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Sathya Sai Baba Mission
My Mission
1968 Birthday Discourse
For the protection of the virtuous, for the
destruction of the evil-doers and for establishing righteousness on a
firm footing, I incarnate from age to age. Whenever disharmony
overwhelms the world, the Lord will incarnate in human form to
establish the modes of earning peace, and to re-educate the human
community in the paths of peace. At the present time, strife and
discord have robbed peace and unity from the family, the school, the
society, the religions, the cities and the state.
The arrival of the Lord is anxiously awaited by saints and sages.
Sadhus prayed and I have come. My main tasks are fostering of the
Vedas and fostering of the devotees. Your virtue, your self-control,
your detachment, your faith, your steadfastness: these are the signs
by which people read of my glory. You can lay claim to be a devotee
only when you have placed yourself in my hands fully and completely
with no trace of ego. You can enjoy the bliss through the experience
the Avatar confers. The Avatar behaves in a human way so that mankind
can feel kinship, but rises into his superhuman heights so that
mankind can aspire to reach the heights, and through that aspiration
actually reach him. Realizing the Lord within you as the motivator is
the task for which he comes in human form.
Avatars like Rama and Krishna had to kill one or more individuals who
could be identified as enemies of the righteous way of life, and thus
restore the practice of virtue. But now there is no one fully good,
and so who deserves the protection of God? All are tainted by
wickedness, and so who will survive if the Avatar decides to uproot?
Therefore, I have come to correct the intelligence by various means. I
have to counsel, help, command, condemn and stand by as a friend and
well-wisher for all, so that they may give up evil propensities and,
recognizing the straight mark, thread it and reach the goal. I have to
reveal to the people the worth of the Vedas, the Sastras and the
spiritual texts which lay down the norms. If you will accept me and so
say "Yes", I too will respond and say "Yes, yes, yes." If you deny and
say "No", I also echo "No." Come, examine, experience, have faith.
That is the method of utilizing me.
I do not mention Sai Baba in any of my discourses, but I bear the name
as Avatar of Sai Baba. I do not appreciate in the least the
distinction between the various appearances of God: Sai, Rama, Krishna
etc. I do not proclaim that this is more important or that the other
is less important. Continue your worhsip of your chosen God along the
lines already familiar to you, then you will find that you are coming
nearer to me. For all names are mine, and all forms are mine. There is
no need to change your chosen God and adopt a new one when you have
seen me and heard me.
Every step in the career of the Avatar is predetermined. Rama came to
feed the roots of Satya and Dharma. Krishna came to foster Shanti and
Prema. Now all these four are in danger of being dried up. That is why
the present Avatar has come. The dharma that has fled to the forests
has to be led back to the villages and towns. The anti-dharma that is
ruining the villages and towns must be driven back into the jungle.
I have come to give you the key of the treasure of ananda, to teach
you how to tap that spring, for you have forgotten the way to
blessedness. If you waste this time of saving yourselves, it is just
your fate. You have come to get from me tinsel and trash, the petty
little cures and promotions, worldly joys and comforts. Very few of
you desire to get from me the thing that I have come to give you:
namely, liberation itself. Even among these few, those who stick to
the path of sadhana and succeed are handful.
Your worldly intelligence cannot fathom the ways of God. He cannot be
recognized by mere cleverness of intelligence. You may benefit from
God, but you cannot explain Him. Your explanations are merely guesses,
attempts to cloak your ignorance in pompous expressions. Bring
something into your daily practice as evidence of your having known
the secret of the higher life from me. Show that you have greater
brotherliness. Speak with more sweetness and self-control. Bear defeat
as well as victory with calm resignation. I am always aware of the
future and the past as well as the present of every one of you, so I
am not so moved by mercy. Since I know the past, the background, the
reaction is different. It is your consequence of evil deliberately
done in the previous birth, and so I allow the suffering to continue,
often modified by some little compensation. I do not cause either joy
or grief. You are the designer of both these chains that bind you. I
am Anandaswarupa. Come, take Ananda from me. Dwell on that Ananda and
be full of Shanti.
My acts are the foundations on which I am building my work, the task
for which I have come. All the miraculous acts which you observe are
to be interpreted so. The foundation for a dam requires a variety of
materials. Without these it will not last and hold back the waters. An
incarnation of the Lord has to be used in various ways by man for his
uplift.
The Lord has no intention to publicize Himself. I do not need
publicity, nor does any other Avatar of the Lord. What are you daring
to publicize? Me? What do you know about me? You speak one thing about
me today and another tomorrow. Your faith has not become unshakable.
You praise me when things go well, and blame me when things go wrong.
When you start publicity you descend to the level of those who compete
in collecting plenty of decrying others and extolling themselves.
Where money is calculated, garnered or exhibited to demonstrate one's
achievements, I will not be present. I come only when sincerity and
faith and surrender are valued. Only inferior minds will revel in
publicity and self-aggrandizement. These have no relevance in the case
of Avatars. Avatars need no advertisement.
The establishment of Righteousness: that is my aim. The teaching of
righteousness, the spread of righteousness: that is my object. These
miracles as you call them are just a means toward an end. Some of you
remark that Ramakrishna Paramahansa said that siddhis or yogic powers
are obstructions in the path of the spiritual aspirant. Yes, siddhis
may lead the sadhaka astray. Without being involved in them he has to
keep straight on. His ego will bring him down if he yields to the
temptation of demonstrating his yogic powers. That is the correct
advice which every aspirant should heed. But the mistake lies
inequating me with a sadhaka, like the one whom Ramakrishna wanted to
help, guide and warn. These siddhis or yogic powers are just in the
nature of an Avatar- the creation of things with intent to protect and
to give joy, is spontaneous and lasting. Creation, preservation and
dissolution can be accomplished only by the Almight....no one else.
Cynics carp without knowledge. If they learn the scriptures or if they
cultivate direct experience, they can understand me. Your innate
laziness prevents you from the spiritual exercises necessary to
discover the nature of God. This laziness should go. It has to be
driven out of man's nature in whatever shape it appears. That is my
mission. My task is not merely to cure and console and remove
individual misery, but it is something far more important. The removal
of misery and distress is incidental to my mission. My main task is
the reestablishment of the Vedas and Sastras, and revealing the
knowledge about them to all people. This task will succeed. It will
not be limited. It will not be slowed down. When the Lord decides and
wills, his divine will cannot be hindered.
You must have heard people say that mine is all magic. But the
manifestation of divine power must not be interpreted in terms of
magic. Magicians play their tricks for earning their maintenance,
worldly fame and wealth. They are based on falsehood and they thrive
on deceit, but this body could never stoop to such low level. This
body has come through the Lord's resolve to come. That resolve is
intended to uphold the Truth. Divine resolve is always true resolve.
Remember there is nothing that divine power cannot accomplish. It can
transmute earth into sky and sky into earth. To doubt this is to prove
that you are too weak to grasp great things, the grandeur of the
universe.
I have come to instruct all in the essence of the Vedas, to shower on
all this precious gift, to protect the Sanatana Dharma (ancient wisdom)
and preserve it. My mission is to spread happiness, and so I am always
ready to come among you not once, but twice or thrice- as often as you
want me. Many of you probably think that since people of all parts of
India, and even foreign countries out- side India, come to
Puttaparthi, they must be pouring their contributios into the coffers
of the Prashanti Nilayam. But let me declare the truth. I do not take
anything from anyone except love and devotion. This has been my
consistent practice for the last many years. People who come here are
giving me just the wealth of faith, devotion and love. That is all.
Many of you come to me with problems of health and mental worry of one
sort or another. They are mere baits by which you have been brought
here. But the main purpose is that you may have grace and strengthen
your faith in the divine. Problems and worries are really to be
welcomed as they teach you the lessons of humility and reverence.
Running after external things produces all this discontent. That type
of desire has no end. Once you have become a slave to the senses, they
will not leave hold until you are dead. It is an unquenchable thirst.
But I call you to me and even grant worldly boons so that you may turn
Godward. No Avatar has done like this before, going among the masses,
counselling them, guiding them, consoling them, uplifting them and
directing them along the path of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema. (Truth,
Righteousness, Peace and Love).
My activities and movements will never be altered, whoever may pass
whatever opinion on them. I shall not modify my plans for the
establishment of Righteousness, my discourses or my movements. I have
stuck to this determination for many years and I am engaged in the
task for which I have come: that is to inculcate faith in the path of
Prashanti (the highest spiritual peace). I shall not stop nor retract
a step.
Not even the biggest scientist can understand me by means of his
laboratory knowledge. I am always full of bliss. Whatever may happen,
nothing can come in the way of a smile. That is why I am able to
impart joy to you and make your burden lighter. I never exult when I
am extolled, nor shrink when I am reviled. Few have realized my
purpose and significance, but I am not worried. When things that are
not in me are attributed to me, why should I worry? When things that
are in me are mentioned, why should I exult? For me it is always "Yes,
yes, yes."
If you give me all and surrender to the Lord, he will guard and guide
you. The Lord has come for just this task. He is declaring that He
will do so, and that it is the very task that has brought Him here. I
know the agitations of your heart and its aspirations, but do you know
my heart. I react to the pain that you undergo and to the joy that you
feel, for I am in your heart. I am the dweller in the temple of every
heart. Do not lose contact and company, for it is only when the coal
is in contact with the live embers that it can also become live ember.
Cultivate nearness with me in the heart and it will be rewarded. Then
you too will acquire a fraction of that supreme love. This is a great
chance. Be confident that you will all be liberated. Know that you are
saved. Many hesitate to believe that things will improve, that life
will be happy for all and full of joy, and that the golden age will
recur. Let me assure you that this Dharmaswarupa, that this divine
body, has not come in vain. It will succeed in averting the crisis
that has come upon humanity.
Sathya Sai Baba's Birthday message on the 23.11.1968
Ref:
Samuel Sandweiss, The Holy Man and the Pyschiatrist
Your MissionYour mission
has begun. Those are my words to you, my devotees. Each of you has a
unique and valuable part to play in this lifetime. Only those whom I
have called can serve Me.
My mission has now reached that point of time when each of you now has
work to do. This planet has a purpose in which it it held. That
purpose is now unfolding before our eyes. I call upon you to radiate
the Bhakti (devotion) within you so that its unseen power will envelop
all who come into your orbit. To successfully perform your part,
always remain centred on Me.
Allow yourself to impart that purity of heart within you towards all
human beings and all living things and do not reach for the fruits of
your work.
This part of My Mission is performed in absolute silence. You are My
instruments from whom My love will pour. Be always aware that the
moment you let your ego descend upon you, My work ceases. When you
have overcome your negative unmindfulness, you will again become My
Source.
The multiplication of My Love will be felt throughout the world. I
have perpared you for this work over many incarnations. I have drawn
you to Me. I have made great steps in My Mission over these past
incarnations. My work is ceaseless and so your work, too, is without
end.
Know that I am within and without you. There is no difference. Rid
yourselves of the petty matters forevermore. You are now in Me and I
am now in Thee. There is no difference. My Darshan (spiritual
blessings) will pour forth from Me to and through you.You may be
unaware of this constant action. Be ever pure of heart and soul and,
mankind in your lifetime will benefit from your unique qualities.
Others, too, will join Me in this Mission when I draw them to Me. The
time is approaching when all humanity will live in harmony.That time
will be here sooner than one expects. Before it arrives, be prepared
for whatever is needed to reveal to every living thing the true
purpose of existence. It is not what anyone alive can imagine. It is
beyond all comprehension. I can say that its beauty is magnificent
beyond all dreams. And as each of you perform your silent work, I
embrace you to My Heart and henceforth your souls shall be lifted up
and your eyes will reveal My Presence within.
This I say to all My Devotees from the Lord's Mountain Top where all
the Universes become one. Be about My work, My beloved bhaktas. Your
breath will carry the scent of the blossoms of Heaven. Your example
will be that of Angels. Your joy will be My Joy."
Sathya Sai Baba
Ref:
Extracted from Sri Sathya Sai Bal Vikas, Vol XV, No 9, Sept 96 For Sri
Sathya Sai Education in Human Values Trust.
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