ONCE IN A LIFE TIME PILGRIMAGE
After attending a marriage in Hyderabad on May 10th, we started our pilgrimage to uttaranchal. We reached Delhi on May 12th at about 1.00 a. m because of the delayed Jet airways flight. We had to catch a flight from Delhi at 5.00 a. m on May 13th to go to Jammu to go Vishnvodevi up in the Jammu hills. We reached Jammu in the morning and the taxi was waiting for us to go to Katra from where we have to go to the Vishnodevi temple by walk, or pony or dolly or helicopter. We chose helicopter which took only 4 minutes. From the helipod, the temple is about a couple of kilometres. We need to walk or go by pony ride. We chose pony ride which took about 30 minutes including walking to the sacred shrine. The real thrill one will get is only by walk or pony. We missed that. We had a wonderful darsan and went back to Jammu for over night stay. Few days before we went, there was a threat that they were going to blow the Vishnodevi. Fortunately nothing has happened. Next day on May 14th before we fly back to Delhi, we went to visit Raghunath temple in the heart of city of Jammu. This temple is dedicated to Lord Rama is outstanding and unique in northern India. The other temple we visited was also in the city centre was Ranbireshwar temple. This temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It has one central Lingam measuring seven and half feet height and twelve other shiva lingas. We can do abhisheka to all the siva lingas! Both the temples are well worth visiting.
The helicopter ride costs Rs. 4000/return for person.
After visiting the two temples, we went to the air port to go to Delhi. We reached Delhi at 3.00 p. m in the afternoon and planned to go and visit Akshardham ( The big Swaminarayana temple opened late last year).
Akshardham (if you remember I did send some beautiful photos couple of months ago) is a unique complex of Indian culture in India’s capital. It was set in a vast 100-acre site. It beautifully showcases Indian art, wisdom, heritage and values of our sanatana Dharma. The focal point of the entire complex is the grand Akshardham Monument, built of pink stone and white marble. IT IS CLOSED ON MONDAYS.
Apart from the different monuments about 20 of them, I liked Bharat Upavan, a cultural garden comprises about 22 acres of beautifully cultivated and aristically designed lawns, trees, plants and shrubs. The garden displays about more than 60 bronze statues of India’s great men, women and children whose lives inspire all to nobler heights.. The view of Aksjardham from here is majestic. One should not miss the Sun chariot and the Moon chariot with its 16 deers. At 7.30 p.m there will be a musical fountains for about 20 minutes which was divine and serene to finish the day. PLEASE DO NOT MISS.
If you want to see the whole area, it would take about 3 hours. Fortunately there were wheel chairs. We got a wheel chair and my good wife’s wheel chair skills she learned when I was ill 7 years ago were very useful at Akshardham.
You can visit www.akshardham.com to know more about this excellent delightful place.
On May 15th, after breakfast we started our journey to Uttaranchal, the newly formed state a few years ago whose capital city is Dehradoon. We selected Tayota quails even though we are just two people, as we were told that it is the most suitable vehichle for those roads up on the hills. Our destination is Rishikesh which is about 250 kms which took about 6 hours. We had been Rishikesh and Haridwar before about two years ago. At that time we were not able to witness the evening Arthi at River Ganga and also we could not visit some parts of Sivananda Ashram. You should not miss to visit Sivanada Ashram. There is samadhi of sivanada, near the excellent library with full of devotional books and magazines. There is a Bhajan hall, very good book shop where you can get books, dvds etc. There are also various articles used by Dr.sivanada were on display. It is a delight to view them. Sivananda was a Medical doctor and his original name was Kuppuswamy. There are a few other thigs like Lakshman jula, Sivananda julas or Ram jula. These are the bridges on the river Ganga. Rishikesh is the gate way to go to chardham, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangothri. We had over night stay in Rishikesh and started to Kedarnath on May 16th, after breakfast.
Our next destination was Rudraprayag about 145 kms which took about 5 hours. From Rishikesh onwards the road is up the hills and rather tricky. You can have beautiful sights on the way and you can witness several sadhus walking all the way to Badrinath and Kedarnath in all weathers! Rudraprayag is the junction of the roads to the shrines of Badrinath and Kedarnath. It is situated at the confluence of Mandakini river flowing from Kedarnath and the Alakanda river coming from Badrinath. It is said sage Narada meditated here for several years. Our destination to over night stay is Guptakashi which is about 42 kms from Rudraprayag again lovely vies on the way and the road gets trickier as we go up with water falls. Guptakashi is situated at a height of 1480 meters above sea-level. The pujari of Kedarnath lives in a village near Guptakashi from November to April when the temple is closed for darshan for public.
Our accommodation in Guptakashi was chardham comlex about 2 kms away from Guptakashi on the way to Gaurikund and Kedarnath. It is a lovely site surrounded by snowy hill slopes. There are several huts with theirn own bath and europian toilet facilities. It is so quite, serene with no pollution and you can watch the snowy mountain of Kedarnath. It is a delightful site next morning with Sun rise and there is a priest chanting Mrutyumjaya mantra early in the morning which was a delight. The food is also excellent. The site manager was very helpful and explained the conditions at Kedar and he kindly sent somebody with us to Kedarnath to help me to have a trouble free darsan at Kedarnath which is about 49 kms, 35 kms by road up to Gowrikund and 14 kms by walk, by pony or Palki .
We started on May 16th after breakfast and blessings from the priest to Gowrikund and our journey by car stops there. It is a very busy place with full of cars, coaches, ponys and people with palkies. No space for parking the vehicles, so they have to go to Guptakashi to park the vehicles and come back next day to receive us.
The man that came with us to help me negotiated the palkies for both of us. We need to walk up from where we got down from the car to the place where our journey to Kedarnath starts. We were advised to carry oxygen cylinders in case we get short of breath at an altitude of about 12 thousand feet. You coud get one by paying Rs. 350/ and if you do not use it, they will refund Rs.250 back next day when you come back. We were also warned we could get headache at that altitude, so you need to take some pain killers and you should not forget your usual medication if you are on any. It is advisable to take as little things as possible just for over night stay. We need to take heavy woollens and a rain coat in case it rains on the way. We can get plastic coats for Rs.20/.
Our journey started in palki which is carried by four people two in front and two at the back. If you are a bit obese as we are, the palki is not very comfortable. You have to squeeze your self. We have no alternative. We need to be good with people carrying you for 14 kms high up the hills and a vally of about 12 thousand feet and stones might be falling at any time on the way. It did rain on that day and we had to wear the plastic rain coats. It is very tricky situation. The only thing one can do is chanting Aum namah sivaya hopping that nothing can happen. We went prepared for anything. If something happens on the way to Kedarnath, we prepared for that. But only lucky people get that opportunity. We are not that lucky. It is a delightful journey and difficult to describe in words, the water falls and the sound of the water flowing and people chanting Jai Krdarnath and very good sayings along the way. As you go up, the journey becomes harder but at the same time the hope and anticipation of reaching the shrine can mitigate the hardship. If you go by helicopter , you do not get this thrill and excitement. We felt glad that we went by road. As soon as we reached Kedarnath, it was really very cold. We took our winter coats and sweaters but still felt very cold. The accommodation rooms have no heating but they gave very thick blankets which was not too bad. About 7.00 p. m there is Arthi at the temple..It is about 500 meters from our room to the shrine, The man that came to help me knows people there. So he took us into the shrine to have darshan and we booked for special puja with Abhishekam at 3.00 a.m the next day morning. It was delightful to witness the Arthi in the open cold evening at 12 thousand feet altitude with snowy Himalayan mountains in the background. We went back to the room and had our hot dinner and mangos which we took from Rishikesh and had a reasonable night in spite of the cold and the priest came and woke up at 3.00 a.m to go the shrine. It was not very pleasant I can tell you but with the hope of touching the Jyotirling and to do Abhishekam to the Jyotirling encouraged us to go chanting Aum namah sivaya. Luckily I was given a chair to sit in the shrine near the Jyotirling as it would take an hour and half to get our chance to do puja and Abhishekam. It went very well and felt very happy to be in the shrine in Kedarnath, Just behind the shrine, there is samadhi of Sri Adi Sankara is there. We went there and took a couple photographs and went back to the hotel to get a hot breafast, chapatti and hot curry. In the north, they do not know how to make a good cup of coffee and is better take tea. At 7.00 a. m our palki people came and started the journey back with sun shine. As it is a slop , they take less time to come down than to go up. It took 6 hours to go up and four hours to come down. They do stop several times for tea and breakfast for which they expect us to pay. You have no choice in the matter. Your life is in their hands! While coming down it is easy for them to carry but foe us it is very uncomfortable as they run, you will be jumping up and down with back sore and sore in your bums! While going up, it is rather hard for them and get tired easily. You feel very sad. At the same time there were elderly both men and women, children and some disabled were walking all the way for 14 kms. We were ashamed. They are the real devotees. By the time we were down , our driver and vehicle were ready for us and we returned the oxygen cylinderback and got Rs. 250 back. By the way I had slightly headache up at the Kedarnath and I took a couple of panadal that cured my headache. By 2.00 p. m we were back to Guptakashi for another night’s stay in the chardham camp. That was our Kedarnath trip. By the way the cost for each palky was Rs.3500 return and about two hundred for tea and breakfast and gave another Rs.500 as a thank you for bringing us back safely. The worst part of our trip was over without any accidents and incidents. Thank God for that. IT IS SAID THAT KEDARNATH IS HEART BEAT OF THE MIGHT HIMALAYAS.
JAI KEDARNADH to be contd…
Monday, November 20, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
80 BLISSFUL YEARS Dr.Kurri Pakirareddy
Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba (Swamy) will be 80 years of age on 23rd November 2005, the day the whole world will celebrate His Divine Birthday in a grandest fashion. Many have prophesied the advent of Swamy. Fr example: a)" A well known astrology professor Sri Ganjur Narayana Sastry traced a Shuka Nadi Grantha (a volume of palm leaf manuscripts by sage Shuka) on Sri Satya Sai Baba entitled Saicharitamrita Grantham. It describes accurately and at length Sri Satya Sai Baba’s family tree and many facts about Him. Among other things, the palm leaves say: Born in Akshaya year, in the month of Karthika, on Monday, Krishna chaturdasi, in Ardhra star, visuchika lagnam, this person of divine aspects was previously Shiridivasa (a resident of Shiridi). He is a sankalpa siddha (one who can do things through His will), a person of great powers, but with no love for worldly glory and money" ("living Divinity" Shakunthala Balu, p51) b) Nostradamus book of prophesies entitled ‘Centuries’ has documented that a very great leader would be born in a place surrounded by three seas. Three seas surround South India. The book continues to say that His efforts would bring an end to world war and it would spread spirituality far and wide. He would observe Thursday as His holy day. C) In the 25-volume collection of Prophet Mohammed’s discourses titled ‘The ocean of Light’, Satya Sai’s advent has been prophesied. Volume 13 called ‘Mehdi Moud’ which means ‘The great teacher that was promised’ also referred to as ‘The Master of the world’ has very clear descriptions, which fit Satya Sai accurately. A few of them are listed. 1) His hair will be profuse. 2) His fore head will be large and concave. 3) He will have a mole on His cheek. 4) All the treasures of the world are under His feet. 5) He will live 95 years on earth (Swamy often said that He would leave His physical body in the 96th year). 6) All the teachings of all religions of the world will be in His heart from birth. 7) He will make the world full of peace, the list goes on. This extraordinary description of Satya Sai Baba is an astonishing prophecy, which seems impeccable in its accuracy.
d) Sri Aurobindo of Pondicherry, a great Indian spiritual leader broke his silence to tell his disciples on 24th November 1926 (the day after Swamy was born) "Krishna Consciousness has now descended into the physical" and then went back into silence. Several others also prophesied which are beyond the scope of this tiny article. As prophesied, Swamy was born on 23rd November 1926 at 5 a. m Tuesday (Monday according to Telugu calendar) in Bharadwaja Gothra after 8 years of passing away of Shiridi Sai Baba on 15th October 1918 on Dasara day through ‘pravesa’ not through ‘prasava’ as other Avatars born in a similar way.
As a child, He demonstrated exemplary qualities of compassion, generosity, and wisdom, which clearly distinguished Him from the other children of His village. On 29th October 1940, at the age of 14, He declared to His family and to the people of His village that He would hence forth be known as Sai Baba and that His mission was to bring about the spiritual regeneration of humanity by demonstrating and teaching the highest principles of truth, right conduct, peace and divine love.
\Swamy’s Ashram, built by His devotees close to the village where He was born, was inaugurated on 23rd November 1950. It is called Prasanthi Nilayam (the abode of divine peace). It has been the meeting place of millions of spiritual pilgrims of various faiths from all over the world. Every day Swamy graciously walks among them to guide, comfort, console and uplift them twice daily both in the morning and afternoon. He is doing like this for more than 50 years practicing and preaching the highest ideals of truth, right conduct, peace, love and non violence. He has often stated, "My life is my message".
Swamy places great importance on proper EDUCATION for young pupils. Parents and community leaders are urged to concern themselves with the information as well as the formal experiences to which their children and young adults are exposed. He has established a model education system which includes primary schools, secondary schools and an accredited university in various campuses, offering education from K G to PG including Ph D degrees FREE OF CHARGE to students and admission is open to all, regardless of race, religion or economic condition which is UNHEARD OF ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. In addition to emphasizing the per suit of academic excellence, Satya Sai Baba’s system of "integral education" is designed to foster self -discipline and pro social conduct. Students are required to take courses on morality and spirituality and devote several hours each week to some form of community service. Swamy says, "that the end of education is character".
Swamy also places greater importance in HEATH CARE and built ultra modern super speciality hospitals both in Puttaparthi and Banglore. Highly specialised operations including open-heart operations and kidney transplant are performed routinely. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE TO THE PATIENT for professional or hospital expenses including medication and food, which is UNHEARD OF ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. Motivated by the desire to serve humanity, doctors, nurses and other workers in the hospital render extraordinary, loving care to all patients. I was fortunate to go and see these hospitals in person which are comparable to any hospital in the west, both in treatments and equipment and more so in neatness and hygiene. It is a delight to enter these temples of treatment, which are unique in design and style. There are so many other services to the needy in villages by water supply, mobile clinics and cleaning the streets of villages and towns. There are too many to mention. As you may be aware, recently Chennai was supplied with water through Sai Ganga.
Swamy’s message: It is very difficult to describe His message in words and it is beyond human comprehension. A few drops of this ocean of Sai Baba’s teachings, an attempt to encapsulate its essence follows: Swamy urges mankind to
-Believe in God for there is only one God for all mankind. He may be called by many names.
-Follow sincerely their respective religions and live their daily lives in consonance with the teachings of good behaviour and morality.
-Respect all religions, for no religion advocates the negative and lower qualities of man.
-Perform selfless service to the poor, the sick and the needy elderly without thought of any reward or fame.
-Cultivate in their lives, the value of truth, divine love, right conduct, peace and non-violence and promote these values among all.
-Be patriotic and respect the law of the country in which they live.
Swami has reiterated that service is indeed the best form of worship. "Selfless service is a more exalted means of spiritual progress than such other things as meditation, bhajan and yoga. This is so because when we under take meditation, Japa or yoga, we do so for our own benefit and not for the good of others. These are aimed at subjugating ones individual desires and receiving happiness for one self. What we should aspire for is the attainment of the good of others without any desire for personal gain". Swamy says "Hands that help are holier than the lips that pray"
The path is clear and well signposted with Swamy’s messages but the impediments on the way are still there for us to overcome the foes, which are egotism, greed, lust, anger, envy and perhaps more. However Swamy has given us tools or weapons to combat these foes, which are sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa.
The sunlight of grace is all around us but we must open the windows of our heart to get the benefit of the sunlight. This is self-effort.
I know some of the readers of this article might be thinking, what about that we read in India Today and in other Indian and Western media about Swami and also in the Internet? I also know some people get irritated and get angry when they hear the name Satya Sai Baba. I my self read all the journals and in the internet about the bad comments on Swamy. It is a fascinating reading to get temporary kick, which is transient on the expense of somebody. I was not worried the least about those reports.
In this world of limitations, there is always good and bad. There is no 100% good or 100% bad in any thing or in any one. This is the Law of Life. No body can do any thing about it. Actually there is no good or bad in any thing or in any one but our own perception of things and people makes us feel good or bad depending on our own perception at that time. In other words our own qualities are reflected on to others. So we are at fault not any body else. But what one can do if sensible is always to look for good in every thing and in every one even it is 0.001% and NOT to think or talk about bad. Can we try to do this? No, no way! Why not? The reasons for good or bad are many. There is no point to discuss these things, as they would not serve any useful purpose what so ever. It is mere waste of time and energy. We should have guts to see only goodness in every thing and in every one and try to follow it if possible; otherwise we are sure to be doomed. Now let us see what happened to the past Avatars like Rama and Krishna and Jesus.
All during His incarnation did not recognize Sri Rama. His own father was deluded by paternal feelings. Kaikeyi, His stepmother wanted her own son, Bharatha to be king and Rama to be sent to the forest. Had she developed the feeling that Rama was God, she would not have felt that way. Similarly Krishna was also not recognized and was not accepted as God. All His uncles were His worst opponents. Kamsa, Sisupala, Jarasandha were His uncles. The Kauravas were blind and never accepted His divinity. So no Avatar was is recognized by contemporary society. Jesus was left all alone on the cross, deserted by His disciples on the day of crucifixion. All in His time did not accept even Sai Baba of Shiridi. Some thought He was a Moslem Fakir and some others thought He was a mad man. The merchants in Shiridi village refused to give Him oil to light His lamps.
Western media have often a deep suspicion of Indian ‘Gurus’ and vary of anything, which has a ‘Hindu’ flavour. It is true that some of the Gurus teaching in the West might have brought a bad name to Hinduism; but is this a reason to clamp them all together under the same ‘fake’ label? Unfortunately the Indian Journalists share often the same resistance to Gurus as their Western counterparts. And one can also understand their misgivings, given the problems there has been in India with certain Gurus having political connections. But these are the exception to the rule. Why then brand all Gurus as ‘Godman’ a negative and slightly cynical term, as many Indian Journalists do? Is not also strange that Indian Journalists do not display the same aggressiveness towards Christian bishops or priests, whom they never call God men but ‘holy father?’
It was not only Sai Baba in India Today, for example, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living has also been catalogued a ‘Godman’ by The Deccan Herald. Yet, he too is helping to spread both in India and abroad this wonderful spiritual inheritance, promoting as much the revival of Saskrit and Vedic knowledge, as an ecological concern for plastic disposal, or trying to save the centenary trees which are in danger of being chopped on the Bangalore-Kanakapura road, as it is being widened. As you can see, no one, not even a mahapurusha or Avatar can ever escape criticism and blame. So we should not give any importance to this type of garbage.
Let us examine where we are today? Let us examine the background and position of Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba. Right in this very human body, Swamy is an accepted as an incarnation of God by millions of people in all over the world. Name the country; the devotees are at Prasanthi Nilayam. Name the profession; all professions are at Puttaparthi. People of all age groups and professions, educated and uneducated, employed and unemployed, Men and women, Muslims, Christians, all castes, Brahmins, Naidus, Chowdaries, Visyas, Reddies, you name it, all come to the abode of Divine peace year after year to imbibe the spirituality and sanctity of Prasanthi Nilayam. The brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God can be witnessed at any time of the day and night without any doubt. This is an unbelievable fact in the human history only to be believed by witnessing the Divine place even in this Kali Yuga.
Is Swamy teaching a separate religion? Has He started a new religion? What does He stand for? If any one asks what religion you belong to? We should say ‘to the religion of Love’; if any body asks us what is your language? We should say ‘the language of heart’, or if anybody asks what caste? We should say ‘the caste of humanity’. That is what Swamy wants us to practice. Is there anything wrong in that? As children of one God, we should not divide by our own religion of the past, because the essence of all religions is Love, which is nothing but God!
Swamy has given us only one path to reach God, the path of service. He gave us the religion of Love. To convince everybody is very difficult in this world because some of us do not want to agree to anything! Leave them alone to their fate. Let us improve the quality of our life as time is running out at any moment. We are very fortunate to be alive and to be contemporaries of noble souls like Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) of God’s own country, namely Kerala, Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba (Swamy) from Andhra pradesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Karnataka, Sri Bangaru Adigalar (amma) from Tamil Nadu who is believed to be Avatar of Adi Parashakti. We can witness the divine work by all these and other noble people in India and abroad and we can talk to them, touch them and even have a Divine Hug with a wonderful smile and a message in our ears! How lucky we are? Our grand children and Great grand children will read about these Great souls in history books as we read about the past Great people like Vemana, Aid Sankaracharya, Rama Krishna, Vivekananda, Mahtma Gandhi, too many to list. Friends, let us try to learn to enjoy life with what we have rather than to worry about what we do not have.
Human being has only a short span of life, here on earth. But even in this short life one can, by wisely using the time with care, attain Divine Bliss. Remember Adi Sankara Lived only 32 years, Swami Vivekanada lived 39 years, and Rama Krishna Lived only 50 years and we all know what they achieved in their short life span. Many of us coming soon to the 3rd stage of life and where do we stand when compared to the above?
Let us know why this body is given to us? The body is given to us after so many good deeds we did in our past lives to serve the mankind and to know about ourselves (self realisation) to go where we came from, without death and rebirth, that is to get Moksha or Liberation or Nirvana. This can happen only for human beings. Such is the importance of this life. Let us not waste any more time in enjoying reading bad press of our noble people but concentrate to reach the only goal of this life to merge into the ultimate, with complete surrender to our own God without any trace of ego by thought, word and deed. We are bound to succeed.
GLORY TO SWAMY
GLORY TO GOD
GLORY TO HUMAN RACE.
Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba (Swamy) will be 80 years of age on 23rd November 2005, the day the whole world will celebrate His Divine Birthday in a grandest fashion. Many have prophesied the advent of Swamy. Fr example: a)" A well known astrology professor Sri Ganjur Narayana Sastry traced a Shuka Nadi Grantha (a volume of palm leaf manuscripts by sage Shuka) on Sri Satya Sai Baba entitled Saicharitamrita Grantham. It describes accurately and at length Sri Satya Sai Baba’s family tree and many facts about Him. Among other things, the palm leaves say: Born in Akshaya year, in the month of Karthika, on Monday, Krishna chaturdasi, in Ardhra star, visuchika lagnam, this person of divine aspects was previously Shiridivasa (a resident of Shiridi). He is a sankalpa siddha (one who can do things through His will), a person of great powers, but with no love for worldly glory and money" ("living Divinity" Shakunthala Balu, p51) b) Nostradamus book of prophesies entitled ‘Centuries’ has documented that a very great leader would be born in a place surrounded by three seas. Three seas surround South India. The book continues to say that His efforts would bring an end to world war and it would spread spirituality far and wide. He would observe Thursday as His holy day. C) In the 25-volume collection of Prophet Mohammed’s discourses titled ‘The ocean of Light’, Satya Sai’s advent has been prophesied. Volume 13 called ‘Mehdi Moud’ which means ‘The great teacher that was promised’ also referred to as ‘The Master of the world’ has very clear descriptions, which fit Satya Sai accurately. A few of them are listed. 1) His hair will be profuse. 2) His fore head will be large and concave. 3) He will have a mole on His cheek. 4) All the treasures of the world are under His feet. 5) He will live 95 years on earth (Swamy often said that He would leave His physical body in the 96th year). 6) All the teachings of all religions of the world will be in His heart from birth. 7) He will make the world full of peace, the list goes on. This extraordinary description of Satya Sai Baba is an astonishing prophecy, which seems impeccable in its accuracy.
d) Sri Aurobindo of Pondicherry, a great Indian spiritual leader broke his silence to tell his disciples on 24th November 1926 (the day after Swamy was born) "Krishna Consciousness has now descended into the physical" and then went back into silence. Several others also prophesied which are beyond the scope of this tiny article. As prophesied, Swamy was born on 23rd November 1926 at 5 a. m Tuesday (Monday according to Telugu calendar) in Bharadwaja Gothra after 8 years of passing away of Shiridi Sai Baba on 15th October 1918 on Dasara day through ‘pravesa’ not through ‘prasava’ as other Avatars born in a similar way.
As a child, He demonstrated exemplary qualities of compassion, generosity, and wisdom, which clearly distinguished Him from the other children of His village. On 29th October 1940, at the age of 14, He declared to His family and to the people of His village that He would hence forth be known as Sai Baba and that His mission was to bring about the spiritual regeneration of humanity by demonstrating and teaching the highest principles of truth, right conduct, peace and divine love.
\Swamy’s Ashram, built by His devotees close to the village where He was born, was inaugurated on 23rd November 1950. It is called Prasanthi Nilayam (the abode of divine peace). It has been the meeting place of millions of spiritual pilgrims of various faiths from all over the world. Every day Swamy graciously walks among them to guide, comfort, console and uplift them twice daily both in the morning and afternoon. He is doing like this for more than 50 years practicing and preaching the highest ideals of truth, right conduct, peace, love and non violence. He has often stated, "My life is my message".
Swamy places great importance on proper EDUCATION for young pupils. Parents and community leaders are urged to concern themselves with the information as well as the formal experiences to which their children and young adults are exposed. He has established a model education system which includes primary schools, secondary schools and an accredited university in various campuses, offering education from K G to PG including Ph D degrees FREE OF CHARGE to students and admission is open to all, regardless of race, religion or economic condition which is UNHEARD OF ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. In addition to emphasizing the per suit of academic excellence, Satya Sai Baba’s system of "integral education" is designed to foster self -discipline and pro social conduct. Students are required to take courses on morality and spirituality and devote several hours each week to some form of community service. Swamy says, "that the end of education is character".
Swamy also places greater importance in HEATH CARE and built ultra modern super speciality hospitals both in Puttaparthi and Banglore. Highly specialised operations including open-heart operations and kidney transplant are performed routinely. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGE TO THE PATIENT for professional or hospital expenses including medication and food, which is UNHEARD OF ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD. Motivated by the desire to serve humanity, doctors, nurses and other workers in the hospital render extraordinary, loving care to all patients. I was fortunate to go and see these hospitals in person which are comparable to any hospital in the west, both in treatments and equipment and more so in neatness and hygiene. It is a delight to enter these temples of treatment, which are unique in design and style. There are so many other services to the needy in villages by water supply, mobile clinics and cleaning the streets of villages and towns. There are too many to mention. As you may be aware, recently Chennai was supplied with water through Sai Ganga.
Swamy’s message: It is very difficult to describe His message in words and it is beyond human comprehension. A few drops of this ocean of Sai Baba’s teachings, an attempt to encapsulate its essence follows: Swamy urges mankind to
-Believe in God for there is only one God for all mankind. He may be called by many names.
-Follow sincerely their respective religions and live their daily lives in consonance with the teachings of good behaviour and morality.
-Respect all religions, for no religion advocates the negative and lower qualities of man.
-Perform selfless service to the poor, the sick and the needy elderly without thought of any reward or fame.
-Cultivate in their lives, the value of truth, divine love, right conduct, peace and non-violence and promote these values among all.
-Be patriotic and respect the law of the country in which they live.
Swami has reiterated that service is indeed the best form of worship. "Selfless service is a more exalted means of spiritual progress than such other things as meditation, bhajan and yoga. This is so because when we under take meditation, Japa or yoga, we do so for our own benefit and not for the good of others. These are aimed at subjugating ones individual desires and receiving happiness for one self. What we should aspire for is the attainment of the good of others without any desire for personal gain". Swamy says "Hands that help are holier than the lips that pray"
The path is clear and well signposted with Swamy’s messages but the impediments on the way are still there for us to overcome the foes, which are egotism, greed, lust, anger, envy and perhaps more. However Swamy has given us tools or weapons to combat these foes, which are sathya, Dharma, Shanthi, Prema and Ahimsa.
The sunlight of grace is all around us but we must open the windows of our heart to get the benefit of the sunlight. This is self-effort.
I know some of the readers of this article might be thinking, what about that we read in India Today and in other Indian and Western media about Swami and also in the Internet? I also know some people get irritated and get angry when they hear the name Satya Sai Baba. I my self read all the journals and in the internet about the bad comments on Swamy. It is a fascinating reading to get temporary kick, which is transient on the expense of somebody. I was not worried the least about those reports.
In this world of limitations, there is always good and bad. There is no 100% good or 100% bad in any thing or in any one. This is the Law of Life. No body can do any thing about it. Actually there is no good or bad in any thing or in any one but our own perception of things and people makes us feel good or bad depending on our own perception at that time. In other words our own qualities are reflected on to others. So we are at fault not any body else. But what one can do if sensible is always to look for good in every thing and in every one even it is 0.001% and NOT to think or talk about bad. Can we try to do this? No, no way! Why not? The reasons for good or bad are many. There is no point to discuss these things, as they would not serve any useful purpose what so ever. It is mere waste of time and energy. We should have guts to see only goodness in every thing and in every one and try to follow it if possible; otherwise we are sure to be doomed. Now let us see what happened to the past Avatars like Rama and Krishna and Jesus.
All during His incarnation did not recognize Sri Rama. His own father was deluded by paternal feelings. Kaikeyi, His stepmother wanted her own son, Bharatha to be king and Rama to be sent to the forest. Had she developed the feeling that Rama was God, she would not have felt that way. Similarly Krishna was also not recognized and was not accepted as God. All His uncles were His worst opponents. Kamsa, Sisupala, Jarasandha were His uncles. The Kauravas were blind and never accepted His divinity. So no Avatar was is recognized by contemporary society. Jesus was left all alone on the cross, deserted by His disciples on the day of crucifixion. All in His time did not accept even Sai Baba of Shiridi. Some thought He was a Moslem Fakir and some others thought He was a mad man. The merchants in Shiridi village refused to give Him oil to light His lamps.
Western media have often a deep suspicion of Indian ‘Gurus’ and vary of anything, which has a ‘Hindu’ flavour. It is true that some of the Gurus teaching in the West might have brought a bad name to Hinduism; but is this a reason to clamp them all together under the same ‘fake’ label? Unfortunately the Indian Journalists share often the same resistance to Gurus as their Western counterparts. And one can also understand their misgivings, given the problems there has been in India with certain Gurus having political connections. But these are the exception to the rule. Why then brand all Gurus as ‘Godman’ a negative and slightly cynical term, as many Indian Journalists do? Is not also strange that Indian Journalists do not display the same aggressiveness towards Christian bishops or priests, whom they never call God men but ‘holy father?’
It was not only Sai Baba in India Today, for example, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of Living has also been catalogued a ‘Godman’ by The Deccan Herald. Yet, he too is helping to spread both in India and abroad this wonderful spiritual inheritance, promoting as much the revival of Saskrit and Vedic knowledge, as an ecological concern for plastic disposal, or trying to save the centenary trees which are in danger of being chopped on the Bangalore-Kanakapura road, as it is being widened. As you can see, no one, not even a mahapurusha or Avatar can ever escape criticism and blame. So we should not give any importance to this type of garbage.
Let us examine where we are today? Let us examine the background and position of Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba. Right in this very human body, Swamy is an accepted as an incarnation of God by millions of people in all over the world. Name the country; the devotees are at Prasanthi Nilayam. Name the profession; all professions are at Puttaparthi. People of all age groups and professions, educated and uneducated, employed and unemployed, Men and women, Muslims, Christians, all castes, Brahmins, Naidus, Chowdaries, Visyas, Reddies, you name it, all come to the abode of Divine peace year after year to imbibe the spirituality and sanctity of Prasanthi Nilayam. The brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God can be witnessed at any time of the day and night without any doubt. This is an unbelievable fact in the human history only to be believed by witnessing the Divine place even in this Kali Yuga.
Is Swamy teaching a separate religion? Has He started a new religion? What does He stand for? If any one asks what religion you belong to? We should say ‘to the religion of Love’; if any body asks us what is your language? We should say ‘the language of heart’, or if anybody asks what caste? We should say ‘the caste of humanity’. That is what Swamy wants us to practice. Is there anything wrong in that? As children of one God, we should not divide by our own religion of the past, because the essence of all religions is Love, which is nothing but God!
Swamy has given us only one path to reach God, the path of service. He gave us the religion of Love. To convince everybody is very difficult in this world because some of us do not want to agree to anything! Leave them alone to their fate. Let us improve the quality of our life as time is running out at any moment. We are very fortunate to be alive and to be contemporaries of noble souls like Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) of God’s own country, namely Kerala, Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba (Swamy) from Andhra pradesh, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar of Karnataka, Sri Bangaru Adigalar (amma) from Tamil Nadu who is believed to be Avatar of Adi Parashakti. We can witness the divine work by all these and other noble people in India and abroad and we can talk to them, touch them and even have a Divine Hug with a wonderful smile and a message in our ears! How lucky we are? Our grand children and Great grand children will read about these Great souls in history books as we read about the past Great people like Vemana, Aid Sankaracharya, Rama Krishna, Vivekananda, Mahtma Gandhi, too many to list. Friends, let us try to learn to enjoy life with what we have rather than to worry about what we do not have.
Human being has only a short span of life, here on earth. But even in this short life one can, by wisely using the time with care, attain Divine Bliss. Remember Adi Sankara Lived only 32 years, Swami Vivekanada lived 39 years, and Rama Krishna Lived only 50 years and we all know what they achieved in their short life span. Many of us coming soon to the 3rd stage of life and where do we stand when compared to the above?
Let us know why this body is given to us? The body is given to us after so many good deeds we did in our past lives to serve the mankind and to know about ourselves (self realisation) to go where we came from, without death and rebirth, that is to get Moksha or Liberation or Nirvana. This can happen only for human beings. Such is the importance of this life. Let us not waste any more time in enjoying reading bad press of our noble people but concentrate to reach the only goal of this life to merge into the ultimate, with complete surrender to our own God without any trace of ego by thought, word and deed. We are bound to succeed.
GLORY TO SWAMY
GLORY TO GOD
GLORY TO HUMAN RACE.
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