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Thought is primary and matter is secondary. Through his miracles, Sathya Sai Baba showed us the infinite power and potential of our consciousness. Sometimes he himself openly said that every person can perform the miracles that he performs. The only problem is that people mistakenly perceive themselves as limited and weak beings, therefore they cannot show the fullness of their energy potentials. He also said that every person can perform the same miracles that he can.
It is impossible to fully understand the process of the birth of the sacred Lingam. I tried to find out from some older devotees exactly how this happens. Interestingly, two people told me the same version, referring to the fact that they themselves learned this directly from Sathya Sai Baba himself. One of those who told me about the process of the birth of the Lingam was Padananda, and a little later, Subba Rao told me the same version.
According to these two, the Lingam originates in the stomach of Sathya Sai Baba as a powerful energy clot and then the energy flow rises through his body and acquires an ovoid shape once in his mouth. Then, the Lingam literally pops out of the mouth. Consequently, the people present see only the last stage of the birth of the cosmic Lingam.
9. The golden years
I prefer not to call Sathya Sai Baba, Swami, as many do, but Bhagavan. In my life I have traveled to different ashrams and studied in different esoteric schools. For me, Swami is a title that is not significant enough for Sathya Sai Baba.
Swami is the word for any man on the spiritual path, especially if he is a monk of one of the traditional Vedic monastic orders. Bhagavan in Sanskrit is a title that is only used to address the supreme divine teacher. Bhagavan is one who is an Avatar and the embodiment of absolute truth.
After I learned about Sathya Sai Baba, I was able to go to him almost immediately. My trips were not by decision or choice and I did not make any effort; they just seemed to unfold before me – everything happened easily and naturally. Events simply turned out so that I was suddenly able to go to India. My first trip happened so spontaneously I did not have even the slightest illusion of free choice; the same could be said about all other trips.
I lived for a long time in all three ashrams of Sathya Sai Baba – in Puttaparthi, Whitefield, and Kodaikanal. Sathya Sai Baba spent most of his time at Puttaparthi, which is the main ashram located in his home village. During the hot season, April and May, he moved to two additional ashrams, Whitefield and Kodaikanal.
It's funny to think about it now, but during the ‘90s it seemed, to us, Sathya Sai Baba already had too many people in the ashram. Sometimes he would say, "you don't understand, the time will soon come when there will be so many people here I will turn into a small orange dot for you."
This is what happened at the beginning of the 2000s, the number of visitors increased dramatically. People could hardly fit in the main temple. Due to the huge influx of people, Sathya Sai Baba became very inaccessible.
In the ‘90s, it was effortless to have direct contact with Sathya Sai Baba, or so it seemed to us. When we came to the program, it was not difficult to find a position in the front rows allowing us to see Sathya Sai Baba up close every day.
In those years, Sathya Sai Baba quite often invited me for personal conversations; this time is now remembered with joy. He interacted especially with Russian-speaking groups. People in the ‘90s believed with enviable confidence that if they came to the ashram, they would definitely have the opportunity to personally communicate with Sathya Sai Baba. These were truly golden years!
Quite often, groups visiting for just a month would get several face-to-face meetings with Sathya Sai Baba. These conversations were called interviews.
When I arrived in India, I already knew English; most Russians did not speak English, which is why I began to translate during personal meetings between Sathya Sai Baba and Russian-speaking devotees. In addition to me, there were several other people who also translated during personal meetings.
10. Frequent personal contact with Sathya Sai Baba
When I was given the opportunity to be Sathya Sai Baba's interpreter for the first time, I was happy and could hardly believe it. A couple of weeks later, when the next interview took place, I was also a translator. After this, such chances began to present themselves more and more often. It was a divine and unique opportunity for close and direct communication. My prayer to Sathya Sai Baba was that he would allow me to communicate with him personally as much as possible, and he fully satisfied my desire.
As an interpreter for Sathya Sai Baba, I often had the opportunity to communicate with him closely. In addition, during the audiences, as a translator, I always had the opportunity to sit very close to him, next to his chair, from where I would enjoy his vibrations of love and universal harmony.
Frequent communication with Sathya Sai Baba allowed me to witness many interesting situations. People came with a variety of questions and problems. Sometimes they were questions related to difficult life situations, and sometimes high philosophical topics were discussed.
It was very interesting to see how people asked their questions and how Sathya Sai Baba reacted to them. Sometimes he could give completely different, even opposing answers, to very similar questions. Each time, his reaction and answers depended on the spiritual level at which the person who asked the question was located. Sometimes, he refused to answer questions at all. These questions were usually not sincerely asked or were simply far-fetched.
From watching Sathya Sai Baba communicate with different people, I was able to accumulate great and valuable spiritual information. When he gave amazing lectures to an audience of thousands, he knew those present were at various levels of spiritual development and had different life interests. His lectures were varied and designed for the vast levels of understanding across the audience.
After the large gatherings, conversations were usually held with a small group in a private, intimate room. These meetings were deeply personal. That is why Sathya Sai Baba could individually respond to people's questions and behavior, wisely consider their situations, and give them detailed and personal instruction.
During communication, Sathya Sai Baba could be quite tough on those who tried to be smart and make a good impression. Some visitors tried to ask difficult spiritual questions, but Sathya Sai Baba's reaction to such visitors was very harsh. This happened if the person was not sincere. Sathya Sai Baba always saw through such people who aimed to show their alleged spirituality and instead pointed out the hidden vices to the clever men.
In his presence, people fell into the purest divine vibrations of love and goodness, and their spiritual transformation took place instantly. Sathya Sai Baba's stern and, at the same time, loving gaze was enough to turn a person from pretension to instantly realizing his ignorance and modestly falling silent in the bliss of God's closeness.
11. Manifestation of great love
People often ask questions about items materialized by Sathya Sai Baba such as rings, rosaries, amulets, earrings, watches and more. Why did he do it? Why did he give rings and rosaries to some, and not to others? Is it true that only weak and insecure people received gifts from Sathya Sai Baba, or vice versa, only high souls of advanced spiritual understanding?
I think everything is much more complicated but at the same time also much simpler. It is difficult to say for sure why he materialized rings or rosaries for some, yet not for others.
One of the greatest American mystics of our time, Wayne Dyer, who highly revered Sathya Sai Baba, jokingly said one of the greatest mantras in the world that destroys the small ego and reunites us with eternity is the seemingly simple phrase: “I don’t know.” Indeed, it is extremely difficult for the ego to say, in the presence of other people, these simple words, "I don't know."
When we reflect on the life of Sathya Sai Baba, it is important to say these golden words, “I don't know” as often as possible. In fact, this is true, we do not know anything about him and cannot know. Who can understand the mysterious craft of the Avatar? Who can realize the infinite reality of God?
It is impossible to fully understand the behavior and intention of the Avatar. Each of his actions has deep meaning and he knew exactly what was useful and necessary for whom. People expressed all sorts of suggestions about why Sathya Sai Baba gave materialized objects to some, and not to others. There can be no logical explanation for it.
It can hardly be argued that Sathya Sai Baba materialized items only for weak people who needed his constant presence. It would also be irresponsible to assume that only those who were at higher spiritual levels of development received such gifts from him.
Ordinary human logic is powerless to understand such subtle divine intention. We understand the events of life from our limited understanding, while the wisdom of Sathya Sai Baba remains limitless and perfect.
There are many videos showing how Sathya Sai Baba materialized many treasured items. In most cases, he made materializations in his room, but sometimes they happened among a large crowd of people.
It is difficult to say why, but at different times the process of materialization outwardly took place in different ways. Perhaps it depended on the energy that Sathya Sai Baba wanted to put into this or that object. Quite often materializations were accompanied by bright flashes of light and sometimes popping sounds similar to that of electricity discharges.
Sathya Sai Baba materialized objects from his right hand. Before creating another object, he made circular movements with his right palm. Then it became clear to everyone present that a miracle was about to happen.
After several rotational movements of the right hand, the object did not just appear from the center of the palm, it quickly jumped out of it. Sathya Sai Baba deftly caught the object when it was already flying from the middle of his palm. After that, he showed the object to everyone present. At that moment it was not yet clear to whom exactly he would give it; momentarily, he’d turn to the future lucky owner and present the gift.
12. Divine calling cards, greatest artifacts
Sometimes Sathya Sai Baba called his miracles "calling cards." These are strange words that sound quite unusual – what did he mean? How is this possible?
The essence of Sathya Sai Baba's teaching was to remind us about the personal God who dwells in the depths of the spiritual heart of every person. Sathya Sai Baba carried the good news to humanity that absolutely every person is a divine incarnation, but people, under the influence of ignorance and illusion, forget about it.
Each person has unlimited spiritual possibilities. We perceive the miracles of Sathya Sai Baba as something supernatural because we have forgotten our true divine nature. That is why he called his miracles "calling cards," because they are designed to remind everyone of the latent dormant possibilities and potentials of consciousness.
All items materialized by Sathya Sai Baba are completely unique. Imagine, right in front of your eyes, he created objects with the power of his thought that never existed until now. This is an amazing miracle that hardly fits into the human mind.
Sathya Sai Baba clearly saw who exactly needed his blessing and how it should happen. To receive a materialized “object of power” from the hands of an Avatar is a great blessing.
The Avatar knows and understands in detail all of your previous births. He is fully aware of all the Karma that you have accumulated both in this incarnation and in previous lives. That is why only the Avatar can fully understand what will be useful and can help you develop harmoniously in this life and realize your destiny.
The objects materialized by Sathya Sai Baba are not just gifts or souvenirs. Such an attitude toward items given by him would be a manifestation of ignorance. It should be remembered that all the objects materialized by him are the greatest artifacts and the most powerful objects of power.
These are magical items that contain special divine energy and information. People who wear his rings, amulets or rosaries sometimes may not be fully aware of their meaning. It is probably even impossible to fully understand this, and it is important to understand and feel these amulets are a manifestation of great divine mercy and love.
13. Unity of all religions, miracles of Jesus and Krishna
Sathya Sai Baba was born into a Hindu family in the Kshatriya caste. This caste has united warriors and politicians since ancient times; however, one should not think that the family and relatives of Sathya Sai Baba were warriors or politicians. His parents were quite modest inhabitants of a small village.
In modern India, belonging to a caste means a family tradition, and does not guarantee financial well-being. These days, representatives of the higher castes can be very poor, while people from lower castes are successful and rich.
The philosophy of Sathya Sai Baba goes beyond the Hindu religion. Teachers of all world religions, such as Krishna, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Zarathustra, and the Prophet Muhammad, are revered in the ashram. Every year the ashram celebrates the most important festivals of all world religions, such as the Nativity of Jesus Christ and Buddha's birthday, Jewish New Year and Chinese New Year, all Vedic festivals such as Shivaratri and Guru Purnima.
Sathya Sai Baba never asked his devotees to change their religion. His teaching was to proclaim the spiritual significance and authenticity of all religions.
The mission of Sathya Sai Baba included communication with people from different countries of the world who belonged to different world religions and different ethnic cultures. His philosophy was not limited to the Indian tradition. Of course, most of all he commented on the Vedic texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. He also commented, quite often, on the Gospels.
One of the accusations that is often made against Sathya Sai Baba by some spiritual schools is that he allegedly performed miracles too often in the presence of a large number of followers and devotees.
This all sounds rather strange, because all the world's great spiritual teachers have always performed miracles in the presence of a large number of people. Remember Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus Christ? They all performed numerous miracles as part of their divine mission on earth.
Krishna and Jesus Christ are best known for their deepest spiritual messages. They preached the doctrine of direct communication between man and God – the quintessence of which is the revelation of God in one's own heart. In addition to philosophical teachings, they also performed a huge number of miracles.
The Buddha also performed numerous miracles despite the fact the essence of his teaching was the practice of meditation. He preached compassion and love for all living beings. Studying his biography, we find multiple evidence of the manifestation of his miraculous power.
All the great teachers of mankind such as Krishna, Buddha and Jesus Christ preached philosophy and taught disciples through action. These actions could sometimes be a manifestation of supernatural forces. Thus, miracles performed by great teachers are a natural element and an important part of their spiritual mission.
Every miracle created by the Avatar has a deep spiritual meaning. The Avatar gives instructions in words, but also in every action, some of which may include manifestations of the supernatural.
14. Sathya Sai Baba on the Life of Jesus Christ in India
Sathya Sai Baba spoke quite a lot about the life and spiritual path of Jesus Christ. He delivered numerous lectures about Jesus Christ that were completely unusual and unique, and they often shared information that cannot be gleaned from the canonical Gospel texts.
If you perceive Sathya Sai Baba as an ordinary person, then the question arises: how can he know all the secret details of the life of Jesus Christ and the features of his spiritual path? However, if you realize that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine incarnation, then his stories about the inner spiritual quest of Jesus Christ and his life path become precious.
The sayings of Sathya Sai Baba about the life, teachings and spiritual path of Jesus Christ are an invaluable treasure. In fact, this is the most reliable source of information about the most hidden details of the inner world of Jesus.
Throughout his life, Sathya Sai Baba gave public lectures and communicated with individuals. His books contain his lectures given to university students and devotees from around the world. The philosophical heritage of Sathya Sai Baba includes dozens of volumes. In his lectures, he covered a variety of topics; in particular, he spoke often about life and the philosophical heritage of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ preached the unity of all mankind – love for one's neighbor, direct communication between man and God, and the original unity of the soul with God. Jesus Christ taught his disciples that true worship of God takes place in the depths of the spiritual heart.
Every year in the ashram on December 25th, Christmas was celebrated in Western style. In Greek Orthodox Christianity, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th. Since Christians from Europe and America began to arrive much earlier than the Greeks and Russians, the tradition of celebrating Christmas in the Western style was established in the ashram.
During the celebration of Christmas, Sathya Sai Baba delivered the most interesting lectures, which were dedicated to Jesus Christ. During his long life, he left a vast amount of invaluable information on this topic.
Sathya Sai Baba said that in the Tibetan manuscripts, which are kept in the monasteries of the Himalayas, there is information that Jesus Christ spent several years in the northern Himalayas in Kashmir. In those days, Jesus was called Issa, which means the Lord of all living beings.
The fact that Sathya Sai Baba confirmed the version that Jesus Christ lived and studied in the Himalayas is extremely important for a deeper understanding of the teachings of Jesus Christ and his world divine mission. These facts lead us to the realization that Christianity has not only Biblical roots, but to a great extent came out of Vedic philosophy and Buddhist moral principles.
Where did Sathya Sai Baba get his information about Jesus Christ from? Sometimes he spoke in detail about Jesus, as if he himself had witnessed all the events of the distant past. Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, and therefore all, even the most hidden events of the past, present, and future are open to his all-pervading consciousness.
Over the years, during the Christmas lectures, Sathya Sai Baba told several stories about how, after the death of his earthly father, Joseph, the teenage Jesus worked for some time as a carpenter. Sathya Sai Baba said that Joseph died when Jesus was a teenager. At an early age, Jesus worked as a carpenter in and around Nazareth. Because of his spiritual quest he made his journey to India.
Sathya Sai Baba repeatedly mentioned the high spiritual level of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Several times, Sathya Sai Baba touchingly shared about Mary’s dedication to the spiritual education of her son, and that as young man, when Jesus decided to leave home and go to India for spiritual education, he received the blessing of his mother.
Nowadays, quite a few spiritual seekers mistakenly believe that family responsibilities are an illusion thinking instead that it is possible to engage in the practice of yoga and meditation, but at the same time neglect their family duties.
Sathya Sai Baba spoke about the fallacy of such a point of view and cited, as an example, the relationship of Jesus Christ with his mother. Mary showed deep concern for the spiritual development of her son and was active in encouraging it.
15. From an early age, Jesus walked the spiritual path
Sathya Sai Baba, with the help of his clairvoyance, could look into the details of the life of any person and learn about every event in history, even if it happened a long time ago. Clairvoyance can be demonstrated by saints and healers; however, it must be understood that their capabilities are limited, but this did not apply to the capabilities of the Avatar.
Sathya Sai Baba's stories about the life of Jesus Christ are amazing with their incredible details. He told stories about Jesus’ life as a teenager. One such story was set in Nazareth when Jesus lived with his mother, brothers and sisters. By this time, his earthly father, Joseph, had already died.
According to the story of Sathya Sai Baba, the teenage Jesus took himself away to a nearby hill. His mother, Mary, soon became worried about the long absence of her son and began to look for him. Eventually, she found him at the top of the hill, sitting on the ground, in a state of deep meditation. He practiced solitary meditation while on the hill for 12 days.
This is a truly amazing story that describes the mysterious details of the inner world of Jesus Christ. We know, at the age of 30, Jesus Christ received an initiation baptism, from his cousin, John the Baptist. After this baptism, he retired to the desert for 40 days in order to practice meditation and prayer. According to information from Sathya Sai Baba, Jesus Christ began to practice solitary meditations and prayers as a teenager.
Sathya Sai Baba stressed that Jesus Christ came into this world with a special divine mission. He was a unique personality, however, Sathya Sai Baba said that Jesus Christ was not born perfect right away but went through the path of spiritual development before fully realizing his oneness with God.
Sathya Sai Baba said that Jesus Christ was Karana Janma, which in Sanskrit means, "born with a special divine mission." There are several excellent lectures by Sathya Sai Baba about this. He said that Jesus Christ, as a young man, practiced many days of meditation in a secluded area on the outskirts of Nazareth.
Sathya Sai Baba said that Jesus Christ went through several stages in his spiritual quest. From a very early age, he followed a spiritual path – the essence of which was the contemplation of the one divine consciousness and the search for God in the depths of his heart.
Nowadays, quite a few spiritual seekers naively assume there is no need to practice any yoga techniques and meditation. Many people mistakenly think that it is enough to attend a few lectures and learn the great teachings of Vedic philosophy, and then, in some incomprehensible way, instant enlightenment should occur.
Using the example of Jesus Christ, Sathya Sai Baba shows that even the greatest souls who came into this world with a special spiritual mission must go through very serious and intense spiritual practices in order to know the truth.
16. Jesus Christ in India – a history of enlightenment
The canonical gospels give few details about the childhood years of Jesus Christ. They describe in more detail the amazing story of his birth and then give a couple of stories about Jesus Christ’s adolescence, after which there is a void in the narrative. What did Jesus Christ do between the ages of 15 and 30? There is no information about this in the canonical Gospel texts.
Perhaps Jesus Christ did not consider it necessary to talk in detail about exactly where he lived and studied for many years. Perhaps for the early Christians this was not essential information, and perhaps those who wrote the Gospel texts quite consciously hid this information.
For modern people, learning as much as possible about the life of Jesus Christ is very important because the more we know about his life, the more we can understand his spiritual message. Most likely, Jesus Christ told his closest disciples exactly what he did and where he lived in the period of those unrecorded years.
Perhaps the priceless information about his life in India was not included in the canonical Gospels because this information was not very clear to some of his students and followers. The first generation of Christians came from a Jewish background, and subsequent generations of Christians consisted primarily of Greeks and Syrians.
The information that Jesus Christ studied in distant India would hardly please and be understood by the early Christians. Perhaps the evangelists considered it more correct to remain silent about these mysterious years in the life of their teacher.
At the end of the 19th century, a Russian of Jewish origin, Nikolai Notovich (1858-1916) became one of the first to openly speak about the life of Jesus Christ in India. Notovich was born into a Jewish family, but later decided to convert to Orthodox Christianity. At the end of the 19th century, Notovitch went to India in order to try to discover the mystery of Jesus Christ. He visited distant monasteries, temples, and ashrams. He managed to visit different parts of the Himalayas, including Kashmir.
Why did Notovitch go to India in search of information about Jesus Christ? Did he have preliminary information that Jesus Christ lived and studied in India prior to his trip? There are suggestions that such knowledge could exist in the Theosophical Society founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, as well as in some esoteric societies of Western Europe.
It is quite possible that Notovitch did not just go on this expedition but was sent by "someone" to search for important information about the mysterious years of the life of Jesus Christ in India. He confidently headed for India, as if he already knew what to look for and where to find it.
During his expedition to northern India, Notovitch interacted with Hindu and Buddhist teachers. His goal was to find evidence of Jesus Christ in India.
As a result of his research, Nikolai Notovitch was able to find written evidence that Jesus Christ had studied in the Vedic and Buddhist ashrams of Kashmir. Notovitch was shown the original of an ancient text that described the life of Jesus Christ in India. The researcher could not remove the original document from the Himalayan monastery; nevertheless, he was shown the text and was allowed to make copies of some chapters.
Returning to Russia, Nikolai Notovitch wrote a famous book called The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ. It was impossible to publish the book in Russia, so he published it in France.
Returning to Russia, Nikolai Notovitch was immediately arrested. Two years later, he was released from prison. In Russia, he was banned from publishing books, after which Notovitch left the Russian Empire and moved to Europe.
In Europe, Nikolai Notovitch met with several hierarchs of the Catholic Church, in particular with Cardinal Rotelli. Representatives of the Catholic Church also asked Notovitch never to publish materials about the life of Jesus Christ in India.
Interestingly, the representatives of the Catholic Church were not surprised by the very facts presented in Notovitch's book. The subject of their concern was only the disclosure of secrets. It is a known fact that the Catholic Church offered a large sum of money to Nikolai Notovitch so that he would refrain from further publication. It is difficult to say whether Notovitch agreed to accept the money, but subsequently he refrained from active public activity.
One of the remarkable Indian spiritual teachers of the early twentieth century, Swami Abhedananda (1866 – 1939), having read the materials of Nikolai Notovitch, was shocked by the information about the life of Jesus Christ in the Himalayas, and he decided to personally verify the authenticity of this amazing information.
Swami Abhedananda was a Hindu expert in the philosophy of Vedanta. He had no personal interest in confirming or refuting this version. All he wanted was to know what the truth was.
In the early 1920s, Swami Abhedananda organized an expedition to northern India to Kashmir. He confirmed he was able to personally see an ancient text describing the life of Jesus Christ in India. It was the same text that Nikolai Notovitch had held in his hands thirty years before.
In the late 1920s, Swami Abhedananda published his materials under the title Journey to Kashmir and Tibet. Swami Abhedananda was also unable to obtain the original text – all he testified was that he held the ancient manuscript in his hands.
