Spirituality and the human
Daily narrative of visit to Sai Baba ashram 2012
In the morning, I pass a lot of coconut sellers. And garland sellers on the roadside. Many people were going in with coconuts; a crowd in front of the Ganesh temple. Look inside the temple, yes, there is Vighneshwara with his three broad lines across the forehead. Turn and look at the shrine for the Nagas and the Navagrahas, the planets. It’s a huge tree rising from that shrine.
Love permeates. I wanted to say “Love permeates every corner of this universe” but there are no corners in this universe. “Corners” in the universe are simply my imagination and application of limits to what I can perceive and not perceive. I know there are parallel universes, multiple universes, multiple times, multiple time-lines and no-time. Love is. Love is in all that we can perceive, and in all that we cannot know or perceive in this our limited individuality.
Consolations? I am borrowing from the Old Testament Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. (Hebrew Bible, I hear you ask? The book itself is composite and the larger part of it (in fact, nearly all of it) comes from the Hebrews, the forerunners of modern day Judaism. It is proper and correct to call it the Hebrew Bible. It never was the Christian Bible, and biblical scholars along with Wikipedia are now getting us all to refer to the book by its proper name. I have to say, I concur. ) Here, we look to Consolations in two remarkably different sacred sources.
It behooves all who come to take care of the belly or delhi belly will ensue. During a short bout of “delhi belly” we are taken via the gamut of Sai’s teachings on what it means to be a devotee, and what it means to love, and to be taken up into the Ocean of Love, the Ocean of Sai. Coconut water and Curd rice are the recommended dietary course during a bout of “delhi belly”.
The energy we create around ourselves is most important, for it makes the world we live in. Yad bhavati, tad bhavatum, as Swami often told in his discourses – as the feeling, so the result. We also apply this to the principle of timelines and how everyone will get into the Golden Age as per the teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
Art and the artist. Can art open a window to the divine for us? Does not great music lift us up to the celestial heights? Can art and the work of artisans – forever seeking the flame of the spirit within – lead us to seek that selfsame flame within? We engage in conversation with sacred art and new works of art.
In Puttaparthi, few if any speak of Sai Baba and 2012. On the internet, it is a different story. There are those who publish an alleged interview, claiming Sai Baba told, this, that and the other about the vibratory state of the planet.
A warm wind raises the dust in Main Road as I walk towards the ashram in the early morn. Methinks a warm day is coming.
Each and every day is ordinary; Prashanti Nilayam is here, everything is offered for your spiritual progess, and Swami has left his form; but everyone in Prashanti and Puttaparthi township says, “Nothing has changed, Swami is still here!”
It is the time of the Holi festival, and Sai Kulwant Hall is gaily decorated, with reflective strips, blue, red, green, silver and gold hanging down from the roof. The Sathya Sai Organisation of Bihar and Jharkand are pleased to offer a Holi Celebration of Divine Love in Prashanthi Nilayam. One of the banners reads Khelo Holi with Sai Sannaaidi.
We come here for our transformation; this is the workshop. The car comes in, the engine gets checked, the repairs are made, the oil is topped up, the new parts are fitted to the car, we are sent back out. Everything here is offered for our spiritual progress – I was reminded of this early this morning. I walked outside in the early morning dark to see people sitting on chairs outside in the cool of the morning, and devotees were walking past at 4AM to go inside for prayers, OMKAR, Nagasankirtan, like this. The Omkar bell goes every morning, I have heard it often, this trip.
After spending a rather fruitless day trying to repair the corrupted registry on my laptop, I gave up and said, “I surrender to you Swami” and got ready for evening bhajans and darshan. “Good. Go! Take darshan, and I will tell you what to do…” said the inner voice. So I went.
It is interesting, the moment you walk into the ashram, you can feel the sheer frustration slipping away from your shoulders.
During bhajans on Sunday morning a sense of continuity was garnered whilst singing bhajans … during Rama Hare Sai Krishna Hare I felt continuity between then (yesteryear) singing bhajans in the darshan hall, and now – singing bhajans in the darshan hall – as if nothing had really changed and this bliss began to emerge from within and well up to the point where I just about couldn’t sing. The same feeling came during singing of Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara. The primary school children and the women were really leading the singing, their voices rose over the top of all others … even when the power went off, it was the children and the ladies you could hear singing. The men went, well, kinda soft voiced … but the loss of power didn’t stop the young ones, they just went on louder and stronger.
As I was walking down the side of the darshan hall (Sai Kulwant Hall), I couldn’t help but notice everybody outside the darshan hall were joining in the bhajans; seva dal, devotees lined up against the rope, devotees standing in front of East Prashanti (some things never change) … and they were all happy, a joy emanating from their faces as they join in, sing along.
It is quiet in Puttaparthi, and in Prashanti Nilayam ashram. I am surprised, the former floating population, the hustle and bustle, the sense of heightened activity … is gone. A feeling of peace embraces everything here. Peace and inner purpose.
