Respected
elders, brothers and sisters and my young friends.
During a
very significant speech in 1981, Swami spoke about the
'eight flowers of worship'. Out of these He said that
Ahimsa, non-violence, is the most important. Swami's
concept of Ahimsa is far beyond the connotations of
not causing physical harm. His concept of Ahimsa is
not causing harm in word, thought and deed!
I would
like to commence today with an offering of such a flower at
the Feet of our Lord.
Albert
Einstein, the famous physicist, was once asked whether it is
possible for him to explain Divinity in scientific terms. He
said that it is conceivable but it would make no sense; it
would be like explaining Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in the
form of an air pressure curve. We have the same kind of a
problem in speaking about Bhagavan's Divinity. The Living
Divinity cannot be explained in metaphors or examples; the
limited cannot comprehend the unlimited; no form can contain
it; the wayward cannot measure the stable; or the now
measure the ever. We can only repeat the words of Sir Isaac
Newton who said after enunciating the principle of gravity
"I feel like a little boy playing with the pebbles on the
seashore while the ocean of Truth lay all undiscovered
before me".
Bhagavantham tells the story of how in the early years Swami
once materialised a beautiful sapphire and stuck it on the
statue of Shirdi Sai next to him. Bhagavantham was not only
a staunch devotee but also a renowned scientist. The
scientist in him wondered how the sapphire stood there
without any ostensible means of support defying all laws of
gravity. He started chuckling to himself, "Here I am
accepting the principle miracle of the creation of a
sapphire and I am questioning the secondary miracle of the
sapphire defying the laws of gravity. Surely one who creates
matter can also transcend the laws of matter."
A Malaysian
devotee once told me the story of how 20 miles from
Prashanti Nilayam his car stopped for want of gas. This was
his first visit to Prashanti Nilayam and it was late
evening. He was naturally concerned; he prayed to Swami,
"Swami, make this car move forward to Prashanti Nilayam this
evening." He prayed, asked the driver to start, and the
engine stuttered and they started moving to Prashanti
Nilayam. Next day the grateful devotee told Swami at
Darshan time, "Swami thank you for the Grace of moving
this car to Prashanti Nilayam without gas." Swami looked at
him and said, "But that was not your only problem." Puzzled
he went back, filled gas in the car, started the engine and
turned the wheel. The wheel just locked and a mechanic was
brought who found out that there was a broken tie-rod end.
There was no way this car could have travelled 20 miles with
or without gas. How many of us have travelled in cars with
our broken tie-rod ends fixed unbeknown to us by this cosmic
welder.
On this
forum, several devotees in the last few days have shared
their experiences of Swami. Each one of us have received
this benediction from Swami if only we know where to look
for it. Some of these we know; many like the Malaysian
devotee we do not know at all. Howard Murphet, whose books
have brought more foreign devotees to Swami than any other
writer, calls all these 'parables in action'.
Whenever
Swami materialises something, blows into something and
creates something else or cures an affliction, He is in fact
demonstrating these 'parables in action'. Their purpose is
not to make us richer, or to cure an affliction but to
demonstrate to us and instruct us in the science of being
and in the art of living through the demonstration of His
Omniwill.
I would
like to share with you one such parable, one of many that I
was privileged to have. I would like to share with you not
the experience but the education behind the experience - it
was like learning at the Feet of Divinity.
As an
international corporate citizen, I had moved from country to
country and finally moved from continent to continent. As
the
story I am about to tell has a lot of political
implications, I seek your indulgence not to name the country
where this took place as some of the people involved are
still alive today. This country was a totalitarian military
state and had had 3 major coups. There were 3 ethnic groups
in the country - Muslims with political clout; Christians
with economic strength; and tribal leaders who had their own
axe to grind. Because of recent struggles there was a
distrust of foreigners, particularly Asians. There was no
constitution in this country and there was complete anarchy.
I had heard of friends who had been taken away in the middle
of the night and were never heard of since. There were
summary executions - this was the order of the day. You
could see bodies tied to automobile tyres and set fire to at
the end of the streets; the stench of burning flesh and
vulcanised rubber quite often rent the air. This was the
background of the country where we wanted to introduce
Swami's concept of Education in Human Values. We organised a
conference of secondary school teachers and in order to give
a big PR event to this incident, I was given the
responsibility of inviting the wife of the president of this
country to inaugurate the session and preside over the first
day. I went and met the president's wife, she listened
patiently and ultimately said that her office would get back
to us as to whether she can preside or not.
A couple of
days later, as I was driving to work I found that there was
a big black limousine that was following me. I was concerned
because this country had a fearsome secret service system. I
made some enquiries with a contact that I had in the
government and I learned that an enquiry had been ordered
against me. As there was a lot of religious strife in the
area in which we were living probably meeting the
president's wife the previous week had triggered off a
suspicion that our's is might be a religious institution and
therefore needs to be followed. In the meantime the wife of
the president had declined our invitation. My contact in the
government confirmed my suspicion that I was in fact the
target of an investigation and said that people were being
taken away in the middle of the night never to come back; he
strongly advised and cautioned me that I must quietly leave
the country. The Indian Ambassador who I consulted one day
before the event confirmed this and also strongly advised me
to leave the country. I was very concerned and left for home
a day before the function.
The day of
the conference had come; in order to protect my identity
they did not announce my name - they announced me as a
spokesperson. My job was to talk about EHV and introduce the
speaker of the day who was Victor Kanu. But in view of the
religious sensitivity I was advised that I should make no
mention of Sai or of the institutions which He heads. With
great trepidation I climbed the stage; as I went up I found
the same secret service agents who had followed me sitting
in the first row - my steps faltered. I started with a
silent prayer to Swami, but very soon I threw caution to the
winds. Instead of talking about EHV, I spoke about the
Author of EHV; I spoke about Swami; I spoke about
SanathanaDharma; I spoke about Hinduism; I spoke about
everything I was advised about not to speak. I had decided
that if I was to go down I would go down with the Name of
the Lord on my lips.
The talk
was over and I went back home. Thoughts of being picked up
and being incarcerated were very much in my mind. I was at
home and the phone rang at 9.05 that night. I was certain
that it was someone trying to tip me off to leave the
country - but it was a friend of mine. He asked me whether I
was watching the television. I said, "Why would I watch the
television - I am waiting to be picked up!" The television
in this country was totally controlled by the government.
9pm was prime time when every single set would be turned on.
I turned on the television - I could not believe my eyes.
There was full coverage of the morning's programme; my whole
speech was telecast; my name and occupation were mentioned;
my anonymity was over. Not only that but there was a full
presentation of that morning's function; nothing about EHV,
but all about Swami, His Teachings, and Hinduism. Swami was
presented as an Eastern Messiah. All this happened in a
country that was very much opposed to religious activities.
It was mind-boggling. I did not know what was happening. The
entire prime time news was only about this morning's
presentation and covered all that I was advised not to speak
about.
Next
morning my contact in the government telephoned me. He said
something strange is happening here. There was a handwritten
ledger on the report that said I must be investigated and
this ledger was serially numbered. When he went to that
ledger that morning he found that the particular instruction
that said I must be investigated was completely missing, but
the ledger number continuity was maintained! There was no
way that anyone could have torn the paper; only this
particular instruction had completely vanished.
And
there was more; within a week the Secretary of Education in
the country called me and asked me whether I could give a
write-up on EHV so that it could be introduced to the
country's secondary schools.
More
wonders; the Teachers Union, normally a very militant body,
invited me to talk to them and they set up a conference
which became the focus for introducing EHV at secondary
school level in that country. This was the first country
outside India to have formally accredited EHV in the
secondary school system.
What was
happening here? This was not mere materialisation or curing
an affliction. This is something that broke barriers. This
is something that completely changed the ethos. This is
something that created a new order of things. What was Swami
trying to convey here? He was only trying to convey that His
work will always be done and that His Will will always be
supreme. As He said three days ago
"Why
does the sun rise; why do the stars hide their splendour in
the day and show themselves in the night? Who ordered air to
be around us all time; why do these streams roar and gurgle?
I created the world with one word at My pleasure; I made
mountains rise and with one word I placed knowledge upon
mankind."
Sir Arthur
Eddington the famous physicist said that the world is a wave
of thought. Every law of nature, every action and reaction,
every parable and happening that you hear in these forums is
a witness to the vital vibration of His Divinity in the
gross, subtle and causal cosmos. Swami once wrote,
"I move
in the outer space. From those lofty heights I go to the
devotee, first as thought, then as fragrance and then as
light."
Sai
experience is a combination of that light, of that thought
and of that fragrance. You have seen here the world come to
Swami - I have seen Swami go to the rest of the world. At a
UN conference at Osaka , Japan two years ago, I saw 10,000
delegates give a standing ovation to a group of Japanese
children performing a ballet on the values of Sathya,
Dharma, Shanti and Prema. In probably the most
popular square in Spain every Sunday devotees sing songs of
peace and harmony watched by residents and visitors.
During a
skiing holiday in the Austrian Alps my wife and I attended a
Bhajan session at a little hamlet of 200 people, in
the middle of nowhere where 20 Austrians who had never
stepped out of Europe performed Bhajans and held a
workshop. When out of deference to them my wife chose to
sing a German song the leader said "No, in Sanskrit please".
In the forests of West Africa , I have seen native tribes
commence their daily meeting singing the song " Ore
Baba, OseBaba".
And at a
Sai retreat that I attended a few years ago in Argentina at
the time of the Kosovo crisis one young adult asked a
question, "If Sai Baba is raising human consciousness why
are the children of Kosovo being murdered?" Pat came the
answer from another young adult, "When Hitler's hordes
roamed through Germany the world kept quiet; they did not
even shed a silent tear. But when the children in Kosovo
were being murdered the world roared back." That is how Sai
Baba is elevating human consciousness - slowly and
imperceptibly the world is turning into a golden age.
Swami told
Howard Murphet that the golden age was coming. Howard
Murphet then asked what work would Prema Sai do? Sai said
"He will have plenty of work. Prema Sai will elevate human
consciousness to Divine heights. Not only will there be a
lot of work but He will also need a lot of help."
What kind
of help, wondered Howard Murphet; then he remembered the
story of how in a time of great flooding a man stood on top
of his roof to escape the waters. When the water was rising
higher the man prayed to God to save him. Soon a man came in
a boat and asked him to get in. The man said "No, I have
prayed to God and He will come and help me." Soon the waters
rose nearly to his feet. Then another man came in a
helicopter and dropped a rope. The man said "No, I will not
come with you; I have prayed to God and He will help me."
The laws of nature soon took their course and the man
drowned. He went to heaven and asked God why He did not help
him in his time of need. God said "I sent you a man with a
boat and later, when you refused him another man with a
helicopter?but you did not accept that help." The man
understood; God is in everybody and He needs a million hands
to help Him.
In
establishing this, Swami has been saying that His Life is
His message. He has been living that message particularly in
the last 15 months. Ever since the drama of His fall He has
been living one particular message - that He is not the
body. Over 2000 years ago at another time and in another
place in distant Jerusalem another cosmic being allowed
Himself to bleed on the Cross in order to establish to the
children of Israel one facet of reality. Everyday, Swami has
been establishing with perfect equipoise the same facet of
reality to all of us that 'I am not the body'. The reality
that 'I am God'; the reality that Brahma Sathyam Jagat
Mithya. It is for us to accept or reject this reality.
It's rather
like the search for the Holy Grail. There is a lot of wealth
and fame and pain in the so-called materialistic success
story that I myself tried to follow 30 years ago. But in the
evening of my life, like Percival (a Knight) I have come to
the Fisher's King to ask Him; "Where does the Holy Grail
lie?" The Grail serves the Grail King who lives in the
innermost recesses of the castle. When Percival received
this answer his search was over. The Grail King is a symbol
of man's inner God.
Knowing
this truth, it is glorious to be alive today - not only to
be alive but to be aware that God is physically here is a
privilege that millions never had! The only gratitude that
we can offer for this privilege is to lay down our lives as
flowers at His Lotus Feet. Sai Ram.
(Prof Anantharaman worked as the CEO of a Transnational
Business conglomerate based in Switzerland, as an adjunct
professor in several business schools including the Harvard
Business School and is currently a faculty member in the
School of Business Management at Puttaparthi)
Source:
Radio Sai
E-Magazine, June 2005
http://www.radiosai.org/Journals/Vol_03/06JUN01/living_divinity.htm