Taste of Divinity
Crores [tens of millions] of people have had darshan [vision] of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Millions of others yearn to see Him. Thousands have been blessed with interviews. I happen to be one such who had the beneficial grace of divine Baba, and who has shared the joy of His darshan, sparshan [touch] and sambhashana [discussion]. When one has any of these experiences one gets a sense of joy that is very often an inexpressible feeling of euphoria or a calm assurance stilling the agitated mind Sri Baba says, “Do not try to analyze or understand Me—just love Me for that will give you a taste of My divinity.” But many of us wonder what is inside this divine enigma: Baba is in the form of a human being and yet owns breath‑taking miraculous powers.
In Islam, Allah or universal God, is uncreated, has neither beginning nor end and cannot be destroyed. It was a hair-raising experience for me to hear Bhagavan Baba mention during the course of His birthday discourse in 1978: “There is none in the world who has been able to see Me. They see everything and they try to understand everything, but they do not make the slightest attempt to understand the divinity that is present within them. When we talk of God we should know that God has no birth. Birth is only for the body. A body that is born has to die but God is above birth and death. He has no beginning, no middle, and no end. He is neither born nor can He be destroyed. He is present everywhere in the form of atma [spiritual essence].”
God’s love
Religion reunites man with his source, atma and creates harmony in society. When you hear Baba affirm the invincibility of the atma and its ever-present nature, one gains assurance that man can directly experience the infinity of the creator who is ever-present. And through Sai’s words, one also affirms what Jesus said—that the supreme law of love supersedes all other laws bound by time, space, and other man‑made barriers. The Muslims hold that Allah is most beneficent, merciful and most forgiving. Contact with Sai Baba reconfirms the reality of God’s boundless love, care, and concern for human beings.
During my first meeting with Sai Baba at Dharmakshetra [Swami’s residence in Mumbai] in 1976, I became conscious of His concern for the needy and the poor. In a group interview a renowned music director was also present. Swami asked him where he was staying and he replied that he had a suite in a five‑star hotel. When Swami asked how much he paid for the room, he answered, “Rs. 400 a day.” Swami exclaimed, “Rs. 400 a day!” The embarrassed music director clarified that he did not pay but the film producer was footing the bill. “It does not matter who pays,” added Swami. He turned to Mr. Indulal Shah [head of the Sathya Sai Organization in India] and enquired, “How many chapattis [flat bread] can you get for 400 rupees?” Mr. Shah replied “1200 chapattis, Swami.” Baba looked at the musician and quipped, “400 poor people can eat three chapattis each,” and told him not to be extravagant. This was not a speech for public consumption but advice given in a group interview.
Accent on service
When a devastating cyclone and tidal wave struck coastal Andhra Pradesh in November 1977, over 25,000 devotees were at Prasanthi Nilayam [in India] for Baba’s 52nd birthday. Swami converted His birthday discourse to an appeal to devotees to help the victims and donate whatever they have to help the desolate and uprooted. He asked the seva dal [service wing of the Sathya Sai Organization] to proceed to the coastal areas and work alongside the doctors. This author was a witness to the instant response of the devotees assembled in the Poornachandra Hall. In less than five minutes after His appeal, devotees stood up on the spot to make announcements of their donations, and before the end of the hour, the Sri Sathya Sai Cyclone Relief Fund swelled to five lakh rupees [approximately one million dollars], and by the same evening it had reached a figure of ten lakhs.
Once, I had the blissful privilege of travelling with Swami from Ooty to Bangalore [Indian cities]. Seated in the front, I had a chance to ask some personal questions during the leisurely five‑hour journey. One of the observances in Sai gatherings is the need for men and women to sit separately whether for darshan, personal interviews, or prayers. Out of curiosity, I asked Swami why men and women are made to sit separately, as in Islam, too, there is the separation of men and women although the fanatics have carried it to extreme. Swami replied that in the Vedic period too, men and women sat separately for prayers and that when you mix men and women indiscriminately there will be no prayers but mere “hysteria,” lacking meditative concentration.
How the Lord responds
During the same car journey, I had asked an innocent question, “Swami, if a devotee sends an urgent letter or telegram to You to Your Bangalore address and You leave for Ooty or Bombay before it reaches, would it be redirected to you??” He said, “The telegram and letters are mere carbon copies. If the thought in these is sincere and need‑based, the letter or wire need not be delivered to me. The moment the thought is shaped in the devotee’s mind, it reaches me and the necessary beneficial guidance is transmitted.”
This author has been a witness to Baba blessing many Sikhs, Christians, Muslims, Parsees, and Buddhists; they fall at His feet and get up with radiance on their faces. Some Muslims come from such far away places as Libya, Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq to receive His blessings. Hundreds of Buddhists from Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Singapore, visit Him and see the reincarnation of Gautama in Him. Parsees hear the words of Zarathustra and Jews experience God’s holy covenant with Moses when they meet Sai Baba. Many Christians from Europe, Australia, and North America have felt the Holy Spirit in Sai Baba.
In the Koran, it is pointed out that “God does not discriminate between the original teachings of one religion and the other,” (II: 136) but merely confirms the purity of the earlier scriptures. It also says that the essence of the original teachings of all religions is the same subject only to adaptation to local culture, geography, and other environmental factors. Sri Sai Baba emphasizes that the Vedas and Puranas do not belong to India or to any country or even to any one religion. They are for all mankind as the voice of God.
In March 1978, Swami convened a meeting of the principals of Karnataka [state in south India] colleges to consider the need to impart spiritual education and moral values to students. It was attended by principals of religious denominational colleges, representing Hindu, Christian, and Muslim faiths. One of the principals was a learned traditional Muslim scholar, Mir Jaffar Ali of Al‑Amin College, Bangalore. As I happen to be a Muslim devotee of Baba, he told me that though he had spent a near lifetime of 40 years trying to improve the educational lot and character of Muslim students, he was impressed beyond belief by Baba’s capacity to instill humility, implicit obedience, and disciplined conduct among young men coming from different homes.
Early in my relationship with Swami, I learnt that devotion is no substitute for action. He taught me the Sai credo: “It is not merely bhakti [devotion] that I want, I want action motivated by bhakti.” This has added a new dimension to my work. Even before meeting Sai, I was used to long hours of hard work, which led to strain and exhaustion, as it was not tinged with devotion. Today, though the pace of work remains uncurbed, the attitude to work and especially toward the result of effort has changed. Swami counsels, “Throw off your present responsibilities and take up this new responsibility—action motivated by devotion—then you will see the wonder. Even the responsibilities will be discharged smoothly and to your satisfaction.”
Baba reflects the viewpoint that the person who remains attached to God but lives and works in the world is a true devotee. Very often, religions and holy men are derided for developing what Karl Marx called the “opiate state of mind” which allows man to lose control over his actions. But such an attitude should be rightly called escapism and not devotion. Thousands of selfless dedicated workers of the Sri Sathya Sai Seva Dal have proved over the last 30 years that it is possible for human beings, under the guidance of a divine force, to work selflessly and without even thinking of the rewards.
Through slow, steady, and guarded steps, Bhagavan Baba transforms His devotees according to His will, and regularly makes them add depth to their understanding of Himself [God] and their own selves. There may be byways and meanderings on the high road to divinity, but the steadfast and patiently persevering devotee can reach the highway to Swami’s perennial grace.
None can fathom His myriad facets and each new experience of a devout heart confirms the inscrutable mystery of the divine master’s ability to recharge our lives for service to mankind. In Baba’s path, there is no chance of failure. It is a path in which every milestone is a monument of victory, for it is the path of pure love.
~Prof. S. Bashiruddin
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, May 1987
