The Four-Faced Divine

Balasaheb Bharade, a devotee of Baba, said it was a difficult task to speak about Baba, but he was reminded of the sage who once made a buffalo recite the Vedas! Similarly, Baba would give the needed inspiration and power to speak about the Avatar of this age.

Two great divine manifestations appeared in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra [north India]—Jnaneshwar Bhagavan and Shirdi Sai Baba. Jnaneshwar said, “He who goes to Vaikuntha [heaven] brings Vaikuntha with him when he returns; he sees heaven everywhere.”

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Wherever Baba visits, He attracts lakhs [millions] of eager people. Why do they gather in such enormous numbers? Because He has come for all of us. He does not restrain anyone, on the basis of caste, creed, or color. All are welcomed and blessed. Furthermore, though the modern world has a surfeit of things that cater to sensual pleasure and physical comfort, man has no peace within him. He longs for it and seeks all the sources he can think of. Mere darshan [seeing and experiencing a holy person] of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba gives everyone that sense of inner peace for which he is thirsting. In this transient world of spurts of grief and pain, and short-lived joys and pleasures, only those who are always in the consciousness of atma [real self] can experience lasting peace and contentment. And Baba is not only always in the atmic awareness, He is the self‑manifested full Avatar!

Yogasiddha

We have heard of persons who have attained mystic powers or who are self-realized, but they have been led on the path of achievement by a guru who was greater than them. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba has had no guru. The wisdom He propounds and evinces, the powers He manifests, the compassion that saturates all His acts, these have been brought from birth. They are all natural to the Divine, when It decides to manifest in human form.

Some people quote the Bhagavad-gita [song of God] sloka [verse], where it is said, “Sucheenaam srimathaam gehe yoga brashtobhi jaayathe” (the yogi who trips on the path after great progress has been made is born again in the house of a pure, rich family) and they argue that Baba is an example of a yogi come again to complete the interrupted advance! This is an entirely wrong idea, for Baba is a yogasiddha [yoga of perfected attainment], not a yogabhrashta [one who has fallen from the high state of yoga]; He is the master, the ideal, the goal of yoga…and not a practitioner.

Universal Guru

Four paths are prescribed in the shastras (scriptures) for God‑realization or the equivalent, self‑realization. These are jnana-marga (path of knowledge of self), karma-marga (path of dedicated action), bhakti-marga (path of devotion), and yoga-marga (path of discipline). Any one of these will lead man to God and they are all interconnected. The Gita proclaims that all four paths are proper and valid according to the mental make‑up and spiritual aptitude of the seeker. Bhagavan knows the progress and prospect of each seeker, and He advises, directs, and guides sincere seekers on the path He selects for them.

For all, with all, in all

Bhagavan has come to ensure and establish the welfare of the whole world. Sadhus [renunciants] and seekers strive only for their individual salvation and liberation, although whatever self-realized souls do will be for the good of the world. Avatars however, are in a different category. They act on purpose, they have their mission and their message. Sant Eknath says, “No one becomes a sage by simply observing the world as a witness; he must do good, promote the welfare of everyone. Samadhi [inner communion] is not mere non‑action, it is positive. It is samatwam, (seeing all equally as God), seeing God everywhere, as something nearest to you.” “My life is My message,” Baba says. We can see in Him the phenomenon of Brahmamaya [the supreme reality] and of inner and outer samadhi of the highest order.

Mission of the Avatar

Some people ask me, “Why does Baba establish colleges?” I reply, “Why does a flower shower fragrance?” Having come to re‑establish dharma [righteousness], His will spontaneously carries out various activities by which the forces that damage dharma are weakened and destroyed. His will deals with all stages of man, from children to the old, it deals with the home, the community, national, and world problems. There is no field of human activity, no region that will be out of its range. Restoring peace and happiness to the good and correcting the bad are the two purposes of the Avatar.

Dharma expressed as seva

Baba has taken the role of the sadguru [supreme guru] who leads us to liberation. Baba has said that there can be no spiritual progress without strict loyalty to truth and the constant practice of truth. He creates and sustains the thirst for truth, and thus, He guides man to the highest goal. He is the four-faced divine principle: sakshatkara (God incarnate in concrete human form), chamatkara (He draws us to Him and to the good and godly life, by means of spontaneous manifestations of the divine, called by some, for want of a better word, miracles), paropakara (service filled with love), and samskara (continuous sadhana for the perfection of purity and virtue and the acquisition of wisdom).

Faith and Devotion

Baba emphasizes shraddha [faith] and bhakti [devotion]. While there were violent strikes in other colleges, students in Baba’s colleges continued their studies, thus showing that faith and devotion can help real progress. Today the world is suffering for want of faith and devotion, or rather, for want of someone who can create that faith and evoke that devotion. Well, Baba has come to fulfill that want.

Today, deceit and cleverness are hailed as laudable achievements. Baba is raising truth to the highest level as the motive of action. His message penetrates every heart through His leelas [divine play] and mahimas [miracles]. He is reconstructing man through bal vikas [children’s education program], sevadal [service cadre], seva samitis [service groups], mahila mandalis [women’s groups], bhajan mandalis [devotional singing groups] and colleges for boys and girls. He is revitalizing religious life, i.e. the good life, the progressive life, by encouraging the upsurge of divine impulses through devotional singing, chanting the the Lord’s name, writing the Lord’s name, meditation, and most important of all choral singing of God’s glory in the early morning hours by devotees in every village. I am glad Baba’s divine message has reached Ratnagiri, and I congratulate the Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samiti here on the good work they have been able to do.

~Balasaheb Bharade
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Sept. 1971