Are We Ready?

Bhagawan Who had made the epochal declaration, as a teenager, that “I Am Sai Baba; I have come to ward off all your troubles; keep your houses clean” had later assured a devotee: “You can be wherever you are; I shall come to you; If you call upon Me, I shall be at your side.” Endeavouring to bring ‘Him’ home, the most beloved Divine form, every devotee with pure-hearted devotion stands with a chance to win His grace to manifest Him. While meditating upon this holy task of bringing The Lord to our homes, let’s take a peek at one of His home visits happened in the early sixties…as chronicled by H Sunder Rao… Are we really ready to ‘bring Him home? …and to fathom the inexplicable potential of Prasanthi?

My most memorable impression of Baba is that He is one of the freest and most spontaneous of human beings I have ever come across! He is not an inaccessible distant and forbiddingly solemn figure. The Divine has incarnated itself in Baba in its most engaging and at the same time its most compassionate aspects. These aspects of Baba were vouchsafed to me and members of my family and a few close friends during an almost unexpected visit of Baba to my residence.

It was an unforgettable experience for all of us. To have Baba so close to us in His beloved familiar form, full of laughter and fun, yet so thoughtful, considerate and loving was at first a bewildering experience. We were dazed for the first few minutes. But Baba soon put us all at perfect ease, and our joy knew no bounds.

It was ananda of the purest kind, overwhelming and indescribable, and we were simply swept away by Baba’s grace, love and benediction. It was as if some very dear friend and close relation was with us, intensely interested in our welfare and supremely happy to see us and be with us. With tender solicitude, He enquired about every one, advised us on a few important problems that troubled us, joked and laughed with us, ate the simple meal hastily got ready and left us, with our hearts full of indescribable joy. Yet the void in our hearts, when He left us, was painful, as if a dear one had left us on a long journey.

The resplendent figure of Baba, in bright orange robe, with a merry twinkle in His eyes, and a gracious enchanting smile on His face, His hands raised in benediction, remains in our minds with indelible vividness, and the sunset hour of that sacred day when He came to our home is still remembered with joy by everyone who had the privilege to have His darshan.

In Baba the Divine and the human are so harmoniously blended. He is the perfect Man, and yet an Incarnation of God. So, sometimes His inscrutability baffles us. He acts on a plane so high that ordinary people can hardly understand Him and His ways. Many people go to Puttaparthi hoping that He will cure their physical ailments. Others look upon Him as a fore-teller of the future. All this, people regard Him as simply a human being who has somehow acquired great powers. Baba often says that His cures miracles, and prophecies are part of His great mission to purify and exalt mankind and bring them to God-realisation. But Baba is greater than all that. To the true devotee, He is the Supreme Teacher and Guide whose love can convert and bring them nearer to their great goal of Self-realisation. Prasanthi Nilayam is a powerful spiritual center where a mighty power of healing and inner peace works without cessation. Indeed, Baba has charged that place with some wonderful shakti of His own, and no one who goes there can remain unaffected by this vast and powerful spiritual force.