Satsang The Source of Inspiration

The Source of Inspiration
By Justice T. N. Vallinayagam
Mr। Justice I N. Vallinayagam of the Karnataka High Court was with us on 15.1.1999 to release the booklet ‘Thus Spake Saipadananda' and we are pleased to publish excerpts from his speech in the form of an article.

- Editor
Religion exists for the uplift of humanity and is a path to Divinity। Fundamentally the basic principles of all religions are alike; but the base ego often perverts them for its own ends. The Vedas and works like those of Valmiki and Veda Vyasa, the former depicting the life' story of Lord Rama and the latter of Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata which inter alia contains the Bhagavad Geetha - the Divine Song - and a code of conduct for humanity in spiritual, moral and social spheres, are epics of which one could be justly proud. The great prophet Mohamed and Jesus Christ propagated religions of peace and universal love.

In Kali Yuga, politics and greed have deflected the Hindus from the teachings of the Vedas and Puranas; the Muslims from those of the Koran and Christian nations are claiming a desire to establish peace by war! India is in turmoil despite its proud culture and peace loving nature. Even nature has become violent and we hear of destructive floods and earthquakes.

For fifty years, the great Master Sai Baba of Shirdi disseminated by precept and example the religion of faith, truth and love to humanity, when he was in the mortal coil, and decades after his Mahasamadhi in 1918, his message has progressively rung louder throughout the length and breadth of India- and even beyond, thanks to the sincere and untiring labors of His apostles - Poojya Sri Narasimha Swamiji and Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji. As a humble devotee of Sai Baba, I am proud of his glory and grace.

Sai Baba was 'Parabrahma' but was humility incarnate. He would say: 'I am a servant of God." Many instances of His supreme mystic power and leelas could be cited, but he never paraded them and attributed everything to Allah and the Guru. There was no distinction with him of caste, class or creed and the Hindu would do his worship in the mosque along with Muslim and Parsi devotees and others who offered prayers in their own way. He never gave up 'Bhiksha' although after 1911 there were large offerings of fruits and sweets of which He took only little bits. He used to distribute fairly large amounts of money every day but spent nothing on Himself. Just before His last breath He took nine coins from his pocket and gave to Lakshmi.

He was an ocean of 'Premamrita' but people looked up to Him more for worldly benefits than spiritual. He once said that thousands had come to Him, but those who came for purely spiritual benefit could be counted on his fingers.

Our duty is to vow complete surrender of ourselves to Him and live our worldly life with as much detachment as possible, and with faith and love, be living examples of Universal Brotherhood. We have the ideals of Sri Narasimha Swamiji and Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji and may the Master in His unbounded Grace make us worthy of Him.

Rely on YourselfA disciple came riding on his camel to the tent of his Sufi Master. He dismounted and walked right into the tent, bowed low and said, "So great is my faith in God that I have left my camel outside untied, convinced that God protects the interests of those who love him."

"Go tie your camel, you fool!" said the Master. God cannot be bothered doing for you what you are perfectly capable of doing for yourself.
GOSSIP
A devotee confessed his bad habit of repeating gossip. Smilingly, replied Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji: Repeating it would not be so bad if you did not
He advised to repeat Vishnu Sahasra Namam instead of indulging in gossip. To those devotees who were always asking for words of wisdom, Sri Radhakrishna Swamiji said, "Wisdom is not expressed in words. It reveals itself in action. But when he saw them plunge headlong into activity he laughed and said, "That is not action. That is Motion”

(Source Shri Sai Padananda April 1999)
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