A Garland From Ceylon
“Not to love is not to live; develop serenity through the control of senses and detachment; Sathya is the very breath of life.” These simple messages from Sathya Sai Baba reached the people in Ceylon [now called Sri Lanka] recently in a miraculous way.
Babaji [Sathya Sai Baba] works in mysterious and miraculous ways. As one devotee said, “He works patiently and concisely on each devotee, from beginning to end.” Each soul on earth is an “idea” of God, blossoming slowly into the purpose contained in it, even as the seed has the full-grown tree within it. Babaji knows the purpose of each soul and He unfolds the perfection within each devotee
I went to Ceylon for a few days to visit a friend who was ill, or so I thought. But Babaji, it seemed had other plans. There was some delay in obtaining the return visa to India and what would have been a short visit turned into two months of divine activity.
It all started on a very crowded bus, where I met a friend, the secretary of the Theosophical Society of Ceylon. I was carrying one of Babaji’s books and felt impelled to show it to him… but, I couldn’t; I was pushed forward by the crowd. He called out, loudly, “Come and give a lecture!” I responded by giving him my telephone number.
This started a chain of events. I cabled Babaji the time and the date of the proposed lecture, requesting His blessings. The day of the first lecture, as I stood up to talk, I uttered Babaji’s name when a current of shakti [power] surged within me with such intensity that my body swayed and shook. With this, I had the assurance and confidence that Babaji was with me and I unfolded before the audience the wonder of Baba’s life, His miracles, and His message for the world today.
From that first talk started a series—before yoga societies, meditation groups, Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians. Lectures in different parts of the island were arranged in an amazingly short time, within 24 hours, in halls crowded to overflowing—all coming to hear about the new Sai Baba and His message of truth.
The phone rang incessantly and there was not a moment free from groups of inquirers and seekers. The world is hungry for the living truth that Babaji imparts. His simple message that man is the living embodiment of God; that paramatma [supreme spirit] is within us and can be re-discovered through bhakti [devotion] and the discipline of the senses. I taught the audiences Babaji’s joyous song, “Govinda Krishna Jai…” and it was a pleasure to see their happy faces while singing the song that opens the heart to His prema [love]. I told them I had come with a begging bowl and asked each one to give me three gifts to take back to Babaji at Prasanthi Nilayam. The three gifts I asked for were:
1. Control of the tongue, as God gave it to us so that we might use it with sweetness and moderation.
2. Control of emotions because they have to be sublimated into godly thoughts, not lowered into lust and greed.
3. Love for others, seeing Him in every person, as in all beings.
I told them of Babaji’s comforting assurance that those who stay close to the Lord will be safe in the midst of turbulence and chaos. Babaji has said that the world is a train, each compartment being a separate country. India is one compartment, Ceylon another, U.S.A. yet another but there is only one engine driver—God. Babaji also says that we have to tune ourselves to the radio station—G. O. D.
When the mind is filled with mundane thoughts, we are cut off from the [radio] station; by quick adjustment of the mind toward divine thoughts, we get in tune with the infinite. If this tuning in is practiced continuously, moment by moment, by constant awareness, life becomes one great joy. One is filled with prema [love], bliss, and shanti [peace]. Then both the purpose of having taken the body is fulfilled, and all Babaji’s promises such as full beauty, wisdom, and happiness manifest.
The people of Ceylon were so enthused with Baba’s message that at one meeting I asked if anyone felt in his heart that he would like Babaji to come to Ceylon, he should come forward. The whole audience surged forward like an ocean to sign their names. A garland of these names was brought to Prasanthi Nilayam with an invitation to Babaji to visit the island. Babaji has accepted the same and devotees will have the joy and comfort of seeing and hearing Him in person.
We are seeing in all this the beginning of the march of truth throughout the world, the gathering of the warriors of Sathya Sai ready to conquer the enemy of the senses, and to walk triumphant with Sathya Sai Baba onto the glory of truth. Om.
~Hilda Charlton
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan. 1965
