THE MASTER CALLS ME - FROM THE
HOLY TEXT-"SAI BABA THE MASTER" WRITTEN BY BHAGAVAN SRI
BHARADWAJA
My quest for truth was awakened
by the tragic demise of my nephew in 1955 on the occasion of my
initiation (sacred thread) ceremony. Now I see, in retrospect, that it
was indeed an initiation. The initial heartbreak had left and, in its
wake, several fundamental questions arose in me: "Is there a Supreme
Spirit? What is the nature? How can we contact it? What is life? What is
death? Is there a soul? Why hasn't man found a way out of death? What is
Time?" and such others. The search went on unanswered till 1960. One
evening in that year, when I was taking a stroll, something mysterious
occurred somewhere deep in me and all the questions vanished in a trice
and peace prevailed. These questions seemed out of place, of no value any
longer. A book on Zen which came to my hand quite unasked for, contained
a description of inner illumination or satori which came nearest to my
experience. It was a pleasant surprise and a promise. The quest took on a
richer hue.
In 1963, my elder brother Sri E.
Vedavyas invited me to join him on his visit to Shirdi. Though I had
little faith in saints at that time, I consented just to give him my
company. On the 8th of February we reached Shirdi at sunset and we went
straight to the samadhi mandir to attend the arti. The deep faith that
shone on the faces of the congregation for the saint who left off his
physical frame nearly half a century ago, was surprise to me. Soon after,
the devotees dispersed and the shrine was mostly empty. My brother showed
me the tomb at close quarters and told me that Sri Baba's mortal remains
were kept in it. That being my first close look of a tomb, I was shocked.
My first reaction was to imagine in what a putrefied condition the body
must have been. The marble structure of the tomb and the profuse incense
that was burnt there made me suppose that it was intended to keep out any
stench that might possibly leak out. The thought was revolting and
nauseating. I at once took leave of my brother and slept in the room,
unable even to relish food, in the wake of the shock.
Next morning, a keen appetite
woke me up and I made straight for the Madras hotel. As I passed before
the samadhi mandir, I found that the morning arti was over and the place
was almost vacant. The sight of the marble statue over the samadhi
attracted my attention and I wanted to have a close look at the form that
continues to charm so many devotees. I stepped in and stood at a little
distance from the statue and looked at it. It is quite life-like and I
felt that the saint must have looked precisely like that. The sculptor
must have been divinely inspired in capturing that mysterious smile and
the inward look. The look captured my gaze. "What does his face,
especially his look and smile, indicate of his attitude? Was he elated
that so many visited him to pay their homage, adore and worship him? Or
was he overwhelmed with compassion for them? Or, in that mood, was he
oblivious of his separate existence, his gaze fixed on the divine
mystery, the one omnipresent spirit? Or was it a look of recognition of
that ancient spirit, of his contacts with those teeming crowds that had
contacted him through their countless previous lives? And, was that smile
of reunion pregnant with his joy of their future possibility of reaching
the spiritual summit? Or was he just oblivious of all this, lost in his
ceaseless contemplation of the one spirit, in his at-one-ment? And is the
mysterious Monolisa-smile a manifestation of that peace which passeth
understanding? Or is there a possibility that at a higher level of
consciousness all these attitudes could coexist without the one
interrupting the other?"
This last
thought flashed with a particular intensity and my spirit leapt forth to
comprehend how, in that state, he was viewing all this existence:
"Is the universe of myriad forms an image projected in his
consciousness? And am I, then, too, a thought in his Mind and are all
these my thoughts parts of it?" The intuition took off and wafted my
being into far-off states. I knew of nothing else. My being was still,
taut with a particular illumination and my thoughts were both existent
and non-existent. I am aware how absurd these words must look to anyone.
But what else can they be when I verbalize what cannot be conveyed?
Quite some time lapsed in that
timeless moment and I was knocked back into normal awareness by what then
felt to me like a rude knocking on my shoulders. It was then that I
realized that I was seated and that my eyes were shut, that my cheeks
were wet with half-dried tears. The shrine was quite noisy and crowded. I
saw my brother patting me gently and asking, "You are still seated
here! Had your bath and breakfast? It's almost lunch time. It's better to
finish our lunch." His words were quite audible but I found it hard
to catch the sense, as though I was abruptly awakened from deep sleep. It
was quite disturbing even to endeavor to understand the words and still
more to respond, the spirit being totally unwilling to be called out from
the heart of peace. It was much easier to just obey what he said. It was
nearly four hours since I stepped into the shrine which was getting
crowded as the time for noon arti was nearing and the devotees were
queing up for finishing abhishek! We walked down to the dining hall but
to me it was as though the walk were just a vivid reverie. My mind was
all set on sinking back into the state of peace and bliss from which it
was roused and with which the connection was not yet completely snapped.
It was quite a task to pay particular attention to things and persons.
This mood was
persistent and had never quite left me during the brief stay of two days
at Shirdi. Perhaps my brother had found out that something unusual was
happening to me. "You may go over here again later if you want to,
but now we have to go back!" he said. And we were back.
The
significant thing, as I see it now in retrospect, is that the spiritual
connection with that deeper level of being, continued for months after
our return from Shirdi. My mind, when it now and then relapsed into
normal awareness, quite instinctively identified that deeper level of
Being with Baba. Mostly I was in a continuous state of ineffable peace
and quiet and the normal activities of the day were powerless to
interrupt it. Days passed as a continuous moment of timelessness; it was
as though all things around, including my body, were all parts of a whole
which is conscious and aware. Whenever the world around had plucked me
into the every day reality, my spirit, once again, at the earliest
possible, was summoned back to its pristine state by the vivid appearance
of the marble image at Shirdi before my mind's eye. And then objects and
creatures all around would seem to be crystallizations of a pervasive
consciousness.
This experience
was accompanied by a remarkable change in my physical constitution. My
lean frame got filled in with flesh to robustness and I was brimming with
energy which was not lowered by late hours of reading at night or by
missing my meal now and then. There was a strong urge to walk and walk,
almost endlessly, through most of the day and I was not tired. My mind
was engrossed in the blissful peace and was not stirred by the traffic on
the road. My mind, too, seemed to have grown unusually penetrating. For,
the most vexatious of meta-physical questions got cleared in a wink and
there seemed practically nothing which it could not comprehend. Often
knowledge concerning my friends who were far off, or of the thoughts that
passed through my associates' minds broke in and then I was no less
surprised at it than they. Strangely enough, the pervasive peace was
shared by all those around me. It was definite that my life turned a
corner. The steady current of this experience has ever continued,
sometimes quite vivid and sometimes a little less so.
After three or four
months followed my second visit to Shirdi. This time no such spectacular
experience occurred but I keenly felt that I was visiting a saint who has
been my guiding Spirit through lives, that he was somehow connected with
my initiation into the quest for knowledge eight years earlier. There was
only an intense personal attachment to the Master, and the sense of not
having the good fortune of seeing Him in flesh and blood in this life.
"What could have happened then? Now that I cannot hope for this,
could I at least see any living saint? What would be his impact on
me?" This was the object of my prayer at Baba's samadhi mandir.
The response was
prompt and striking, as has always been characteristic of him. During the
years that followed, I could come into close contact with numerous saints
and bask in their blessings: Mother Anasuyadevi of Jillellamudi, Sri
Ranganna Babu (a great Ramabhaktha of Guntur), the late Avadhuta Swami of
Chirala, the guru of the Chinthapalli forests of Sileru area, Sri Swami
Purnananda of Srisailam, his guru Sri Rakhadi Baba who stayed at
Ganeshpuri, Sri Satya Sai Baba, the two Balayogis of Mummidivaram, the
Senior Sankaracharyaji of Kanchi, Sri Ma Anandamayi, Sri Akhandananda Saraswati
of Muthra, the recluse saints of Kalahasthi and Cuddapah, the recluse
woman saint of Chivatam, Sri Samartha Narayana Maharaj of Harihar, and
the Saint of Poondi. Besides, I had darshan of some famous devotees of
Sri Sai Baba. I saw others like Mother Revati Amma of Madras, and Sri
Gulab Maharaj of Nagpur. It is not possible to detail here my experiences
with these saints, but one significant feature in all these was I could
win their gracious attention only after specifically praying to Sri Baba for
the same. Baba was thus once more proving three things simultaneously; he
is still alive in spirit and would gladly bless us with the best at our
hearty praying; that he is still one with the being of the saints of
today even as he was when he lived in flesh and blood; that he can be a
competent guru or Master (Samarth Sadguru) to his ardent devotee even
today. For a time, a few friends told me that I was on a
"saint-gathering" spree and not stabilized on any one. I was
not effected by this criticism. Now in retrospect, I am happy to find
that, fortunately, my faith in Baba, if anything, grew deeper and has
been constant all through. Baba's invisible hand was leading me to act
according to the scriptural injunction;
Madhulubdho
yathaa bhRiNgaH pushhpaatpushhpaantaraM vrajeth || |
Gnaanalubdhastathaa shishhyo gurorguvantaram vrajeth .
"Just as the
bee which is fond of honey moves from flower to flower, the disciple who
is fond of wisdom goes from Master (Guru) to Master". -- Sree Guru
Geetha.
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RAMA,KRISHNA IS RAMAKRISHNA --
ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA
Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa was
born on Feb 18, 1836 in a small village in West Bengal called Kamarpukur,
to the divine couple Kadhiram Chatopadyay and chandramati.
His
parents named him as Gadhadara. As a child he was very interested in
listening to stories in puranas. When he was 6 years old, he lost in
ecstasy , at the sight of a flock of cranes flying in the sky in a row.
He was sent to school at the age of 5 ,but never showed interest in
studies. After the death of his father in 1843, He went to Calcutta to
his older brother, Ram Kumar. Ram Kumar, tried to make his brother to
continue his education. For this Gadhadara answered, “What is the use of
this education that is useful for living? The main goal of human life is
to find God. One should try to achieve this.” For instance, look at
the great truth in the words of Prahlada as written in pothana Bhagavatham
- “Nirmala Mandakini Veechikala tugu, rayancha chanune taranginulaku” .
Rani Rasamayi Devi
constructed a Kali Temple in Dakshineswar for which Rama Krishna
Paramahamsa was appointed as priest. Ramakrishna would stay in meditation
continuously in front of Kali Devi. “Mother, Please give me your Darshan?
Why don’t you show your mercy? Please provide me the fortune of having
your Darshan? Have mercy one me! ” He would plead tearfully. One day, He
took the sword hanging on the wall and tried to put an end to his life
saying “Oh Goddess! With out your darshan this life is waste, what is the
use of living?” when he attempted to do this, He lost consciousness. From
the Idol of Kali Devi, brilliant lights appeared, and Mother Kali in Her
radiant form appeared in front of him. He became Paramahamsa. As per the
wish of Mother Kali, he married Sarada Devi.
By the grace of Kali Devi, a yogini named Bhairava Brahmani came
to Ramakrishna and taught him all the tantrika spiritual practices. She
declared Sri Ramakrishna as the incarnation of God, in front of all the
scholars in a congregation. As per the directions of Parameswari – a monk
named Totapuri taught him the spiritual practice—NIRGUNA PARABRAHMA
SADHANA (meditation on form less God).” Ramakrishna achieved that
practice in 3 days. To realize this truth in all other forms, Ramakrishna
followed the practices from other religions. In this way Ramakrishna
Pramahamsa experienced the God practicing through different ways, and
preached the oneness in all the religions.
The lamp doesn’t
light without oil. Man doesn’t exist with out God. We call water as
Jalam, pani, tanni etc in different languages. We are using
different names for the same water. Similarly, God is one, even though we
call Him with different names. God will definitely appear if show
distress and yearning for him.
Service of Human is Service of God. Show kindness to wretched,
vile, and dejected people. Lord Narayana will be Happy. Many young
men were attracted to the divine power of Sri Ramakrishna. Swami
Vivekananda was one among them. He spread across the world the greatness
of his nation, and the spiritual Knowledge of his nation. Spiritual
services of The Ramakrishna mission, received regards from the entire
world. The brotherhood in all the religions as preached by Sri
Ramakrishna Paramahamsa is quite similar to purpose of the incarnation of
Sri Shirdi Sai Baba. After the 72 hour Samadhi, Sri Sai Baba said “I
returned back as per the order of Allah! The responsibility of the
welfare of the world to be continued by Gadhadara was given to me by
Allah.” Avasthe said that Baba woke up from Samadhi, at the same time
when Gadhadara attained Samadhi. This incident is written in Sri Sai
Leelamrutham. So on the Jayanthi of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamasa, We
should remember his teachings, and try to implement them .This is the
only Dakshina that we can offer Him.
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