Fun With Sai

Why the Form

Bhagavan Baba is a unique incarnation of the supreme power whose purpose in taking human form is to make mankind realize the self within which is the eternal reality.

Even while explaining the reason for His taking a form of an ordinary human, Bhagavan punctuates it with a touch of humor in His own inimitable style. He says, “If I had come in the form of Vishnu with the full equipment such as conch, maze, discus, and with four hands, people would have kept me in a cell as an exhibit of an unusual creature in an amusement park and collected money from the curious spectators who wanted to see me. It is only when I am like other human beings, I can interact with people and convey my message effectively and transform the people, for which I have come down.”

Irresistible

The Avatar, on the other hand, makes the willing sacrifice of assuming a human form, enduring certain necessary and painful limitations, for our sake alone. Thus He says, The Lord has come in human form and moves among men, so that He can be listened to, contacted, loved, revered, and obeyed. He has to speak the language of men and behave like a human being, as a member of the species. Otherwise He would be either negated and neglected or feared and avoided.

And so He can also say, When I am with a man I am man; when I am with a woman I am a woman; when I am with a child I am a child; when I am alone I am God.

Thus the avatar can be, and is, all things to all people, according to their need and consciousness. He is both divinely human and humanly divine. The mixture maybe unpredictable, but is always irresistible.

Part Refreshment

There was a young American devotee, who continuously fought desire when his co-workers invited him to go to a bar for beer. Knowing full well that Baba does not approve of alcohol for spiritual aspirants, sometimes his desire won and he had a beer with the guys.

Swami approached him in darshan line, looked at him and said, Heineken today, Heineken tomorrow!

This young man did not tell Sai Baba about the battle with the beer desire. Yet those few chosen words conveyed a profound message.

Sai Baba speaks a few words, but communicates paragraphs. We speak paragraphs and communicate a few words.

Source: Sai Humor