The Call and the Echo

The Promise

"I have My work to do; My devotees are calling me," Baba had declared when He was fourteen years of age.

With that, He had walked out of school and home into the garden where He exhorted the huge gathering to worship the feet that were to lead mankind from untruth to truth, from darkness to light and from death to immortality. At sixteen, He announced that His mission during the incarnation was to confer bliss on all beings everywhere.

Pointing to the bold, bald hills on the outskirts of Puttaparthi village (then a confused jumble of mud huts around a few brick houses, 'scarce five minutes from the Stone Age', as Schulmann described it), Swami, when He was seventeen, confided to the Pujari (priest) Lakshmiah "The Sai Pravesh (Advent of Sai) will convert that region into Prasanthi Pradesh (a region of perfect peace). Upon that hill there will rise a grand Bhavan (hall). (It was inaugurated seven years later). At that time, hundreds (why hundreds?), thousands (why thousands?), Lakhs (why only Lakhs?) - the whole of India will be there. The whole world will come and wait for Sai Darsan." Pujari Lakshmiah could not believe his ears. He protested and said, "No, I cannot believe this. How can this happen?" Baba replied, "You will have to believe it when you stand where we are now, trying to catch a glimpse of Me standing on the porch of that grand Bhavan." Lakshmiah is alive to this day, trying to catch a glimpse standing on the same spot!

What is the nature of the 'strategy' that Swami employs to draw such huge gatherings? On 23rd November 1975, the 50th birthday of Bhagavan, devotees from forty-six nations of the world from New Zealand to Iceland, offered their sincere homage to Bhagavan. Why do so many people travel such long distances at such a great expense of time and money braving the inconvenience of foreign food and living habits?

Of course, He has no compulsion, no urge, nor even a need to frame a strategy. He just acts; it is we who label these acts as 'strategy'. He calls us to proceed from 'I' to 'We', a call which must attract because it is a call which echoes from the depths of one's own self. 'Bhoomaa eva sukham:' - 'In vastness, alone, is happiness', proclaims the Upanishad. "Expansion is life; contraction is death," says Baba. He leads us to the vastness, the 'We', and how He does it is the strategy. 'Subrahmanyam' (Su-brahman-yam) is the refrain of the heart-pounding valedictory Bhajan that He instructs us to sing. It preaches the Brahman path; Brahman That is the Divine; That is both immanent and transcendent; That is beyond the reach of words and the flight of imagination. The path involves the discipline of all-inclusive love and the acceptance of ever-expanding kinship until the entire cosmos is subsumed. Baba says, "All beings exist, become aware and are delighted, because God willed so, God who is Sath-Chith-Ananda. So, no single being is exiled from His grace. God is omnipresent, and no being can shut Him out."

"I have come," says Baba, "in order to repair the ancient highway leading man to God... I have come in response to the prayers of sages, saints and seekers for the restoration of that road." Therefore streams of afflicted men and women, groups of Sadhakas as well as curious seekers of truth, and even such individuals who have attained relatively higher stages of realisation, proceed to wherever Baba is, certain of His assuring smile and alleviating conversation. In His presence (and even far away from it, whenever we recollect the blissful moments), we feel elevated - even the lowest and lowliest of us - for He reminds us that we are a part of Him, as Divine as Himself. In fact, we are Divyatmaswaroopas, embodiments of the Divine Atman, as He invariably addresses us.

The nth Degree

We know that we have secured in Him a 'pace-maker' for our hearts. Under His benign guidance, we rise to the nth degree of fullness. He says, "I am God: you are also God. But while I am aware, you are still unaware. That is the only difference." As Sankaracharya had done 1300 years ago. He is telling us to experience Soham (I am He) and Sivoham (I am God). Ignorant persons jeer when Baba holds up the mirror to reveal the Divinity that is latent in us. One such person remarked, "Baba is trying to escape criticism for His assuming Divinity, by taking us also into His 'Divine' fold and transforming us into willing accomplices of his impersonation!" But the belief that all beings are parts of the one Divinity is as old as the Vedanta, and as universal. Bayazid, the Sufi saint, said, "I went from God to God, until they cried for me in me, O Thou I!" Hui Neng, the Buddhist mystic, said, "When not enlightened, Buddhas are no other than ordinary beings; when there is enlightenment, ordinary beings at once turn into Buddhas." Eckhart, the Christian mystic, declared, "The seed of God is in us, the seeds grow into God."

Thousands are drawn to His presence through His power. His wisdom and His love. Sai Baba means 'the Divine Mother and Father. Baba has the unlimited love of the Mother and the unsurpassed power and unalloyed universal wisdom of the Father. How can man withstand the impact of such a unique incarnation?

All Who Need

Unlimited love! On the gateway tower (Gopura), on the inner gateway arch and on the altar inside the prayer hall, one can see the sacred symbol of one's own religion amidst the equally revered symbols of other faiths. No question is asked and no brow raised by anyone who belongs to the Sai family, when you declare yourself to be a Hindu or a Buddhist, a Parsi, a Christian, a Muslim or even an atheist. The only question asked and the only thing with which Baba is concerned is how earnest, how distressed, how compassionate, how self-controlled you are. He created a cross for the pilot of the twin-engined aircraft which took him from Entebbe to the wild life sanctuary at Serengetti in East Africa. In the Bandipur forest He put one dry stalk of grass across another and, blowing upon it, converted it into a wooden cross with a silver Christ for Dr. Hislop. He gave Professor Bashiruddin a silver locket with Allah inscribed on it in Arabic. On Bakr Id day, He showed a group of Arab pilgrims at Prasanthi Nilayam, the huge gathering of fellow-Muslims kneeling that very moment before the Kaaba in Arabia. He spread His palm before their eyes and they could see the sacred scene on it. There are many Jews like Dr. Sandweiss, paying homage to Him thus: "I believe Baba to be an incarnation of God. It appears to me now that all those stories in Hindu, Christian and Hebrew literature are not symbolic: there really is a spiritual level of reality that can make itself manifest."

Buddhist monks have built in Ceylon and Malaysia, Sai prayer halls and centres of service. He performs the Navajyoti rite, and through that ceremony initiates Parsi boys into spiritual exercises. The parents are grateful to Him for this act of grace. No one is a stranger, no one is kept aside or aloof just because he is too young or too old, recalcitrant or incorrigible. His is the sunshine that disinfects all faiths and cults. He has declared that He will hold and lead by the hand those who stray away from the straight road and miss the realm of peace, joy and love. He does not outlaw atheists for, He says, even they do love something - animal or plant, person or sect, ideal or ism. That love, He says, is God. They too, would not like being called liars but, like others, delight in speaking the truth. This homage they pay to truth indicates that they revere God, who is truth. Erasmus, the 16th century Dutch philosopher, declared, "Wherever you encounter truth, look upon it as Christianity." The atheists appreciate beauty and are charmed by it. God is beauty and thence arises the attraction it exerts on them.

Baba does not try to mould men in the crucible of any cult. He does not prescribe any single spiritual exercise or peddle any patented panacea to cure the ills of men. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavily-laden, and I will give you rest," is the message even now. They come with broken hearts, damaged illusions and unfulfilled ambitions. They bring their burden of real and imagined pain. After meeting Him, they pray, "We cannot ask Thee for aught, for Thou knowest our needs; in fact, Thou art our only need." And having spoken thus, they stay.

Whereas most gurus are interested only in the mantras and exercises that they prescribe for people's grievances and the fees or gifts that they are offered in return, Baba is interested only in us, whether we undertake Sadhana or Seva of any kind or not. Moreover, since the Divine Spark is enshrined within man in five caskets, (the physical, the vital, the mental, the intellectual and the felicitous), one encased within the other, Baba tends to them one by one, with affectionate care, to enable us to reflect on the splendour of that Spark.

Baba says, "I never ask you to earn Me; I want only that you need Me." Under the tender care of this physician, psychiatrist, guide, teacher and friend, we become aware of untapped springs of courage, fortitude, aspiration and adventure within us. Baba also directs our thoughts and activities towards society - the society in which we were born, which reared us and equipped us with a vision to face the future and to fulfil our obligations. Schumacher has said, "Although there are constant temptations to forget it, we all know that our lives are made or marred by our relationships with other human beings. No amount of health, wealth, fame or power can compensate us for our loss if these relationships dissolve. Yet they all depend on our ability to understand others and their ability to understand us." Baba declares that there can be no fulfilment of our lives until we ourselves have concern for, confidence in and compassion towards others.

Baba's infinite love, wisdom and power produce an indelible impact on each of us, sometimes in a moment, when we stay in His presence to imbibe the message that He radiates. Paul Roberts writes in Vogue (Christmas number, 1976) on the few minutes he spent in His divine presence, thus: "Baba, the remote and powerful figure I had watched in awe for months, hugged me like a long-lost friend, and in a surpassingly loving way began to tell me my worst faults. Indeed, He told me things no one could possibly have known, answered every question I would have asked and gave advice which I still treasure... I felt and still feel inexplicably closer to Him than to anyone else in the world."

R. K. Karanjia, editor of Blitz, who described himself as "a sceptic, a critic and a Marxist, who had in the past openly questioned and criticised Sathya Sai Baba, was able (like many other critics, sceptics and Marxists) to meet Him and gain a cordial interview. He writes, "The encounter was a fantastic, almost shattering one. He went on to amaze me with knowledge of the most intimate developments affecting my life and work."

A Gap, a Gasp

Dr. Samuel Sandweiss, the psychiatrist from San Diego, California, narrates, "After my initial visit to Sai Baba, I began to experience an inner awakening, as if a once-familiar but closed-off centre was opening up and I was becoming acquainted with a part of myself that I had long ago forgotten. I identified the experience as one of devotion, and wondered whether such a centre lies dormant in all of us awaiting release through some personal spiritual experience. This awakening or unfolding was for me a source of great joy, and with it came a deepening feeling of my love for Baba and for people in general." Baba has Himself revealed that this happens in His presence: "Each of you feel a gap within you, a thirst, an urge, a 'Divine' discontent, a call to which the response from within is weak and vacillating. This has persuaded you to travel long distances to Me, braving obstacles and discomfort for the sake of securing peace, strength and guidance."

Gandikota V. Subba Rao of the U.N.O. writes, "Meeting Him is an intensely personal, emotional and uplifting experience. The temptation to glorify Him, to wax lyrical over the spiritual greatness and magnificence of Sathya Sai Baba is difficult to resist." Sribhashyam Appalacharya from Kakinada town, a repository of ancient scriptural wisdom, writes after staying for a few days at Prasanthi Nilayam, "Bhagavan is a Veda - what He says, happens; Bhagavan is a Sastra - what He does, is exemplary. He elaborates the truth with many a metaphor, simile and story as a Purana does; His words are the highest poetry, for they confer bliss and liquidate the littleness in man."

Dr. F.J. Gould of the University of Chicago reveals, "He perceives the individual's needs with unbelievable insight. He perceives, defends, breaks them down in some swift way. He studies behaviour and its determinants... He somehow transfers the individual from one context to another... Many devotees of Baba have perceived His influence through changes in their own lives. New things become important; new values become prominent. To speak in a more technical language, the individual's utility structure changes."

The Conjurer Confesses

Dr. E.B. Fanibunda from Bombay is a dentist and also an amateur magician, well-versed in the theory and practice of conjuring. In 1954 he published a book on a series of original and effective methods which practitioners of magic, mind-reading etc., could adopt. In appreciation of his proficiency he was given the 'Linking Ring' award by the International Brotherhood of Magicians, USA. This is his account of how he reacted to Baba: "There were about a dozen people waiting in the sitting room of Mr. Munshi's house. Baba was due to come out of the inner apartments in a little while. The author (he writes in the third person) stood unobtrusively in one corner of the room. Baba entered the room and everybody stood up. Everyone was elbowing and pushing the other to get close to Him. Baba, however, came and stood near the author, so near that the author was almost touching His left side. By this time the author's practised eye had already given Baba's gown the 'once over'. Nothing was detected. Someone from the crowd asked for Vibhuti Prasad. This was the moment the author was waiting for. Baba pulled up His right sleeve, almost up to the elbow and, in the process, turned His right hand over. The author could see there was nothing in the palm. Quickly the hand went round in circles a few times and the Vibhuti appeared between His fingers which were partly closed to hold it. The Vibhuti was given to some people. The author wished that Baba would now materialise some more so that he could also get a little bit for examination. Lo, behold! Baba's hand went round and round a second time and some more Vibhuti appeared from nowhere. This time the author held out his hand and received His 'visiting card'. The author immediately knew from his past experience that the Vibhuti was materialised without any sleight of hand or trickery. He did not now require any further demonstrations from Baba to convince him that He did possess suprahuman powers for which the author had no explanation to offer and still has none." (1976)

In the Yoga Journal from Holland, Sharon Warren writes, "The following morning, when I went to attend Bhajans, I happened to have an aisle seat. Baba strolled to the women's side that day and, as He passed, He stopped beside me. He then gestured with His hand with that special majesty which always means a divine materialisation, and then there was the sacred ash pouring from His fingertips and into my palms. He said, 'Vibhuti... eat'. It was like a dream. My heart was so full of love and devotion and gratitude that it just overflowed. I felt I could not hold any more. I was aware that He knew my need, and that was so comforting. I have been blessed to experience love throughout my life from many different relationships, but nothing could compare with the purity of the love I experienced when this transpired. It transcended any human relationship I had ever known."

I and Thou

The fascination that draws the object to the subject is, if we may so name it, a move in His strategy. Vivekananda said, "God is both, the subject and the object. He is the 'I' and the 'Thou' (the Thwam and the Thath). How, then, are we to know the Knower? The Knower cannot know Himself. The Atman, the Knower, the Lord of all that exists, is the cause of all the vision that is the universe, but it is not possible for Him to see Himself, know Himself, except through a reflection. You cannot see your own face except in a mirror. Similarly, the Atman cannot see Its own nature until It is reflected... The perfect man, the avatar, is the highest reflection of that Being, Who is both, subject and object. You now find why avatars are instinctively worshipped as God in every country. They are the most perfect manifestations of the Eternal Self. That is why men worship incarnations such as Christ and Buddha."

We are Sathyam, Sivam and Sundaram. The deep calls on the deep; the blue responds to the blue. We see ourselves reflected best in Baba who is in fact, the most sublime manifestation of Sathyam-Sivam-Sundaram. When we forget ourselves and start wandering into the wilderness of falsehood and vice, He comes, so that we may recognise our glory in Him.

Ed Fleure writes, "Baba's life is dedicated to the task of uplifting humanity, to awaken us to our spiritual heritage and to give us courage and faith. Our stay with Baba was a supreme bringing-up. Love is His greatest miracle. From morning to night Baba is constantly giving to and serving others. It was Maharajji who had kept enquiring, when we were leaving his ashram to go to Baba. When at last Baba gave us leave to return, He blessed us, 'Be friends with God.' Surely, this was a new style of blessing. Friends with God? How can that be?

"When we came back to Maharajji, He gave me a Hindu name. And lo! It was the name of a friend, companion and class fellow of Sri Krishna-Sudama. So I had to practise the constant presence of God as my friend." This remark of Baba and its actual confirmation by a saint in the Himalayas proves that Baba has no wish to by-pass the form you might have accepted and adored. He could have renamed Ed Himself, but He encouraged him to return to Maharajji, the guru he had 'found'. But, since He knew that 'behaving as a friend' was the way for him, He saw to it that the name selected for him by Maharajji was Sudama. Of the nine paths mentioned by the sacred texts on Bhakti, the path of Sakhya (friendship) is next only to the last and highest path of Atma-Nivedanam (self-surrender).

Methodology Revealed

Once, when Baba was asked about His 'methodology', He said, "I have no methodology or machinery or strategy in the accepted organisational sense. My methodology is a simple one, based on conversion by love, and the machinery is one of human co-operation and brotherhood. Love is My instrument and My merchandise." He says that He can best be described as Prema Swaroopa (Embodiment of Love). What are called 'miracles' are fundamentally manifestation of that love. It is love that prompts Him to speak to each seeker in a language that he can understand - Swahili in East Africa and Adi to tribals from Along. It is love that persuades Him to heal the physical and mental wounds of man. It is love that illumines the darkness of our hearts and corrects the crookedness of our habits and attitudes. The miraculous cure by Baba of terminal diseases, and the saving of life in countless instances of accidents and disasters, are all expressions of His love.

He materialises holy ash in order to arouse faith and gives gifts of rings or lockets to protect the wearer. This He does out of overpowering compassion and love. J. Jagathesan, the Malaysian devotee who is also the author of the book, 'Journey to God', writes, "The greatest miracle of all is His transformation of the hearts of countless men and women to make them tread the path of godliness and goodness. Agnostics now sing in praise of God, drunkards have turned from searching for the spirit in the bottle to the Divine Spirit in man, drug addicts who found transient escape and bliss in this 'modern' scourge of mankind now seek the permanent bliss and peace that only God can give, and millions of ordinary men and women who used to listlessly pray as a matter of ritual or habit now find a new meaning, a new dimension to their prayers - whomsoever they may pray to or to whichever religion they may belong - for they are now convinced that God does exist, and that His grace can be obtained through Bhakti, through Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema and, most of all, through selfless and loving Seva to others, regardless of race, religion, caste or colour, and without any thought of reward." The love that He plants in all those who need Him (and who does not?) reaps a huge harvest of humility, reverence, generosity, fraternity and freedom.

Cousin Losing His Mind

Sandweiss speaks of a cousin of his, Jerry by name, who was a professor of mathematics in the eastern States. "Looking at the question from a purely mathematical standpoint, Jerry felt, it was indeed probable that an avatar might presently exist, so he joined a group that was gong over to see Baba... My cousin, during the first interview, asked Baba to produce something for him. He had bought a cheap ring in Greece and was wearing it on his little finger. He wanted Baba to transform this ring into something else. Baba declined. Jerry felt let down... He began to examine his own sanity... Baba called Jerry for an interview again the next day. When he came out, Jerry was in an unusually bright and receptive mood, his face radiant. Jerry, it seems, pleaded again with Baba to do something with the ring and took it from his finger. Baba said that this was not His wish. Jerry continued to plead. Finally, Baba took the ring in His hand, blew on it, and returned to Jerry an altogether different ring which, needless to say, fitted his finger perfectly. This had obviously shaken him... The transformation that the few minutes with Baba produced in Jerry was indeed a greater miracle. A woman in the group asked for someone to help carry her bags and Jerry spontaneously volunteered. 'I never do this,' he said, 'I must be losing my mind!' "

The conquest of the mind is the consequence of years of Yogic Sadhana. Baba says, "You are imprisoned in your ego. Though you should try to liberate yourselves from this bondage quickly and safely, most of you do not seek from Me the key to this liberation. You ask Me for trash and tinsel, petty little cures and gains. Very few desire to get from Me the thing I have come to give - liberation itself. Even among the few who seek liberation, only a minute percentage sincerely stick to the path of Sadhana and, from among them, only an infinitesimal number succeed." Jerry had taken, after his exposure to Baba, the first step in liberation from the prison of his ego.

Dr. Dhairyam, writes, "In the present world crisis of character, Bhagavan's grace will certainly act as a powerful catalyst. It will bring about a transformation among the people of the earth who are presently so diverse in spiritual development. Among those who are transformed, one finds nonbelievers, escapists, drug addicts and agnostics, as well as highly evolved Sadhakas, well-versed Vedic scholars, renowned scientists, artists, poets and pundits, as also simple, ordinary folk who delight in His divine discourses. Bhagavan accepts and welcomes them all as His children. He is compassionate to the sinner, comforting to the distressed and a guide to the agnostic and the confused, whom He leads by the hand into the realm of light."

Awakening during Dreams

Dreams are also part of the Sai strategy. He has appeared in the dreams of many who were unaware of Him and has drawn them to Himself. Karen Fromer Blanc dreamt that a person with a huge crown of hair came to her and said, "Stay with your Hilda." "Hilda who?" she wondered. Five years later she discovered Hilda Charlton, Baba's devotee. The discovery transformed her life. Now she has written a book entitled 'Dear Hilda'!

John Prendergast of the California Institute of Asian Studies has written an article 'Swami Dreams', focussing more on their instructional value and less on the paranormal processes. He says, "The overall aspect of these dream-experiences with Sai Baba is difficult to gauge, but my own relationship with Baba has deepened immeasurably. I would characterise the primary influence as being the opening of my spiritual heart, of beginning to balance the intellect with the values of love and compassion. Between the spring of 1977 and 1979, Sai Baba has appeared to me during the dream-state nearly forty times. These have profoundly affected my spiritual awakening and the quality of my relationship with Him. Sai Baba has said that it is impossible to see Him in dreams without His willing it. My own experience of active guidance, chastisement, healing and ecstatic states conferred by Him during the dream-state tends to confirm this. My relationship with Sai Baba is, in fact, more intimate in the dream than in the waking state... As the dream-state relationship grows and deepens, my own inner strength and confidence grows and manifests itself in the waking state. In addition to this effect of the dream-reality nurturing and supporting the waking reality, the distinction between the two realities has softened. Increasingly the two blend, so that dream-images rise in the waking mind like distant clouds."

Willie Kweku Ansah of Accra (Ghana), writes, "Soon after this (the Sathya Sai Centre's invitation to devotees to enrol for a trip to Puttaparthi) I started seeing Swami in my dreams. The first night I woke up with a rather vague feeling that I should think of going to Puttaparthi. I discarded the thought immediately. The next dream was more detailed and lengthy. I saw myself in front of a tall building which had protruding platforms on the first floor. Bhagavan was on the ground floor and I was doing Namaskara At this time I did not know that to dream of Bhagavan was a privilege and not an ordinary occurrence. I dismissed the dream as my silly imagination. In my third dream I saw only the face of Bhagavan for an instant or two. I was forced to wake up in a sweat and with a clear command to go to Puttaparthi.

"I gave my name to the Planning Committee without an inkling of where the money for the trip would come from. I need not have worried. Within the next few days I made, through a friend, three times my normal annual income for no compelling reason. So the matter was settled. All other arrangements went through without a hitch. Need I also mention that some of the persons I travelled with I had already seen in my dreams. We arrived at Puttaparthi on 21st November. The last thing on my mind were my dreams. A friend decided to take a round of the prayer hall, and as we made the turn, I stopped dead in my tracks. My friend asked what the matter was and I uttered something incomprehensible to him. But what had stopped me was the fact that my dream was staring me right in the face with all its details - the protruding platform, the architecture and the colours.

"One surprise followed another when private interviews were granted in a room on the ground floor, and I did my Namaskara exactly where I had dreamt it. However, all these surprises were nothing compared to what I experienced when I went to bid farewell to Bhagavan. 'When are you coming again?' He asked. I was not expecting the question, as the very thought of being so lucky as to come again was far from my mind. I was, therefore, flushed, and in delighted confusion blurted out that I did not know and that this time I came because I had had a dream... Bhagavan interrupted in a tone which seemed as if He was irritated; I was accounting something He already knew. 'I know I know,' He said, and patted my back. Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras (1,38) says that the aspirant gets guidance through dreams, but even he does not mention that the guru, if he is an avatar, can frame dreams for us and figure in them himself, furnishing timely guidance."

A Book and a Journey

Baba says, "No one can come to Prasanthi Nilayam unless I call him." The dream is one of the means He uses to draw people towards Himself. Lawrence Galante from New York writes, "I enrolled at Hoftra University to study more of my profession, Tai Chi, and the related philosophy. Then I awoke one morning from a vivid dream. In this dream the title of a book was clearly visible to me with the cover layout. It was entitled, 'Sai Baba: Contemporary Mystic, Master and God'. Then it dawned upon me, 'Why not? Why not write my thesis on contemporary mysticism and use Sai Baba as my subject?' I cleared it with the university... I decided that I could not write about Him unless I first saw Him and confirmed these miracles for myself. I also realised that I might just go to Him and find out that He was a fake. If so, I had reasoned, I could still write a thesis to expose a colossal fraud. That would also do. (Baba says, 'Come, see, experience, examine and then believe'). But how do I get to India? My bank account was nil. I turned to Sai Baba and addressed Him saying, 'If you want me to write this, then you must provide the money for me to get to India, because I am broke. ' Within 48 hours, I received a cheque in the mail for a thousand dollars from the city of New York, a sum that was owed me for several years and which I had been trying in vain for some time to collect... I remained with Sai Baba for two months. Daily I observed him attending to the multitudes that came to Him - healing the sick and materialising objects and giving them away as gifts to devotees. Everything that Baba taught me was good and all of His endeavours were beneficial. He also gave me permission to write about Him which is what I am doing now. Sai Baba does not work in secrecy. His activities are an open book for all to witness and draw their own conclusions from. Baba often says 'My Life is My Message.' I pray, that I may receive more and more His message."

Baba has declared very often that He wills the dream as a means of communication with the dreamer, in order to grant him courage, confidence and clarity of thought.

Miss Occah Seapaul of Trinidad has also been directed by Baba to publish in a book, her talks on His message to several groups of devotees on that West Indian island. Receiving His counsel in a dream is as mandatory as a personal command. According to Aurobindo, "The avatar, or divinity, acts according to another consciousness - the consciousness of the truth above and the Leela below." Baba told Dr. M.S. Ramakrishna Rao of Vishakhapatnam, when he enquired about the authenticity of a dream in which Baba had rendered him the clarification of a spiritual problem, "When I appear in a dream, it is to communicate something to the individual. It is not a mere dream as is generally known. Do not think that these incidents you experienced in your dream are stretches of your imagination. I was giving answers thereby to all your doubts."

H. Narayana Rao, while in bed in the intensive care cardiac unit at the K.E.M. Hospital in Bombay, awaiting implantation of an artificial pace-maker, dreamt that visitors were streaming into the ward. Among them was Baba, who stopped near his bed and spoke in His soft, reassuring voice, "My son! I know how much you are worried about the artificial pace-maker and the operation. Do not worry in the least. From now on your pulse will gradually improve. Count the days from today, and on the eleventh day, which will be Saturday the 17th, you can go home." And in spite of the doctors putting forward various other proposals, he was discharged exactly on the 17th, with his heart quite normal.

Proper-ties

When I read a letter from Professor Kausal of Kurukshetra in which he had mentioned that he had resigned his job after being advised by Baba in a dream to do so, I was reminded of another devotee who withdrew a petition he had filed in a civil court. His claim to some property was so strong that he fought his rival through all the labyrinths of law, in spite of all the tension involved and the massive sums of money he had to spend. The suit had possessed him and he was refusing to reconsider. But Baba appeared in his dream and ordered him to give up his mislaid attachment. "Properties are not proper-ties," said Baba with a strange emphasis. Kausal writes, "The dreams are effective, vivid, personal and peace-giving. I cannot brush them aside, especially since Baba later confirms them and continues the advice He vouchsafes during the dream-session."

Baba urges people by means of dream-appearances to come to His presence. He smoothens the difficulties that deter them from undertaking the journey and encourages them to enter the spiritual path towards self-realisation We have already seen this stratagem of His love in the accounts given by Willie Ansah of Accra and Lawrence Galante of New York.

Dr. Sandweiss writes of another interesting instance of Baba's compassion: "Lila and I were discussing Sai Baba, and she became intrigued. She read a book about Him and began to consider the possibility of meeting Him herself. She was then deeply in debt and there seemed to be no feasible way for her to get the money to go to India. Her husband, Homer, an inventor, had no steady income at that time and had not been able to sell an invention in over five years. Yet, as highly unrealistic as the trip did seem, she made plans to go and obtained her vaccination certificate and passport. Then some strange things began to happen. One day, feeling particularly depressed, she had an unusual dream in which Baba appeared, His eyes twinkling with fun. Soon afterwards, Homer hit upon an invention. After a swift and improbable chain of events, some people became interested in it and his financial position suddenly and quite unexpectedly improved - the first time in years that this had happened. Lila now had enough money for the trip just a week before takeoff, and being completely prepared, she found herself jubilantly boarding the plane with us."

It is beyond doubt that Baba plans, designs and structures the dreams through which He initiates or deepens His impact on people. Ponder over another incident related by Dr. Sandweiss, involving Jeff from California.

Dr. Sandweiss writes, "In the interview room where we all sat, Baba was smiling and rocking back and forth blissfully. He turned to Jeff, the fellow next to me, and said casually, 'I've come to you twice in dreams.' Now, as a psychiatrist, I have certainly never heard of a colleague talking this way to a patient. Psychiatrists deal with dreams all the time; but to say, 'I've come to you twice in dream' would be somewhat disconcerting for the average patient... Baba began to describe and interpret one of Jeff's dreams and it became quite evident to me that He had in some way fashioned the psychic experience of this man, had actually created dreams for him and visited him in another dimension of reality. Everything that Baba said was confirmed by Jeff. Here was the greatest psychiatrist I had ever seen!"

Sri Jagathesan once asked Baba towards the end of an interview with Him, "Bhagavan! Why don't you ever come in my dreams?" "Baba", he writes, "bent down lovingly and replied, 'Okay from now on I will come in your dreams on Wednesdays.' I regard Tuesday as a holy day because a Vibhuti-materialisation from His picture in my house first occurred on Tuesday, 8th June 1976. Recognising this, Baba laughed, and without my asking amended His statement the next moment. 'No, No! Tuesdays, eh?'" And on Tuesdays the dream brings Baba into his view as an unfailing gift of grace.

Once, during a visit to Brindavan (Whitefield) along with Dr. Sandweiss, Elsie Cowan excitedly knocked at his room very early one morning saying, "I am feeling very close to Walter this morning." When Walter had cast off his mortal coil at Tustin, California, Baba had telegraphed to Elsie, "Walter arrived here in good shape." Elsie told Sandweiss, "I feel that Baba and Walter have paid me a special visit. I have been wide awake since six o'clock and full of energy." When both of them reached Prasanthi Nilayam that evening, Baba called them in along with a few others and, in the midst of the conversation, He suddenly said to Elsie, "Walter and I paid you a visit this morning." "Yes, Yes!" said Elsie, "At six o'clock I felt so filled." "No, five minutes to six!" He corrected her. And Sandweiss adds, "I began to see Baba less as an omnipresent controller of great forces than as a manifestation of pure love. Clearly, His love for His devotees motivates His actions."

Baba has often said that being in this body, as distinct from the 'Shirdi' body, He feels it is not enough if a few needy humans get spiritual guidance from Him: "It is necessary to draw all and sundry and provide them with succour and sustenance. I must give them what they want until they begin to want what the Avatar has come to give." Shirdi Baba appeared in dreams to give warnings and counsel; He spoke in symbols and veiled phrases; He helped solve mundane problems and personal tangles; He invited to Dwarakamai, through mysterious intimations, Sadhakas and service-oriented souls, suffering and suspicion-afflicted persons, and awakened their latent, inner urge towards self-realisation by a mere look, a touch, a smile or a pinch of sacred ash. This same strategy is unfolding on an even grander scale in the Sathya Sai era. Now the world has to be awakened and shaken out of its arrogance and schizophrenia by revelations of truth and declarations of love. While in 'Shirdi' form, the declaration of being an avatar was made in the comparative privacy of conversation. In the Sathya Sai manifestation, the declaration that He is all the names and forms through which mankind has adored God down the centuries, was made at a World Conference in Bombay before twenty-five thousand listeners, and many times subsequently, when hundreds of thousands were present. Through films, tapes, books and oral testimony, the uniqueness of this Divine Phenomenon and His wisdom, power, love and compassion are drawing increasing love and adoration, which has united millions into one ever-growing family of mankind.

Pride Punished

Arthur Osborne once said that Shirdi Sai Baba, was 'incredible'. Dr. S. Bhagavantham announced that Sathya Sai Baba is 'inexplicable'. I have to conclude that He is 'inscrutable', for He is the very embodiment of the Divinity described in the following story from the Upanishads, revealing Its glory and power.

The Universal Absolute, Brahman, conferred victory on the gods in their war against the demons. The gods were saved from thraldom and became mighty once again. But in their pride they ascribed their success to themselves; they traced it to their own prowess. To make them aware of their dependence on the Source of all power and wisdom, it appeared before them as a pillar of light, even while they were celebrating their victory in drink and dance, revelry and rejoicing. Noticing this strange Phenomenon, the gods were curious to know what it was and why it was interrupting their noisy spree. They sent the god of fire, Agni, to investigate it and report. The Phenomenon accosted the god who replied, "I am Agni. I can burn all things that come in contact with me." The Phenomenon invited him to burn a tiny stalk of dry grass which It placed before him. But however forcefully and gigantically he fell upon it, he could not burn it. So he returned to the gathering of gods, crestfallen and humiliated. The god of wind, Vayu, next ventured to challenge the Phenomenon to reveal its identity and its intentions. He, too, had to eat his boastful words, foiled by the blade of grass. Indra, the lord of the gods, was incensed by the overwhelming powers of this column of light, but he, too, had to swallow his pride and realise that a god as feeble as he had no right to confront that mighty Source of Glory.

Baba had declared even in His teens, "Not only today, but at any time hereafter, it will be beyond the capacity of anyone, however hard he may try and by whatever means, to assess My true nature." Critics and commentators do not realise that in the realm of the sacred, any explanation is a limitation, a hesitation, desecration.

The Halo

Scholars and scientists, isolated in their conceit, have for over four decades set out to expose Him as a fraud, a juggler and a trickster, but failed to tarnish even the hem of His robe. In this age, when the senses are the final criteria of knowledge, when passion rules the brain and prejudice pollutes the mind, a phenomenon shedding light, showering love and embodying truth automatically becomes a target for doubt, suspicion and denigration. Every wayward preacher comes to find in Him a challenge that he is powerless to understand and accept. He is an unpleasant and unwelcome reminder to the half-baked persons who are disembogued by modern universities, of the inadequacy of the intellect and the infirmity of the senses. How else are we to interpret the presumptuous assertion that the "halo around Baba rests entirely on the miraculous production of material objects which appeal to, and excite the wonder of, credulous people"?

Let Shri M. Rasgotra explain to us what that halo rests on: "We all emerge from the encounter with Baba in interview, exalted and radiant, as if Baba has stripped us of our motley cloaks full of patches, and fitted us out in love's pure raiment for a fresh journey towards a new destination. The transformation begins almost at the first moment of contact, and the process of ceaseless and irresistible uplift never slackens thereafter."

Shri B. Ramanand, while describing a wedding that was celebrated at Prasanthi Nilayam during which he had witnessed Baba for the first time, writes, "In five minutes we felt He was one of us; He talked to us as if He had known us intimately all along. This intense humanness, this wonderful camaraderie He has for all persons whom He meets, this remarkable quality of being one with the people around Him, this superabundance of good humour, joy, love and affection to all, made a powerful impact on me."

Baba says that His much-debated miracles are as insignificant before His true purpose as a mosquito when compared to the mighty elephant. We pay homage to Baba recognising the waves of gratitude that surge around His feet from hearts reinforced by the impact of His love, minds cleansed by the splendour of His grace, intellects made healthy and wholesome by imbibing His wisdom and bodies strengthened and straightened by the inflow of His compassion.

Richard Bock of Los Angeles, who was advised by Ravi Shanker and Indra Devi to approach Baba in the spirit of a pupil going to a guru, writes, "I remember going through a period when I wore a Japamala (rosary) with 108 beads, as a sort of badge. Baba came over to me, looked at it and said, 'It's heavy for Om.' He meant that I was showing off. So, I realised, it was nonsense. Like everybody else I did Namaste when Baba came into the room. He came over and hit my hands, saying, 'Jhootha Bhakti'. When I found out later that it meant 'false devotion', I realised that I didn't know what I was doing. What He was getting across was that until you feel it in your heart, don't go through a ritual. The next thing was that everybody wanted to touch His feet, so I figured that was something I, too, should do. When I tried to touch His feet, He said, 'No'. I realised, then, that I was doing it because every body else was doing it, that I myself didn't have any inner motivation at that moment to touch His feet."

I Want You

Like the Upanishadic god of fire, Arnold Schulman, too, belittled the Sai Phenomenon, in spite of a tour of India that included a visit to Brindavan and a few minutes with Baba. That experience was enough for him to conclude - and be happy in the discovery - that mystics in India were clever exploiters, and their disciples ordinary 'psychopathic compulsives'. Baba has declared, "Those who deny Me are blinded by ignorance or pride, so they need even more compassion and grace. Those who stay away, I shall beckon back." Baba, from Whom nothing can be hidden and for Whom nobody is distant, became aware of this blinkered tourist's belief. Schulman was mysteriously 'possessed' by an idea - to write a book on Baba - which he tried his best to explain away, circumvent, rationalise and deny; still it would not leave him alone. He told himself that it was insane, impracticable and impossible, but it refused to loosen its hold on him, persisting in its emphasis. Three months later, when he was able to secure an interview, Baba told him, "I asked you to write the book not because I wanted your book. The book is publicity. I don't need publicity. I wanted you, you, you!" And He sent him back to America, wiser and happier, the veil of supercilious ignorance regarding mystics and their disciples removed from his now clearer vision.

Like the Upanishadic god of wind, Samuel H. Sandweiss, MD., renowned psychiatrist, proceeded towards the Phenomenon in full confidence that he could easily prick the bubble of its bombastic magnificence. He writes, " I would go as a scientist to study and understand the psychological realities of a situation shrouded in mysticism, only to prove that miracles do not exist." Sandweiss approached the Sai Phenomenon and soon returned like the god Vayu, to his companions who were drinking and dancing, unaware of the reality which was directing their destiny. Sandweiss had decided to meet Baba when he heard extraordinary stories about Him from Indra Devi, to whom he had gone for consultations regarding Yoga. Baba, even when physically present at Prasanthi Nilayam or Brindavan, arouses ardour and yearning, awakens curiosity and interest, stimulates thirst and restlessness, assures comfort and cure and alerts and admonishes in dreams and through visions. Each one who moves to His presence with hope and confidence, has a story to tell, each more fascinating and reassuring than the other.

Pardon me if I present myself as the insolent Indra who, in 1948, was too impertinent to put up with the 'miracles' of Baba, yet was too curious to tolerate Him without a personal examination. I was then famous in the Kannada-speaking region of India - the state of Karnataka - as a humour writer, and I had a large reading public admiring me as the Stephen Leacock of that language. I then aimed my humour at Baba, 'the Phenomenon'. The word Sai in Kannada means 'die' - it is expletive, a command to extinguish life. "How can a person calling on us to address him as Sai be adored in Karnataka?" I quipped. Besides, I had gulped, without discerning, the dictum spread by the monks of the Ramakrishna Mission that the performance of miracles is a very unspiritual exercise which drags the Sadhaka into the depths of worldliness. So I hastened towards Baba in the hope that he could be exposed and explained. Like Indra, I returned after the encounter with my prejudices corrected, my myopia cured and my pride pulverised. I am engaged ever since in enthusing all people to follow the message of Baba and in adoring Him as the saviour of mankind. Those who venture to defy or deny Him, ultimately return to remain in His presence with folded hands and supple minds, meditating on His form, reciting His name and elevating themselves to divinity.

The Documentary

When Arnold Schulman heard himself ask Baba, "Are you God?" Baba replied, "How can an ant measure the depth of the ocean or a fish discover the truth of the sky?" This answer stuns our reason dumb. But every act of Baba does the same.

After thirty-one years of having known Him, I feel that to doubt the authenticity of the following experience of Indra Devi is a sacrilege to Sai: "I looked up at the picture of Bhagavan and prayed, 'Bhagavan, please take me to Puttaparthi for your birthday.' Two days later, a young man who had come to the Sai Centre at Tecate, phoned, 'Mataji, could you go to India tomorrow if Warner Bros. pay your trip? They want Baba's permission to make a documentary film on His life.' " She was met at the airport by someone from the company. When she came to Prasanthi Nilayam with the proposal, I felt elated at the prospect of the film. She was very much there during the Birthday festival and she carried Baba's response to the request back home. But when she contracted Warner Bros., who had arranged and paid for her trip, "No one knew me there," she writes, "nor about the trip, nor the film, nor Bhagavan. The red-faced executive told me that he would investigate and let me know. Years have passed and I am still waiting to hear what he has to tell me from his inquiry!"

Muriel Engle writes from San Diego on the Pacific Coast: "Ruth has a teaching job in Mexico. She is busy going back and forth. She attends Bhajans on Thursdays at Santa Barbara, but is still a sceptic. Her health problems have been tormenting her since long. She has bouts of extreme pain for several days at a stretch. One evening in her little room she suffered from terrible pain, and in her desperate agony she was crying out, 'Oh is there someone to help me? Anyone? Why am I suffering this? What shall I do? Oh, help!' "

Suddenly she felt a gentle touch on her arm. She stopped shouting and, as she turned, there stood Baba beside her bed, "Don't shout so," He said, "I am always here." Then, He disappeared. And along with Him the pain, too, had gone. This is another instance of His omnipresence. Baba says, "There is only one God and He is omnipresent. He has no favourite dwelling place or chosen followers or special groups of devotees. Call - He answers, He manifests, He blesses."

Letters to Him

Professor S. Bashiruddin of the Osmania University, while driving down with Baba from Ooty, in the Nilgiri Hills, asked, "Swami, if a devotee sends a letter or a telegram to Your Bangalore address but You happen to be at Ooty, Bombay or any other place, would it be redirected to You if it is marked 'Urgent'?" Baba answered, "A letter or a telegram is a mere carbon copy. If the thought in the letter or telegram is sincere, it need not be delivered to Me. The moment the thought is shaped in a devotee's mind it reaches Me, and the necessary guidance is transmitted."

When a few university men belonging to a blatantly propagandist and rationalist association, wrote to Baba insisting on an examination of His credentials, Baba said, "Sai is not a subject for a university examination; He is an object for universal examination."

Joel Roydon had no respect for Baba, who was worshipped by his wife. So he astonished his friends when he announced that he was flying to India with her to meet 'the wild-haired character'. When asked what he proposed to ask Baba for, he jocularly replied that he would ask for a rainbow in the sky. "No magician can ever pull a rainbow out of his sleeves," he jested. When he reached Puttaparthi and sat on a rock atop the hill to enjoy a smoke, "We saw a rainbow go straight up the eastern sky," Joel writes, "never curving, and within seconds it had reached its peak. As quickly as it grew, it dissolved itself, from the bottom up!" Next, when he was called by Baba for an interview, the question with which Joel was greeted was, "So, how did you like the rainbow?"

Aldous Huxley says, "The divine mind may choose to communicate with finite minds either by manipulating the world of men and things in ways which the particular mind to be reached at that moment will find meaningful, or else there may be direct communication by something resembling thought transference." Denise (Saivahini) Eversole wrote in the daily paper, Movement, in California, about her visit to a Sathya Sai Baba shrine in South India: "Vibhuti pours from Baba's photographs, and two small, enamel medallions of Baba exude a jasmine-scented sweet nectar called Amrita. A large jar daily fills up with this syrup, and the photographs are scraped clear. Both these manifestations of Baba's grace are given freely to all visitors. We received large containers of each, and watched carefully as more, and yet more, Vibhuti and Amrita formed and poured from the blessed objects... Nearby the Kauveri river, a short walk from the temple leads one to a pair of stone feet. From the feet oozes an oil with the most enchanting fragrance. This we wiped on our scarves and kerchiefs and whatever else we had, and watched as more oil oozed up from between the toes. It was my fourth visit to this shrine, but I never tire of witnessing these evidences of God's omnipotence."

Since Coming Back

In April 1972, Elsie and Walter Cowan returned from India to California. To a Sai group Elsie announced, "We have come back from India, my husband and I, brimful of the most astounding news that can happen to anyone. It is so fantastic that many of you may doubt it, because hardly any of us can imagine the great importance and the tremendous power of this great, high god, who not only walks the earth, but cares for all the planes from earth to eternity. Walter died at Madras; Sai Baba resurrected him!" A few months later, Walter Cowan wrote to me, "I am really feeling fine. Would you believe that I have gained about thirty pounds since 'coming back'?" Inscrutable, but true.

Examiner and Examinee

Here is another story from Mexico: "A dozen families live on our hill in Mexico which slopes down to the Pacific Ocean, about 300 feet below. Most of the people are retired Americans. There are one or two Mexican families also. The hill itself is not of solid rock, but is sedimentary ocean-floor uplift, comprising a mass of sand, boulders, clay, seashells, etc. A recent vertical cut for a new highway weakened the hill. In September 1976, it started sliding towards the ocean. Before long, two houses had fallen and other houses broke into half. The authorities ordered all remaining houses to be evacuated, because government geologists had declared that all the houses would be destroyed by the earth movement. At this critical juncture I was scheduled to leave on a tour of Sathya Sai Baba centres. We prayed to Baba to save the houses of our small community.

"Throughout the tour I remained anxious about this occurrence, but on my return was relieved to find all the remaining houses intact as before. The geologists were measuring the hill each day and were unable to discover why part of the hill was stationary and had not moved even a fraction of an inch. Of course, they did not know about the prayer nor that we had affixed a picture of Bhagavan to a window directly facing the ocean side."

John Hislop, who wrote me this letter, has published a book entitled, 'Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba'. Baba tells Hislop, " It is perfectly all right to ask all these questions and clear all your doubts. You are examining Swami and Swami is giving the answers. But when all this is finished and the next time you come around, Swami will be the examiner and you will have to be ready with the right answers in your mind and heart."

"Before going to Sai Baba, I told Indra Devi that everything but the miracles I can accept," writes Richard Bock. "Those bothered me because I had read the Ramakrishna Kathamrita, which says that you have to be aware of Siddhis (ascetically acquired powers), for they can lead you astray. So I felt that showing off this power was somehow egotistical and was not the highest level of expression. Therefore, I had doubts as to His motives in displaying them. But when I got closer and began to experience them, I realised that they were so natural to Him, and the reason behind them so sound, that I could see He was coming from a different space. He was not becoming something - that He already was - so there was nothing that could spoil Him... For a Westerner, it usually takes something to blow his mind off the material world that he is entrapped in and the idea that everything can be figured out scientifically. So Baba creates something out of time, breaking what usually look like scientific natural laws, and creates a so-called miracle.

"The thing that blew my mind was what happened when Indra Devi asked Him if she could have some more of the 'healing ash', because she had given away all of her first supply to people. He said 'yes' and, as I was watching, he moved His hand in a circle and then held up both hands, as if to receive something. Then an urn, about four inches high, appeared in mid-air and plopped into His hands. I saw this and said, 'That's not sleight of hand, that's not up His sleeve, that's something else.' He took off the top and spilled all the ash onto a piece of paper. Then He poured again, and another urnful of ash poured out, so that in total He had poured out double the amount of ash that the urn could possibly hold. Next, He put half of it back in the urn and distributed some to the people near by. What was left He put in a little handkerchief bag and gave it to Indra. He touched it and said, 'Now this will be an inexhaustible supply and you won't run out of it.' Well, she has had it for ten years now and it is still flowing. And she has given it to thousands of people. After that experience with Baba, whether or not God exists is no longer a question in my mind." This is what Richard Bock related to an interviewer from the Movement, in September 1979.

Baba is so compassionate that He designs a new strategy for every individual He decides to reform or transform. At one and the same time, in all parts of the world, increasing numbers of people experience His grace by means of an 'inner voice' or intuition, during silent spells or amidst the clank of crowds, or through His direct manifestation in physical form - conveying warnings, revitalising faith and clearing doubts. A telegram which in fact was never transmitted, a letter which was never posted or a phone call which was never dialled, can reveal His affection and awaken, assure or advise a person struggling in the dark, ultimately revealing the hand of God beckoning him to Prasanthi Nilayam.