Devotion to Shri Sai Baba by Sanjay M. Padia

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Devotion to Shri Sai Baba

We all know that to obtain the blessings of divine personalities such as

Rama, Krishna, Maruti, Shiva, Ganapathi, etc... it takes years of

unfailing devotion, before we are able to reach their expectations. Any

break in our devotion in the middle would create a setback which may

again take several years or more. Great saints such as Narasingh Mehta,

Meerabai, Bhakta Prahlad spent most of their lives immersed in devotion

to Lord Krishna and as a result achieved not only liberation but also

sainthood. But the intensity of devotion which they had cannot be

compared to that of the devotees of today. I would not say that today's

devotees are insincere but the difference in the time factor is

obviously there.

 

We all belong to the 20th century when science and technology has

advanced so rapidly that the belief in the existence of God itself is

being doubted. The absence of belief in God is very much present amongst

our youth, who are more engrossed in their worldly pleasures than

anything else.

 

In our country for instance, we see around us a lot of modern hotels,

clubs and bars where most of our young people are found to visit these

days. This has resulted in not only a deviation from the traditional

Indian culture but also a sharp decline in our moral standards. By

imitating the negative side of the Western culture, our youth's morale

has stooped to a record low level.

 

I am not against Western nations as such and very much appreciating

their economic development, science, technology, disci-pline and honesty

but instead of accepting these good points, we have chosen their bad

ones. In the midst of all this wholesale negative import, religion has

no place whatsoever.

 

I have met many friends and most of them often say that they doubt the

existence of God. I have no desire to elaborate to them on this issue

since they would refuse to believe even if I do so. But there are some

who say that they do believe in God and Personalities such as Rama,

Krishna etc. but they hardly have any time for devotion or thinking of

God. And there are also some who say that they do believe and even spend

a little time on prayer but find no relief from their miseries.

 

Let me first contradict the statement of those friends who say that they

don't have time for any devotion. Is this statement on their part

justified? Definitely not; Because time as a fact is never available at

all. It is we who have to create it. Just as we spend say 8 hours in

sleep, 9 hours at work, and the balance 7 hours for entertainment we are

actually booking time accor-dingly. Assuming that we must sleep for 8

hours and that we must work at our office for 9 hours we leave a balance

of 7 hours to be adjusted to suit our entertainments. Out of those 7

hours do you think that these friends cannot spare even 15 minutes on

devotion and that is believable? I don't but I cannot say about our

readers. Let us say the available time is only 4 hours at the most. But

even in these four hours can they not spend 10 minutes at least? The

actual underlying fact is our friends just put forward a lame excuse.

The real reasons are

a) They are not interested in any form of prayer, or devotion. They

would rather opt for interesting entertainments instead.

b) They are lazy.

The first reason is most obvious. Belief in God for such type of youth

is confined to the word 'belief', only. That belief does not necessarily

imply that they must be devoted also, according to them.

The other group of friends tells me that though they spend a little time

on prayer, their mind remains perturbed, and there is no end to their

difficulties. This is the point that my topic in this article relates

to:

(to be contd...)

Sanjay M. Padia

Calcutta (West Bengal)

Source Shri Sai Leela Magazine June 1985