In childhood, He was liked by everyone, because He was always kind, forgiving all offences from playmates, never “requiting evil with evil”. And more… in school, He entertained other pupils by giving them sweets, which He took out from an apparently empty bag, materializing them.
At the age of 14, He told to His parents that He would not go to school any more, because He knows everything. And that He is a reincarnation of well-known in India Muslim saint Sai Baba (Baba means Father in Sanskrit) from the place called Shirdi. And that He wants to leave parents’ home in order to dedicate His life to helping people, preaching the Truth about God, and about the Way of attainment of the Highest Freedom in Mergence with Him.Listen to Swami's bhajans and discourses on the following links of Radio Sai Global Harmony
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Later on He explained it thus: “Each man begins cognition of the world through its forms. People cannot at once picture to themselves God as the Omnipresent Who is present in each object and in each individual. … (Therefore), idols are necessary in order to point to God. To those, who have not realized God, idols are necessary. After the realization of God, idols become unnecessary. … Worshiping an idol and acquiring through such worship experience of Divinity, one will be able to describe to oneself the feeling of God.”.
All preaching activity of Swami Sathya Sai Baba is accompanied by His demonstration of miracles.
He did this even in school years: He materialized sweets, pencils, rulers, and so on, and also won easily in running among other pupils by transporting instantly His body from the start to the finish.
In the following years, He converted adult atheists to believers, for example, by materializing in front of them, sitting at the table, the dishes which were “ordered” mentally by each one of them.
And now, materialization of various objects is a part of everyday activity of Swami Sathya Sai Baba, by which He helps people to strengthen their religiousness.
As the preaching activity of Swami Sathya Sai Baba developed, a group of faithful followers gathered around Him; an ashram was built, in which pilgrims could stay. Financial support from interested people made it possible to create in
He brings to people salvation from the darkness of atheistic ignorance and religious misunderstanding. Let us, as souls, approach Him!
His body is of medium height; His skin is dark as typical of all Indians; He wears orange monastic robes. A particular feature of His appearance is a shock of bushy, dark, curly hair.
But this is just His body, just a tiny part of Swami Sathya Sai Baba…
In reality, He is completely different. He is the Oceanic Universal Consciousness connected with the material body. And in any part of the planet where it is necessary, It appears as a tongue of non-material Divine Flame, which rises above the surface of the Earth for kilometers*. The tongues of this Flame emerge in every place, where He is helping His disciples. It is enough just to call Him.
Yes, this is It — the Divine Fire, Which makes sinners tremble with fear, but does not have the quality of heat for righteous men, Which is the Subtlest of the subtle, Which is Tenderness, Bliss, Divine Love for all who became like It and entered It! Or It enters them and fills them with the Love of God.
Souls, which He touches in such a way, can hear His precepts, instructions, pieces of advice. They can do it if they, as consciousnesses, are pure and subtle enough, if they are capable of attuning themselves to the perception of Him forgetting about the problems of the material plane.
“There are 3 stages of concentration,” Swami Sathya Sai Baba says. “At the first stage, you receive My messages in the form of mental waves. At the second stage, you can hear My voice. And at the third, you can hear Me and also see. If you succeed in the purification of the consciousnesses, you will move from stage to stage.
“… When the mind is motionless and silent, one can hear the voice of God. Anyone who was able to purify the mind from anxiety, agitations, and thoughts can attune oneself to the voice of God inside.”
… Sometimes He takes on another appearance — more condensed, of just several meters in height. In this case, even people who have not purified themselves as consciousnesses to the necessary level are able to see Him.
But always — in any appearance — He can be recognized by His constant distinctive feature: a magnificent head of hair!
He speaks about Himself in such a way: “I am the Sai Baba of Shirdi come again; then, I was mostly engaged in preparing the meal; now I have come to feed you all with the strengthening, purifying repast!”.
“I came to restore the Straight Path to God!”.
He does not say that His Teachings are new. His Teachings are just one more manifestation, for the contemporary conditions on the Earth, of the Divine Teachings, which God constantly repeats through His Messengers. These Teachings are called in Sanskrit Sanathana Dharma — the Eternal Law. “Sanathana Dharma is the mother of all religions, all ethical codes, and all laws of the universe,” says Swami Sathya Sai Baba.
He, Swami Sathya Sai Baba, is the Avatar of our days. He says that though all conceivable powers of the universe are contained in His Palm, He is not going to make happy everyone without distinction, because each man has his personal destiny (karma), which he created by his good or bad past thoughts and deeds. By our present deeds we create our future destinies.
In order to escape from the abyss of earthly suffering, it is necessary to live in love for God and all living beings, including creative love-service to other people. The service to people, which consists in helping them in their positive evolution, is service to God.
The main enemies of man, leading to accumulation of negative karma, are the wrongly directed mind and uncontrollable emotional sphere with dominating egotistical or coarse emotions.
Man can overcome these obstacles by strengthening faith, by directing the mind toward the Divinity, and also with the help of spiritual practices, which, first of all, normalize the emotional sphere and help to learn how to control the mind and consciousness.
But the mind, as such, is not an enemy of man at all. On the contrary, it is an embryo of wisdom (jnana) and should be developed in every possible way as an analyzing and creative function of the consciousness.
In order to clean one’s path from the karmic impediments, it is important to repent all small or big crimes committed against any living being. “By sincere repentance all sins can be washed. God’s Mercy is responsive. If He has a wish to forgive, nothing can prevent this… In spite of past sins, if there is deep remorse and love for God, then all sins get washed, and the nature of man becomes clean. To be afraid that this will not happen is weakness. God has unlimited compassion; look for His love and you will find forgiveness!”
“The most important spiritual practice is the search of one’s own imperfections and weaknesses, and making attempts on ridding oneself of them, becoming closer to the Perfection”
For strengthening the orientation of the mind toward God, Swami Sathya Sai Baba recommends using the technique of frequent repetition of God’s name and participating in divine worships with singing praise to God.
Gaining of faith is the first step. The next step in this direction is love for God. But how can people fall in love with the One Whom they do not know yet? This is why Divine Teachers come to the Earth to help people; the Unmanifest reveals Itself in the manifested for people form. Love for the manifest, personified aspect of God is more convenient for incarnate people.
But people should also understand that Swami Sathya Sai Baba is not only in His body: He is everywhere, wherever He is needed. Therefore, it is not necessary to go to His ashram in order to talk with Him; it is possible to talk with Him right from your home.*
All people have only one God, Swami Sathya Sai Baba teaches. And they must not divide themselves because of the variations of their beliefs. Let everyone worship One Universal God using their traditional variations of worship.
What really divides people is not the variations of faith, but the levels of the spiritual culture. Imagine for example, says Swami Sathya Sai Baba addressing male students of a college, that according to the principle of equality of all people you marry a Muslim girl, who is used to eating meat. What will happen? Conflicts and discord?
But Swami Sathya Sai Baba does not want that people be at enmity with each other because of differences in nutrition: let secular people eat meat. But if you walk the spiritual Path, then the ethical aspect of nutrition has to be observed impeccably!
It is not possible to come to God without possessing perfect love, because He Himself is Love and lets in only those similar to Him. And the main principle of Love is compassion for all living beings — from plants and animals — to Divine Messengers.*
Concerning using fish for food, Swami Sathya Sai Baba notes that these animals also die in suffering.
Once Swami Sathya Sai Baba sent a group of His disciples to monastic seclusion in the mountains. The purpose of this seclusion was meditative training. And in order that disciples did not distract themselves from this training by seeking food, He gave them a jug in which, every day, they could find enough food materialized by Him. What was in their “menu”? Rice, vegetables, beans, fruit, juices, and before night (before going to bed) everyone had a glass of milk.
Killing-free nutrition is favorable for purifying the mind and consciousness. If one gets up early and goes to bed early, it also helps to clean the mind and consciousness. The second thing that a neophyte in religion should do is to refuse to concentrate the mind on negative traits of other people. Each person is potentially God. See God in everyone. Love everyone as the manifestation of God for you. I teach you by using the negative and positive traits of other people.
People differ by the qualities of the personal “ego”, the “I”.
In particular, there are deeply fallen, degraded souls, who like to do evil. They can do evil even without any reward. This is their nature: they are like a moth that gnaws and tears things no matter what they are; it equally gnaws a rag and an expensive sari.
But even such people are used by God in the general process of the Evolution of consciousness. From their example, other people can learn not to be like them and thus can know both good and evil. And they will be able, by pushing themselves away from evil, to go the path of good, toward the Perfection, toward the Mergence with God. One should know both: what kind of person one must not be and what kind of person one must be. It will be difficult to know good if one does not know evil.
Evil people are used by God also for correction of the development of true sadhakas (spiritual warriors). In particular, in this way God reminds sadhakas about coming death, and this allows them not to relax excessively on the Path.
Death and God are the most important landmarks for all incarnate people, says Swami Sathya Sai Baba.
Evil people doom themselves to hell and suffering in the next incarnations. However, they, too, are given a chance for salvation: to reform and repent. Repentance is conscious remorse that leads to liberation from the vices.
Concerning the ethical self-correction, Swami Sathya Sai Baba says the following:
Those who seek the bliss in the Atman should not run after the joys of sense objects.
Just as a body that has no breath is useless and begins to rot and stink, similarly, life without the Truth is useless and becomes the stinking abode of strife and grief.
Believe that there is nothing greater than the Truth, nothing more precious, nothing sweeter, and nothing more lasting!
The Lord who is Sathya grants His darshan (the possibility to contemplate Him) to those of truthful speech and loving heart.
Keep undiminished kindness toward all beings and also the spirit of self-sacrifice.
You must also possess control over the indriyas, an unruffled character and non-attachment.
Be always watchful against the following sins: 1) speaking falsehood, 2) speaking ill of others, 3) backbiting, 4) talking too much. 5) killing, 6) adultery, 7) theft, 8) drinking intoxicants 9) the eating of flesh. 10) sexual cravings 11) anger, 12) greed, 13) “earthly” attachments, 14) impatience, 15) hatred, 16) egoism, 17) pride.
First give up the evil tendency to feel envious at the prosperity of others and the desire to harm them. Be happy that others are happy! Sympathize with those who are in adversity and wish for their prosperity. That is the means of cultivating love for God.
Patience is the strength which man needs!
Those anxious to live in joy must always be doing good!
One should never give reply in swear words. Be at a great distance from them; this is for your good. Break off all relations with people who use such words!
Seek the company of good men, even at the sacrifice of your position and life. But be praying to God to bless you with the discrimination needed to distinguish between the good men and the bad. For this, you must endeavor with the intellect given to you.
Those who conquer states and earn earthly fame are hailed as heroes; but only those who have conquered the indriyas are heroes who must be acclaimed as the conquerors of the universe.
Whatever acts, good or bad, man may do, the fruits of them follow him and will never stop pursuing him.
Greed yields only sorrow; contentment is best. There is no happiness greater than contentment!
The tendency to make harm should be plucked out by the roots! If allowed to exist, it will undermine life itself!
Bear with fortitude both loss and grief! Try to achieve joy and gain in the future!
From this moment, avoid all bad habits! Do not delay, do not postpone businesses for the future: it will not contribute the slightest benefit.
Try as far as possible within your means to satisfy the needs of the poor, who really live in poverty. Share with them whatever food you have and make them happy at least that moment.
Whatever you feel should not be done to you by others, avoid doing such things to others.
For faults and sins committed in ignorance, repent sincerely; try not to repeat the faults and sins again! Pray to God to bless you with the strength and the courage needed to stick to the right path!
Do not allow anything to come near you, which will destroy your eagerness and enthusiasm for God. Lack of eagerness will cause the decay of the strength of man.
Yield not to cowardice! Do not give up bliss!
Do not swell with pride when people praise you! Do not feel dejected when people blame you!
If among your friends one hates another and starts a quarrel, do not attempt to inflame them more and make them hate each other more! On the contrary, try with love and sympathy to restore their former friendship.
Instead of searching for others’ faults, search for your own faults! Uproot them, throw them off! It is better to find one fault of yours than to find tens of hundreds of faults in others!
If you cannot or will not do any good deed, then at least do not conceive and carry out any bad deed.
Whatever people may say about your faults that you know are not in you, do not get upset! As for the faults that are in you, you must try to correct them yourself, before others point them out to you.
Do not harbor anger or bitterness against persons who point out your faults; do not retort, pointing out the faults of those persons themselves, but show your gratitude to them.
Trying to point out to people their faults is a great mistake!
It is good if you know your faults; it is bad if you search faults in others.
Whenever you get a little leisure, do not spend it in talking about all and sundry, but utilize it in meditating on God or in doing service to others.
Only the bhakta (the one who loves God) understands the Lord; only the Lord understands the bhakta. Others cannot understand them. So, do not discuss matters relating to the Lord with those who are not bhaktas.
If anyone speaks to you on any subject, having understood it wrongly, do not think of his wrong opinions, but grasp only the good and the sweet in what he says.
If your worldly desires do not get fulfilled, do not blame it on the love of God: there is no relationship between such desires and the love of God!
If your meditation does not progress properly, do not get dispirited! When such feelings come, seek for your flaws!
It is only when in your daily conduct you behave automatically according to these rules, that you can perceive the Divine principle very easily! Therefore, hold on to these maxims firmly!
However, Swami Sathya Sai Baba notes that all ethical teachings can be expressed in one short formula of Vyasa: “Help* ever, hurt never!”.
The ultimate task of each man consists in cognition of the Higher Self, which is the Atman, Paramatman, the Creator. But for this purpose, the lower self, which manifests itself as egocentrism and which is created by the mind, must be eliminated.
The mind in this context is a part of the consciousness captured by “earthly” desires.
Desires are not thoughts. Thoughts become desires when they “submerge” deeply into objects.
Desires directed toward worldly objects cause pleasure and suffering. But if a desire is directed toward God, then it gives bliss!
The ability to think correctly has to be developed through the “earthly” affairs. Then it can be transformed into a function of the buddhi. For this purpose, the “tentacles” of the consciousness (indriyas) should be redirected from the objects of the material world, even the best ones, toward the Divine Consciousness. The thinking of such progressively developing people in all their affairs rises to a fundamentally different level, because at this stage they, step by step, begin to learn to see the “earthly” problem as God sees them. The egocentrism of such a person gets gradually substituted with Godcentrism.
How can one get rid of the vicious work of the mind, which impedes further advancement? — Very simply: do not try to “muffle” it, but just think about God! The nature of the mind is such that it is necessary for it to be preoccupied with something, so let it be preoccupied with God! And when it is preoccupied with God, it stops.
If you are not able yet to do this, then occupy it with repetition of the name of God or with another useful activity.
The uncontrolled mind is like a snake. It has two tendencies: it moves not straight and captures all things which it sees. But it should be forced to move straight to God, turned directly toward Him.
When the thinking of progressing man is performed not by the mind, but by the buddhi, then the buddhi submerges into God in order to become Him.
This is why it is so important to accustom oneself to being turned by the face (of the consciousness) toward God.
There are two main themes that one should always member about: the coming death and God. And there are two main themes that one should forget: the evil caused by others to you and the good done by you to others. “Of course, it is essential to remember about the death, because this helps one to do many good things and avoid doing many bad things”.
“Time is the most precious gift in this world. Do not waste it saying ill words or doing bad deeds! … One must not waste time! It will not wait for anyone. … It is impossible to return the moment which has been wasted; it is lost forever… Nobody knows when death comes. The hand of time can crush you at any moment…
“In your deeds you should rise to the level of heroes and be not weak-willed people!
“Remembering about one’s own death leads to ‘unidirectional resoluteness’”.
“Before death, the position, pride, and power, all vanish. Realizing this, strive day and night, with purity of body and mind and spirit, to realize the Higher Self, by the serving all living beings.
“The body should be supported and kept as an instrument for this purpose.
“But remember, you are not these bodies, and these bodies are not you.”
“This body is but an instrument, a tool given by the Lord. And let it serve its purpose”.
One should take care of the body: it is an instrument for development of oneself, for one’s God-realization. It should be washed, fed, healed if it falls sick; at that, there are no any contraindications for using medicaments and other medical means.
But food is not a means for getting pleasure! Food is like fuel for a car. It is an essential element in service to God.
Remembering about the approaching death should hurry one, but not lead to dejection and despair.
On the contrary, help provided to others, constructive discussions with spiritual friends, progress on the Path of self-development should fill one with happiness, joy.
“Happiness is essential for God-realization. It is one of the big gateways to the Divinity. If man is unhappy, this is not just a flaw. This is one of the most serious flaws! This is an obstacle on the way to self-realization!
“In most cases people are unhappy because of worldly aspirations, attachments, and joys: they pay too much attention to the worldly.
