Satsang Devotion to Shri Sai Baba by Sanjay M. Padia

Satsang Devotion to Shri Sai Baba by Sanjay M. Padia
Devotion to Shri Sai Baba
We all know that to obtain the blessings of divine personalities such as
Rama, Krishna, Maruti, Shiva, Ganapathi, etc... it takes years of unfailing
devotion, before we are able to reach their expectations. Any break in our
devotion in the middle would create a setback which may again take several
years or more. Great saints such as Narasingh Mehta, Meerabai, Bhakta
Prahlad spent most of their lives immersed in devotion to Lord Krishna and
as a result achieved not only liberation but also sainthood. But the
intensity of devotion which they had cannot be compared to that of the
devotees of today. I would not say that today's devotees are insincere but
the difference in the time factor is obviously there.
We all belong to the 20th century when science and technology has advanced
so rapidly that the belief in the existence of God itself is being doubted.
The absence of belief in God is very much present amongst our youth, who are
more engrossed in their worldly pleasures than anything else.
In our country for instance, we see around us a lot of modern hotels, clubs
and bars where most of our young people are found to visit these days. This
has resulted in not only a deviation from the traditional Indian culture but
also a sharp decline in our moral standards. By imitating the negative side
of the Western culture, our youth's morale has stooped to a record low
level.
I am not against Western nations as such and very much appreciating their
economic development, science, technology, discipline and honesty but
instead of accepting these good points, we have chosen their bad ones. In
the midst of all this wholesale negative import, religion has no place
whatsoever.
I have met many friends and most of them often say that they doubt the
existence of God. I have no desire to elaborate to them on this issue since
they would refuse to believe even if I do so. But there are some who say
that they do believe in God and Personalities such as Rama, Krishna etc. but
they hardly have any time for devotion or thinking of God. And there are
also some who say that they do believe and even spend a little time on
prayer but find no relief from their miseries.
Let me first contradict the statement of those friends who say that they
don't have time for any devotion. Is this statement on their part justified?
Definitely not; Because time as a fact is never available at all. It is we
who have to create it. Just as we spend say 8 hours in sleep, 9 hours at
work, and the balance 7 hours for entertainment we are actually booking time
accordingly. Assuming that we must sleep for 8 hours and that we must work
at our office for 9 hours we leave a balance of 7 hours to be adjusted to
suit our entertainments. Out of those 7 hours do you think that these
friends cannot spare even 15 minutes on devotion and that is believable? I
don't but I cannot say about our readers. Let us say the available time is
only 4 hours at the most. But even in these four hours can they not spend 10
minutes at least? The actual underlying fact is our friends just put forward
a lame excuse. The real reasons are
a) They are not interested in any form of prayer, or devotion. They would
rather opt for interesting entertainments instead.
b) They are lazy.
(to be contd.....)
Sanjay M. Padia
Calcutta (West Bengal)
Source Shri Sai Leela June 1985.