Sathya Sai's exact response to prayers
Here's a nice blog post about how Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba would (sometimes) respond to prayers in exactly the way a person has wished, https://sathyasaimemories.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/love-is-my-form-memories-of-sai-baba/. The gentleman, a Mr. Himy, had prayed, "I dont want vibhuti or anything else, Baba, please just talk to me." When Baba was giving darshan, Baba spoke to him in three different languages (Telugu, English & Hindi), asking him the typical question, "Where have you come from?" Mr. Himy responded, "SAI, Mumbai" at which time Baba said, "Oh!! Bombay!" Fascinatingly, Baba then materialized vibhuti while being in front of Mr. Himy and gave it a few people around Mr. Himy but when Mr. Himy stretched out his hand for vibhuti, Baba turned away (not giving him any Vibhuti)! Baba had known Mr. Himy's prayer where he did not want any vibhuti or anything but just wanted Baba to talk to him, and so Baba gave Mr. Himy exactly what he had prayed/wished for, and nothing more!
The intro to this experience of Mr. Himy by Eve Gardener mentions that she too would say to Bhagavan, "I do not want anything." While having Darshans of Bhagavan later, she would get disappointed that she was seated far away and that she did not get attention from Bhagavan. But she writes, "I never much thought that Swami was giving me exactly what I’d asked him for!" and goes on to say that it was not "nothing" as "the Darshans were deep and always filled with light and wonder".
I guess Eve's "I do not want anything" prayer to Bhagavan would have been very well understood by Bhagavan as a prayer where she does not want anything at the material/physical level like vibhuti or Swami attention, but His Grace from his physical body would have showered on her too in the Darshan hall which perhaps was what she was really wanting (even though she did not articulate it in her prayers to Bhagavan), leading her to feel being "filled with light and wonder".
Two comments that I put up on the blog post are given below (slightly edited):
Lovely and INSIGHTFUL article sharing the TRUTH of the paranormal powers that Bhagavan demonstrated during Darshan. Nice intro. by Eve. I too have similar experiences during Darshan of Bhagavan.
The very interesting aspect is that it was done without any theatrics whatever. [I mean, whenever I had seen movies/videos about miracles performed by saints & avatars (prior to me coming to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba), there would be some dramatic action & music at the time the miracle was shown :-). So perhaps some part of me expected something like that with Bhagavan’s miracles/miraculous powers at least in my initial experiences of seeing & experiencing them.] It was done in a very casual, ordinary action kind of way. Swami would show in a casual way to the devotee that he KNOWS what the devotee has prayed for and what he/she is doing. It was upto the devotee to REALIZE the significance of the event and, very importantly, strengthen his/her faith that Swami would simply know everything about a person, at least when one is sitting in darshan in His physical presence, and that Swami would respond to fervent prayers made. What a DIVINE BEING that physical body was! Only those who have experienced such events with Bhagavan will be able to really believe and relate to such incidents.
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[In response to Eve's response that Bhagavan never outwardly showed his mystical nature and that it was whimsical with him, I wrote:]
Thanks Eve. Agree with most of your comment except the whimsical part. I think he had his criteria for his interactions though it was very difficult for us to understand that criteria, and so, outwardly the impression was that he was unpredictable and whimsical. I will say this about him. In what I have seen and heard about him, for spiritual matters, he never let down his sincere followers & devotees. He would go really out of his way to spiritually help his sincere followers & devotees. For me, he has never failed me as a spiritual guide (guru) even when he disciplined me. He was one hundred percent true and faithful to me as a guru, and for that I am very, very deeply grateful to him and I love him like crazy (though it took the trauma of the Mahasamadhi for me to realize how much I really love him for his direct & indirect guidance and love that he showered on me).
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Eve clarified on the whimsical part stating that she did not mean whimsical in the way of being unsure and that Bhagavan was etherial ....
The intro to this experience of Mr. Himy by Eve Gardener mentions that she too would say to Bhagavan, "I do not want anything." While having Darshans of Bhagavan later, she would get disappointed that she was seated far away and that she did not get attention from Bhagavan. But she writes, "I never much thought that Swami was giving me exactly what I’d asked him for!" and goes on to say that it was not "nothing" as "the Darshans were deep and always filled with light and wonder".
I guess Eve's "I do not want anything" prayer to Bhagavan would have been very well understood by Bhagavan as a prayer where she does not want anything at the material/physical level like vibhuti or Swami attention, but His Grace from his physical body would have showered on her too in the Darshan hall which perhaps was what she was really wanting (even though she did not articulate it in her prayers to Bhagavan), leading her to feel being "filled with light and wonder".
Two comments that I put up on the blog post are given below (slightly edited):
Lovely and INSIGHTFUL article sharing the TRUTH of the paranormal powers that Bhagavan demonstrated during Darshan. Nice intro. by Eve. I too have similar experiences during Darshan of Bhagavan.
The very interesting aspect is that it was done without any theatrics whatever. [I mean, whenever I had seen movies/videos about miracles performed by saints & avatars (prior to me coming to Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba), there would be some dramatic action & music at the time the miracle was shown :-). So perhaps some part of me expected something like that with Bhagavan’s miracles/miraculous powers at least in my initial experiences of seeing & experiencing them.] It was done in a very casual, ordinary action kind of way. Swami would show in a casual way to the devotee that he KNOWS what the devotee has prayed for and what he/she is doing. It was upto the devotee to REALIZE the significance of the event and, very importantly, strengthen his/her faith that Swami would simply know everything about a person, at least when one is sitting in darshan in His physical presence, and that Swami would respond to fervent prayers made. What a DIVINE BEING that physical body was! Only those who have experienced such events with Bhagavan will be able to really believe and relate to such incidents.
---
[In response to Eve's response that Bhagavan never outwardly showed his mystical nature and that it was whimsical with him, I wrote:]
Thanks Eve. Agree with most of your comment except the whimsical part. I think he had his criteria for his interactions though it was very difficult for us to understand that criteria, and so, outwardly the impression was that he was unpredictable and whimsical. I will say this about him. In what I have seen and heard about him, for spiritual matters, he never let down his sincere followers & devotees. He would go really out of his way to spiritually help his sincere followers & devotees. For me, he has never failed me as a spiritual guide (guru) even when he disciplined me. He was one hundred percent true and faithful to me as a guru, and for that I am very, very deeply grateful to him and I love him like crazy (though it took the trauma of the Mahasamadhi for me to realize how much I really love him for his direct & indirect guidance and love that he showered on me).
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Eve clarified on the whimsical part stating that she did not mean whimsical in the way of being unsure and that Bhagavan was etherial ....
Sai Ram,
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Brother Sri. Ravi for this post. I could sense your love and emotions for Swami while reading this. I was moved to inexplicable emotions and thoughts about Swami's Darshans. Can't forget all those experiences and can't ignore the experiences of revered devotees like you which seem like an everlasting proudly flowing Ganges.
Sai Ram.
Thanks Sai Aanchal. However, I am just a devotee with lots of faults, and not, certainly not, a revered devotee. Jai Sairam!
DeleteSai Ram,
ReplyDeleteThanks Brother Sri.Ravi Iyer for your reply.
There are many people in this world Sir, and all of them are considered revered by many of us. The reason that they are elder and experienced.
For me any such person deems to be fit to be considered revered who is honest, truthful, transparent and rationally unbiased. And yes anyone who has one of these qualities is fit to be considered revered. My definition of considering someone revered would be very different from those of others who give mere importance to status, money and power.
As far as faults are concerned.
Sir, show me a person on this Earth who is without a fault?
Just get such a person to me, I promise I will fall at your feet. My father once told me something very beautiful and he said, "If you go on finding perfections in people then please go to some heaven. This world is not a place for perfect people. Every person in this world has one or the other fault. If a human being becomes perfect he will become God. Then there would be no need for him to worship God because he would be established in Divinity and that would be his final clarion call from God. Finally, world would interest him no more and he or she would merge in God."
You see I then realized that there are very few people who are devotees of God and the ones who are perfect already shed their mortal coil when Swami shed his mortal coil. I heard of such devotees who shed their mortal coil within few days of Swami's Mahasamadhi, one of them was a young woman who had little kids. Also, there were others who couldn't live longer than a year or two, for some their life was short to six months after Mahasamadhi.
So, Sir those were actually devotees without faults and as they became perfect, they went with their God. Swami would often talk about Mother Kunti that how hearing upon Krishna's leaving Earth she fainted and shed her mortal coil. She was a perfect Yogini and thus she could shed her body at her will.
So, practically, perfect people are the ones without faults but perfection is not for this world.
I appreciate your humility Sir but I have said once that you are revered and whenever I say something I mean it. If you don't wish to take it that depends on you.
You have right to disagree with me but these are my views.
Sai Ram :)
Swami explains,"Even when you attain the state of living with God and merger in a divine form (sarupya-mukti),there is still a trace of differential feeling. Just because a devotee has a form like the Lord’s,one may not have the powers of creation,preservation,and destruction that the Lord has.Only when all trace of difference disappears and unity is attained,the highest stage is reached.This is real union (Sayujya).This comes of divine grace won by the essence of the spiritual practice of each; it cannot be claimed as the fruit of effort.The devotee wishes to serve the Lord as one pleases and to experience the joy of the form that one has attributed to the Lord.But the Lord,out of His grace, gives the devotee not only existence with the Lord,witnessing always the glory of the Lord,and being suffused with God-consciousness but also Sayujya - union with Him! The path of devotion results also in attainment of ultimate knowledge (Brahma-jnana).Even if the devotee does not crave it, the Lord Himself vouchsafes it to the devotee." - Prema Vahini, Ch 54.
ReplyDeleteYou see when the highest stage is reached by the devotee he has to leave for the highest abode.After a point of time the devotee has to merge in God.You can't live in this world then.See, if we take the example of Shabari, I mean she waited for Lord Rama just because her Guru had asked her to wait and then after seeing Lord Rama, she immediately shed her mortal coil upon receiving Bhakti Jnana from Lord. You can term that Brahma Jnana after attaining which there was nothing left in this world for Shabari to achieve. Also, the meeting of Lord Rama with Shabari is a lesson how he uplifted a woman who was condemned and marginalized by other people living around her Ashram. Some even called her mad, but she was mad in Love for Lord and Lord proved her correct. You see Lord Rama was a real man and the people who criticize Lord Rama stating that he left his wife Sita must read Ramayana and characterization of Lord Rama who elevated Tribals, he lived with them, he hugged Kevat, he ate fruits tasted by Shabari. Lord Rama was born to remove all differences between castes and to prove the humanity that there is only one caste-The caste of humanity. He was a feminist too or else why he would have elevated Ahalya from her state of stillness of rock. Why he would have accepted fruits tasted by an old woman Shabari? Why he would have left the Ayodhya kingdom listening to the command of his mother Kaikeyi and father Dashratha? Why he would have respected Manthra and Kaikeyi even after realizing that their brains worked behind his fourteen year exile from Ayodhya? There is not one but many instances which prove that Lord Rama had immense respect for women. It is true that he abandoned Sita but he did that to protect her from calumny. Sita was pregnant with Rama's child. Some Ramayana stories state that Kush was created from Kusha grass. You can have look at this link http://www.hindu-blog.com/2011/02/story-of-kusha-grass-and-birth-of-kush.html
If Sita would have lived in Ayodhya, she could not have survived to give birth to Lord Rama's son upon hearing what ordinary people gossiped about her. Rama would have decided to leave Ayodhya with Sita but then Rama had already taken a vow to be a good administrator and good king. For a king his people come before his family. The fault was in the Rama's minister spies who informed him what people were talking about Sita. If they would have kept things to themselves, and curbed the situation in their own way, Rama would not have decided to take a garb of a spy and felt bad upon hearing what people talked about her. It was pre-destined as Sita had separated the two parrots as a child. One of the he-parrot who died due to separation from his she-bird (she-bird was pregnant at time of separation) was born as a Dhobi who took his revenge from Sita by gossiping which resulted in her banishment from the Ayodhya. Ramayana is a very practical story, it explains that whatever happens in this world there is a reason for it.
...I just mentioned so much about Ramayana and Lord Rama for all those people who visit your Blog to realize that if we all accept Ramayana as 100 percent Truth as what Swami said we would realize what life is. When Lord Rama was leaving for Vaikuntha he commanded Lord Hanuman to stay back on Earth till the end of Kaliyuga and help people, but that is a very different story. Very deeper indeed that why Hanuman being a True Devotee was left behind and blessed to be Amar by Lord Rama. The significance is Lord Hanuman's name will always be taken firstly when we would give an excellent example of Lord Rama's devotee. This was the boon given to him by Mother Sita. This is the reason that he is immortal in the form of his name. I personally believe that Lord Hanuman is still living in our Bharatha in his physical form. He has given Darshan to many people. Another reason is that Lord Hanuman had immense desire to serve Lord in his all forms. Thus, he met his Master as Krishna and it is said that he would meet his Master in his Kalki incarnation. Some people consider Swami as the tenth incarnation of Lord Vishnu. I agree that Swami was divine but he is not Kalki Avatar. Neither Prema Sai would be. Sai Incarnations are Kali Yuga Incarnations. Whereas Kalki Avatar would take birth according to the signs mentioned in Puranas. Also, Swami once said that after Prema Sai would be born there would be no incarnation of God would take place till 2000 years[This is mentioned in Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi].
ReplyDeleteSo, from the words of Bhagvan it becomes very clear that Kalki Avatar would take birth after 2000 years of the completion of earthly sojourn of Prema Sai. I know staunch Sai Devotees who read this would find me weird but this is Truth which we can't deny. It is very clearly stated that Parshuram would be the one who would train Kalki Avatar in Martial Arts. As far as I know, Bhagvan Sathya Sai Baba was not trained in Martial Arts, he was pure form of Love, there was not even a small sign of aggressiveness in him which is required to practice martial arts. As Swami was God it would not have been difficult for him to embrace that form. But what I'm trying to say is that I didn't notice any such sign in Swami's form or birth by which we can state he is Kalki Avatar. Swami is Divine and I won't deny it but Kalki Avatar is yet to come. Also, it is said that Kalki Avatar would marry and bear a son. He shall go to Sinhala, marry his beloved Padma and start his conjugal life…. He will then set out to conquer the world and defeat the Kings allied to Kali, defeat them and hand over the rule to the pious kings named Devapi and Maru. (Kalki Purana, I, Verses 9 & 10) The wife of Kalki is named Padma who lives in Sinhala, which is commonly known as Sri Lanka. Devapi and Maru might be interpreted to other English names as per times. Also, it is mentioned in Devi Bhagvat Purana that Devi Vaishnavi(Vaishno Devi Shrine, Katra) who is meditating in her cave will incarnate in her absolute divine form as Padma and marry Kalki Avatar. She wanted to marry Lord Rama but she failed a test and couldn't recognize Lord Rama, thus she was blessed by Lord Rama to be his Kalki Avatar's consort. And none of the past two incarnations of Sai married, which prove that Kalki Avatar is yet to take birth. There is very little possibility for Prema Sai to marry and settle down. But even if he does that by chance I don't think he would be considered as Kalki Avatar because Shakti cannot marry Shakti as Prema Sai would himself be incarnation of Mother Parvati(Shakti).
Devi Vaishnavi is absolute Shakti who is waiting to take birth as Padma. So, I agree with our Puranas that her Unison with Lord Vishnu as Kalki Avatar seems more appropriate to me.
JAI SAI RAM :)
Sai Ram Brother,
ReplyDeleteI would like to use excerpts from my comments to this post at my Blog. Actually, when I wrote these comments it occurred to me that I must write an article on this aspect of Lord Rama's life. So,would add excerpts from the above comments. Hope you won't mind. Because I believe there are many people who don't know much about Lord Rama. Also, I would like to write on what being perfect and being a devotee means. I just want to throw some light on it so that people who take pride in themselves being perfect realize the fact that they have yet to achieve perfection and perfection requires absolute attachment to God. Please, permit me. Thank you.
Sai Ram.
Sairam Sai Aanchal! The comments are yours! And so they are your intellectual property even if you posted them on my page. You can do what you want with your intellectual property (your comments). There is ABSOLUTELY NO NEED to ask me (seek my permission, as you put it).
DeleteIf you want to use any of my post or comments text (different from extracts from other sites that I put up on my posts/comments with clear attribution to those sites), you may please do so with attribution (i.e. mention the source blog post).