The Call of the Flute

One year has passed since I drove away from Prasanthi Nilayam and waved farewell to Sathya Sai Baba and came to U.S.A. As I look back on that eventful July day when I first met Baba, I realize how fast has been the spiritual progress since meeting Him.

I first went to Puttaparthi in 1964 to see some miracles, for I had heard that a great holy one was doing siddhis [saintly manifestations]. I thought I was going for a day to see miracles, but one glimpse of Baba, and I changed all plans, cancelled all trips, extended my visa, etc, to be with the Master!

His prema (love) is a tangible thing that comes into the heart and fills it with divine love for all beings. Through Baba’s presence the body becomes like a cloud of light, weightless and timeless.

When I look back on myself at Rishikesh [town on the banks of the River Ganges], I cannot believe that such a change could take place. I recollect sitting by the Ganges pondering “Who of all those I have met is my teacher—my guru?” In my heart I cried out, called to the Himalayas, to the holy ones residing there, hidden from mortal view, “Who of you will help me, who will help? As I sat silently in this dilemma, I heard a voice and there stood a young man from a nearby ashram whom I had never seen before. Without introduction he spoke, “If you are to reach the goal early you must give up all teachers but one. Get one and you will attain.” With that he walked away.

Sitting there by the Ganges in the dark with the rippling waters at my feet and the roaring “Om” of the waters in my ears, I mentally threw out all the past and its many teachers. Within two weeks I was standing at Prasanthi Nilayam before Sri Sathya Sai Baba. My whole heart and soul felt at peace in His presence. Just the sight of His halo of hair, or the orange robe sent a wave of the consciousness of shanti [peace] through me. He asked, (as He asks all who come to Him) “What do you want?” “God,” was all I could answer. He gave me many short interviews in the ensuing days. A few words, a smile; but an inner change was discernible. Prema (divine love) began to fill my being to overflowing. I became spiritually one with the guru in those early days. Walking, moving, praying, I was with the master in consciousness. But that was not enough. He directed me onward, upward with the words “We” “He” meaning “Don’t stop until you become He, the one universal consciousness.”

Before leaving Prasanthi Nilayam, Baba created presents, taking them from the “universal storehouse” or as Baba says the “Sai store” with a wave of His hand. There was a little picture for a ring with the Master’s face on it, vibhuti, pictures, oh! Many gifts, but the greatest of His miracles is not the spiritual ‘siddhi’ manifestations, but the divine miracle, the transformation of a soul. With His little kindnesses, little gestures, He unfolds the consciousness. One day as He stood before the group with His face radiant, He sweetly said, “I am so happy,” And I too instantly felt that happiness which is beyond words. It was His unique way of giving the grace of anandam [bliss].

When I asked Him for moksha [liberation], His answer was “do sadhana [spiritual effort] with great determination. Swami will help.” The days at the ashram were filled with determined effort. I often sat through hours of “meetings” knowing no word which was spoken. But when Baba got up to speak and filled the hall with His prema (love), the place would turn a radiant white with the effulgence of God and my being responded, the heart opened, and love flooded me. He has given me so many gifts of the spirit: the gift of seeing the whole world as prakash [light], God, the essence, revealed before my waking eyes; and the gifts of anandam, of prema, peace, and happiness. He says, “I give with down-turned hands, my hand only turns upward to receive the gifts of a devotee’s divine love.

Having seen Him under numerous circumstances, I have never seen Him less than perfection in action—peaceful, humble, kind, loving, joyous yet sternly kind, boyishly young, and gay. These are all attributes of His diversified nature. Yet this same body can control the elements and produce any material manifestation. He never flaunts or misuses His gift of siddhi. Only using His spiritual powers to help the helpless, the ailing, the sick, the destitute, and at times just for happiness, as He did, when with a wave of His hand he took from the universal store house sweet halva [sesame paste] still warm of a quality never tasted before or after. He told me of the yogic heat in my system caused by intense sadhana and with a quick movement of the hand He took from “nowhere” this sweet, and placed it in my hand saying, “This is sweet, that is heat, eat,” laughing in His own inimitable way, which makes all who hear laugh with delight in response.

As I sit here in New York, meditating, writing, I no longer look back on the years of spiritual struggle as futile and useless waste. They were years of preparation leading me to the feet of the Master—Sai Baba.

I sit here, by Baba’s grace, not loving… but love itself, not seeking anandam… but the consciousness of anandam made manifest in me. A smoothness, an inner radiance, which shines in all alike, permeates my being also. No longer need I try to awaken the heart center. My whole self is the center of love, for I am the eternal ananda and shanti. Who is there outside? I no longer exist as such, I am part of the cosmic whole. As Baba says, “the body is less than a cloth, it is like a cloud, neither real or unreal. You have never been born nor will you ever die, you are atma.”

The mind no longer fears the future or dispels the past for He, Baba has said, “Swami is with you always.” Yet the call of the flute is ever heard within my heart and some day I will wind my way back to the sacred feet of Krishna.”

A joy fills the being as one walks on the crowded streets, the icy cold wind cannot take that warm inner glow from the heart. One looks at the tall buildings towering above and sees Baba, at the crowds and there He is. He fills all space even as Divine Krishna”

~Hilda Charlton
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Aug. 1966