SAI BABA'S MISSION

SAI BABA'S MISSION
by Sri Narasimha Swamiji
The SECRET OF GOD-REALISATION
The Lord's blessings are ever with His devotees
whoever chants His sweet names and who work
in the world as His instruments, enthrone Him in
your heart merge yourself in Him. Continuous
remembrance of the Lord is the secret of success
in life and God realization.
- SWAMI SIVANANDA.

Term ‘Mission’ is derived from the Latin root ‘Mitto’
meaning ‘send.’ So a missionary is one who is
sent with a message or direction, ordinarily by
God, and, as used in Christian literature, a mission
was the most valuable characteristic of the lives of
such great Prophets as Moses, Jesus, etc.
Jesus’ mission was, by his own death, i.e.,
sacrificing himself on the cross, to absolve mankind
from hereditary or original sin, that is, the sin derived
by being the descendants of the first sinners and
rebels - Adam and Eve.

His death was considered a sacrifice on behalf of
entire humanity. Others' mission, for example,
Moses, was to lead the Jews from captivity in
Egypt on towards the Promised Land and also to
make Laws that the Jews should submit to and
so he proclaimed Laws of the 12 tables. The idea
of a missionary is practically that of an agent. In
the case of Sai Baba, he declared "God has
agents everywhere. They have great powers".
Baba added, ‘I also have great powers’ implying
thereby that he also was an agent of God. He
also expressly told D.S. Rasane ‘I can do
nothing except what God orders.’ He did not
give a kupni to G.G. Narke saying, ‘The Fakir’
(God) has not permitted me to give you kupni,
i.e., the robe of the sanyasi or begging fakir -
as G. G. Narke was to be a family man, an
earning Grihastha, according to God's plan - and
not a beggar. As an agent he said that he had
vast powers, that is, divine powers.

The powers and the mission have a close relation.
The mission has to be worked through the powers
given and the powers are given only for carrying
out the mission. Baba had by concentration on
God practically every siddhi that one can think
of, and Srimad Bhagavatha XI (15) 32 says "What
power is there that cannot be got by concentration
on God with conquest or control of mind and
senses and breath?"

So his possession of vast powers (both
acknowledged and proved), was always utilized for
the benefit of mankind, promoting individual benefits
that were obvious, seen and well understood, and
general benefits which were not so equally obvious
or well seen and understood. In Sai Baba's life we
see one marked difference between his life before
1886 and the life thereafter. Before 1886, the main
stress of his activities and views appears to be on
doing good to those who were near him and
connected by rinanubandha (prenatal obligations).
But rinanubandha cannot stop within definite
geographical limits.
By reason of that principle, people from a far had
to benefit, and in working it out, he achieved other
things also than doing good to the immediate
comers. The benefits derived by others consist in
(1) the development and spread of the Sai faith
intensively and extensively i.e. all over the country
(thus arresting the spread of Atheism and Agnostic
ism) and (2) the unification thereby of dharma and
religion regardless of existing diversification and
divisions of religion, caste, creed etc.

(to be contd....)
Source SaiPadananda July 1998