Sai Baba the Master by Pujya Acharya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja
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Sai Baba The Master By Pujya Acharya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja. INDEX Introduction 1. The Master Calls Me 2. Sri Sai Baba – A Sketch of His Life (I) 3. A Sketch of His Life (II) 4. The Call of The Guru 5. The Refuge of His Devotees 6. I am ever with you 7. The Guru Is All Gods 8. Sai Baba is in all Saints and Sadhus 9. Baba is all creatures and things 10. Baba’s Omniscience 11. Sai Baba’s Daily Life 12. Sai Baba The Man and The Master 13. The Master and His ways of Teaching 14. The God-man and Tradition 15. Sayings of Sai Baba 16. At the Threshold of Eternity 17. The Off-shoots of Sai Baba 18. The Tomb that Speaks and Moves 19. The Power of Satsang 20. The Harbinger of Grace 21. Sai Baba the Eternal Symbol 22. Appendix I to Appendix VI Sai Baba The Master By Pujya Acharya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja. Sai Baba The Master By Pujya Acharya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja Introduction I Man, in the first flush of scientific advancement, has considered religion to be a relic of superstition of primitive humanity. Today, the very advance of science has brought back the sense of awe and wonder at the immensity of the cosmos. Every step forward in science has made us aware how imperfect and tentative our knowledge has been, and is bound to be. The universe, with its mind-shattering dimensions, distances and speeds, down to the sub-atomic particles is basically a mystery. That our knowledge should be incomplete can be easily understood: If the entire history of life on earth be equated to a hundred years, man’s history occupies about a hundred minutes and that of modern science, a mere two seconds. That our knowledge is bound to be imperfect and incomplete can also be understood: “We know nothing of the universe beyond the effects that its happening produce on our senses, either directly or through the intervention of instruments,” says Sir James Jeans. The sense organs register the various stimuli as vibrations and convey them to the brain. Our mind assembles its image of the external universe from them. The range of perception of our sense is very limited and there are bound to be vibrations which they cannot capture. Thus our experience of the universe is only a fraction of what it is; that too, a subjective projection of it. For we never can experience the source of even the vibrations that our senses gather. This brings us to our knowledge of ourselves. Psychologists tell us that we are aware of only a minute fraction of our psyche, our being, i.e., of our potential for knowledge. Ancient spiritual philosophy which underlies religions and is confirmed by all great saints has a lot to offer us in this realm. It tells us that while our common means of knowledge is the mind functioning outwards through the senses, perceiving the discreteness of things in nature, the introverted mind of the saint goes deep down to the spiritual core of our being and experiences the spiritual unity of all that is. The latter thus realizes that Reality is normally veiled by the very make and functioning of our senses and by our normal awareness which is conditioned by them. In the mystic experience, on the other hand, man recognizes his identity with the Reality of all existence. The common form of knowledge is knowledge of particular things and does not affect our being, while mystical experience is knowledge of the unity of all existence which alchemizes our being. It transcends the limitations of individuality and leads to profound bliss and ‘peace which passeth understanding’. The genuine spiritual experience of great mystics and even of some common individuals should enable us not to confuse their knowledge with the subjective delusions of deranged minds. The perfect blossoming of spiritual values in a genuine mystic, the peace and bliss he experiences and emanates are the promises which spiritual life holds out to humanity. Sai Baba The Master By Pujya Acharya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja. II The significances of an accomplished mystic to religion is inestimable. All major religions sprang from the mystic experience of such - the Rishis of the Vedas and Upanishads; the Masters of Taoism, the Buddha, the Christ and prophet Mohammad. All religions are sustained too, from time to time, by the saints who demonstrate in their lives, the truth of the promise of religious life, that any mortal can realize the Spirit through genuine effort. The individual seekers too derive the true interpretation of the scriptures from the lives and teachings of such. Upanishads say that a disciplined seeker has to seek the guidance of a realized sage and Sri Krishna says the same in The Bhagavadgita (ch. iv : 34). The third of the three vows of Budhism, “ Sangham Sharanam Gacchami ”, affirms the need to seek the association of the wise. The Chirst says, “No one can come to the Father save through me”. He finds it so essential to spiritual life that he chooses to seek baptism from John the Baptist “for righteousness’ sake”. The esoteric school of Islam, Sufism , enjoins a seeker to resort to the Pir-O-Murshad . Even modern saints like Guru Nanak and Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa were divinely directed to Masters even at an advanced stage of sadhana. The point is driven home even more powerfully in world’s mythologies. In Hinduism, Lord Dattatreya is the Avatar that manifests Himself to awaken and lead mankind to the verities of spiritual life. It is he that reveals himself in all the world’s perfect masters of wisdom. The Budha and the Bodhisattvas are said to reincarnate for the same end. Every Christian saint had declared at the moment of realization that Christ lives in him and not he. Sai Baba of Shirdi has demonstrated that the One spirit of wisdom of all saints is He. Further, all the world’s mystical works say that association with a Master is of greater value than the study of scriptures. For the Master interprets the scriptures in a manner which is appropriate to his times and to the individual seekers and thus enables them to live up to the spirit (rather than the letter) of religion. III Yet it is hard to recognize genuine spiritual masters among the teeming half-baked ones with false claims. It is the latter class that make organized religion an odious mess that repels the cultured today. To help the common seekers to find genuine Masters, all religions have adopted some common means. Firstly, the lives and teachings of great masters bring into relief the hall marks of such a one. Some scriptures even clearly spell them as The Bhagavadgita does the qualities of a sthithaprajna , or one who is firmly established in wisdom. Even with this help, not all can discern a true Master, For there are several clever ones who can successfully deceive people - “wolves in the lamb’s coat”, as the Bible says. Here certain religious traditions have pointed to a higher law which can help. It is said that when the seeker is earnest in his efforts and ripe to receive the Master he is sure to arrive. The Bridegroom knocks and we have to be watchful. All that we can and ought to do lies in preparing to receive the Master. Sai Baba The Master By Pujya Acharya Sri Ekkirala Bharadwaja. The most potent means of self-preparation is the devout and intelligent study of the lives and teachings of the great Masters. The Master is the bridge between the human and the Divine, objectively. When a seeker reads his life, the human in the seeker intuits and intuitively contacts the Divine in himself and the inner bridge is thus built. When the process is complete, his accomplishment is corroborated by the external contact with the Master and eventually, the external and the internal become one. The Master is thus within (as “the Kingdom of heaven” is) and without (as the Christ is) too. The Master and the seeker thus become one in the Spirit. In the earlier stages of such reading, the seeker is charmed by a vision, in the Master, of his own infinite spiritual potentialities being realized and is thus spurred on to zealous, optimistic endeavour. The infinite power and love of the Master grips the seeker’s heart in steadfast devotion. From the lay stage of craving for worldly good in prayer, he becomes a true seeker of the Divine which is Love and Bliss, for its own sake. Such a one would most willingly bear the cross of worldly suffering, his heart set on the goal, the end of all sorrow, and follow the Master. Let us remember that all true Hindu, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims are people who are drawn to true religion by the lives of the sages, the Buddhas, the Christ and the Prophet. This tradition is represented by the works, Sri Gurucharitra in Maharashtra (India), and by Periyapuranam in Tamilnadu. In ancient India The Gurugita and The Bhagavata were widely used for the purpose. The instances of readers who were divinely directed to their Masters by such study are legion. The most famous is the instance of young Venkataraman being galvanized into an ardent seeker by a study of The Periyapuranam and, after his subsequent Self-realization which can be traced to it, he became famous as Sri Ramana Maharshi . The immediate presence of a sage is a myriad times more effective than all of one’s own spiritual endeavours.