Avatar Declaration Day - Divine Reflections
5000 Years Old Promise fulfilled
In Bhagavad-Gita, the Avatar of the Dwapara Age, Lord Sri Krishna, declares:
"Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanirbhavathi Bharatha ,
Abhyukthanam adharmasya Thadathmanam Srujamyaham.”
“Parithranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya cha Dhushkrutham
Dharma samsthapanarthaya Sambhavami Yuge Yuge"
“Whenever there is a decline of Righteousness and rise of evil,
the Lord incarnates from time to time to uphold Righteousness,
to protect the Virtuous and to uproot the evil”
There are certain eras in human history when we directly see significant and transformative occurrences of a divine nature. The most remarkable occurrence in recenttimes is the arrival of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The promise made over 5000 years ago at the start of the Kali Age was finally realised on 23 November 1926, with the birth of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Avatar of the Age, in Puttaparthi, Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh, India.
The name "Avatar" comes from the Sanskrit word "Avataranam," which literally translates as "Descent." In other words, God, who is formless, assumes a physical form and comes to Earth as a manifestation of the limitless love and compassion that he feels for humankind. The Avatar is a mix of the Individual Consciousness with the Divine Consciousness, and it is both mysterious and joyful. He acts in a normal manner so that people may have a connection to him, but he also climbs to his superhuman heights so that others might want to attain such heights themselves.
Avatars are manifestations of the One Supreme Lord, even though they may take on a variety of guises and emerge at a variety of periods, locations, and under a variety of situations.
So why does God become human? For humanity to reach God-consciousness, God Himself must take human form. God must communicate with man in the form and language he understands best. He must instruct humanity on the techniques it may use. Animals have no desire to depart from their Dharma, hence they have no need for a Divine incarnation to lead them. Man alone has lost sight of the purpose of living.
Sri Sathya Sai Avatar walked on Earth with no destructive weapon in HIS possession, like the Kodanda (Bow) of Rama or the Sudarshana Chakra (Discus) of Sri Krishna. He relied on Education than Elimination; Instruction than Destruction. The good were encouraged to become better, the better to enter the region of the best and the blessed. The bad were encouraged to shed the coil of cowardice, which kept them in fear
Avatar Declaration
On the morning of 20 October 1940, at the age of 14, Sathya (Sri Sathya Sai Baba) declared to his parents that he had come to this world with a mission to re-establish the principle of Righteousness, to motivate Love for God and Service to Fellow Man. Since then, he had consistently called on all mankind to “Love All, Serve All” and asserted that the essence of all scriptures is “Help Ever, Hurt Never”
After his Avtaric Declaration Sathya went straight to the garden of Anjaneluyu,. As HE sat on a rock amid trees, word quickly spread gathering a crowd of both mystics and sceptics. The garden soon resonated to the voices of hundreds singing the first song that Sri Sathya Sai Baba sang:
Manasa Bhaja Rey Guru Charanam
Dustara Bhava Sagara Taranam
Guru Maharaj Guru Jai Jai
Sai Natha Sad Guru Jai Jai
Om Namah Shivaya Om Nama Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya Shivaya Namah Om
Arunachala Shiva Arunachala Shiva
Arunachala Shiva Aruna Shiva Om
Omkaram Bhava Omkaram Bhava
Omkaram Bhava Om Namo Baba"
Meaning: "O Mind, without worshiping the Lotus Feet of Guru Sai Natha it is not possible to cross the ocean of life and death. Victory to the Noble Teacher, Lord Sai Natha. Chant "Om Namah Shivaya". Chant the name of Lord Shiva, Who resides in Arunachala (a sacred mountain in Southern India associated with Lord Shiva). Chant the name of Lord Baba, Whose form is Om.(Meditate on the Feet of the Guru in thy mind, which will take you across the turbulent sea of Samsara / worldly existence)"
Purpose of HIS Advent
HIS mission was further amplified in a letter He wrote to His brother Sheshama Raju on 25th May 1947. Here are the the extract of the letter in bullet points:
I have a task” to foster all mankind and ensure for all of them lives full of bliss.
I have a vow: To lead all who stray away from the straight path, again into goodness and save them.
I am attached to a work that I love: to remove the sufferings of the poor and grant them what they lack.
I have a reason to be proud for: I rescue all who worship and adore me, aright.
I have my definition of the devotion: I expect those devoted to me have to treat joy and grief, gain and loss, with equal fortitude. This means that I will never give up those who attach themselves to me."
Revealing the purpose of His Advent, he said that He had come to re-establish the rhythm of righteousness in the world and repair the ancient highway to God, which over the years had systematically deteriorated. In His own words: “This Sai has come in order to achieve the supreme task of uniting the entire mankind as one family through the bond of brotherhood, of affirming and illuminating the Atmic Reality (Atma – The Divine Self) of each being, to reveal the Divine which is the basis on which the entire cosmos rests, and of instructing all to recognise the common Divine Heritage that binds man to man, so that man can rid himself of the animal and rise up to the Divine, which is the goal.”
Essence of HIS Teachings
"Love All, Serve All" and "Help Ever, Hurt Never" are the two axioms that best summarize His Life and His Teachings. When asked, “Are you God?” He replied, “I am God. And you too are God. The only difference between you and Me is that while I am aware of it, you are completely unaware.” It was declared by HIM that we are all manifestations of God, that we are God, and that the primary objective of our life as humans is to realise that we are God, to feel that we are Divinity, and to attain "enlightenment." He emphasised that "there is no escaping it; all creatures have to reach God some day or other, by the long route or by the short route.” Indeed, in His discourses to devotees, He addressed them as “Embodiments of the Divine Atma”.
His speeches and writings have offered an absolute ocean of knowledge and guidance on all aspects of Spiritual, Religious and Value-Oriented living. He had often repeated that it was not necessary to drink the whole ocean to know its taste, that it was not necessary to read all scriptures to live a life of joy, peace, and love. It is enough to put into practice one aspect of spiritual teaching. He had presented the profound knowledge enshrined in the scriptures of the world in simple and easily comprehensible terms that could be grasped and practiced by anyone irrespective of age, gender, faith and nationality.
He encouraged unifying all of humanity by propagating the Unity of Faiths, saying, “Each religion is a different road to the same goal, viz. Self Realisation”. He further added, “I have come, not to disturb or destroy any faith, But to confirm each one in his own faith. So that, a Christian becomes a better Christian, a Muslim a better Muslim and a Hindu a better Hindu”
He insisted upon spirituality over religion. He had united the faiths through the replacement of:
· Religion by Spirituality
· Rituals by Service
· Scriptures by Educare & Education in Human Values
He had replaced individual based attributes of God to wider qualities:
· One God (that is Omnipresent, Omniscience and Omnipotent)
· One Religion (that of Selfless Love and Selfless Service)
· One Language (that of Heart)
· One Caste (that of Humanity)
He has emphasized to Cultivate and promote the Five eternal Human Values, viz., Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Right Conduct), Shanti (Peace), Prema (Love) and Ahimsa (Non Violence). Have Love for God, Fear Sin and maintain morality in society,
Remembering HIM
What a wonderful time in human history the last 85 years (1926-2011) have been for those who witnessed this
era and lived through them. In fact, the eighty five long years, appears to be so short a time to enjoy the nectarous Divine Presence in physical frame.
Throughout the entirety of HIS physical presence, Sri Sathya Sai had tirelessly worked twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to fulfil His ‘Divya Sankalpa’ (Divine Will), which consisted of changing evils into virtues, destructive attitudes into constructive actions, negativity into positivity, diversity into unity, competition into cooperation, hatred into love, false-hood into truth, non-violence into peace, work into worship and wisdom, pollution into purity. Every second of every day, all across the world, millions of people have been directed, guarded, cured, educated, fed, clothed, rehabilitated, rehabilitated, rehabilitated, rehabilitated, rehabilitated, changed, and rehabilitated.
Never before has an Avatar gone out into the world and counselled, guided, comforted, uplifted, and steered so many people towards the path of Sathya (Truth), Dharma (Righteousness), Shanti (Peace), Prema (Love), and Ahimsa (Nonviolence). True to His declaration “My Life is My Message”, HE said,
“Sathya is My Message,
Dharma is My Practice,
Shanti is My Nature,
Prema is My Form. Follow these
and
You are Mine, I am Yours”
Curtain Draws
On Sunday, 24 April 2011, when nobody ever imagined could have ever happened but actually it did. Our dear Divine Master decided that He had given His Teachings and must now withdraw to His eternal, formless and omnipresent aspect. The Eternal dissolved into Eternity, leaving his devotees to come of age, to behave responsibly with human and spiritual values and practice ‘Love in Action’ as HE did. Playing a role in Swami's global Mission, this calls for a proper attitude and frame besides spreading His Teachings. The foremost test for the devotees commenced without warning or even enough time to recover from the traumatic experience that all had to undergo. It seemed as if Swami was assuring his devotees, “You can easily handle this test if you are completely absorbed in My Teachings and are determined to follow it with Ananya Bhakti (unshakable faith) with sharp Buddhi (Intellect) to discriminate between what would please Swami and what would not, who is omnipresence, omnipotent and omniscience and resides within every being”.
Our Gratitude
The devotees, who had sipped Divine nectar of His Love, must sincerely and deeply get immersed in HIS work, and use their spare time for re-living those golden memories which so rapidly dissolved into history. The onus is on us now to have unshakable faith in HIS teachings, have courage and determination to follow His footsteps by listening to the ‘Inner Voice’ and acting on it at all times.
O My adored Sai Maa, Mother Divine! How deeply grateful we are to you! Our heads bow deeply in reverence before Thy Divine Lotus Feet!
Ravinder Grover
National Media Coordinator (SONZ)