Book Notes
Necklace of Nine Sai Gems,
Volume 1, Supremacy of Sai Avatar
Dr Adivi Reddy, author of this series of nine books called Nava Ratna Mala(Necklace of Nine Sai Gems) authored an interesting book which he presented to Swami upon the occasion of Swami's 70th Birthday celebrations ... Uniqueness of Swami and his Teachings. Dr Reddy writes that the previous volume was prepared hurriedly, whereas this current series were prepared over a much longer time and presented to Swami for the 75 anniversary of his Advent.
What is Dr Reddy's purpose in having a subtitle "Supremacy of Sai Avatar" for a book? Swami is the well wisher, guide, one holding the lamp in the darkness, one cutting back the vegetation and overgrowth on the paths to blessedness, so that man may find it again. There is very little in the action and activity of the Sai Avatar which delivers the concept of supremacy; one has to dive the depths of this book to glean the filters by which the author is writing to proclaim that Sathya Sai is Supreme Avatar. Supremacy, in Dr. Reddy's treatment, is self-evident when one considers the world-wide recognition, the unlimited powers and the uniqueness of Swami's reality.
This book opens with a short, cursory examination of the prophecies of the Advent of Sathya Sai. Short and cursory is probably apt observation, as this is probably the weakest and poorly researched area of this book. On page 7, after reciting the descriptions in the Mehdi Moud, there is a one line comment on a prophecy "Needless to say, all the above are fulfilled by Bhagavan". Such a statement is almost arrogant in its presumption that the reader agrees with the author and his one line dismissal of the extent, content, meaning and exegesis of this prophecy from another religious system. This, then, makes it abundantly clear whom Dr Reddy is writing for: the devotee who is only interested in reading of and about Sathya Sai Baba in the text and context of Hinduism. In some respects such could hardly be called Sarva Dharma, all paths leading to the one True God.
The early years of Swami's life are not well covered here in this volume, except to report Easwaramma's name from birth, her renaming by Kondama Raju, and mistakes in the references to Swami's letter to his brother (the year is given as 1942 ... when in fact, this letter was written in 1947). Most of the prophetic material cited is is not developed satisfactorily.
Perhaps Dr Reddy may be forgiven for his earlier weaknesses and transgressions, for once he passes over from the prophecies section of this text into the recognition, powers and uniqueness of the Sai Avatar, his considerable depth, background, skill and devotion come into play. Dr Reddy really gets to the nub of matters with very strong research, wide background and experience of attending as a devotee and reporting his interviews in the 1980's, along with his narration of Sri N. Kasturi's talks to devotees at the Study Circle hall, which used to be beside the Gopuram Gate.
In the section on World-wide recognition material comes from many difference sources on the nature and activity of avatars which makes for a provocative, interesting and well developed reading. I found the citation from Khalil Gibran most interesting: "The prophet comes through his parents, but not from them. Professor Kasturi, the writer of the jivan charita of Sathya Sai Baba (Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram) comes in for respectful treatment, and is the source of some of the insights that Dr Reddy shares in his writing.
In every age, we must communicate knowledge, revelation, and teachings of this, that or any other avatara or divine, in language of the day and age which obliges the reader's understandings and furthers those understandings. Dr Reddy has a good collection of writings, with good strength and depth on the nature and miracles of an avatar. There was one point I wish might have been developed further: the assignation of ahamkara to Swami, which, on first take, appears to be anthropomorphism, the assignation of human qualities and characteristics to the divine, the formless absolute. One wonders how an avatar is subject to ahamkara, the tyranny of the ego. This, from Kasturi, needs to be developed further and presented more cogently.
On page 39, it would seem that Dr Reddy is citing Kasturi and his application of Rudolph Otto's categories of mysterium tremendum et fascinans to Swami. Rudolph Otto, a German philosopher of religion, wrote The Idea of the Holy wherein he developed one key concept which he called the numinous, a term he derived from numen. (As omen becomes ominous, numen becomes numinous). The numinous is a mystery (from the Latin mysterium) that is both terrifying (tremendum) and fascinating (fascinans) at the same time. Reddy cites (or rewrites?) Kasturi as saying Fascination, Mystery and Power are the three distinguishing marks of Divinity. Reddy goes on to cast another paragraph and one further reference to Fascination, Mystery and Power to Sri Sathya Sai Baba, and that is the end of the matter. A pity, as this topic merits disciplined exploration and development, in order to open up further dimensions of the divine diamond called Sathya Sai Baba and provide ways and means of exploring this unique mystery which is simultaneously inner-outer in the life of every devotee.
There is the strict rule known unto all devotees that there is no middleman, no interloper, no in-between, third person, between Sri Sathya Sai Baba and his devotees. Charles Penn of California is perhaps unique in the Sai Movement in that Sathya Sai Baba did confirm that the messages flowing through the pen of Charles Penn were authentic, and from Him. Kasturi took the material to Swami for clarification when he was editor of Sanathana Sarathi; never once did Swami disavow authorship of this material. However, for our purposes, it is telling that Dr Reddy has included the following extract from Swami's letter of July 16, 1965, addressed to Charles Penn:
The Guru does not always need to come in actual concrete form; he can prompt the higher impulses and urges through a friend, or a book or an event which reveals the reality in a flash. After this, awakening, the rest is mostly in the hands of the aspirant. The Guru can, at best, watch and guide. Do not get agitated or lose heart. You will be guided, however far away you may be, geographically.
So it is for the devotee, that the guidance comes, without fail, within the heart, from the indweller of the heart.
Dr Reddy is given to listing attributes and aspects of the Sai Avatar, as he has done on pages 83-4, which in fact, is a really well thought out consideration and development of the activities and narratives of the acts of the Sai Avatar. This reveals considerable effort by the author. Simply rereading such a list gives deep cause for reflection and thought. There is an interesting peroration rendered by Dr Reddy as he examines and extrapolates statements made by Swami on page 109 which, in his words, are the key role of the avatar:
Sarva Roopa Dharam Santham Sarva Nama Dharam Sivam Sat-Chit-Anandam Advaitam Sathyam Sivam Sundaram cha
-which means:
I am the One who has put on all (manifested) forms; I am Peace; I am the One who bears all names; I am Auspiciousness; I am Being-Awareness-Bliss; One without a second; I am Truth, Goodness and Beauty also.
This statement which Baba has made about Himself is comparable to Krishna's declaration as follows about His own Reality in verse 20 of Chapter X of the Gita:
I am the Self (Atma) seated in the hearts of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the end of all beings.
There follows a full excursus on Baba as aadhara, the support, the basis of all in existence, and as Sathyam, Sivam, Sundaram. This is the quality and calibre of the service Dr Reddy is rendering here to devotees in supplying these extended reflections and excursus of relevant material to enable, deepen and further personal reflection on the nature of Sathya Sai Baba, his purpose, works, and mission and its planetary outreach.
Dr Reddy has penned his series for Modern Man (and woman) so that they may, in a disciplined manner, read, ruminate, and reflect. Information must produce transformation. The Yoga of Love includes the five human values as exemplified in the life and teachings of Sathya Sai Baba, which should be lived by devotees, not recited as mantras parrot-like nor reproduced as sermons, cassette-like. There is no substitute for living what has been preached.
$6 (or $60 the set of 9 books) from Sai Books, 24 Kenilworth Ave, Wonga Park, 3115,
Margaret and Randall McDonald
email books [at] saiaustralia.org.au
Phone (03)9722 1740