Svyatoslav Dubyanskiy
Sathya Sai Baba. Supernatural Experiences and Divine Transformation. Book Two

Memories, Experiences and Philosophy

Author's Preface

Divine teacher who helps at all levels of human existence

Before you is a book about the life and philosophy of the great Indian mystic and miracle worker Sathya Sai Baba. He was a spiritual mentor, philosopher, public figure and the most significant miracle worker of our time. Sai Baba preached the unity of all religions, taught meditation practices, and his blessings healed and changed people's lives.

For me, Sathya Sai Baba is a divine teacher who helped at all levels of human existence, from the highest spiritual realizations to the most everyday problems related to health, family life, and creativity. All issues that were important to people were also important to him.

For several years I watched how Sathya Sai Baba gave spiritual instructions and changed people's lives

I had the good fortune to communicate with Sathya Sai Baba a lot between 1993 and 1999. I have translated from English into Russian during Sai Baba's personal meetings with numerous Russian speaking groups.

For several years, I have watched Sathya Sai Baba communicate with followers and visitors, give spiritual instructions, answer questions, heal from serious illnesses and, with the help of his blessings, transform people's lives.

After Sathya Sai Baba left the body in 2011, my many friends asked me to write about the amazing events I had witnessed. Thus was born my books.

In the first book, I reminisce about how Sathya Sai Baba was during direct communication, as well as the history of his miracles, to which I was a direct witness. The book was warmly received by readers. It was important for me to receive good and useful advice.

Thank you all for your support and guidance, your warm responses have inspired me to keep going. It is nice to know that the book has been accepted not only by those who have known Sathya Sai Baba personally for many years, but also by those who are just now beginning to learn about him.

Sathya Sai Baba proclaimed the divinity of every person, this is the essence of his teachings. I tried to reflect on his spiritual heritage. The seeming simplicity and clarity of Sathya Sai Baba's words are sometimes deceptive. The last thing I would like to do is impose my understanding of Sathya Sai Baba's teachings.

Everything expressed in this book is just my understanding of his philosophy and mission. With this book, I invite each of you to think and reflect with me about the eternal questions of the spiritual path and human existence.

The book contains numerous stories from the legendary life of Sathya Sai Baba. I think that his life is not so much an object for worship, but an example for each of us from which we can learn a lot. Talking to him, I was able to understand that the last thing Sathya Sai Baba wanted was to create a "cult" of himself.

He sought to direct each person to investigate the nature of the eternal soul. First of all, Sai Baba proclaimed the divinity of every person, this was the essence of his teaching.

The stories given in this book are taken from various sources, some of these stories I have witnessed, some of the stories were shared with me by the first devotees of Sathya Sai Baba with whom I was fortunate enough to communicate.

I express my deep gratitude to senior Sathya Sai Baba devotees such as Subba Rao, Maheshwarananda, Padananda, Dr. Rao, Yogi Harri and Venkateshwar Shastri for the many stories I heard about the life and miracles of Sathya Sai Baba from these great devotees.

Realizing your mission in life is the most important task for every person.

Sathya Sai Baba possessed perfect insight, with the help of clairvoyance, he scanned the inner world of each person, deeply understanding his needs. He preached a harmonious life in which each person must fulfill his divine destiny.

I would like you to consider this book not as a fascinating story about Sathya Sai Baba and his miracles, reading amazing stories about his incomprehensible life and contemplating his mission, you can see practical guides in spiritual practice and daily life.

Being the messenger of a blessed life, he poured out Divine Grace on everyone who is was open and ready to receive it. He blessed everyone to the realization and successful realization of their destiny. Understanding and realizing your mission in life is the most important task for everyone, thus you embody your God-given genius.

Everything we do in life is steps on the spiritual path.

Many years of association with Sathya Sai Baba completely transformed my life. His blessings touched every aspect of my destiny. Now I write books, conduct master classes and seminars on the practices of Kriya Yoga and mantras, and also talk about the life and teachings of Sathya Sai Baba in lectures. It may seem that I have always been such a "wise man".

Like any other person, I went through a life path full of doubts, internal conflicts, difficulties and problems. I am in the process of spiritual exploration, contemplation, and meditation. I'm on the road, just like everyone else. Probably, I have already managed to realize something, but something else remains to be understood and implemented in the future. We are all on the path of divine evolution.

In this book, I invite you to take part in the remembrance of the greatest Divine Incarnation, which I and many of you had the good fortune to witness. I invite you to reflect on the deepest meaning of his teaching.

As a professional artist, I am grateful to Sathya Sai Baba for helping me realize that not only meditation and prayer make up the spiritual path of a person. Everything we do in life is the steps of the spiritual path, every person we meet in life is a teacher, every life situation, every success and every trial makes us more experienced and wiser.

This book will be of interest both to those who know Sathya Sai Baba well and to readers who are just beginning to get acquainted with his life and teachings. The book shows Sathya Sai Baba as a universal teacher who combines the wisdom of all world religions and guides people on the path of harmonious development of divine self-knowledge and a happy human life.

Gratitude

I express my deepest gratitude to all my friends and relatives who took an active part in the work on this book. Thank you all for your kind and helpful advice, valuable information, technical, and financial support.

Special thanks to my wife Svetlana Dubyanskaya, as well as to my parents Igor Grigoryevich and Tamara Alekseevna.

Special thanks to Anupriya Wijayaweera for arranging the publication of this book. Thanks go to Alexander Bukreev for the cover design.

1. Who thinks and acts?

There are many types of knowledge, but there is only one greatest knowledge – this is self-knowledge, the knowledge of one's eternal True Self, this is the knowledge of the unchanging ultimate reality. Your True Self was never born and will never die.

(Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 1)

The main thing for which we are born into this world is to realize the greatest secret of the True "I". This secret is what most of Sathya Sai Baba's instructions were devoted to. "I" exist – is a statement that sounds perfectly clear to every person. The obvious thing is that "I Am", even if it is not always clear what "I" is. Self-existence is so obvious that it does not need proof and discussion, as it is an experience inherent in absolutely everyone. However, the simplicity and evidence that "I" exist does not make the question of what "I" is simple.

There are many types of knowledge, all of which are very important for the development of human culture. Sathya Sai Baba never denied physics, mathematics, jurisprudence, economics, or the many other sciences important for development of human society. However, there is a knowledge that is most important, and that is knowledge about the essence of one’s soul.

Who constantly strives to be free from problems and suffering, as well as to find eternal happiness? Who wants to be successful? Who wants to receive genuine answers to the most important questions of the universe and dispel their doubts? Who seeks to know the absolute truth, thinks, and meditates? To all these complex questions, the answer is simple: “I am”.

Even if you say you do not have all these desires and questions, then we can ask: who does not have questions and desires? The answer will be exactly the same: “I” do not have desires and questions.

If someone says he does not believe in the existence of "I" at all, then it is appropriate to ask: who does not believe in the existence of "I"? and again the answer is "I". You have thoughts, feelings, desires, preferences, opinions – you do things, but at the same time, most often you forget to realize or understand who this “I” is, which thinks, feels, and acts.

The true "Self" existed before the birth of the physical body and will continue to exist after one’s death. Sathya Sai Baba never denied the numerous branches of human culture, he even founded several major universities and colleges in India, which successfully taught various disciplines, allowing graduates to get good jobs and build successful careers.

Sathya Sai Baba was extremely active in public and social life, and he taught his followers the same. Of all kinds of knowledge, Sathya Sai Baba considered the knowledge of oneself to be the highest. A person who has known his soul discovers for himself the greatest cosmic secret of the essence of being. Only then all other types of knowledge and all activity, in general, acquires a sacred meaning, otherwise everything is pure vanity.

The omnipresent "I" is invisibly present in wakefulness and in sleep, in happiness and suffering, in birth and death; it existed long before the birth of your physical body and will continue its existence after the death of the body. The body is born and dies, but the "I" is eternally present in the infinite cosmos. Everything in this world is impermanent; everything changes every second, but the True Self is an eternal observer present invisibly and invariably in the center of the constant cycle of impermanence and variability.

2. Sathya Sai Baba and Wolf Messing

It is extremely difficult to talk about Wolf Messing, the famous mystic of the twentieth century. This man is a mystery as quite a lot is known about him, but at the same time almost nothing is known of him. He was the first to recognize and proclaim the truth that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine incarnation. Messing's spiritual path was very complex and ambiguous. Some perceived him as a prophet and a great soothsayer, and some called him a charlatan. Nevertheless, he had unique supernatural abilities and perfect clairvoyance.

All his life he asked spiritual questions about the meaning of human existence, trying to understand why God gave him such a unique talent. Messing accurately saw the future, both of individual people and of entire nations, and when something wonderful was about to happen, he was sincerely happy. With the help of his amazing clairvoyance, he accurately saw the future of people and entire countries but could do nothing to change unfolding situations that would cause great suffering.

Messing was a unique conductor of accurate information. In the twenties and thirties, he traveled extensively around the world, including India, which was then a colony of England. In 1936, he traveled to India and visited Bombay, Calcutta, and Bangalore. While on the train traveling from Bangalore to Delhi, the train stopped at Anantapur railway station. According to some accounts of the story, Messing began to feel strong, intuitive vibrations and walked off the train, telling his escort they must stop in this city. This surprised his assistants, who, at first, tried to persuade him to get back on the train and continue the journey in their comfortable carriage, but Messing was not inclined and remained on the platform while his assistants unloaded things and, although perplexed, remained with him. The reason for such strange behavior was that Messing felt the presence of a great divine teacher nearby and decided to look for him.

I tried to discover more information from some senior Sathya Sai Baba devotees, such as Subba Rao, Padananda, and Maheshwarananda, about how exactly this meeting took place between Messing and little Sathya Sai Baba, who was then around ten years old. There are different versions of exactly how this historic meeting eventuated. Different books describe different details, and the exact details are simply not known. It is only known that such a meeting took place.

The surprise of this event lies in the fact that at that time Sathya Sai Baba was about ten years old, and this meeting was several years before he proclaimed himself an Avatar, revealing to everyone around him the special spiritual mission of his incarnation. In those days, no one treated the Sai boy as special, he was just a simple village boy. Of course, the locals were very surprised when the famous soothsayer from distant Europe, upon seeing the Sai boy, proclaimed the famous words of prophecy: "He is a divine person!"

According to one version of the story, when the train pulled into Anantapur, Messing suddenly felt a powerful motivating energy which caused him to rush out of the carriage, demand a car, and drive in the direction of where his intuition was calling. He came to the village of Puttaparthi and drove to the very house where, the boy, Sathya Sai Baba lived.

According to another version, little Sathya Sai Baba was not far from the railway station that day and Messing, who got off the train, easily discovered the divine child. The details of the story are not so significant for me. The important thing is that Wolf Messing's precise intuitive feeling and his clairvoyance led him to the young Sathya Sai Baba. Messing is acknowledged as being the first person to understand the divine nature of Sathya Sai Baba, and to prophesy who he is.

As was, during the life of Sathya Sai Baba, so now, disputes about who Sathya Sai Baba was, and remains to be, do not subside. There are many opinions. Some consider him the greatest divine incarnation and teacher of humanity, and some consider him a cunning deceiver. There can be no absolute and exact proof of who Sathya Sai Baba is, All evidence given by man is in the realm of logic, and yet, it’s common knowledge that divine incarnation is outside all logical reasoning.

In the Vedic texts and throughout biblical scriptures, there are many descriptions of the qualities of the Avatar and the Messiah: i.e., divine incarnation. All of them are quite naive and have little to do with life, because all attempts to rationally define the Avatar or the Messiah are products of ignorant human ideas about what the Avatar or Messiah should be like. But the peculiarity of the unstable and insidious mind is that for any argument there is always a counterargument.

When Jesus Christ came to earth, many high priests quite sincerely expected the Messiah, but they could not recognize him because they relied upon their interpretations of the many predictions and signs as described in earlier prophetic texts. The chief priests expected the Messiah to come according to their own ideas of what he should be like.

The problem was that Jesus was the way he was, and not the way the high priests wanted him to be. Those who tried to understand Jesus failed to do so, intellectually. Despite the fact priests sincerely expected the Messiah, they did not accept him once he appeared, and consequently, they’re still waiting for the first coming. Only those people who had an open heart could feel and understand his divine energy and accepted him as the Good Shepherd.

Similar stories happened in the life of the Buddha. In the time of the Buddha, there were many highly educated philosophers who could not understand and accept the Buddha and arrogantly considered him a charlatan. The same fate was with Krishna. Now, after several millennia, it is easy enough to say that Krishna is the divine teacher of mankind, but during his lifetime there were quite a few philosophers and scholars of the Vedic texts who denied him.

3. You are perfect from the beginning, for God created you in his image and likeness

God is love. Love can only be felt through love. One who is in love can find oneness with the Divine.

(Sathya Sai Baba – "Collection of lectures", 1991)

Love is the greatest treasure in the world. God is the True Self of every person, which is why to love God means to love your Higher Self. Love begins with love for oneself, which is the divinity that lies dormant in the Spiritual Heart of each person. Self-love has nothing to do with selfishness.

True love for yourself lies in the awareness of your infinite creative potential. How can you love God if most of the time people don't even know how to accept themselves? How can you love your neighbor if you do not understand how to accept and love yourself?

To love God means to see God in every person. You look into the eyes of the person right in front of you and see in them the light of the True Self, which is also your True Self. I was incredibly lucky in the ‘90s to meet Mother Teresa at the Delhi airport as she walked through the huge airport building blessing everyone in her path. I watched her actions with awe, feeling the amazing divine love emanating from Mother Teresa. I also approached her in order to receive a blessing.

The divine vibrations of Mother Teresa at that moment gave rise to amazing realizations in me. Thoughts and images flowed through my mind. An inner voice spoke to me.

You contemplate the True Self, which means you contemplate God. You trust your intuition, which means you trust God's plan, because intuition is the voice of God. You respect yourself, which means you respect God because you are divine. You allow your dream to come true, because in your dream God creates this perfect world. You do your job in life and follow your destiny, which means you are doing the work of God. You love yourself because you are originally perfect, for God created you in his own image and likeness. You are originally perfect because God incarnates in the world in every person.

It is very helpful to meditate on your name and appearance. Try to respectfully look at your reflection in the mirror or at a photo or video of yourself, or perhaps listen to a recording of your voice. What you feel when listening or seeing will be an important indicator of how you perceive yourself, because the soul is manifested in your voice and appearance. Self-love begins with love for your name, appearance, and voice.

All people are deeply interconnected because all are one in the Divine Consciousness. By reading Christian and Buddhist sacred texts, you will learn about the importance of love and compassion, and you will start to consider how to love the whole world.

It is very easy to love all of humanity; it is more difficult to love the person who is nearby and right in front of you. Loving humanity is a good idea, in theory, but often that’s where it ends. We keep people at arms-length and at a distance, viewing humanity as a collective noun made up of abstract people with their abstract joys, needs and sufferings. But humans are not abstractions of reality – we are people traversing the highs and lows of everyday life trying to become the hero of our own journey. When we condense humanity down to something we can “love” as an idea, but not actually impact on a personal level, we miss out on the beauty that comes with interdependent relationships. When you begin to appreciate each person as an individual, abstract humanity turns from having ideas about someone’s reality to directly engaging in the truth of their reality. This is when you begin to “love your neighbor as yourself” and face the complexity of humanity at an individual level by loving people in spite of their complicated lives.

The person right in front of you may need your help, understanding, and support. To see the Eternal Consciousness in every person behind the veil of their personality is true love.

4. Sathya Sai Baba blew on the branches three times, they instantly turned into a small crucifix

Dr. John Hislop is very famous among Sathya Sai Baba's devotees. He was a man of unique destiny, who for many years practiced various spiritual systems and communicated with leading gurus and philosophers of the twentieth century such as Krishnamurti and Shivananda. However, John Hislop continued to feel dissatisfied and incomplete in his spiritual life.

He felt that all the books he read and the seminars he went through, in which he studied the practices of yoga and meditation, were just steps to something very important. At the end of the sixties, he learned about Sathya Sai Baba and immediately came to his ashram. Seeing Sathya Sai Baba for the first time, Hislop was shocked by the strong vibrations of love emanating from him.

Subsequently, John Hislop published an amazing book entitled “My Baba and I”, his conversations with Sathya Sai Baba, in which he shared the most interesting answers given in response to various questions relating to the spiritual development of man and society. For many people, the book became a reference point providing clear answers to the difficult questions in one’s spiritual development. This book has been translated into numerous languages, and new editions are constantly being printed. People who want a deeper understanding of Sathya Sai Baba's philosophy read and re-read this amazing book.

John Hislop was a blessed soul, and a particularly close devotee of Sathya Sai Baba. Hislop was fortunate to follow him relentlessly for many years, observing his life and listening to his wise instructions. We are lucky that Hislop not only enjoyed his fellowship with Sathya Sai Baba but carried the good news further by writing books, communicating with people, and telling stories about Sathya Sai Baba that he witnessed or directly participated in.

In the early seventies, Sathya Sai Baba went to a large nature reserve located near the city of Mysore, in the very south of India. Sathya Sai Baba took several people with him on the trip, including John Hislop. The area near Mysore is famous for its mild climate and beautiful pristine nature consisting of low mountains covered with jungle, full-flowing fast rivers, a huge number of wild animals and the life of the local population untouched by civilization.

An account of the trip records how Sathya Sai Baba walked with his small group for a long time through the jungle accompanied by local guides. Finally, everyone sat down to rest on the bank of a fast mountain river, enjoying the beautiful views of the mountains. Suddenly, Sathya Sai Baba picked up two branches, folded them in the shape of a cross and showed them to John Hislop before he blew three times on the branches. They instantly turned into a small crucifix of magnificent work. Sathya Sai Baba immediately gave this wonderful crucifix to the shocked Hislop. Photos of this cross are well known and very common.

Many times, I have watched Sathya Sai Baba materialize objects. He made several circular movements with his right hand and small flashes of light appeared directly from the palm of his hand. Rings, rosaries, or amulets miraculously appeared from these flashes. Materialized objects may seem the most ordinary, but in fact they are the greatest objects of power arising from the pure divine light. One of the ways in which Sathya Sai Baba materialized objects was extremely unusual, he blew on his hand three times and an object appeared there.

Breathing is a sacred act. Life begins with the first breath and ends with the last breath. Breathing happens by itself. It is not in our will to breathe or not to breathe. Breathing is the divine will manifested in man. In fact, God, himself, breathes in every person.

The Yogis of India and the Russian Orthodox Elders believe that breathing is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Proper meditation begins with conscious breathing and deep prayer is performed in the rhythm of breathing. One who reaches the highest meditative state stops breathing for several hours or even for several days. In Sanskrit this state is called Samadhi.

Sathya Sai Baba breathed on his hand and materialized objects. Each object was a newly created small universe appearing right before your eyes. I have always been fascinated by the moment itself – that high spiritual state one feels when attuning with Sathya Sai Baba at the very, wonderful, moment of breath to bring forth a creation of the world in miniature. As God breathed the breath of life into mankind, Sathya Sai Baba materialized objects with the help of three significant breaths, showing that breath gives birth to life and creates a miracle.

Subsequently, that cross given to Hislop also came with some amazing details. Sathya Sai Baba said the cross was made from a piece of the same tree on which Jesus Christ was crucified. This is absolutely incredible! How can this even be? Who is Sathya Sai Baba who can do such a thing?! How could Sathya Sai Baba materialize a cross from the same legendary tree 2000 years after the event. Explaining the meaning of this cross, Sathya Sai Baba also said that the face of Jesus depicted on this cross is an exact portrait of Jesus on the day of his crucifixion after several days of torture and hunger.

5. All people are enlightened, they just don't know about it

The true "I" is always in awareness. All living beings experience the True Self as the awareness of "I Am". When the sense of self is misidentified with the body or mind, it becomes selfishness. Delusions of the mind cloud the True Self. It is like the clouds blocking the radiance of the sun. In the same way, the mind blocks the radiance of the True Self. The mind is unable to know the True Self, the mind is also unable to experience the supreme bliss of the True Self. One who has gained self-realization can be conscious under any circumstances of life.

(Sathya Sai Baba – "Summer Showers in Brindavan", 1990)

"I" is the original true name of God. God is the True "I" of every person and in general of every living being. "I" and God are eternally one, which is why it is written in the Vedas that everyone can realize that “I AM God.” The Gospel says: "I and my Heavenly Father are one." These aphorisms speak of the inner reality not only of the prophets and teachers, but of the essence of the soul of every person. This is the essence of Gnostics, that is, mystical Christianity.

By carefully studying the gospel message, we see that Jesus taught three basic doctrines. First, the realization of one's divinity. Second, direct communication between man and God. Third, love and compassion for one's neighbor. Jesus pointed out that God and the Kingdom of Heaven are the inner reality of every person.

The message of Krishna, Jesus and Sathya Sai Baba are identical and point to the inner divinity of each person, to the direct communication of man and God, and to the importance of serving people. At a higher level of spiritual practice, one discovers the truth that "I and My Heavenly Father are one." At this level, the communication between man and God becomes the communication between the Absolute "I" and the individual "I", which takes place in the depths of the Spiritual Heart.

The true "I" is originally enlightened and perfect; it does not need enlightenment, because enlightenment is its nature. As a person feels himself as a separate being, he strives for enlightenment as the final liberation from suffering. Realizing the true nature of his soul, a person opens the great treasure that is hidden in the Spiritual Heart.

For many years, the Buddha aspired to enlightenment, and having received this state, he was surprised to say that it turned out he had always been enlightened. However, the Buddha and many Masters, having gained enlightenment, utter wonderful words that all enlightened people simply do not know about it.

"I Am" is the door to higher reality. The beginning of the spiritual path lies in the awareness of one's existence, i.e., "I Am". At first glance, this sounds too elementary and obvious, but most people are not aware of their existence – most live their entire lives in unconsciousness. Self-existence is a well-known sensation for every person; it is so familiar that it often goes unnoticed. The feeling of "I Am" is the door to the highest reality and it is from this knowledge that the true spiritual path begins.

You are what you think you are. You are inherently free, so no one can give or take away your freedom. Remember that the information you are given may be true for some, but it is not necessarily true for all. You have the right to accept or reject any point of view, regardless of the authority of the person who tells you something. You are what you think you are so, be aware of your freedom.

The divine man is free and of good morals. Freedom alone is not enough. Freedom in ignorant hands can cause grief and suffering. The freedom of the wise is based on good. You are free because you always have the freedom to choose, even if you may not always understand it. The freedom of choice in the life of a wise man is based on love. The freedom of the unreasonable is based on selfishness.

The Buddha told his disciples they could only accept his teaching if they agreed with it after thinking deeply about the essence of the teaching. This was a manifestation of true freedom. Sathya Sai Baba also never demanded thoughtless submission. He left people with the right to free choice and the right to learn from their mistakes.

6. Sathya Sai Baba was unpredictable

I will now tell a very famous story in this chapter, which I heard from several senior devotees who were close to Sathya Sai Baba for many years. In 1961, a traditional Vedic ceremony was planned to be held at the ashram. For this, several experienced Hindu Brahmin priests were invited. Vedic ceremonies are performed according to strict regulations. According to the astrological calculations made by the clergy, the ceremony had to start at 7.30am. This was immediately reported to Sathya Sai Baba. After listening to all the details of the calculations, Sathya Sai Baba said that it was not favorable to start the ritual at this time and that the correct time would be 9.30am. Moreover, he proclaimed that the ritual could only be started at the time specified by him.

The priests were very experienced astrologers and insisted on the accuracy of their calculations. Sathya Sai Baba did not respond to their objections, so it seemed to the priests they were able to convince him of the correctness of their opinion.

When the appointed day arrived, the clergy got up early in the morning, took a bath and prepared to leave the house to calmly reach the temple to prepare and start the ceremony at exactly 7.30am, as planned. It had heavily rained all night and in the early morning it continued to pour without a hint of the bad weather ending.

The priests dressed as they should in special vestments, but looking at the raging weather, did not know what to do as it was impossible to leave the house because of the storm. Missing the scheduled start of the ritual would be a big mistake and would be considered an unfavorable sign, and so everyone present began to worry.

The downpour was so heavy that the Chitravathi River overflowed its banks in the morning, and since the priests lived on the other side of the river, they simply could not come to the ashram on time. The only thing that could be done was to stand at the exit of the house and just wait. After some time, the rain suddenly stopped abruptly, and they were able to get to the ashram and begin the ritual.

The atmosphere was tense since the start was later than scheduled, and some began to doubt whether it was necessary to start worship at all. When the ceremony finally began, it was exactly 9.30am, as Sathya Sai Baba had predicted. Realizing that everything happened strictly in accordance with the predictions of Sathya Sai Baba, everyone sang praises to God in joy.

After some time, Sathya Sai Baba decided to hold another big Vedic ceremony, and for this he again invited the same priests to the ashram. As soon as all the priests arrived, he gathered them in his room and told them to draw up an exact list of ritual accessories needed for worship a few days before the start of the program.

It may seem strange to you why so much attention was paid to all the details. The fact is that since ancient times in the Vedic tradition all the details of the rituals are considered very important: when to start the ritual, who should conduct it, what mantras should be pronounced, how to properly install the statues of deities, and much more.

In accordance with Sathya Sai Baba's instructions, the clergy compiled a detailed list that included a huge number of various items, such as special incense and flowers, ghee and special rice, bells and offering plates, special cloths for deities, small spoons for holy water, and many other things. He was given the list and ordered the administrators of the ashram to buy everything they needed in strict accordance with the items listed.

Just five minutes before the start of the ceremony, the chief clergyman realized with horror he had forgotten to include the ritual silver jar, Kalasha. Nervously, he approached Sathya Sai Baba, who had already left his room and was on his way to the ceremony site and explained the situation in a trembling voice. Sathya Sai Baba smiled, shook his head knowingly, and instantly materialized an ancient ritual silver jug.

It was clear to all those present that this was a special jar. On its walls there were several images with images of the Deities. The jug looked like an old relic as if it was not an ordinary item but had come from another time in history. Some people present plucked up the courage and asked Sathya Sai Baba to tell the story of the unique jug. He said it was the same jug he used in his previous incarnation to perform solemn ceremonies.

In his past life, Sathya Sai Baba was called Shirdi Sai Baba because he lived in the city of Shirdi, in the western part of India. In each incarnation we call him Sai Baba, but the first name always changes. As I have already mentioned, in the previous incarnation he was called Shirdi Sai Baba because he lived in the city of Shirdi. In his last incarnation he was called Sathya Sai Baba: the name, Sathya means "truth". In the next incarnation, in accordance with his predictions, he will incarnate in southern India and his name will be Prema Sai Baba. Prema means "divine love" in Sanskrit.

So, Sathya Sai Baba materialized a jug, which he also used in his previous life to perform Vedic ceremonies. Surprisingly and incomprehensibly, he could not only overcome space, but also time. By materializing a jug from his previous life, he revealed that he experienced being outside of time and space.

All the miracles of Sathya Sai Baba had a deep spiritual meaning, they shocked and transformed everyone present, as well as everyone who later learned about these miracles. When reading stories about the life of Sathya Sai Baba, try to imagine all the events described as clearly as possible. Imagine that you, too, are present in the events unfolding so that you feel and experience an even stronger energy and receive blessings.

All outer worship ultimately leads to the mystical experience of the Absolute Self. The true "Self" is beyond space and time. Each person is born into this world with a unique spiritual task. Everyone is the creator of their life and the author of their reality. In the highest sense, the goal of human life is self-knowledge of the eternal divine essence of one's soul and self-realization of one's God-given talents.

Spiritual evolution takes place not only in meditation and prayer, but in all life events. Any experience you have in life is part of your spiritual evolution. Everything you do can become a spiritual practice if it is done in the awareness of oneness.

Your physical body, family, financial situation, success, like everything else, is the result of your own thoughts. If you are not satisfied with the circumstances in which you live your life, you need to start with the transformation of your thoughts. A man is what he thinks.

The Vedas and the Bible say that every person is created in the image and likeness of God himself, which means that every person is initially perfect, brilliant, omnipotent, and a wise creator of his reality. But there is another point of view about the creation of man. If we perceive God as a higher power that is outside of man, then we can say that God created man and endowed him with certain qualities. However, if we understand God as the True "I", then it turns out that "I am God" created himself as "I am man." In Sanskrit, this is called "Sambhava", which means "created" itself.

In this chapter, we have recollected amazing stories about traditional Vedic ceremonies which were performed quite often in Sathya Sai Baba's ashram. Why was it necessary? The deep meaning of Vedic worship is to reveal the inner divinity of each person. All outer worship ultimately leads to the mystical experience of the Absolute Self.

7. Unity of duality

Where there is duality, there is a desire to acquire or a desire to avoid, a desire to possess or a fear of losing. When you gain wisdom, you experience a state of oneness where there is no duality, which means there is nothing to desire and nothing to avoid.

(Sathya Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 14)

Man lives in duality because the main property of the manifested world is duality. There's nothing wrong with that as it's just a property of the universe. Duality is manifested in male and female, day and night, sun and moon, north and south poles, right and left hemispheres of the brain. The Chinese Taoist tradition talks about the interaction and balance of Yin and Yang. Even in the process of breathing, duality is manifested – inhalation is replaced by exhalation.

The question is not how to run away from duality, but how to perceive duality. A person who sees the original unity in duality is freed from attachments and internal conflicts. Duality is not to be fought or avoided, it must be understood and accepted. There are no contradictions in duality because duality is the harmony of unity in diversity. Perhaps the most striking manifestation of the unity of duality is shown in the interaction of male and female principles in the universe.

A person who is in the Spirit of God naturally finds abundance and happiness. Only one who constantly divides and cannot accept the integrity of the universe tries to give up the so-called material to acquire the so-called spiritual. The Divine is in everything. Where and why do you want to run away? Maybe it's time to see God in everything?

Even if you practice visualization regularly and very well the result will not come, because it is necessary to also perform an action. Even the Avatar always acts.

The Avatar is also in the world of duality. He performs actions being in the awareness of the original unity. Sathya Sai Baba also aspired to implement his projects and successfully achieve his social goals. Spirituality is not about trying naively to avoid active social activity, but about doing action while realizing the unity and interconnectedness of all that exists.

The most subtle action that absolutely everyone performs is breathing. The process of breathing is deeply connected with the flow of thoughts and the circulation of vital energy. Some tried to tell Sathya Sai Baba that they were supposedly completely freed from any activity. His response was, “how can you be inactive if you are breathing? Breath is the original source of any action.”

8. Difficult mysteries of past lives

One day an Indian family came to the ashram: a husband, wife and two children. They were eager to have an audience with Sathya Sai Baba in order to consult with him on several serious issues. They asked an acquaintance, who worked in the administration of the ashram to intercede on their behalf and ask about a personal meeting with their Sai Baba.

In the earlier period of Sathya Sai Baba's life, when there were still not so many people around him, such situations were quite possible. Subsequently, he became so popular that it was impossible to arrange individual personal meetings. Each time, to invite or not to invite a person to a personal conversation was the exclusive choice of Sathya Sai Baba himself. However, in those days one could ask someone to arrange a personal meeting.

So, this Indian family turned to an acquaintance who worked in the administration of the ashram and asked him to help in organizing an audience. When the administrator turned to Sathya Sai Baba with the request, he immediately said that both children in this family were blind. This surprised everyone present, because Sathya Sai Baba was not familiar with this family before and none of those present knew the children were blind.

Several days passed, but Sathya Sai Baba did not extend invitation for this family to have a private conversation. A few days later, Sathya Sai Baba approached his assistants and told them that in her previous life the mother of the blind children had pierced the eyes of her adopted children in anger, and as a result of this, in this life her two children were blind. Hearing this revelation, everyone was surprised how much Sathya Sai Baba knew not only about the present life, but the past lives of people.

In most cases, people perceive situations superficially without understanding the underlying causes of certain events. When problems start, the question arises: if I did nothing wrong, why am I suffering? Most often, people perceive their life as limited within this incarnation. Thoughts and actions committed in the past literally build all the circumstances of life in the present. Everything that happens in this life is shaped by what a person has done in many previous births, but it is quite difficult to remember exactly or consciously to know the actions of your past lives.

Nowadays, more and more people receive various mystical experiences associated with visions of their past incarnations. The big question is how accurate these mystical visions and sensations are. Quite a lot of people enthusiastically say that they were Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and great Lamas in Tibet in past lives.

Quite often, past life visions are based on inflated egos. People want to be special and great, so ideas arise that it was you who was Alexander the Great or Cleopatra in a past life. However, the reality of your past lives may be completely different and what the ego may whisper is likely to be very far from the realities of your past lives.

Sathya Sai Baba accurately saw the thoughts, states, energy, and karma of a person, so he built his communication with everyone based on what he knew about the depths of the inner world of a person. Sathya Sai Baba understood the inner world of the audience member so deeply that the person himself could not know about himself and not even guess some of the hidden labyrinths of his own subconscious.

It might seem that Sathya Sai Baba is too kind and gracious in his dealings with some, and yet very harsh with another, but there was a deep reason for everything. Such situations constantly happened around Sathya Sai Baba. He could easily heal one person and ignore the problems of another. Each of his actions had its own mysterious and deep meaning. Of course, some, not trying to reflect on the deep meaning of his actions, might resent Sathya Sai Baba, accusing him of being merciful to some and supposedly hard-hearted to others.

There are many things you can ask someone else to do for you. Someone can fix your computer or car, and there’s no need to do it yourself. You can ask someone to collect useful information for you, so you don't have to do it personally. But there are other things, essential things, you need to do only on your own, for example: change your attitude toward yourself, realize your purpose in life, be aware of your dreams, practice meditation, mantras, and prayers.

Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Sai Baba cannot meditate for you and realize your destiny in life; you must do all this on your own. All actions of Avatars such as Krishna, Buddha, Christ, and Sai Baba take place in the world of duality, but those actions take place in the spirit of non-attachment. The action of the Avatar is based on wisdom and perfect knowledge of the situation. In past lives, you have accumulated karma, which determines everything that happens to you now. Karma is an information flow that exists completely objectively, regardless of whether you accept it or not. It is quite obvious that Sathya Sai Baba lightens the karma of people, but part of the karma still needs to be worked out on your own.

Karma is accumulated by the individual soul over a large number of past lives. Karma exists only for the individual soul. Not only every action, but every thought creates a new karma, and it can seem impossible and unattainable to free oneself. Figuratively speaking, having worked off the old karma this afternoon, in the evening you accumulate a new one. What to do? Where is the exit from the cycle?

Being aware of yourself as the True Self places you outside the accumulation and cycle of karma, as if you are freed from cause and effect. One who performs an unconditional action, as in they feel no selfish attachment to the outcome, turns that action into a meditation and is protected from the accumulation of karma because the intention is selfless. One who is in the flow of the True Self performs actions in love and compassion for all people, feeling the presence of divinity in themselves and everyone else.

9. Your Cosmos is your happy dream

If you realize the truth that you are not the body and mind, but are the True Self, you will be able to free yourself from ignorance. You will realize the truth that your "I" is one with God, you will be able to realize the truth that "I AM God." After you realize this, you will understand that everything in this universe is sacred.

(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)

Yes, truly everything in this world is sacred. The manifested world is a manifestation of divine energy. Divine energy is pure in nature, which means that everything in this world is initially pure, and only the distortion of perception can create the illusion that this world is polluted.

God is the Creator; man, created in the image and likeness of God, is also the Creator. In creativity, a person reveals his divine potentials and talents. You are actively creative in a universe of diversity. Your thoughts are wise, your words are true, and your deeds are perfect.

There is a great delusion that the allegedly manifested universe is a world of continuous suffering. Is it so? The cosmos is the manifestation of divine energy. This world is suffering to the extent that you perceive it as such. What if we perceive this world as a space of creativity and spiritual evolution, in which the True "I" is a contemplative observer of everything that happens in the universe, but also an active creator of everything that exists.

Each person is the Creator of his own cosmos. Your cosmos is the result of your "emotionally charged thought forms." The cosmos is a happy dream in which only you are the true author. Your cosmos is the space of truth, love, wisdom, happiness, joy, health, abundance, creativity, and fulfillment.

If sometimes it may seem to you that life is terrible and darkness has covered everything, know that darkness does not have self-existence, for darkness is not manifested Light. If at this stage of your life you are surrounded by evil and gloomy people, then know that anger does not have self-existence, for anger is not manifested Love.

If you feel the stupidity and absurdity of human life and cannot understand the meaning of your being, know that ignorance has no self-existence, for ignorance is Wisdom not manifested. You are the Creator of everything that happens to you.

10. "The work you do is the work of God"

Do not distance yourself from active social activities, for the work that you do is the work of God. If you do your work in a spirit of unity, that pleases God.

(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)

Sathya Sai Baba is the clearest example of an ideal life. It is quite obvious to me that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine Avatar who embodies the fullness of divine love and wisdom. He was born as a human and lived a wonderful human life. His life is the greatest example for each of us.

An Avatar born in the human world is always active in social activities. It may seem to us that society is a terrible and absurd space, but we see what we are ready to see. The manifested world is originally perfect, and everything happens in perfect accordance with the Divine plan.

Active work in human society is largely based on the correct alignment of one's relationship with money. If you use finances correctly, you will embody all your good ideas in the social space of human society. Money is a divine energy that God uses to develop and improve human culture.

In the Vedic tradition, the energy of money is personified by the Goddess Laxmi. Can the beautiful Goddess Laxmi be bad or sinful? Speaking in scientific terms, money is the universal equivalent of exchange. Goods and services are exchanged in human society, usually, for money.

Money is just a function in the exchange of goods and services, it cannot be sinful or righteous. With the help of money, scientific research is financed, universities are built, industry and agriculture develop, books are published, and films are made, medicine develops, new technologies are created, and much more. Think about how many good deeds are done with the help of money and with the help of the energy of the Goddess Laxmi.

Sathya Sai Baba was never engaged in business or commercial activities; he helped people, and therefore, in gratitude, many wealthy families considered it an honor to donate huge sums of money to him because they knew that he would correctly use those financial resources for the benefit of people. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that money is the cause of all evil, but in fact money is a form of divine energy.

There is a common misconception that active participation in social life interferes with spiritual practices; in particular, meditation. There is no sin in money. The cause of all problems is the selfish use of money, greed, lust for power, self-interest, and attachment to material objects. Ignorance gives rise to problems and suffering, whereas the realization of the True Self gives wisdom.

Sathya Sai Baba never married, but all his life he paid great attention to his family. He was very respectful toward his parents. When his father and mother passed away, he gave instructions to build a large tomb for them, around which there is a magnificent park. Sathya Sai Baba treated his brother and numerous relatives with care and respect. All of this is an example of how a perfect person should live and act.

The Avatar, performing His great divine mission on earth, was very active in society; for society itself is also part of divine creation. Sathya Sai Baba built a magnificent ashram where millions of people come from all over the world to study meditation and philosophy. He founded several universities, where he gathered the best teachers. Unique specialists were gathered and special programs for teaching various disciplines were developed.

In his village, He built two large modern hospitals and equipped them according to all modern standards. He founded charitable projects, including financing a drinking water supply system for a great number of villages in southern India.

There were millions and millions of people around Sathya Sai Baba who were spiritually transformed by his blessings. Numerous people from different countries were able to embark on the path of self-improvement and meditation. Of course, there were exceptions; sometimes he could bless people for the life of monasticism and the solitary practice of hermitage. However, he mainly preached on the active creative position of a person in society as being an important element of the spiritual path.

11. Spiritual Heart – the greatest secret of the universe

The wide heart realizes the Truth that the Divine is in everything. Realizing this, you will be able to experience the unchanging, eternal and ultimate reality.

(Sati Baba – "Collection of lectures", 1991)

One of the greatest discoveries of Vedic mysticism is the knowledge of the Spiritual Heart, which is located on the right side of the body. In Sanskrit, the Spiritual Heart is called Hrideyam. The Higher "I" is outside of time and space, and it manifests itself in

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