Devotion to Shri Sai Baba

[Guest guest]

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, discipline 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

accordingly. 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.

(to be contd.....)

Sanjay M. Padia

Calcutta (West Bengal)

 

Source Shri Sai Leela June 1985.