Sadguru (river) TO Baba (Ocean)

[Ashok]

HOW IS THE STATEMENT THAT BABA IS SARVA SADGURU SVARUPA (i.e.,  the essential person behind all Spiritual Guides of Humanity) JUSTIFIED?


Once again the answer is based on facts i.e., experiences of a Variety of people.  As samples, the following may be mentioned :

a) Prof. N. Kasturi adopted Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as his Guru Dev in 1912 as a boy; in 1927, a direct disciple of the paramahamsa,"Mahapurush Swami Sivananda' initiated him into the inner mysteries of spiritual disciple by giving him a "Mantra".  Prof. N.K. saw Baba in 1948 and was conquered by Him!  When he told about the `Mantra' given to him, Baba assured him :"That mantra has been the means that brought you to Me.  Be eternally grateful, to the Holy Guide"!  And Prof. N.K. has written :"I repeat Jai Guru Dev, picturing Baba as the Guru Dev". (Ref : The Divine Master published by Sai Ratan, 1975).

 
b) Justice (Mrs) Padma Khastgir of Calcutta High Court was "initiated in a vivid dream by  Ramakrishna Paramahamsa in 1972.  But she could not clearly recall the Mantra given in the dream.  But later in the same year, she is persuaded to go to Baba and He repeated the same Mantra!  And she had the same wonderful, joyous spring of feelings in both the dream and the "Interview" (private audience with Baba)!   

A dramatic experience of the identity of Shiridi Sai with Sri Sathya Sai was related to me by Justice Karpagavinayagam of the High court at Chennai. He was about to fly to Delhi from Chennai to argue a case in the Supreme court (he was only an advocate then) when a friend thrust the book "Incredible Sai Baba" by Arthur Osborne just to  help him pass the time during the flight. He read through it with great interest. While returning from Delhi, the pilot suddenly informed about some snag that developed and requested everybody to pray to God as nothing else seemed useful to prevent the fall of the plane. Terribly shocked, our friend didnot know what to do because he had never prayed to any god before for he was an atheist. But the memory of the divine Baba about whom he had read only a few days back, flashed in his mind and from the bottom of his heart, he fervently prayed for help from "the old man". Something made him open his eyes and he found Sri Sathya Sai Baba's form looming large from the ceiling to the floor of the plane, assuring him of protection. Then he vanished. Karpagavinayagam was perplexed because he had prayed to Shiridi Sai but had been blessed by someone looking quite different.

To cut the story short, the pilot announced about the miraculous escape from the catastrophe and after a stop-over at Hyderabad, the plane reached Chennai safely. Enquiries by advocate led him to Puttaparthi and to the realisation of the identity of Shirdi Sai and Sathya Sai. Howard Murphet and others also have presented other evidences in support of such an identity.   


c) Prof. V.K. Gokak's Guru was Sri Aurobindo and later, Baba.  It was not a shift but a spontaneous movement from one form to another of the same person.


d) Dr. Hislop passed through the hands of many Gurus or Guides: J. Krishnamurti, Swami Yogananda, Maharishi, Mahesh Yogi, Swami Vishnu devananda and Thray Sithu U Ba Khin of Burma.  At last, He surrendered and settled at the Divine feet of Baba.  At each stage he learnt something, progressed to some higher level, guided by the Eternal Sadguru within, manifesting in different forms outside.  The culmination came in the form of Baba.


e) In "Living divinity", the experience of Swami Shraddhanan­da, disciple of Swami Nityanand of Vajreshwari is given.  Swami Shraddhananda was so much attached to his Guru that when Baba was about to create something for him, he caught His hand and asked Him not to create anything for him!  Baba gave him the interview later.  Emerging from the interview room, he said that Baba was divine and that he saw his Guru Nityananda on His chest!


f) Howard Murphet asked the Guru of Dayalbagh as to how people can decide in which of the many spiritual leaders (if any) divinity is enshrined.  He was told : "Pray everyday to God that he will lead you to the man in whom he is at present incarnated".  The Murphets sincerely prayed from their hearts and reached Baba!  They saw Him first as a "Man of Miracles"; next as "Avatar"; and, then as the Sadguru who invites us all to realise the Glory of our self.


g)  Ra. Ganapathi (the author of "Baba-Sathya Sai")  is an ardent disciple of the venerable Jagatguru Sankaracharya Swami Kamakoti Peetam of Kanchipuram.  So are the couple, Mrs. M.S. Subbulakshmi (the famous musician) and her husband.  But they are also devotees of Baba whom they regard as their Guru-God, evidently!


h) Mrs. Sarojini Palanivelu, is the author of 4 volumes enti­tled "Miracles and spirituality".  She seems to have realised the identity of Baba with the Gurus, she was guided by, Viz., Ramana Maharishi,Vedatri Maharishi et al.


i) The late Acharya Bharadwaja was a great devotee of Shirdi Sai Baba and had realised the essential identity of all Sadgurus.  So, he wanted to write a book on Swami Samarth of Akkal­kot.  He considered himself as the spiritual child of Sai Baba and in May 1972 in whitefield, he started his biography of the Saint of Akkalkot.  He finished it in an afternoon of a Thursday and was sitting in the lines for darsan of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.


Baba stopped before him, cast a gracious glance at him, materialised vibhuti, poured it in his hand and said,"I am pleased with you, Child!

Indeed, a number of incidents are reported in the Books on Shirdi Sai Baba which demonstrated the essential identity of all Sadgurus and God-forms with Baba.  These may be found, for example, in SAI BABA, the Master by Acharya Bharadwaja published first in 1978.

Diana Baskin in her "Divine memories of Sathya Sai Baba" has written about Kriyananda of Self Realisation fellowship (of Yogananda the great saint and the famous author of "The Autobiography of a Yogi") and Sri J.Krishnamurti meeting Bhagavan around 1973 and 1986 respectively and paying their respects to Him. As Mrs.Sarojini Palanivelu has aptly said, all the Sadgurus are like rivers which ultimately join the Ocean, that is Bhagavan Baba.