Both in the Bible and in the Vedas, there are many images showing that God breathes life into a person – breathing is life itself given by God. In breathing, God manifests himself clearly every second in every person. People go on distant pilgrimages to the sacred mountains of Kailash or Arunachala, or to the sacred cities of Jerusalem or Varanasi.
All pilgrimages are made in order to meet with God, even while he is always present in the Spiritual Heart. True pilgrimage is conscious breathing that reveals the incorruptible treasures of the Spiritual Heart.
The Avadhuta Gita says:
“A person who makes a pilgrimage to the holy cities in search of the true Self, thereby rejects the omnipresence of the true Self, which is located in the spiritual heart. An enlightened sage lives happily in solitude, even if he lives in a large city, he is always in solitude, even if he is in the midst of human communication. The yogi gets rid of desires for material enjoyment and even desires for enlightenment, he dispels doubts, and his attainment of perfection occurs spontaneously.”
Everything happens inside, any external actions make sense only if they reveal the mysteries of the Spiritual Heart. The correct system of meditation begins with conscious breathing because breathing is the key that opens the gate to Divine Consciousness.
The true pilgrimage is made in the process of breathing. It is a journey into the depths of the soul. A person who is aware of his breath is in the awareness of the present moment.
There are many terms denoting the highest reality. All of these terms mean the True Self. You can call the ultimate reality Krishna Consciousness, Buddha Consciousness or Christ Consciousness; they are all the same. Different religious directions have been debating over terms for centuries, not seeing the original unity. “So-Ham” meditation leads to the experience of Christ Consciousness, Krishna Consciousness, Buddha Consciousness.
The practice of conscious breathing exists in many spiritual directions, in particular esoteric Christianity. Throughout the centuries of the development of Christianity in Greece, Egypt, Syria, Serbia and Russia, there has been the practice of the Jesus Prayer on the breath.
The original form of the Jesus Prayer was: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me." This is a prayer of gratitude to Jesus for the Divine Grace that all people who pray and meditate on Christ receive. Much later, an absurd word was added to this prayer: "… a sinner."
Man is originally divine, for he was created by God in the image and likeness of God himself. The Holy Spirit is constantly present in the breath of every person. Every human soul, at every moment of its existence, is perfect and holy, even if it is not always aware of it. Breath is always divine, and thoughts can be sinful.
Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer, in which each person addresses God as Father. Jesus reminded that people, unfortunately, are prone to selfishness and greed. All negative qualities must be liberated. Once you recognize your mistakes, you should avoid repeating them. However, making mistakes does not make you a sinner.
By divine justice, everyone gets what he deserves; what you sow is what you reap. Despite all the cycles of being, each person still remains originally divine by the right of his creation from God. Man is perfect because he breathes, and breathing is the eternal presence of the Spirit of God.
61. Infinite Possibilities of the Spirit
This is a story told to me by Subba Rao, one of Sathya Sai Baba's most unique devotees. For many years he worked as an expert at the UN, was a successful politician and public figure, and then left everything and moved to the ashram. I was lucky to repeatedly communicate with this amazing person, mystic, and sage.
This story took place at a time when Sathya Sai Baba was still very young, and there were relatively few devotees around him, so people could invite him home for a family holiday. One Indian family wanted to perform the traditional worship of Goddess Gauri in the presence of Sathya Sai Baba. Hindus regularly perform many religious rituals in their homes to bless the family and protect the home.
Goddess Gauri is one of the many female deities who symbolize Mother Nature. In all ancient cultures, nature, mountains, fields, forests, rivers, and oceans were revered and deified. In Vedic culture since ancient times there has been an attitude towards nature as to the Mother Goddess. In the Vedic tradition there is no place for consumerism and cruelty toward the environment.
In India, everything is sacred: rivers and mountains, animals and birds. Of course, I am not inclined to idealize the attitude of modern Hindus toward environmental issues. Unfortunately, modern people sometimes forget the origins of their culture and begin to treat nature with dangerous and ignorant irresponsibility.
Sathya Sai Baba always encouraged and supported the tradition of worshipping the Vedic Gods and Goddesses. All these ancient rituals have a deep meaning. Those who carefully and seriously perform the ancient rites subconsciously change their attitude toward themselves and the world around them. The Vedic Gods and Goddesses are images and symbols that tune in to the awareness of the divinity of the entire universe.
So, this Indian family invited Sathya Sai Baba to visit their home in order to worship the Goddess in his presence. Sathya Sai Baba agreed to come on the appointed day. The head of the family carefully prepared for the complex Vedic ritual by collecting everything necessary: flower petals, incense sticks, ghee, new fabrics for the statue of the Deity, and much more. However, the man completely forgot about the special seeds, which were supposed to be presented during the solemn ceremony.
Sathya Sai Baba, as promised, came to the house of the devotees. He was reverently seated in a large chair and the ceremony began. The couple recited mantras and brought flower petals, incense, rice, milk, and more to the altar. Suddenly, several black ants crawled out of one flower.
Sathya Sai Baba smiled and joked that it was very unusual to worship the Goddess with the help of ants. Some of those present laughed merrily, while others, on the contrary, became nervous. The fact is the appearance of ants could be perceived as a violation of the strict requirements of the ceremony. The spouses were very worried, but before they had time to get scared, an amazing miracle happened instead – the ants turned into seeds. These were perfect and were just the seeds missing for the proper completion of the ceremony.
All those present were surprised by such a miracle. Sathya Sai Baba turned living beings, in this case, insects into seeds. There were cases where, on the contrary, he turned non-living objects into animals. We have already mentioned such a case in a previous chapter. The significance of such miracles is so great that it is difficult for most people to even imagine such a thing possible.
Sathya Sai Baba had a unique ability to materialize objects. A miracle I saw many times. Sathya Sai Baba materialized various items such as rings, rosaries, figurines of the Deities, and much more. All of these items were the most powerful amulets.
If Sathya Sai Baba saw that a person really needed protection or support, he gave materialized amulets. He did this in order to protect him from potential danger or to bless him for the successful completion of some business.
The question arises, how are the miracles of Sathya Sai Baba connected with the knowledge of the divinity of the soul? Why perform and demonstrate miracles at all? Miracles are different and they are performed for different purposes. Sathya Sai Baba beautifully explained several times that his miracles are "divine calling cards." All of his miracles and manifestations of the supernatural had the deepest spiritual meaning.