According
to our scriptures, Avatars have appeared on earth at various times in the
history of mankind. The formless Divine takes on a beautiful form on earth in
order to protect the pious, the holy and the noble.
They come to rescue the suppressed and the oppressed, to reform and
transform wicked and sinful persons. Above
all they come to restore righteousness and peace on earth.
They
each come with their own specific purpose, powers, precepts and philosophies. If
we enquire deeply we will find that every Avatar has incarnated to convey a
special message and carry out a particular mission.
The expression Avatar is derived from the words ‘Ava Thru
Karane’. ‘Ava’ means Descent. ‘Thru’ is to help us cross the ocean of
Samsaara. ‘Karane’ means to do, to help us cross the ocean of delusion and
illusion of the world. Therefore, the purpose of the Avatar is to set man on the
path of liberation.
The
Avatar is never conceived but He takes birth in a body which then gradually
grows to full size in the ordinary way. No Avatar,
including this Sai Avatar, is
born in flesh and blood. The embryo of ordinary mortals like us is enveloped in
a watery stuff; the embryo of the Avatar
is encased in the pure white milk of holiness. That is why in the make-up of the
Avatar there is no blemish,
there is no trace of Guna.
The
Avatar takes only the body as described above.
Men come into bodies with tendencies and the results of past birth
actions, in other words our births are determined by our karmas. Avatars take
this body without any tendencies, completely free, no desires, no attachments,
always happy. Avatars are born through what we term as “Immaculate
Conception”.
A
pundit once asked our beloved Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba whether His was an
Immaculate Conception or a normal birth like any other human birth. Swami then
turned to his mother, who was also present, and asked her to comment. Easwaramma
explained that she had been told by her mother-in-law not to be frightened if
something happened to her through the will of God. Swami’s mother was then
quoted as saying, “That morning I was at the well drawing water, a big ball
of blue light came rolling towards me and I fainted and fell. I felt it glided
into me.”
Swami
turned to Rama Sarma, the pundit, with a smile and said: “There you have
the answer! I was not begotten. It was Pravesa, spiritual birth entrance, not
Prasava, biological conception.”
When they come Avatars take on different forms to fulfil a
specific task and to convey a specific message. For instance, the Dasavatar of
Lord Vishnu included the Lord incarnating as Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortise),
Varaha (boar), Narshima (half man/lion), Vamana (dwarf), and human forms.
The supreme Absolute has no form, for the sake of humanity
the formless GOD assumes a form. When the formless takes on a form He does not
compromise on His glory, greatness, majesty and power in any way. Only the form
is human, the Godly powers and attributes that He possesses will always remain.
In other words, taking a human form and walking amongst us will not subject Him
to any human limitations; the human form does not prevent Him from exhibiting
His divine powers. He is not subject to any limitations, He is fully in control
of everything.
On 5th October 2002. Bhagawan Baba granted an
interview to a group of foreigners. He came out of the interview room gently,
slowly, majestically with a smiling face, adjusting his hair with one hand. He
walked towards professor Anil Kumar, looked straight into his eyes and said
“Did you notice those foreigners?” Anil Kumar said “No Swami”. “He
is the ambassador from Soviet Russia. He came along with two of his secretaries
and a stenographer. I spoke with them. I spent a long time. They were very much
surprised there in the interview. They asked, ‘Swami how do you know these
things. You’ve told us so many intimate things, so many things that are not
known to many people. How do you know? It’s also amazing that you speak our
Russian language! How do you know it?’” Bhagawan explained He said to
the ambassador, “These things are not learnt, these things are not taught.
I’m born with this.”
It is one of the Sai Pearls of Wisdom that the Avatar is
omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. These powers are not cultivated, they
are not learned, and they are not practised. He is born with them.
Having a human form will not limit the Avatar from exhibiting His divine
powers.
For the Avatar, the Lord selects the appropriate family and
place to be born. This is not surprising considering the fact that the Avatar is
in complete control of everything. Baba chose the Ratnakara Raju family to be
born into and chose Puttaparthi as His birthplace which is why the Chitravathi
river and the village Puttaparthi are held sacred, and we pay tribute these
whenever we make reference to them in the Namavali.
Swami
is referred to in the Namavali as being able to perform astonishing acts (“Adbutha
Chryaya Namaha”). The
miracles and wonders which cannot be explained by science are very natural to
Swami.
From the time Swami was born He has been performing
astonishing acts. His birth itself was a mystical experience. When
Easwaramma’s delivery approached, several wonderous inexplicable events begun
to occur in the family. The house contained several musical instruments. In the
middle of the night the tambura (a string instrument) started playing on its own
as if being played by a professional hand and the maddala (drum) beat
rhythmically as if keeping time with the tambura. These occurrences were
auspicious omens for they signified the presence of Shakti and they were the
work of the Divine.
Following the birth, miraculous events kept the Raju family
enthralled. Once as the new-born baby lay on a bed of piled up clothes, they
noticed it was being raised and lowered by something underneath. Stunned, they
watched anxiously. When at last they investigated, a cobra was found beneath the
clothes though it seemed to harbour no ill intent towards the new born infant.
At another time, the non-vegetarian meal prepared for the
relatives and friends in the Raju household miraculously turned into vegetarian
food.
Venkamma, Swami’s elder sister, would tell an audience
years later that she observed Swami disappear in a haze of light from his
mothers lap and then reappear.
Swami is also said to be the embodiments of all powers, He
is “Sarva Shakti Murtayae Namaha”. On a daily basis
Swami by His mere hand gesture performs (i) magnetic miracles of
universal loving attraction; and (ii) mighty materialisation miracles consisting
of articles of spiritual significance, amongst others.
There is no doubt that the wisdom, grace and power of Swami
are unprecedented. But what is the reason for the exhibition of His powers to
us? Why does He do that? The
manifestation of His powers to us are not for exhibition; it has a powerful
purpose. The astonishing acts and all the powers that Swami exhibits are all
glimpses of His divinity.
Swami exhibits these powers to attract us towards Him. If
not for these astonishing acts and display of His mind boggling powers, it will
not be possible for us to come to terms with His divinity and to accept Him as
God incarnate. It is only through these powers that we initially get attracted
to Him and come into contact with Him. We subsequently develop an affinity
towards Him, this affinity turns into faith and eventually we come under His
fold.
We have to constantly remind ourselves that this Avatar has
not come to showcase His majestic powers to us for He gets nothing out of doing
so. He has come for the sake of Dharma, to clarify it, to propagate it and to
establish it in every human heart! He
wants us to be part of this divine mission. Should that not be our goal?
The word Dharma is generally translated as righteousness or
right conduct. The full meaning is more elaborate than that. There is no good
translation for dharma in English. Swami says that Dharma is the law of life or
divine duty. It can also be called the divine nature of all things and beings of
the universe.
What is the dharma of the Sun? It is to give light and heat.
What is the dharma of Earth? It is to orbit around the Sun to create seasons for
us, and also to give us food on which to survive. All the things of the world
have a fixed dharma. For example, trees have their dharma, the Sun has its
dharma, and the flowers have their dharma, from the beginning to the end without
any change.
Only man, from the time he is born till the time that he
dies takes on more than one dharma. For example, he takes the dharma of a son or
daughter first, then the dharma of a student, dharma of a friend, dharma of a
wife or husband, dharma of a father or mother, dharma of a professional such as
a teacher, doctor, engineer, lawyer, or any other occupation.
The bottom line of spirituality and Swami’s mission is to
help us do our dharma to the level of excellence. It is His mission to make the
father the best father, the mother the best mother, the son or daughter the
best, the doctor the best doctor, the engineer the best engineer, the teacher
the best teacher (the dharma we assume at any given time in the journey of life)
Besides guiding us to discharge of our worldly duties well,
Swami reminds us of our spiritual goals. The spiritual goal is to recognise the
divinity in us and attain the state of oneness with God. Note that when Swami
addresses us He always addresses us as Divyatama Swaropalara, constantly
reminding us that we are divine Atmas and that is our true identity; that we
have come from Him and will have to ultimately go back to Him. Today we have
become too obsessed with the worldly wonders that we have forgotten our true
nature.
In order to facilitate the revival of Dharma and to remind
us of our spiritual goal Swami has given us a whole ocean of teachings from the
age of 14 . He is now 78. Since the revival of truth and morality is the very
purpose for which He has come, He is absorbed in correcting both the individual
and society. That is why in the Namavali we adore Him as “Sathya Dharma
Parayana”. Sathya means, truth, dharma means morality and parayana means
interested in or absorbed in.
When the Avatar has come to help us achieve our ultimate
goals in life, should we not make use of this unprecedented opportunity to
understand and put into practise His teachings?
Let us all raise ourselves beyond the level of Sai Form, Sai
Miracles and Sai Bhajans and rise up to the challenges of His teachings.
Every time when we recite “Avatar Moortaye Namaha”
(personification of God incarnate) let us all reflect for a moment on what this
Avatar has come for, stands for and how we can be part of His divine mission,
instead of simply praising Him as “Avatar Moortaye” in the Namavali.
