Shirdi Sai Baba was renowned for His miracles and compassion by one and all. In this interview, Bhole Baba, an enigmatic and rare Aghori Mystic, shares his insights on Baba's miracles and life purpose. He talks about what it takes to live the life of a Saint or Fakir and how one could invoke the Grace of Sai Baba with intense faith and devotion.
Baba Bholenath, a rare enigmatic Mystic, shares insights into Sai Baba's Life and Teachings.
The sadhu community is the
refuge of the humiliated.
This saffron-coloured cloth...
It is the last resort for people
who are humiliated by society.
Not only the common man,
but also Kings and Queens.
Where did Sita go when she was humiliated?
She went to Valmiki - to a sadhu.
Where does a political leader go when he
loses an election? - He goes to a sadhu.
When one's health is just not improving,
where does one go? - To a sadhu.
For wisdom, one goes to a sadhu.
So whenever one is despairing,
one goes to a sadhu.
Which is why it is said in the Hindu scriptures
that a sadhu has to always face
despair and disappointment.
But a single sadhu can give solace to
all the despairing people of the world,
if He is Sai Ram.
He can obliterate the suffering
of the whole world,
just as Lord Shiva had consumed the lethal poison
that had emerged after the Samudra Manthan
(the Great Churning of the ocean).
What is Samudra Manthan?
The human body has over 70% water,
as does the earth's surface.
The Gods churned the ocean, using Mount Mandara
as the churning rod, with the Asuras and the Devas
on either ends of the churning rope.
Don't we have demons and gods within us?
Lord Rama... let me talk about Him now ...
When Rama appeared before Ravana,
first, a war of words took place.
Said Ravana, "Sri Ramachandraji,
I only wish to say this to You...
How can I compare myself to You?
Where varna (caste) is concerned, I am superior
to You. You are a Kshatriya, and I am a Brahmin.
In Kriya yoga (the Yoga of Practice), you are
a King's son, whereas I am a Rishi's son.
Even by this comparison,
I am superior to You.
Sri Ramachandraji, in the matters of
honour and dignity, I must state,
please tell us if a royal princess is permitted to
place a marriage proposal before a prince or not.
She indeed has every right to.
But when Shurpanakha (my sister) did it, her
ears and nose were cut off by you and Laxman !
Even I wished to marry Sita,
but I never once touched her.
So I am ahead of you
even where honour is concerned.
I know I am going to die at your hands,
for I am your disciple.
Nobody has, and nobody will be,
as devoted as I in the spirit of an Enemy.
I am well aware that as long as humans
exist on Earth, my effigy will be burnt,
but that does not bother me.
I am proud of my victory, for you had to
come here to me all the way from Ayodhya.
Tell me, Sri Ramachandraji, have you
been able to understand me even now?
Your Majesty, I have done penance for
many more years than your age.
Let us compare families as well.
In your family, before Queen Sita, there was
no woman having Sati-like qualities.
There was a woman like Kaikeyi in your household.
My my household, my wife as well as
my daughters-in-law are honourable.
You can now make a comparison -
my son (Meghanada/Indrajit) had conquered
Indra Lok (Heaven). We conquered all the Gods.
I am the conqueror of the Three Worlds and
Master of the Past, Present, and Future.
And You, on the other hand, were desperately
searching for Sita's whereabouts....
Why, Ramchandraji?
Sri Ramchndraji, you accuse me of being a
charlatan. But how did you kill Khara and Dushan?
By casting a spell on them, not by warfare.
It was in fact Agastya Rishi who made
you enchanting and bewitching,
The war was masterminded by
the powers of Agastya Rishi, so where
were your own powers being deployed?
It was you who started the battle of Maya,
and yet you tarnished my name?
Sri Ramchandraji, you did penance for such a
long time, but nobody came to bother you.
Wherever you sit, a Shivling is installed there,
but did a Rakshasa ever come to bother you? No!
My son Meghanada was engrossed
in his prayers and worship yesterday;
and your brother violated its sanctity.
He went and poured water
all over the Havan-kund.
You sinfully got the better of a Brahmin
who was busy with his worship. Is this right
according to the laws of Dharma, Ramji?
Now Ramji, how will You reply
to so many questions?
I have studied all the four Vedas,
Sri Ramchandraji.
I have mastered the ten great sources of
knowledge, which is why I am called Dashaanan.
You possess the power of one or two
minds, whereas I have ten.
I have awakened the power
of ten minds in me.
So, Sri Ramchandraji,
you have come to kill me...
Why? Because I know who you are.
And I wanted you to come.
I can state that nobody has
done penance such as I have.
You have come to me, right upto
my doorstep, albeit as my Enemy,
You have exterminated
each and every child of mine...
My entire family has been wiped out,
I am the lone survivor...
I am also aware that if you win...
and I certain that you will...
but just in case I win, I vow
to do the following:-
I shall have a stairway to Heaven
built, for humans.
Humans can go and live in Heaven,
why should Heaven be exclusively for the Gods?
I shall remove all saltiness from the oceans.
I shall not let a son die
as long as his father is living.
I shall put the icing on the cake..."
Is it possible that someone who pledges to
do all this could be termed as wicked, a sinner?
This is how we have depicted them in the
Ramayana - Ram as hero and Ravan as zero.
Have we examined the two characters
from an unbiased angle?
Once, Lord Dattatreya was touring
the Himalayas from the skies.
He heard someone chant:
Ram, Ram, Ram...
Where is this chanting coming from, he
wondered, and went in search of the source.
He discovered that Hanuman
was singing this Bhajan.
Lord Dattatraya was quite touched
by the sight and said to him:
O Hanuman, you have chanted the name
of Lord Ram so many times
that even Chitragupt, the book keeper of Yamraj
would be unable to keep an accurate record.
... so many times you have taken His name...
so I am now casting you in
my image, that of a Guru.
He bestowed that power on him.
He also said to Hanuman: "When the world
goes through the Kaliyug age,
in Shirdi, you must say ALLAH
and start singing Bhajans.
You must bring a balance / stability
between the Hindus and the Muslims.
I shall come to Akkalkot in Vishnu's form."
So then Hanuman came as Sai Ram;
and who is Hanuman? He is Lord Shiva!
See now, you are dressed in a certain
manner (wearing a t-shirt and jeans),
but If you put on a black suit and tie, and don a
Buckingham palace-style hat, how will you look?
Your appearance will change, won't it?
The name is the same,
you will essentially remain Nikhil,
but people will have different perceptions of you,
based on the clothes you are wearing.
This is exactly why Gods have
thousands of names.
They change their appearance and form
according to requirements.
For instance Lord Vishnu appeared
in the form of Mohini,
otherwise all the Asuras would have drank up
the Nectar of Immortality... Rahu had taken
the Amrit Kalash and run away with it, right?
In the struggle, a few drops of the nectar
fell at four different places -
the present-day sites of the Kumbh Mela -
Nashik, Ujjain, Haridwar, and Allahabad (Prayag).
Sai Ram landed up there. He took the
name of Allah, and started singing Bhajans.
The word Allah is explained in Arabic as
containing primordial cosmic energy.
He who contains this energy is Allah.
The greatest and the most powerful is Allah.
There is no power before or after Him,
He is the universal and all-prevalent force,
where all energies are created,
as well as destroyed.
The energy completes its entire cycle,
like Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh.
Creation, Protection, and Destruction.
The cycle goes on and on.
Water is a word, it defines a
liquid that we drink.
(Our body is made up of
roughly 75 percent water)
But water is not an element; it is a
combination of two things - H2 and O
Water is the only thing that balances the
five Bhutas (the Five Great Elements) in the body.
Sai Ram had the power to
separate these. Like Fire...
When Mahakali fought with Gorakhnath,
she appeared as a bee, entered and
went through his nose into his stomach,
where she started expanding her body
to emerge with a blast.
But what Gorakhnath did was that
he collected the total Fire energy of his body
and concentrated it here (in the abdominal area)
and she (Mahakali) started crying,
"I am burning, save me."
So then Gorakhnath said to her:
"Mahadevi Mata, you have no idea of the
power of a Yogi, you will be no match for me!"
Sai Ram did not possess that knowledge....
When Sai Ram Himself was Lord Shiva...
can one say that He gained
His knowledge by learning...?
Can one say that He had a Guru...?
An Avatar having a Guru...?
Avatars do have a Guru, if they are
born in a family, like Krishna and Rama,
in which case they do have a Guru...
But Parsuram's Guru is Lord Shiva Himself,
because his life was meant for serving a purpose,
Narayan Himself had come in his form.
Sai Ram had the power to separate
all the five Bhutas of the body.
He just had to strike his hand down
like this, and a fire could start.
He centered the fire in the middle of His palm,
and drawing the fire energy from the
surrounding areas, He created a fire.
The fire was visible.
Sai Ram did not have to learn anything.
Is a child taught how to suckle milk?
Nature teaches everything
but Sai Ram was above and beyond nature.
Nature was in His control.
When someone's Agya chakra (third-eye chakra)
is activated, nobody can dominate them.
He controls himself...
All He needed was a pillow,
and a garment to cover His body.
They say He who has Zero needs is a saint.
It is the lack of needs
that gives birth to a saint.
When he grovels and begs for a little food,
he is a form of God at those times.
Sai Ram did not get anything built
or established to promote himself -
no temples, mosques, or foundations...
He stayed at Dwarkamayee near the
sacred fire, and ventured out only for alms.
He granted people's wishes.
He had absolute control over the Third Eye chakra;
if He said something would happen, it always did.
The Third Eye chakra is opened for just
one moment every 24 hours. This
happens with everyone, even with you.
In that moment, whatever you
wish for comes true.
All of you must have definitely
experienced this.
During a particular moment,
what you imagine becomes a reality.
At that moment, your Agya chakra is awakened.
The only difference is that an ordinary person
is unaware that his Agya Chakra is awakened,
whereas a Yogi keeps his Agya Chakra
in his control. And Sai Ram was a Yogi.
Yogis do anything for the welfare of society.
A few days ago, I told a woman
who had come to me for help...
her illness started migrating to me,
see I still have the mark here...
You see this mark, I still have it,
it was elephantiasis...
I thought I should get rid of her,
else it will come to me... so I got rid of her.
After the woman left, I was meditating one day
and I thought it's not possible
to have such an enlarged foot.
As it is, she has been humiliated by God, and now
here I am, adding to her humiliation!
I am not a saint...
In fact I'm so worried that every day
I think of sending her some money.
I'll go and give her five or ten thousand
rupees, but I don't know where she lives.
Now this sentiment, this thinking...
this is Sadhu.
The body is not a Sadhu, the body is only
primal matter comprising the five great elements.
This primal matter is consuming
other primal matter.
It is connected to the external matter,
so we experience hunger,
so we put in it some fuel, diesel, petrol...
like rice, dal, vegetables...
The purpose or intent of a saint
is to distance himself from this.
Zero needs.
What were Sai Ram's requirements?
Zero.
A single pillow that He placed
under his head and lay down.
In the morning, He got up, took a bath,
wore the same clothes, and went out.
There's food cooked in every home;
who will turn away a Fakir?
And the enemy? The Rakshas?
They follow all ascetics.
They followed Sai too.
What is Rakshas?
It is nothing but our own thinking.
64 Yoginis are always present
in our thoughts.
As the positions of the nine planets change,
our nature also changes.
The same question is answered by an individual
in seven different ways, depending on his
dominant chakra at that moment.
If he is in the Manipura (Solar Plexus) chakra,
and if he is asked his father's name,
he'll say: "It's Mahendra Singh,
but what has it got to do with you?"
It's the Agni here that
dictates his brash reply.
If he is in the Swadhisthan (navel) chakra,
he will politely say, "My father's name
is the Hon'ble Mahendra Prasad."
In the Muladhara (root) chakra,
he will say, "I don't remember."
The Anahata (heart) chakra will prompt him
to say, "Gentleman, my father was a great man,
his name was Mahendra Prasad."
In the Aagya (third eye) chakra, he will say,
"Well, who cares, how does it matter?
His name is Mahendra."
His mood can change in a second.
This is why Sadhus often use abusive
language when they get into that state.
There was a saint by the name of
Gauri Shankar Maharaj who lived
by the Narmada river in central India.
He had several disciples, seven of which
were Siddhas (achieved enlightenment).
The team of sadhus used to go around
singing bhajans and playing the drum.
They cooked their own meals.
Later he came to be known as Dhuniwale Baba.
He asked his disciples to stay with him, so they did.
That spot is still there...
They were enlightened saints, and crowds
started coming to them from far and wide.
The organisers declared that each village
would be allotted different days and time.
It was decided that on these particular days
people from these particular villages
would come at these particular times.
One day, villagers from Jalodhra came,
and they started singing Bhajans.
Sai Ram suddenly said,
"Get water in a bucket, quick."
People kept bringing buckets of water,
which they kept pouring over the Dhuna.
The fire was extinguished and
the Dhuna was filled with water.
He then told them, "Go back to your village,
go back home, return immediately."
When they dilly-dallied, He yelled at him
and ordered them to go away.
When they reached home, they got to know
that the chaff of the grain had caught fire.
Bales of chaff are usually stacked high
and stored on the outskirts of the villages.
The bales had been caught in flames
and the whole village had begun to burn.
Suddenly there came un unexpected heavy
downpour, and the fire had been doused.
People said there was not a
single cloud in the sky.
The villagers were now able to figure out why
they were asked to pour water over the sacred Dhuna.
This answers the question about Sai Ram....
It is a universal reality
that whoever has this gift
has the power to move his hand thus, and he can
even put his hand in Mansarovar lake if he wishes.
It is possible.
But in order to achieve that, one has to
be completely detached from the body.
Completely.
If you close your eyes and imagine
you are sitting by the lake in Mansarovar,
you will start feeling cold.
If you are able to tolerate such cold, and achieve
that mental state, if you stretch your hand,
you will be able to touch the water of Mansarovar.
There is a theory:
<< Yatha pinde tatha Brahmande. >>
The structure of the body reflects
the structure of the Cosmos.
So if in the Cosmos, there exists a lake
on Earth, it exists within the body as well.
If there is Mount Kailash yonder
in the Himalayas, it is over here as well.
So what the Yogis do is that they
search for Mount Kailash within themselves.
Kabir says the very same thing. And Sai Ram and Kabir
are one and the same; there is no difference.
This is how Kabir has put it:
<< Gyan katara har har maare, shabd ke baan chalave,
Kahe Kabir suno bhai sadhu, tab mujra karvave,
Hum to Ram nam gun gaave. >>
It's the sadhu's mood...
He is not beating anyone with a stick,
nor abusing them; he is merely lashing out
at the evil powers that surround him.
He's attacking those.
But people take it as a personal attack,
for they are powerless to feel the
positive and negative energies around them.
So with regard to the good and the bad,
the sadhu gives out a universal message
of welfare of mankind.
Sai Ram often waved a stick and chased people away.
There is a famous story about a horse that was lost.
He called the horse there itself.
It is the same as collecting the waters
from the Mansarovar lake.
That was a reliable story, 'aapt', meaning
believable and reliable, just as the Vedas,
the Puranas, the Bible, and the Qu'ran are reliable.
for the words have been uttered by God.
There is only one God - the language,
location, and system may be different.
Till today, nobody has seen God in His entirety.
Buddha saw Him as Ahimsa
(non-violence & reverence for living creatures).
So did Mahavir.
Guru Nanak Dev saw him in the form of Music -
he used to only sing devotional songs.
Adi Guru Shankaracharya
found Advaita (non-duality).
So who has seen God in his entirety?
If you have already read books on Hindutva,
and if you seek God with intensity,
you will find Him in the form that you wish.
He says I will appear before you
exactly as you wish to see Me.
If you think of me as an Enemy and abuse
me constantly, I shall also appear before you
as an Enemy, using abusive language.
Ravan did that.
Remember, Sai Ram is Lord Shiva Himself.
He is His incarnation.
Because the pattern of Sai Baba's life
is the same as Lord Shiva's.
If you pay attention to this part of the face,
(people understand easier at the physical level)
check the original photos of Sai Ram,
not the actors who play Him on screen,
See His earliest photo, in which
He is wearing a tattered tunic...
See how slim his wrist is. Sai Ram was
very thin, He had no flesh on Him.
Man makes their images look beautiful.
When Lord Rama had gone to the South
of India, He had become so thin...
naturally, after living only on a diet of fruits...
When the astral body is in the forefront,
the physical body starts withering.
The stronger the physical body,
the weaker the astral body.
Have you ever heard of a well-built wrestler
becoming a Head of State?
Ever?
Let us salute Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
who was one of the greatest Indian
philosophers, and the President of India.
His neck was as scrawny as a chicken's...
He was a very thin man.
And by looking at his face, Gurudev Rabindranath
Tagore seems of large build, but his neck...?
Very thin...
And Gandhi? He became dependent
on a walking stick from a very early age.
If you observe carefully, you'll see that all great people
have a powerful astral body and a weak physical body.
When the physical body is weak, it takes
a person to higher levels of knowledge.
Sai Ram was the ultimate embodiment of knowledge.
He was extremely intuitive as well.
He had an inner knowingness about everything.
When He activated His Agya Chakra and blessed
the devotees, their wishes were fulfilled.
What is it that man wants?
What does a blind man want? He'll be happy
to get vision in one eye, if not in both.
As people's wishes kept getting fulfilled,
their faith kept increasing.
Today, we don't know if wishes
get fulfilled or not...
for one cannot estimate,
but the belief (faith) is increasing...
Despite resistance and opposition,
the faith is increasing.
Sai Ram was secular,
He was away from religion, beyond it.
Religion draws boundaries for you.
If you cross those boundaries,
the public will reject you.
Sai Ram stayed away from religion,
and those who do that have to face
more challenges. He faced them too.
It is pointless wanting to unearth the mystery
of the kind of penance He had done to reach that level.
Why? Because penance doesn't happen...
It happens with the grace of God.
Not by effort, not by hard work...
With divine grace, you can attain realisation
even by staying at home.
Sai Ram was inherently a great realised Master.
If He had belonged to a particular religion,
for instance if He were a Hindu, He would definitely
have been well versed in the Hindu scriptures...
Or He would have followed Hindu practices...
If He had been a Muslim, He would have
followed Muslim practices...
There is no question of Him having been a Christian.
Just as there is no consensus today about Kabir -
whether he was Hindu or Muslim...
Such Masters are beyond classification.
They cannot be labelled, they are
nothing but an awareness, a vibration...
Their body is nothing but a vehicle
so that the world can see them.
Sai Baba's state was the same.
Slowly, after a hundred years had passed,
Sai Ram's powers started emerging.
People then started calling him
Brahmanda Nayak, Maha Yogi, Maha Tapasvi...
You can add as many adjectives as you like...
It's only a testament to
man's devotion to Him.
Who shall decide what He really was?
But when Faith increases....
There was a buffalo in Girnar (in Gujarat).
He was a very strong buffalo and was sold to a
slaughterhouse in Bombay, where he was sent.
At the abattoir, he was put in the slaughtering machine.
Just as the blade was about to hack his neck, it broke.
It was a new blade, but it broke. They replaced it,
but that one broke too. A third blade also
snapped and broke with a loud clang.
People began to suspect that there was something
special about this buffalo, so they set him free.
The buffalo walked away. For several days,
he kept wandering the streets of Bombay.
He started walking back in the
direction of Girnar, towards Ahmedabad.
After several months, he reached Girnar.
At Girnar, he stationed himself
at a place called Satdhara.
When he merely glanced at someone,
their wishes were fulfilled.
People came and offered the buffalo sweets -
laddoos, pedhas, and rasgullas.
When he gazed at them, they were very pleased.
Their tasks started getting accomplished effortlessly.
"Who is in that buffalo?" they wondered.
A great mystery will be uncovered from here,
something that is beyond the
comprehension of ordinary mortals.
Girnar is a place where you will find
plenty of realised saints.
There's a common saying (in verse):
"The babus of Abu, the saints of Girnar,
the kevars of Kashi, and the vultures of Ayodhya
are all the same."
The sadhu in Abu is well-dressed, clad in western
clothes. He will follow his spiritual practice but will
dress and behave like a modern gentleman.
And Girnar, of course is where the
realized souls converge.
All four are the same where penance is concerned.
Just think about it, even a
vulture of Ayodhya is like a Siddha.
Sadhus have been saying this since thousands
of years, only they knew the exact nuances.
In Orissa, I was asked whether
three merging into one is a truth,
or one composed of three units is a truth.
"Both options are correct," I replied.
"Three from one is true. The Supreme Divinity
has three forms: Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh."
When three merge into one in Omkar, that is
also the truth, so both statements are true."
He said, "Yes, that's right."
I said, "I answered your question,
now let's discuss donation..."
He asked me, "What do you want?"
"Are you God" I asked him.
There were other Naga sadhus with me.
"What do you want?" he asked...
"You are talking like Ismail Jogi. That's all right, then.
Guru Nanak Dev had asked for humility.
Sai Ram is the paragon of humility.
God had put a lot of virtues and goodness in Him
Sita had granted Hanuman a boon:
"May all the virtues of the universe
always reside in your heart."
That was a boon granted to Hanuman,
And Sai Ram was exactly like that.
The devotion of previous lifetimes bears fruit too.
Lord Buddha had gone through five hundred
lifetimes before achieving Buddhahood.
HH The Dalai Lama today remembers
fourteen previous lifetimes.
The Karmapa remembers seventeen lifetimes.
He remembers them perfectly well.
He can tell exactly who He was, where He lived,
what He did... in his fifth lifetime for instance...
There is hardly any development of the soul,
but there's certainly a marked progress
in the level of enlightenment.
In our body there is Maya (nature)...
Has it controlled us, or have we controlled it?
Which is why celibacy is considered excellent.
Even if a Brahmachari decides
to break his vow of celibacy,
does he have the opportunity?
At the most, he will break it a few times...
Whereas a householder can indulge
his desire whenever he wishes.
The regret felt because of the inability to
fulfil one's desires becomes a Sadhu's strength.
What was Sai Ram?
A weapon without ammunition.
He brought about social change and welfare.
He guided people on the path
He made people believe in God.
He showed people how a Sadhu's life
could be the ideal life.
A woman once invited Him to
take His meals at her home.
He declined, saying begging for alms
was His religious and moral duty.
The Brahmans tried to put a stop to it, telling people
not to give Him any food in alms, but they continued.
To protect the body, He definitely
used the powers of nature.
For it is the body...
If someone wishes to beat up a sleeping Fakir,
what's the problem in that?
His powers protected Him.
Why does this happen?
To achieve something is not practical
for man in the metaphysical world.
You cannot gain it with hard work or devotion,
you can suffer all you can...
In Lord Shiva's tapasya,
there is a lot of pain and suffering,
but in Ram's tapasya ( Vaishnav tapasya), there is no
pain and suffering; you can eat, drink, and make merry.
In Brindavan, this song is sung...
The rickshaw drivers say, "Radhe Radhe."
In the rickshaws of Brindavan, there is no horn.
"Radhe Radhe," the driver yells. The pedestrian knows
there's a rickshaw behind him, he moves out of the way.
Radhe Radhe
He is also an embodiment of God,
and so is Sai Ram.
The guy working at the crematorium
is also an embodiment of God.
If God is present everywhere,
He is also present in human waste.
Didn't Lord Vishnu take the Avatar of a wild boar?
He did. He appeared in the forms of
The Fish, The Boar, Parasurama, The Turtle...
In the entire Universe, the vibration of God
is definitely the strongest.
Because God is eternal.
He is eternal and inexhaustible, like His
virtues and vices; the vices are His too.
Where did Ravan's soul go?
It entered Rama's body.
The director is trying to convey this.
I started to laugh. "See, he took it out from here
and put it back in, now he says he's killed Ravan!"
The beginning and the end are the same.
Sai Ram is a power,
Sai Ram is not a person.
He is a power sent by the Universe.
In such a short period of time,
He became so influential.
Wealth is appealing, but He renounced it.
He took on hardship.
For several days in a row, He
received no food, so He didn't eat.
For He whose food is love for the Creator
has no use for rice and dal.
This shawl has the words RAM printed all over it.
Kabir sang praise of Ram.
So did Meera.
Their styles were different.
She sings:
<< Ae ri, main to prem deewani,
mera dard na jane koi >>
Which is this pain that nobody knows?
Which pain has afflicted her?
When one is intoxicated by love for God,
there is no other intoxicant in the world
that can match its intensity.
"Nobody understands my pain..."
Meera said, "You are my (cosmic) husband."
Kabir referred to God as his Beloved.
Surdas said to Krishna,
"You are my friend, my companion."
These are different expressions of feelings.
So when Sai Ram said "Allah", what's
wrong with that? It's the same thing.
But ordinary humans apply labels:
"He said 'Allah', he must be a Muslim..."
We are quick to form judgements
based on trivial matters..
If someone is wearing saffron robes,
it must be a Hindu holy man.
If he's wearing a green headscarf,
he must surely be a Muslim Fakir.
An ordinary person's knowledge is limited to the
signals he receives from his primary senses.
He will look at objects and see God in them.
When sadhus meet, what happens?
"Have you seen the Vivekananda Rock Memorial
in Kanyakumari?" one asks the other.
"No," he replies.
"Well, I have been there and seen it."
There is no substance to this conversation,
but in such a situation, this is
the kind of conversation taking place.
When you meet Osho, he will talk of other things....
We are all like travellers waiting
on the passenger loading stairs,
waiting to board the aircraft.
Nobody knows when we we reach Brahma-Lok
(the abode of the Gods), when those steps will
take us there, or when the aircraft will take off.
In our journey in this material world, we climb
the stairway and sit in the aircraft and we travel.
But when we transition, we tour the
Higher Dimensions without our bodies.
Every one of us, without exception.
When there is a marked increase in
stupidity and ignorance on Earth,
when the equilibrium shifts, there
come on Earth people like Sai Ram.
Why do they come? To put things back
in balance, back in equilibrium.
Osho has a programme called Allah Hoo
It's nothing but Sai Ram's.
Who?
When the foreigners dance, they use forced exhalations
in breathing, and keep saying Hoo Hoo Hoo.
Who are you? ... they wish to know...
Why do you ask Him? Ask yourself instead.
Who, who, who?
You'll quickly get your answers from within.
Yoga Vidya says so.
Some say that the universe is outside us:
others say it's within us. Some say
it's like this; others say it's like that.
All differ in their ideas; it is a battle of
ideas and opinions in this world.
The Veda is also an idea
As are the Shastras.
But they are trusted ideas
And all this Creation is God's.
Sai Ram
Sai Ram was beyond religion.
He was beyond boundaries.
He was the Universe personified.
Whatever one sought before Him, before his Aura,
it was resolved. He isn't personally doing anything.
He isn't doing anything.
You go to Him and beseech Him,
"Oh Lord, I want a car."
You said it, and your purpose is fulfilled.
You have gone close to Him; you have visited
that sacred spot where He spent His life...
The vibrations were perfect... You were in a wonderful
receptive state... your Agya Chakra was activated
and you received whatever you asked for.
People say Sai Ram is very generous,
He grants all our wishes, He gives, He gives...
When you are in alignment with your Self,
there is a feeling of divinity within you.
And the Divine will never take a wrong decision.
This is why Sai Ram would say, "Ask yourself".
If you close your eyes and ask your question,
you are sure to receive the right answer.
But it will not have worldly references,
so you will reject that answer.
And when you repeatedly reject the answers,
you will eventually lose
the real reply from your inner self.
The reply that you are seeking to your question...
Let us suppose you own a parcel of land
which someone is trying to seize from you.
Now if God tells to to give it up...
but you cling on to it.
Because that isn't the reply you would give.
It's the reply your inner self would give.
God will say, "Why do you wish to go through this stress,
give up attachment to the land, and meditate instead."
God is talking of renunciation.
So when man avoids and disregards God's word,
and himself plays the role of God,
all his decisions are wrong.
When he trusts and obeys God,
his decisions are always right.
In the eyes of God, everyone is equal,
be it a millionaire, a zillionaire, or a pauper,
like it was with Sai Ram.
I developed special powers too.
I smoked ganja (cannabis) this way:
I held up my pipe and gestured for a lighter -
my pipe would automatically get lit.
It was for effect.
But this wasn't Sai Ram's purpose.
Sai Ram was battling with his own problems.
In Kashi, there lived an Aghori saint called Kinaram.
It was said:
<< What Ram cannot do, Baba Kinaram can do. >>
Impossible was possible for him.
Sai Ram is exactly like that.
Such powerful incarnations
appear very rarely on earth.
Very rare... could be someone in a hundred years...
like the Buddha...
He was a prince, but see
what kind of a life he lived...
Without food and water one day,
He fell down emaciated...
A woman called Sujata came along...
She revived him and said:
"You are not bothered about the body in which you
reside, in which you are doing penance?"
He felt realized.
He said to her, "You have provided me the
knowledge that I was seeking all along!
All right, from today, I shall eat."
All his followers left him, saying,
"Oh, He has started eating, He is
not doing his penance any more!"
But He attained knowledge after this,
and soon the disciples returned,
seeking this very knowledge.
<< Jako kachu na chaiye, woh hi Shahenshah. >>
(Kabir's Doha)
For verily is he King who leaves desire behind.
A rich man is not called a King;
a rich man is a trader, a businessman, etc...
King refers to a quality, an essence...
which is why a King is addressed as 'Your Majesty'.
People dispute over Baba's religion...
was He a Hindu or a Muslim?
It is due to our own foolishness.
If He was a Muslim, fine...
nothing wrong in that...
and if He was a Hindu,
nothing wrong with that, either...
He fulfilled everyone's wishes,
wishes of people of both the faiths.
A farmer once told him,
"You were my disciple in a previous birth."
Sai Baba said, "Quite right."
"So now plough my field!"
And He kept ploughing.
A Shirdi dweller who happened to be there
saw that Baba was ploughing the field.
"What are you doing?" he asked Baba.
"He was my Guru, I am serving him," replied Baba.
The Panchayat sat in judgement over
the Muslim and got him thrashed.
Then Sai Ram came to Shirdi.
What are we trying to learn from these stories?
What kind of a power is Sai Ram?
Let us enumerate.
Asceticism. He was a great ascetic.
Justice. His justice was like that of Shani (the Lord of Justice).
Saintliness (Divinity).
He had created out of nothing...
From nothingness, there was Creation by Him.
I look around me, I wonder
what lies scattered around.
All that is needed is a mat in the room;
all the rest is quite unnecessary.
So why do I do this?
Rituals... they are needed when one is
trying to race and reach somewhere,
But when the race is over,
nothing is needed.
End of the story.
So these people have finished with all these rites
and rituals and ceremonies in their previous births.
The knowledge that Baba shared
with his devotees was His own.
He explained the consequences of our actions.
Take the allegory of a goldsmith
who makes ornaments.
The metal (gold) is the same, but every
goldsmith creates a different design.
Here, it is Sai Ram's own search.
He shows the path that He took,
the path that can be taken...
Which path will you take? You can
take my path and see where it leads you.
But the problem that now arises...
A person can take the indicated path, but he won't
be able to emulate Sai Baba's life, will he?
Even the greatest devotee will not step out
and beg for alms, live on charity.
He will have all his essential possessions
such as a table, a chair, and a bed to sleep in.
One is sure to succeed if one follows this path,
but ONLY IF one emulates Sai Ram's life.
Then there was Sri Shankaracharya...
From Kerala, he walked all the way to Kashi,
toured the whole of India,
He established four Mathas (Hindu monasteries)
despite problems faced with the language,
for Sanskrit was the accepted language at that time.
Now the common man didn't speak Sanskrit, did he?
His disciple attacked Buddhist philosophies
and Adi Shankaracharya re-established
the Sanarthan dharma.
He described in the Sounderya Lahari
the appropriate method of performing devotion
connected to each specific shloka,
with details of the results ensuring therefrom.
But one must keep in mind that in six years,
one must renounce the world,
and not live as a householder,
one must be an ascetic, live on alms and charity...
ONLY THEN will all this be applicable.
But people don't do all that...
They do however chant the
Aim Hreem Kleem Chamundaye Viche mantra...
As soon as they hear mention of a Mahasiddha,
they come back to the present.
Sai Ram weeps through his photos,
He sheds tears...
Sai Ram speaks to his devotees and tells them
he'd like to have a holy dip in the Ganges.
When he told this to some villagers,
they took His statue to the Ganga
and gave it a dip in the holy waters.
He is the only one who gives proof of His existence.
it's not just in the Sanarthan dharma,
but in every religion ...
"Ayahayami, sthapayami... "
to invoke, to call...
Respectfully invite the Lord to appear...
"Dear Lord, please appear before me...
Sai Ram, please appear before me,
please come... please come..."
He hears us, for He is present in every atom
and molecule, why won't He hear our plea?
What is the intensity of your desire while
calling that particular cosmic power?
This intensity of yours decides His arrival.
You can command nature if the intensity
of your command is very high,
which means that there are
conditions for every action.
And the whole Universe is under one Law:
Reason, Reaction, and Result
Water is the same substance,
but in the ocean, it's not water, it is 'ocean'.
Due to the heat, when it rises up,
it is called 'vapour'.
It is no longer referred to as 'ocean', but as 'vapour'.
Now 'vapour' becomes a 'cloud'.
'Vapour' is destroyed and 'cloud' is created.
Now the wind takes the 'cloud' higher and higher, and
when it reaches Mt. Everest, it is called 'ice' and 'snow'.
One name is being destroyed;
another name is being created.
It's like the big large rocks in the mountains,
they crumble because of the reaction
of extreme heat and cold,
they come down to the Ganges,
whose waters push them downstream,
until they become fine sand...
they are no longer rocks.
The same water comes (from the snow peaks)
to the Ganga, and eventually reaches the sea.
It is a cycle...
Creation, Protection, and Destruction
These three energies are continuously working
with the balancing system of the Universe.
But because these three energies
are not on every planet,
they are only on Earth,
and on Earth, every cosmic power
has representation (in some form).
so Earth is the accumulation of total energies in
different places, different ways, different philosophies.
But it is Philosophy that rules the Earth.
Only philosophy.
Not man. Man is not important.
Like it's democracy that's ruling India, not PM Modi.
America, democracy.
For communism, it's Tantra -
Praja-tantra.. Raj-tantra...
Tantra is a system.
In the same way, this cosmos is also
controlled by a system,
and in this system, at the top,
there is Awareness.
It could be Sai Ram, it could be Ram,
it could be Allah, it could be anybody...
But He is the One on the top... His names
are different, His thoughts are different.
He is pushing his philosophy down to Earth...
and the philosophies are colliding.
Sai Baba was an inspiration, a motivation.
He came on this Earth and tried His maximum to
unify humanity, which He succeeded in doing.
Even if His Muslim devotees form a mere 10 percent,
they do go to Him, they visit His shrine.
And as for Religion, it is true that Sai Ram
did not advocate any particular religion.
He never asked people to have blind faith
in Him and become His followers.
He probably never appointed any disciples, did He?
Maybe He had some householder disciples by His side,
someone to prop Him up
and support His frail body...
Spiritual load is a heavy load to bear...