The Mother
People conceive of God in various ways—as Saraswati, the bestower of wisdom, as Lakshmi, the bestower of prosperity, as Vishnu, the preserver and protector of man, as Vighneshwara, the remover of all obstacles in human progress, as Rama, the embodiment of dharma, as Krishna, the embodiment of prema and so on. Aspirants and seekers have realized God in these forms, according to their inclinations. We have with us today, the Divine power in human form, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. From all that we see, hear and experience, we can assert that Baba is unique because He is the Divine mother in human form.
Baba asks us to worship the mother as God. The mother trains the emotions and intelligence; she fosters the body and the mind. Baba does the same with all who take shelter in Him. The mother is the pillar of the home, society, the nation, and humanity itself. Mother knows the secret of mental peace, of inner silence, of spiritual courage, and of unwavering contentment, which is the greatest treasure that adhyatmic [universal wisdom] discipline can give man. All these one gets now from Mother Sai.
Sai is Prema‑swaroopa [embodiment of Divine love]. He loves all and guides all. His helping hand is available to everyone wherever He may be and whenever the need arises. He looks so charming and simple, and is simpler still is His approach to us so that we feel like children before Him, the mother, and confide in Him without any reserve. Love is His lesson, His medium of instruction, and the educative process. He seeks love, He blesses love, He plants love in the driest and stoniest of hearts.
How lovingly Mother Sai admonishes us in order to remove fear and doubt from our minds! “Do not call yourselves the children of sin. There is no sin worse than that. You are Amritaputras, heirs of immortality. You have the Lord Himself residing in your hearts, the Antaryamin, the inner motivator of every being in the creation. How then can you be the child of sin?” He asks.
As He [Krishna] responded to the call of Draupadi [wife of the Pandavas in Mahabharata], Sai now responds to every call. After His stay for a few days on Horsley Hills, when Baba and His party were leaving the bungalow, He went to the buffalo that had carried the water up the hill for the campers every day. He stroked, patted, and blessed it most endearingly. Such is the unbounded love of Mother Sai.
Mother Sai is compassion itself. Many times either through forgetfulness, arrogance, or ignorance we continue with our old habits in spite of His counsel or command. But does He for that reason abstain from showering His grace and love on any of us? No. Instead, He pardons us and urges us to repent our faults. He encourages us to improve slowly and steadily, correcting ourselves and watching our steps at every stage. He teaches us patience and tolerance. He exhorts us to forget the harm others have done to us as well as the good that we have done to them.
Mother Sai may not speak to you directly. The mere sight of that radiant face full of joy and mercy gives comfort and confidence. His silent glance is more eloquent to the listening heart than a hundred words. Indeed, it is only in the depth of silence that the voice of God can be heard. In His presence, doubt is as a patch of shallow water exposed to the burning sun. It disappears in no time. His words are charged with a strange force—not of vehemence or cold logic—but a force generated by the alchemy of love.
If we take one step toward Him, He rushes with a hundred steps toward us. “Bring bhakti [devotion] and lay it here; take from Me shakti [divine energy] instead,” says Baba. “Bring what you now have, namely, sorrow, grief, worries, and anxieties and take from Me joy and peace, courage, and confidence,” He tells us.
Like the mother, He guards us and guides us; He feeds us and cures us. What can we offer Him in return except the prayer that we may be shaped by Him into flutes for transmuting His breath into melodious music conferring the joy of eternity on every fleeting moment?
He gives us of the best
And the best of us we shall return;
He has never failed us, nor ever will,
Always behind us, so seldom seen,
He is our dearest Mother Supreme.
~Vidya S. Madgaoukar, Hubli
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, April 1978
Recognize the SAI, resident in every heart, and all will be softness, sweetness, and smoothness for you. SAI will be the fountain of love in your heart and in the hearts of all with whom you come in contact. Know that SAI is omnipresent, and so He is present in every living being and you. Adore every one as you adore SAI. Do unto him as you would like to be done to you. Don’t do unto him anything you don’t like to be done unto you.
~Baba
