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Sri Sathya Sai Vratha Kalpam
(Procedure of
Worship of Sri Sathya Sai)
Index
Chapter 4
AADHYATHMIKA SIKSHA KAANDA (Swami's Spiritual
Discipline)
The Parabrahma, which the Vedas
have chanted about, the Supreme Being without a form (avyaktha) and without
characteristics (nirguna), has assumed form and come down to earth in flesh
and blood with the name of Sathya Sai Baba. In the present day world, in
this Kali Age, people are suffering from lack of proper direction. With no
thought of the past or for the future, with no consideration of what is good
and what is evil, with no value system demarcating paap from punya, they are
totally ignorant of the noble traditions of Bharat, blind to the
time-honoured principles of their own respective creeds and of Sanathana
Dharma. There is no one who is competent to reveal the Truth to them and
guide them to the path of God. People have come to believe that ostentation,
indulgence in comforts and opulence are everlasting and they alone are life's
ultimate goal and salvation. They are immersed in this sort of ajnan (lack
of true knowledge). They freely indulge in evil (adharma), unjust (anyaaya)
and improper (akrama) activities throughout their lives. The principal
objective of Sri Sai Bhagavan is to demonstrate the supreme heights scaled
by Bharathiya culture; to reveal the true substance and nature of the four
principles of Sathya (truth), Dharma (duty), Santhi (peace) and Prema
(love); to bring out the inner meaning of the respective codes of conduct of
the Varnaashramas (four Varnas and four Aashramas); to clarify the
disciplines of the Sanathana Dharma which has its roots in the Vedas
themselves. He intends to reach his Message to the unlettered, the
uneducated in the remotest corner of the land of Bharat. He aims at
providing peace, harmony and happiness to all the peoples of the world. This
is also the divine purpose of his Avatar. "Wherever and whenever adharma
gains ascendancy I will assume form, destroy the forces of evil and restore
Dharma to its due position of pre-eminence", is how God promised in the
Bhagavad Gita. In the earlier Avatars, He actually demonstrated the
fulfilment of this promise. In the Avatar of Sri Rama, he destroyed Ravan.
After ascending the throne, as described in the epic Ramayan by Tulasidas,
Sri Rama assembled his people, explained to them the principles of Sanathana
Dharma and exhorted them to dedicate themselves to the practice of Dharma.
Such good fortune was granted only to Sri Rama's subjects. There is no book
which refers to similar luck having been extended to people anywhere else.
In the Avatar of Sri Krishna, the Divine Doctrine was given to only his
closest devotees besides gopas and gopikas among whom he moved. The
outstanding aspect widely noticed was destruction of evil forces and rescue
of the devout.
In this Kali age, the ways of the
divine Avatar of Sri Sathya Sai are quite different. This marvellous Avatar
is especially praise-worthy. For he is emperor of the world without empire;
he is victorious hero without weaponry; general without soldiery; of simple
but effulgent form without any ornamentation whatsoever. He is the very
ocean of spontaneous love and mercy; veritable Sun of cosmic consciousness (jnan)
shining everywhere; untrammelled by earthly qualities (nirguna). He is most
powerful, can masquerade in every form at will, all pervading, and
impregnable bastion of protection to the oppressed. His form is of
enchanting beauty which bewitches the world. By displaying his unmatched
form, by casting a spell with the magnetic smile playing on his lips, he can
enslave all the worlds and immerse them in the sea of infatuation. He is
personification of all punya (merit acquired through performance of good
deeds and austerities); he can wipe away fear and grief at the mere
remembrance of his divine name. He is the ocean of love and compassion and
mercy, and can bestow every kind of benefit by a mere look of compassion. He
looks upon every single being in creation with absolute evenness (sama
drishthi) without discrimination. He is loved by adherents of every creed.
He is the encapsulation of every God. He is the embodiment of every power,
of every manthra (incantation credited with divine force). In short, he is
everything. By virtue of his own inherent powers, he is teaching the
principles of devotion (bhakthi); cosmic consciousness (jnan)and detachment
(vairagya), he is drawing people to himself and making them follow his
bidding. By the strength of his own inherent divine force, he is binding all
countries with the bond of devotion. By the same force, he is fulfilling the
desires of thousands of people; he is taking innumerable forms and
masquerades at will and protecting and saving devotees far and wide; he is
healing disease of every description; he is materialising all kinds of
objects at will; he is displaying unbroken leelas and mahimas; he is
performing supra-natural deeds delighting people everywhere; he has planted
the glorious flag of dharma (dharma dhwaja) everywhere in all corners of the
world and lording over it all. His divine force is unrivalled, unreachable,
unimaginable, indescribable, unfathomable. Even the most elevated among Gods,
like Brahma (the creator), cannot comprehend his powers. By the divine power
inherent in him, being the Parabrahma without beginning (anaadi), and also
because of his abounding love, Sri Sai Bhagavan has convened conferences of
scholars to which are invited participants from all corners of the country.
Sri Sai himself selected the invitees. Through such conferences, knowledge
of spiritual and religious principles, diverse ways of spiritual practice,
basics of order and discipline, code of conduct governing the Varnaashramas
- these are to be propagated widely so that people learn to lead their lives
in peace, harmony and happiness. The main purpose of organising such
conferences is to inculcate among people devotion to God, faith, moral
discipline and spiritual outlook in life.
In numerous countries all over the
world, thousands of devotional institutions have been established enfolding
people speaking different languages. These institutions are named Sri Sathya
Sai Seva Sanghams and Samajams. The main objective of these bodies is to
follow the directions of Sri Sai in all respects, to treat fellow humans not
as inferiors but as perfect equals. Sri Sai Bhagavan has emphasised to all
these institutions that they should function in a disciplined way; they
should dedicate themselves to the time-honoured virtues of purity,
unostentatiousness, simplicity, modesty, generosity and truthfulness; they
should observe the noble teachings of our ancient rishis (sages) which
constitute the very foundation of Bharathiya culture; every hearth and every
home should be clean and pure; they should constantly endeavour to establish
peacefulness among all the peoples of the world; they should remember that
our ancient culture aimed at realising Truth through continuous sadhana;
they should demonstrate to others the sanctity and speciality of our ancient
culture through personal example, i.e. through members' own behaviour and
conduct, practice of good qualities like detachment (vairagya). The
exceptional feature of the Sai organisations is that they do not allow
malice or jealousy to tarnish their mutual relations. Nor do they allow such
evils to poison relations with other spiritual organisations. They set aside
pride and ego altogether and immerse themselves in dedicated selfless
service. Each and every member of Sathya Sai institutions will on arising in
the morning, heartily intone Pranavam (i.e. Om) and only thereafter begin
daily chores. He will take a vow that whatever he is going to do during the
day will be done with love and devotion and with no selfish interest, and
invoke God to grant the necessary ability and mental sharpness and to guide
him to proceed along the right path. When he retires for the night, he will
review whatever had been done during the day, identify any lapses that had
occurred due to common human failings, or due to anger, ego and selfishness.
He will pray to God to help him to avoid such lapses in future. Such are the
guidelines issued by Sri Sai to his institutions. All of them are following
those directions meticulously and are carrying on their work in a
disciplined and well-organised manner.
Sri Sai is communicating to the
whole world lessons in spiritual practices of the purest kind through
members of these institutions. One of the important items of these spiritual
activities is Nagara Sankeerthana. Members should wake up in the Brahma
muhoortham (before sunrise), mentally intone the name of God, and also do it
loudly so that others will hear it. All are to be woken up with God's name.
All daily chores and disciplines should be carried out in God's name. Each
member should encourage other members also to follow this ritual so that
collectively all will dedicate their lives and work to God. This
comprehensive programme of service is Nagara Sankeerthana. This sacred
programme should be carried out in every hamlet, village, town and city. At
dawn no other sound but the name of God should be heard. This will yield
immense benefit. It purifies the mind as well as the environment. On waking,
if one loudly intones the divine names of Rama, Krishna, Govinda, Damodara,
Sankara, Durga and Lakshmi, one's heart gets cleared of impurity. Sathya
(truth), Dharma (duty), Santhi (peace) and Prema (love) get firmly implanted
there. Moreover, waking up in the Brahma Muhoortham is itself a wholesome
habit. It is good for health; mind gets alert; heart is filled with
happiness; all the organs are purified. Sri Sai Bhagavan has given
instructions that all devotees should assemble at one place, conduct
intonation of Pranavam (i.e. Om), and recite Suprabhatham. Afterwards they
should go about on the streets of the town from 5 to 7 A.M. singing soulful
devotional music with appropriate bhaav (content), raag (tune) and thala
(rhythm in sounds which is reflected by cymbals, Mrithangam, tamboora etc)
There are some other organisations
knowsn as ?Sri Sathya Sai Sathsangams?. Members there, carry out spiritual
sadhanas of higher order like regular dhyan (meditation), japs (repetition
of Mantra) and study of sacred books.
Sri Bhagavan designed all these
Sadhanas (oractices) and activities with a noble ideal. It is his desire
that these should attract and encourage not only members of these
instituions but also the general public at large to take up such
activities.. Thereby, they too will learn to adopt the attendant
austerirties, rules to be observed, regulated conduct and discipline.. In
course of time they too will develop into adept Sadhaks, turn to God,
realise Truth, dedicate themselves to the observance of Dharma, lead
peaceful and happy lives and finally qyalify for God?s Love and Reward.
These institutions of Sadhana are endowed with the power and ability to
develop the spiritual qualities of devotion (bhakti), cosmic consciousness
(jnan) and detachment (vairagya) and dharma as expounded by our ancient
rishis ? which are the very foundation of Bharathiya culture. Such
organisations have been established in large numbers not only all over India
but also in many foreign countries. There are several persons who have
appreciated the noble role of these organisations, renounced everything and
adopted sanyas. Hundreds of such personms including foreigners are
converging on Puttaparthi eager to have a darshan of Sri Bhagavan and to
serve Him. Once they set eyes on the Divinely beautiful figure of Sri Sai,
and hear his sacred message directly from Him, they forget everything else.
Unable to veer themselves away from His ennobling presence, they decide to
stay here for good. There are any number of such persons. Sri Sai Bhagavan
is the very embodiment of love; these foreigners crae to imbibe, to their
hearts? content, the nectar of love flowing from His adorable lips. How much
more fortunate are we, His own country men, who are able to see Him, feel
Him and hear Him! We are able to worship God incarnate, who is available at
our beck and call, who is no other Satchidananda Parabrahma Moorthi Himself.
How immeasurably fortunate are we! So, may all people worship this Sai
Bhagavan with pure heart and with abiding love according to the prescribed
procedure and obtain His blessings and fulfillment of their desires.
End of Chapter 4
Once again Pooja will be performed.
A coconut or fruit will be offered as naivedyam and arathi will be offered.
Thereafter, recitation of the Katha will be resumed.
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