Our Offering
The Bhagavad-Gita (IX, 26) says, `Offer Me with devotion a leaf, a flower, a fruit, a drop of water; that is enough.’ But Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba does not ask even these things. He says that there is no use in offering God leaves that fade, flowers that crumple, fruits that rot, and water that becomes foul. Give Me your heart, pure and full of devotion, He says. He calls to Him those whom He has chosen and teaches them this great lesson—offer unto God the pure heart filled with devotion. If you think that you have come here, to Prasanthi Nilayam, to have His darshan [seeing Him] you are mistaken; He has chosen you and brought you here. God wants you to come here and so you have come.
If we must find out what exactly we have to offer to Bhagavan, we can know it well by examining the career of Mhalasapathi, who served Baba in His previous body at Shirdi. He was an ignorant villager with no pretensions to wealth or learning. He was the first to welcome Sai Baba when He reached Shirdi with the marriage party of Chand Patil. The carts of the party were loosened in the open space before Khandoba’s Temple, and one by one the members of the party got down from the carts. When Baba got down, Mhalasapathi saw Him; he said Ya Sai (Welcome, O Sai). Thenceforth He was known as Sai Baba; Baba adopted that name.
He was sleeping with Baba at Dwarakamayi until the Mahasamadhi. He was such a great devotee of Baba that Baba called him by that very rare appellation, bhakta [devotee]—bhagat! This dasya bhava [attitude of servitude] is the attitude we should have toward Bhagavan; that is the best. He loves us beyond description by words; one glance from His eye is enough to make us happy forever. We who are less than the dust of His feet, He deigns to call near Him and use for His purpose and Mission. Mhalasapathi was very poor; Baba often used to ask him, “There are many rich people coming here; I shall tell them to give you money so that you can be rid of this trouble.” But every time Mhalasapathi refused to take anything. He wanted only Baba’s grace and the chance to serve Baba. Leave everything to Bhagavan, He knows best, He will give us what we deserve and what His grace can win for us.
Four years after Baba left, Mhalasapathi passed away on one Ekadasi Day, with the words Sai Sai on his lips, supremely peaceful and happy. That is the life we should emulate; that is the bhava [attitude] we must cultivate. May Bhagavan endow us with the discrimination to elect this path and stick to it through to the very Goal.
~From Speech by K. P. Mukunda Prabhu, Prasanthi Nilayam 28/8/67
Source: Sathya Sai Speaks, Sept. 1967
Be humble, so that you can escape the fury of the passions and the emotions. A tree that holds its head high is torn down by the raging floods; but a reed bends low when the flood swirls around it and so it survives the fury of the waters. Man must learn to be egoless and humble.
~Baba
