Four important discourses by Sri
Sathya Sai Baba
Who is Sai?
9 June 1974
( Sathya Sai Speaks IX, 88-92)
[Editor's note. Swami talks about
God, the religion of Love, and his Avathar-hood. He
explains why he materializes rings, etc., and gives them to
people, and he explains what "Sai Baba" means.]
God is inscrutable. He cannot be
realized in the outer objective world; He is in the very heart of
every being. Gemstones have to be sought deep underground; they do
not float in mid air. Seek God in the depths of your self, not in
tantalizing, kaleidoscopic nature. The body is granted to you for
this high purpose; but, you are now misusing it, like the person
who cooked his daily food in the gem-studded gold vase that came
into his hands as an heirloom.
Man extols God as omnipresent,
omniscient, and omnipotent, but, he ignores his Presence in
himself! Of course, many venture to describe the attributes of God
and proclaim Him to be such and such; but, these are but their own
guesses and the reflections of their own predilections and
preferences.
Who can affirm that God is this
or thus? Who can affirm that God is not of this form or with this
attribute? Each one can acquire from the vast expanse of the ocean
only as much as can be contained in the vessel he carries to its
shore. From that quantity, they can grasp but little of that
immensity.
Each religion defines God within
the limits it demarcates and then claims to have grasped Him. Like
the seven blind men who spoke of the elephant as a pillar, a fan,
a rope or a wall, because they contacted but a part and could not
comprehend the entire animal, so too, religions speak of a part
and assert that its vision is full and total.
Each religion forgets that God is
all forms and all names, all attributes and all assertions. The
religion of humanity is the sum and substance of all these partial
faiths; for there is only one religion and that is the religion of
Love. The various limbs of the elephant that seemed separate and
distinct to the eye-less seekers of its truth were all fostered
and activated by one single stream of blood; the various religions
and faiths that feel separate and distinct are all fostered by a
single stream of love.
The optical sense cannot
visualize the truth. It gives only false and fogged information.
For example, there are many who observe my actions and start
declaring that my nature is such and such. They are unable to
gauge the sanctity, the majesty, and the eternal reality that is
me. The power of Sai is limitless; It manifests for ever. All
forms of 'power' are resident in this Sai palm.
But those who profess to have
understood me, the scholars, the yogis, the pundits, the
jnanis, all of them are aware only of the least important, the
casual external manifestation of an infinitesimal part of that
power, namely, the "miracles"! They have not desired to contact
the source of all power and all wisdom that is available here at
Brindavan. They are satisfied when they secure a chance to exhibit
their book-learning and parade their scholarship in vedic
lore, not realizing that the person from whom the Vedas
emanated is in the midst, for their sake. They even ask, in their
pride, for a few more chances!
This has been the case in all
ages. People may be very near (physically) to the Avathar,
but they live out their lives unaware of their fortune; they
exaggerate the role of miracles, which are as trivial, when
compared to my glory and majesty, as a mosquito is in size and
strength to the elephant upon which it squats. Therefore, when you
speak about these 'miracles,' I laugh within myself out of pity
that you allow yourself so easily to lose the precious awareness
of my reality.
My power is immeasurable; My
truth is inexplicable, unfathomable. I am announcing this about
me, for the need has arisen. But what I am doing now is only the
gift of a 'visiting card!' Let me tell you that emphatic
declarations of the truth by Avathars were made so clearly
and so unmistakably only by Krishna. In spite of the declaration,
you will notice in the career of the same Krishna that he
underwent defeat in his efforts and endeavors, on a few occasions;
you must also note that those defeats too were part of the drama
that he had planned and that he himself directed. For example,
when many kings pleaded with him to avert the war with the
Kauravas, he confessed that his mission to the Kaurava Court for
ensuring peace had 'failed'! But, he had not willed that it should
succeed! He had decided that war would be waged! His mission was
intended to publish the greed and iniquity of the Kauravas and to
condemn them before the whole world.
Now, I must tell you that, during
this Sai Avathar, there is no place for even such 'drama'
with scenes of failures and defeats! What I will, must take place;
what I plan must succeed. I am Truth; and Truth has no need to
hesitate, or fear, or bend.
'Willing' is superfluous for me.
For my grace is ever available to devotees who have steady love
and faith. Since I move freely among them, talking and singing,
even intellectuals are unable to grasp my truth, my power, my
glory, or my real task as Avathar. I can solve any problem
however knotty. I am beyond the reach of the most intensive
enquiry and the most meticulous measurement. Only those who have
recognized my love and experienced that love can assert that they
have glimpsed my reality. For the path of Love is the royal road
that leads mankind to me.
Do not attempt to know me through
the external eyes. When you go to a temple and stand before the
image of God, you pray with closed eyes, don't you? Why? Because
you feel that the inner eye of wisdom alone can reveal Him to you.
Therefore, do not crave from me trivial material objects; but,
crave for me, and you will be rewarded. Not that you should not
receive whatever objects I give as sign of grace out of the
fullness of Love.
I shall tell you why I give these
rings, talismans, rosaries etc. It is to signalize the bond
between me and those to whom they are given. When calamity befalls
them, the article comes to me in a flash and returns in a flash
taking from me the remedial grace of protection. That Grace is
available to all who call on me in any name or form, not merely to
those who wear these gifts. Love is the bond that wins grace.
Consider the meaning of the name
Sai Baba. Sa means 'Divine'; ai or ayi means
'mother', and Baba means 'father'. The name indicates the
divine mother and father, just as Sambasiva, which also
means the divine mother and father. Your physical parents exhibit
Love with a dose of selfishness; but, this Sai "mother and father"
showers affection or reprimands only to lead you toward victory in
the struggle for self-realization.
For this Sai has come in order to
achieve the supreme task of uniting the entire mankind, as one
family through the bond of brotherhood, of affirming and
illumining the Atmic reality of each being in order to
reveal the Divine that is the basis on which the entire cosmos
rests, and of instructing all to recognize the common divine
heritage that binds man to man, so that man can rid himself of the
animal, and rise into the Divine, which is his goal.
I am the embodiment of divine
love; love is my instrument. There is no creature without love;
the lowest loves itself, at least. And its self is God. So
there are no atheists, though some might dislike Him or refuse Him,
as malarial patients dislike sweets or diabetic patients refuse to
have anything to do with sweets! Those who preen themselves as
atheists will one day, when their illness is gone, relish God and
revere Him.
I had to tell you so much about
my truth, for I desire that you should contemplate on this and
derive joy therefrom, so that you may be inspired to observe the
disciplines laid down by me and progress toward the goal of
self-realization, the realization of the Sai that shines in your
hearts. |