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Seeing their son come home unexpectedly, his parents looked at each other excitedly while trying to understand what was going on. Having quickly entered the house, the Sai boy said in a determined tone: “I no longer belong to you. The illusion of this world has left me. My many devotees are already waiting for me.”
The household did not know how to react to these strange words. Suddenly, a dazzling bright light shone around the head of the boy Sai. At that moment, the neighbors entered the house and also saw the majestic scene. The fourteen-year-old Baba stood calmly in the middle of the room, shining with a bright light. Recovering from their stupor, relatives and neighbors fell at his feet, asking for blessings. They could not understand the full depth of what was happening, but intuitively they felt the significance of what was unfolding before them.
After this amazing incident, boy Sai moved to a nearby abandoned Krishna temple. The temple was very ancient and, by that time, completely abandoned. The teenage Sai inspired the other boys in the village to rebuild the temple and soon several adults joined them. So, the ancient temple of Krishna was restored and became a new home for a wonderful young man. There, with friends, he sang traditional Bhajans daily, along with chants dedicated to the Vedic Gods.
Sai openly spoke of his past incarnation as Shirdi Sai Baba, a great teacher, miracle worker and sage who lived in India at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is assumed that Shirdi Sai Baba was born in the ‘30s of the 19th century and left this world in 1918. At the end of his life, Shirdi Sai Baba predicted that in eight years he would be reincarnated again.
The Sai boy was born in 1926, that is exactly eight years later. His miraculous wisdom and supernatural abilities amazed all the locals and visitors, and soon the first devotees and visitors began to flock to him. In the beginning, people came from neighboring villages to look at the miracle worker boy, and everyone marveled at his knowledge and insight.
Of course, many were surprised that the boy could accurately tell of his previous birth. Rumor about him spread far beyond the native village, and people came from afar. The fact that the little Sai was the incarnation of the great Shirdi Sai Baba arose interest, surprise, skepticism, and curiosity among all who came to communicate with him.
The ‘40s went by and one day a photographer came to the boy Sai and tried to take a picture of him. Sai stood next to a large stone. The photographer asked the holy youth to move away from the stone so he could take a more beautiful composition, but Sai refused and asked to take the picture exactly where he was standing. Once the photo was printed, an image of Shirdi Sai Baba, his past incarnation, appeared in the picture in the place of the stone.
13. The free thinker is free
Only your thoughts are responsible for all suffering, and this is good news! It means your thoughts only are also responsible for happiness and joy. Although you cannot influence the world around you, you are in complete control of your thoughts, which means that your happiness is also in your own hands. The cause of tension and suffering is often found somewhere between sensing a separateness of existence and relaxing into that source of happiness where you feel unity, contentment, and peace.
When you seek happiness for yourself, you always lose it, but when you give happiness to others, you always find it. Peace and harmony are the complete acceptance of what is happening in the here and now. All states, such as suffering, happiness, and peace take place in your inner world. How you feel at this point in your life depends entirely on your conscious decisions about what thoughts and emotions you allow to dominate your mind.
The mind creates artificial authorities and mental garbage that leads to delusions. A person can be very authoritative in one community, and completely unauthoritative in another. Of course, this does not mean that you need to become a nihilist and fight everyone just for the sake of showing your supposed love of freedom. Any person’s opinion should be thoughtfully and respectfully treated; however, do remember you have a right to your own independent position, regardless of the strength of outside influences.
A person deprived of the freedom of thought is doomed to become a cog in the system, dependent on the opinions of others and invariably becoming the victim of manipulation. A restless mind gives rise to false thoughts that make life hell. Your thoughts only create the hell in which you then have to live. A free-thinking person is free. Only a free person can contemplate and meditate on the truth.
The mind is an ordinary tool. There is nothing wrong with the mind because it is the mind that allows you to make the right decisions in many simple everyday situations. When you need to shop for clothes in the right size or find the right way, sign documents correctly, you use your mind perfectly.
The problem begins where the mind ceases to be a mere instrument but desires to become the master. The mind tends to take you back in time, making you worry endlessly about what can no longer be changed. The mind creates many fantasies like a nightmare. So it is, then, that the mind stops doing its simple technical functions and tries to be a master, and this creates problems.
The real task of the mind is to be the perfect tool for solving technical problems, such as making the right purchase or making the right financial calculations. A well-functioning mind can help you understand business documentation, understand a new computer program, and more. But don't let the mind try to impose answers to questions about the meaning of life on you. The mind cannot understand this, as it was created for something else.
Memory is the greatest function of the mind. If you had no memory, how could you learn a foreign language, drive a car, or use a computer? However, when the memory is stained with negative emotional moods, resentment, and claims, you instantly fall into the abyss that is created by the mind.
Every moment, the universe is re-created. Instead of regretting the past, bless the past and move on. Your past is perfect, and you have nothing to regret, you are born again every moment. You never have to prove anything to anyone – this is the restless mind – you do not need to take part in the games of the mind, as you are originally perfect and free.
You are what you think you are. This is one of the most important concepts on the spiritual path. If your self-esteem is more significant for you than what the world around you can dictate, then you will be able not only to understand your purpose in life, but to realize your talents.
There are numerous false self-identifications, such as: you are a body or a nationality, a gender, or a name. You use many things in your life, including a body, a name, a degree, and real estate, but you are above and beyond of all this. When one identifies with the mind, false identification occurs. You are not the mind, but you are using the mind. It sounds simple, but what about the actual implementation of this truth in everyday life?
There is no need to fight with the mind – it is a beautiful and perfect instrument, unless you become the master and then it rules you. The mind is really a great tool. It can count and analyze, and it needs to be loved like everything else given by God. The mind is also a gift of God, so it needs to be taken care of, educated, trained, and taught. My advice is to leave all doubts and internal conflicts behind and live in the present. Be simpler. The mind only creates enormous difficulties.
14. Sathya Sai Baba helps before a person knows about the danger
This story I was told by Mr. Subba Rao. It shows how Sathya Sai Baba sometimes knew of people’s troubles before they even did. Sathya Sai Baba did not get ill very often, but when he did, his illnesses had a deep meaning associated with complex energy processes. Once, he had a very high temperature and everyone in the ashram got scared and urgently called the doctors. I was always surprised and even amused when Sathya Sai Baba's assistants called doctors for him. It was strange to watch how these excited assistants invited doctors to treat the one who treated everyone else. On this particular occasion, he listened to the advice of his doctors but refused to take their medicine. A few minutes after the doctors left, his temperature returned to normal.
In the evening of that same day, Sathya Sai Baba had a meeting with a group of devotees. This meeting was organized as a small open-air dinner. A beautiful starry sky shone overhead, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Everyone was happily talking with Sathya Sai Baba when suddenly he turned to one of those present and in a serious voice said, “tomorrow I will warn my mother to be more careful with fire.”
Hearing these strange words, the people asked Him to clarify.
He said, “today this woman was practicing prayer and meditation in her room and did not notice how the candle set fire to her clothes … the woman could have suffered because she was in a deep meditative state. I felt this and sent her my blessings – this is why my temperature rose for a short time.”
The next day, it was discovered that his mother really had practiced meditation so deeply that she did not notice her clothes catch fire and the flame suddenly go out. She was left with only a slightly charred sari.
I know of quite a lot of cases where Sathya Sai Baba came to help before people could realize the danger. Similar situations happen to me as well. This was another amazing ability of Sathya Sai Baba – his absolute clairvoyance and powerful energy allows him still to carefully follow the fate of his devotees.
15. The True Self shines like the sun
Everything in this world is impermanent and is in the cycle of change. Cities, empires, and entire civilizations rise and fall. In the history of mankind, even the strongest and most invincible empires crumbled to dust. What may seem stable and eternal may disappear tomorrow without leaving even a memory of itself. Yes, indeed, everything is impermanent in the universe, except for the True Self.
The True Self shines like the sun, even if temporarily obscured by clouds. Every living being, not only man, but also animals, feel their "I". This amazing experience is the basis of everything that happens to each of us in every moment of life. It is impossible to imagine your non-existence. Even if you try to fantasize about your non-existence, there must still be an “I” that will stubbornly fantasize about its alleged non-existence.
For various reasons, people may lose awareness of their self-existence, just as people do not notice the heartbeat and breathing process.
In the ancient philosophical text "Avadhuta Gita", the sage Dattatreya speaks about the reality of the Higher Self:
Why is the Spiritual Heart on the right? We have already talked about the Spiritual Heart in previous chapters, and we will discuss this important topic in the future, because this is one of the most important secrets and treasures that came to us from ancient times. The Spiritual Heart is located on the right side of the body. In Sanskrit, the Spiritual Heart is called Hrideyam. It is in the Spiritual Heart that the actual experience of the unity of the “I” and God takes place.
Why is the Spiritual Heart on the right, why not in the center or on the left? I don't know… ask God…
The only thing we know is this most important point is located on the right, in the region of the liver. Meditation, concentration, and contemplation of this point opens the gate to the eternity of the Divine Consciousness, which is your True Self. At this point, the self-realization of your higher nature takes place, having opened this mystical point, a person is born again as a divine being.
16. Eternal and impermanent
It is difficult to find such unconditional love for everyone in this world as Sathya Sai Baba demonstrated. He blessed everyone regardless of what people thought or said about him. During his earthly life, he had several tens of millions of devotees and followers, but also a huge number of envious people and ill-wishers.
When numerous absurd accusations rained down on him in the early 2000s, he remained completely indifferent to all gossip and slander. He continued to communicate with people and bless everyone: both those devotees who loved him and those evil wishers who hated him.
In this chapter we will mention ridiculous accusations fell upon Sathya Sai Baba. I have no desire to discuss these stories in detail, however, these heinous accusations are also part of the story, and we can learn a lot from remembering this situation. Oddly enough, the authors of all the slander were former devotees and followers of Sathya Sai Baba, who were disappointed in him as a spiritual teacher.
Disappointment and crises happen to almost everyone who follows the path of spiritual quest. Perhaps, spiritual crisis does not happen to those who do not ask spiritual questions. If you are disillusioned with your teacher or with the spiritual system that you have been following for many years, the wisest thing is to simply thank the teacher, leave him, and then try to find yourself in some other spiritual direction. If you feel gratitude, then your past is in harmony with the present and you have passed the lessons of life and are ready to develop further.
Most people in their lives repeatedly move from one esoteric direction to another. Such is life. Even if for several years you studied under the guidance of some guru, and then became disillusioned with him, you can still find sincere gratitude in your heart. It is important to be grateful to all the teachers who have helped you in life with good advice and blessings.
However, not everyone is wise. Disillusioned followers sometimes transmute their hostility and inharmonious energy into unsubstantiated accusations to release their own pent-up frustrations. This is a type of negative transference. The group of accusers, with their flurry of slanders, consisted of a couple dozen very active and angry people: some were from Sweden, the USA, England, Russia, France, and also from India. Sathya Sai Baba was their favorite teacher and now he is their enemy.
All of the hype was enthusiastically received by television and the press. In any profession there are honest professionals, and there are those who are ready to earn money on anything. Unfortunately, among journalists, not everyone follows the principles of honesty and responsibility for the accuracy of information – some seek to increase their ratings at any cost.
Sathya Sai Baba was accused of financial fraud. He invested all his money in education, medicine, and charity, yet he was accused of being a magician and a fake, even though he performed amazing miracles and healings witnessed by the masses. Granted, he materialized gold jewelry with various stones, among which there were many expensive diamonds – pieces of jewelry, which are today, still worn by thousands of devotees around the world. What kind of magician would give you gold and diamonds and ask for nothing in return?
He was even accused of organizing contract killings! It’s hard for me to talk about and to reconcile such accusations about Sathya Sai Baba, a divine soul who spent his life saving his devotees, even those who knew him little, with the power of his blessings. It makes no sense to me.
Spiritual crises are normal, but the big question is what to do with spiritual crises? Sathya Sai Baba was absolutely indifferent to all gossip. Unfortunately, the accusers could not provide any evidence for their accusations – they simply made a lot of noise. Such is human nature, that today one praises Sathya Sai Baba for helping solve troublesome problems, but when tomorrow’s new difficulties and trials begin, what then?
There were many cases where Sathya Sai Baba quickly helped people and they were happy. There were also cases that when the healing did not happen instantly, people became disappointed and accused him of fraud, because he did not justify their hopes for an instant solution to their problems. People are accustomed to the fact that Sathya Sai Baba solves all people's problems with the power of his energy within a second. More realistically, it can sometimes take time to solve some people’s difficult situations due to their karma. In these cases, some could be offended by him.
In my life there were many internal conflicts and difficulties, which most often were hardly noticeable to others. Sometimes I received miraculous help and support from Sathya Sai Baba almost instantly, and sometimes my problems took years to resolve. In my relationship with Sathya Sai Baba I went through many periods of disappointment and crisis. I have come to realize that some people expect only sweets and entertainment from Sathya Sai Baba, but actually, he leads us along the spiritual path, the purpose of which is not to satisfy our conceit or satisfy all our whims but to lead each student to enlightenment.
17. The Spiritual Heart
Philosophy gives intellectual knowledge of the truth and yoga leads to the actual experience of truth. Philosophers meditate on the truth and yogis are in the mystical experience of truth, which takes place in the depths of the Spiritual Heart. The search for truth is self-exploration, self-knowledge, and self-contemplation.
The right side of the body is considered more sacred in the Vedic tradition because there is the door to eternity: the Spiritual Heart. Wisdom is the fruit of meditation. In order to gain great wisdom in your inner mystical state, immersion in meditation is necessary for there to be a realization that "everything is inside you and you are in everything."
Sathya Sai Baba is an Avatar, he can consciously pass from one incarnation to another, but is it possible for everyone?
Sathya Sai Baba consciously reincarnates. Conscious reincarnation allows you to transfer to the present life all the accumulated spiritual experience of past lives. You temporarily live in a beautiful physical body, on the wonderful planet Earth.
You are going through the path of spiritual evolution not only in this life, but many incarnations. The only thing that you brought with you into this life is the wisdom from past lives, but if the process of reincarnation is not conscious, then most of the treasure is lost.
The soul is in the process of reincarnation, traveling from life to life, incarnating in different worlds and in different circumstances. At a higher level, reincarnation happens consciously. At a high evolutionary level, the “Self” passes into the next incarnation consciously, retaining the memory and knowledge of the spiritual experience accumulated in the previous birth. Everything is within you, including your past and future lives. Being in the awareness of your divine essence, you observe the process of reincarnation.
Awareness in the process of reincarnation is the result of self-realization received in the practice of meditation. The divine person consciously passes the path of reincarnation; therefore, he is free from the fear of death, retains an understanding of the present moment in any situation, including at the moment of death of the body.
Of course, some may doubt and say that Sathya Sai Baba is a great Avatar and can consciously pass from one incarnation to another, but is this possible for everyone? Realizing your True Self, you come to understand that "everything is within you, and you are in everything." Everything happens inside your consciousness, including the process of reincarnation.
Everything happens inside you: life and death. A person who is conscious in the present moment remains conscious in the journey of the soul to a future incarnation. If you think about death and the afterlife journey of the soul, then you imagine it as a future event, but when death actually happens, it happens in the present moment.
Awareness of one's divine nature leads to awareness in the process of reincarnation. When you begin to understand the process of the soul's transition from one life to another, the fear of death disappears, because you begin to understand that the journey to the next life is not much more difficult than the trip from Moscow to St. Petersburg. The question is that it is reasonable to prepare for each trip in advance.
The basis of conscious reincarnation is the self-realization of one's higher nature. The Avadhuta Gita beautifully and poetically describes the reality of the Self:
A person who is conscious at every moment of his life becomes a high-level yogi. The one who has realized his Higher Self consciously lives life and also consciously goes through the process of the posthumous journey of the soul because everything is inside you, both life and death.
18. Trinity in the Vedas and the Bible
This story is repeated by me in memory of and in gratitude to two senior devotees of Sathya Sai Baba, who lived in his ashram for many years. First, Maheshwarananda, the author of the famous book
It happened in the early spring of 1978. Sathya Sai Baba spent some time in a place called Ooty, a large nature reserve with magnificent mountains and primeval jungle. Sathya Sai Baba was returning by car to his ashram, and it was necessary to pass the city of Mysore and then Bangalore. It was a full day trip.
The line of cars speed along the road. Sathya Sai Baba's car drove at the head of the column, and all the escorts followed him. Not far from Mysore, Sathya Sai Baba chose a picturesque place, asked to stop, and invited everyone to relax in nature with him. A couple of dozen people who accompanied Sathya Sai Baba sat beside him on the grass.
Suddenly, an amazing miracle happened in front of everyone present. The usual human form of Sathya Sai Baba disappeared, and in its place a three-headed deity with six arms appeared: it was Lord Dattatreya. Everyone present was blessed by this amazing transformation. The three heads of Dattatreya symbolize the three main Vedic deities: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
Dattatreya is also called the Vedic Trinity. I often quote an ancient philosophical treatise on the nature of the True Self called the Avadhuta Gita. The authorship of this text is attributed to the sage Dattatreya, who is symbolically depicted with three heads, because, in accordance with mythology, he was the incarnation of three great Gods at once: Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
When you think about God, you begin by seeing God as a higher being located somewhere in heaven, but as you become more advanced in your spirituality, you gradually realize that God is not in outer space, but in the Spiritual Heart. The same is true with the Trinity. At the first level, the Vedas speak of the Trinity as the three greatest Gods: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.
The Christian tradition says that the Trinity is God the Father, God the Spirit, and God the Son. However, from the point of view of high esotericism, the Trinity is the three main aspects of the inner world of man – for everything is inside. The idea of God as a Trinity has always been in the Vedic tradition. Esoteric knowledge about the Trinity has a deep and varied symbolism; the essence of which is Divine Consciousness, Cosmic Energy, and Soul.
The Vedic Trinity, also symbolized by the "cosmic principle of the teacher," is not some kind of "being" or personality, but a principle. All the teachers who you have met on your life path are the embodiment of the "cosmic principle of the teacher." Someone taught you how to read and write, use a computer, and drive a car, and someone taught you the high knowledge of meditation and mantra. The same principle is in the depths of your consciousness. Perhaps it has already begun to manifest itself, or perhaps not yet. Almost constantly and daily you change your roles in life – sometimes becoming students, and sometimes becoming teachers.
The area where the amazing transformation of Sathya Sai Baba, turning into a deity with three heads, took place is located near the ancient city of Mysore and the sacred river, Kaveri. This area is especially associated with the many mythological stories of Dattatreya, the Vedic Trinity. Sathya Sai Baba repeatedly pointed out his next incarnation on earth would be closely connected with Mysore. Sai Baba reincarnates consciously. While alive in this life, he talked about some of his past incarnations and also indicated where he will incarnate in the future.
Using stories about his past and future lives, Sathya Sai Baba indicates that each person goes through the path of divine evolution in many lives. The fact that we live many lives does not mean that we have the right to neglect the current incarnation and thoughtlessly waste time.
Yes, all eternity is at your disposal, but still every moment, every day lived is unique and precious. Sai Baba reincarnates consciously, and every person has the same opportunity, but for this to happen it is necessary to realize the immortal core of his soul.
19. I trust myself, then I trust God who dwells in my heart
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