Can an uncanny and unmistakable sign in outer world confirming a thought in one's mind, be viewed as Swami's approval of the thought?
I was asked a question recently, "When we have a thought in our mind and we get an unmistakable sign in the outer world which uncannily corresponds to our exact thought at that very moment, can we take it as Swami's positive sign regarding our thought?" [Ravi: Swami is Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba.]
Here is the main part of my response (slightly edited):
I am not very knowledgeable about psychic experiences. So do take my view with a few pinches of salt :-) . My belief is that all of us at an intuitive level know a lot about others & the world. However, very few of us are able to tune into that intuitive level easily. Some are born with deep intuition/deep psychic powers. For people like me, it is more of a process of slowing down and even stopping thought, and tuning to the intuitive power within. I believe that experiences like what you mentioned may be an indication of the inner prompting manifesting as thought which gets confirmed by an unmistakable sign in the outer world. But it could also be a coincidence, howsoever unmistakable we may think it to be at that point of time.
But can we view it as a positive sign from Swami which gives approval to that thought? See, I am rather heavily into Advaita belief, which was strongly reinforced by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, my beloved Gurudev, as he would say that you and I both are God, and he would very sincerely urge people to raise themselves to that level of Godliness rather than be dependent on his physical form, for anything and everything. However, most people around him preferred to have that human connection between them and Swami, which I find to be very human and very understandable.
For me, it is an article of DEEP FAITH that the spirit essence within me is the same spirit essence that was in the physical form of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. So, rather than say that something is being approved by Swami by some unmistakable sign, I prefer to view it as being approved by the inner God within (which I sometimes refer to as my inner Swami).
So I would view the experiences that you mention as, most probably, a sign from the inner God within you (which is the same God within and without of all of us & the universe) that your thought is right/good/correct. But sometimes it could be a coincidence too. So one needs to develop a good feel of when it is our mind playing tricks and when it is a CLEAR SIGNAL from within. Usually when it is from within i.e. one's conscience, one feels very right and very comfortable about it, even if one realizes that following that thought/prompt may result in worldly difficulties. It is not easy to follow such inner promptings though. That is why only a very few good people reach the level of sainthood, IMHO, as saints just follow their inner prompting, no matter what material world difficulties are encountered on following it.
Hope this helps :-)
Here is the main part of my response (slightly edited):
I am not very knowledgeable about psychic experiences. So do take my view with a few pinches of salt :-) . My belief is that all of us at an intuitive level know a lot about others & the world. However, very few of us are able to tune into that intuitive level easily. Some are born with deep intuition/deep psychic powers. For people like me, it is more of a process of slowing down and even stopping thought, and tuning to the intuitive power within. I believe that experiences like what you mentioned may be an indication of the inner prompting manifesting as thought which gets confirmed by an unmistakable sign in the outer world. But it could also be a coincidence, howsoever unmistakable we may think it to be at that point of time.
But can we view it as a positive sign from Swami which gives approval to that thought? See, I am rather heavily into Advaita belief, which was strongly reinforced by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, my beloved Gurudev, as he would say that you and I both are God, and he would very sincerely urge people to raise themselves to that level of Godliness rather than be dependent on his physical form, for anything and everything. However, most people around him preferred to have that human connection between them and Swami, which I find to be very human and very understandable.
For me, it is an article of DEEP FAITH that the spirit essence within me is the same spirit essence that was in the physical form of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. So, rather than say that something is being approved by Swami by some unmistakable sign, I prefer to view it as being approved by the inner God within (which I sometimes refer to as my inner Swami).
So I would view the experiences that you mention as, most probably, a sign from the inner God within you (which is the same God within and without of all of us & the universe) that your thought is right/good/correct. But sometimes it could be a coincidence too. So one needs to develop a good feel of when it is our mind playing tricks and when it is a CLEAR SIGNAL from within. Usually when it is from within i.e. one's conscience, one feels very right and very comfortable about it, even if one realizes that following that thought/prompt may result in worldly difficulties. It is not easy to follow such inner promptings though. That is why only a very few good people reach the level of sainthood, IMHO, as saints just follow their inner prompting, no matter what material world difficulties are encountered on following it.
Hope this helps :-)
Sairam sir, I recently heard a talk where a brother, an alumnus of Baba's school and college working for many years now in one of His institutions, said there are times when we may tend to interpret Swami's words or some signs we get as per our convenience.
ReplyDeleteI partly agree but there are times when we ourselves know that we have desperately prayed and surrendered, right? And Swami instantly responds with an unmistakable sign, thereby filling us with bliss and reinforcing our faith. Should we doubt such signs too? Is it wrong to hold on to such signs and wait, depending entirely only on Swami?
Sir, you have shared in this blog that when you had the chance to have darshan of Bhagawan in physical form for many years, you were able to get the facial gesture response from Him for your thoughts/actions/prayers from Him when His eyes fell on you or sometimes through His discourses that He gave LIVE in Kulwant Hall.
Can you share, if you don't mind, one or two examples?