Perfect meditation begins with mindful breathing. Conscious breathing is a method that can positively influence health promotion, inner peace and emotional stability, release from fears, stress, and depressive states. All of this can be achieved with the “So-Ham” meditation. Conscious breathing allows you to awaken and redirect vital energy.
Sathya Sai Baba said that awareness of breathing and understanding of the original divinity of your soul is important, but what words you pronounce is not so important. Instead of the mantra "So-Ham", you can mentally say, "I am God." Inhale as you say, "I" and as you exhale mentally say, "God".
The universe is the dream of God. By practicing the So-Ham meditation, you come to realize the truth – God is within you – and, at this higher level, you begin to understand the unity of "I" and God. Sathya Sai Baba is a divine incarnation in the perfect state of the True Self, which is why everything was possible for him, because the True Self is the original source of everything.
The practice of "So-Ham" leads to the realization that "I and My Heavenly Father are one." Realizing this truth, you begin to perceive everything that happens as your dream, and it depends only on you whether it is a happy one.
31. Sathya Sai Baba rescued a cobra that was run over by a car
Here is another story that shows the extent of Sathya Sai Baba’s love for all, both human and creature. One day Sathya Sai Baba was returning by car to his ashram from a nearby town. Suddenly, a cobra crawled onto the road. The driver looked at Sathya Sai Baba in the back seat. He seemed to be deep in thought, sitting with his eyes closed, and so the driver decided not to stop and take care of the cobra so as not to disturb him.
The car quickly flew along the road, and an hour later they reached the ashram, stopping in front of the main temple. When Sathya Sai Baba got out of the car, everyone present noticed his clothes were covered in dirt. Having mustered up the courage, someone asked how this happened because when he got into the car, his clothes were completely clean. Sathya Sai Baba smiled and explained that the dirt on his clothes was because he materialized for a moment on the road to save a cobra.
Strange as it may seem, the practice of meditation in itself is not a spiritual act. Only when you combine meditation with the motivation of love and compassion do you become authentic spiritual practitioners. Vedic mythology shows that all demons also practiced meditation and mantras. Despite this, they still remained demons, because their motivation was based on satisfying their selfish desires, to the detriment of everyone around them. Therefore, one should not think that a demon is one who denies the practice of meditation and mantra. In fact, a demon is someone who has a false, selfish motivation.
The main sign of a spiritual person is a sincere motivation of love and compassion. With a spiritual person, any action becomes divine, because it is aimed at the benefit and benefit of all those around.
How could Sathya Sai Baba perform such an amazing miracle? Think about it, he materialized for a moment, right on the road, saved the cobra and got back in the car, all this happened in a fraction of an instant. Incredible! It may seem to some that saving a cobra with the help of supernatural abilities is not a very great feat.
Sathya Sai Baba has great love and compassion for all beings. This example shows how important it is to be responsible for one's actions and try not to harm any living beings. In the Vedic tradition, the animal world is closely connected with people. Of course, people are at a higher level of development, but animals are perceived in India as part of divine creation. It is well known that almost all animals and birds are considered an important part of Vedic mythology.
This story once again makes us think about the meaning of the miracles that Sathya Sai Baba constantly demonstrated. Some may ask, is it not easier to just stop the car for a minute and thereby save the cobra? Yes, it might have been easier to just stop the car, but divine teachers prefer to use any situation to teach a lesson. Every action of Sathya Sai Baba had a deep meaning and carried a divine message.
32. Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity
All Vedic texts and all sages with high spiritual experience describe God as the highest inner essence of the soul of every living being.
(Sathya Sai Baba – Gita Vahini, Chapter 20)
Philosophy gives theoretical knowledge of truth, and yoga leads to the inner experience of truth. Philosophers meditate on truth, and yogis reside in the actual experience of truth. One who practices self-inquiry is on the spiritual path, and everyone must independently discover the truth about himself.
The answer to the question about the nature of one's "Self" can only be found in meditation. To the extent that a person is in the process of self-exploration is the extent that he is on the spiritual path.
There are many answers to the fundamental question: who is "I"? These two answers are the most basic: "I am the Soul" and "I am God." How to make a choice between the human and divine nature of your "I"? How to understand who the "I" really is? Am I the individual Soul or God? There is no need to make any choice. In fact, at every moment of time, "I" carries both the Divine and human nature.
Sathya Sai Baba says that "the sages describe God as the highest inner essence of the soul of every living being." This means that the reality of "God" and the reality of the "soul" exist in parallel. Both of these realities, absolute and individual, are in primordial harmony and unity.
The Self is potential and manifested, positive and negative, soft and hard, logical and intuitive, eternal and momentary. The Self is a great ocean and a small drop. Self is beginningless unity and infinite diversity. Self is unity in diversity and diversity in unity.
33. Personal meetings with Sathya Sai Baba, everything was unpredictable
Interviews were an important aspect of the daily program. Sathya Sai Baba would sit in his chair, which looked more like a throne. Some followers came with spiritual and philosophical questions, and some with questions relating to the circumstances of life. All those invited to a personal meeting sat on the carpet directly in front of him. Sathya Sai Baba was like a conductor for the interview. Quite often people brought photographs of their relatives with them in order for Sathya Sai Baba to bless them.
Only Sathya Sai Baba decided how the meeting went, if he wanted to give someone the opportunity to speak, he gave them that opportunity, at the same time he could completely ignore someone else. Sathya Sai Baba could turn to someone present and ask: “what are your questions? What is your problem? What do you want to say or ask? Then the person got the right to talk to him and ask his questions.
Some tried to interrupt the neighbor and ask their question, but Sathya Sai Baba made it very clear with whom exactly he wanted to communicate at the moment.
There were cases when large groups came, but Sathya Sai Baba could only talk to one person during the whole meeting, and the rest just sat and listened. There were interviews where he could talk to each person in turn. Every time everything was unpredictable.
When people turned to Sathya Sai Baba with really important questions, he listened attentively and gave detailed answers. If people came who wanted to show off their intelligence and education, Sathya Sai Baba interrupted such a farce. If he understood that a person was not sincere in his questions and asked them only to be smart, he could abruptly interrupt the clever man and point out his hidden vices and problems in front of everyone.
Only those who were completely sincere in their questions received deep and comprehensive answers from Sathya Sai Baba.