Ravi S. Iyer: Spiritual

Last updated on 16-Jun-2022 16th Jun 2022 Update: I was passed on the link of a youtube video of the same event over email recently, which has better video quality: Sathya Sai Baba, Ravi Shankar and George Harrison,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTQ0F_i9KyM , 35 seconds, published on Oct. 11, 2021. I have given below screenshots from the new video first followed by corresponding screenshots from the old video, except for one screenshot from new video which is additional. Many thanks to the person who sent me the email with the new video link. End-16-Jun-2022 Update. Wow! I am told that I saw right that the video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gegA89rN8XA , published in Apr. 2016, shows George Harrison of the Beatles gratefully and reverentially accepting Vibhuti from Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba (from 0:55 to 0:59 in the video)!!! Wow! Pandit Ravi Shankar is sitting in front of George Harrison and may have brought him to take Darshan of Swami. The video subtitles are...

Last updated on 19th Mar. 2017 In response to a Facebook post comment elsewhere, ".. I think HE knew and in the last year it showed on him", I wrote as follows (slightly edited): --Name-snipped--, I came to know AFTER MAHASAMADHI of some of the matters related to Swami's last year in physical sojourn. So I have to agree with you about your comment. It was very, very painful for me to know about accounts from reliable sources about Swami's rather acute disappointment then with some of the top people. I have mentioned this earlier but perhaps I need to mention it again. BTW this incident was conveyed to me just days after it happened by an alumni-staff who was present in the meeting mentioned below. Note that I was with Sai university, Prasanthi Nilayam campus then with my designation being Visiting Faculty. In around July 2010 (may be August 2010) BNNM and Brindavan students had come to Parthi. Swami had a meeting in Bhajan Hall with alumni-staff (and perhaps...

Last updated on 18th Mar. 2017 This post is directed at those Sathya Sai devotees, including Sai university alumni, who get assailed by doubt in the divinity of Sathya Sai perhaps due to readings of material which is skeptical of Sathya Sai's divinity, and discussions with people who are skeptical of Sathya Sai's divinity. Let me first talk about DOUBT. It is my considered view, based on my own spiritual journey and what I have read of spiritual journey of others, that doubt is common, perhaps inevitable for most, in the journey of spiritual truth-seekers and devotees. In my Naadi astrology reading done around the mid 1990s, I was told of a big problem in my life when Saturn became prominent according to my astrological chart (Shani dasha starting) or something like that. This corresponded to sometime around 2010. I was curious about what this big problem in my life is going to be. BTW the Naadi reader had mentioned that prior to this time (2010) I would be moving to ...

Given below are some key statements from the order of Karnataka High Court which seems to have been issued on 14-Mar-2017 and corresponds to the hearing on 8-Mar-2017 related to Writ Petition challenging illegal Loka Seva Trust Board of Trustees reconstitution in end Jan. 2017. The 14 pages of the order are shown as pics in this Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/shubha.kumar/posts/10158095784810538 . Note the following: Petitioner (plaintiff): Sri S.S. Naganand Respondent 3 (defendant 3): Mr. U. Gangadhar Bhat Respondent 4 (defendant 4): Mr. Krishna Bhat [The above three persons DO NOT SUPPORT Muddenahalli group.] Respondent 1 (defendant 1): Sri Sathya Sai Loka Seva Trust Respondent 2 (defendant 2): Mr. B. N. Narasimha Murthy Similar to respondent 2, respondents 5 to 10 are of Muddenhalli group, with respondent 9 being Madhusudan Naidu. ---- start extracts of Karnataka High Court written order issued on 14.3.2017 ---- 5) Sri K.G. Raghavan, learned senior counsel a...

Here is Hari Sitaram Dixit's memories cum short biography of Shirdi Sai Baba titled, SREE SAI SAMARTHA SATCHARITA, https://www.shrisaibabasansthan.org/shri%20saisatcharitra/Sree%20Sai%20Samartha%20Satcharita/Sai%20PDF%20File/001-017%20Satcharita%20New%202008.pdf , 17 pages, which seems to have been a foreword of earlier edition(s) of Shirdi Sai Satcharita by Govind Dabholkar. I think this is very valuable as H.S. Dixit was a well known devotee of Shirdi Sai, and as a well educated man, seems to have written it himself. BTW about a couple of decades ago when I was in the software industry, at lunch in one of the canteens in SEEPZ, Mumbai where my office was located, an old friend introduced me to a relative of H.S. Dixit. I think she was the great-granddaughter of H.S. Dixit. But she straight away told me that she did not believe in Sathya Sai and said it somewhat aggressively. That I think prevented me from having much conversation with her about her knowledge and views about Sh...

Given below is an article about Hari Vinayak Sathe using as sources, B.V. Narasimha Swami's book, "Life of Sai Baba Volume III" as well as an inteview of the great grand daughter of Hari Vinayak Sathe, Smt. Aishwarya Sathe in Oct. 2015! The article, http://saiamrithadhara.com/mahabhakthas/hari_vinayak_sathe.html , comes across as very truthful, even showing some weaknesses of Hari Vinayak Sathe. I find the article to be a fascinating read. The article has pics of a shawl and a silver box consecrated by Shirdi Sai Baba and given to Hari Vinayak Sathe. It also has pics of a silver medal given to H.V. Sathe by British Queen Elizabeth!!! Note that H.V. Sathe was a senior bureaucrat (Deputy collector or something like that) in the British ruled Indian government then. Given below are a few extracts from the above article. Rao Bahadur Hari Vinayak Sathe was a Deputy Collector and a Settlement Officer in the Bombay Presidency. He was long remembered for his first great serv...

Here's a recent article by Eve Gardener, The Meaning Of MahaSamadhi Or Shrine – Sathya Sai Baba, https://sathyasaimemories.wordpress.com/2017/03/12/the-meaning-of-mahasamadhi-or-shine/ Given below is a comment I made on her blog post above. Wonderful article, Eve, which shows how beneficial worship at the samadhi of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, can be to spiritual aspirants as well as those who have a mix of worldly desires and spiritual desires. With reference to the sentence, "The shakti energy remains forever in the Shine of a powerful teacher ..", did you use the word, 'Shine' (and not 'Shrine'), deliberately? The word is used multiple times later on as well in the post. [Update: Eve meant Shrine and has corrected it.] "Often it takes someone with a powerful shakti to drive us inward to where the source of our being is waiting to be discovered." - Very well said. One of things that I learned/interpreted from Sathya Sai is that the...