The Fifth Root
This universe has been described in the Gita [the celestial song] as the Sanathana Vriksha [eternal tree], the infinitely spreading Ashwattha [sacred] tree, its roots being in the higher regions, its branches spread in the lower, and the leaves representing all beings in the universe. It has five roots that draw sustenance from the heavens—truth, goodness, beauty, love, and power.
There have been great saints who have embodied truth, goodness, beauty, and love in their lives. They have suffered for us, inspired us and paid back hatred with love. They have returned good for evil. They have led lives of beauty in an atmosphere of ugliness. We are heavily indebted to them for holding these ideals aloft and striving for victory.
But the embodiment of power (along with truth, goodness, beauty, and love) is very rare in the history of humanity—a person who can shape our destiny, and grant us a new view of life. The world is looking out for that one who can and will support all that is good, protect all that is good, and who can and will destroy evil.
This question has filled man with agony from the dawn of history—when shall right find its appropriate might? The rule of the jungle, the rule of law and the rule of love—man has to progress through these three steps. But we are still under the rule of the jungle, even though man has proudly walked on the moon! The rule of law is found in the law books; the rule of love is found only in the lives of saints. Who can take us into the rule of love, the Ramarajya?
No government in any part of the world has been able to achieve this so far, for governments are machines; they work as they are operated on. The individuals who operate them have no transformative power on which they can draw. The solution lies in discovering a personage who can draw on divine power. Fortunately, the one person who can transform the world is the head of the samiti [association] under whose auspices we are meetimg today.
In the last hundred years, India has had a galaxy of saints, from Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Vinoba Bhave. But having spent some years with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, if asked to define truth, I would say that what Baba says and does is truth; if I am asked to define love, then what He does with the poor, the rich, the distressed, and the powerful is love. In a similar way, goodness is embodied in Him, and beauty is what He says, does, and teaches. But these four qualities alone would not have drawn me to Him. If He had just these, He would have been like other saints, albeit perhaps on a higher level.
I am one of the humblest followers of Baba, for, I have found the fifth element in Him—the power to transform our lives. The word avatar puts many people off; the westerner does not understand how a human being can be a God, and those who have been educated on western lines rely only on second-hand information.
In crucial moments of history, a leader always emerges who, through his innate power, takes the whole human species further ahead. One aspect of this power is omniscience, the ability to know what is passing in the mind of other individuals, whether they are before him or 14,000 miles away. Another aspect is omnipotence or the ability to make everyone feel his presence, immediately. A third aspect is to change a man’s destiny, to change circumstances that limit him or give grace where grace is deserved, and even where it is not deserved. The fourth aspect is the ability to confer peace and delight to everyone.
These are the four aspects of surpassing divine power, symbolized by our forefathers as Mahalakshmi, Mahakali, Maheshwari, and Mahasaraswati [names of goddess]. We the members of the Sathya Sai Seva Samithi [organization] experience Baba as the manifestation of all these aspects of divine power.
~Dr. V. K. Gokak, M.A.D. Litt.
Source: Sananthana Sarathi, April 1971
