Love All Serve All
Amma Blesses
Love All - Serve All. No matter which path towards self realisation, salvation, enlightenment or transcendence one travels, there is one key that propels the journey forward. Amma has repeatedly explained that it is not enough to just do good deeds. In fact one must certainly do good deeds to both efface existing karmas and also do the same to build new and positive grace that accentuates the healing of one and all. Duty without love is deplorable. Duty with love is desirable. Love without duty is Divine.
It is this Love without duty that defines our divinity. Humanity has the option of serving all in a manner that is full of love. Service and Love unite through our hearts to bring forth the purpose of our incarnation.
Love,as has been reiterated by so many holy ones across different creeds over time, involves a deep, unending and abiding sacrifice. This sacrifice is a statement not of being a doormat for others to tread upon. Far from it. Rather it is a statement of one's ability to rise above the pull of the physical attraction and yoke oneself to the Truth of one's nature - as an embodiment of divinity. Jesus the Christ displayed this. Lord Siddhartha the Buddha likewise and so the list continues. Avatars take human form to reflect back to us our own essential divinity. In taking this form they imbibe their being with human weaknesses, so as to make it possible for humanity to approach them. If this were not the case, and avatars presented themselves in their full Divien Glory - no human being would be able to approach God in their physical incarnation.
To this end let us share some of the sacrifices made by Amma in this incarnation as Srimad Sai Rajarajeshwari. Such stories when taken deply into the heart accentuate the reverence one holds for Love and Service to all.
The Seeds Of Time
The Story Of Sage Bharadwaja
Hands in Expansion
One significant event in the lifetime of the present Avatar, Bhagavan Baba, illustrates the consequences of the Shiva/Shakti dance - the dance of Shiva and Parvathi on Kailash - and the fulfilment of prophecy. At 6:30 AM on Saturday, June 29, 1963, Sai Baba suffered from thrombosis (the result of which was blood clotting in the brain). The hundreds of devotees who had assembled in Prasanthi Nilayam were agonized on seeing the suffering of the Avatar. During the ensuing week, Sai Baba spent three days in a coma and survived four heart attacks. Disconsolate devotees could do nothing but shed tears in utter helplessness. After a full week had passed, and on Guru Poornima day, July 6th, Baba was very carefully carried in the arms of three close devotees, Sri Kasturi, Sri Raja Reddy, and Sri Krishnappa, from His upper floor apartment to the Bhajan Hall on the ground floor.
It was difficult to seat Baba where He normally sat, on the elevated dais, so His silver throne was brought down and placed on the ground near the dais and soft cushions were positioned to prevent any discomfort. Slowly, Baba was eased into the chair. His left hand was stiff; His left leg was incapacitated; His eyesight was clouded. Seeing their beloved Lord in what appeared to be a terrible state of suffering, the devotees began to wail loudly. Then Sai Baba whispered to Sri Kasturi, in barely intelligible words, “This illness is not Mine. Of My own volition, I have taken this illness on Myself. No disease can ever assail Me. Let nobody worry. I cannot bear if My devotees suffer.” Sri Kasturi used the microphone to announce Baba’s words to the gathering.
Sai Baba then gestured for water. When the tumbler was held to His lips, He was unable to hold it properly and the fingers of His right hand slipped into the water. With those fingers, He sprinkled a little of the water on His limp left hand and left leg and then He gently stroked His left hand with His right hand. A few moments later, He stroked His left leg with both of His hands. Upon realizing that Baba had thus cured Himself, the astonished assembly of devotees were exultant. They heard Him addressing them in the microphone, saying, “Prema Swaroopulara (Oh Embodiments of Love)!” He then began delivering His customary address on the auspicious day of Guru Poornima. Lord Sai spoke for an hour, regaling the audience with His characteristic eloquence, lucidity, and exquisite humour.
Narrating the details of this incident later, Sri Sathya Sai Baba told the devotees the reason for this suffering and explained how, through this incident, He had fulfilled His promise made as Shiva:
“Bharadwaja rishi once wished to perform a sacrifice, a Savitra Yagna, in order to receive the full knowledge of all the Vedas, as directed by Indra. He wanted Shakti to be present on that occasion, and hence he made his way to Kailash to pray to Her. At that time, Shiva and Parvathi were performing the dance, the Tandava Nritya. To the naked eye of Bharadwaja, only Shiva could be seen. He waited for one full week, hoping to see Parvathi. Still failing to see Her, he experienced deep disappointment. Shiva informed Parvathi of the desire of Sage Bharadwaja, and He also informed Her about the consequences of neglecting the sage. Parvathi smiled at Shiva and again immersed Herself into the eternal Bliss of Dance.
“Sage Bharadwaja, in apparent sadness, left Kailash to return home. Because, through his action, he had ignored Shakti – Parvathi, Sage Bharadwaja lost half of his eyesight and experienced paralysis of his hand and leg. Shiva, out of Divine mercy and compassion, showered sacred water on him, thereby restoring his physical form. Sage Bharadwaja returned to Kailash and received blessings and assurances from both Shiva and Parvathi. They made a promise to Bharadwaja that they would be born in his gotram (lineage) in three consecutive Avatars; the first of these being Shirdi Sai as the Shiva Avatar, the second being Sathya Sai as the Shiva-Shakti Avatar, and the third being Prema Sai as the Shakti Avatar.”
Sai Baba, in speaking of this incident, then declared: “I am Shiva-Shakti, born in the gotram of rishi Bharadwaja by virtue of the boon conferred on him by Lord Shiva and Goddess Shakti in the Tretha Yuga.”
Baba and Amma have fulfilled the promise of Shiva that He and His consort, Parvathi, would incarnate on the earth as Shiva/Shakti. To absolve the injury to the sage at the time of the dance, Shiva/Shakti thus took on the injury in this Kali Yuga incarnation. Hence, the Sai Avatarship allowed that Shakti (represented by the left side of the body) would suffer for eight days, at the end of which Lord Shiva (the right side of the body) would restore Her to health by sprinkling holy water.
The Nature Of Avataric Revelation
Karekura Shirdi Temple
The narrative above relates how Sai Baba explained the consequences of the events surrounding the visit of Sage Bharadwaja in the Tretha Yuga. There is, however, more to the story, and in telling it we are mindful of the fact that Baba, in not telling the entire story at the time of His paralysis in 1963, in no way contradicted His nature - Sathya, or Truth. Rather, by delaying the full explanation until this current time, Baba was acting in direct accord with His Avataric nature, which even though unfolding now before our very eyes will, at some time in the distant future, be revealed as an epic of its own. Such epics as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana are based upon the activities and incidents surrounding the interaction of gods and godly beings in the highest spiritual lokas. For humanity, bound as it is by time and under the influence of past, present, and future, it becomes extremely difficult to believe in the stories revealed in such epics. Avatars, being God incarnate, however, are beyond time in the same way that the epics are. An incident of a past era (Sathya, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali) acts as a seed form for some future era in which an incident (play of form) will come to pass. As such, many hidden, previously unknown Truths, not available in the original epics, are openly revealed in the Play of an Avatar. There are specific and unstated Divine reasons why certain Avatars do not reveal such Truths in the time of the living event, though they reveal them in Divine time through a subsequent Avatarship.
This can be observed in the following way. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Avatar of Lord Shiva, is the subsequent Avatar of Shirdi Sai Baba – a Truth which He announced at the very beginning of His Avatarship. In His own time, however, Shirdi Baba was less forthcoming with revelation as to His “future” Avatarship as Sathya. Specifically, and only to His close and steadfast devotees, He revealed that He would take samadhi for eight years before taking birth again. He mentioned nothing about the expansive miracles of His next Avatara of Sathya Sai. If Shirdi Baba had revealed these details ahead of His return as Sathya, this announcement would most certainly have created fervour amongst those awaiting His arrival. The “pending arrival” of the Messiah in Judaism and Christianity is a clear example of how, when misunderstood, such expectations can drive those ignorant of the higher Truth to kill one another. God keeps the future within His Divine embrace at all times. If man, who does so much damage with the freedom he has in use of “present” time, were to be given authority over past and future, the possibilities of unconscionable actions would be unthinkable. Hence, God keeps His embrace over the process of revelation of Truth so as to benefit the welfare of the world. When Sathya Sai did in fact announce that He is the subsequent Avatar of Shirdi Sai Baba, there were heavy disturbances among the people worshipping the name and form of Shirdi Sai. However, just because Truth is not amenable to some, this does not make it untruth, as many would so rapidly declare.
Such declarations always stir up the pot of human emotion and reveal the worldly nature and materialistic attachment to form of one group or another. Similarly, in 1997, when Amma announced Her Avatarship as Srimad Sai Rajarajeshwari, as per directions of Bhagavan Baba, the tide of opposition to this Truth was profound and very damaging to many, let alone hurtful to Amma. The result has been that the name and fame of Amma, like that of Baba, has been spread by opponents and detractors. Ignorance of Truth clouded the very actions of so many who portrayed themselves as deeply devoted to God. Yet, such devotion implies aspiration to Self realisation, not self aggrandisement nor self satisfaction with limited experiences. The point, however, does remain rock solid – Avatars do not say anything, especially revelation of Truth, except in the appropriate Divine time and situation and directly or through specific beings in whom They alone choose to presence Their Power for the moment required; an example of this being Sri Basavanna.
When an Avatar descends on earth, He/She proclaims first His/Her primary Truth. Later, as time unfolds, the Avatar then reveals, in stages, the other reasons why He/She took incarnation. There was a reason why Bhagavan Sai Baba did not reveal that He was the Avatar of Shiva before announcing that He was the Avatar of Shirdi. Time had to pass. Likewise, the announcement of Rajarajeshwari is also subject to Divine time. The following extract from Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s “Grand Declaration of Avatarhood,” given on March 4th, 1962 reveals His clear expectation of the manner in which His presence would be received by a humanity steeped in the excesses of the Kali Yuga. Clearly, only God can announce God, despite others’ desire to so do and to claim authority as such announcers. “Truth is revealed by Truth.” These words also provide fertile food for thought as to how Rajarajeshwari’s presence would be received. One can almost hear Amma Herself speaking these words of Sai Baba’s:
“There are some who come here and earn peace and joy, but after years of sharing and serving, they fall prey to waywardness and fall back into the old morass: declining to such an extent that they deny their very experience and play false to their own conscience. Not that I am conscious that they should worship Me or adhere to Me: far from it. I only ask that Truth must be proclaimed, regardless of the company you have fallen into: there must be courage of conviction, which will help you to overcome the temptation to deny cherished joys.
“There are some others who are swept off their feet by hysterical demonstrations by certain weak minded individuals, which are described as My speaking through them or acting through them. Take it from Me, I am not given to such absurdities I do not use others as My media: I have no need to. I do not swing from side to side, why even those who torture their bodies and suffer the pains of asceticism for years, until ant-hills overwhelm them and they become stiff as tree stumps, find it difficult to realise the Lord. How then can these idlers who eat their fill and wander about as slaves of their senses earn that status so cheap? Their gestures, words and actions are hollow and vain; those who burn incense before them and revere them are turning away from Me and running after falsehood.
“For, how can the full ever dally with paltry and wear the habiliment of the trifling? WHEN GOD HAS COME ASSUMING HUMAN FORM TAKE IT FROM ME, IT WILL NOT FILL INFERIOR VESSELS OR EMBELISH TAWDRY STUFF OR ENTER IMPURE BODIES. So, do not extol these falsities and ruin those unfortunates. Deal with them severely and they will be cured.
“Those who have seen the brilliance of the Diamond will not be misled by glass trinkets. The Lord is like the Diamond, call it by any Name, But as trinkets cannot be turned into a diamond, however loud the praise and however adamant the claim…
“ENDEAVOUR: That is the main thing, that is the inescapable task for all mortals. Even those who deny God today will one day have to tread the pilgrim road, melting their hearts out in tears of travail, if you make the slightest effort to progress along the path of liberation, the Lord will help you a hundred-fold. Shivaratri conveys that hope to you. The moon, which is the presiding deity of the mind of man, wanes, until on the fourteenth day after the full Moon, it is just a tiny curve of glimmering glow. The mind too must be starved into that condition, so that man may become free. Spend all the days with Shiva and the conquest of the mind is easy. Spend the fourteenth day of the waning moon with Shiva, reaching the climax of spiritual effort on that final day and success is yours. That is why all the chaturdasis (fourteen days) of the dark half of every month are called Shivaratri, that is why the chaturdasi (fourteen days) of the magha month is called Mahashivaratri. This is a day of special dedication to Shiva, the Lingam is emanating from Me for you all to receive the Grace and the Bliss of the Great moment of Lingodhbhava.”
The witness for God is God only. It is said that God opens the pages which are not opened, and that He only has hidden the pages that are not to be shown in the womb of time, for these hidden words are still the seeds of future events as yet unrevealed. These matters we can only know through our love and devotion to God. Such devotion opens the portals of the spiritual realm and reveals that what appears as an unbelievable story is, in fact, an imprinted epic event unfolding before our very eyes. Such Truth does not open before the eyes and hearts of intolerance, anger, and arrogance. When we seek to understand the revelation of the following story and the remaining testament which follows, we must keep in mind the points related above. All of these, however, are subsumed by the following point, for it forms the backbone to all revelations that follow: “Amma and Baba are One Principle and two forms. No Truth of Amma can ever be told without referring to and affecting Baba. Likewise, no Truth of Baba can ever be revealed without referring to and affecting Amma. That is the nature of Shiva/Shakti.” Given this understanding, we now return to the revelation that has now come forth, pertaining to the events of Sage Bharadwaja and Baba’s initial expression of Truth.
Hidden within this slowly (by human time) revealed saga has been Baba’s need to ensure the fulfilment of a curse issued by the sage – the revelation of which would have been inappropriate at an earlier time. To comprehend this in greater detail, we must now digress briefly to consider the nature and power of a curse. Highly evolved spiritual beings, knowing the power of sacred sound, are eternally aware of the power to create effects, beyond time and space, through the use of words which issue forth as creative principles. Curses were a common occurrence in earlier times, and, as such, they appear frequently in scriptural texts. What is not commonly understood is that these curses are real in expression and consequence. When a curse is issued, it must then either play out through the ages to the end of its life, or be lifted by the very one who issued it. It is true that God could lift a curse, but to do so He/She would impede the flow of Truth and, as a result, this does not happen. With this in mind, let us now return to our story and reveal details which Baba chose not to reveal in 1963.
Fifty Years Of Neglect For Lalitha
Temples of the Sons Ganesh & Subramanyam
During the event with Bharadwaja, both Shiva and Parvathi went to the sage and sprinkled water over him. At that time, Shiva promised that He would take birth three times in Bharadwaja’s constellation (gotram, or lineage); once as pure Shiva, once as Shiva/Shakti, and once as pure Shakti. The Sage Bharadwaja was, however, still angry with Parvathi. Having received the boon from the Lord, he looked at Parvathi and said, “Since You have made me wait for eight days, since You neglected me, You (Parvathi) and He (Lord Shiva) shall be born under separate roofs even though You are One.” He continued, informing Parvathi that She would also be neglected for a period of fifty years, at which point the curse would be lifted. Therefore, as if in exile, Srimad Sai Rajarajeshwari, the living Mother and presence of Parvathi in this Yuga, was obligated to wait until Her fiftieth year before She could announce who She truly is. Even though She has been well aware of Her true identity since Her sixteenth year of life, the curse had to be fulfilled and Her announcement was therefore delayed. Rajarajeshwari spent fifty years in exile – Her Truth (Adi Shakti) kept hidden. Although She could have announced at a very early age, under the express Will of Her Lord Shiva (Bhagavan Baba), She did not do so. The Naadi Granthas of Amma also reveal these details, further confirming the Divine Truth.
Planting The Seeds Of Events To Unfold
To understand this Divine Drama with greater clarity, we must consider the critical issues that propelled it into being. The entirety of the creative cycles of evolution and dissolution are a Divine Play; a leela set up by Shiva/Shakti to enable the expansion of Divine Love. Within this drama, specific “acts” or “Divine decrees” were orchestrated to bring forth the Divine Plan into new dimensions of unfoldment. Established as it was under the auspices of Lord Shiva and Parvathi, these acts and Divine decrees laid the stage for the presence, during the Kali Yuga, of the triple Avatara of Bhagavan Sai Baba and Srimad Sai Rajarajeshwari. Shirdi Sai was pure Shiva and Prema Sai is to be pure Shakti. Only Sathya Sai is Shiva/Shakti by announcement and nature. The Truth is that He is Shiva/Shakti, with Shakti in Principle only. His Shakti is located away from Himself - in Rajarajeshwari.
Furthermore, the entire created cosmos, which is the body and being of Shiva/Shakti, works through very specific expressions of law. The ultimate law is Truth, and any being who accidentally or purposefully breaks that rule must compensate in accord with its dictates. Such compensation also applies to Divine incarnations, even though They are very aware, before the event, of what They are. In so doing, the Avatars display dharma at the highest level, whereby They Themselves illustrate that every deed has a compensating corrective act which restores dharma – Right Action. This does not imply that the Avatar has to suffer for karma, but rather that the Avatar performs certain acts for the world to serve as examples. The story of Bharadwaja illustrates, firstly, the lesson of “respect”; the importance of respecting the good in everybody, no matter how evolved (in this instance, God) one is. Secondly, the story illustrates the role of “dosha.” Dosha implies that when an error is made it must be corrected. Such an error is not karmic, but rather corrective, and it serves as a lesson through which humanity may grow. Parvathi and Shiva established this precedent through Sage Bharadwaja and, as such, They laid the groundwork for Their return and eventual announcement which would occur at a time of great transition for this planet.
In accord with Divine Will, the incident of Sai Baba’s “illness” in 1963 fulfilled Shiva's promise for He, in the form of Bhagavan Baba, took on the sage’s affliction. Likewise, the period of exile of Amma from Baba and the delay in Her announcement until age fifty has also fulfilled the Divine corrective measure They set in place through Sage Bharadwaja, as he acted to play his part to ensure the presence of Shiva/Shakti in this Kali Yuga. Today, in the same way that Sage Bharadwaja could not see Shakti in the Shiva Tandava dance at Kailash, we are unable to see Shiva when the celestial dance is being performed by the Divine Mother – Shakti - Amma. The devotees who witness this Divine Dance, which is Her very nature, nevertheless enjoy bliss and blessing through Shiva/Shakti's celestial dance, just as Bharadwaja did.
Mudras of Bliss