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The Cave of Vasishta
Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
The twenty-sixth of July, 1957,
was full of pleasant memories for the devotees and the residents
of Sivanandashram, for Baba boarded a bus and proceeded along
the bank of the Ganges to a palace of the Rani of Garhwal for a
quiet morning.
On the way back Baba stopped the bus at a place where a thin
little iron post carried a half-distinct nameplate reading "The
Cave of Vasishta" (Guru of Rama). He descended the rather
precipitous incline to the river bank as if he had been there
often before, and as if he were aware of a prearranged
engagement with the occupant of the cave. The Ganges curves
widely near the cave, and so the scenery was doubly attractive.
The cave bears a hallowed name; it has been sanctified by the
austerities performed therein by many great recluses and monks
in the past. Swami Purushotamananda, a disciple of Swami
Brahamananda of the Ramakrishna order, had been initiated into
monastic life by Mahapurushji, another direct disciple of Sri
Ramakrishna. The Swami had been in the cave for thirty years. he
welcomed Baba as if expecting him. He was more than seventy
years old and had spent the major part of his life in asceticism
of a most rigorous kind and in the study of the scriptures. His
face had the genuine glow of spiritual joy and the slightest
mention of the glory of the Godhead sent him into samadhi, the
depths of inner bliss. When a young man of twenty-seven,
Brahamanandaji had read his palm at Kanyakumari and predicted
that he would go into a cave for continuous meditation.
Baba repeated the visit the next evening in spite of a
thunderous sky and the grumbling of those who accompanied him,
but both ceased by his grace. Baba sang a number of songs while
at the cave. Hearing that the Swami had been suffering from
chronic stomach-ache for many years, Baba "took" some candy from
nowhere and gave it to him with instructions about diet.
More mysterious and significant was the Vision that he gave to
Swami Purushotamananda that evening. As early as 1918, the Swami
had written to his Master, "All is false and I cannot rest
satisfied until and unless I come face to face with Truth!"
After sending everyone outside the cave, Baba and the sage went
into the inner room. Sri Subbaramiah, President of the Divine
Life Society at Venkatagiri, describes what he was able to see
from outside the cave: "Even now that picture is imprinted in my
memory. I was standing near the entrance to the cave. I could
see what was happening through a chink in the door. Baba placed
his head on the lap of Swami Purushotamananda and lay himself
down. Suddenly his entire body was bathed in divine brilliance.
His head and face appeared to me to have increased very much in
size. Rays of splendor emanated from his face. I was overwhelmed
with a strange inexplicable joy." When later asked to divulge
the nature of the vision, Baba informed us that it was a vision
of the darshan of Padmanabha as installed, since childhood, in
his heart. "It was Jyothirpadmanabha". He said Jyothi meaning
Light.
After a minute or two, Baba rose and sitting by the side of the
septuagenarian, called him by name and slowly brought him into
the consciousness of space and time. Baba sang a song on Rama,
composed by Thyagaraja and when he concluded, he waved his hand
and materialised from the air a rosary of sparkling sphatika
beads for Purushotamananda.
Five years later when the Swami left his body behind and merged
in that Truth, Baba announced his departure to me at Puttaparthi
(thousands of miles away). It was a few minutes after the
emergence of the Lingam from Baba's stomach where it grew for
days. It was Mahashivarathri; Baba told me that Swami's body
will be buried with the Sphatika Rosary on the chest. (It was!)
The incidents at Vasishtha cave were literally mind-blowing.
When we were allowed in, we hung on every word that Baba uttered
and gathered every signal of adoration that emanated from the
aged monk - the rising eye-brow, the twinkling eye, the
smothered gasp, the folded palm, the smile that shone atop the
beard. Baba told him of his early trials at the cave, of his
struggles to light a fire and of his amazement, one morning, to
find a package of match boxes hiding in a corner. Baba confirmed
"I placed it there for you". The monk sat up at this surprising
revelation. The attendant monks explained that for many years
they were using fire-stones to get the spark which they would
nourish, feed and foster into flame. They too were aghast at the
discovery, that Baba was aware of their Guru, of his travails
and his needs. "He knows all: He is all" they exclaimed. Man has
no means to identify what cannot be accounted for, explained or
measured. He can only sit silent, dumbfounded in deep dismay.
From:
N. Kasturi, 'Sathyam, Shivam, Sundaram (The Life of Bhagavan Sri
Sathya Sai Baba)', and N. Kasturi, 'Loving God'.
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