SWAMY'S 83 BLISSFUL YEARS

Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba (Swamy) will be 83 years of age on 23rd November 2008, the day the whole world will celebrate His Divine Birthday in a grandest fashion. Many have prophesied the advent of Swamy. For 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 Sai charitamrita 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 practising 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 emphasising 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 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 recognise Sri Ram. 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 recognised and was not accepted as God. All His uncles were His worst opponents. Cams, Sisupala, Jarasandha were His uncles. The Kauravas were blind and never accepted His divinity. So no Avatar was is recognised 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 SWAMYGLORY TO GODGLORY TO HUMAN RACE.

To know more about Swamy, please go to the website at http://www.sathyasai.org/