Book Notes
Necklace of Nine Sai Gems,
Volume 3, My Life is My Message
Analytical Study of Baba's Proclamation
This is the Third volume by Dr Adivi Reddy, author of the Nine-Volume series called Nava Ratna Mala (Necklace of Nine Sai Gems). This volume focuses on aspects of "My Life is My Message" and analyses aspects of this proclamation of Baba's.
The opening chapter in this volume examines some examples given by Swami of his mission and his action. The second citation is most profound and thought provoking:
Consider this: you have no patience even to put up with the problems of a single family, though the responsibility is obviously yours. Imagine then what My patience must be, to listen to, tackle and solve the problems of tens of thousands of families with a Love that is rare even among parents. No. You are incapable of gauging Me. You can never grasp the strength of this super-worldly bond that ties you to Me.
Imagine that, a super-worldly bond between the Avatar and his devotees which is beyond the capacity of the devotee to grasp, to know, to understand. All we know is that Swami has called us to him. In another place, Swami says he has been drawing us to Him over many lifetimes - we have been prepared for the role we are to play this time. This supra-mundane bond between ourselves and the Avatar that goes beyond maya, beyond the senses, beyond the mind, beyond the intellect; it can only be known, not thought nor grasped by the intellect. How deep the bond between the Avatar and the devotee must be.
The following chapter is about the parallels between Sri Krishna and Sai Krishna. It is here, that the kernel of this book is contained.
Your life is my message. People will know me by my devotees.
Perhaps, it is not a simple matter to be a devotee, to see and be in relationship with an avatar of the divine, they come so rarely that all mankind has is scriptures, memories of the words and deeds of the avatar. Hence, many religions have a heavy dependence on the recorded narratives of these divine lives. For Sathya Sai Baba to say, People will know me by my devotees is a bit like a manifold opening ... there are so many people, and one avatar. Swami says to devotees, "Who are you to speak of me or promote my deeds? You praise me one minute and decry me the next!" The key is in the question asked: Who are you? We must first know ourselves. Swami promises that the multiplication of his love will be felt throughout the world.
Kshobhana, the deluding, confounding nature of an avatar. Here is an entire chapter examining this confounding nature. Building on the mystery of humanity in relationship with the Divine, in many ways, there are specified ways of behaving, forms to observe, traditions, rituals. What of a face-to-face personal relationship with the form of the formless? How does this work? Human beings, by their nature, tend to compartmentalise this or that part of their lives, and relationships with the divine tend to be compartmentalised in ways described above. Think of going to a party. People meet, exchange pleasantries and polite conversation. Who are you? What do you do? Oh, how interesting. And so it goes. We can't do this with a divine incarnation, who, in many outward respects, appears to confound our expectations of the Divine. God is love, where is this love? He's not looking at me!
The postman delivers the letter; the contents of the letter do not perturb the postman. So this chapter explores this phenomena of kshobhana, the confounding nature of the avatar. Some say he is My Saayi Baba, others call him Raayi Baba, Stone Baba. Three rays come off the avatara: stula, sukshma, and kaarana, which go to the immediate environment, the whole earth, and the whole universe. Transformation requires effort, sraddha, and time.
He has made the tenement of flesh his own
His image the human measure cast
That to his divine measure we might rise
His nature we must put on as he put on ours
So writes Sri Aurobindo, as cited in this book. Humanity must go beyond name and form.
There is an excellent chapter on Love My Uncertainty. Sathya Sai is a mirror, who simply reflects who we are back to ourselves. The movement from uncertainty to certainty is an opportunity for erasure of the ego. One must take Vitamin G (GOD) daily, along with Vitamin P (Live in the Present). Present is Omnipresent. Hands in society, heads in the forest, living in the present is not a recipe for inaction.
There is also a small chapter on the What and How of Faith. Taking up earlier reflections in this review, faith in God is covered with the patina, the acculturation of centuries concept, idea, cultural expression and expectation, of what and how the divine is and acts in human history. Real interaction with a divine incarnation tends to confound the history and scriptures of mankind. Many perceive the Divine as a magical doctor who can fix it all up, smooth away the difficulties, exchange suffering and evil for happiness and sunshine. For many, this is not the case, and they ask questions, and come to conclusions .. he is partial to some, and not others, no, he has a heart of stone.
Faith as explored in this chapter is the product of trust, effort, activity and steadiness. Faith is the life-breath of all humanity. Baba teaches we have faith in the washerman, in the doctor, in the driver of our car, even in the dog, that it will not bite us.
Why are there differences in faith? This is explored as a mixture of samksars, and vasanas, the activity we have come to engage in this birth, plus the inherent tendencies of mind which have come forward, surrounding the soul, into the current body. All these create a unique disposition of gunas, impulses to action, which create and add to the mixture which is the different dispositions of faith we all have. However, faith is not a given, a static entity. Faith is built up, slowly, with the company of the good and holy, purity of thought, word and deed, spiritual activity and effort, prayer, and sincere yearning. These are the things which add up to faith.
Faith is also tested. Devotion is put to the test, so the Lord may know the taste of that devotion. Faith and devotion put to the test are not punishments, not abandonment, for Sai is kith and kin of all on the earth and closer to us than the eyelid is to the eye. When the Lord is pleased with us, when we have progressed, then that progress is put to the test; Love is tested to see if it is rocky or steady. Such tests of faith, trials and tribulations, in the Old Testament, were called the consolations of God. The Old Testament Prophets and Saints came to know and understand that nearness is sometimes darkness, for a period.
This third volume in the Necklace of Nine Sai Gems has a mine of reflective, mediation material for all its readers. Certainly, the chapters on the confounding nature of Baba, Uncertainty, and on the depths of Faith would repay time, peace, reflection and examination, again and again. Faith transcends reason. These issues are foundational for those who follow Sathya Sai Baba, for the kernel of this book, let it not be forgotten, is , Your life is my message. People will know me by my devotees.
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