Love, Light, and Delight
Sunam Gyamtso, a former student of the Sathya Sai Institute, shares his thoughts and says that we are looking for miracles of materializations and forgetting the creator Himself who is the greatest miracle amongst us, showering His gifts of love and compassion.
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed,” said Jesus to His apostles. Today, despite the advent of numerous world teachers and Avatars [incarnation of the Lord], we still find people who have seen, yet refuse to believe. Caught in the maze of their own doubt and delusion, these people with rational temperament demand proof of everything including God’s existence. They demand tangible proof. It must have been easier for the previous Avatars of the Lord to convince people of their divinity because the hearts of men were pure then, and so was the faith in the glory of God. Today, the seeds of devotion and faith often wither in the absence of pure love for the Lord.
Even those who come to Bhagavan Baba usually desire to see Him perform some miracles. A ring, a watch, an amulet, or rosary—these are the gifts that He materializes by a wave of His hand, and for many, it is these that prove that He is Divine. People crave more for His creations than the Creator Himself. The Lord, in all His compassion, performs miracles galore so as to instill faith in the hearts of His children.
The greatest of seers, the holiest of rishis [sages] fail to describe His leela [divine play] and mahima [glory], for it is like a boundless ocean. Although we see Him everyday at Prasanthi Nilayam [Baba’s main residence in India], giving darshan [sight of a Divine being] and granting interviews, He is also seen, felt, and experienced by His devotees thousands of miles away in the distant Himalayan reg-ions, in the arid deserts, in every nook and corner of the world. The following narratives are only a few drops from this endless mahima-sagara [the ocean of glory].
Healing in Dreams
The train sped toward Madras from where we would have to travel roughly another 14 hours to reach Puttaparthi. I moved closer to my fellow traveler, an unassuming man from a tea estate in Darjeeling as he narrated his experience with Bhagavan Baba. I almost envied the deep sense of contentment and faith he exhibited.
His second son suffered from dehydration and swollen eyes when he was just nine months old in 1968. While the right eye responded to treatment from a local village physician, the left eye became worse. His eye remained afflicted and protruded from its sockets till he was 14 years old.
One night, he [the patient] wept bitterly, and as he slept he dreamt that he was driving a yellow car. On the way, he caught a black rabbit with a halo: It said to him, ‘Sai Baba.’ He dreamt again that night that he was visiting a hospital where a doctor in black attire received him. When he woke up around 5 A.M., he discovered that the pain that he had endured over many years had completely vanished. The swelling, too, had subsided. Two weeks following that, he dreamt again that he was kneeling before the same doctor, who pierced his temples with sharp rods. Needless to say, the doctor had cured his disease that had nagged him for 14 years.
Distance Healing
“Today Swami came to me and massaged my back.” The words were uttered by an octogenarian, smiling with great joy. In normal circumstances this would not have aroused any sense of curiosity, for Swami often did that to His devotees during darshan. But this was unique since Bhagavan was away in Madras. My persistent curiosity bore fruit as she consented to share her experience.
She had been suffering from excruciating backache. That day, she was being massaged by a lady friend. Lying down helplessly, she called Bhagavan’s name, praying that He should come to her succor. There were two photographs of Swami in the room, one placed against the wall on the floor and the other hanging on the wall.
All of a sudden, Bhagavan emerged from the photograph placed on the floor and stood in front of her. He reached out with His hands and gently massaged her back. She felt that His hands were cool and comforting. The next instant, the pain had vanished, and she could get up all on her own and walk back to her room. While I was astounded by the incident, it was nothing unusual for her as Swami was always by her side.
The Divine nectar
I kept my container among the others at the altar of a devotee who was specially blessed. Inserted inside my container was a small image of Lord Buddha. The atmosphere was fragrant with the smell of vibhuti [sacred ash] and the aroma of burning joss sticks. All photo-graphs of gods, goddesses, and all icons at the altar were overflowing with streams of ambrosial nectar. A clay image of Buddha had reduced to half of its size by the flowing nectar.
Every vessel in the house was filled with amrita [ambrosia], and the photographs were partially covered with vibhuti, kumkum [vermillion], and chandan [sandalwood]. I picked up my container after a few minutes to find two-thirds of it filled with the divine nectar. The devotee told me that the ambrosia had a different taste on different days. This phenomenon lasted for another fortnight. I left the house with my heart warm with reverence, awe, and delight.
The Divine presence
As I looked around, sitting amidst a sea of humanity eagerly waiting and pining for a glimpse of the figure clad in red, I was transfixed and mesmerized by the grandeur and beauty of the sight that greeted me. Far in the horizon, the evening twilight announced the closing of yet another glorious day. Clouds of different colors and shades adorned the sky with various patterns, and on the grounds of the stadium sat the vast multitude of men, women, and children in silent prayer, assembled to offer their gratitude and love on His Divine birthday. Towering above the stadium stood a splendid castle of light, so celestial.
It was only about a decade back that I had come to Puttaparthi and had trudged up to Tulsivanam [a cluster of herbal shrubs]. I never imagined that such an untamed land full of thorns, shrubs, and anthills would one day become the site of such a historic occurrence. Such is the power of His sankalpa [Divine will]. In the inner recesses of my mind, I registered this event as a great divine miracle, full of love, light, and delight.
The expectations of the devotees reached the zenith as the Lord, with His charming smile, appeared on the stage of the Shanti Vedika [the podium], looking as fresh as morning dew in spite of all the hard work that He had done from dawn to dusk. It suddenly occurred to me that there cannot be a greater miracle than the Lord Him-self He looks so human, and yet He is so Divine. Though He dons His earthly vesture, He lives such a perfect and harmonized life so as to teach perfect living through His own personal example.
For ages, man had craved that God should come down upon this earth to redeem mankind. And here we have the very living God, walking and talking as an ordinary human being. There can never be a greater miracle than this for all time to come. For those who want to believe in the Lord only by the evidences of His miracles, let us look at the pinnacle of His miracles, His own Avatarhood. When we look into those serene eyes full of love and compassion, we will know that we are in the presence of God.
Source: Sanathana Sarathi, May 1986
