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."
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.
