Signs and Wonders
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in a discourse on December 1976, said that His manifestations were not to deceive and mislead the people but to attract, reconstruct, transform, and make them useful and serviceable for society.
The conflicts between persons who accept God and deny God, and those who declare that God is to be found in this place and those who affirm that God can be found nowhere is never ending. It has continued throughout the ages. While considering this situation, one has to remember that while it is unnecessary to awaken a person already awake and easy to awaken a person who is asleep, we cannot awaken, however much we try, a person pretending to be asleep! Those who know can be taught, by means of simple illustrations, what they do not know; but those afflicted with half -knowledge and proud of that acquisition are beyond any further education.
The two eyes give a picture of a vast expanse of space, but they cannot see the face to which they belong! They are important instruments of the body, yet they can-not see the entire body; the back is beyond their view. When you wish to see your face and back, you have to keep a mirror in front and another mirror behind, and through the front mirror you can see the reflection of your back. Similarly, when you desire to know your reality (face) and your future (back), you have to adjust the mirror of “self‑confidence” (confidence that you are the Self) in front and the mirror of divine grace behind. Without these two, to affirm that you are aware of your truth or of your destiny is sheer fantasy.
The Divine is now denoted by various words that are common currency in limited human vocabularies. They name mere examples of divine attributes such as “miracles,” “magic,” “wonders,” etc. Of course, men cannot contain in their minds more than they can hold. They cannot verbally express the in‑expressible. Only those who have dived deep and contacted the underlying principle of love can picture divinity with some clarity. The Divinity that is Me has not been acquired or earned, nor has it been added or has evinced after the lapse of some years, in the middle of this career.
The Divine has to reveal itself through these manifestations, largely shaped and modified by the nature of the times, the region, and the cultural environment. The signs and wonders that I manifest are given names that do not connote their purpose or effect. They can be classed as chamatkara [attraction], leading to samskara [transmutation], which urges one on to paropakara [serving others], resulting in sakshatkara [vision of the Divine]. Chamatkara is any act that attracts on account of its inexplicability. This aspect of attraction is inherent in the Avatar. The very name ‘Rama’ means ‘He who pleases or causes delight.’ ‘Krishna’ means ‘He who attracts, draws toward Himself.’ This attribute of attraction is a characteristic of divinity.
Why does the Divine attract? Is it to deceive, or mislead? No. It is to trans-form, reconstruct, reform—a process called samskara. What is the purpose of the reconstruction? It is to make the person useful and serviceable for society—to efface his ego, and to affirm in him the unity of all—beings in God. The person who has undergone samskara becomes a humble humane servant of those who need help. This is the stage of paropakara. Service of this kind, done with reverence and selflessness prepares man to realize the One that pervades the many. The last stage is sakshatkara. The Vedas pro-claim that immortality (the stage when one is merged in the birthless, deathless universal entity) is feasible through renunciation and detachment only, and not through rituals, progeny, or wealth. When one renounces selfish desire, his love expands unto the farthest regions of the universe, until he becomes aware of the cosmic love that feeds all the four processes mentioned above. It is important that you know this underlying urge in all that I do.
Let us consider the chamatkara, an act that attracts and causes wonder. You see a flower. You long to hold it in your hand only when its color or fragrance is attractive. You enter the market and see heaps of fruits. If the fruits are not attractive, you have no urge to possess them and benefit by them. Attraction is the very nature of the Divine.
When the person is drawn near, the pro-cess of samskara starts. Without this, man remains fallow and feeble. He has no dig-nity or personality. A stainless steel lump worth two pennies is transformed by skillful manipulation and reconstruction into nuts, screws, and springs, and then into a watch that is worth two or three hundred dollars. This is the result of samskara, which turned it into a useful tool for indicating time. So, too, man can be transformed into a noble, efficient, happy, and disciplined member of society by the implanting of good thoughts, good feelings, good deeds, and good emotions. Man can be transformed into a mahatma [great soul]. Such transformed people will spontaneously engage themselves in the task of promoting human welfare. They will be promoters of the ideals of the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.
Now, persons who have no experience or knowledge of spiritual science or no conception of the Divine make pronouncements on subjects into which they stray. The eye can see, but it cannot hear; the tongue can talk, but it cannot hear. The ear can hear, but it cannot either see or talk. Each has to accept its limitations and be content. The divine can be grasped only through love, through faith and sadhana [spiritual effort] surcharged with universal love. Reason is too feeble an instrument to measure it. Denial of the divine cannot negate it. Logic cannot reveal it. All the tirades now being made against the Di-vine are from atheists who are opportunists.
So your duty is to preserve your equanimity. Be true to yourselves and do not waver. I am unaffected by praise or blame. My love and compassion envelop all; My grace can be shared by all. I am declaring this so that you may face all this with fortitude. The more you dig—the deeper the derision-—the higher the mound, the taller the praise. People with a disease in the nose cannot appreciate the fragrance of a flower. Those who cannot appreciate or recognize the Divine are suffering from illness that handicaps them.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Dec. 1976
