Not long into the journey, Anantappa heard the loud, panicked cries of his son-in-law. Quickly, Anantappa ran into the compartment along with the conductor. They saw a frightened son-in-law lying on the floor, alive, but badly beaten. Who could’ve attacked his son-in-law in the closed compartment? When the son-in-law calmed down and came to his senses, he said that Sathya Sai Baba appeared out of thin air in his compartment and beat him hard on the cheeks and then scolded him for not respecting his wife and not trusting her fidelity. Of course, no one could doubt the words of the son-in-law because he was physically quite beaten. After this incident, the son-in-law immediately believed in the divine powers of Sathya Sai Baba and completely changed his attitude toward his wife.
If simple persuasion fails, the Avatar can use force to change the situation. Such incidents have happened many times in the history of mankind. In ancient times, divine teachers such as Rama Avatar and Krishna could quite physically bring down their wrath on the demons. Jesus also physically drove out the merchants from the temple in Jerusalem. An ordinary person's anger is a manifestation of weakness and ignorance. However, the justified anger of divine teachers, such as Sathya Sai Baba, is a manifestation of love and compassion, and it is a great blessing. Sathya Sai Baba is the embodiment of divine love and great compassion, therefore, any of his actions are based on wisdom and love.
It may seem to us that if Sathya Sai Baba helps only “good” people and punishes “evil” ones, then this is right and just. But who are the “good” and the “evil”? Who determines whether a person is "good" or "bad"? The True Self of each person is divine and in the True Self we are all in unity. It is easy to accept that the True Self of Saint Mother Teresa and Saint Seraphim of Sarov is divine but are you ready to accept that the True Self of Adolf Hitler and Leon Trotsky is also divine, although crushed by ignorance and selfishness.
The Avatar comes to this world not only to help spiritual seekers, but also to put demons on the spiritual path. By the way, the mission of the Avatar also includes blessing not only people, but also animals. For example, in the ashram of Sathya Sai Baba there was a small zoo in which deer and an elephant lived. Sathya Sai Baba regularly visited his zoo to bless the animals.
When Sathya Sai Baba left his house, a huge number of birds intuitively flocked to see him. When Sathya Sai Baba moved from one part of the ashram to another, the birds also flew after him. I observed this phenomenon many times. It was interesting to see how not only the people felt the presence of Sathya Sai Baba and tried to be as close to him as possible, but also the creatures.
42. Gratitude is completion
Everything in this world was created by God. If everything came from God, what can you offer him? The only thing you can offer to God is your love, that is the only thing he expects from you.
(Sathya Sai Baba – Sathya Sai Gita Chapter 1)
In one of his personal meetings, Sathya Sai Baba said that because of love, the True Self was divided into an infinite number of individual beings. All beings living in this world have arisen from love and in love they pass the way of spiritual evolution. To see and realize this is to see what is. Love is the only thing the soul can offer to God; it is the only true and eternal gift from God to man and from man to God.
Everything is Absolute Consciousness; everything is God. Every human being has a divine desire to know the Absolute Truth. Truth can be sought at different levels through the methods of religion, science, and art. The highest level of the search for Truth is self-exploration and self-knowledge.
Quite a lot of people confuse love with lust, instincts, attachment and even greed. Genuine love is pure and altruistic; in true love, one feels unity. One who is in the vibration of love naturally loves himself and everyone around him. A person who is in the flow of love looks into the eyes of another person and sees his True Self there.
Divine love is always shown along with gratitude. Gratitude is a great power. When you are grateful for something, it is already happening. Gratitude is completion. If you feel perfect gratitude for the events of the past, then this means you have gone through all the lessons that life has set for you. If you do not feel sincere gratitude for the events of the past, then this means that the lessons have not yet been completed.
Be thankful that you are who you already are, for you were perfect from the start. Be grateful for your life, for it is glorious and exciting. Thank God for perfect health and longevity, for the happiness of the family hearth, the wise heritage of the ancestors and the well-being of the descendants, for the enjoyment of material abundance and for the joy of free creativity in business, science, and art. If you are sincerely grateful for your happy life, all of this will happen; for what you are truly grateful for manifests itself at a rapid pace.
There is a famous American devotee of Sathya Sai Baba whose name is John, but people call him "John – thank you Sai" because he repeats only one prayer, no matter what happens to him, he prays: "thank you Sai, thank you Sai, thank you Sai.” He has had difficulties and trials in his life, like everyone else, but he always repeated his “thank you Sai” prayer.
By repeating this simple prayer, John transformed his life and helped to transform the lives of many who came to know about him. Sometimes John met with groups and talked about his life. He taught and transformed people by his example.
I started writing this book while living in Sathya Sai Baba's ashram, and it was great to meet John there, again. We joyfully recalled the past years when Sathya Sai Baba was among us, and we could enjoy daily communication with him.
Be grateful for everything that happens because there are lessons you need to learn in order to rise to higher levels of awareness. Give thanks for the unity of all that exists, and for the fact that everything in your life happens in Divine Grace. God is a mirror that reflects your thoughts and feelings, even those most secret, so let love and gratitude reign in the secret spaces of your heart.
Only those who have love can give love. A person who loves himself is able to give love to all people around and to present love to God. As soon as you love yourself, all the people around you will also love you because your vibrations will awaken only love in those around you.
When you arrive in love and happiness, all the people around you will experience happiness because you will shine with the energy of happiness. If you are in a state of peace and harmony, then all the people around, communicating with you, will feel peace and harmony.
43. Sathya Sai Baba Stopped the Flood
The Chitravathi River flows near the ashram, and most of the time it is full flowing with a fast current of abundant water, but sometimes it can completely dry up for several years. During the whole life of Sathya Sai Baba, the river was full flowing, and toward the end of his life, the water began to leave. In the last years of Sathya Sai Baba's life, the river dried up completely.
Some took this as a sign that Sathya Sai Baba would soon leave this world, but most did not want to think about this sad topic and assumed the river dried up simply because there had been too little rain for too long.
The story we are going to remember now took place when Sathya Sai Baba was very young. That year, the Chitravathi River was so full of water that it flooded the surrounding fields. There was so much water that it began to approach the house where Sathya Sai Baba lived at that time. This place is called "old mandir", which means "old temple".
As a result of the flood, the "old mandir" turned into a small island around which the water raged. The devotees were afraid that the water would soon flood the premises. Some had already packed their things preparing to wade out of the village, while others were going to climb large trees and wait out the flood there. The situation gradually escalated, and of course, panic grew. The most devoted remained calm and waited for Sathya Sai Baba's instructions.