Does Bhagawan ask for money?

April 26, 2009

AUM SAI RAM

‘To-day, the entire world revolves around money. .. every one runs after money. Notwithstanding, their education and social strata, people consider pursuit of money as their be-all and end-all in life. Strangely, even a small proportion of struggle that people willingly undergo in acquiring wealth is not to be found in the pursuit of Divinity. God is the savior of all. One may be a millionaire or a billionaire, yet one cannot live without God’ -BABA- Divine Discourse 6th March 2008.

Money is important, says Baba but God comes before money .However , absolutely baffled by the fact that devotees make huge donations to implement the philanthropic projects of Bhagawan Baba, many people want to know whether Baba ask for ‘money’.

Does Bhagawan ask for money?

Intriguing question for some; shocking for others. When it was first put to me I tried to the best of my abilities to explain that Baba does not ask for money. Baba asks for our love, not for Himself but for others. To be more explicit, He asked us to see God in all living creatures( including us) and to love them as much as we love Him because there is God in all beings. ‘Love all- Serve all’ is one of the most popular Sai mottos and as we are probably aware this is a line of conduct which is rigorously observed by the majority of Sai devotees.

Admittedly, I was in the right position to clarify the mind of observers as I was a donor too.

It all started in 1982 when Baba first ‘called’ me to Him. Accompanied by my husband, I took the flight from Delhi, where we were holidaying, to Bangalore and guided by Him, we set our feet on the threshold of the Brindavan Ashram. In those days, I did not know much about Sai Baba and even less about the Sai Organization.

We arrived there in the early morning of 3rd December. While I waited under a tree, my husband walked round to enquire about Sai Baba. He came across a man in white shirt and trousers (later I understood that the man was a sevadal). Convinced that Baba had ‘called’ me, my husband politely told the man that he wanted to meet Sai Baba. The guy asked him whether he wished to make a donation. To which, my husband replied in the negative. He was then told to wait in an open compound as Baba would give ‘darshan’ at three in the afternoon.

Obligingly, we were invited to have lunch in the canteen. The food was very simple and basic. The other eaters in the dining hall were the old, the diseased, the handicapped and the paupers, not to mention the dogs. A highly sophisticated woman and a proud intellectual, I felt very bad .I refused to touch the food. On the other hand, my husband was full of compassion and he fondly cajoled me- ‘Eat! This is ‘Prasad’!’ I ate in spite of myself.

Afterwards, we joined a few people in the compound. We waited for hours under the burning sun. The waiting was in vain. Baba did not give ‘darshan’ that afternoon.

The next day, we went for the ‘morning darshan’ as suggested by the same man. Baba came. There were scarcely twenty people in the compound. Hence, we were blessed with a very close ‘darshan’ of Baba. My husband took the ‘padanamaskar’ and I received the much coveted and soul piercing ‘eye contact’ of the Lord. Truly, a Chit Chora, He then and there stole my heart. In turn and equipped with a photographic camera, my husband captured a few lovely snaps of the Chit Chora.

Ooops! Gaffe! I was suffering from ‘panic attacks’ in those days, an emotional cum psychological problem resulting from being repeatedly abused as a child; I forgot altogether to pray to Baba for a miraculous cure!

We returned home full of bliss but the ‘panic attacks’ continued to haunt me. Deeply frustrated, I started to nag, to reproach and to blame my husband for ‘refusing’ (as I put it), to make a donation. I became obsessed by the crazy thought that Sai Baba would have cured my panic attacks had my husband made the bequest.

Much later I realized that, at no time did the man in white say that ‘Sai Baba would meet you when you make a donation or Sai Baba receives only those who give money or Sai Baba charges a consultation fee’. There was no indication at all that a meeting with Baba would have automatically followed the donation, had we decided to offer one.

However, at that crucial moment of my existence, I desperately started to save to make a donation. I saved for approximately 13 years. Eventually, I made a big donation to the World Trust towards the construction of a Sai Centre in my home country.

Unfortunately and to my utter dismay, the ‘panic attacks’ still clung on to me as a cloak. Thrown off balance, I learnt it the hard way that we cannot ‘bribe’ God to get what we want. My ego was deflated. Baba had won the battle of force I was secretly waging against Him. I capitulated, threw down my arms and surrendered. Anybody in my place would have turned into a fatalist, but I categorically refused to do so. Slowly and slowly, I re -charged my batteries with minimalism and humility. I started to see God in all beings, to love all and to serve all.

Meanwhile, my husband, a Chartered Accountant and Auditor, had become a very successful and wealthy business magnate.

Many years elapsed. One day, I became conscious that the ‘panic attacks’ had vanished into thin air. Bhagawan Baba, my savior, had deleted a whole chapter headed ‘Panic Attacks’ from my biography. Engrossed in Sai service, I did not notice when exactly the miracle took place.

Did I burn all my negative karmas? Or did I realize the God within? - Either or both answers may be true but one thing is sure and certain –‘Bhagawan did not ask for money’. On the contrary, the innumerable doctors, physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychics, healers, sorcerers et al who asked for and received money from my family lamentably failed to diagnose my ailment and/or to find a cure for it.

At the Lotus Feet of Sai

Anita