November 5th, 2006
“What Sai Baba Has Said About His Avatar Mission”
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram
With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,
Next week, on 12th of November, it will be the concluding day of Akanda bhajan, the twenty-four hour global bhajans, which starts on the previous day, 11th November. As it ends on a Sunday, it may not be possible for us to meet next week. Thereafter, on the 19th of November, it happens to be Ladies Day. I don’t know if it will be possible for us to meet, as suddenly they may put on the bulletin board that we have an engagement, or they will cancel it. We do not know. Thereafter, we will be only meeting on the 26th of November, after the birthday of Bhagavan. I was just thinking of what I can share with you this morning.
Before I go into details, I would like to share with you one important attempt I have been making. I am trying to classify all of Sai’s compositions, all Sai writings, theme-wise. Take for example what Baba says about His own writings. What does He say about His compositions? All Vahinis are written by Him, and there are certain songs that He has composed. What does He feel about His own writings? What does He say about His own poems? What does He say about His own literature? What is His estimation of His articles?
There is one article with the title: Panchajanyam. Panchjanyam is the conch of Lord Krishna, and Krishna blew that conch shell at the time of the Kurukshetra battle. So whatever Baba speaks is equivalent to the sound of the conch — panchajanya — of Lord Krishna Himself. Under that title, all poems of Swami and all compositions of Swami are published, in the form of an article. The English translation is also available on the website saibabaofindia.com and on saiwisdom.com. The website saiwisdom.com has all our Sunday talks, plus this article Panchajanyam is also covered there.
In addition, a second article, coinciding with this Avatar’s Declaration Day, which falls on October 20th, is there on the website. Then there is also a third article, which coincides with the Birthday celebration of Bhagavan. So what I want to do is draw your attention to all compositions of Swami under different, classified themes. These are being given to the readers and viewers of the website, so that we have all the information on Sai literature for our own reading, for our own contemplation, whenever we want.
WE SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH BABA’S MESSAGE
This morning, I would like to spend some time on what Baba says about His Avataric mission, because as we begin with celebrations of Baba’s Birthday, it is necessary that we acquaint ourselves with His Avataric mission. It may not be possible to cover all points, nor is it my intention to do so. I will cover only a few of them.
If these thoughts arouse an interest in you to study and collect these precious gems from Sai literature, the purpose is realised. To inspire you to read the teachings yourself, to make you gather all this knowledge by yourself — if that happens, then I consider myself successful in my attempt, and my desire is fulfilled.
We just go by stories and experiences most of the time. I don’t dismiss their importance, as they are true. At the same time, we should be familiar with the underlying message of Bhagavan’s teachings, which is most important. Let me share some of these points with you, following this line of thought.
DON’T LOOK AT BABA AS A MAN OF MIRACLES
Bhagavan said, “Don’t look at Me as a man of miracles. Don’t estimate My Divinity in terms of miracles.” This is the first point for this morning’s talk. You may wonder why. It is because most often when we talk about Bhagavan, we want to discuss miracles.
The other day I met a few friends and they said, “Anil Kumar, tell us a few stories.”
Then I told them, “Do you think I am a storyteller, like a grandmother? (Laughter) Or do you think it’s all stories only? No. There are facts. There are facts, not just mere stories. A story may be fiction; stories may be concocted; stories may be managed or manipulated; stories may be generated or created. I am not a storyteller in that sense.”
That’s what I told them point blank. So my friends, most of us consider God as a man of miracles. We have no idea of the miracle. When we get whatever we want, we think that it is a miracle. That is not necessarily so. Failure is a miracle. Birth is a miracle; death is equally a miracle. Victory is a miracle; defeat is also a miracle. What we consider as positive may not be positive for all times. It may end up in negativity in due course of time.
As I eat, it is positive. But it may lead to indigestion tomorrow, which is negative. I make a lot of money — positive. I become a man of vices later — negative. I fall sick — negative. But it is this very sickness which brought me close to Swami. So what is positive and what is negative? Nothing. It is only a question of time. That which appears to be convenient at one point of time may become inconvenient later.
OUR CONCEPT OF MIRACLES SHOULD CHANGE
So our idea of miracles must change. Whenever I breathe in and breathe out, I consider that a miracle. The blood circulates; that is a miracle. The heart beats; that is also a miracle. However, I want to control my thoughts, which I am not able to. The mind is always filled with thoughts. The mind has become a market place of thoughts. That is a miracle. I want to control this, but I am not able to control it . . . a miracle of miracles. I want to do something starting from this Birthday. I want to start some sadhana from this Birthday. Although this decision is being taken every Birthday, not even one is implemented as yet. That is a miracle.
Bhagavan has taken so many Avatars in the past . . . many, many Avatars. This is the latest Avatar — Sri Sathya Sai Baba. In spite of repeated births, God could not change us. That is a miracle. I remain the same. God may come and may go, but I remain in the same state of imperfection. That is a miracle. Therefore, our concept of miracles should change. That’s what Bhagavan said, “Don’t look at God as a miracle monger. I am not a miracle man.”
The miracle of miracles is to come to know of Him. The miracle is to see Him. The miracle is to hear about Him, to read about Him, to sing His glory, to participate in His satsang and to share with each other our experiences. That is a miracle. That’s how we have to take it and not as a happening, not as a situation, not as an event turning to our choice or anything like that.
TRANSFORMATION IN OUR ATTITUDE IS A MIRACLE
Anything related to God — word, thought or deed, or service, or music or dance, or reading or any such thing, is a miracle. Why? This is because these days, when life itself is self-centred, these days when people are highly boastful, highly proud, highly egoistic, isn’t it a miracle to know that we are nobody? Isn’t it a miracle to know that we are nothing? Isn’t it a miracle to know that I am a drop in the ocean? Isn’t it a miracle that I have no more desires? Isn’t it a miracle that I am not disturbed whether Swami looks at me or not? Isn’t it a miracle that I am not disturbed whether I receive a gift from Swami or not? I just take it in a casual way.
Isn’t it a miracle that I don’t have that much of a temper compared to what I had earlier? Isn’t it a miracle that I have practically no desires compared to my past, when I was full of desires? Isn’t that enough of a miracle? Isn’t it a miracle that I am not as easily provoked as I was in the past? That is a miracle, my friends. In other words, transformation in our attitude, in our life, in our thinking, in our relationships and in our daily life pattern, is a miracle. It should not be taken or reduced to an event in a calendar year. That which happens in accordance to our choice or preference is not really a miracle. I don’t hold to that view any more.
MIRACLES HAPPEN TO TURN YOU GOD-WARDS
So Bhagavan said these significant words. “Don’t look at Me as a miracle man. No. I am not a man of miracles.”
“So Swami, then what are You? What then, about miracles?”
Baba said, “All these miracles happen only to turn you God-ward.”
So that is the reason miracles happen to us — to turn us towards God. Well, are we God-ward? I don’t think so, because we are outward. We want to tell everybody how devoted we are, list the number of miracles we experienced, reveal how great we are and how senior we are, and boast that exclusive miracles happened to us.
In fact, somebody told me, “Mr. Anil Kumar, this ring has been given to me by Swami and He has not given it to anyone else.” So what? A ring is a ring, and you are in a ring. You should understand that. (Laughter) You are ringed almost. So even in these gifts that Baba blesses us with, we also want to feel egoistic, feeling proud of those things.
No wonder Baba said, “These miracles could be viewed as devices.” A device is a technique. A device is a method. A device is a plan. To make a child read, I tell the child, “I’ll give you Cadbury chocolate tomorrow if you can learn these lessons by heart, honey, OK?” The child will then get up and start reading. She will repeat verbatim and then demand, “Where is the chocolate?” So the chocolate is a device to make the child read. Similarly, miracles are devices to turn all of us God-ward. Not to spend a lifetime in miracles . . . expecting miracles to happen as life itself, is a miracle in general.
Another point that Baba made about miracles is that these miracles happen as an expression of His Love for humanity. “I love people, and these miracles are expressions of Love. That’s all.” That is how we have to take it.
THE BEST WAY TO KNOW BABA IS TO EXPERIENCE HIS LOVE
“Swami, we have understood You in this aspect of enjoying Your miracles, and sharing Your miracles with everybody we meet. Then how are we to know You otherwise?”
Baba said, “If you know that there is Love, that I am Love, that I am filled with Love . . . if you know that, if you experience a little bit of that Love, then that is the best way of knowing Me. If you want to know anything at all, if you want to know Me in general, the best way is not a miracle. The best way is to know that there is Love in Me, and I am Love.”
Therefore, my friends, the way to know Baba is to experience His Love and to be convinced that He is the very personification of Love, in all situations, come what may. I may be neglected; I may be recognised; I may be praised or I may be blamed. I may be looked at or pointed at . . . anything may happen. They are all expressions of Love. Love does not mean only giving us sweets from the North Indian canteen, or distribution of prasadam as was done this morning.
Sometimes facing torture, sometimes crying and shedding tears is also a gift of God. Gift of God! When I cry in agony, I turn within. When I am unhappy, I examine myself. So self-examination, self-assessment, introspection, turning inwards and going God-wards will happen more in unfortunate moments . . . in moments of sadness and grief. Don’t you think then that it is also a gift of God? Yes, why not? Don’t you think that is also because of the Love of God? Why not? It is.
THE SAI PATH IS TO REALISE THAT GOD AND I ARE ONE
The second point is this. We ask, “Swami, would You please show me the way to reach You?”
To know Him is only to know that He is Love, that’s all. Next we all want to know, “What should I do to reach Him? How to follow the Sai path? Should I catch the next flight by Indian Airlines to Bangalore and take a taxi? What is the Sai path? What is the way to reach Him?”
Baba made it very clear: “The moment that you realise that you and I are one, you have taken the correct path.” You and I are one, but it is a long way to go. It is easier said than done. It is the only reality. It is the correct reality. It is the only goal and the proper destination.
To know that I am God, to know that I am not different from God, to experience the Divinity within me, is the Sai path. This is the Sai path we must follow. If we consider that God is on one side of the shore, and that we are on the other side, then we have to take a diversion. You observe in times of flood, or when there is an accident, the trains take another route — a diversion. We also know the diversion of attention. So we have to divert our attention if we are not going along the right path. The right path, the Sai path, has been given to us to realise, “I am God. I am Sai. He and I are one.”
LIKE BABA WE SHOULD NOT BE AFFECTED BY PRAISE OR BLAME
Just to illustrate, to be more emphatic and clearer, making myself a little better understood, let me put it in this way: If you praise Baba too much, He will say, “Enough . . . stop it!” If you blame Him, He will simply stay the same. He’s not frustrated by blame; He is not elated by praise. He remains the same.
So when I say, “I am God”, I should be like Him, unaffected by praise or blame. But we are not like that. For example, let alone praise or blame, if that fellow doesn’t say, “Sai Ram” to me, well, I am disturbed, because I am running short of fans for my Fan’s Association. (Laughter) I have a large number of fans. If someone doesn’t say “Sai Ram” to me —oh, one is gone! How to draw him closer to me is my spiritual sadhana. (Laughter)
See the tragedy. See this. Swami takes it all with equipoise, with a spirit of equanimity. If I have that spirit of equanimity, then I am truly closer to God.
And if we go on telling Swami, “You did this and You did that,” Swami also doesn’t like it.
Many times He says, “It is My duty to do all that for you. I am your Mother and your Father. I take care of you. You don’t have to thank Me. Why do you say that?”
Furthermore He said, “There is no advertisement covering My projects, no publicity, and no propaganda.” So, if I shun publicity, if I discourage propaganda, if I am also averse to recognition for every little simple act I do, then I am closer to God.
But we are not like that. For example, take what I tell my young friends in the college. For every simple thing, they’ll come to me and say, “Sir, what will Baba say?” To young children who are studying for their degrees, I give this answer: “Swami liked it. Swami said it’s very good.” I tell them that. If he is a post-graduate, then I’ll tell him, “Baba said you are a fool!”
Why? Because it is high time to know that whatever you do is prompted by God. Whatever thought comes to you is prompted by God. If all your actions are because of the will of God, then why do you want know what Baba says? You carry one pot from here to there. You want to know, “Did Baba see that?” This is such an amateurish, kindergarten level approach. We cannot remain like that throughout our life. Should we die staying at the kindergarten level? No. We should learn more and more. So the day when we are not affected by this sort of craze for recognition, then I think we are closer to God.
Baba is happier while giving and giving. He is very happy; watch His face. He is very happy when we eat more and more, though He does not eat. He is happy while giving, yet He doesn’t accept or receive. Therefore, I should also learn to give. I should also wish to see people happy as they eat. I should also learn to be happy, to share with everybody. Right now, I am not like that. As I drink hot coffee, I am exclusively happy, and as I eat sweets, I am exclusively happy. So we want exclusive happiness, individual happiness; but if we are collective, if we are society-oriented, if we make others also happy by giving, we are closer to God.
EVERYONE IS CLOSE TO GOD
Baba is not in any way after anybody’s rank and file. Unfortunately, suppose I know a person who is very close to Swami . . . I think I am very great. But by knowing a person who is close to Swami, how can you be great? Impossible! Suppose I have a friend who is a doctor. What importance can I have? After all, I am not going to be a doctor by being the friend of a doctor. I can be an ideal patient, but I cannot be a doctor. (Laughter) Impossible! By being very close to an administrator . . . a VIP, I can never be a VIP. I can only be a follower.
Look at Swami, the way He talks to the President of India, and the way He talks to a primary school child. It is one and the same — totally balanced, full of love, full of laughter. But if we know one man a little higher than us, then we behave as if we are very close to him, and we start ignoring the man with whom we have been moving up till then. You are my friend. But the moment I know a more influential man, I avoid you and I try to be with him. The moment I know another man who is bigger than him, I avoid him too. This kind of status consciousness, VIP consciousness, status of respectability, it’s all false. All of it is illusion and total foolishness.
I find somebody moving very close to a particular group of people — not to everybody. They are not friendly to everybody; they talk to only to one or two. If you examine what made them close as a group, it may be because they think they are very close to God. Just because someone you are close to is close to God, how can you be close to God? Is getting closer to God as easy as getting a direct flight or indirect flight? I don’t know what it is.
If you are friendly, you should be friendly with everybody. You should not be friendly only with one who is close to Swami. Swami may not talk to him tomorrow. Are you then going to drop him like a hot potato, or what? This is all our own creation, because the mind has no other job than to think in this particular illusory line of thought. Do not be trapped into that.
You are close to God and I am close to Him. Everyone is close to God. No one can be distant from God. Yes, everyone is close to God. I am speaking from the bottom of my heart. Please believe me. Everyone is close to God. When people come and praise, “Mr. Anil Kumar, you are close to God” well, I sympathise with him and pity myself to have been understood like that.
All are close to God. It is a matter of birthright. Therefore, we have got to love to everybody. No status consciousness, no VIP consciousness, no special treatment to some selective people.
THERE IS NO FIRST AND LAST AS ALL ARE EQUAL
I heard somebody saying, “You know, I always sit in the front line.” So what? The Bible clearly says that you’ll be more respected if you are last. Baba gives one example. You must have seen our buses. Buses are full of passengers. The man who gets into the bus first sits in the front row, just behind the driver. The man who gets into the bus at the last moment will be very close to the conductor. But when the bus stops at the destination, who gets down first? The man at the end gets down first. The man who sat in the first row is the last one to get down from the bus. So who is first and who is last?
So, to think that I am the first and the last is an illusion. It is imagination; it is a kind of ego-projection; it is thought reflection. So let’s not be trapped in this kind of thought. I know of Swami taking the last row when summer classes were going on in full swing. I know of Swami squatting on the ground, along with many people, when there is a special chair for Him on the dais. When God Himself feels that He is one with many, and I consider myself unusual, extraordinary — what a madcap I am! This is not the place where I should be. Therefore, if I consider that I am normal, that all are equal, if I do not show any kind of difference in my dealings with people and treat all in the same manner, I am closer to God.
ONENESS IS A GODLY QUALITY
You must have heard the name Saradamai. Sarada is the consort of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa, a revered name all of you must have heard about. His wife was Sarada. She was the head of Ramakrishna Mission after the death of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa. A number of disciples ran after Sarada, addressing her as, “Mother, Mother.” So she is called Saradamai, the Divine mother.
Somebody asked Saradamai, “Mother, why are there some thieves around you? Why are there some goondas (robbers) and black-marketeers around you?”
Do you know the answer of the Divine Mother? She said, “Look here, they are spoilt children. That’s all. When my child is playing on the ground, when the child gets his clothes dirty out of negligence, I don’t slap the child. When the child goes on playing with the sand, when the child goes on playing with the pebbles, and makes his clothes dirty, do I punish my child? No. I change the clothes; I give my child a good bath.”
Yes. The child is playing well. If the child doesn’t play, and sits there with his clothes like that, the child will be like a lifeless thing. Children will play and make their clothes dirty. The job of the mother is to change their clothes, and keep the child clean by giving a bath, not complaining.
So here is Saradamai who says, “These people, who you say are bad people, the goondas, the thieves, the black-marketers, they are my children. They are spoilt children. I should teach them a lesson, that’s all. They should have an equal claim on my love. Understand that.”
Therefore my friends, if someone says that they are not given to be with everybody, only to some class of people, that they like the company of intellectuals only . . . to hell with such people! When God can mingle with everybody, when saints could move with everybody, when a spiritual man could see the reflection of the Divine in everybody, when Adi Shankara says that there is God in everybody, when he could see God in an untouchable, when saints could see God in animals, and I cannot love a fellow man . . . yet I dare call myself a religious man . . . what sort of a hypocrite I am! What double standards I have!
Therefore my friends, to feel this oneness is a godly quality. To love everybody is godly. You are closer to God. Therefore, following the Sai path is to have the feeling that you and I are one. You and I are one. When you suffer, I can’t be happy. When you are happy, then I have a due share in that happiness. When you tell me, “Sir, Swami gave me vibhuti”, I should feel equally happy. I should not tell you, “He gave you vibhuti this time? He gave me a number of times before. So what?” (Laughter) I consider this kind of talk as wastage of the Divine energy.
If you have not learnt to appreciate others, if you have not learnt to share happiness with others, if you cannot smile with others, if you cannot shed a tear when others are unhappy or in grief, you are far away from God. When you share everything with others, you are closer to God. If anyone comes and tells Swami, “Swami this is the situation.” You know what Swami says, “Ayyo paapu, paapu . . . what a pity it is!” He will not say, “Tell me only good news.”
Therefore my friends, on this Sai path, you and I are one.
BABA DESIRES NOTHING EXCEPT FOR US TO BE DESIRELESS
Next point, what is it that Baba desires? What does He want? Swami, do You want another stadium? Do You want another hospital? Do You want another college? Do You want another school? Or do You want some more devotees? Or do You want more funds? What do You want?
If you are familiar with Sai literature, (and this is in print) Bhagavan, after attending the meeting of the Central Trust, addressed the devotees. Bhagavan said, “I attended the Central Trust meeting. I told all members that I have nothing to do with funds. I have nothing to do with money. I am related to My devotees; I and My devotees are one. I have nothing to do with your funds.” That is what Baba declared. So what is it that Baba desires? The Central Trust? No. There is His own statement on record. Institutions? Universities? None of these.
Once I said, “Swami, I want to admit my son in Your college.”
Do you know what Baba said? “My college? No, it’s not My college. All colleges are Mine. This college is ours. Don’t say My college, Your college. Don’t say, “My, my, my, my.” Its maya, maya, maya.” (Illusion) So there is nothing like your college, my college, my hospital, his hospital. This is all wrong.
So what is it that Baba desires? He doesn’t desire an institution; He doesn’t desire a big following. He doesn’t desire anything. He has only one supreme desire.
My friends, don’t doubt me. I’ve got it on record, the page number and the lines from the books of Sai literature. I stand by everything. You can verify the text because I don’t want to give my own interpretation, because in trying to interpret, you may go wrong. But when you truly quote verbatim, you can never be wrong. Particularly when Swami’s literature is available so plentifully, you don’t have to make your own interpretation and create further confusion among those who are already confused. It shouldn’t be like that.
Baba has got only one supreme desire. Swami, what is it? There are a number of VIPs around you. There are Presidents, and heads of governments and rich people and influential people, plus youngsters. You have got film stars as Your devotees. Yes, You’ve got representatives from all over the world. What is it that You desire?
Baba said, “I have only one supreme desire — to make you desireless.”
So to make us desireless is His desire. Alright, are we fulfilling His desire? I don’t think so. We think that Baba is there only to fulfil our desires, and another desire is not to fulfil the desires of the next man. (Laughter) Another desire: He should fulfil my desire only. That’s what it is.
TRUE RELIGION IS DESIRELESSNESS
So my friends, why does Baba say to be desireless? Because desirelessness is religiousness. True religion is to be desireless. All desires are worldly. All desires are mundane, physical, and emerge from the ego. When I want to be someone, when I want to have an identity, when I want to maintain my own self, then what you have is the ego, which says, “I have desires.” So a man of desire cannot be totally religious. To be desireless, to be in that state of desirelessness, is the quality of a devotee.
Then you may say, “Mr. Anil Kumar, don’t you have desires?”
My friends, I always say this. Whatever I speak does not mean that 100% of it is seen in my life. No. I am also a fellow traveller like all of you. We are all fellow pilgrims, walking together hand-in-hand; we go on, marching forward. I don’t think that any speaker here, including me, is in any way different from anybody listening here. Further, I feel that my listeners are more intelligent. They practice more what I speak. As I speak, you practise. I speak as a teacher, a professional; yet you practise as a seeker of Truth. As an aspirant, you practice; as a teacher, I prepare a talk. Now, who is superior? You are superior to me. (I don’t get anything by praising you. I am not given to praise or flattery as of now. Believe me, I had to pay heavily because I could not flatter people in the past. Some of my friends know that.)
So the fact is that we are all fellow pilgrims. So when you ask me whether I have desires, the answer is yes. Yes, I do have desires; but the number of desires is getting reduced slowly. I may have had some hundreds of desires before. Now it is getting reduced to a hundred or fifty, or twenty, slowly. As the train reaches the platform, it will slow down. The train won’t come to a total halt unless the engine is stopped. The fan won’t come to a total halt when you switch it off; it stops slowly. If anything goes off all of a sudden, then there is something wrong with the mechanism.
There are people who say, “Mr. Anil Kumar, I’ve taken a strong determination to lead a disciplined life for about forty days.” That is very good. From the 41st day, make sure not to be doubly undisciplined. From the 41st day, the probability is that you’ll be undisciplined in multiples. So discipline over a particular period of time is artificial, a kind of military regimentation. It is enforced, and becomes a mental gimmick, an outer exhibitionism.
If that kind of observation of austerity is born out of conviction and discrimination, it will go on and on until the last breath of life. The discipline, the austerities that you observe . . . if they have to continue till the last breath of one’s own life, should be born out of conviction, awareness, discrimination, and they should be totally supported by the will and the grace of God.
We see so many people who declare, “From this New Year, I will do that.” I remember you telling me the same thing many New Years past. “From this day, I will do that”. But that day never came. So my friends, we need God’s grace to implement what we really want to do. We cannot do it all by ourselves. Impossible, we need God’s support.
So I pray to God. Why? Not merely to fulfil my desires. “Oh God, I pray to You so that I can be desireless. I pray to You God so that I’ll be able to do all that You want me to do. You want me to do certain things for which I need Your support. Without Your support, I can’t do what You want me to do. Impossible!”
Let’s take a simple example. To see the sun, sunlight is necessary. It is only in the sunlight that you can see the sun. It is only in the moonlight that you can see the moon. With God’s grace, you can do God’s deeds. You can be godly because of God’s grace only. Therefore, what does Baba desire? He desires us to be desireless.
DUALITY COMES FROM LAZINESS
“Baba, what do You do all the time?” Some people ask me, “Mr. Anil Kumar, do you know what Baba does at His residence?”
I don’t think that He has a different agenda. That question emerges from us only because we are used to doing certain things in public. While in private, we do certain things, most of which we’d better not mention here. We have got a two-dimensional approach. We show one face here, another face there. Due to this dualistic life and double standards, we want to know what Baba does in His residence. Some people ask me this question.
Baba does nothing different in private from what He does in public. What He does here, same thing He does there and everywhere — spreading love, caring, showering grace, advising, consoling, sometimes teasing, sometimes joking. All that He does in public is repeated in His residence also. Therefore my friends, Baba should give the answer to this question.
Suppose I put this question, “Swami what is it that You do there and here? We say that we think You do the same thing here and there, but we want to know Your answer. What do You do in both places?”
Baba said, “What I do is to remove laziness in you. I act to remove laziness so that you will be able to see God in yourself.”
God is in me, but on account of my laziness, I am not able to see Him within me. That is the tragedy. I can see you, but I am not able to see within myself. I can see your mistake, but I don’t see my own mistakes. I can see God in the temple, but I don’t see God within me. I can see Baba outside, but I can’t see Him within me.
This is all because of laziness, sleep and slumber. What is laziness? Laziness is to not take to sadhana or spiritual practice. How do we spend time? In gossip, vain talk, daily news, TV news. All that news, as Baba puts it, is nuisance. We spend time like that. That is all a good expression of laziness. Swami is here to make us free from that laziness.
“Laziness is rust and dust, while realisation is rest and best,” as Baba puts it. So once I am free from this rust and dust of laziness, I’ll be closer and closer to realisation, which is rest and best. That’s what Baba does.
THE TWO GIFTS THAT BABA EXPECTS FROM US
“Bhagavan, when I attend birthdays, I give gifts to my friends. I give gifts to my relatives. When I attend any wedding, when I attend any marriage anniversary function, I present gifts. Your Birthday is on 23rd November. What gift should I offer You? What gift would You like? How many dollars do You want? How many pounds shall I give You? Or shall I give You some doctorate degree, or shall I praise You? Yes. Shall I praise You as an offering to You, as a gift?”
Baba has said what gift He expects from us, particularly for His Birthday. My friends, we are ready with so many gifts, but we don’t have the two special gifts that He expects from us.
What are they? One is to eschew or give up selfishness. Be selfless. Your selflessness is the gift Baba wants.
Well Baba, we don’t have that gift to give You on Your Birthday, but at least we are very honest about it. Therefore my friends, let us be ready with this gift of selflessness to be given to our Baba on His Birthday, and let us continue to be selfless in the years to come.
“Swami, please ask for another gift, because I don’t want to buy anything now.”
Baba said, “I want another gift, which I will mention only because you have given me a choice to ask.”
What is that gift? Service to society. So these are the precious gifts that Baba wants from us: To be selfless and to serve society.
“Bhagavan I give You these gifts. You have given me the path, and You also taught me what to be and what not to be. But, would You make a promise? I want You to make a promise now, Swami please.”
Baba said this: “We make promises and miss every promise.”
We miss every promise. Therefore, we are used to promises, and with this tendency, we want God also to make a promise.
“Swami, give me promise.”
Baba said, “Yes, I promise you.”
What is that promise? Aha! A wonderful promise, my friends! A promise worth remembering for a lifetime; a promise which no life-partner can ever make. A promise no parent has ever made. It is a promise that He alone can give.
Here it is: “I will not, (your attention, please!) I will not reject you. I will not deny you. I am your Mother. (Applause) I will not deny you, I will not reject you.”
What a wonderful promise it is! No parent would say this. No life partner would say that. No boss, either corporate or government, would ever say that. Only God has made that promise. That promise speaks of underlying, infinite Love – it is so wonderful!
EVERYTHING ABOUT BABA IS SPECIAL
“Swami, You are like my mother. You are like my father. You are like my guru.” Yes. When we say that do you know what He says? I’ll give you one example.
At Kodaikanal, Swami was just looking at the blueprint of the Super Specialty Hospital, which was yet to be constructed at that time. He showed me the blueprint of the hospital.
Swami asked, “Anil Kumar, how do you like it?”
Well, I should have kept quiet. This is my weakness. I don’t keep quiet. (Laughter) I speak and get into trouble!
I said to Swami, “This sort of a building I have not seen anywhere.” That’s true; there is nothing wrong about it. Do you know what Baba said?
“Such a one has not existed till now. If there was one in existence, you would have seen it. Such a one does not exist as yet. How could you have seen it?” (Laughter)
Yes. All His constructions are special. All His works are special. All His deeds are special. His style of dress is special; hair — special, the colour of His robes — very special. His gestures, His postures, the way He leans on the chair . . . all of it is so special. The way He looks at you is very special. Sometimes He avoids you, but looks at you unnoticed. Aah! The side looks, the glimpses, the romantic look, the supporting look, the sweet endearing looks, the looks of radiance, brilliance, attraction and the looks of Divinity — yes. Bhagavan’s looks are very special. The smile is very special. The smile that speaks of His joy, the smile that is sarcastic, sometimes critical, sometimes encouraging, sometimes cajoling, sometimes consoling. His smiles are unique, the hair is unique, the way He adjusts His hair is unique, the way He wipes His face with a handkerchief is special, none of which we can imitate.
BABA IS UNIQUE AND IMMEASURABLE
Everything is special. Why? He Himself has declared, “You cannot compare Me with anybody because I am incomparable. I am unique and immeasurable.” Why? Baba said ‘I’, meaning Divinity, God. God is immeasurable. God is beyond your estimate, beyond any calculation, and beyond the realm of your thought and verbal expression. Therefore Swami says, “I am unique. You cannot compare Me.”
This got registered in my mind. You must have seen that red car of Swami . . . the Jaguar car . . . it was number one at that time, when it landed at Brindavan. Swami was very happy, like a child. He was very happy looking at that car. And then He asked me to speak. Then I said, “Car number one, God number one — Sathya Sai Baba.” I said number one because there is no one to be compared with Him.
Ekam Eva Dvitiyam Brahma.
Ekam — one, eva — only one, dvitiyam — without a second. Ekam eva dvitiyam Brahma.
Therefore, Baba is unique and incomparable.
BABA’S DARSHAN ATONES OUR SINS
“Swami, we see You day-in and day-out. By seeing You, by having darshan, what is it that I get? I listen to Your discourses. So, what will happen Swami?”
He Himself told about the gain you will have by receiving His darshan. By looking at God, our beloved Bhagavan Baba, sins are atoned — papa nashanam. Papa nashanam is atonement of sins. Yes. Because nobody can say, “I have not committed a sin.” It is a sin to say, “I have not committed a sin.” Yes. After all, we are all human beings.
Any bad thought is as equally a sin as any bad deed is, according to the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible clearly says that a bad thought is as sinful as a bad deed or a bad action. Who can say, “I have not committed a sin.” He who says that is the master-bluffer of the century, if he dares to say that. So to atone for our sins, we should have His darshan.
The simple thing is this: In the middle of the night, it’s dark all around. With the sunrise in the early hours of the morning, the darkness is dispelled. As sun rises, the sunlight fills the world that was earlier covered in darkness.
Similarly, when Baba’s darshan is there, we don’t have to feel guilty any longer. You’ll be free from a guilty conscience. A guilty conscience is worse than guilt. When you commit a sin, it is over then and there. When you have a guilty conscience, it is brought forward like an accounts book: The last item is the first on the next page. So, a guilty conscience is much worse. The darshan of Bhagavan will make us free from all guilt and from a guilty conscience.
BABA’S DISCOURSE MAKES US FORGET OUR PROBLEMS
“Swami, l listen to your Divine discourse. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to have You speak to us in the interview room. What do I get out of it?”
Once you listen to Baba’s discourse, when He talks to you, what will happen? You will forget all your problems. You may also forget to hand over your letter to Him! You will also forget the command of your wife – because your wife wrote a letter to Swami and she wants you to hand the letter over to Him too. On that condition only she allowed you to come here, managing the house all by herself. She manages the children and the household by herself on the one condition that you’ll hand over her letter to Swami. What to do? When He begins to talk to you and you forget everything, so the letter has to be given back to your wife. Return to sender! (Laughter)
That’s what happens, you know. All your problems are gone when He starts talking to you because He takes you beyond the problematic, the dualistic, and the diabolical, paradoxical nature of the world. The diabolic nature, the paradoxical nature of the world troubles you, worries you. His talk will elevate you beyond that state. So conversation with Bhagavan is sankata nashanam. Sankata — problem, nashana — gone forever, free.
BABA’S TOUCH MAKES US FREE FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF PAST LIVES
By touching Baba, what do we get? Whenever they get a chance, the boys ask Him, “Swami, can l I touch Your Feet?”
Why? Why should we touch? What is there in a touch? We certainly know the touch when you put your finger in an electric plug. You want to know the effect of touch? There are several plugs here, put your fingers in and you’ll certainly know what the effect of touch is! (Laughter)
Touch is something sublime, particularly of the Divine touch, because it makes you free from all the consequences of the past life. Karma vimochanam — means making us free from the consequences of our past life.
THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS BABA’S RESIDENCE
My friends, Baba once said another thing. These are certain glimpses of Divinity. When Swami returned from His trip to Africa, there was a very big function in Bombay. People praised Him. They praised Africa and all that.
Swami got up and said, “Why fuss about it? Why do you make so much fuss about My trip to Africa? Understand that I am everywhere. Understand I am everywhere – here, there, and everywhere. So there is nothing special about My trip to Africa. As if I was not here when I was on that trip! I was here and equally there. The whole world is My residence, My mansion.”
Kasturi translated, “The whole world is Baba’s residence.”
Baba said, “Kasturi, correct your English. Don’t say that the world is My residence. Say that the whole universe is My residence.”
“The whole universe is My residence.” That’s what Baba wanted to convey to us. That is what Baba wanted Professor Kasturi to say in the process of translating. (It’s so nice to commit some mistakes in the process of translation and stand corrected, much to the amusement of the listeners and the enlightenment of the translator himself.) (Laughter)
OUR HAPPINESS IS BABA’S HAPPINESS
“Well, Swami, so what do You need now? What is it that You want?”
“I don’t have any needs.”
“No, no, Swami. I want to know Your needs.”
Baba said, “I want you all to be loving. I want you all to be happy. I want you to be all smiling. I want you to be all blissful. I want you to lead a long, healthy, spiritual life. That’s what I need, nothing more than that, because your joy is My joy.”
What a truthful statement it is. “Your happiness is My happiness.” What a statement it is! He alone can do that, and Swami has said it.
SWAMI APPRECIATES SILENT WORK
“Swami, what is it that You appreciate? Do You appreciate it when I sing?” (I am sure He will not, because even you are not appreciating my singing; so how can I expect Swami to appreciate it?) (Laughter) So, what is it that Swami appreciates?
Baba said, “I appreciate only one thing: silent work.”
Silent work, not work with aggrandisement, or work with self-praise or work aimed at self-glorification or publicity. Silent work. What the left hand does, the right hand is not supposed to know. The Bible says that if you pray to God at the crossroads, God will never hear your prayer, because you did it for publicity. Loud shouts are not necessary. With silent whispers, God can hear you because He is in you. I am not saying that He is near you; no, He is in you. For the One in you, you don’t have to shout.
Therefore Baba says, “I listen; I appreciate your silent work.” That’s what Bhagavan says.
“Swami, I participate in the service activities of Bhagavan. I do lots of bhajans. I go to the Sai centre. What will happen from doing these things?”
Swami says, “You will be sending forth the fragrance of your joy to the people around. You’ll be spreading forth your happiness to the people all around. There will be beautiful vibrations that will be reaching out from you to people all around. Be busy in My work.”
“Oh Swami, what is Your work?”
Swami says, “Whatever you do selflessly, with purity and Love, is My work.”
As a doctor, if you treat your patient with sincerity and purity of heart, it is Swami’s work. As a lawyer, when you practise in the courtroom, it is Swami’s work. As a professor, when you teach, it is Swami’s work. As a software engineer, when you do your work, it is Swami’s work. There is no such thing as, “This is Swami’s work, and this is my work.” Nothing, no partnership. God will not accept shareholders. He wants all the capital for Himself. Yes, that’s what it is.
Sathya Shahi: sathya — the Truth — shahi — I am not saying Sai; I am saying shahi, meaning ‘the one who reclines, the one who lies down’. Sathya Shahi is the one who reclines on Truth.
I have many more things to share with you.
WE CAN GIVE GIFTS OF SERVICE AND LOVE TO SWAMI THIS BIRTHDAY
As Bhagavan Baba’s Birthday is fast approaching, we can give Him the valuable gifts of service and the most valuable gift of Love to Bhagavan. We can serve Him by constantly praying to Him, by constantly remembering Him. We can express gratitude to Bhagavan by way of reading His literature, listening to Sai bhajans, sharing the news of the Advent of the Avatar with everybody, because you and I should stand as a witness. As the Holy Bible says, “When you reach Him after death, He will not recognise you, because while you were on earth, you did not recognise Him.”
While being alive on earth, if I have not recognised Him, He will not recognise me after death. So if I do not declare the Divinity, if I do not declare the Advent of Bhagavan with those who have not been exposed to the Avatar as yet, well I have not done my spiritual duty. The spiritual obligation and spiritual commitment requires that I should be able to share the Advent of the Avatar with all my friends, near and dear.
NINE IS A DIVINE NUMBER AS IT IS CHANGELESS
There is Ashtanga Yoga with eight forms of discipline, eight ways of spiritual practices to realise One — 81. Eight also represents the eight poles, ashta dikpalaka. The only One that manages the eight-poled universe — 81. The number eight also speaks of the five plus three — the five senses of cognition plus three . . . mano, bhuddhi, ahamkara (the mind, intellect, and ego.) The eight to realise One — the Divine. Eight plus one is Bhagavan Baba Himself. Eight plus one is the number nine. The number nine is the Divine number. Why? It is changeless.
9 x 3 = 27 and 2 + 7 = 9
9 x 4 = 36 and 6 + 3 = 9
9 x 5 = 45 and 4 + 5 = 9
9 x 9 = 81 and 8 + 1 = 9
It is changeless. That which is changeless is Divine, like our Bhagavan Baba Himself. And nine has combinations of six and three, or six plus three. Six represents Divine qualities, three are human qualities. Sathwic, rajas and thamas are the three attributes or human qualities. Samagras, vairagya, dharmasya, sriha, and yashas—name, fame, detachment, righteousness, plenty and prosperity are the Divine qualities.
6 + 3 = 9
8 + 1 = 9
So we are the combinations of nine, each and every one of us. We have got six Divine qualities and three human qualities; but unfortunately, we allow the three to dominate and the six to remain silent.
May this Birthday of Bhagavan Baba awaken the six Divine qualities, so that we may be totally Divine, as Bhagavan wants us to be. I wish you all a Happy Birthday. May Bhagavan be with you for ever and ever.
Anil Kumar
concluded with the bhajan, “Hari Hara Om Shankara Om.”
OM…OM…OM…
Asato Maa Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
Mrtyormaa Amrtam Gamaya
Om Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti