The Immortal Friend By Jaswant Contractor

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The

Immortal Friend

By Jaswant Contractor

" A man, with his

back towards the sun, runs to catch his own shadow, but can never do so. But

when he turns himself away from his shadow, with his face towards the sun, it

runs after him and never leaves him. So is the case with worldly desires.

-

Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

 

Ever since the dawn of human civilization on earth, it

has been man's endeavor to worship God or Gods in all conceivable forms, which

of course vary from religion to religion. But in spite of bewildering

differences the religions and the modes of worship ordained therein, man has

always aimed at purity of body and heart in order to be a fitting instrument in

the service of God. Our Gurudev, His Holiness Radhakrishna Swamiji worshiped

idols in the form of 'Chetan', not merely as a stone.

In fact he laid down that we should worship as

'everything is His manifestation.'

 

Once, it so happened that the little

finger of Mother Seetha's idol was broken in Sai

Spiritual Centre. Swamiji attached so much importance

and I fact felt the pangs of pain as if his little finger was damaged. He told

us story to impress upon us that our idol-worship be fruitful.

 

" One who worships an idol should

worship it as a form of 'Chetan', not merely as a

stone; only then does worship become fruitful. Once a devotee used to worship

an idol of Sri Rama, many years went by but Lord Rama did not appear before

him. One day, a worshiper of Lord Krishna gave him an idol of Krishna and told him to worship it regularly. The devotee put

the idol of Lord Rama in a nearby window and began to worship Lord Krishna

instead. One day he was offering fragrant incense to the new idol. Suddenly he

saw the scented smoke drifting towards Lord Rama's

idol. This infuriated him; he felt that Lord Rama had no right to inhale the

fragrance as he had not appeared before him even though he had worshiped him

devotedly for years. He got up at once and began to plug the nostrils of the

idol, with cotton. At that very moment, Lord Rama being pleased appeared before

him. The devotee was astonished. He could not understand why Lord Rama should

be pleased with him now that he was angry; when He had not cared for the

worship offered for years. To clear up his confusion, Lord Rama explained:

" until now you worshiped my idol as a stone, but now that you consider it

conscious, I have appeared before you. "

 

Swamiji stressed the point that if you have the right

attitude you will 'discover God everywhere, in all objects - rivers, mountains,

fields, flowers, trees, birds and animals. God is one; you may conceive of Him

with or without form. Everything is His manifestation. God has no form, yet all

forms are His. He is always supremely satisfied in His own Self. It is the

worshiper who derives satisfaction from His worship; that is idol worship is meant

not for God but for the worshiper.

 

Those who came in contact with Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji feel the

impact of the subtle spiritual influence he exerts on them and by his grace one

is able to attain inner peace and enlightenment.

 

People come to him to find the answers to

their ever questioning minds. They are with him to know them selves. Swamiji has the capacity to penetrate through

each one. Those who come to him with an open mind and a pure heart are able to

have a glimpse of his greatness. Swamiji has reached

the spiritual heights where oneness of the Self is experienced everywhere and

duality does not exist. As Kabir puts it,

" Everyone knows that the drop is contained in the ocean; but hardly anyone

knows that the ocean is contained in the drop. "

 

By becoming dependent on

Sai Baba, our dependence on the world vanishes and by giving up dependence on

the world, we automatically depend on Sai Baba. We should give prominence to

either of these two the result will be the same.

-

Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

(Source Sri Sai padananda

Oct 1991)