Happiness and Splendor
On December 25th, 1961, I received a letter from Ramana ashram, Tiruvannamalai, written by Swami Abhedananda. “Excuse me, please, for this intrusion,” he pleaded. “I must admit that I have heard of Sri Sathya Sai Baba and His mahimas [glories], since many years but the hearsay did not convey a very good opinion about Him. Recently, ten days back, I got your book in English, ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’ from a devotee of His. I went through it. It is very interesting and very illuminating, and it impels me to have a darshan of His divinity.
I knew Swami Amrithanandaji very well. He was a very good companion of mine but I heard nothing from him about our liberator. Perhaps, he met Him after leaving this ashram. Although I have been leading this present life for over 20 years, I still have my doubts and defects. This body is at the fag end of its life, having passed 76 years. I cannot delay realizing the Summum Bonum, the certainty of which my doubts protest. Will you kindly let me know whether and when I shall be able to have His darshan?” he wrote.
On December 28th, before my reply—asking him to come over as early as possible to Prasanthi Nilayam—could reach him, Abhedananda wrote me another letter, which surprised me. He wrote, “Two days after my letter to your good self, that is on the night of the 27th, during the early hours of the 28th, approximately between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. while I was still in bed, neither sleeping nor dreaming, but brooding half consciously over the melancholy and disturbed state of my affairs, I felt a sudden stroke on my head—hard but bearable. I got up and switched on the light. To my surprise and astonishment, I observed a gaseous form of Bhagavan Ramana [Ramana Maharishi] suddenly changing into Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai, appearing separately and merging together, simultaneously. It all then changed into a brilliant light, which faded out.
All this was in a matter of seconds. I became bewildered. A thought struck me that I was blessed with the vision, of both my benevolent gurus. While still being in an astonished and confused state, I heard a voice, yes, a clear distinct voice that spoke in English thus, ‘Do not get agitated. Don’t meditate. Simply watch the mind and it will disappear. Understand that the watcher is awareness, pure and unadulterated, abstract and absolute. Awareness is Self; this Self is sat-chit-ananda [truth, awareness, and bliss]. That Thou Art. This is the second-less peace, which you ardently seek. Be Firm. Bliss is thyself. The stroke will reveal the secret: Watch.’
Is not this occurrence due to our guru’s grace? I can offer only my heart felt thanks to your good self, which is the cause of this enlightenment.”
As I read this letter describing the mercy and the presence of Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba, I was overwhelmed with joy.
Swami Abhedananda came to Prasanthi Nilayam and he stayed with us for a few days, during which Baba called him into His presence about four times. Returning to Ramana ashram on January 3rd, 1962, he wrote me another letter that described his unique good fortune. “I find Him,” wrote the Swami in that letter, “to be the absolute and abstract love molded itself into concrete human form, simply to uplift the ignorant down-trodden human beings and other animate and inanimate objects from the mire of darkness. The popular view attributing avatarhood to Him is not convincing; He seems to me to be the perfect poorana [complete] Brahmam [Divinity] personified, come to end the unsettled state of the world, to rectify human defects and make it realize its real nature and its bliss.
“I was really astonished that the infirmities of old age disappeared and I regained vigor and strength by His mere touch. His clear exposition with apt analogies, not only put an end to my long-harbored doubts, but also made me see truth in its pristine nature, in Him face to face. Not only this, His transformation at the moment of taking leave into Muralidhara Krishna, in the dazzling splendor blinding my sight, was an experience never to be forgotten in life! It is a blessing bestowed on this poor soul.
I was a believer in nirguna Brahmam [the supreme reality without form, quality, and attribute] and I considered everything visible and imagined as mithya or illusive. This gracious vision He vouchsafed changed my belief, and now I believe everything visible and imagined to be truth and Brahmam itself, without any difference. I consider myself a changed man, after my visit to Prasanthi Nilayam and the blessings I had from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Saeeshwara, my Lord. My knowledge fails to describe the happiness I derived and splendor I found in Prasanthi Nilayam. My heartfelt thanks to you and unreserved homage to Bhagavan Sathya Sai Baba.”
These three letters from this great sadhaka [spiritual seeker], reverend, aspirant, and renowned scholar give us a glimpse of the Divinity that has concretized as Sri Sathya Sai Baba. We can only repeat along with Swami Abhedananda, “Let us avail this golden opportunity, without delay, to seek His blessings and advice, by serving Him with love, reverence, fortitude, and humility. If we do not do so, there can only be despair in store for us.”
For, as Swami Abhedananda writes, “Baba’s touch carries His much beloved devotee to the extreme height of super bliss, never enjoyed or experienced before. He is the unerring guide in the path of realization of this supreme love.”
That stroke on the head while he was at the Ramana ashram was indeed the beginning of a new and glorious chapter for Abhedananda; that voice (he discovered later that it was the voice of Baba Himself) awakened him to newer and deeper realms of bliss. May we also deserve and achieve such grace from the Lord.
~N. Kasturi
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, March 1962
