Paths Of Devotion

The Avatar Lays Down Paths Of Devotion

Every Avatar seeks to raise humanity to the level of Divinity by laying down paths of devotion and holding forth examples of surrender.

(12.8.1982)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

The Mission Of The Avatar

The Mission Of The Avatar

When humanity flows purposeless and meaningless into the sands, the Avatar comes to warn and show the way.  The one task has to be fulfilled in various ways, that is the Mission of the Avatar.

24.11.1961)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Avatar And His Supreme Powers

Avatar And His Supreme Powers

The descent of the Avatar means the Divine coming down to the level of the human.  No blemish attaches to the Divine as a result of this descent.  There is no diminution in His Presence.  Here is the example of child playing on the ground.  If the mother feels it is beneath her dignity to bend and calls upon the child to leap into her arms, the child cannot do so.  By bending down to take the child, does the mother bow to the child?  Likewise, the Avatar descends to the level of the human to bless and rescue those who cannot rise to the level of the Divine.  The ignorant assumes that because the Divine has descended with a human form, God has lowered Himself to the human level.  This is the case of bending and not kneeling down.  It is an act of benediction and not submission.  The attributes and powers of the Divine remain unaltered in their pristine amplitude.  The Divine manifests His Powers according to the needs, the circumstances and the conditions prevailing at a particular time or place.  Take, for example, the case of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  He has the power to inflict the supreme penalty on any number of persons according to the law.  He has also the power to protect and punish.  These powers can be exercised only when he sits in the judicial chair.  The same Chief Justice, when he is at home, confers joy on his grandson by letting him ride on his back.  By allowing his grandchild to play in this manner, does he forfeit his powers as a Chief Justice?  Similarly, the Avatar does not forget any of His supreme powers merely because he moves and lives among human beings as a man.  Narrow minded person view these things differently.

(24.3.1991)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Why The Avatars Appear In Bharat More Than In Any Other Place?

Why The Avatars Appear In Bharat More Than In Any Other Place?

A doubt may arise why such appearances take place in Bharat more than in any other place when the world is so big and we have humanity everywhere to be saved and guided.  There is a reason for this, believe Me!  Well, why should, in all India, Kolaar alone have gold?  Where there is a goldmine, there is the need for mining engineers and chemists who will extract it, separate it, purify it and distribute it to the various places where gold is in demand, is it not?

So also, it is here in India that there is a mine of spiritual wisdom and spiritual treasure : the Darshanas, Upanishads (metaphysical science and revelatory scriptures), the Geeta and the Vedas.  This has to be distributed pure and unsullied, guaranteed in value and quality, to eager aspirants everywhere and so we have here a succession of sages and saints.  On account of the teachings and lives of these people, there is a vast field of spiritual virtue in this land which needs only a little more care to yield a rich harvest.

(2.2.1958)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

I Am Sai Baba (Of Shirdi)

I Am Sai Baba (Of Shirdi)

I am Sai Baba.  I have come because Venka Avadhoota and other Saints prayed for my coming.  I shall bless you and remove all that troubles you.  Worship me on every Guruvar (Thursday).  Keep your minds and homes pure.

(23.5.1940)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

My Devotees Are Calling Me

My Devotees Are Calling Me

I do not belong to you.  I am leaving.  I have work to do.  Those who are devoted to Me are calling me.  The Task for which I have come is yet not finished.  I am starting now.

(20.10.1940)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

I Will Never Give Up My Devotees

I Will Never Give Up My Devotees

I have a Task : To foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of Ananda.  I have a 'Vow' : To lead all who stray away from the straight path, again into goodness and save them.  I am attached to a 'Work' that I love : To remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack.  I have a 'reason' to be 'proud', for I rescue all who worship and adore Me.  I have My definition of the 'devotion', I expect that those devoted to Me have to treat joy and grief, gain and loss, with equal fortitude.  This means that I will never give up those who attach themselves to Me.

(25.5.1947)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

You Will See My Full Glory In The Coming Years

You Will See My Full Glory In The Coming Years

I will not give up My Mission, nor My determination.  I know I will carry them out; I treat the honour and dishonour, the fame and blame that may be the consequence with equal equanimity.  Internally, I am unconcerned.  I act but in the outer world; I talk and move about for the sake of the outer world and for announcing My coming to the people; else, I have no concern even with these.

(25.5.1947)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

My Very First Vow

My Very First Vow

I do not belong to any place; I am not attached to any name.  I have no 'mine' or 'thine'.  I answer whatever the name you use.  I go wherever I am taken.  This is my very First Vow.  I have not disclosed this to anyone so far.  For Me, the world is something afar, apart.  I act and move only for the sake of mankind.  No one can comprehend My Glory, whoever he is, whatever his method of enquiry, however long his attempt.

You can yourself see the full Glory in the coming years.  Devotees must have patience and forbearance.

(25.5.1947)

(From Baba's letter to His brother, Sheshama Raju)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

My First Message : 'Worship In The Mind'

My First Message : 'Worship In The Mind'

WhenI was at Uravakonda studying in the High School, you know I came away one day and threw off my books and declared that I have My Work waiting for Me.  The Telugu Pandit (Scholar) described the incident of that evening to you all in his speech.  Well, that day when I came out publicly as Sai Baba, that first song I taught the gathering in the garden to which I went from the Telugu Pandit's house was : "Maanasa bhajare Guru charanam, Dustara bhav sagar taranam".

I called on all those suffering in the endless round of birth and death to worship the feet of the Guru (spiritual preceptor), the Guru that was announcing Himself, who had come again for taking upon Himself the burden of those who find refuge in Him.  That was the very first Message of Mine to Humanity.  "Maanasa Bhajare" "Worship in the mind" !

(Dussera 1953)                                                                                                                       


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Offer Me The Fruits Of Your Actions

Offer Me The Fruits Of Your Actions And The Flowers Of Your Inner Thoughts And Feelings

I do not need your flower garlands and fruits, things that you get for an anna or two; they are not genuinely yours.  Give Me something that is yours, something which is clean and fragrant with the perfume of virtue and innocence, and washed in the tears of repentance!  Garlands and fruits you bring as items in the show, as an exhibition of your devotion; poorer devotees who can not afford to bring them are humiliated and they feel sorry that they are helpless; they cannot demonstrate their devotion in the grand way in which you are doing it.  Install the Lord in your heart and offer Him the fruits of your actions and the flowers of your inner thoughts and feelings.  That is the worship I like most, the devotion I appreciate most.

(Dussera 1953)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Divine Child Sport (Baala Leela), Miracle and Spiritual Instruction

Divine Child Sport (Baala Leela), Miracle and Spiritual Instruction

The first sixteen years of this Life have been, as I have often told you, the period when baala leela (divine child sport) predominated and the next sixteen is being spent mostly in mahimas (miracles) in order to give santosha (joy) to this generation.  Joy and contentment are short-lived sensations; you have to catch that mood and make it a permanent possession : ananda (bliss).  After the thirty second year, you will see Me active more and more in the task of Upadesha (spiritual instruction) - teaching erring humanity and in directing the world along the path of Sathya, Dharma, Shanti and Prema (Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love).

Not that I am determined to exclude leela and mahima from My activity after that.  I only mean that re-establishing dharma, correcting the crookedness of the human mind and guiding humanity back to Sanatan Dharma (eternal universal religion) will be My task thereafter.

Do not be led away by doubt and vain argument; do not question how and whether I can do all this.  The cowherds of Brindavan also doubted whether the little boy (Krishna) who grew in their midst could lift Govardhanagiri and hold it aloft!  The thing needed is Faith and yet more Faith.

(Dussera 1953)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

I Am Different From The Previous Avatars

I Am Different From The Previous Avatars

In this Avatar (Divine incarnation), the wicked will not be destroyed; they will be corrected and reformed and educated and led back to the path from which they have strayed.  The white ant infested tree will not be cut, it will be saved.  Again this Avatar will not select some place other than the place where the nativity took place for the centre of its leelas, mahimas and upadesha (divine sport, miracle power and divine instruction).  This tree shall not be transplanted; it will grow where it first rose from the earth.  Another speciality is this : the Avatar has no affinity or attachment in its career to members of the family wherein It appeared.  Unlike the appearances as Rama, Krishna, etc., where the Life was played out mostly among and for the family members, this Avatar is for the Bhaktas; the Sadhus and the Sadhakas (devotees, noble souls and aspirants) only.  It has no japa (recitation of holy name), dhyana (meditation) or yoga (practicing union with God).  It knows no worship; it will not pray to anything, for it is the Highest.  It only teaches you to worship and pray.

(Mahashivaratri 1955)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

You Have Not Realized Yet The Secret Of My Advent

You Have Not Realized Yet The Secret Of My Advent

You have not yet understood the secret of my Advent.  You are indeed lucky, more fortunate than many others.  It is only when Yashoda found every length of rope a little short to go round Krishna's belly that she discovered He was the Lord.  So to, you will realize every description of My Mahima (Divine Glory) a little too short of the actuality; and then you will get convinced.

(23.2.1958)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Respect All Religions

Respect All Religions

I always say : Let the different faiths exist, let them flourish, let the glory of God be sung in all the languages in a variety of tunes.  That should be the ideal.  Respect the differences between the faiths and recognize them as valid so far as they do not extinguish the flame of unity.


(**Sai Baba in an interview given to RK Karanjia of Blitz - 1976)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Baba Has Come With The Totality Of Cosmic Power

I


Baba Has Come With The Totality Of Cosmic Power

Rama came to feed the roots of truth and righteousness, Krishna followed to foster the plant of peace and love.  Now, these sacred principles are in danger of wholesale destruction by reason of human weakness under the onslaught of evil forces.  They are overcoming the good, the spiritual and the divine in man.  That is why the present Avatar has come invested with the totality of cosmic power to save dharma (righteousness) from anti-dharma.


(**Sai Baba in an interview given to RK Karanjia of Blitz - 1976)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

I Work For The Good Of The World

I Work For The Good Of The World

I know what is not good and what is good.  All My ideas and actions are based on what is good for the world.  I am pure.  I have no worries.  I have no anxieties, I am happy always, I have no anger.  I want nothing, take nothing, do nothing for myself.  All I think, all I do at all times is for the good of the world.


(From : John Hislop's Conversations with Bhagwan)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

Swami Holds The Universe In His Hand

Swami Holds The Universe In His Hand

Swami holds the universe in His Hand.  But devotees learn of the glory and majesty through Swami's attention to each one personally.  That Swami holds the universe yet at the same time fully cares for the lives of His devotees even to the smallest details is a measure of His glory that the devotees can understand.


(From : John Hislop's Conversations with Bhagwan)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

My Creative Power Is Natural, Not Contrived

My Creative Power Is Natural, Not Contrived

Some objects, Swami creates in just the same way that he created the material universe.  Other objects, such as watches, are brought from existing supplies.  There are no invisible beings helping Swami to bring things.  His sankalpa, His Divine Will, brings the object in a moment.  Swami is everywhere.  His creations belong to the natural unlimited power of God and are in no sense the product of yogic powers as with yogis or of magic as with magicians.  The creative power is in no way contrived or developed, but is natural only.


(From : John Hislop's Conversations with Bhagwan)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')

I See Everywhere, In Every Direction

I See Everywhere, In Every Direction

Man has two eyes; he sees only past and present.  God has three eyes.  God's eyes are spiritual.  He sees in front, behind above, below.  Like the garland pulled over the finger --- finger is the present and it is in touch with past and future.  God is the Present.  He is Omnipresent.  As Baba looks at people, He sees the past, the present moment, and the future, and everywhere in every direction.


(From : John Hislop's Conversations with Bhagwan)


(Extract from : 'God Lives In Prashanti Nilayam')