Sri Sathya Sai Baba - The Eternal Stream Of Love
His Love is Beyond Measure
“Love helps you to know yourself... turn your vision inward.”
It was 1983. I was sitting at Baba’s feet when He turned to me, slapped me on the cheek (quite hard) and said, “You are Love”. It wasn’t a statement of fact; it was a command.
How can one describe Sathya Sai? He is impossible to categorise or encapsulate in words. In fact, it is in silence that we can best understand that He is us and we are Him. There is no separation.
Born in a remote village in the middle of South India, Baba was always enigmatic even as a young child. At the tender age of two or three, when beggars came to the door of His parent’s house, He would beg his mother to give them food. If His mother refused, then He refused to eat. If a chicken was to be slaughtered for food, He would go and take the poor bird in His arms and prevent the death. He refused non-vegetarian food. When He was slightly older, He led the village boys in singing devotional songs. They would parade around the village, raising the spiritual level of all the people.
When I was first in Puttaparthi, in 1976, the village was much as it had always been, with mud walled houses and thatched roofs. When I walked around,
I could see in my mind’s eye what it must have been like when Baba was growing up – simple and quiet. I used to imagine seeing a delightful child skipping around the streets, spreading love wherever he went.
Later, Baba was sent away to a school in a town about three hours drive from Puttaparthi. There, at Uruvakonda, he stayed with his brother. Although He was treated abominably by His sister-in-law, He never complained. One day He set off to school, carrying His school books, when He suddenly turned around, threw the books through the door of His brother’s house, startling His brother’s wife, and walked to a nearby house of a man who was very fond of Him, sat on a rock and chanted:
Manasa bhajare guru charanam
Dustara bhava sagara tharanam.
Oh mind – hold to the feet of the guru, it is this grace that will carry you across the ocean of birth and death.
With these words Baba started His lifelong mission to raise the consciousness of all people to the Divine level. Naturally His family was dismayed. Who did He think He was, a simple village boy talking like that. His father challenged Him. “Are you a madcap or a ghost?” He simply said, “I am Sai Baba.”
His family thought He was possessed and tried exorcism and magical means to dispossess Him, to no avail. They finally surrendered. His parents became some of His earliest followers, along with many other people of the village of Puttaparthi.
However, one person came forth and said that Sai Baba was a saint who lived in Shirdhi, Maharastra,
but this young boy could not be that saint. Baba turned to him and reminded him of some incidents in his life where he met Sai Baba of Shirdhi, incidents that he could not have known if he wasn’t an incarnation of Sai Baba!
So began Baba’s great mission of Love. On our recent trip to Prasanthi Nilayam (the ashram that has grown up at Puttaparthi) we witnessed thousands streaming into the great spiritual centre, all drawn by the Love in their hearts, planted by His phenomenal grace. Great works of service have been established. (We will describe some of these in this newsletter.) But, beyond the outer, the inner transformation is what distinguishes those who have been touched deeply by His Love.
This newsletter contains stories of ours and other’s experiences of Baba, as well as facets of His teachings and examples of the works that are continuing in His Name, several years after He has left His body.
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba
LOVE ALL, SERVE ALL: instructions for the reformation of ourselves - the reformation of the world
(NB. All quotes in this article are from Sathya Sai Baba’s discourses)
“Hence, oh! human beings! I wish that all of you should lead a life of mutual love. “Love all! Serve all!” - this is My exhortation to you. If only there is love, you can achieve anything. Love is everything. “Love is life; life is love”.
Love All, Serve All. With these four words Baba has given the essence of all spiritual teachings. It seems simple enough. The message is simple, straight forward, and understandable. True, but it is worth delving a little deeper.
Like all good investigations it is worth dissecting the whole and then putting it back together again to see what we behind this simplicity and what greater understanding can come from this process.
The first word is Love. This is a word well known to all spiritual aspirants and practitioners. It is a word known to the entire world, for who does not love someone or something. The following quotations from Baba summarise the multiple statements that He has made about love.
“God is love and love is God. True spiritual discipline lies in developing love to love relationship. Dear children! Hold on to this principle of love and demonstrate the ideal of unity”.
In this statement Baba talks about developing a love-to-love relationship. In the context of Love All, Serve All, this means that the way we relate and the way we serve should be built on this relationship and this one alone. How often, in service work, does there develop an obligatory relationship.
“God is love and love is God. When you hold on to this principle of love and develop love to love relationship, you will attain the state of non-dualism.
Here Baba echoes the first statement, but He shows us that it Love that leads us to the final realisation that all is one. He constantly reminds us that service is the highest sadhana. Neem Karoli Baba, when asked how aspirants should meditate said, “Serve people”.
“Love is the supreme human value.”
Of the five human values that Baba teaches, Love is the basis of all the other values. Service allows us to develop all the human values in a way that is based, not on intellectual knowledge or understanding, but on real experience. Many of these experiences can challenge us to go outside ourselves. Many of them are tough, but they bring us closer to Love.
“Love is the only property of Sai. My life is love. That is what I offer to one and all. I go on giving, giving.”
Baba says repeatedly, “My life is My message”. In giving and giving. He sets the supreme example. Can we follow such an example? Can we come to the state where we can make the same statement as Baba? Can we serve without ‘getting in the way’ of Love?
“Love is a much-abused word today. What is called love is only attachment of different kinds based on relationships.”
What is the true relationship? Baba says that it is “Heart to Heart”. Baba is not talking about the ‘emotional heart’ that tends to form attachments, but the ‘spiritual heart’ from which Love truly flows. Love All, Serve All is an expression of the spiritual heart.
“How is God to be experienced? God is present in everyone like butter in milk. Your heart is the container. Love is the milk present in the heart. When this love is offered to the Lord, it acts as the churning process for getting butter. There is then the direct experience of the Divine.”
This is a beautiful and profound analogy. Baba draws us further into understanding the spiritual heart. The ‘milk’ of Love contains the ‘butter’ of God. But it is Love itself that ‘churns’ itself to find the God within. How is this accomplished? It is only by freely offering Love to God through the process of surrender. What better way to offer Love to God than by Loving All and Serving All. The direct churning of the ‘milk’ of the heart transforms us. The heart is often moved by the plight of others. This has the value of ‘churning’ the heart with compassion (common passion) and caring for others. Any action that follows from this will be spontaneous and without thought of reward, even the gratitude of those we serve. People have attempted to thank Baba for many things, and He refuses to accept any thanks. In this he is showing us how to serve with love. A heart-to-heart relationship should have no room for ‘thanks’. Does the stomach thank the tongue for tasting the food and informing it of what is coming down? Do the muscles thank the heart for pumping blood to them? No. The relationship is too close for thanks. It is a oneness that simply occurs. That is the characteristic of the love to love, the heart-to-heart relationship.
Baba asserts that with “love, you can achieve anything”. Can we be like a Mother Theresa, a Mahatma Gandhi or a Nelson Mandela? All these great souls achieved wondrous feats. Each eschewed violence and hatred. Each was moved by the pitiable condition of humankind. Each delved into the hearts and found that Love was their motivating reason to act. Can we also be motivated to give to the world because of Love and Love alone? When we Love All and Serve All, in fullness of our heart’s expansion, truly we can achieve great deeds. Beyond this, however, truly we can become who we really are, Love embodied; God personified.
- Satyavan
- Sathya Sai Baba's Divine Love for Lyn’s sister
- One unforgettable memory I will forever cherish is when Sathya Sai Baba told us: “Do not worry about your family members. I will take care of them also.” This was brought home to me in a life-saving event involving my only sister in the Appalachian Mountains, USA last year, during a severe winter storm.
- My younger sister has always followed a Buddhist path since she was 18. She knew I had travelled many times to India to see Sathya Sai Baba, and was devoted to Him, but she never showed any interest, and I never tried to push it, as Swami does not want or need publicity, nor does He seek followers.
- However, an unusual turn of events occurred in 2020 which changed everything. My sister lives in high mountain country. She qualified as a national paramedic and was serving in shifts at her local search and rescue station in a small town down in the valley. A number of harrowing life-and-death near-miss rescues were haunting her, making her fear for times for her own and her patients' safety. She found her Buddhist practices were not fully giving her what she felt she needed in terms of her own safety and that of her patients. Short story—she began carrying a photo of Swami in one of her pockets and taking vibhuti regularly…sacred ash which regularly materialises in a miraculous manner on photos of Sathya Sai Baba. Vibhuti has many protective and healing qualities, and, as Swami Himself says, is but one proof of His Divine Love. Anyone can take vibhuti, as a pinch on the tongue, applied externally on the forehead or heart, or in water, along with a prayer of one's choosing. “Swami, please protect me.”
- One snowy night in the middle of a severe winter, my sister was returning home late to her mountain cabin which is at 3000 feet. She had to park her four-wheel drive at the bottom of her driveway and hike 20 minutes up to Deer Meadows Cabin. Carrying a backpack and a flashlight, she stumbled against what looked like a snowdrift. Blizzard conditions were setting in by then.
- It was no snowdrift. It was a deer, huddled down in the snow. The deer reared up in a panic, knocking my sister backwards. She rolled helplessly downhill, plunging over a rock cliff into an icy stream, concussing. She lay in the stream, thinking, strangely how warm and comfortable she was, wanting to lie there listening to the sound of the icy rushing water. She said later, in the back of her mind, as a medic she knew she was drifting rapidly into hypothermia and was in great danger. She blacked out, unconscious. The next thing she remembered was waking up inside her cabin. The lights were on. Her head was throbbing, clothes frozen to her body, cuts and bruises everywhere, a twisted ankle, but she was alive. She realised there was no way she could have climbed up the rocky ravine and made it back to the cabin... absolutely impossible in her condition. She could not find her flashlight. She called me immediately on Skype, describing what had happened. It was Swami, she declared. It had to be. No one could have survived in those temperatures and icy water for long, much less make the climb back. She is now completely devoted to Baba, calling on Him to assist her with every rescue, every helicopter evacuation, every cardiac arrest, stroke, trail bike or logging accident, attempted suicides, drug overdose or shootings she attends. Thank you, Swami.
- “Wherever you go in service, Swami will always be with you. Whatever happens, I shall protect you. Never give room for doubt. “
- Sanathana Sarathi, Divine Discourse, August 1997 pg 207
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- Picture: Vibhuti manifesting at Tom and Lynn’s art studio (Place caption with pic stating that those who wish to experience its healing power Lynn and Tom are happy to share some of this vibhuti. Email lynkriegler@yahoo.com)
SAI GITA – A SONG OF LOVE
In the jungles of Mudamalai, Karnataka, South India a baby elephant is crying bitterly. She has lost her mother directly after her birth. Little does she know that her loss would soon be turned to joy.
The wildlife officers, being moved by her predicament wondered what to do, when Sathya Sai and a small party came to the sanctuary. Perhaps this was the answer. They offered the baby elephant to Sai to raise and care for. The meeting between the baby and Sai was ‘love at first sight’ and she was shipped to Puttaparthi.
Grieving for her mother was short-lived as Sai Gita (the name Swami gave to the young one) became an intimate part of Sai’s life from thereon. The young elephant followed Sai everywhere, even into the interview room (the small room where Baba used to talk one on one with devotees)! Years later, Swami confirmed this to Sri B. N. Narasimha Murthy when He said, “What you have seen is nothing, she used to come to my room along with me!” Her first living space was, in fact, right next to Swami’s bedroom.
Later Gita was housed in a small shed inside the ashram, where she had daily contact with her beloved Sai. She was developing into a loving and disciplined soul, who yearned to be Sai’s presence. She even knew when Sai was coming, although he could not be seen for quite a distance, and she would trumpet her delight! She was often seen bowing to Baba, and also took padnamaskar (touching of the master’s feet) with her long, mobile trunk.
An early devotee of Sai recalls,
“I have wonderful memories of Sai Gita, the baby elephant, when she was first brought to Puttaparthi. We, the children, would follow her everywhere in the days of old when hardly a few hundred people would be present in the ashram. We were always amazed at her one-pointed devotion to Swami and her excitement as soon as she could sense His presence even from a distance. Swami, in those days, would quite often visit her shed and she would ‘know’ Swami was coming even before we had spotted Him.”
Gita would also garland Baba on special festival days, delicately placing the flower arrangement over Sai’s head. I have witnessed this delightful scene many times and it never failed to draw out a tear, Such was the infectious devotion of Gita. Sai Baba has stated that she was His only true devotee, a tribute to her dedicated love and constancy.
I had some beautiful encounters with her over years that still bring a smile to my face and a small tear to my eyes. Once, during Sai’s 55th Birthday celebrations I was walking back to my accommodation when she was coming along the road in the same direction. I walked alongside her for a lengthy part of the way, our eyes making contact as I talked about my love for Sai, and she shared, with her sparkling eyes, her incredible feelings for the One central focus of her life. Another time, I came across her at the ashram gate. The people all around were attempting to touch her broad body in a frenzy of reverence for her sacredness. However, I was moved to simply say, “Hello darling.” Such was the sense of sharing our love for Baba. I held out my hand and she gracefully and gently touched it with the end of her trunk. It was a beautiful, intimate moment with one who was always pure and loving, always the darling of Baba. To watch her taking a bath in the river was always a special encounter as well.
The devotees at Radio Sai have written many articles about Gita. One description found on their site has encapsulated the essence of the love between her and Swami.
“When Swami came, it was a divine thrill in totality, not only for Sai Gita, but for every devotee witnessing the sublime play of pure love. Swami would first walk up to her, and she would almost kneel down – her hind legs half-bent and front legs folded to the maximum extent possible. Her height now would be a mere two feet, and she would lift her tiny trunk up and down three times in salutation. After she had offered her prostrations at His feet, she would take a garland, raise her nimble trunk over the five feet frame of her beloved very carefully, and then with lots of glee slip it down Swami’s opulent hair onto His shoulders. Swami, in turn, would flash an enchanting smile, pat her cheeks so affectionately and would start speaking to her softly.”
I recall one year at Dasara (the festival of the Goddess) that all the devotees were to assemble in the large auditorium on the ashram grounds. For some reason I was with a section of the crowd that was delayed in going into the hall. However, to our delight,
Sai came and spent time with Gita. It was a sight to behold, the love between the two was a glimpse of nectar. I did not mind being delayed in going into the hall, as I felt that I had already received the greatest blessing. The description above is an accurate depiction of that blessing.
Gita left this life on 22nd May 2007. Sai was with her as she left her body, and personally conducted her last rites. Her mausoleum is beside the planetarium on the main road into Puttaparthi. Later that year, I was at
Prasanthi Nilayam, when a singer sang of Gita to Swami. A tear appeared at the side of Swami’s eye during the singing. It is as if the devotion of Gita was reflected in the flow of love from Sai towards her. Gita is the supreme exemplar of devotion.
“Vinayaka [Ganesha] has the head of an elephant. What is its significance? No human being has an elephant's head. It is against the order of nature. How then did Vinayaka acquire an elephant's head? This has an inner significance. Vinayaka is known for His supreme intelligence. The elephant is also known for its high intelligence (Gajathelivi). The elephant will not trust anybody except its master. Because Vinayaka is endowed with exceptional intelligence, His elephant face is symbolic of supreme intelligence. Those of you who are staying in the hostel notice cars going up and down the road. On the other side of the hostel is Sai Gita. Sai Gita takes no notice of the innumerable cars going on the road. But, without any notice, she smells, as it were, the passing of Swami's car and immediately comes out with a roar to greet Swami. That is the devotion of Sai Gita to its Lord. The faith of the elephant is as strong as its intelligence. Her love for the master is equally strong. It is steadfast love. These qualities of devotion, faith and intelligence are associated with the elephant. Whoever has these qualities can be regarded as endowed with the head of an elephant.”
- Sathya Sai Baba - 1992
Beloved of my heart
When will you come charging on your white horse
and steal me away?
I am waiting in the silence
only for you
Lost in love
- Savitri
