Everyone was happy to hear this wonderful news. The delegation returned to their native village and began to build their temple to the Sun and the Moon. They installed the sacred plate materialized by Sathya Sai Baba at the base of the altar and recalled with gratitude their communion with him and his blessings.
28. Suffering disappears
In fact, no one and nothing belongs to you. As soon as you are freed from the false sense of ownership, you are freed from attachments, and at the same moment suffering disappears.
(Sathya Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 12)
You, as an individual being, own nothing. Everything in this world came from the True Self. We again delve into the fact that the answer lies in the right awareness of the question: who is "I"? Sathya Sai Baba had a very high regard for the great mystic and philosopher of the twentieth century, whose name was Nisargadatta, who lived in Bombay. Most often, Nisargadatta preferred to speak about the truth without referring to authoritative sources, but sometimes he commented on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita and the Bible.
The Bible is the story of the relationship between God and man. The Bhagavad Gita is also the story of the relationship between God and man. Most people read the Bible and the Bhagavad Gita from a human point of view. Nisargadatta gave his students unusual advice to try to read these sacred texts from God's point of view.
Almost everyone reads the Bible, identifying themselves with the person who communicates with God. But there is another option for reading the sacred text. Imagine that you are God and read the Bible from God's point of view.
In order to discover countless treasures, you need to seek and find, otherwise they will forever remain lost.
Awareness of one's "I" is the entrance to the spiritual path. You are in the process of self-exploration to the extent that you are on the spiritual path. Meditation, in essence, is not about acquiring something, but about letting go of that false sense of separateness of existence. Release from this false sense reveals a great treasure that has always been yours, even if you temporarily forgot about it.
29. Sathya Sai Baba resurrected a girl
This is another miracle story about such amazing events that took place at the end of the ‘50s, of which I learned about from Mr. Subba Rao. Subsequently, this story became so famous that it is written in many books about Sathya Sai Baba.
Mr. Venkataram and his family, after a happy journey to Sathya Sai Baba's ashram, were driving their car home to Bangalore. Suddenly, something terrible happened. The little daughter of Venkataram lost consciousness. She had a strange seizure and her breathing stopped. The family reached the nearest village in the hope of finding at least some kind of doctor.
As they left their car in search of help, an old man, who looked like an ordinary peasant, appeared next to them. He calmly approached them and carefully took the child in his arms. Instantly, from his touch, the girl began to breathe and cry, which made her parents very happy. They were relieved to see their beloved daughter revived, fearing she was already dead.
Mr. Venkataram, the girl's father, was overjoyed and as a token of gratitude, immediately offered a large sum of money to the unknown old man. The old man politely refused. Venkataram did not know how to thank the stranger and decided to at least ask for his name, to which he replied, Jyoti Adipali Somappa.
A little later, Sathya Sai Baba talked of this incident to his closest assistant, Kasturi. In particular, Sathya Sai Baba told him how he appeared in this village in the form of an old villager. He also said to the astonished Kasturi that he took the dead girl in his arms and resurrected her, further explaining he appeared in the village with a changed appearance so that people would not recognize him, but think he was some unfamiliar old man.
Kasturi inquired about the strange name Sathya Sai Baba introduced himself with: Jyoti Adipali Somappa. Sathya Sai Baba replied that it was a very ancient name with a deep meaning. It means the sacred mountain Kailash, as well as Lord Shiva and his wife Goddess Parvati, who live on the very top of this sacred mountain.
Any male deity of the Vedic tradition symbolizes one or another aspect of the divine consciousness. Shiva is not some kind of deity living in heaven, but a symbol of absolute consciousness. Any female deity of the Vedic tradition symbolizes one, or another, aspect of cosmic energy. Goddess Parvati, wife of Shiva, is "Mother Nature." Sathya Sai Baba exercised both powers of the absolute consciousness of Shiva and the entire cosmic energy of the "mother of nature."
Almost all the miracles of Sathya Sai Baba are amazing in their transcendence. If I didn't know him personally, it's hard to say, but maybe it would be difficult for me to believe in the possibility of such events. We are all accustomed to the manifestation of miraculous power as demonstrated by the Saints of different religions, but what Sathya Sai Baba did was beyond the capabilities of ordinary Saints. He not only solved people's problems and protected them from mortal danger, but his actions always had the deepest meaning, of which you could ruminate on forever.
30. So-Ham Meditation
When you inhale, the breath itself produces the sound "So", and when you exhale it produces the sound "Ham". Together, it sounds like "So-Ham", which means "I am God." You are constantly breathing, your very breathing naturally repeats “So-Ham”, “So-Ham”, “I am God, “I am God.”
(Sathya Sai Baba – "Dasara", 1998)
So-Ham is one of the most important practices of Kriya Yoga. Sathya Sai Baba often spoke about So-Ham meditation. At various times, he advised his devotees on various types of meditation techniques, but he recommended meditation "So-Ham" as the most ancient and effective technique leading to a high spiritual experience and a significant increase in human energy.
The first sound "So" means Absolute Consciousness. The second sound "Ham" means individual consciousness. There is another translation of this Mantra. The sound "So" means "the father principle of the universe." The sound "Ham" is the "mother principle of the universe." This is a very short and simple Mantra containing the entirety of the universe.
This technique is performed as follows: the sound “So” is mentally pronounced on the inhale, and the sound “Ham” is mentally pronounced on the exhale. During the execution of this technique, it is necessary to be aware of the process of your breathing, mentally pronouncing “So” on each inhalation and “Ham” on each exhalation.
The nature and speed of breathing is related to your emotional state. A person who is in a state of harmony and peace breathes slowly. A calm state of mind is manifested in calm breathing. Those who are under stress breathe quickly and deeply. A restless state of mind is manifested in restless breathing. Emotional states affect breathing. It is logical to argue that a conscious change in breathing affects the flow of thoughts and emotional states.
In a normal situation, the flow of thoughts forms the character of the breath, and during the practice of meditation, conscious breathing forms a harmonious flow of thoughts. You build your life with your thoughts, so you need to understand that it is breathing that is an important tool in harmonizing thoughts, which means harmonizing life in general.
It is very difficult to influence the flow of thoughts directly, but it is quite easy to change the breath. Many people wonder how they can calm their anxious thoughts. Breathing is a powerful key to influencing the nature of your thoughts, this is important because it is thought forms that form all the circumstances of life.
The movement of vital energy in the body is also associated with breathing. Life energy in Sanskrit is Prana. The harmonious movement of vital energy is also associated with the nature of breathing. In order to harmonize the flows of vital energy, it is necessary to consciously work with breathing.