10. "The work you do is the work of God"
Do not distance yourself from active social activities, for the work that you do is the work of God. If you do your work in a spirit of unity, that pleases God.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)
Sathya Sai Baba is the clearest example of an ideal life. It is quite obvious to me that Sathya Sai Baba is a divine Avatar who embodies the fullness of divine love and wisdom. He was born as a human and lived a wonderful human life. His life is the greatest example for each of us.
An Avatar born in the human world is always active in social activities. It may seem to us that society is a terrible and absurd space, but we see what we are ready to see. The manifested world is originally perfect, and everything happens in perfect accordance with the Divine plan.
Active work in human society is largely based on the correct alignment of one's relationship with money. If you use finances correctly, you will embody all your good ideas in the social space of human society. Money is a divine energy that God uses to develop and improve human culture.
In the Vedic tradition, the energy of money is personified by the Goddess Laxmi. Can the beautiful Goddess Laxmi be bad or sinful? Speaking in scientific terms, money is the universal equivalent of exchange. Goods and services are exchanged in human society, usually, for money.
Money is just a function in the exchange of goods and services, it cannot be sinful or righteous. With the help of money, scientific research is financed, universities are built, industry and agriculture develop, books are published, and films are made, medicine develops, new technologies are created, and much more. Think about how many good deeds are done with the help of money and with the help of the energy of the Goddess Laxmi.
Sathya Sai Baba was never engaged in business or commercial activities; he helped people, and therefore, in gratitude, many wealthy families considered it an honor to donate huge sums of money to him because they knew that he would correctly use those financial resources for the benefit of people. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that money is the cause of all evil, but in fact money is a form of divine energy.
There is a common misconception that active participation in social life interferes with spiritual practices; in particular, meditation. There is no sin in money. The cause of all problems is the selfish use of money, greed, lust for power, self-interest, and attachment to material objects. Ignorance gives rise to problems and suffering, whereas the realization of the True Self gives wisdom.
Sathya Sai Baba never married, but all his life he paid great attention to his family. He was very respectful toward his parents. When his father and mother passed away, he gave instructions to build a large tomb for them, around which there is a magnificent park. Sathya Sai Baba treated his brother and numerous relatives with care and respect. All of this is an example of how a perfect person should live and act.
The Avatar, performing His great divine mission on earth, was very active in society; for society itself is also part of divine creation. Sathya Sai Baba built a magnificent ashram where millions of people come from all over the world to study meditation and philosophy. He founded several universities, where he gathered the best teachers. Unique specialists were gathered and special programs for teaching various disciplines were developed.
In his village, He built two large modern hospitals and equipped them according to all modern standards. He founded charitable projects, including financing a drinking water supply system for a great number of villages in southern India.
There were millions and millions of people around Sathya Sai Baba who were spiritually transformed by his blessings. Numerous people from different countries were able to embark on the path of self-improvement and meditation. Of course, there were exceptions; sometimes he could bless people for the life of monasticism and the solitary practice of hermitage. However, he mainly preached on the active creative position of a person in society as being an important element of the spiritual path.
11. Spiritual Heart – the greatest secret of the universe
The wide heart realizes the Truth that the Divine is in everything. Realizing this, you will be able to experience the unchanging, eternal and ultimate reality.
(Sati Baba – "Collection of lectures", 1991)
One of the greatest discoveries of Vedic mysticism is the knowledge of the Spiritual Heart, which is located on the right side of the body. In Sanskrit, the Spiritual Heart is called Hrideyam. The Higher "I" is outside of time and space, and it manifests itself in the entire universe.
Everything that you see and feel is a manifestation of the Divine Self. There is no such place in the universe where there is no True Self – it is everywhere and in everything. However, it is the Spiritual Heart that is the door to the eternal and infinite Absolute Self, which, in fact, cannot be reduced to any point in the human body.
It is in the Spiritual Heart that the mystical experience takes place, which the Vedas call "I Am I" and the Bible describes as "I Am Who I Am."
By practicing meditation on this mysterious point, one gains the realization that the Divine is in everything. The Spiritual Heart is just a door, a pointer to the Divine Self, which is in everything. Sathya Sai Baba paid great attention to this key knowledge. Without knowledge of the Spiritual Heart, philosophy remains a mere set of concepts, and only meditation on the Spiritual Heart can help take a step toward inner mystical experience.
The feeling of separateness from existence leads to fears, which give rise to a feeling of hostility about the environment. A person who perceives himself as a separate being is always tense and aggressive, and such a person always suffers, even if he lives in a beautiful palace. Sathya Sai Baba demonstrates in each of his actions the breadth of his heart – his words and deeds were truth manifest. He was in the perfect state of the Absolute Self, and in his presence all people experienced "an unchanging, eternal and supreme reality."
12. Boy Sai told his parents that devotees were waiting for him
This story is one which happened to Sathya Sai Baba when he was very young. At the time, Sathya Sai Baba was only fourteen years old, and like all children he went to a regular school. It was early in the morning when he went to class and on his way turned suddenly and returned home. That morning he felt that the day had come to reveal a great secret.
Seeing their son come home unexpectedly, his parents looked at each other excitedly while trying to understand what was going on. Having quickly entered the house, the Sai boy said in a determined tone: “I no longer belong to you. The illusion of this world has left me. My many devotees are already waiting for me.”
The household did not know how to react to these strange words. Suddenly, a dazzling bright light shone around the head of the boy Sai. At that moment, the neighbors entered the house and also saw the majestic scene. The fourteen-year-old Baba stood calmly in the middle of the room, shining with a bright light. Recovering from their stupor, relatives and neighbors fell at his feet, asking for blessings. They could not understand the full depth of what was happening, but intuitively they felt the significance of what was unfolding before them.
After this amazing incident, boy Sai moved to a nearby abandoned Krishna temple. The temple was very ancient and, by that time, completely abandoned. The teenage Sai inspired the other boys in the village to rebuild the temple and soon several adults joined them. So, the ancient temple of Krishna was restored and became a new home for a wonderful young man. There, with friends, he sang traditional Bhajans daily, along with chants dedicated to the Vedic Gods.