Bhagawan - the Divine Avatar

July 1, 2007

According to our scriptures, Avatars have appeared on earth at various times in the history of mankind. The formless Divine takes on a beautiful form on earth in order to protect the pious, the holy and the noble. They come to rescue the suppressed and the oppressed, to reform and transform wicked and sinful persons. Above all they come to restore righteousness and peace on earth. They each come with their own specific purpose, powers, precepts and philosophies. If we enquire deeply we will find that every Avatar has incarnated to convey a special message and carry out a particular mission. The expression Avatar is derived from the words ‘Ava Thru Karane’. ‘Ava’ means Descent. ‘Thru’ is to help us cross the ocean of Samsaara. ‘Karane’ means to do, to help us cross the ocean of delusion and illusion of the world. Therefore, the purpose of the Avatar is to set man on the path of

liberation. The Avatar is never conceived but He takes birth in a body which then gradually grows to full size in the ordinary way. No Avatar, including this Sai Avatar, is born in flesh and blood. The embryo of ordinary mortals like us is enveloped in a watery stuff; the embryo of the Avatar is encased in the pure white milk of holiness. That is why in the make-up of the Avatar there is no blemish, there is no trace of Guna. The Avatar takes only the body as described above. Men come into bodies with tendencies and the results of past birth actions, in other words our births are determined by our karmas. Avatars take this body without any tendencies, completely free, no desires, no attachments, always happy. Avatars are born through what we term as “Immaculate Conception”. A pundit once asked our beloved Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba whether

His was an Immaculate Conception or a normal birth like any other human birth. Swami then turned to his mother, who was also present, and asked her to comment. Easwaramma explained that she had been told by her mother-in-law not to be frightened if something happened to her through the will of God. Swami’s mother was then quoted as saying, “That morning I was at the well drawing water, a big ball of blue light came rolling towards me and I fainted and fell. I felt it glided into me.” Swami turned to Rama Sarma, the pundit, with a smile and said: “There you have the answer! I was not begotten. It was Pravesa, spiritual birth entrance, not Prasava, biological conception.” The supreme Absolute has no form, for the sake of humanity the formless GOD assumes a form. When the formless takes on a form He does not compromise on His glory, greatness, majesty and power in any way. Only the form is

human, the Godly powers and attributes that He possesses will always remain. In other words, taking a human form and walking amongst us will not subject Him to any human limitations; the human form does not prevent Him from exhibiting His divine powers. He is not subject to any limitations, He is fully in control of everything. On 5th October 2002. Bhagawan Baba granted an interview to a group of foreigners. He came out of the interview room gently, slowly, majestically with a smiling face, adjusting his hair with one hand. He walked towards professor Anil Kumar, looked straight into his eyes and said “Did you notice those foreigners?” Anil Kumar said “No Swami”. “He is the ambassador from Soviet Russia. He came along with two of his secretaries and a stenographer. I spoke with them. I spent a long time. They were very much surprised there in the interview. They asked, ‘Swami how do you know these things. You’ve told us so many

intimate things, so many things that are not known to many people. How do you know? It’s also amazing that you speak our Russian language! How do you know it?’” Bhagawan explained He said to the ambassador, “These things are not learnt, these things are not taught. I’m born with this.” It is one of the Sai Pearls of Wisdom that the Avatar is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. These powers are not cultivated, they are not learned, and they are not practised. He is born with them. Having a human form will not limit the Avatar from exhibiting His divine powers. For the Avatar, the Lord selects the appropriate family and place to be born. This is not surprising considering the fact that the Avatar is in complete control of everything. Baba chose the Ratnakara Raju family to be born into and chose Puttaparthi as His birthplace which is why the Chitravathi river and the village Puttaparthi are held

sacred, and we pay tribute these whenever we make reference to them in the Namavali. Swami is referred to in the Namavali as being able to perform astonishing acts (“Adbutha Chryaya Namaha”). The miracles and wonders which cannot be explained by science are very natural to Swami. From the time Swami was born He has been performing astonishing acts. His birth itself was a mystical experience. When Easwaramma’s delivery approached, several wonderous inexplicable events begun to occur in the family. The house contained several musical instruments. In the middle of the night the tambura (a string instrument) started playing on its own as if being played by a professional hand and the maddala (drum) beat rhythmically as if keeping time with the tambura. These occurrences were auspicious omens for they signified the presence of Shakti and they were the work of the Divine. Following the birth, miraculous events kept the Raju family enthralled. Once as the new-born baby lay on a bed of piled up clothes, they noticed it was being raised and lowered by something underneath. Stunned, they watched anxiously. When at last they investigated, a cobra was found beneath the clothes though it seemed to harbour no ill intent towards the new born infant. At another time, the non-vegetarian meal prepared for the relatives and friends in the Raju household miraculously turned into vegetarian food. Venkamma, Swami’s elder sister, would tell an audience years later that she observed Swami disappear in a haze of light from his mothers lap and then reappear. Swami is also said to be the embodiments of all powers, He is “Sarva Shakti Murtayae Namaha”. On a daily basis Swami by His mere hand gesture performs (i) magnetic miracles of universal loving attraction; and (ii)

mighty materialisation miracles consisting of articles of spiritual significance, amongst others. There is no doubt that the wisdom, grace and power of Swami are unprecedented. But what is the reason for the exhibition of His powers to us? Why does He do that? The manifestation of His powers to us are not for exhibition; it has a powerful purpose. The astonishing acts and all the powers that Swami exhibits are all glimpses of His divinity. Swami exhibits these powers to attract us towards Him. If not for these astonishing acts and display of His mind boggling powers, it will not be possible for us to come to terms with His divinity and to accept Him as God incarnate. It is only through these powers that we initially get attracted to Him and come into contact with Him. We subsequently develop an affinity towards Him, this affinity turns into faith and eventually we come under His fold. We have to constantly remind ourselves that this Avatar has not come to showcase His majestic powers to us for He gets nothing out of doing so. He has come for the sake of Dharma, to clarify it, to propagate it and to establish it in every human heart! He wants us to be part of this divine mission. Should that not be our goal? The word Dharma is generally translated as righteousness or right conduct. The full meaning is more elaborate than that. There is no good translation for dharma in English. Swami says that Dharma is the law of life or divine duty. It can also be called the divine nature of all things and beings of the universe. What is the dharma of the Sun? It is to give light and heat. What is the dharma of Earth? It is to orbit around the Sun to create seasons for us, and also to give us food on which to survive. All the things of the world have a fixed dharma. For

example, trees have their dharma, the Sun has its dharma, and the flowers have their dharma, from the beginning to the end without any change. Only man, from the time he is born till the time that he dies takes on more than one dharma. For example, he takes the dharma of a son or daughter first, then the dharma of a student, dharma of a friend, dharma of a wife or husband, dharma of a father or mother, dharma of a professional such as a teacher, doctor, engineer, lawyer, or any other occupation. The bottom line of spirituality and Swami’s mission is to help us do our dharma to the level of excellence. It is His mission to make the father the best father, the mother the best mother, the son or daughter the best, the doctor the best doctor, the engineer the best engineer, the teacher the best teacher (the dharma we assume at any given time in the journey of life) Besides guiding

us to discharge of our worldly duties well, Swami reminds us of our spiritual goals. The spiritual goal is to recognise the divinity in us and attain the state of oneness with God. Note that when Swami addresses us He always addresses us as Divyatama Swaropalara, constantly reminding us that we are divine Atmas and that is our true identity; that we have come from Him and will have to ultimately go back to Him. Today we have become too obsessed with the worldly wonders that we have forgotten our true nature. In order to facilitate the revival of Dharma and to remind us of our spiritual goal Swami has given us a whole ocean of teachings from the age of 14 . He is now 78. Since the revival of truth and morality is the very purpose for which He has come, He is absorbed in correcting both the individual and society. That is why in the Namavali we adore Him as “Sathya Dharma Parayana”. Sathya means, truth, dharma means morality and parayana means

interested in or absorbed in. When the Avatar has come to help us achieve our ultimate goals in life, should we not make use of this unprecedented opportunity to understand and put into practise His teachings? Let us all raise ourselves beyond the level of Sai Form, Sai Miracles and Sai Bhajans and rise up to the challenges of His teachings. Every time when we recite “Avatar Moortaye Namaha” (personification of God incarnate) let us all reflect for a moment on what this Avatar has come for, stands for and how we can be part of His divine mission, instead of simply praising Him as “Avatar Moortaye” in the Namavali. Source : http://www.saibaba.org.hk/Namavali2.htm Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Messenger. Download Now!

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