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The priests dressed as they should in special vestments, but looking at the raging weather, did not know what to do as it was impossible to leave the house because of the storm. Missing the scheduled start of the ritual would be a big mistake and would be considered an unfavorable sign, and so everyone present began to worry.
The downpour was so heavy that the Chitravathi River overflowed its banks in the morning, and since the priests lived on the other side of the river, they simply could not come to the ashram on time. The only thing that could be done was to stand at the exit of the house and just wait. After some time, the rain suddenly stopped abruptly, and they were able to get to the ashram and begin the ritual.
The atmosphere was tense since the start was later than scheduled, and some began to doubt whether it was necessary to start worship at all. When the ceremony finally began, it was exactly 9.30am, as Sathya Sai Baba had predicted. Realizing that everything happened strictly in accordance with the predictions of Sathya Sai Baba, everyone sang praises to God in joy.
After some time, Sathya Sai Baba decided to hold another big Vedic ceremony, and for this he again invited the same priests to the ashram. As soon as all the priests arrived, he gathered them in his room and told them to draw up an exact list of ritual accessories needed for worship a few days before the start of the program.
It may seem strange to you why so much attention was paid to all the details. The fact is that since ancient times in the Vedic tradition all the details of the rituals are considered very important: when to start the ritual, who should conduct it, what mantras should be pronounced, how to properly install the statues of deities, and much more.
In accordance with Sathya Sai Baba's instructions, the clergy compiled a detailed list that included a huge number of various items, such as special incense and flowers, ghee and special rice, bells and offering plates, special cloths for deities, small spoons for holy water, and many other things. He was given the list and ordered the administrators of the ashram to buy everything they needed in strict accordance with the items listed.
Just five minutes before the start of the ceremony, the chief clergyman realized with horror he had forgotten to include the ritual silver jar, Kalasha. Nervously, he approached Sathya Sai Baba, who had already left his room and was on his way to the ceremony site and explained the situation in a trembling voice. Sathya Sai Baba smiled, shook his head knowingly, and instantly materialized an ancient ritual silver jug.
It was clear to all those present that this was a special jar. On its walls there were several images with images of the Deities. The jug looked like an old relic as if it was not an ordinary item but had come from another time in history. Some people present plucked up the courage and asked Sathya Sai Baba to tell the story of the unique jug. He said it was the same jug he used in his previous incarnation to perform solemn ceremonies.
In his past life, Sathya Sai Baba was called Shirdi Sai Baba because he lived in the city of Shirdi, in the western part of India. In each incarnation we call him Sai Baba, but the first name always changes. As I have already mentioned, in the previous incarnation he was called Shirdi Sai Baba because he lived in the city of Shirdi. In his last incarnation he was called Sathya Sai Baba: the name, Sathya means "truth". In the next incarnation, in accordance with his predictions, he will incarnate in southern India and his name will be Prema Sai Baba. Prema means "divine love" in Sanskrit.
So, Sathya Sai Baba materialized a jug, which he also used in his previous life to perform Vedic ceremonies. Surprisingly and incomprehensibly, he could not only overcome space, but also time. By materializing a jug from his previous life, he revealed that he experienced being outside of time and space.
All the miracles of Sathya Sai Baba had a deep spiritual meaning, they shocked and transformed everyone present, as well as everyone who later learned about these miracles. When reading stories about the life of Sathya Sai Baba, try to imagine all the events described as clearly as possible. Imagine that you, too, are present in the events unfolding so that you feel and experience an even stronger energy and receive blessings.
All outer worship ultimately leads to the mystical experience of the Absolute Self. The true "Self" is beyond space and time. Each person is born into this world with a unique spiritual task. Everyone is the creator of their life and the author of their reality. In the highest sense, the goal of human life is self-knowledge of the eternal divine essence of one's soul and self-realization of one's God-given talents.
Spiritual evolution takes place not only in meditation and prayer, but in all life events. Any experience you have in life is part of your spiritual evolution. Everything you do can become a spiritual practice if it is done in the awareness of oneness.
Your physical body, family, financial situation, success, like everything else, is the result of your own thoughts. If you are not satisfied with the circumstances in which you live your life, you need to start with the transformation of your thoughts. A man is what he thinks.
The Vedas and the Bible say that every person is created in the image and likeness of God himself, which means that every person is initially perfect, brilliant, omnipotent, and a wise creator of his reality. But there is another point of view about the creation of man. If we perceive God as a higher power that is outside of man, then we can say that God created man and endowed him with certain qualities. However, if we understand God as the True "I", then it turns out that "I am God" created himself as "I am man." In Sanskrit, this is called "Sambhava", which means "created" itself.
In this chapter, we have recollected amazing stories about traditional Vedic ceremonies which were performed quite often in Sathya Sai Baba's ashram. Why was it necessary? The deep meaning of Vedic worship is to reveal the inner divinity of each person. All outer worship ultimately leads to the mystical experience of the Absolute Self.
7. Unity of duality
Where there is duality, there is a desire to acquire or a desire to avoid, a desire to possess or a fear of losing. When you gain wisdom, you experience a state of oneness where there is no duality, which means there is nothing to desire and nothing to avoid.
(Sathya Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 14)
Man lives in duality because the main property of the manifested world is duality. There's nothing wrong with that as it's just a property of the universe. Duality is manifested in male and female, day and night, sun and moon, north and south poles, right and left hemispheres of the brain. The Chinese Taoist tradition talks about the interaction and balance of Yin and Yang. Even in the process of breathing, duality is manifested – inhalation is replaced by exhalation.
The question is not how to run away from duality, but how to perceive duality. A person who sees the original unity in duality is freed from attachments and internal conflicts. Duality is not to be fought or avoided, it must be understood and accepted. There are no contradictions in duality because duality is the harmony of unity in diversity. Perhaps the most striking manifestation of the unity of duality is shown in the interaction of male and female principles in the universe.
A person who is in the Spirit of God naturally finds abundance and happiness. Only one who constantly divides and cannot accept the integrity of the universe tries to give up the so-called material to acquire the so-called spiritual. The Divine is in everything. Where and why do you want to run away? Maybe it's time to see God in everything?
Even if you practice visualization regularly and very well the result will not come, because it is necessary to also perform an action. Even the Avatar always acts.
The Avatar is also in the world of duality. He performs actions being in the awareness of the original unity. Sathya Sai Baba also aspired to implement his projects and successfully achieve his social goals. Spirituality is not about trying naively to avoid active social activity, but about doing action while realizing the unity and interconnectedness of all that exists.
The most subtle action that absolutely everyone performs is breathing. The process of breathing is deeply connected with the flow of thoughts and the circulation of vital energy. Some tried to tell Sathya Sai Baba that they were supposedly completely freed from any activity. His response was, “how can you be inactive if you are breathing? Breath is the original source of any action.”
8. Difficult mysteries of past lives
One day an Indian family came to the ashram: a husband, wife and two children. They were eager to have an audience with Sathya Sai Baba in order to consult with him on several serious issues. They asked an acquaintance, who worked in the administration of the ashram to intercede on their behalf and ask about a personal meeting with their Sai Baba.
In the earlier period of Sathya Sai Baba's life, when there were still not so many people around him, such situations were quite possible. Subsequently, he became so popular that it was impossible to arrange individual personal meetings. Each time, to invite or not to invite a person to a personal conversation was the exclusive choice of Sathya Sai Baba himself. However, in those days one could ask someone to arrange a personal meeting.
So, this Indian family turned to an acquaintance who worked in the administration of the ashram and asked him to help in organizing an audience. When the administrator turned to Sathya Sai Baba with the request, he immediately said that both children in this family were blind. This surprised everyone present, because Sathya Sai Baba was not familiar with this family before and none of those present knew the children were blind.
Several days passed, but Sathya Sai Baba did not extend invitation for this family to have a private conversation. A few days later, Sathya Sai Baba approached his assistants and told them that in her previous life the mother of the blind children had pierced the eyes of her adopted children in anger, and as a result of this, in this life her two children were blind. Hearing this revelation, everyone was surprised how much Sathya Sai Baba knew not only about the present life, but the past lives of people.
In most cases, people perceive situations superficially without understanding the underlying causes of certain events. When problems start, the question arises: if I did nothing wrong, why am I suffering? Most often, people perceive their life as limited within this incarnation. Thoughts and actions committed in the past literally build all the circumstances of life in the present. Everything that happens in this life is shaped by what a person has done in many previous births, but it is quite difficult to remember exactly or consciously to know the actions of your past lives.
Nowadays, more and more people receive various mystical experiences associated with visions of their past incarnations. The big question is how accurate these mystical visions and sensations are. Quite a lot of people enthusiastically say that they were Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and great Lamas in Tibet in past lives.
Quite often, past life visions are based on inflated egos. People want to be special and great, so ideas arise that it was you who was Alexander the Great or Cleopatra in a past life. However, the reality of your past lives may be completely different and what the ego may whisper is likely to be very far from the realities of your past lives.
Sathya Sai Baba accurately saw the thoughts, states, energy, and karma of a person, so he built his communication with everyone based on what he knew about the depths of the inner world of a person. Sathya Sai Baba understood the inner world of the audience member so deeply that the person himself could not know about himself and not even guess some of the hidden labyrinths of his own subconscious.
It might seem that Sathya Sai Baba is too kind and gracious in his dealings with some, and yet very harsh with another, but there was a deep reason for everything. Such situations constantly happened around Sathya Sai Baba. He could easily heal one person and ignore the problems of another. Each of his actions had its own mysterious and deep meaning. Of course, some, not trying to reflect on the deep meaning of his actions, might resent Sathya Sai Baba, accusing him of being merciful to some and supposedly hard-hearted to others.
There are many things you can ask someone else to do for you. Someone can fix your computer or car, and there’s no need to do it yourself. You can ask someone to collect useful information for you, so you don't have to do it personally. But there are other things, essential things, you need to do only on your own, for example: change your attitude toward yourself, realize your purpose in life, be aware of your dreams, practice meditation, mantras, and prayers.
Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Sai Baba cannot meditate for you and realize your destiny in life; you must do all this on your own. All actions of Avatars such as Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Sai Baba take place in the world of duality, but those actions take place in the spirit of non-attachment. The action of the Avatar is based on wisdom and perfect knowledge of the situation. In past lives, you have accumulated karma, which determines everything that happens to you now. Karma is an information flow that exists completely objectively, regardless of whether you accept it or not. It is quite obvious that Sathya Sai Baba lightens the karma of people, but part of the karma still needs to be worked out on your own.
Karma is accumulated by the individual soul over a large number of past lives. Karma exists only for the individual soul. Not only every action, but every thought creates a new karma, and it can seem impossible and unattainable to free oneself. Figuratively speaking, having worked off the old karma this afternoon, in the evening you accumulate a new one. What to do? Where is the exit from the cycle?
Being aware of yourself as the True Self places you outside the accumulation and cycle of karma, as if you are freed from cause and effect. One who performs an unconditional action, as in they feel no selfish attachment to the outcome, turns that action into a meditation and is protected from the accumulation of karma because the intention is selfless. One who is in the flow of the True Self performs actions in love and compassion for all people, feeling the presence of divinity in themselves and everyone else.
9. Your Cosmos is your happy dream
If you realize the truth that you are not the body and mind, but are the True Self, you will be able to free yourself from ignorance. You will realize the truth that your "I" is one with God, you will be able to realize the truth that "I AM God." After you realize this, you will understand that everything in this universe is sacred.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)
Yes, truly everything in this world is sacred. The manifested world is a manifestation of divine energy. Divine energy is pure in nature, which means that everything in this world is initially pure, and only the distortion of perception can create the illusion that this world is polluted.
God is the Creator; man, created in the image and likeness of God, is also the Creator. In creativity, a person reveals his divine potentials and talents. You are actively creative in a universe of diversity. Your thoughts are wise, your words are true, and your deeds are perfect.
There is a great delusion that the allegedly manifested universe is a world of continuous suffering. Is it so? The cosmos is the manifestation of divine energy. This world is suffering to the extent that you perceive it as such. What if we perceive this world as a space of creativity and spiritual evolution, in which the True "I" is a contemplative observer of everything that happens in the universe, but also an active creator of everything that exists.
Each person is the Creator of his own cosmos. Your cosmos is the result of your "emotionally charged thought forms." The cosmos is a happy dream in which only you are the true author. Your cosmos is the space of truth, love, wisdom, happiness, joy, health, abundance, creativity, and fulfillment.
If sometimes it may seem to you that life is terrible and darkness has covered everything, know that darkness does not have self-existence, for darkness is not manifested Light. If at this stage of your life you are surrounded by evil and gloomy people, then know that anger does not have self-existence, for anger is not manifested Love.
If you feel the stupidity and absurdity of human life and cannot understand the meaning of your being, know that ignorance has no self-existence, for ignorance is Wisdom not manifested. You are the Creator of everything that happens to you.
10. "The work you do is the work of God"
Do not distance yourself from active social activities, for the work that you do is the work of God. If you do your work in a spirit of unity, that pleases God.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)
Sathya Sai Baba is the clearest example of an ideal life. It is quite obvious to me that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine Avatar who embodies the fullness of divine love and wisdom. He was born as a human and lived a wonderful human life. His life is the greatest example for each of us.
An Avatar born in the human world is always active in social activities. It may seem to us that society is a terrible and absurd space, but we see what we are ready to see. The manifested world is originally perfect, and everything happens in perfect accordance with the Divine plan.
Active work in human society is largely based on the correct alignment of one's relationship with money. If you use finances correctly, you will embody all your good ideas in the social space of human society. Money is a divine energy that God uses to develop and improve human culture.
In the Vedic tradition, the energy of money is personified by the Goddess Laxmi. Can the beautiful Goddess Laxmi be bad or sinful? Speaking in scientific terms, money is the universal equivalent of exchange. Goods and services are exchanged in human society, usually, for money.
Money is just a function in the exchange of goods and services, it cannot be sinful or righteous. With the help of money, scientific research is financed, universities are built, industry and agriculture develop, books are published, and films are made, medicine develops, new technologies are created, and much more. Think about how many good deeds are done with the help of money and with the help of the energy of the Goddess Laxmi.
Sathya Sai Baba was never engaged in business or commercial activities; he helped people, and therefore, in gratitude, many wealthy families considered it an honor to donate huge sums of money to him because they knew that he would correctly use those financial resources for the benefit of people. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that money is the cause of all evil, but in fact money is a form of divine energy.
There is a common misconception that active participation in social life interferes with spiritual practices; in particular, meditation. There is no sin in money. The cause of all problems is the selfish use of money, greed, lust for power, self-interest, and attachment to material objects. Ignorance gives rise to problems and suffering, whereas the realization of the True Self gives wisdom.
Sathya Sai Baba never married, but all his life he paid great attention to his family. He was very respectful toward his parents. When his father and mother passed away, he gave instructions to build a large tomb for them, around which there is a magnificent park. Sathya Sai Baba treated his brother and numerous relatives with care and respect. All of this is an example of how a perfect person should live and act.
The Avatar, performing His great divine mission on earth, was very active in society; for society itself is also part of divine creation. Sathya Sai Baba built a magnificent ashram where millions of people come from all over the world to study meditation and philosophy. He founded several universities, where he gathered the best teachers. Unique specialists were gathered and special programs for teaching various disciplines were developed.
In his village, He built two large modern hospitals and equipped them according to all modern standards. He founded charitable projects, including financing a drinking water supply system for a great number of villages in southern India.
There were millions and millions of people around Sathya Sai Baba who were spiritually transformed by his blessings. Numerous people from different countries were able to embark on the path of self-improvement and meditation. Of course, there were exceptions; sometimes he could bless people for the life of monasticism and the solitary practice of hermitage. However, he mainly preached on the active creative position of a person in society as being an important element of the spiritual path.
11. Spiritual Heart – the greatest secret of the universe
The wide heart realizes the Truth that the Divine is in everything. Realizing this, you will be able to experience the unchanging, eternal and ultimate reality.
(Sati Baba – "Collection of lectures", 1991)
One of the greatest discoveries of Vedic mysticism is the knowledge of the Spiritual Heart, which is located on the right side of the body. In Sanskrit, the Spiritual Heart is called Hrideyam. The Higher "I" is outside of time and space, and it manifests itself in
