The Love of Light
Having been trained in the art and science of photography, I am particularly pleased when Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba uses our much appreciated but little understood craft to illustrate His own Divine Teachings. ‘The body is the camera, the mind is the lens, the intelligence is the switch, and the heart is the film,’ He has said. This metaphor applies in many ways to my own life.
When I am looking for these tools of my trade, several criteria must be met. The camera must be strong, tight, and able to withstand the rigors of constant use. I also must do my part in keeping it clean and sheltering it from abuse. If I care for it, it will serve me. If I neglect it, even by letting it sit on the shelf gathering dust, it becomes rusty, slow, and worth little to me.
The lens I use is even more important. The finest camera is useless if the lens is clouded. The glass must be ground to perfection. The different lens‑elements must sit perfectly in line. It must be capable of gathering large amounts of light and focusing the image precisely on the film plane. The lens, too, must be protected not only from physical abuse, but from a bad environment, lest mold and fungus should creep in and mar its once good qualities.
Yet the camera and lens do not a good picture make! The discretion of the switch must be brought into play. It is the element that begins to determine what our final picture will be. It must open at the precise instant, allowing the other elements to gather what is beautiful, and close just as precisely, so that unwanted blurs will not mar an otherwise beautiful scene.
Last, and most important of all, comes the film. Kept fresh, pure and clean, it will hold an image of beauty for eternity. A stale or dirty film is useless regardless of the finest camera, lens, and switch. The film comes in various speeds. The fastest film reacts to the least light, though the image may be grainy, less refined. The slower films are slower to react. But the image, once formed, is the clearest of all. Each tone can be seen in an image of subtle beauty and grace.
As a photographer selects and maintains his tools, so, too, should our spiritual ‘tools’ of body, mind, intelligence, and heart be the very best, so that the light of love will make its most beautiful and lasting impression. These tools are instruments for gathering the light. What is this light on which we continually focus? Can the light gathered and imprinted by the photographer further describe the light of God’s love?
Baba has tried to illumine our often-cloudy minds with these words: “In order to see the moon, does one need a torch? It is by the light of the moon that one sees the moon. In like fashion, if one wishes to see God, it is by love, which is the light of God, that one may see Him.”
When this photographer was a student, one of the most difficult concepts was that of light being invisible.
‘Invisible?’ I queried. “How can that be?” Patiently my professor explained that light itself cannot be seen by the human eye. It is the reflection of light by which the world is revealed to us.
“What about the light of a flame?” I asked. I thought I had him stumped. “Be it a tiny candle or the mighty sun, what we see as light is the reflection of an infinite energy bouncing off molecules in a state of excited motion.”
“Then without light, we would cease to be?’ My restless mind continued to ponder.
“Not only does invisible light create an image on a piece of film, but it also reveals creation to us. It is in fact the fuel of all life. Yes, without light we would cease to be.”
The Omnipresent light of love is the very substance of our life. Through it, all is revealed and sustained.
“I am the light”, Baba teaches. Before creation, there was only Him.
“There was no one to know who I am until I created the world,” He said. He created to reflect and thus reveal His Light. “I have separated Myself from Myself so that I may love Myself… I see Myself in you all.”
We are the Divine Reflectors. The Light falls equally upon us all. Without light, of what use is a mirror? In the presence of light, the mirror becomes a light. Let two mirrors face each other, put a light between, and see. It becomes infinitely multiplied.
“Love all, Serve all,” Baba teaches. Does a mirror choose when or upon whom to reflect its light? Let us be as constant and impartial in reflecting God’s Light. Selfishness means not reflecting the light that falls upon us. A life lived badly is like a tarnished mirror. We become tarnished when our rajasic and tamasic qualities dim the reflection of God’s Light in us. Satwic deeds are the polish, forever able to restore us to our original luster. The brightest beacons of God’s Light are merely mirrors reflecting His Omnipresent Splendor. The measure of light in a mirror is the measure of light reflected by that mirror. So, too, it is with us, the mirrors of God’s Love. Let our lives become a guiding light for others.
This lesson was taught to me in a very special way through a photograph taken in the Puja Room of Mr. B. M. De, in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was there that the Power and Glory of Sathya Sai Baba was first revealed to me. The photograph, taken during bhajan, revealed a light, invisible to those present, but through His Divine Grace, it was recorded on the film. It came in the form of a line, as bright as the light coming from the small oil lamp burning on the altar. From this lamp, the line rises, passing through the heart region of a photograph of Sathya Sai Baba where it seems to glow a bit brighter, before continuing up and out of the frame, toward the Heavens above. When I showed Him the photograph during darshan at Prasanthi Nilayam, He blessed it with a knowing smile.
The Message of the picture for me, is this. We should use our ‘Camera’ of body, mind, intelligence, and heart to gather the light of the Universal Soul. We should become reflectors for that Omnipresent Light that is forever within and around us, so that the world can become brighter still. Let us be constantly aware and thankful, for at this glorious time in the history of our Earth, the Invisible has become visible, the Formless has taken Form, the love of light has become the Light of Love.
~Ross Meador
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, July 1982
