You’re Perfect When God Supreme resolved to create man in His own image, He did it so, giving him His essence, that is His Oneness, and qualities, namely, love, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, etc. Man being His prime creation should understand the need to coexist in this world, reaching out to another with sensitivity, awareness, understanding and a will that believes in, exuding kindred harmony, writes Sri Jullie Chaudhuri, Editor, SSS Youth Newsletter, Pune, narrating a small, yet significant story from Pune… Extracted from the Oct 2015 issue of the Newsletter. A youngster decided to add some shine and sparkle in people’s lives. Every weekend, he would stand at Koregaon Park, Pune, with a placard saying ‘You’re Perfect’. This small act went a long way in touching a lot of strangers’ hearts. Almost everyone around is riddled with insecurities, stress, work-related issues, domestic and relationship problems, financial difficulties, health worries, etc, that shatter their inner rhythm. Everyone is looking for a sign and reassurance to re-establish normalcy and balance. So, when a complete stranger silently lets you know that you are perfect just the way you are, it restores your peace of mind and self-confidence. If nothing else, it makes you smile. Consequently, as this young person was standing with that elevating message, two heart-warming incidents (that we know of) occurred. One lady came up to him crying and gave him a big hug, saying that he made her day with his placard. Perhaps she was upset or depressed about something and this brightened her and brought cheer to her life. Another joyful response was of a youth who came to him in a very upbeat mood to thank him for what he was doing. It unfolded thus that this youngster was going for an important job interview and was extremely nervous about the interview and the outcome. On his way, he happened to glance at this young man and his ‘You’re Perfect’ placard. That instantly calmed his nerves instilling the required confidence and…helped clinched the interview! So relieved was he that he came back to express his earnest gratitude and encourage him to continue with this novel initiative. All that we need to reach out to another is sensitivity, awareness, understanding and a will that believes in and exudes kindred harmony.

When He Was Challenged… What happens when you challenge The One Who Is beyond all reckonings, most mysterious… call Him ‘All-Mighty’??? When humans cannot reckon with such ‘Almighty’ deals, he get pushed to the receiving end, leaving profound lessons to the world, of the ever incomprehensible mystery of That Supreme Divinity. An incident from the life of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, as chronicled by His biographer-cum-translator Prof N Kasturi. Bringing an interlude to a story-telling, Prof Kasturi writes…One person challenged Swami like that. Swami was touring in Kerala, South of India. The language there is Malayalam. I know that language, therefore, I went with Him to translate His Telugu speeches into Malayalam. He went from place to place. Along with us came the director of a radio station, so that he could record Swami’s speeches and play them through radio. The last speech of Swami was in a place, where He said, “I am not satisfied with this short tour of this area. I shall come after Shivarathri and visit  every place where you have a samithi, and be there for as long as you want, giving you joy, happiness and peace.” The director of the radio station has taped this speech and he came back to Calicut where he was the director of the radio station. Swami had not visited that place and the people there were anxious to know what Swami has said about His next visit. The director of the radio station said, “Ah! Swami has said, ‘After Shivarathri I will come and stay here as long as you want.’ I have taped it, and it is here with me. You know what I will do after Shivarathri? I will wait for a week and if He does not come, I will take this tape to Puttaparthi and if He calls me for interview, I will play it before Him, and challenge Him!” He used to the word “Challenge.” Those people said, “We will hear it then.” He asked his assistant to bring that tape and play it. When it was played, that statement of Swami, and my translation of it, were not there at all! Also, there was no gap anywhere in the tape! That is what happens when you challenge Swami.

When He Guided… It is said, “…when the disciple is ready, the Master appears.”  When a long-time sadhaka at revered Ramana Maharshi’s Feet, Swami Abhedananda, was caught in a spiritual tangle, unable to bail himself out of ‘confusion’, he  prayed to Bhagawan, vide a letter to Prof N. Kasturi, seeking guidance… and He responded… Swami Abhedananda, residing at the Ramanashram, Thiruvannamalai, was sleeping in his room, or, rather, trying to go to sleep! A problem was disturbing him. He had read the life of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, titled, “Sathyam Sivam Sundaram”, written by Prof N. Kasturi. He felt, as he was pouring through the pages of that book, that the Guru who was to guide him out of the tangle of doubt into which he had led himself during twenty-five years of Sadhana was here, at Puttaparthi. He had written a letter to Sri Kasturi, asking him to present his plight to Baba and to send him His reply. The hours ticked by and he slept. The night was almost over when Swami Abhedananda was awakened by a blow on his head! Who could it be? The door was bolted and he was alone in the room. He rose and switched on the light. There was no one; but the blow was a real, rather hard one. He sat upon the bed, half-dazed. Then, he saw a pillar of light in front of him and from out of that light emerged the figure of Ramana Maharshi and Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the same form which he had seen in the book. Ramana Maharshi disappeared soon and Baba followed, leaving just the Light! And from the Light he heard a voice, clear and sweet. “I have come to tell you  how you are to get out of the tangle in your sadhana. You are attaching too much importance to the mind and its vagaries. Don’t pay any attention to it. Refuse to follow its whims. Do not even meditate; try to make the mind empty; that is the way to put it out of action.” The Swami felt that this was the advice he was waiting for; he wrote a letter, then and there, to Kasturi that Baba had come to him and solved the problem that was agitating him, that He had become His Guru! Nevertheless, when he received a letter from Puttaparthi that he could go over and see Baba, he left immediately…and, when he reached the place, and Baba welcomed him with a smile, he knew that he had been accepted as a disciple; when, later, Baba gave him the same advice in person, he recognised the Voice as Baba’s own!…

Love…Love…Love… Man, in the game of life on the world stage, should live a conscious life, knowing the crux of life, that being LOVE… Bhagawan says, The path is through God, with God, in God, always remember that God Is Love… extracted from the book of inner messages from sai, ‘Sai Messages For You And Me’ by Lucas Ralli. All is in the balance all the time. Everything works itself out according to the past and everything that happens now is the result of the past. Recent events are no exception. Only the Lord can see the past, the total past of everyone and everything, every event and every thought. Only the Lord can see the future, as He can see that picture now, the creation of the past, the present and the future, all are NOW to Him. But the picture changes as man progresses on the spiritual path, and you should never despair even when you witness some tragic event like the recent violence. What should you think at such a time? You should concentrate on your own personal sadhana. Examine yourself and your own progress on the spiritual path. Are you changing as time passes? Have you given up those bad habits of the past? Are you full of love, like the fountain which continually throws out its water in a beautiful cascade? You should emulate the fountain and become a fountain of love, Sai Love. For it is love alone that can save man and the Earth itself from destruction. Love is God and, when it flows freely, it means that you are following God to enter into your life. See the world as it is, a training ground. Do not waste the opportunity to get the training, so that you are better prepared for the next stage in your evolution. God provides the facilities, God shows you how to use them, but you have to take the initiative and make your own decisions. Be positive in all your thoughts and, when disaster strikes, realise that it is simply a passing phase, something to overcome. Such is the event to which you refer. In a hundred years it will be in the history book and, at that time, those souls who are here on Earth will be worrying about other matters. So, look ahead, not backward, and know that the Divine Awakening lies ahead. The path is through God, with God, in God, always remember that God Is Love.

A Letter On Heart Paper! “On 24, April 1974, Swami visited our home in Bangalore in response to a simple prayer of my seven year old daughter during an interview earlier. After the visit, as He was boarding His car Swami asked for a white sheet of paper for giving me a “nice message”. The result was this letter, which Swami handed over to me in Brindavan. Before that, Swami asked Prof. Sundar Rao, retired principal M.G.M.College, to read it aloud for Brindavan hostel students. Prof. Rao was overwhelmed by the profound message and Swami’s beautiful command over language, and told Swami, “It should be printed in letters of gold and on art paper.” Swami replied: “not on art paper, but on heart paper.” The message is meant not merely to be appreciated, but also to be practised. Every word is a mantra and the message as a whole is an Upanishad” writes Prof Nanjundaiah releasing the letter by Bhagawan. Extracted from Vidyullekha, Annual Edition, 2017. Dear Nanjundaiah,Accept My Blessings. The best method of spreading Vedanta philosophy is to live it. There is no other royal road. Live in GOD. All is right. Make others live in God. All shall be well. Believe this truth, you will be saved. In the lowest worm as well as in the highest human being the same Divine nature is present. The worm is the lower form in which the Divinity has been most overshadowed by Maya; that is the highest form in which it has been least overshadowed. Behind everything the same Divinity is existing and out of this comes the basis of morality. Assert your GOD head. Fling into utter oblivion. The little bubble bursts, it finds itself the whole ocean. You are the whole, the infinite, the All. You are Divinity itself. The holy of holies. The world is no world. You are the All in All, the supreme power which no words can describe. No body or mind, you are the pure ‘I am” that you are. Heaven is within you. Seek happiness not in the object of senses. Realise that happiness is within yourself. With Blessings,Sri Sathya Sai Baba24-4-’74

When Did It All Begin??? When did it all begin? The eternal romance between You and Me, Nullifying the curses of my sin, Once as tumultuous as the restless sea… When did it all begin? When did it all begin? My unquenching thirst for nights’ solitude, At the very aim to silence my heart’s din, And savour the time with You, as a beatitude… When did it all begin? When did it all begin? My brewing attachment to Your loving gaze, Slowly creeping into my veins as an obsession, Throwing me into a Cosmic Love Story weaved like a maze. When did it all begin??? II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose…India’s Greatest Patriot What kind of existence will you have if you do not revere the Motherland as your mother? While Subhash Bose was studying in the Calcutta University, there was an English professor, who used to speak disparagingly about India and Ind­ians. Subhash Bose, who was intensely patriotic, could not bear listening to such derogatory remarks about the Mother­land. He was patient for a while, but when the professor continued in the same vein, he got up, jumped over three desks, caught the Englishman by the neck and beat him with sandals. Bose declared, “I can bear anything, but I cannot bear my Motherland being abused and ridiculed. It does not matter what happens to me, but I must defend my country’s honour.” The students who watched the inci­dent were stunned. The English professor cried out: “Help me! Help me!” News of the incident reached the autho­rities, who held an emergency meeting and rusticated Subhash Bose for five years. Subhash was determined to dedicate his entire life to the service of the Mother­land. As Subhash could not continue his studies in Calcutta, his father sent him to London. But even there Subhash cherish­ed his love for the Motherland. He was determined to finish his studies and return to India to serve the Motherland. He studied hard and passed the I.C.S. examination. He returned to India and plunged into national politics. “I owe my food and everything else to my count­ry. I must be grateful to the nation by serving it.” This was his firm resolve. Here is his example. You students should realise what you owe to your edu­cational institutions for your status and position in life and be ever grateful to them. This is the pledge you should take. This is true sacrifice. Giving up selfish­ness, developing faith in the Divine, you must realise the Supreme.

Sai’s ‘Visiting Card’ in Pune… We were posted in Pune several years ago and were driving to the ‘Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Bhajans’ at the house of Col Soman, in Somwarpet. My husband, Gen BDP Rao, who never used his official car for private purposes, was driving. We were only about a mile away from the venue, driving through a shopping centre, when a little boy of about 8 years old, ran across the road with a kite in hand and was hit by our car. He fell down unconscious. We were shocked and I cried out ‘Baba!’ There were two clinics nearby – I ran into the first clinic, but the doctor refused to come. In the second, a lady doctor, walked into the car with me. By the time, I returned to the car, the car had been turned around and was pointing in the opposite direction. The boy had been shifted into the rear seat of the car by a small built man and there was another man in the driver’s seat. My husband told me that when they first appeared he had told them that it was not his fault since he was going slowly and the boy had dashed across the street and hit the car. And the driver replied: “I know it’s not your fault.” My husband, who never lets anyone drive his car, was quietly sitting in the front seat. The man driving the car said, ‘These doctors do not know anything, but there is a Nursing Home further down the road. Come along – we are taking him there.’ So, the five of us went to the Nursing Home. Coincidentally, the boy’s uncle was coming out of the Nursing Home, with some medicines. He recognized his nephew and went to call the child’s parents. I ran to find a doctor, but he said he was off duty. By the time I got back, with a doctor, the boy was standing on the table on which he had been placed. He had his arms around the driver and was asking him not to leave him. My husband has told me that the driver had sprinkled a few drops of water on the child’s face and the boy sat up immediately, by the time his parents came. While I was talking to the mother of the boy, the two men who brought us to the clinic were leaving. My husband asked them if he could drop them, but they said they had their motorbike near the accident site and did not need a lift. By the time he followed them out, they had disappeared. In spite of the events, though terribly shaken, we proceeded to the bhajan and attended the last 15 minutes and Aarathi. The photo of Baba in the bhajan hall and the driver’s face seemed uncannily similar. Who else but Baba could decide whose fault it was and Who else but Baba could rouse an unconscious boy with a few drops of water and then disappear from an isolated Nursing Home with no trace. Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba had come to our rescue that day.

What I Want Is Transformation… From the Microcosm to the Macrocosm, every single heart beat, pulse is aimed at Sukham, that is happiness. Blessed with the great good fortune of being the immediate contemporaries of The Ultimate Walking The Earth, who does not like to have His physical proximity, a personal one-to-One with Him. In this  process he resorts to many a stunt to appease Him, to win His attention. …a personal experience by one of us…one of His Own… (from Pune Youth News Letter – Jan 2017) This incident happened sometime in 1988. One young devotee was desperate to have a personal interview with Bhagawan. But Swami would completely ignore him during Darshans in the Mandir. In an effort to win the grace of the Lord, he resorted to fasting. He went without food and water for three days. He did not swallow even his own saliva. It was the third day evening Bhajan. Swami went inside the Bhajan Hall and sat on the throne. Suddenly in the middle of the Bhajan, Swami came out, went straight to this devotee sitting on the sands outside, spoke to him just one sentence, “What I want is transformation and not all this (referring to his fasting)” and went back inside the Bhajan Hall. The devotee realised his folly and immediately after the Bhajan, had his Bhojan. Needless to say, the all merciful Lord called him for an interview after a few days.

Divine Pastime… Creation has emerged from God, Who is free from desire. It is a spontaneous unfolding, beyond human understanding. No one can unravel the Divine Mystery. Human activity, however spontaneous it may seem, can be explained to originate from some patent or latent wish or other. But, God’s activity can never yield an answer to human enquiry about its why or whence or wherefore. God is omniscient. He is the source of supreme delight, of extreme ecstasy. The joy flashes as sport, as prank and purposeless play, leela. God needs neither helper nor material for the process of Creation. His serene, stable, sovereign Fullness can become movement, rotation and vibration, when He Wills. And, all the living and non-living entities God projects are led towards acquisition of the very Ecstasy whose overflow they are. God is the paramount principle of Bliss that is not affected by time or materiality, for He is the basis for the material world of time and matter. His Bliss pervades all Creation. That is the way His leela works. But, created beings are diverse and entangled in duality. If they emerge from the Bliss of the One, how could some be so fearful and anxious and some calm and peaceful? An inference such as this is very wrong; it is unwarranted and unjustified. The Rain God showers his gift on all things on earth, edible crops as well as thorny weeds. The seeds of both sprout and grow in accordance with their different natures. Likewise, the Divine Bliss, Love and Light are the sustenance for all nature. The qualities of head and heart, either virtuous or vicious, decide whether life is happy or miserable, praiseworthy or blameworthy. Good deeds mould men into saints; bad deeds shape them as sinners. God initiates men into innocent, tender, loveable and loving childhood. But men relish envy, greed and hatred and cast off the gift of softness and sweetness. They cultivate instead the thorny weeds. Men seek joy in this Cause Consequence duo. God has no gain to achieve, no need to project the Cosmos. He has everything; He is everything. He plays motiveless and unattached out of sheer elan.