Baba and the Moon

Often as a child I had heard about the “Man in the Moon” but was never able to discern any such person no matter how hard or how often I looked.

Photo of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai BabaThen one evening in Hawaii in 1975, while my wife and I were walking together along the ocean beach, discussing a recent trip that I had just returned from to India, I looked up and with utter astonishment saw Bhagavan Baba looking back at me from the moon. It was unmistakable, and I was in utter amazement to the point of being put into a stupor. I said to my wife, “Honey, Baba is giving us His darshan [sight of a holy person], I can’t believe it.” She asked where and I pointed to the moon. She looked up and she, too, in utter amazement said, “My God.”

What was such a shock to us on that full moon night turned out to be an ever-present physical phenomenon that occurs with every moon. It is constantly a delight to see the waxing and waning of Bhagavan and His full portrait on all full moon nights. It is particularly beautiful on those certain full moon nights when the moon comes up and He is facing us directly rather than at an angle, and especially on certain mornings in the United States when the moon is still up at dawn with Bhagavan Baba looking straight at us in all His Godly splendor. The Lingam outline of His hair is unmistakable and takes up the top part of the moon, and the rest of His features are more or less strongly fixed depending on the weather and my own heart.

We have come to expect Bhagavan Baba in the moon as such a natural occurrence that we hardly think about it except on those few occasions when we may be spea­king to another devotee on a night when the full moon is up and look at the moon and say to the devotee, “Oh, Bhagavan is giving us His darshan again,” and are quite surp­rised when the devotees will say “where” and for the first time see His magnificent presence.

I have always been slow in expressing those things that seem so natural to me but have realized that it is time to share with everyone the constant evening darshan of our beloved Lord as another one of His leelas [Divine plays]. He is constantly looking after us and shining His darshan onto the whole world whether we believe or we do not believe; whether we know of Him or do not know of Him. His face, His features, and His port­raiture covering the moon are undeniable.

~Robert D. Silver, Attorney at Law, Ventura, CA
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Feb. 1979