FEBRUARY 2017
FEBRUARY 2017
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IN THIS ISSUE:
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SAI SUKTHI -ACHARYA VANI
HOW OFTEN IN THE PAST
MANY BIRTHS HAVE I BEEN WITH YOU! AND HOW MANY MORE SHALL I REMAIN WITH YOU! WE
SHALL MEET AGAIN AND AGAIN.I HAVE TO COUNT TO THE LORD FOR EVERY PIE THAT
COMES TO ME.
HOW OFTEN IN THE PAST
MANY BIRTHS HAVE I BEEN WITH YOU! AND HOW MANY MORE SHALL I REMAIN WITH YOU! WE
SHALL MEET AGAIN AND AGAIN.I HAVE TO COUNT TO THE LORD FOR EVERY PIE
THAT COMES TO ME.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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 RAMA KRISHNA : ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA.
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PARIPRASNA: ORIGIN BY BHAGAVAN SRI BHARADWAJA.
What is the difference between AVADHUTHA (Recluse Saint) and a mad person? How can we
recognize them?
A: Regular parayana of 'Sri Guru Charitra' and 'Dattaavatara Mahatyam' with an intention of obtaining the blessings of Mahatmas will gradually awaken an inner potential in us. As soon as we approach the place of these Recluse saints (Avadhutha), mind will become calm with out any effort and a wonderful inner peace is experienced .As a result of Parayana, Lord Dattatreya will appear either in the form of the Avadhootha or he will give instructions to do service for a particular Avadhutha.Or another way is, after doing parayana we can also pray these recluse saints for an illustration, like this -- if he is really an Avadhutha then he should come and ask me for something etc and they will definitely do it. But for this to happen we should be honest-which means after it is proved we should go for their darshan without being ashamed. We should serve them and worship them. Our daily parayana should be more intense and sincere. However, they will not respond to useless inquisitiveness, instead these acts will be dangerous to us.
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SRI CHAITANYA SWAMYJI'S MESSAGE:
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