by the cancer.

Let Thathachari complete the account of what transpired: "In 1965, I felt like

seeking the blessings of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, following a chance

reference by a friend. Baba blessed my wife and me and directed us to go back

to Stanford, continuing the Endoxan, if I wished to do so. In 1970, when I

approached Him again, He asked me to discontinue all drugs and dietary

supplements. He gave me an assurance of cure and dispelled that

ever-present dread of recurrence." Thathachari is now pursuing his teaching

assignment and research projects in America with undiminished zeal, thanks to

the 'miracle' that happened. When asked how he brought about this most wondrous

miracle that defied all medical predictions, Baba replied, "All I did was to

invest him with confidence and willpower to cure himself. It is My abounding

love reciprocated by the intensity of the devotee's own faith, that finally

produced the desired result."

About three years ago Baba wrote to them, "My dears! I know that though your

bodies are far, far away, your thoughts are with Sai. That awareness and

attachment is sufficient to keep Me near. Thoughts have no walls or boundaries;

they can reach Me across the oceans. There is no one without Me; I am with and

within every one.

"When only the body is near but the thoughts are afar, the situation is like

frogs leaping around a lotus flower. But bees know of the ambrosia that the

lotus is ready to give; they yearn to partake of its sweetness and ever hasten

towards it. Bangaroo! (a word meaning 'gold', which is applied to a child who

is charming and well-behaved.) You have Swami's grace in plenty. Where the Name

is, there is the Form.

"Busy yourselves with the duties which are entrusted to you, in good spirit and

fine health. Sai is ever by your side. He is the charioteer of the vehicle of

your life. The ship of life, however heavily loaded with the cargo of joys and

sorrows, can certainly arrive at the harbor of self-realisation, if it is

propelled by holy mental energy. Repetition of the Name is the 'dug-dug-dug' of

the pistons; the steering wheel is love; the anchor is faith. Continue the

journey in confidence. Sai is always guarding you from harm and pain. You both

are like His two eyes. Swami is constantly showering His compassion on you. He

counsels you from within and corrects you. On your part, be immersed in the

duties entrusted to you; remember, that is Swami's work. When you discharge

your duties, convinced that the work is Mine, health and

happiness will be added unto you."

When a devotee, R. Lal, telegraphed from Bombay that he had a severe heart

attack. Baba wrote to him, "It is not in any way connected with your heart. Do

not exaggerate the small malfunction. Siva-Shakti is in your heart; that

Siva-Shakti will not permit any infirmity or injury to affect it. Be happy.

This day, Mother Sai is conferring on you the boon of Her love. That will grant

you health, joy, peace, courage and contentment."

This is how He consoled a stricken Hindu wife: "Mother, the news that your

husband attained merger with the Divine came to you all of a sudden. It is

quite natural that you were shocked at the accident, which killed him, and feel

miserably lonely and deserted. The daughters of Mother India do revere their

husbands as their all, and are ever concerned about their health, honour and

peace of mind. Yet one should not forget that the body is composite of diverse

elements. It must disintegrate into those elements, however much one might

guard it or lay claim over it. It is a feeble contraption, prone easily to be

put out of action. A slip, a stumble, a hit, a sneeze, a little carelessness or

a moment of recklessness, is enough to damage or destroy it. No one can avoid

death, even if one manages to lengthen one's life by

avoiding all these. Even avatars take birth resolving to die some day. When

birth occurs, death has to follow. To grieve over death, which is an inevitable

and inescapable consequence of birth, is not a sign of wisdom."

About ten years ago, He wrote a letter to a devotee in Gujarat: "Two fundamental

messages ringing through Indian culture down the centuries are: 'Revere the

mother as Divine. Revere the father as Divine.' These are sacred commands. When

the parents are by-passed and hurt by disobedience, I am sure I, too, will soon

be by-passed and disobeyed. When your son treats you a non-existent, how can he

claim to revere Me? That claim is patently false.

"The Lord does not demand external grandeur; He examines only whether internal

purity exists. A life lived badly is like a body without life. The body, in

Sanskrit, is called Deha, meaning 'that which has to be consigned to flames'. A

body belonging to a person who does not strive for inner purity can live only

for that consummation, to justify that appellation. It serves no other purpose,

and it cannot be blessed by the grace of the Lord."

"The value of education has to be measured in terms of the virtue it implants,

because virtue, alone, ensures peace and joy. Without it a man is as good as

dead, or even worse. Education must endow man with a sharp, discriminative

capacity. But for your son, it is an ugly and vulgar acquisition. (Sathya,

Dharma, Shanthi and Prema are the cardinal virtues.) Sathya is what I teach;

Dharma is the way I live; Shanthi is the mark of My personality; Prema is My

very nature."

THE WILL AND THE WAY

Here are two more messages sent to the Hostel boys:

I. 'Where there is a will there is a way' is absolutely

true. At first the will is your own. It has to be strengthened by the assent of

God; but until you convert it into the almighty Will of God, you seem to be

playing a particular game, which you do not desire to give up. You can always

change the game, if you so wish. You are not weak and helpless. All strength

and power is within you. God-vision is yours the instant you will it with

concentration. But you

simply don't choose to do so.

II. "Sai is not mocking, He is perfectly earnest. He is giving

expression to the truths gathered from the depths of experience. 'Trust in, and

submission to the Supreme Will in all circumstances', means 'the vision of

Truth' or 'realisation of the Eternal Principle of all creation'. 'If God

Wills' means, 'if you assert your own all-powerful Will'. The real solution,

therefore, is to awaken the inherent power and splendor of your soul. Do it,

boys! You are verily the immortal Truth, the great changeless Reality. May

victory ever be yours. With blessings, Baba."

"Boys, through the awareness of the Divine, alone, can we bring true peace to

the world. There is no doubt that considerable effort is being made by great

leaders of the world to bring about peace and harmony on the material plane.

But Sai does not see any sign of their success.

"The only way left for us is to turn our minds within ourselves and to find out

that the true and everlasting basis, that supreme source from which, alone, we

can bring true happiness and peace to the world. That basis is God, who is, in

fact, dwelling in the hearts of every one of us. He is the universal spirit.

"Every one of you is an embodiment of the Divinity. You are Sath-Chith-Ananda,

but have forgotten this truth. Realise it now. Meditate on the Reality until

your mind dissolves and you stand revealed as Truth itself, and enjoy, as Sai

has been enjoying, that Eternal Bliss. With blessings, Baba."

HE TEACHES THROUGH LETTERS

Pundit Veerabhadra Sarma is a renowned Vedic scholar. He can expound the sacred

scriptures and hold vast gatherings spellbound for hours by the clarity,

simplicity and sincerity of his Telugu oratory. He is also a leading minstrel

of the popular Burrakatha musical recitals, and has composed a Sanskrit 'Sai

Geetha' and 'Puja Vidhana' on classical lines. He was chosen to be a member of

the party that undertook the pilgrimage to Badrinath when Bhagawan decided to

bless that holy Himalayan shrine.

In spite of these unique distinctions, his material poverty was so acute that

one day he blamed Baba for 'neglecting him and heaping upon him misery after

misery.' His wife, who could not bear this sacrilege, offered to write to Baba

about the situation. She was certain that His blessings would clear the sky.

But Sarma was adamant. 'No prayer should proceed from either of us to Baba, who

has mercilessly betrayed our trust," he insisted. This was on 20th January 1962,

at

10pt">Kakinada, eight hundred miles from Prashanthi Nilayam. Bhagawan, of

course, sensed his pique and was aware of his obstinacy. So he wrote Sarma a

letter Himself, which reached him on 23rd January 1962. Sarma revealed to me

its contents. The letter is a miniature Gita which reveals the love that Baba

showers upon those who are misguided and move away from His fold, the courage

He instills by revealing to the desperate their own inner treasure of strength

and the course He lays down for their liberation from the entanglement of

ignorance. It reads thus: "Dear child Veerabhadram! You are Bhadram (secure,

happy, full of

confidence and joy), aren't you? You might ask, 'What kind of Bhadram is this?

Of course, that question is natural.

"When life flows clear and smooth with no hurdles to cross, to feel that it is

so because of oneself and to forget God, and when that flow encounters

obstacles and obstructions at every turn, to lament and lose heart - are these

not signs of the intellectual frailty inherent in man? You, too, are human,

dear Bhadram, therefore it is no wonder that you are overcome by depression and

despair when troubles bother and obstruct you at every step.

"Though the life of man is basically a manifestation of immortality and an

unbroken stream of Ananda, he strays away from the awareness of the Atman, the

spring of that Ananda, slavishly yielding to the vagaries of the mind, the

intellect and the ego. Sinking and floating, rising and falling on the turbid

waves of the sea of delusion, he is tossed between anxiety and calm, grief and

joy, pain and pleasure. He is afflicted with the evanescence of the world and

the unreality of his desires.

"Why are you confounded and confused by this false panorama? Remember, you are

thereby despising and denying your own Atmic identity. You have stored in your

brain the Vedas, the Sasthras, the Puranas, the Itihasas and the Upanishads,

but you behave like a dull boor. You bewail your lot and weep at your plight as

if you had no resources to fall back upon. This attitude is not worthy of the

learning you have accumulated. You have to draw strength and courage therefrom

and further the blossoming of holy, heartening thoughts.

"Should this one single trouble - want of money - make you stoop in weakness and

fear? You have with you the Name, which is the Dhanvanthri (Divine Physician)

for all the ills and anxieties of man. Instead of letting that Name dance

joyously on your tongue, why are you paying so much attention to what you call

loss, grief and worry?"

"You are the repository of so many branches of scriptural scholarship, but you

have neither realised their value nor attempted to experience the joy they can

give you. This must be your prime goal. Instead, you are spending your days in

the mere satisfaction of having acquired this knowledge, as if fluent oratory

were the best purpose to which you could devote your learning. The result is

that you are led into the baseless belief of being attacked by anxieties and

adversities."

"Really speaking, these are all objective phenomena, passing clouds that are but

a feature of the external nature. The Ananda that the Atman can confer on you

cannot be lessened or hindered in the least. Have firm faith in this truth.

Don't you know, Bangaroo, the freedom, the delight and the tranquility you can

derive by contemplation of the Ananda that the unbroken awareness of the Atman

can endow you with? Knowing this, even if you are confronted by the seemingly

most insurmountable problem, how can you get entangled with or be affected by

circumstances and phenomena in the objective world?"

"To preach to others is quite easy, but to put even a fraction of what is

preached into actual practice and experience the felicity promised, is

extremely difficult. You have been announcing in ringing tones that 'Swami

knows everything; Swami is the unitive embodiment of all the names and forms by

which man has adored God down the ages. But when problems overwhelm you, you

forget to establish these truths in your own life."

"Don't I know? The other day, when you had been reduced to plead with your

father for help and when you were about to proceed to where he resides, your

wife suggested, 'we shall write to Swami about our troubles and losses', let Me

ask why you told her, 'I won't allow this; you should not write'? I shall even

tell you the reason. You thought she might inform Me about various other

details. Don't I know? Can I know this only if she writes to Me? Foolish

Bangaroo!"

"Don't I know that you went to Ramachandrapuram to give a series of talks on the

Gita and returned with a minus balance? The Gita discourses did not receive the

response you expected because your talk was pervaded and polluted by the

Burrakatha style that has long struck root in you. It cannot be easily

overcome. Bear with it patiently and, with steady effort, be rid of it. If you

desire that your Gita lectures be appreciated, some improvements are called

for. Without effecting them, why do you moan, be gloomy and dejected, blaming

your scholarship and your experience as mere useless loads.

"Well, for Me, who is fostering all these worlds, fostering you and your family

is no burden. I am giving you these series of troubles in order to teach you

some lessons. Study is not all-important. Practicing what you have learnt is

very necessary. My purpose is to bring to your notice this facet of the process

of learning."

"Let Me tell you this. He who plants a sapling cannot but water it; if he had no

will to water it, he would not have planted it at all. This is the identifying

principle of the Jiva and the Atman, the individual and the Universal, man and

god. You had written and published that the name of Swami is dancing and the

form of Swami is being adored in home after home. And by this little vision,

you were filled with Ananda. But know now, that the name of Sai will arouse

ecstatic delight filling the entire world aye every inch of it. People now sing

'All is Sai full; this world is Baba-full.' This fullness will be realised,

without doubt. Be bold; be in bliss; take up the burden of the duties assigned

to you. Seek realisation through the four stages leading man to God - Dharma,

Artha, Kama and

Moksha."

"When you resolve to progress on these lines, the Lord of Parthi will Himself be

available to you to lift you and liberate you. Therefore, Bangaroo, seek and

gain your own Motivating Principle. I will never give you up. I will not forget

you, no, never."

"You have been maligning the rich; give up this erroneous habit. Not only the

rich but you should not dishonor any one in any way. If they are bloated in

their ego, they will suffer. How can it affect you? Remember, Sai resides in

all; so maligning another means maligning Sai Himself."

"Convey my blessings to your wife and children. I have written this long letter

out of the compassion and love that I bear towards you. Be ever in joy; be ever

intent on practice and experience. The Resident of your heart, Sai."

TELEGRAPHIC WORDS

Bhagawan conveys a world of meaning, an ocean of grace or a Gita of wisdom, even

through a short telegram. When Walter Cowan, whom He had revived from death,

passed away at last, nineteen months after his 'coming back', Baba's telegram

to his wife, Elsie, from Prashanthi Nilayam declared, "Walter arrived here in

good shape"! Dwell on that sentence for a while. Walter had uttered, "Baba!

Baba!" just before he passed away, for he was filled with years of grateful

devotion. And soon after, Baba announced that Walter's soul had arrived.

Similarly, when Narayana Bhat of Alike was killed in a motor accident, Baba had

sent a message to his mother, which read, "Narayana Bhat has merged in Me."

Sai Baba autographs books, pictures and photographs, while walking between the

rows of seated devotees and visitors. Very often He simply writes His name as

we know it; at other times, He may write 'Blessings' or 'Blessings with Love'.

Once, when someone reached out with a photograph of His having a dark

background to be autographed, He borrowed a pen and wrote with it in a white

script, the blue-black ink in the pen obligingly turning white. Thus, the

method, style and content of His message - all are uniquely elevating.

WORDS DO HIS WILL

Baba's words are known to cure not only every type of disease or ailment, but

also to effect a miraculous change of attitude towards truth in the most

incorrigible persons.

Shri M.K. Macro, a mining engineer from Morena district in Madhya Pradesh,

writes, "Some of the northern districts of this state - Bhind, Morena, Gwalior,

Shivpuri and Datia - and some adjoining districts of Rajasthan and Uttar

Pradesh, were infested with dacoits since the dawn of India's independence. The

governments of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan tried their utmost to

decimate them, but in vain. The dacoits were virtually in control of these

districts. In 1960, Acharya Vinoba Bhave toured this region in order to

persuade the dacoits to give up their life of crime. He was able to persuade a

few of them to surrender. In October 1971, Madho Singh, who was leader of the

most prominent gang, approached Shri Jaya Prakash Narain to persuade him to

take up the unfinished work of Acharya Vinoba Bhave. With the

help of the Sarvodaya workers, J.P. contacted various gangs of dacoits.

Ultimately his efforts bore fruit and about four hundred dacoits agreed to

surrender.

"One problem that was agitating the minds of the dacoits as well as the

Sarvodaya leaders was whether the dacoits should make an open confession of

their crimes. Some Sarvodaya leaders advised the dacoits to contest the

criminal cases started against them in court. The dacoits were also of the same

view."

"On 23rd August 1972, Shrimati Prabhavati asked Shri Hem Dev Sharma, Secretary

of the Shanti Mission in Gwalior, to bring a copy of the Hindi translation of

Part II of 'Sathyam Sivam Sundaram', written by Professor Kasturi. Shri Hem Dev

Sharma's neighbor was a devotee of Baba, so he was able to procure the books

from her. On that day, J.P. addressed the dacoits and read out the story of

Kalpagiri as narrated in chapter six of this book. Bhagawan’s advice to

Kalpagiri, who had committed heinous murders and who was roaming about

disguised as a Sanyasi, to go to the police to make a clean-breast confession

and undergo cheerfully the punishment he may be awarded, was listened to by the

hard-boiled dacoits. It touched their hearts deeply, and convinced them that

their real salvation lay not in refuting their misdeeds or trying

to secure acquittals from law courts but in confessing them humbly in a spirit of repentance."

MOVES IN HIS GAME

INTERLUDES

Death is our birthright, a gift everyone can claim. It is a relief for the tired

and a refuge for the persecuted, a lesson for the wayward, a jolt for the

Epicurean, a milestone for the pilgrim, punishment for the poltroon and

paradise for the faithful.

Baba's elder sister's husband died at a young age, when he was just twenty-five

years old. Baba chided me for shedding tears. He asked, "If there is to be no

birth and no death, how am I to spend My time?" Death is but a move in His

game, an 'exit' in the Divine play, at which the player has to leave the stage.

Baba says that the finitude of the body and the infiniteness of the soul have to

be stoically accepted. He creates ash and applies it to our brow to remind us of

death, and the change of the body thereafter into a heap of ashes. That helps us

develop detachment towards worldly things and turn our gaze towards lasting

values.

Baba has come to assign death its legitimate place in the scheme of existence,

neither more nor less. He brought Walter Cowan back from the region beyond

death because, as He said, "he has not completed the work he has to do." Baba

does not will the effacement of death. "Why do living beings die?" we ask. "For

the reason they are born," He answers. Anything put together has to

disintegrate; anything that originates has to end. But man can escape rebirth

by cutting off the roots, namely the deposits of Karmas, good and bad, that

burden his account in the book of God. Achieve a nil balance not by the

renunciation of your physical, mental and intellectual activity, but by the

renunciation of the fruits thereof. Doing your righteous duty, be indifferent

towards the fruit of your actions. God gave you body, mind and intellect;

God also planted desire and designed the entire plan. Let fruit of His grace

belong to Him. Then, there is neither plus nor minus in your account. You need

not come again to balance it. So long as your actions are not totally selfless

and duty-bound, you must accouter yourself in a physical body in order to

transcend from the limited to the unlimited. Baba told Schulman, "I know how

your past has shaped you and I watch you shaping your future. I know why you

suffer, how long you have to suffer and when your suffering will end."

While gifting a rosary of 108 pearls to Indra Devi, Baba said, "Keep this on the

sick person and help him to pray for recovery. He will be cured.Of any

illness?" asked Indra Devi. "No," said Swami, "not if the illness is a form of

payment for karmic debt." A rosary was given by Baba to Shrimati Venkatamuni of

Madras. When her aged mother-in-law approached the threshold of death, her bed

surrounded by many of her kith and kin, she placed the rosary on her chest and

prayed for her recovery. Her mother-in-law did regain consciousness and sat up

to greet the dawn of another day, curious to

know the reason why the house was so full of people. When her own son, afflicted

with frequent fits since childhood, was dangerously on the verge of death,

Shrimati Venkatamuni ran to her room to bring the rosary. But her fingers could

not hold it; it slipped out of her grasp again and again. When she could at last

hold it and take it to her son, it was too late. The illness was a form of

repayment of karmic debt which, when repaid, gave him release. Baba told her

later that her son was here to liquidate the balance of his debt and he had now

attained the region of everlasting bliss. "If you have genuine affection for

him," He said, "be happy that he has been relieved of the body that gave him no

peace."

CONTINUED…

With Sai love from Sai brother M. Palaniswamy

/

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