The Source of Inspiration

[Guest guest]

The Source of Inspiration

By Justice T.

N. Vallinayagam

Mr. Justice I N. Vallinayagam

of the Karnataka High Court was with us on 15.1.1999 to release the booklet

‘Thus Spake Saipadananda'

and we are pleased to publish excerpts from his speech in the form of an

article.

- Editor

Religion exists for the uplift of humanity

and is a path to Divinity. Fundamentally the basic principles of all religions

are alike; but the base ego often perverts them for its own ends. The Vedas and

works like those of Valmiki and Veda Vyasa, the former depicting the life' story of Lord Rama

and the latter of Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata which inter alia contains the Bhagavad Geetha - the Divine Song - and a code of conduct for

humanity in spiritual, moral and social spheres, are epics of which one could

be justly proud. The great prophet Mohamed and Jesus Christ propagated

religions of peace and universal love.

 

In Kali Yuga, politics and greed have

deflected the Hindus from the teachings of the Vedas and Puranas;

the Muslims from those of the Koran and Christian nations are claiming a desire

to establish peace by war! India is in turmoil despite its proud culture and

peace loving nature. Even nature has become violent and we hear of destructive

floods and earthquakes.

 

For fifty years, the great Master Sai Baba of Shirdi disseminated

by precept and example the religion of faith, truth and love to humanity, when

he was in the mortal coil, and decades after his Mahasamadhi

in 1918, his message has progressively rung louder throughout the length and

breadth of India- and even beyond, thanks to the sincere and untiring labors of

His apostles - Poojya Sri Narasimha Swamiji and Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji. As a humble devotee of Sai

Baba, I am proud of his glory and grace.

 

Sai Baba was 'Parabrahma'

but was humility incarnate. He would say: 'I am a servant of God. " Many

instances of His supreme mystic power and leelas

could be cited, but he never paraded them and attributed everything to Allah

and the Guru. There was no distinction with him of caste, class or creed and

the Hindu would do his worship in the mosque along with Muslim and Parsi devotees and others who offered prayers in their own

way. He never gave up 'Bhiksha' although after 1911

there were large offerings of fruits and sweets of which He took only little

bits. He used to distribute fairly large amounts of money every day but spent

nothing on Himself. Just before His last breath He took nine coins from his

pocket and gave to Lakshmi.

 

He was an ocean of 'Premamrita'

but people looked up to Him more for worldly benefits than spiritual. He once

said that thousands had come to Him, but those who came for purely spiritual

benefit could be counted on his fingers.

 

Our duty is to vow complete surrender of ourselves to Him and

live our worldly life with as much detachment as possible, and with faith and

love, be living examples of Universal Brotherhood. We have the ideals of Sri

Narasimha Swamiji and Sri Radhakrishna

Swamiji and may the Master in His unbounded Grace

make us worthy of Him.

 

Rely on Yourself

A disciple came

riding on his camel to the tent of his Sufi Master. He dismounted and walked

right into the tent, bowed low and said, " So great is my faith in God that

I have left my camel outside untied, convinced that God protects the interests

of those who love him. "

 

" Go tie your camel, you fool! "

said the Master. God cannot be bothered doing for you what you are perfectly

capable of doing for yourself.

GOSSIP

A devotee confessed his bad habit of

repeating gossip. Smilingly, replied Sri Radhakrishna

Swamiji: Repeating it would not be so bad if you did

not

He advised to repeat Vishnu Sahasra Namam instead of

indulging in gossip. To those devotees who were always asking for words of

wisdom, Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji

said, " Wisdom is not expressed in words. It reveals itself in action. But

when he saw them plunge headlong into activity he laughed and said, " That

is not action. That is Motion”

(Source Shri Sai Padananda

April 1999)

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