Sathya Sai Baba. Supernatural Experiences and Divine Transformation. Book Two

It would be naive to assume that by retiring to the mountains or forests, renouncing family life and material well-being, only then will you come closer to realizing the eternal treasure that is hidden in the depths of your Spiritual Heart.

People go on distant pilgrimages seeking God in distant temples, while the true pilgrimage is made to the depths of their consciousness. Of course, if a trip to holy Jerusalem, Mecca or Kailash will help you find the truth in your heart, then you need to go. By the way, Sathya Sai Baba by no means denied the need for pilgrimages or temporary solitary practices. A trip to Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram is also a pilgrimage that has helped many people to discover the truth within themselves.

Arriving at Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram, deep spiritual seekers did not become attached to his outward form but discovered eternity within their hearts. Sathya Sai Baba constantly asked people not to be attached to his physical presence, but to dive into the depths of their soul.

Of course, it was difficult to implement because Sathya Sai Baba was a living divine incarnation. In the presence of Sathya Sai Baba, it was very difficult to get rid of attachment to him and disengage from the desire to constantly see him, listen to him, and communicate with him.

The manifested world is a space of spiritual evolution and endless self-perfection. Matter, space, and time are manifestations of the Divine Consciousness. If you want to escape from the illusion of this world, then you need to change your perception as just physically avoiding participation in social life will not help.

I have visited many Orthodox and Catholic Christian monasteries, Buddhist monasteries and Himalayan yoga ashrams. Monastic life in any denomination cannot help or bring one closer to the depths of the spirit; any monastery, whether Buddhist or Christian, is still a part of society. Real renunciation takes place in the mind, and it consists in letting go of attachment.

Even if you go to the distant Himalayas, you will see the same human society there. One should not run away from one's duties in society but should be cleansed of ignorance and attachment. Trying to run away from people and pretend to be a saint is naive. The spiritual path is insight, awareness of divinity in yourself and in every person who is next to you.

As long as you are in duality, you will want to run somewhere or avoid something, expecting to find peace outside the circle of life. Being in unity, where and from whom can you run? While serving society and people, you feel that in fact there are no “other” people, because everything is in unity.

Everything that happens in life is a step on the spiritual path. Sathya Sai Baba perceived life in unity, therefore his blessings affected all levels and aspects of human existence. Good health, a happy family, caring for one's parents and children, a successful career and business, scientific research and artistic creativity, spiritual insight are all integral parts of the divine evolution of man.

50. The Power of the Holy Names of God

This is a story about an Indian women named Pedda Botu who lived in the ashram and was deeply devoted to Sathya Sai Baba. She was a very close devotee of his and everyone knew her well and loved her very much for her kindness and sincerity. One day she asked Sathya Sai Baba how to meditate. He replied that she did not need to meditate at all but should constantly chant aloud or, to herself, the Holy Names of God. In those distant times, few people lived in the ashram, so some devotees preferred to sleep on the street just under the windows of Sathya Sai Baba. Blessed people!

One night, Pedda Botu was sleeping on the grass under the windows of Sathya Sai Baba, covered with a light blanket. It was very comfortable for a hot Indian night, but suddenly it began to rain. Pedda Botu woke up to several large drops beginning to fall on her. The first thing she said softly was the mantra: “Om Sri Sathya Sai Ram.” Immediately, the door opened and Sathya Sai Baba came into the street pretending to be dissatisfied. He asked Pedda Botu why she did not let him sleep.

The frightened woman apologized and said she had not called him. However, Sathya Sai Baba insisted that she woke him up and called him. After that, Sathya Sai Baba explained that the power of the Holy Names of God is so great that one who constantly repeats them achieves the deepest intimacy with God. For such people, it is enough to say the mantra “Om Sri Sai Ram” only once and God immediately perceives this as a personal appeal and instantly comes.

The first time I heard this story was from Padananda, and then Sathya Sai Baba told about it in my presence.

One day I thought about how many times you need to repeat a mantra or a prayer in order to be heard? We all know the stories from the Gospels when, through the prayer of Jesus, amazing miracles took place, i.e., the resurrection of the deceased Lazarus, the materialization of fish and bread, healing from diseases, and much more. We remember the amazing stories about Saint Seraphim of Sarov – a prayer uttered by him only once could bring down the Holy Spirit.

In the ashram, people often discussed that it is not so important to say a lot, but it is important to pronounce mantras of high quality. But what does quality mean? Some suggest that if you say the mantra with perfect concentration once, then this is quite enough and you do not need to practice it millions of times. These are all complex and deep questions.

In the story I told in this chapter, Pedda Botu felt the beginning of rain and spontaneously uttered a mantra and received an instant response from Sathya Sai Baba. He felt her prayer and immediately left his room. It should be remembered that Pedda Botu lived in the ashram for many years and practiced various mantras millions of times.

Most importantly, she was deeply devoted to Sathya Sai Baba and her sincere love for her teacher was so endless that it is simply impossible to put it into words. It should not be thought that a single repetition of the mantra was enough. However, the mechanical repetition of the mantra is also meaningless.

Sathya Sai Baba jokingly said that if the mere amount of repetition of a mantra were sufficient, then the first person to achieve enlightenment would be a tape recorder. Great joke!

51. "You are perfect!"

Sons of men, remember that you are made in the image and likeness of God. You are perfect!

(Sathya Sai Baba – “The Stream of Divine Love”, 1993)

The Vedas and the Bible say that God created man in his image and likeness. In every person there is a divine desire to know the Absolute Truth. This is the desire to comprehend one's source. The highest level of the search for Truth is meditation on the fundamental question: who am "I"? Going deeper into his Spiritual Heart, a person gets to his original source, to God, who is the True Self.

Sathya Sai Baba says: "You are perfect!" You strive to know the Truth and you will know the Truth; it turns out, you are the Truth itself. Your thoughts, words and actions are for the good of all, because you are made in the image and likeness of God. Since God is your True Self, it turns out that you, as a person, are created in the image and likeness of your True Self.

Speaking and thinking about the fact that God created you, you should remember that God is your Higher Self, which means you are "self-created". There is no external force that created you because there is no external force; everything is in your consciousness.

52. Jnana Yoga – the path to self-knowledge

The sage draws absolute bliss from his Higher Self, he does not seek bliss in the surrounding space.

(Sathya Sai Baba – Jnana Vahini)

These wonderful words of Sathya Sai Baba are taken from a book called Jnana Vahini, which translates as "stream of wisdom." One of the highest branches of yoga is called Jnana, which means wisdom. The main method of this direction of yoga is contemplation and reflection on the nature of one's Self. There are many ancient texts on the philosophy and practice of Jnana Yoga. One of the most basic treatises in this trend is the Avadhuta Gita; a text I quote often in my books.

The source of bliss is located in the Spiritual Heart. It cannot be found in outer space. If you realize yourself as an individual being, then the whole of life turns into a series of impermanence where joy is replaced by suffering, and then again, this is only a temporary joy, which comes.

It is your perception that allows you to truly enjoy the circumstances of life. If a person is fabulously rich, but at the same time depressed, then wealth will not be able to make him happy. A huge number of people after having achieved financial wealth found only problems, disappointment, and fears, instead of happiness. Only a true philosopher can enjoy material well-being because material well-being in itself has not yet made anyone happy.

Sathya Sai Baba lived a long life in an ordinary human body, which sometimes got sick, grew old and eventually died. Everything happened to him, it would seem, just the same as to all other people. However, one should not be deceived by their seeming commonness. People live in mortal bodies because of their Karma, but Sathya Sai Baba did not have any Karma. He incarnated in this world at will with a special and divine mission.

Some wondered why Sathya Sai Baba did not create an immortal golden body for himself? Why did he live in an ordinary human body? The energy of the immortal light body is so pure that few people can withstand such perfect vibrations.

If Sathya Sai Baba were in a golden immortal body, then almost no one would be able to get close to him and get the experience of direct communication. Sathya Sai Baba shows an example of the possibility of achieving harmony while living on Earth. That is why he lived in an ordinary body in order to enable more people to see him and even communicate with him personally.

One of the most prominent philosophical texts of Jnana Yoga is the Avadhuta Gita, in which the sage Dattatreya says:

“Purifying myself with meditation and dissolving into infinite bliss, I spontaneously sing this song about Divine Consciousness. I do not desire material wealth because I already enjoy abundance, I do not desire enlightenment because enlightenment is my nature. The Self is beyond desire because the whole world originally belongs to me, the Self do not follow religious precepts because they are illusory, the Self do not seek liberation because the Self is free.”

The subtlety of the philosophy of the True Self lies in the fact that this doctrine in no way denies an active life in society and the possibility of embodying one's talents. Some mistakenly think that if we are talking about the True Self, then it is necessary to deny human happiness and creative self-realization in science, art, business, and social activities. The philosophy of the True Self assumes the correct self-identification – the understanding of the eternal as eternal, and the illusory as illusory. A true understanding of oneself turns the activity in society into a process of pure meditation.

Divine Grace descends on all planes of human existence, transforming human nature into divine. Spirit is fully manifested in matter, and matter is spiritualized in spirit. Practicing yoga, a person gradually comes to a harmonious state of mind, returning to his original divine nature. Having reached the integral realization, the yogi carries out the divine transformation of human nature and becomes a Godman.

When you realize yourself as the Universal Self, you transcend the cycle of duality and impermanence. Meditation prepares the inner world for the descent of the divine current and leads to the perfect realization of Truth. As a result of the practice of meditation, a person goes through a gradual transformation on all planes. The perfect human life consists in the realization of unity and the realization of divinity on all planes of one's being.

53. The Real Guru

Who is a real teacher? It is he who leads the way, destroying delusion and ignorance. Who is the true student? This is the one who seeks to control the restless mind.

(Sathya Sai Baba – Gita Vahini, Chapter 11)

The real Guru is the Highest Self. This truth Sathya Sai Baba proclaimed all his life. It is this true teacher who eliminates ignorance, which consists in the erroneous perception of oneself as being separate from the surrounding world. A student is an individual self who learns from his own Higher Self.

Restlessness of the mind leads to uncontrollable craving for objects of desire, a false sense of separateness, fear, and suffering. In fact, you are learning from yourself – your Higher Self teaches your individual Self. However, most often the teacher appears as a wise and experienced person; such a person we call, Guru.

In Vedic philosophy there is a deep concept of the “principle of the teacher.” A teacher is not so much a personality as a cosmic principle that can be embodied in various people who teach us throughout our lives.

Throughout your life, you meet a huge number of teachers who help you learn a lot of important things, teach all kinds of necessary disciplines, and pass on the necessary skills. However, the highest teachers foster knowledge and practices related to the knowledge of the eternal and pure nature of the soul. A true teacher always remains transparent, striving to point out to the student the infinite potentials of his soul. The teacher reminds the student of his original freedom, for only a free person can realize his divinity. The delusions from which the teacher is freed are the false idea of his own weakness and infirmity.

The teacher guides the student to find his purpose in life and to realize his God-given talents. The teacher opens the soul of the student, just as a lotus flower opens at sunrise. You are incarnated with a special spiritual mission, but each person around you is unique, also incarnated with a special spiritual mission – no one is better or worse than you, all people are different, each person is unique – each person is an infinite spirit gaining experience of earthly existence.

Inspired wisdom not only comes from teachers, but also can be found in many books, particularly sacred, spiritual texts. Any scripture performs the functions of a teacher when talking about the inner divinity of a person and blessing the reader. In every tradition, sacred scriptures are respected and held in high regard. In Christianity, it is the Gospel; in Hinduism, it is the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads; in Judaism, it is the Torah. A careful and thoughtful reading of sacred texts clarifies perception and brings down blessings.

In fact, life itself is the greatest teacher. Everyone is able to recall well a number of situations that taught them significantly more than theoretical lectures. It is important to perceive the events of life not just as a series of random events, but as lessons to be learned that offer something useful to be learned from them.

Being a student is very difficult. The student is not the one who puts the portrait of the teacher on the home altar and burns candles and incense to it every day. A true student is one who embodies the wise instructions of his teacher in his daily life.

Sathya Sai Baba directed people to self-study, often repeating that the true teacher is in the Spiritual Heart. It is in the depths of the soul that the most profound answers to all questions can be found. Divinely, every person has a mysterious desire to explore the nature of his Self – this is the essence of the spiritual path.

54. Miraculous photos of Sathya Sai Baba

This is a story about a Japanese man I met at the ashram who told me an amazing story about his friend, who was also a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba.

Returning home from India to Japan, this friend hung a picture of Sathya Sai Baba in his room above his bed. In this part of Japan, where this devotee lived, earthquakes sometimes occurred. Unfortunately, shortly after his return from the ashram, a massive earthquake struck, causing several buildings to collapse. The earthquake occurred at night, which was especially dangerous.

The man woke to hear a roar and strange cracking noises. Three walls of the house in which he lived had collapsed. After the noises subsided, he got out of bed to inspect the damage. It was then he realized he’d been sitting unharmed on the bed. What was left of the house was a wall and part of the roof, but it was the very wall on which was hung the cheerful photo of Sathya Sai Baba.

The following story is similar, but it happened with one of my Russian friends. Alexander sat down in front of a photograph of Sathya Sai Baba late in the evening, lit a candle and began to practice mantras. He relaxed so much he did not notice how he fell asleep, yet in a dream he saw Sathya Sai Baba.

Waking in the morning, Alexander saw that during the night, while he was asleep, a fire broke out in his house. The candle fell igniting the tablecloth and as a result the photo of Sathya Sai Baba also caught fire. The fire strangely went out by itself. It is interesting that the photo of Sathya Sai Baba was burned exactly along the contour of his figure.

55. Bright thoughts, wise words, and perfect actions

Someone can describe to you the sweet taste of a ripe mango beautifully and colorfully, but until you taste the mango directly for yourself, you will not be able to understand the wonderful taste and sweetness of the mango.

(Sathya Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 24)

Mango is not just a sweet and tasty fruit, but a deep symbol meaning the fruits of human good deeds. To taste sweet mango, symbolically, means to gain the fruits of spiritual awareness, harmony, and peace. Meeting with Sathya Sai Baba, itself, is the result of many good deeds in past lives, but it is important not only to see the external form of Sathya Sai Baba, but with the help of his blessings to find peace in the soul and to open the endless space of possibilities and potentials in your heart. Sathya Sai Baba poured out mercy on everyone who came to see him and he brought down the divine energy, which brought people into amazing mystical states and helped them experience the infinity of consciousness.

Reading books can help you gain intellectual knowledge while the path of meditation allows you to gain the treasure of self-realization. In meditation, the delusion that you are a limited being disappears, just as darkness disappears when the sun rises in the morning. You are the master of your thoughts, words, and actions, which means only you create your reality. There are no accidents in life – everything is the result of cause and effect. In meditation the illusion of separation and conflict dissolves and the true reality of unity in diversity remains.

The mango is a symbol of the spiritual fruits you receive as a result of intensive and deep practice of meditation and service in society. In meditation all doubts and conflicts come to an end. Your bright thoughts, wise words, and perfect actions create a happy and joyful space.

If something does not make you happy or does not bring you joy, leave it with gratitude and move on with your wonderful life, for you consciously and freely choose only that which brings joy, happiness, contentment, bliss, and peace into your life.

56. Self-esteem and inner freedom

It is difficult for people to understand what spirituality is and what individual freedom is. If you analyze the divine principle more deeply, you will realize that true spirituality and individual freedom are one in essence.

(Sathya Sai Baba – "Summer Showers of Brindavan", 1990)

There are quite a lot of misconceptions that spirituality and individual freedom are allegedly in conflict. The essence of spirituality is in the realization of the Truth about the nature of one's Self. Personal freedom is the most important foundation of the spiritual process of self-knowledge. A free person trusts his intuition, while a person deprived of freedom is guided by domineering opinions. A free person is responsible for his actions, while a person deprived of inner freedom shifts responsibility to others.

A free-thinking person is able to reflect on the essence of his soul, while a person deprived of inner freedom can only memorize the thoughts of others. Whatever the great thoughts of the sages, they do not need to be thoughtlessly memorized, because then they become dogma. Personal freedom ultimately leads to the core of the Absolute Self, which only a truly free person can open.

True freedom is always associated with caring for everyone around you. If you realize your freedom to the detriment of other people, then this is ordinary selfishness, which has nothing to do with freedom. Many books have been written and many sermons delivered about the need to love and care for others, but all this has long become dogmas and beautiful words.

Only one who practices meditation begins to deeply feel the unity of all people. Feeling the unity of all that exists, a deep understanding of morality and ethics arise, but not as dry and lifeless book ideas, but as a natural need of a spiritual person.

People around you may be friendly, support your ideas and projects, but some of your relatives and friends may be very negative. They may constantly try to instill in you that you are allegedly not capable of doing anything in life. Remember that you are free because of what you know about yourself and your talents. This self-understanding is more important than what others think.

When your self-esteem is more valuable to you than what the world around you can dictate, you not only understand your purpose in life, but you begin to embody all your talents and share the things that are really important in life.

57. Believe in yourself and make your choice

This next story seems so insignificant on the surface, but in fact it shows Sathya Sai Baba's amazing attentiveness to every detail and to every person.

One day Sathya Sai Baba came to Mumbai (Bombay) to meet his devotees and students studying under the program of the Universities of Sathya Sai Baba. Preparations were made for his arrival, including many students lining up in front of the entrance of the university. Each of them had one red flower in their hands, which they were going to present to their dear guest.

Among the greeters was a small boy, who was taking a preparatory course and was not yet a university student, so he was not allowed to stand in the front row, and he was not allowed to give Sathya Sai Baba a flower. The boy was very upset about this but decided not to give up. Finally, the long-awaited day came for the meeting of Sathya Sai Baba, and his car drove up.

The young boy edged his way toward the students awaiting Sathya Sai Baba’s approach and quietly squeezed through the crowd. He really wanted to give Sathya Sai Baba a flower, and he must have been very worried he would not be given such an opportunity. Seeing a simple flower on the ground in front of him, the boy must have joyfully picked it up.

Sathya Sai Baba passed by the students with each one offering him a flower. As a sign to show each student he accepted their offering, Sathya Sai Baba simply smiled and touched each flower. As there was an empty seat in the front row, the boy, going unnoticed by anyone, confidently stood up with the other students. When Sathya Sai Baba approached the little boy, he gladly took the flower into his hands.

The meeting lasted quite a long time and throughout the whole program Sathya Sai Baba lovingly held this small flower in his hands. Everyone around was surprised as to where this flower in his hands had come from until they realized it was the flower given to him by the young boy.

There were many miracles, unusual events, and stories in Sathya Sai Baba's life. Some of his miracles are very significant and even amazing, and some seem barely noticeable, but that did not make them any less significant in their essence. In fact, there were no trifles for him.

This story shows that freedom can manifest itself in many ways. Each of us regularly makes choices. Only a person who believes in himself can make his choice in life and achieve his goal.