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A Special Talk Given by Prof. Anil Kumar

“Your Life is My Message”

Jakarta, Indonesia

October, 2011

OM…OM…OM…

Sai Ram

With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Introduction

I am so glad to be here this afternoon! I happily recall my visit of six years ago and recognise many familiar faces among you. Plus I really appreciated your melodious bhajans. May Bhagavan bless you!

We are meeting today under special circumstances: we are having this first large meeting after Bhagavan’s physical withdrawal on April 24^th. He breathed His last on April 24^th and His body was laid to rest on the 27^th. So we are meeting in an altogether different situation.

DO not confine bhagavan to the physical frame

So long as we lived under the protection of our Divine Father in physical form, we received lots of name and fame because He was in the physical frame. We also had many opportunities to talk to Him whenever we were privileged to have interviews. It was possible to pass on our letters to Him. There were many occasions to personally hand over wedding invitations and such on special occasions.

We would wait for Him there every day. As we saw Him, we forgot our problems. We did not know where we were! All our tiresomeness and our burdens of life were gone. Now that powerful darshan is no longer available. So, questions come to our mind: “Why should I go to Prashanthi Nilayam? Who am I going to meet there? Who is there to talk to me? Who is there to comfort me? Who is there to bless me?” These questions naturally arise in the minds of everyone. We were used to His physical form, and we got used to private conversations.

Unfortunately, some of us have developed a spirit of ego because of that closeness. Some even proudly say, “I am close to Bhagavan!” Some even egoistically declare, “Swami gave me an interview every time!” People of publicity show the rings and chains gifted to them by Swami. Therefore, this category of egoists, this class of exhibitionists, and this group of proud people feel the absence of physical Baba. But my friends, there are millions of devotees who have never spoken to Him. There are millions of devotees who were never close to Him. There are many, many who never even saw Him.

If you calculate those who were close to Him physically, it would be less than one percent. Most of them continue to be devotees. The problem is with these egoists or proud people, the people of publicity. Those who have never met Him from the Americas, like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, still come to have the darshan of Swami and pray to Him. Last week a group of about fifty came from Brazil. They say they feel Bhagavan every day there. About two thousand devotees came from Canada. They tell me they experience Bhagavan each day.

Now it is clear that there are those who experience Him in the absence of His physical form, as well as those who find it difficult to experience Him in the absence of His physical form. Then we can conclude that those who restrict or confine Bhagavan to the physical frame are certainly inferior or immature. Those who experience Him in His physical absence are more mature, experienced, and spiritual.

God is to be experienced, not expressed

God is to be experienced and not expressed. We are used to expression. We go on saying, “There is only one seat in the flight, and I got it! There is only one room left, and I got it! Only one Baba, and He gave me padanamaskar!" We are used to those kinds of stories.

That cannot continue, my dear friends! There are some who say, “I was coming in a lorry. There was another lorry that hit this lorry, and Swami saved my life!” Or, my grandmother was about to die, but Swami saved her life!” This is how we have spoken of Baba till now.

There are some people who go on speaking about their family matters: “Swami performed my first son’s marriage!” He will go on explaining that for one full hour! Then, Swami performed his second son’s marriage—another hour full! “And my wife is very close to Swami!” For half an hour! “There is vibhuthi flowing in our house.” At least fifteen minutes! (Laughter) This ‘family business’ should discontinue hereafter. Nobody is prepared to hear your family story. Those days are gone.

devotion cannot be merely restricted to experiences

I heard that a particular speaker was about to be invited to some of the places I visited recently. I know that speaker. I know what that speaker talks about: only grandfather experiences, father experiences, grandmother experiences, family experiences (Laughter)—like a repeating DVD, continuously playing (Laughter) wherever that speaker goes! People know the whole speech by heart already! (Laughter) They have learnt it by heart! They are very much tired of this speaker. I told them, “Why do you invite a headache like that?” (Laughter)

There are many, many people who can speak. So we should find that today the scenario is different from the past. Your devotion cannot be a family narration. Your devotion cannot be merely restricted to experiences. From the year 2003, the number of interviews was far less, very, very few, almost nil! From the year 2003, except for some handful of administrators, many, many, many people could not be close to Swami. They could not see Him in close quarters. They had no chance to talk.

So we have one large section of devotees who have never been close to Swami, who never experienced His physical closeness, who never had any interviews with Him. Then we have a second category: those who heard of Swami, but never saw Him; and a third category, those who neither saw Him nor experienced Him. That is the largest group today. If you talk to them about your family experiences, you have to distribute Anacin tablets as prasadam! (Laughter) So we should stop that. In household bhajans, in private groups, at a family gathering, at the dining table, you can go on bragging or blowing your own trumpet to your heart’s content—or at least until the other gentlemen decide not to visit your house again! (Laughter)

baba wants us to evoLve spiritually

What I want to draw your attention to is that Baba is much more than what you think. He is much more than what you estimate. Baba is personal and impersonal, Baba is individual and universal, Baba is general and unique, Baba is form-full and formless, Baba has attributes and is beyond attributes, He is time and beyond time. We have not seen the other side of Bhagavan. We have seen only the form-full Baba with a name.

Now, hereafter, we have to experience the nameless, formless, time-less, attribute-less Baba. This is a process of spiritual growth; this is a process of spiritual development. Swami never wants us to remain immature and inexperienced. One's education does not begin and end with kindergarten study. It is from school to college, from college to university, and from university to doctoral degree. We have to continue our spiritual journey; we have to evolve higher and higher. If water flows on and on, it remains fresh. If water does not flow, it becomes stagnate; it stinks and is unfit for consumption. So today we have to evolve and understand the reason to evolve.

Baba spent about seventy years teaching about spirituality. The seventy years of teaching will go wasted if we do not evolve. Father has given me property; so if I don’t know how to use it, I am a useless fellow. Father will be happy if I inherit the property and improve it. Similarly, Baba has given us this spiritual treasure, this spiritual property that we have to use and improve upon.

In our younger days, when we started learning, there was a picture of a cat. Underneath was written 'C-A-T'. Under a picture of a dog, 'D-O-G' was written. In the next class, only ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ were written, with no pictures! In the next stage, we have to frame the sentences and read the books ourselves. You cannot stay at the elementary school level. “Where is the dog picture? Where is the cat picture?” You are not a dog to say that! Learning is a continuous process. So Baba wants us to evolve spiritually.

baba is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent

Somebody asked Him, “Baba, we heard that you saved the life of a boy who fell from the third floor. When did You go and save him?” Swami told him, “I did not go. I was already there!” So though Swami is here, He saves somebody elsewhere. This only means that He is here, there, and everywhere!

There was one evening in Bangalore when Swami was to receive a car from a devotee. Swami was talking to some boys and teachers. He said, “Car is there at the airport now!” Then He talked about some other things. Then He said, “Now the car is at the railway junction.” And then He talked some other things. “Hmm boy, the car is here now, right over there. Go and see!” While conversing there, He gave the running commentary on the car’s whereabouts. It means that He is here and there.

To be here and there is the quality of Divinity. He knows everything. We cannot bluff Him! When I say something, He will add many other things that you did not tell. Therefore, Baba is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. There is nothing He cannot do.

There was a TV artist from California who visited Prashanthi Nilayam and then went back. For lack of leave, this lady had to go to the TV station straight from the airport without preparation, and she was to make some announcements, plus a short commentary, which she didn’t have time to prepare. While she was talking, Baba started whispering into her ear what she was supposed to speak. She listened and then spoke. This is Sathya Sai Baba! He is there in Bangalore, but at the same time coaches a TV artist far away in California. That is Sathya Sai Baba! So if anyone says, “I don’t see Sai Baba, I miss Him, I cry for Him,” it is no doubt true. It is natural, but we cannot remain at that stage. That cannot be the be-all and end-all.

spirituality is the awareness of His presence within us

Our God expects a higher expression in our lives. Our God expects an evolution in our spiritual path. He will be very happy if we feel Him right now! Why do I say that? Baba said so clearly at one time, “I know many of you are very attentive to My talk right now.” Do not forget this statement of Baba. What did He say? “I am always here, right now by your side!”

So when He is here right now by our side, where is the question of missing Him? Why do you cry? Shall I cry because I like to cry? There are some who either cry or make others cry. Crying is not spirituality! Laughter is spirituality, bliss is spirituality. So let us be blissful, let us laugh, and let us smile with the feeling of His presence, with the experience of His presence, with the assurance of His presence within us, in full awareness of His presence within us. That is spirituality.

Let the whole world feel that here are Sai devotees who feel Him even in His physical absence. Let the whole world know that here are Sai devotees who are highly devoted, more devoted than ever before, because Sai devotees have spiritually evolved.

"How is it that Sai bhajans are full of Sai devotees? How is it that such a number of service activities are undertaken by Sai devotes? How is it that they feel His presence?" That should be the comment from society.

Changing to some other guru would be the worst thing of our life: it would be the worst tragedy that could happen in our lives! To quote Baba, “It is a living death!” To change a guru, to change our God, is a living death. God is not a dress to be changed every day. Your relationship to God is not political. So it is unfortunate that some are feeling Baba is not amongst us.

Samadhi is vibrant, radiant, wish-Fulfilling and energetic

Devotee numbers are increasing day-by-day to Mecca, though Allah is not there in the physical form. Devotees are increasing day-by-day in Shirdi, but Shirdi Baba is not there in His physical form! Dargah (a Sufi shrine built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint) is only a Samadhi, but people go on visiting there. Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which are the main holy pilgrim centres for Christians, are full of devotees, though Jesus is not there in His physical form. People go to Bodh Gaya, Sanchi, and Sarnath, where there are well-known temples of Buddha. But Buddha is not there in physical form. Then, why would you not visit Prashanthi Nilayam, though He is not there in His physical form?

As Buddha is electrically vibrant in Bodh Gaya, as Jesus is very much alive in Jerusalem, as the Kaaba of Mecca is ever vibrant, as Shirdi’s Samadhi is wish-fulfilling, Sathya Sai’s Samadhi is vibrant, radiant, wish-fulfilling and ever energetic! (Applause) Submit your prayers there, surrender to the Samadhi, touch that Samadhi, or let your forehead touch that Samadhi. You will experience what Baba is!

An electricity socket is hanging there; touch it with your fingers and you will know what electricity is! You will get an electric shock! Go to the Samadhi, touch the Samadhi, or merely think of the Samadhi, and you will experience Sathya Sai Baba’s vibrations entering into your body. (Applause) When you think of your father, you begin to imagine him. When you think of your mother, you begin to feel her presence. Similarly, when you think of the Samadhi, when you pray to the Samadhi, it is the same as Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. It is Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, no doubt about it! (Applause)

every atom of prasHanthi nilayam is baba

I can also tell you that our Sai Baba is waiting there: Prashanthi Nilayam is His place. Puttaparthi is the place where He was born and where He spent eighty-five years. He never moved out of Puttaparthi except for occasional, sporadic, incidental visits to Bombay, Chennai, Delhi and a few other places, that’s all! Most of the time He spent in Puttaparthi as Puttaparthi was so dear to Him.

When you say ‘Ayodhya’, you think of Sri Ram. When you say ‘Mathura’, Bhagavan Krishna is there in our mind. It is the same thing when you say ‘Prashanthi Nilayam’: Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba comes to our mind. (Applause) Not only that: when you walk on the sands of Puttaparthi, it is the same sand that our Lord walked upon. When you breathe the air of Puttaparthi, it is the same air breathed by our Lord. If you sit in the hall, it is the same place where He moved about. When you look at His chair, it's the same chair upon which He sat. Every inch, every speck, every atom of Puttaparthi, Prashanthi Nilayam, is Baba, Baba, Baba only!

swami loves prasHanthi nilayam very much

There are some people who say that He shifted from Puttaparthi. It is impossible! If anyone says anything like that and if you are courageous enough, ask him to shut up. (Laughter) If you have no courage, move away from there. Baba is not the type to shift from anywhere. A simple example: once Swami said to a group of devotees, “I will come to Sri Lanka.” It was Buddha Poornima. He said, “I will visit Sri Lanka.”

I am also a selfish man. If He goes to Sri Lanka, I can also follow Him because I will have a chance to translate His talks. Next day I asked, “Swami, when are they taking You to Sri Lanka?”

Baba said, “Taking Me? Nobody on earth can take Me! All have to come under the umbrella, under the shade of Sathya Sai in Prashanthi Nilayam. Nobody can take Me! The whole world must come here. I am not that type of a guru to go around everywhere. Here is jaggery or sugar. All ants come to jaggery or sugar, but sugar won’t go to the ants! All My devotees come to Me: I am the sugar, this is Prashanthi Nilayam.”

Therefore, my friends, Baba attracted devotees from all over the world while being in Prashanthi Nilayam only. If anyone says that He shifted from here, he is half-mad. If you believe it, you are fully mad! (Laughter) Krishna, when He goes to Brindavan, was jubilant. Rama, while going back to Ayodhya, was exuberant. Swami returning from Bangalore to Puttaparthi, oh, He would be so joyful, blissful, and playful. He loved that place very much. He made a promise to His mother that He would never leave that place. Knowing all these things that Swami said, if a fool says that He shifted from there, he deserves a place in the mental hospital. (Laughter)

dreams are individual and personal

There are others who say that they had a dream that Swami left Puttaparthi. You can tell them, “I got a dream that you left this earth!” (Laughter) There are those who say, “I had a dream that you should all come to my town.” You can tell them, “I had a dream that I should not believe your words.”

Let us remember that life is not a dream. Though Swami says, “Life is a dream, realise it,” He is speaking from a very high spiritual level. For mundane fellows like us, daily life is not a dream, but a very practical affair. So, dreams come and go. The dreamer may feel that his dreams are correct. But these dreams are personal and individualised. I am speaking from Baba’s messages themselves.

You cannot tell a government clerk, (even the President cannot say,) “I dreamt that Indonesia should be vacant!” He cannot say that it should be vacant and that people should go away. Who are you to dream about me? Please dream about yourself! And then keep it to yourself. Don’t be so shameless as to share your dreams with everybody, which is nothing but nonsense.

do not believe false propaganda

There are some who say that money should be donated to their cause: “I am starting a college in the name of Baba,” “I am starting a hospital in the name of Baba,” “I am starting a new Trust in the name of Baba."

Please tell them, “You may start the Trust, but I don’t have trust in you (Laughter) nor in the trustees.”

There is only one God whom we have seen, whom we have experienced, and who has given us plenty. He is Sathya Sai Baba. There is only one Trust that He started, the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust. He was the President of the Central Trust till recently—the President! That is the only authoritative, legal body.

Let us be sensible, let us be logical, and let us behave properly in not believing others’ words. Go anywhere, listen to all those words said against Swami’s statements, but don’t believe them!

Someone asks a question: “How is it that there are gold bars in the cupboard of Baba’s room?”

My answer is, “I have not seen those cupboards. I have not seen those gold bars. I was there physically for the last twenty-two years. How could you see His room? How could you see His cupboards? How could you see these gold bars? Your eyes must be like X-rays to see them, not ordinary eyes.” (Laughter)

That’s all bogus, that’s all false. So don’t believe this false propaganda. There was a lack of communication. People did not talk to the reporters at the right time in the right way. Therefore, journalists have written in their own way, whatever little they know.

sathya sai baba is the only champion of poor people

My friends, in front of all of you, I can say one thing: many people may have written against individuals or spoken against individuals; but the whole world can agree on one thing. Sathya Sai Baba is the only champion of poor people! (Applause) Sathya Sai Baba is the only Divine personality who achieved, within seventy years, a maximum number of welfare programs. For humans, it would require five hundred years to complete that much. Yet within seventy years, He could do it all.

Puttaparthi was a village with a population of only one hundred—a village that had no roads, no power supply, filled with illiterate people who were totally poor, cut off from the madding crowd, uncivilised—such a remote village was transformed by Him and today attracts the whole world. The whole world may not know where Bombay is, may not know where Hyderabad is, but the whole world knows where Prashanthi Nilayam is! (Applause) That is Sathya Sai Baba! He made it globally important. He made it the centre of the universe, and He made it a place of spirituality.

Bhagavan Baba is inter-continental, universal God

Here is a boy who, in seventh class, discontinued schooling. With no college studies or degrees, He reached such a position. He could talk to doctors, engineers, politicians, and scientists—that seventh class boy would later even challenge scientists, doctors, and professionals! That boy is Sathya Sai Baba, the Divine! (Applause) When the doctors were confused, Sathya Sai Baba told them what to do, and what medicines to give.

You all know the Hanuman statue above the Hill View Stadium. There Hanuman is in a standing posture, carrying a mountain, but with one leg up in the air. Such a large statue is not found anywhere else in India! It was taken up to the mountain top to be erected there. All the engineers said to Swami that it was impossible to erect it because the mountain is too pointed on the top, like a cone.

Baba went up there. “Come on! I will be up here, so bring the statue. Don’t worry!” Today Hanuman is installed because Sai Rama was there at that moment! (Applause) That is Sathya Sai Baba.

You must have heard of L&T Company. L&T stands for Larsen & Toubro: they are well-known construction engineers. They came to Baba, showing maps and plans. “Swami, we do it here like this, and then like that, and finally like this.” He will appreciate them and thank them.

Finally He will say, “Why not do it this way? Is it not cheaper if you do it this way? Will it not be completed earlier if you do it this way?” Engineers have only one way—to fall at His Feet helplessly. (Laughter) L&T is an international company. But they have to fall at the Feet of Baba. Why? It is an international company, but Bhagavan Baba is inter-continental, a universal God! (Applause)

Bhagavan Baba is the super surgeon