"Why do you worry when I am there?" - By Dr. M. Sainath
Bhagavan has often said, “Life is a challenge. Meet it.” At several points in
our sojourn of life we feel defeated, crushed and in need of support and
succour. We desperately seek somebody who we can lean on - someone who could,
if not solve our problem, at least give us courage and hope, someone who can
make us believe in our own capacity and the grace of God. Here is where we
pause and ask ourselves what we are experiencing today. There can be no doubt
about the fact that what we are experiencing is something unique and quite
inexplicable in its entirety. For, Bhagavan is an Avatar Who cannot be spoken
about, written about or grasped by logic. He is an experience than can best be
felt by the heart.
It has been said that life is a chain of events while living is a chain of
experiences. Experience is not what happens to man. It is what he does with
what happens to him. Bhagavan has often cautioned us about the futility of
spending years at His Lotus Feet, without seriously attempting to practice at
least one of the principles that He relentlessly teaches us. And yet, we are so
caught up in our daily grind that we have burdened rather than lightened
ourselves. It is one of Bhagavan’s small mercies that He patiently continues to
monitor our lives, guard and guide us.
Bhagavan has explicitly stated that His mission is to alleviate the suffering
of the poor; to put back on track those who have taken to the wrong paths, and
to confer the fruits of merit on those who deserve it. Innumerable are the
occasions where He has appeared to be negligent towards our plight. But, at the
end, when He stoops to pick us up, we find that the suffering has only made us
savour this moment with greater understanding and joy. Invariably, these acts
of mercy seem to descend upon us totally unexpected and that is what makes them
so blissful to expenence.
I recollect the occasion once, when a young man came to Brindavan to have
Bhagavan’s Darshan. He missed the last bus that would take him back to the city
and was hence forced to manage the night somehow at Whitefield itself. The next
morning found an extremely worried mother at Brindavan, anxiously waiting for
Bhagavan. It was the young man’s mother. Finding that her son had not returned
last night and had not even sent any message about his whereabouts, she rushed
to Bhagavan.
Soon, the Lord came and during Darshan, paused before the distraught mother. He
looked at her and calmly said: “Your son is safe. He spent the full night under
a tree, caught the first bus and has just reached home. Why do you worry when I
am there?” The father, who had narrated this experience, later said that the
family was strengthened in their faith and courage, because they were now
convinced that the Lord was there, watching and guiding them all the time.
Bhagavan’s silence can be easily misinterpreted as an attitude of aloofness.
Henry Ford once said, “Don’t find faults. Find the remedy.” It is very easy to
blame someone for our state of misfortune.
But we seldom realise that this attitude of ours only takes us to further ruin.
I recollect an occasion when Bhagavan was talking to us and said: “I know
everything. I see and hear everything. But I keep silent because there is a
time for everything. There is a way to do everything. You don’t know about it.
I do.”
Lord Krishna and the Pandavas
The story of the Pandavas and Kauravas highlights this point. The Pandavas gave
up everything to Krishna. Consequently, they could successfully face all the
problems, of which they had quite a lot. The Kauravas were relatively better
placed in life than their cousins and yet looked upon Krishna with suspicion.
They met only ruin at the end. Krishna tells Gandhari that it was their son’s
own actions that led them to their ruin and that He had nothing to do with it.
It is hence very important that we consider ourselves to be the Lord’s own
ones, and conduct ourselves accordingly.
I recollect here the story told about President Abraham Lincoln. A friend was
once consoling him during some crisis and said, “I hope the Lord is on our side
to help us out!” Lincoln replied, “I am not concerned about that, for we know
that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety
and prayer that this nation and I should be on the Lord’s side.”
Is it then to say that Bhagavan would not interfere with our lives? That He
would not lend us a hand in times of crisis? Far from truth! All one has to do
is to speak and listen to innumerable experiences that people have to share
about how much Bhagavan has meant to them and their lives. Bhagavan is an
experience of a lifetime of merits accumulated and burst forth in a shower of
grace. But it would be better to comprehend Him as an omnipresent presence that
is always there, watching and waiting to gather us into His arms.
Sri Sathya Sai in the hills of Kodai and Ooty
An incident remains deeply imprinted in my heart. During the summer of 1989, we
were spending a couple of days at Ooty, en route to Kodaikanal. It was well
past midnight and all of us were in blissful slumber, except one. Sleep somehow
evaded him and as he tossed and turned, he heard a creaking sound. A chill went
up his spine - we have heard quite a few stories about spirits haunting old
buildings! He slowly slipped beneath his blanket, keeping a wary eye on the
source of the sound. He was pleasantly surprised for, there on the corridor,
stood Bhagavan, fresh as ever, at such a seemingly unearthly hour. The brother
was about to get up, when Bhagavan waved him down and then stood there, hands
clasped at the back, gently swaying and a heavenly smile perched on His lips.
After giving a smile to the boy, He went back. The boy thought he was dreaming
but the next morning, Bhagavan chastised him for keeping awake till so late in
the night!
In retrospect, Bhagavan only did what He has always done. His Creation is His
concern. We may feel insecure, but we are always in His grasp - never outside
it. His is a benign presence that is always there to look after us. Our living
in His presence is to experience this over powering Love and enjoy its
sublimity.
- Dr. M. Sainath
Alumnus and Former Faculty Member, Dept. of Physics,
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning,
Prasanthi Nilayam
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