Sai and Sufi Tradition: An Islamic View The Sufi tradition found its milestone of advaitic thought in the beliefs of Ibn­ al‑Arabi (1165‑1240) and the widespread acceptance of his theory of Wahdat‑al-Wujud [unity of being]. Al‑Arabi is nearer to Vedic and Baba’s teaching than any other Sufi outside India. A keen student of Sai literature will find similari­ties in ideas and imagery between Baba’s discourses and Al‑Arabi’s writing. Four ideas of Al‑Arabi are significant. (i) According to Al‑Arabi, the One and the many are two aspects of the One. “The One reveals Himself in the many … it is like a source of light from which an infinite number of lights are derived… it is like a mighty sea on the surface of which we observe countless waves, forever appearing and disappearing.” The two aspects of One rea­lity were called tanzih [nirguna–formless] and tasbih [sadguna–good qualities] by Al-Arabi. (ii) Al‑Arabi used the term “emana­tion” to mean the constant appearance of form of the same Reality. (iii)  Al-Arabi’s idea of the perfect man is equated with logos [word of God] and the spirit‑giving principle immanent in the universe. (iv) Like Baba, Al‑Arabi rejected the place of reason in understanding the pur­pose of human existence. Baba gives the example of the same electric current runn­ing through different electric devices. Al-Arabi gives the image of light passing through colored glasses to suggest One Reality manifesting itself in men of diffe­rent abilities. Intuition, not reason, reveals the purpose of existence. The purpose of life is to realize the divine union that already exists between God and man. Al‑Arabi advised Sufis that tolerance, human compassion, and fellowship were indispensable features of spiritual life. Like Baba, he also urged that the Divine exists and is worshipp­ed in all religions. Instinctively Al‑Arabi believed in the one Universal God. I recall what Baba said in one of His dis­courses: “The monistic concept of divinity expounded to Arjuna by Krishna in Bhagavad Gita harmonizes the teach­ings of all religions and reconciles all traditions.” (Summer Showers: 1979, P. 119) Considering love to be the highest manifestation of God, Al‑Arabi declared: My heart has become the receptacle of every ‘ form’;It is a pasture for gazelles (objects of love)A convent for Christian monks,And a temple for idols, and the pil­grim’s Ka’baand the tablets of Torah and the Book of the Quran.I follow the religion of love, which­ever way its camels take.For this is my religion and my faith. The major branch of Sufi tradition that developed in India observed this broader horizon of divinity and love, whether it flourished in the valley of Kashmir and was called the Rishi‑Sufi order or welcom­ed the Nath Yogis [Yogis of the Shiva tradition] to its assemblies and learned Hatha‑Yoga from them. The Baul Movement [group of mystic minstrels] in Bengal during the 15th century followed the same ideal of Unity of God. A popular group of Muslim and Hindu singers, the Bauls were ‘men of hearts’, non‑dualistic and mystical; they used songs in the tradition of Chaitanya. The popularity of Vaishnavite [worship of Vishnu] themes in Sufi Sama [music recitals] was widespread as it induced ecstasy. In 1566 a Sufi dictionary of Hindi songs was compiled, which among other things explained the Krishna theme and symbolism in Sufi ter­minology. These are only a few examples from a treasure‑house of a million others to suggest the direction in which Indian Sufi tradition was moving. The growing emphasis on the universal concept of love was a strong trend that has found its goal in the presence of Sai. “The path of love is the royal road that leads man­kind to Me.”                                                                              (Baba: Who is Sai) To the Sufi seeker the goal is important and not sectarianism and dialectics. The secret of this goal is best described by Masud‑i‑Bak, a Sufi from Delhi. All names, says the mystic, refer to the One name, in all forms only the one face is hidden, and in all religions one road is concealed. This is the Truth that Sai embodies. Continue your worship of your chosen God along the lines already familiar to you. Then you will find that you are coming nearer to Me, for all names are Mine and all forms are Mine.                                                                           (Baba: Why I Incarnate) Eight roses They worshipped Him with flowers and songs, with camphor and prayers. They entreated Him with tears and sighs. They waited on Him with folded hands and smiling lips. He remained unmoved, re­clining on the sky‑blue swing of the heart. And in the fragrance of flowers, in the rhythm of the music, in the silence of tears and smiles He hid from them—the Subtlest of the Subtle. “I do not cause either joy or grief,” He said, “you are the designer of both these chains that bind you.” And all that He asked for was their love and devotion presented to Him as the eight flowers of non‑violence, sense‑control, compassion to all living beings, forbearance, shanti [peace], meditation, and truth. A Sufi would pluck these flowers and offer them to Him for they have grown in his garden for centuries. The ten qualities that all the Sufis were expected to culti­vate and that were repeated in Sufi lite­rature and nourished in Sufi tradition were an elaboration of the eight “good qualities” Baba has pointed out (Sanathana Sarathi, June 1981, pp. 142‑45). Of these, peace and truth are most significant be­cause they are also the attributes of the Divine Beloved. However, the eight good qualities are signs of a pure heart, the shrine for the Lord. “I am the dweller in the temple of every heart,” says Sai. “Make your best endeavor to worship at the temple of the heart,” advised the Sufi, Abdullah Ansari. Para bhakti [pure, transparent, and simple devotion] can only be offered in the bowl of service to society for “he who takes care of man takes care of God” (Ibn al‑Arabi). It is only then that the fortunate one‑in‑a million devotee reaches the doors and experiences the significance of the Quranic greeting: “pe­ace—a word from thy Lord, most merci­ful.” An ancient promise that might have taken 1000 years or more is fulfill­ed as the Divine voice welcomes. “I am anandaswarupa [embodiment of bliss]. Come, take ananda from Me, dwell in that ana­nda or bliss and be full of shanti or peace.”                                                                              (Baba: Why I incarnate) ~Zeba BashiruddinSource: Sanathana

The Ego Barrier In the Bhagavad Gita Lord Krishna says that one of the qualifications for a devotee to earn His love is “nirmamo nirahankaarah ” (XI I‑13), without mine-ness and without egoism, free from the feeling of “I” and “mine”. The scriptures of all religions consider egoism as the only major hurdle between man and God. “Man, minus ego is God,” so goes the saying. Swami in His discourses frequently denounces this ego and stres­ses that it is the only obstacle that stands between Him and ourselves. What is this ego and how did it come about? Man exhibits two natural traits in all his activities, namely, protecting and expanding his individuality. This conceited individuality instills in him the idea of an autonomous entity, a subjecti­vity responsible for his actions and for the enjoyment of the fruits therefrom. How did man conceive of himself as an individual? The Omnipresent Pure Awareness got reflected on matter to produce the individual consciousness. This conscio­usness is the basis of all cognition. Cognition is possible only when the cog­nizer and the cognized are separate enti­ties. The perceiver and the perceived cannot be one. Thus, the cognizer cons­ciousness assumes the role of the subject and objectifies everything else. In this continuous process of objectivization or conceptualization an individual pseudo entity has arisen, using the body‑mind complex as its abode. This assumed individuality that had come up soon after birth gets an identifying name and con­siders itself as separate from everything else. The functioning of this duality, the “me” and the “other”, is the original sin of man referred to in the Bible. This whole process has thrown up a phenomenon called man, which has three aspects in itself: the first—the real “I” or the true self, the second—a reflection of the first giving rise to the consciousness “I am”, and the third—an individuality, “I am so‑and‑so”. Thus, each person, as Swami says, is really “three in one”, “the one you really are, the one you think you are, and the one others think you are.” Ego and evolution Why did this ego develop? If we analyze carefully it appears to be a necessary part of the evolution of life. How else could a conscious individual have cropped up? Having evolved, its dissolution is, interestingly, the only means to reach the Divine. To quote Sri Aurobindo, “as for the lower life, the development of ego; so far as the higher life this reverse movement of elimination of the ego is indispensable.” The ‘why’ of it all is beyond our comprehension and can only be termed as the play of the Divine. However, this ego with its deluding power is the source of all man’s prob­lems. The real illusion man suffers from is his mistaken identity with the body that is only a part of the phenomenon. Viveka Choodamani [text by Sri Shankaracharya] says, “The body is known to be the source of the delusion of “I” and “mine”…. It is strange that a person ignorantly remains contented that he is the body.” The body and the soul What is a body? The common de­finition will be that it is the physical frame of a man or an animal. But our scriptures provide an extended definition that considers the body as any subst­ance that consciousness is capable of supporting and controlling for its own purpose and that is subordinate to cons­ciousness. In other words, the soul pos­sesses the body and not that the body has a soul. What is the purpose of having a body? It is an instrument for righteous living. “Sariramaadyam khalu dharma­sadhanam” (The body is the primary requisite for realizing righteousness). This task of the body has two compon­ents, to carry out physical actions that are external, and second, to achieve Realization that is inner action. But blinded by egoism the individual forgets that he is only an instrument Krishna says in the Gita (111‑27), “ahamkaara vimoodhaatma kartaaham iti manyate“–one who is deluded by egoism thinks “I am the doer.” Shankara says, “aham­kaarah sa vijneyah karthaa bhoktaa abhi­manyayam“–it is the ego that identi­fies itself with the body and becomes the doer or experiencer and “sukham duhkham cha taddharma“–happiness and misery are its characteristics. (Viveka Choodamani) Liberation from ego Giving up this ego or annihilation of the pseudo‑entity is the greatest achieve­ment expected of man. “Nirmamo nira­hamkaarah sa saanthim adhigacchati” says Krishna (Gita II‑71)—devoid of pos­sessiveness and egoism, that is giving up the feeling of “I” and “mine”, a man attains peace. Such a non‑egoistic person is called saatvika [pure]: “anaham‑vaadi saatvika uchyate [free from attachment & ego]” (Gita XVIII‑26). This mistaken identity with a particular transient phenomenon, the body, is the real bondage. As Viveka Choodamani (V. 299) declares, “So long as one has anything to do with this wretched ego, there can never be any talk about liber­ation,” because liberation is from the ego, from the dualistic concept of “me” and the “other”. Liberation is from the “person” and not for the person. Swami declares that purity leads to unity and unity leads to Divinity. Identification with the body is the basic impurity and all other impurities follow it. It is basi­cally this impurity that an Avatar [incarnation] wants to remove from us. It is this “person” in us that He wants to destroy because it stands in the way of our becoming one with Him. Lord Krishna categorically states (Gita XVIII‑53) “ahamkaaram Balam darpam kaamam krodham parigra­ham, vimuchya nirmamah saanto Brah­mabhooyaya kalpate“—”Giving up egoism, violence, arrogance, desire, ang­er, possessions, without the feeling of mine, and becoming peaceful, one is fit to become Brahman.” A major step in abandoning the ego is to give up body consciousness and abide in the Self. This does not mean developing a contempt toward the body. This body is a part of the intended mani­festation of the Divine. It is wrong to subject it to mortification and self-­torture. Lord Krishna denounces this in Gita (XVII‑6). “Karshayantah sariras­tham bhootagraamam achetasah maam cha eva antah“—”They are fools who torture their bodies and Me who dwells within the body.” The body itself is not an obstacle to spiritual progress. It is the identification

Suffering in Life Look around you and you will see everywhere the specter of suffering. Try to understand it, and, more often than not it will baffle you. How, you will argue, can God the infinitely merciful tolerate suffering in the world? And yet, there is no life without it. It is as inescapable as the rose with the thorns or the body with its corruption. It winds itself into life projecting its image in the most unlikely places. Science seeks to root it out, but its success is only partial. For suffering is not God’s doing; it is the effect of our sin. And the sooner we realize this fact, the better it will be for all of us. For just as a car will not work if there is something wrong with the engine, so suffering will not disappear until sin, its cause, is removed from our experience. You may ask: Could not God have prevented man from sinning? The answer would be yes, but at what price? The price is reducing us to be sub-humans with no option but to do the creator’s bidding. Surely such a conception would do God no justice! It is because God loves us and loves us intensely that there is sin in this world. For God would not think of man as anything less than Himself. And if God is free, then man, too, must be free. And because man has freedom and can choose to do what he desires, man can sin in the same way as he can rise to heights of heroism and merit. God is as little to blame in this as the teacher who does not give beforehand to the children in her class the questions that will be asked at the exam­ination. He is as little to blame as the mother who coaxes her child to walk even if he risks fall­ing down, or the father who sends his son out into the world even though he foresees him falling into evil company. It is because God loves us that He has run the risk that we will sin. Even then, despite God, man continues to sin. It is not surprising that suffering is always present everywhere. For man essentially is one family, and for better or worse influences others as others influence him. And so, a man might be sinless and yet suffer because of this soli­darity with others. He is born into a family, grows in society, and depends for his entire develop­ment on others. And when he sins, it is often well-nigh impossible to say how far the implications of his sins will travel, as it is often impossible to pin­point the origin of the disorder caused by famines, wars, or earthquakes. There is a mysterious communion between ruin and man and between man and matter—and for every sin that appears in the world, there is somewhere a new suffering making itself felt. Do not for a moment entertain the thought that God needs suffering or desires it in any form. He wants it wiped out, but He knows that this will only happen when sin is wiped out too. And therefore, while we should lay the axe at the root of suffering and destroy sin in our own lives, we must also endeavor to sublimate suffering wherever we find it. There is often little that a man can do. But rather than steel the person for the worst, as the stoics would, could we not make suffering acceptable so that he who suffers, suffers with the thought that his pain can be enriched and made a meritorious action pleasing to God? To anaesthetize oneself to suffering is selfish. Become insen­sitive to your sufferings today and you will become insensitive to the sufferings tomorrow. For if every sin brings with it a new suffering, every suffering patiently and lovingly borne will in turn bring about a new love, a new charity that will counteract the spread of sin. Here it has a redeeming action! It becomes creative and there­fore an object of love to God. Everything that takes place on this earth is purposive and has a meaning. Suffering by itself would be meaningless except for the love of God that gives the pain its inner purpose. So the next time you have a headache, do not yell out; the next time you are passed over in your office for promotion, do not take it out on your family; the next time you fail your tests, do not despair. Use the suffering that each of these actions entails to remind you that you can utilize this suffering to help yourself and others. And where you can, you must help toward the eradication of suffering. Today perhaps more than ever in history, the inequality between man and man has spawned hunger, sickness, and misery. Once again it is sin, the egoism of man, his pride and negligence that have been the ruin of others. To this you must bend your will. You may be able and trained to alleviate physical suffering. Your talents may place you in a position to bring justice and peace to nations or communities. Your work and research may help benefit mankind. Suffering may lessen by your joining a union or resorting to strikes. If in all sincerity you can say you are helping to remove misery where you find it, then go ahead—you are doing the right thing. If you prune a tree merely to cut its branches off, if you sow a seed only to see it die, if you punish a child merely for the pleasure of it, you are mentally unbalanced. Pruning, planting, and punishing all look to new growth and development as their ultimate aim. Asceticism is meaningless without a positive purpose. It must involve a richer harvest. Suffering should be a continual reminder to man that he is a sinner. Suffering generously borne for others should be a continual reminder that he

God is Love, Live in Love 
 Once while I was sitting at His Lotus Feet, Swami asked my son who was also present in the Interview Room, “Whom do you love most?” Swami Himself, proceeded with the answer, “All the relatives in the
 world are bound to depart from this world one day or other and love 
toward them is also a passing phase. Before we marry, there is no wife and until we beget a child or children there is no father or mother. All these relationships evolved one day or other during this lifetime, and your love with 
such persons are also developed through attachment and selfish desires. This love is not permanent.  But one should remember that God is with you through and through, in your past births as well as in
 this birth, and in the forthcoming births, too.  So, if you love God without any condition, it will be pure and selfless love.  We should
 develop constant faith and love toward God, who alone is eternal.” There were a group of devotees from Australia with Swami during the interview. Swami turned toward one of them and asked from where they had come. He replied that they were from Australia. Swami asked him 
the reason for this visit to Prasanthi Nilayam. He replied, “Swami,
we have come here to see God.” Pat came the Divine reply by way of
 another question, “Oh! Is that so? Then you do not have God in 
Australia?” The devotee could not say anything. Somehow another one 
from the group replied, “Swami, there is God in our country also, but
 we have intense desire to see God in human form, who is none other than Baba Himself.” Bhagavan was pleased with this reply. Swami advised, “We should 
love God without any conditions or reservations in mind because God 
is one who is our ever-lasting friend, relation, and everything during all our births. This intense love toward God should be continuous and a constant feeling and should develop a feeling to 
be with Swami as much as possible. In faraway places, when devotees 
think of Swami, they should pray to Him, or sing of His glory, 
whenever they feel lonely.  They could also reach out for satsang, 
company of other Sai devotees that would to some extent satisfy their longing to see and to be with Swami.” Swami continued,
”There are some devotees who reply that Swami is always in their heart, and they need not go to Him very often. This shows their lack of
 enthusiasm.  What does this reply indicate? Here is a kerchief, and I 
am holding this in my hands. This means my hands are bigger
 than the kerchief and it can hold the same inside the hand. Likewise, when somebody claims that Swami is in His heart, then it 
means that he is much bigger than Swami.  This is not correct.  Sure,
 Swami is in your heart. But He is also in front of you, behind you,
 around you, and all over the place. He is omnipresent. There could be
 some compelling reasons for the inability of the devotee to come to
 Me. One reason is lack of enthusiasm. It could be due to the
 pressure of your work from which you could not escape and come to Swami.
 Another reason could be the lack of resources.
 But if only you have enthusiasm and intense desire to be with
 Swami, then the obstacles could be overcome by His grace.” ‘Love is God’, is a repeated maxim of Swami. The God incarnate Bhagavan is Himself the embodiment of Love. If only we spend a few minutes in His Divine presence with intense love and prayers in our hearts, we can positively experience the strong divine love flowing from Him. Swami’s love envelops everybody, even in an assembly of lakhs of devotees who throng for His darshan. One has only to experience this bliss all by himself to understand what Divine Love is! I wish to narrate a scene on ‘Love on Motion’ that I witnessed. The Divine Love pulls the multiplying millions of devotees to His presence. In Dwapara Yuga, it was the melody of Lord Krishna’s flute that made the devotees of Brindavan gravitate toward His presence.  The gopis [milk maidens] lost any consciousness of their body, mind, and spirit, dropped their work and other activities. They were absorbed by the melody.  How lucky we are to witness today the re-enactment of the same phenomenon by Sai Krishna at Parthi. The devotees run to catch a glimpse of Swami even at a murmur of the news that Swami’s car is approaching. They feel elated and truly blessed by the chance darshan even of a fleeting second as the car passes through. Once Swami graced me with a rare chance of following His car from Puttaparthi to Brindavan (Whitefield).  Swami’s tour program is always unpredictable and un-announced. Nobody can dare to set the exact timings of such tour program. On that blissful day, Swami left Parthi about one and half hours earlier than scheduled. I was fortunate to be provided with the experience of following Swami’s car. I followed Swami’s car as the second one for quite a long distance till all other cars in the caravan showed up. I could not really believe the emotionally surcharged sendoff given by the devotees even at such short notice. From Gopuram onward, up to and far beyond the gate of the Super Specialty Hospital, devotees had lined up in good strength on both sides of the road. Even the devoted Sai Gita [the elephant] turned up with her majestic presence to greet Swami as the car passed by the side of the gates of the shed. Hundreds of devotees were showering flower petals on the car. I saw many of them breaking coconuts on the street in front of the car. Indeed, it looked like a real car festival in our villages when people offered special poojas in front of the Divine car as it passes through the streets. Swami’s’ car was bedecked with the petals offered

Baba and the Moon Often as a child I had heard about the “Man in the Moon” but was never able to discern any such person no matter how hard or how often I looked. Then one evening in Hawaii in 1975, while my wife and I were walking together along the ocean beach, discussing a recent trip that I had just returned from to India, I looked up and with utter astonishment saw Bhagavan Baba looking back at me from the moon. It was unmistakable, and I was in utter amazement to the point of being put into a stupor. I said to my wife, “Honey, Baba is giving us His darshan [sight of a holy person], I can’t believe it.” She asked where and I pointed to the moon. She looked up and she, too, in utter amazement said, “My God.” What was such a shock to us on that full moon night turned out to be an ever-present physical phenomenon that occurs with every moon. It is constantly a delight to see the waxing and waning of Bhagavan and His full portrait on all full moon nights. It is particularly beautiful on those certain full moon nights when the moon comes up and He is facing us directly rather than at an angle, and especially on certain mornings in the United States when the moon is still up at dawn with Bhagavan Baba looking straight at us in all His Godly splendor. The Lingam outline of His hair is unmistakable and takes up the top part of the moon, and the rest of His features are more or less strongly fixed depending on the weather and my own heart. We have come to expect Bhagavan Baba in the moon as such a natural occurrence that we hardly think about it except on those few occasions when we may be spea­king to another devotee on a night when the full moon is up and look at the moon and say to the devotee, “Oh, Bhagavan is giving us His darshan again,” and are quite surp­rised when the devotees will say “where” and for the first time see His magnificent presence. I have always been slow in expressing those things that seem so natural to me but have realized that it is time to share with everyone the constant evening darshan of our beloved Lord as another one of His leelas [Divine plays]. He is constantly looking after us and shining His darshan onto the whole world whether we believe or we do not believe; whether we know of Him or do not know of Him. His face, His features, and His port­raiture covering the moon are undeniable. ~Robert D. Silver, Attorney at Law, Ventura, CASource: Sanathana Sarathi, Feb. 1979

Let Us Be Grateful Let Us Be Grateful Posted January 1, 2024 If God’s love for man is another way of describing His grace, what prevents us from responding to His love? The grea­test impediment to responding to His love and making use of His grace, it appears to me, is our ingratitude. How soon do we forget the helping hand of God! He hears our prayer, responds with grace, and saves us from a very difficult situation. We thank Him. That’s the end of our using His grace! We do not remember His kindness, His love, His concern for us and want Him to prove it again and again. But when God wants us to prove our loyalty to Him and faith, we grumble and complain! God does not mind that. But we are the losers. Even though He allows us to share His power when we need it most, because of our lack of pro­per communication with Him, of faith and love, we fall to grasp the moment and make best use of it. Even if we use a particular moment of revelation, we fail to sustain it. Thus, while we grumble, grunt, whimper, curse, He only turns His sad face away, regretting: “Dear one, when will you learn gratitude?” Thus, the magnificence of life turns into a living misery because we are too blind to see, too weak to hold on, and too ungrateful to love—and all this is not because God has denied us anything; we have denied ourselves that which has come to our door­step. It may seem that I write as if I know everything about grace! God forgive my impertinence if I think so! I do not know how God’s grace works in my life. But should I not know when He works? I may not know how His grace functions in our lives; but I must be able to recognize it when it functions and when I see God’s hand shaping my life, my thoughts and deeds, re‑arranging and re‑ordering things around me favorably, saving me from critical situations and awarding me more than my efforts. I should then be filled with humility and reverence, not compla­cence and self‑esteem. I should not feel that God gives me special attention be­cause I deserve it and I am better than all the others to whom apparently He denies these favors! That is the most dangerous thought. It cuts the life‑line between me and God. I thoroughly miss the meaning of that God‑touch, and by fostering ego, build a wall that blocks out further grace! Recognizing grace That means, I am pleading here for a very important thing, recognizing and then preserving grace. Grace need not necessarily be a downpour. It may con­sist in the simplest incidents of our life. A letter received in time; a bus in time to the place of my work; a little headache that holds me from attending a party; a passage in a book, and so on and on are God’s self‑announcements. Silently does He come to us to give us a silent, unmixed, and very personal joy because He person­ally cares for us. A very valid question may be asked at this moment. How do I know my getting a certain letter and meeting a certain friend on a certain day is grace, not chance? Likewise, all the daily incidents that fill my interminable days and nights might be pure chances, mere coincidences. Why should God be credited with showing His special care for me, while all this may be just natural? I cannot refute you; just as you cannot prove yourself. But let us not leave it there for the individuals to take it as they like. Could we judge this, look at this from a different angle, and see whether that is acceptable to us? Granting that these incidents are revelations of God’s grace, what happens to me? I am profoundly grateful to God; I realize He is always with me and takes care of me in all ways. My worries are reduced; my understanding becomes deeper; I am cooler and more collected in my activities—in which state my intelli­gence, discrimination, efficiency are more effective and manifest. Above all my days become an endless song and nights an endless dream. On the other hand, if I explain them away as chances, coinciden­ces, or accidents, I see no nobility and meaning in the business of living. I vege­tate like a tree and life becomes a confus­ed lyre. I learn no humility, no rever­ence, am full of doubts and divisions, whimper, shout, avenge, and die. I esta­blish no contact with God, the fountain­ source of all beneficence; become a bitter man with the iron in my soul. My days are filled with dark shadows, and nights with nightmares. Which is better? Proof of grace The first section of people makes the natural supernatural; the second section treat the supernatural as natural. If a blooming rose early in the morning doesn’t give us a touch of the supernatural, of the miracle, of the grace of God, I wonder whether we can see any other revelation of God’s grace in the right spirit. If the smile of a baby, the love of a friend, the concern of a mother, the devotion of a brother, and the faith of your boss are only ‘natural’ and nothing else, I do not know how God can convince me of His love. The most natural is the most wonderfully supernatural, for God’s will is reflected in it. With this awareness, a simple act like eating your lunch can become excit­ing and an occasion to remember God, thank God, and love God. That is super­natural. Grace need not transcend the natural laws always. It can operate and most often does operate within the natu­ral laws. That does not take out of it its essential qualities. Moreover, how much of the so‑called ‘natural’ do we claim to understand? Are we able to have a very rational and

God Fulfils Himself God fulfils Himself in many ways, and one way, inscrutable to the infidel but understandable to the sensible, which has tradition and evidence in support is incarnation, not always of plenary and often of partial divinity. Does God exist? Call Him by any name, from Walt Whitman to Charles Darwin the divine presence has been undeniable. “I say to mankind,” wrote Whitman in the preface to Leaves of Grass, “be not curious about God. For I, who am curious about each, am not curious about God—I hear and behold God in every object yet understand God not in the least.” And Charles Darwin, who shook Christianity by his ‘The Descent of Man,’ did assert: “Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason and not with the feelings, impresses me as having much more weight… I feel compelled to look for a First Cause… and I deserve to be called a Theist.” The greatest scientist of our century, Albert Einstein, did believe in God, not in a God who bought and sold rewards and punishments but in a “presence… revealed in the incomprehensible universe.” It is astonishing that even Marx and Engels did not deny God but did not permit the gods to be agents for exploitation of men. Marx did protest against “all deities of heaven or earth who do not recognize as the highest divinity the human self-consciousness itself.” ‘Aham Brahmasmi [I am the infinite Reality]’ is the emphatic and pervasive realization of the self within each man as the universal Self—the sublime basis of advaita [non-dualism]. Engels has, in his Socialism, Utopian, and Scientific, clarified that Marx and he had only emphasized that “in the materialist conception of history the determining element in history is ultimately the production and reproduction in real life.” He asserts—and this is important—“More than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted. If, therefore, somebody twists this into the statement that economic element is the only determining one, he transforms it into a meaningless, abstract, and absurd phrase.” Marx, Engels, and Lenin argue for sublime feeling, humanist thought, and in this world that is the theatre of action, equal opportunity for everyone to unfold his full potential. The central theme of the human-divine is the core of the Bhagavad Gita [the Divine Song] and of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s affirmation of Man and satwic [pure] action in this world, filled with love or prem, not of other worldly assets in after-life and non-activity in this life. Service with love is the rational humanism in God’s mandate. Spiritual realization is not material negation but living the pure life charged with fellow feeling, in a holistic sense of identity and non-duality of all things in Creation as manifestation of that Supreme Power that is also the Absolute Unmanifest. The living awareness of oneness is the root and fruit of cosmic consciousness. Once this higher supra-mentalism—in Sri Aurobindo’s diction—becomes integral to one’s being, the laws of nature are at one’s command and miracles are thereafter natural, not impossible. Science rises to super-science, matter rises to consciousness, and a harmony, coherence, and total coordination between spirit and other forms of existence emerges. You truly become an Avatar, an incarnation of the divine. Then you are a Paramahamsa [enlightened One], a Bhagavan. Among them we may cite Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Ramana Maharshi, and that radiant light of love Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Swami Vivekananda blended materialism and spiritualism into a radical wholeness. Many other lofty names throng but illustratively here I mention that cyclonic sadhu [mendicant] whose vibrant voice called bigots to true goodness and atheists to godliness: “First, feel from the heart… Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next-door neighbors to brutes? Do you feel that millions are starving today, and millions have been starving for ages? Do you feel that ignorance has come over the land as a dark cloud? Has it gone into your blood, coursing through your veins, becoming constant with your heartbeats? Has it made you almost mad? Are you seized with that one idea of the misery of ruin, and have you forgotten all about your name, your fame, your wives, your children, your property, even your own bodies? Have you done that?” Illustratively, again, is Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali exposing the hypocrisy of holiness forgetting humanness: “Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and where the path-maker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil! Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master himself has joyfully taken upon him the bounds of creation; he is bound with us all forever. Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy brow.” God is not a Sunday discourse or Friday namaz or temple bhajan but a constant presence within oneself that chastens life’s stream, raises the states of consciousness and divinizes, never denies, human activity here on earth and therefore guides karma or action in tune with dharma or righteous values that sustain the happy union of the whole community through a higher enlightenment beyond the grosser pleasures at the sensory levels. God indwells in man and irrelevant if imprisoned in holy books and hallowed spots. The dynamics of divinity have spoken of spiritual values while believing in atheism. The true objection to religion and God has been the use of this ‘opiate’ as a treacherous tool of man’s systemic inhumanity to man. But once you realize that true religion, the religion of man, is science of the spirit, that matter and spirit are not antithetical, that

With Love and Gratitude Excitement ran high amongst the vanara [monkeys] ranks. The Lord’s work was at hand. The bridge to Lanka had to be built as soon as possible and they could not afford to waste any time. They threw into the sea whatever they could lay their hands on—tree trunks, rocks, boulders; even hills were uprooted for the purpose. On the shore a tiny squirrel was keenly watching all the action. All of a sudden, this little creature, too, felt a sudden urge to participate in the Lord’s mission. He was aware that he was too small to be of any use. “I am too little,” he thought to himself. “What will I be capable of doing amongst these gigantic monkeys?” Then, somewhere in his tiny little mind, an idea flashed. He rolled about in the sand, ran down to the bridge, shook off a few grains of sand, ran back to the shore, collected some more sand and deposited it on the bridge. The tiny squirrel repeated this ceaselessly, without any break. Some distance away, Lord Rama was seated in His tent watching the antics of this little squirrel. Amply pleased by its service, Lord Rama picked it up and lovingly caressed it. As a mark of Lord Rama’s appreciation of this little squirrel, three golden streaks appeared along the squirrel’s spine where the Lord’s fingers had touched it. Even today squirrels bear the sign of God’s appreciation on them in the form of the three stripes running across their back. When God Himself has shown so much of appreciation for a task that is so insignificant, how much of gratitude must we show the Lord for all that He has done for us? He has given us everything bountifully and made our lives peaceful and happy in His presence. This is true of Swami’s own students—whom He considers as His own property. To enumerate all that He Has done for us would be an impossible task. He has given us education of the highest standards free of cost, a spiritual foundation too strong to be shaken, and above all this, His physical proximity, which is the envy of gods, and His limitless love, which is unmatched in any way. To be with Him is what the devas and the gandharvas yearn for. We enjoy His presence day and night and drink the nectar of His love. Sages perform penance for thousands of years to earn His grace, and here He is showering it on us in abundance. What more can we ask for? Bhagavan is like a potter who has shaped us with His own hands into beautiful pots from mere lumps of clay. It is time we offered our heartfelt gratitude to Bhagavan for having given us everything in life. What does our great Lord ask from us in return? The lines of a song drift into my mind—”All I want is your Love, my child, all I want is your faith. All I want is your Love in God, no matter what your faith. So says Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, my Lord.” Love is all that He seeks. Is it too much to ask for? The word ‘Love’ reminds me of a touching incident, which according to me is the best example of gratitude. When preparations were being made to commence the construction of Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences in Prasanthi Nilayam, Bhagavan was looking into every detail connected with the construction. During one darshan session, while moving amongst the students He accepted a letter from a little boy. Clutching the letter in His hand, he went inside the interview room accompanied by some doctors. He suddenly came out and beckoned that small boy. He asked him, “Should I read out aloud what you have written to me in this letter so that everyone can hear?” The little boy was hesitant for a while and then he replied, “Whatever You wish Bhagavan.” Bhagavan then read out this boy’s letter for everyone present to hear. The boy recounted in the letter how Bhagavan was providing free education to all His students and was now constructing a big hospital that would provide the most modern health care facilities to every section of the society totally free of cost. This little schoolboy prayed that he, too, wanted to be a part of Bhagavan’s glorious mission. Yet, being a small boy from a middle-class family, he did not know how he could contribute to Bhagavan’s work. He mentioned in the letter that for the last three months he had been trying to save from the meagre amount his parents sent him every month. In order to do this, he had avoided giving any clothes to the washerman and had been washing his clothes himself every day. He had also resisted the temptation of chocolates and other delicacies so as to save some money. In all his innocence, this boy now wanted to offer a hundred rupees to Bhagavan. While he was ashamed that he could offer only such a small amount for this gigantic task, he prayed to Bhagavan to accept this offering saying that he would be the happiest child in the world if this money could be used to buy a small brick for the new hospital. So saying, he had enclosed a hundred rupee note with his letter. There was a twinkle in Bhagavan’s eyes when this letter was read out. Like a proud mother Bhagavan held the 100 rupee note in His hand and told the little boy, “My dear son, this is not a 100 rupee note for me. This note is worth much, much more than crores for me.” It was not the amount that Bhagavan saw, but the feeling of love and gratitude that had poured forth from the innocent boy’s heart. The Lord is ‘bhaava priya‘ and not ‘baahya priya‘—[He] loves intent and not fear. We must also make an effort to repay our debt to Bhagavan. The onus is upon us to participate in Bhagavan’s mission

Be Perfect! Years ago, Bhagavan granted interview to a group of youngsters from Kerala. Bhagavan graciously materialized a ring and put it on the finger of one of the boys. Amazed and overjoyed, he was enjoying the beauty of the Creator’s creation. “Is ring perfect?” queried the Lord. “Yes, Swami!” the boy answered. To this, Swami said, “Be perfect!” Life’s journey as a humble child of our Beloved Bhagavan is a journey ‘from Sai, with Sai, to Sai’. This journey demands perfection at each and every step, then only can we realize the perfection that is within ourselves! This journey to perfection demands constant self-audit; the ‘ABC of Life’ that Swami has given us, “Always Be Careful” is very important in this regard. During one of the Vishu celebrations, I got the opportunity to speak in the Divine Presence. In the speech, I highlighted Bhagavan’s assurance, “When you take one step, I take a hundred.” In the Divine Discourse that followed, Bhagavan said, “What Mukundan said is correct. When you take one step, I take a hundred. But that one step must be in the right direction.” The awareness about this ‘right direction’ must be the light that guides our life’s journey. Another important aspect of this journey is: be positive always. The second Sadhana Camp of the Sai Youth of Kerala was in progress at Brindavan. On 11th of April 2004, a drama was to be staged by the Sai Youth in the Sai Krishan Kalyanamandapam. At 4.45 p.m., we went inside Trayee to report to Bhagavan that everything was ready. But Bhagavan gave us the opportunity to sit near Him and talked to us on the theme of the drama. When the discussion came to the point of positivism, Bhagavan asked “Where does this positivism come from?” Bhagavan was evidently not satisfied with the various answers that we gave; He went on asking the question over and over again. All that we could do was to pray for the Divine answer on this vital point. Finally, Swami declared, “Positivism need not come from outside; it is inside only. Our duty is to develop it.” Bhagavan’s Love knows no limits. On one of the days of the Sadhana Camp for the Sai Youth of Kerala in 2005, two youngsters were selected to speak in the Divine Presence, as instructed by Bhagavan. When Swami came to the verandah of the Sai Kulwant Hall, the boys were about to get up to come to Swami. I signaled to them to sit down and conveyed to them that they could come to Swami after Swami occupied the chair. But Swami intervened and told me, “No… They are coming from distant places… Let them come to Me…” It was on the first day of the Sadhana Camp for Sai Youth in 2003. All the Sai Youth had assembled at the Sai Ramesh Hall, when Swami came for darshan. I prayed to Bhagavan to inaugurate the Camp, to which Swami asked, “At what time?” “Swami… 8.30.” I replied. “Why so early?” asked Swami, “The boys and girls have just come. They may not have had their breakfast.” It was another instance that revealed how much Swami cares for each one of us. Bhagavan has categorically remarked that His love for us is to the level of seeing Himself in every one of us. Let us see Swami in all, so that our love is pure, selfless, and perfect. In this divine journey, it is best to realize that we are nothing and He is everything. It is He who plans; it is He who does. In 2004, a school named ‘Sri Sai Vidya Vihar’ was opened in Aluva [in India]. The response from the public was tremendous and applications piled up in our office. It became necessary that we purchased a new plot and constructed a bigger building. Banks came forward to offer help. Everything was set to take a financial loan from a bank. Suddenly a devotee came to our office and said, “Why take a loan? This is Swami’s school… I shall contribute the cost of the entire project.” We are amazed at the amount of confidence the society has in Swami and His Principles. When we announced the opening of the Sai School, many parents withdrew their children from prestigious schools (despite the heavy donations they had paid to them) and enrolled them in our school. To one of the Muslim parents who had come for admission, we made it clear that we would teach the children Bal Vikas lessons, Vedas, and Yoga, he happily responded, “Why not? These are part of our culture, let my child also learn them…” After one of the sessions of ‘Sai Parenting’ that was held in the school, a mother approached us and said, “I am terribly upset after today’s session; to this day, I have not been a good mother.” It is a matter of great joy seeing how the society of Kerala is adhering to Sai ideals. ‘Sai Parenting’ has become the guiding principle of families all over the state. When our young ‘Sai Soldiers’—the team formed to take Swami’s message to newer and newer areas—visited new areas, they observed that Swami was not at all new there. Wherever they went, they were greeted by Bhagavan’s photographs. Now Swami’s Message is reaching every nook and corner of Kerala. Bhagavan’s infinite love has transformed the Sai Youth of the state. The three sadhana Camps in the Divine Presence were unique and have provided golden opportunities for them. Now they are fully involved in the Grama Seva Project. We have also been arranging Summer Camps for the Bal Vikas children all over the state for the past three years. Going through the responses of the children, we understand that much more than the sessions of the camp, what touched and transformed them was the love and care the Sai brothers and sisters shared with them. They are motivated to involve themselves in the Sai activities. Now we have ‘Deenajanodharana Projects’ in all the 14 districts of the state for rehabilitating destitute—old and young. One

The Fettered Fire Indra Devi, who is well known to our readers, has had the experience of a great big act of Grace from Baba, something which we love to call a Miracle. “In person and through writings in most of the 11 languages Indra Devi speaks, she has tried to help lead the world `from darkness to light’, in such seeming diversity of places as the Kremlin and the White House”, says a Los Angeles magazine. The writer of that article speaks of `sitting in the shadows on the deep carpeting’ of the Sathya Sai Hall, which is so vast `that it becomes its own psychic experience’. “This center, the Yogic Nilayam, is on Rancho El Cachuma, which adjoins La Puerta.” Recently, Indra Devi has added a 100-acre piece of land adjacent to this Yoga Institute and named it Sai Nilayam. On September 26, the Bocks (Janet and Richard) wrote to us from Los Angeles: “Bhagavan’s Grace has blessed us with protection in the midst of disaster. We have just learned that a major fire has burned over 6000 acres of land in Tecate, which is, as you know, the location of Indra Devi’s Yoga Foundation, and of the property called Sai Nilayam—a retreat for those who wish to practice sadhana (spiritual exercises) in an atmosphere devoted to Him. Indra Devi’s property was untouched by the fire! Although most of the property, Sai Nilayam, was burned, the miraculous will of the Lord protected the house (!) and the ancient trees (!), as the fire burnt everything else including tents and a truck! The people at the house in the Sai Nilayam were forced to seek shelter on top of Mount Cachuma, the only escape possible for them. When they came down later, they found the whole house blackened with soot, except for the Shrine Room, which was untouched! Richard Bock writes, “We cannot explain the reason for His Grace; we only hope that with His help we will someday be worthy of it”. Writing about the incident, Indra Devi says in a letter, “While I was away in Chicago, big fires broke out in South California. The newspapers carried reports that they were turning 200 yards from our Center”. (The Tecate Fire, worst in the country in more than a year, was started by campers who abandoned a smoldering campfire along the border, four miles west of the village of Tecate. It was reported at 10.05  A.M., and it spread rapidly up the eastern slopes of the 3885-foot Tecate Mountain and in a south‑westerly direction to Mexico. A total of 2000 acres were afire in the United States, and Mexican officials estimated their burned acreage at 4500. Indra Devi continues, “But that didn’t disturb me one bit since I was confident that Bhagavan will protect the place dedicated to Him. And if they were to be lost, there must be a good reason for it. And so it was. On the Mexican side, only the hillside behind our vegetable garden was burned down. On the American side, Sai Nilayam had suffered the destruction of some trees and bushes, a truck and tents. But the house was untouched. When the devotees who fled to the mountain top from the devastating flames returned, they found that all rooms were thickly covered by black soot with the exception of Bhagavan’s Meditation Room. Nobody could explain it otherwise than by the fact: “Baba must have been here.” There is a consciousnessbeyond this bodywhere love feels no bounds There is a spacebeyond this mindfree from narrow confines There is a Truthbeyond this delusionwhere myself is known Divine MotherI pray I mayCome home ~Michele MalvinSource: Sanathana Sarathi, Nov. 1970