Our subtle essence is God/Sathya Sai Avatar but Sai devotees are not Sathya Sai Avatar
I saw a Facebook post where a conversation with (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba was mentioned as follows:
I once had the chance to ask Swami whether he was the Messiah for which we had long been waiting?
He answered
"Not one Messiah.
You are all Messiahs.
You have the power to save yourself and to save others also."
In other words, he will drive the chariot,
he will direct us from within,
but it is our job to save ourselves
and we have been given the full power of God
to transform the internal enemies of greed, hatred and jealousy, etc.
which are polluting our hearts into the divine love that is Swami.
--- end FB post extract ----
Ravi: In the context of the above, my view is as follows:
I will never ever forget Bhagavan hammering away in multiple Sai Kulwant Hall discourses in the decade before Mahasamadhi, most of which I have heard live sitting Sai Kulwant Hall, about all of us being God and not just him. And he went ahead and said in one such discourse that nobody should take Padanamaskar (touching his feet reverentially) from then on, as why should God take Padanamaskar of God (or words on those lines)!!! As I heard these words from Bhagavan live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall, they were clear instructions to me who viewed myself then, and continues to view myself today, as a student (a not-so-great student but a student, nonetheless) of my spiritual master, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. So, even though I did not have any experience of consciousness where I experienced myself in all and all in me (which is what Bhagavan, in my considered view, DIRECTLY EXPERIENCED), I made that teaching of Bhagavan heard sitting LIVE in Sai Kulwant Hall (and so without any possibility of any editor/computer techie modifying the teaching/instruction, and with a clear sense of the context and spiritual ambience within which it was said as a PUBLIC TEACHING) as a core BELIEF of my life.
Further, by birth & traditional upbringing (to some extent, at least), I am a Sama Vedi. Note that I am not saying that I was taught the Sama Veda - No, all I am saying is that I was brought up in a Sama Veda Brahmin family tradition where I had to participate in some rituals where the Brahmin priest(s) conducting the ritual would do it as per Sama Veda (Karma Kanda). Chhandogya Upanishad is an important upanishad of the Sama Veda and has the famous Makavakya, Thath Thwam Asi (Tat Twam Asi).
Chapter (PRAPATHAKA) 6, Part (Khanda) 9, Verse (Shloka) 4 of Chhandogya Upanishad [Pic below has Sanskrit script shloka]
Sholoka in English (Latin) script:
Sa ya esho 'nima aitadatmyam idam sarvam, tat satyam, sa atma, tat-tvam-asi, svetaketo, iti;
bhuya eva ma bhagavan, vijnapayatv-iti; tatha saumya, iti hovacha.
Given below is the word by word meaning followed by the English translation as given in Chhandogya Upanishad from Ramkrishna Math, Madras, 1956.
Sa – That (Being), ya – which, esha – this, anima – subtle essence, aitadatmyam – has that for its self, idam sarvam – all this (world), tat – that, satyam – is the true, reality, sa – that, atma – atma (self), tat – that, tvam – thou (you), asi – art (are), svetaketo – O Svetaketu, iti – so(?), bhuya eva – further, bhagavan – revered sir, vijnapayatv – please explain, iti tatha – so be it, saumya – dear boy, iti hovacha – said (the father).
‘That Being which is this subtle essence (cause), even That all this world has for its self. That is the true. That is the Atman. That thou art, O Svetaketu.’ ‘Revered sir, please explain it further to me.’ ‘So be it, dear boy’ said (the father).
[English translation by Prof. Max Muller, Sacred Books of the East]:
'Now that which is that subtle essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.' 'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said the son. 'Be it so, my child,' the father replied.
-------
Ravi: The Tat Twam Asi (You are that) verse above gives the same message, I think, as what Bhagavan gave when He said that we are all God. And that is that there is a subtle essence of all that exists and we are all THAT SAME SUBTLE ESSENCE.
But can we also say that as Bhagavan has said we are all God, that all of us are Avatars like Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and that all of us are FULL-BLOWN SAVIOURS (MESSIAHS) of mankind (like Lord Jesus Christ)? Well, my view is that perhaps that is the potential in all of us, but most of us, if not all of us, as of now at least, are not Avatars like Shiva-Shakti Swarupa, Kali Yuga Avatar, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba or FULL-BLOWN SAVIOURS (MESSIAHS) like Lord Jesus Christ. We can take inspiration from Bhagavan's life and from the life of MESSIAHS like Lord Jesus Christ and try to grow in our spiritual (and worldly) lives. But I think that if we start viewing ourselves as messiahs (saviours) when we have not evolved to spiritual heights of DIRECTLY EXPERIENCING ourselves as the 'subtle essence' in all of creation (and all of creation being part of that 'subtle essence' in us), we will fall into the psychological and spiritual trap of being a FALSE MESSIAH and a FALSE PROPHET.
In this connection I have to mention the case of Madhusudhan Rao Naidu and Shri B.N. Narasimhamurthy. The problem is that Narasimhamurthy & Madhusudhan Rao Naidu's inner guidance has taken them away from Bhagavan's instructions & teachings that Bhagavan will never communicate via an intermediary (medium/communicator). But they have managed to TRAP many people into believing that Madhusudhan Rao Naidu is a communicator of some so called subtle body of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba!!!
I was quite disturbed to read a Facebook post by a prominent Muddenahalli group promoter on Facebook, that the so called subtle body Swami of Muddenahalli (read Madhusudhan Rao Naidu) blessed a top Indian govt. political leader with an interview, very recently. I don't know whether that account is true.
My guess is that the top govt. political leader may have felt obliged to accept Muddenahalli group request and so may have consented to meet Madhusudhan Naidu for a few minutes IN PRIVATE. If this is how the meeting happened with Madhusudhan Naidu (if at all it happened) then the above mentioned description of (so called subtle) Swami blessing the top political leader is not only a wild exaggeration but even an affront to the Hon'ble political leader of India, IMHO.
If what I have mentioned is what happened then the words should have been on the lines of:
Top political leader acceded to request of Muddenahalli group to spend a few minutes with (so called) communicator, Madhusudhan Naidu.
The above matter shows how inappropriate understanding of Bhagavan's Advaita type teachings can lead to very inappropriate actions by some Sai devotees.
I should also say that I think what Hindu scripture related to Avatars like Rama & Krishna as well as Shirdi Sai Baba history teaches us, is that Avatars tend to just vanish from their mission stage after they give up the body.
[A clarification update:
Now Bhagavan in His formless aspect was there before Sathya Sai Avatar and continues to be there after Mahasamadhi. Bhagavan in His formless aspect is ETERNAL. What I mean by the earlier sentence is that the formful aspect which can be seen and heard simultaneously by a group of people (as against individual vision or dream) of Rama, Krishna and Shirdi Sai Baba vanished after their giving up the body. People may still get visions and dreams of their inner Rama or inner Krishna or inner Shirdi Sai Baba or inner Sathya Sai Baba, in the form they have chosen to worship, and that vision or dream may communicate some messages to them. But these visions & dreams are individual to the person concerned and not something that relates to groups of devotees or society as a whole. It is when people who get visions & dreams of Sathya Sai, start assuming the mantle of a medium/communicator of Sathya Sai Baba to groups of devotees and even go to the extent of "blessing" top Indian govt. political leaders with so called interviews with Sathya Sai Baba through their mediumship, that they are doing something that is unheard of in Hindu & Indian scriptural history involving famous religious & spiritual figures. And, of course, such mediumship has BEEN CONDEMNED by (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in very clear and unmistakable words many, many times and that too in public. Essentially Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said that he will never ever use an intermediary (medium/communicator) to communicate with his devotees.]
So I think now it is upto the players who choose to get involved in the Sathya Sai Avatar mission (e.g. reinforcing Sathya, Dharma, Shanti & Prema values in the world) to take it forward with inspiration from God within (who is the same essence in Swami and in you and in me and in everybody) and within the BOUNDARIES of the TEACHINGS & INSTRUCTIONS of (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. If some spiritual leader (e.g. Narasimhamurthy/Madhusudhan Naidu) wants to go beyond the BOUNDARIES of the TEACHINGS & INSTRUCTIONS of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, then that person should NOT USE THE HOLY NAME of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for THEIR OWN DARSHAN, INTERVIEWS & DISCOURSES. Instead they should give DARSHAN, INTERVIEWS & DISCOURSES in THEIR OWN NAMES.
I would like to add that I tend to agree with most of this part of the post:
In other words, he (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba) will drive the chariot,
he will direct us from within,
but it is our job to save ourselves
and we have been given the full power of God
to transform the internal enemies of greed, hatred and jealousy, etc.
which are polluting our hearts into the divine love that is Swami.
--- end post extract ---
Ravi: But I don't know whether we all have been given the full power of God. It may be there as a potential power which needs to be manifested/nurtured/grown. Somehow, I cannot imagine any Sathya Sai devotee ever having the full power that (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba demonstrated in his AWESOME AVATARIC CAREER.
I once had the chance to ask Swami whether he was the Messiah for which we had long been waiting?
He answered
"Not one Messiah.
You are all Messiahs.
You have the power to save yourself and to save others also."
In other words, he will drive the chariot,
he will direct us from within,
but it is our job to save ourselves
and we have been given the full power of God
to transform the internal enemies of greed, hatred and jealousy, etc.
which are polluting our hearts into the divine love that is Swami.
--- end FB post extract ----
Ravi: In the context of the above, my view is as follows:
I will never ever forget Bhagavan hammering away in multiple Sai Kulwant Hall discourses in the decade before Mahasamadhi, most of which I have heard live sitting Sai Kulwant Hall, about all of us being God and not just him. And he went ahead and said in one such discourse that nobody should take Padanamaskar (touching his feet reverentially) from then on, as why should God take Padanamaskar of God (or words on those lines)!!! As I heard these words from Bhagavan live sitting in Sai Kulwant Hall, they were clear instructions to me who viewed myself then, and continues to view myself today, as a student (a not-so-great student but a student, nonetheless) of my spiritual master, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. So, even though I did not have any experience of consciousness where I experienced myself in all and all in me (which is what Bhagavan, in my considered view, DIRECTLY EXPERIENCED), I made that teaching of Bhagavan heard sitting LIVE in Sai Kulwant Hall (and so without any possibility of any editor/computer techie modifying the teaching/instruction, and with a clear sense of the context and spiritual ambience within which it was said as a PUBLIC TEACHING) as a core BELIEF of my life.
Further, by birth & traditional upbringing (to some extent, at least), I am a Sama Vedi. Note that I am not saying that I was taught the Sama Veda - No, all I am saying is that I was brought up in a Sama Veda Brahmin family tradition where I had to participate in some rituals where the Brahmin priest(s) conducting the ritual would do it as per Sama Veda (Karma Kanda). Chhandogya Upanishad is an important upanishad of the Sama Veda and has the famous Makavakya, Thath Thwam Asi (Tat Twam Asi).
Chapter (PRAPATHAKA) 6, Part (Khanda) 9, Verse (Shloka) 4 of Chhandogya Upanishad [Pic below has Sanskrit script shloka]
Sholoka in English (Latin) script:
Sa ya esho 'nima aitadatmyam idam sarvam, tat satyam, sa atma, tat-tvam-asi, svetaketo, iti;
bhuya eva ma bhagavan, vijnapayatv-iti; tatha saumya, iti hovacha.
Given below is the word by word meaning followed by the English translation as given in Chhandogya Upanishad from Ramkrishna Math, Madras, 1956.
Sa – That (Being), ya – which, esha – this, anima – subtle essence, aitadatmyam – has that for its self, idam sarvam – all this (world), tat – that, satyam – is the true, reality, sa – that, atma – atma (self), tat – that, tvam – thou (you), asi – art (are), svetaketo – O Svetaketu, iti – so(?), bhuya eva – further, bhagavan – revered sir, vijnapayatv – please explain, iti tatha – so be it, saumya – dear boy, iti hovacha – said (the father).
‘That Being which is this subtle essence (cause), even That all this world has for its self. That is the true. That is the Atman. That thou art, O Svetaketu.’ ‘Revered sir, please explain it further to me.’ ‘So be it, dear boy’ said (the father).
[English translation by Prof. Max Muller, Sacred Books of the East]:
'Now that which is that subtle essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.' 'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said the son. 'Be it so, my child,' the father replied.
-------
Ravi: The Tat Twam Asi (You are that) verse above gives the same message, I think, as what Bhagavan gave when He said that we are all God. And that is that there is a subtle essence of all that exists and we are all THAT SAME SUBTLE ESSENCE.
But can we also say that as Bhagavan has said we are all God, that all of us are Avatars like Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and that all of us are FULL-BLOWN SAVIOURS (MESSIAHS) of mankind (like Lord Jesus Christ)? Well, my view is that perhaps that is the potential in all of us, but most of us, if not all of us, as of now at least, are not Avatars like Shiva-Shakti Swarupa, Kali Yuga Avatar, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba or FULL-BLOWN SAVIOURS (MESSIAHS) like Lord Jesus Christ. We can take inspiration from Bhagavan's life and from the life of MESSIAHS like Lord Jesus Christ and try to grow in our spiritual (and worldly) lives. But I think that if we start viewing ourselves as messiahs (saviours) when we have not evolved to spiritual heights of DIRECTLY EXPERIENCING ourselves as the 'subtle essence' in all of creation (and all of creation being part of that 'subtle essence' in us), we will fall into the psychological and spiritual trap of being a FALSE MESSIAH and a FALSE PROPHET.
In this connection I have to mention the case of Madhusudhan Rao Naidu and Shri B.N. Narasimhamurthy. The problem is that Narasimhamurthy & Madhusudhan Rao Naidu's inner guidance has taken them away from Bhagavan's instructions & teachings that Bhagavan will never communicate via an intermediary (medium/communicator). But they have managed to TRAP many people into believing that Madhusudhan Rao Naidu is a communicator of some so called subtle body of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba!!!
I was quite disturbed to read a Facebook post by a prominent Muddenahalli group promoter on Facebook, that the so called subtle body Swami of Muddenahalli (read Madhusudhan Rao Naidu) blessed a top Indian govt. political leader with an interview, very recently. I don't know whether that account is true.
My guess is that the top govt. political leader may have felt obliged to accept Muddenahalli group request and so may have consented to meet Madhusudhan Naidu for a few minutes IN PRIVATE. If this is how the meeting happened with Madhusudhan Naidu (if at all it happened) then the above mentioned description of (so called subtle) Swami blessing the top political leader is not only a wild exaggeration but even an affront to the Hon'ble political leader of India, IMHO.
If what I have mentioned is what happened then the words should have been on the lines of:
Top political leader acceded to request of Muddenahalli group to spend a few minutes with (so called) communicator, Madhusudhan Naidu.
The above matter shows how inappropriate understanding of Bhagavan's Advaita type teachings can lead to very inappropriate actions by some Sai devotees.
I should also say that I think what Hindu scripture related to Avatars like Rama & Krishna as well as Shirdi Sai Baba history teaches us, is that Avatars tend to just vanish from their mission stage after they give up the body.
[A clarification update:
Now Bhagavan in His formless aspect was there before Sathya Sai Avatar and continues to be there after Mahasamadhi. Bhagavan in His formless aspect is ETERNAL. What I mean by the earlier sentence is that the formful aspect which can be seen and heard simultaneously by a group of people (as against individual vision or dream) of Rama, Krishna and Shirdi Sai Baba vanished after their giving up the body. People may still get visions and dreams of their inner Rama or inner Krishna or inner Shirdi Sai Baba or inner Sathya Sai Baba, in the form they have chosen to worship, and that vision or dream may communicate some messages to them. But these visions & dreams are individual to the person concerned and not something that relates to groups of devotees or society as a whole. It is when people who get visions & dreams of Sathya Sai, start assuming the mantle of a medium/communicator of Sathya Sai Baba to groups of devotees and even go to the extent of "blessing" top Indian govt. political leaders with so called interviews with Sathya Sai Baba through their mediumship, that they are doing something that is unheard of in Hindu & Indian scriptural history involving famous religious & spiritual figures. And, of course, such mediumship has BEEN CONDEMNED by (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, in very clear and unmistakable words many, many times and that too in public. Essentially Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said that he will never ever use an intermediary (medium/communicator) to communicate with his devotees.]
So I think now it is upto the players who choose to get involved in the Sathya Sai Avatar mission (e.g. reinforcing Sathya, Dharma, Shanti & Prema values in the world) to take it forward with inspiration from God within (who is the same essence in Swami and in you and in me and in everybody) and within the BOUNDARIES of the TEACHINGS & INSTRUCTIONS of (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. If some spiritual leader (e.g. Narasimhamurthy/Madhusudhan Naidu) wants to go beyond the BOUNDARIES of the TEACHINGS & INSTRUCTIONS of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, then that person should NOT USE THE HOLY NAME of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba for THEIR OWN DARSHAN, INTERVIEWS & DISCOURSES. Instead they should give DARSHAN, INTERVIEWS & DISCOURSES in THEIR OWN NAMES.
I would like to add that I tend to agree with most of this part of the post:
In other words, he (Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba) will drive the chariot,
he will direct us from within,
but it is our job to save ourselves
and we have been given the full power of God
to transform the internal enemies of greed, hatred and jealousy, etc.
which are polluting our hearts into the divine love that is Swami.
--- end post extract ---
Ravi: But I don't know whether we all have been given the full power of God. It may be there as a potential power which needs to be manifested/nurtured/grown. Somehow, I cannot imagine any Sathya Sai devotee ever having the full power that (physical form) Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba demonstrated in his AWESOME AVATARIC CAREER.
Sairam Sir,
ReplyDeleteI request you to please take a look at this blog post of mine. It is very relevant in the current context.
http://voyagetowardstheself.blogspot.in/2016/02/do-not-believe-people-who-masquerade-as_25.html
Thank you and Sairam!
Very relevant article for today's situation. Thanks Aarthi.
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