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Transcript begins at 6:34.
Uh, Sairam everybody. Those who are there on this- My dear brothers and sisters, and also fellow travelers on the spiritual path. Today, you may have to excuse me for speaking at a lower pitch and a lower pace, for I have been running a temperature of one or two for the last two days, and my throat is badly infected. So I choose a pace where I can slowly deliver the content and share my thoughts with my fellow travelers. At the outset, my salutations at the lotus feet of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, who has been my guru and god in all respects, whether it is personal life or professional life. In spiritual life, he's the master. He's a silent master and a silent teacher. We'll deal with the [clears throat] question, A, who is God? [clears throat] Generally, God is defined as generator, organizer, and destroyer. So who creates, who organizes, who liquidates or dissolves is called the God. It's very Western-oriented concept with which I really disagree. G stands for grace. [clears throat] O stands for omnipresence, omnipotent, and omniscient. D stands for discipline, dedication, and devotion. All three aspects culminating into one word called God is, in fact, an experience to his enigma to an... So has the creation created God or God has created the creation? These are the rudimentary or fundamental questions that have been bothering the mankind on Earth, despite having very scriptural knowledge and also vast experiences and the interactions with many wise. But Vedas already declared, the adage being, "Ekam sat vipra bahuda vadanti." Truth is one. It is told differently by the wise. So also, God is also one, but experienced, explored, and explained by many in different ways according to their perceptions and interpretations. Hence, God is a myth according to some schools of thought. God is something above according to some people. God is everything according to some. There is nothing called God according to many. These all coexist on the dais of this world, but the search continuously goes on in search of God. Who is this God? [clears throat] God is the primordial sound. I remember Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, about sixty years ago, when he was traveling from Puttaparthi to Whitefield, suddenly he stopped the car on the roadside and walked out of the car. He climbed upon a small rock and he literally declared to the world, "I am Sathya. I am also Ghosha." This is the vision of the divinity. Sathya is eternal, indestructible, everlasting, ever-shining, ever-guiding, etc. Thirty-two aspects of Sathya are already described in the light of Lord Shiva. Then what is this Ghosha? Ghosha in Urdu, it is a veil. But in Sanskrit, Ghosha is a shabda. That is sound. So Sathya Sai Baba declared, "I am that sound from which the whole creation has emanated." Nothing is created. If it is created, it is momentary. There must be someone to create, but emanation is always on its own. So according to me, and based on the declaration and the revelation by our beloved Bhagawan, God is nothing but an emanation. Emanation from where? From the creation or already the created, uh, source? Again, we have to answer this. The God and the creation are synonym with each other. They are no different. Because the concept of God is there, the creation is reflected here. Adi Shankara, in his, uh, Dakshinamurti Stotram, he declares this: "Vishwam darpana drishya marana grihi tulyam nijantar gatam." The whole world is like a reflection in the mirror. So mirror should be there. The world should be thereThen only the reflection can be seen. So you cannot really segregate the concept or aspect of God from the existing world. Again, when you get back to the Vedas and, uh, many, many theories propounded in all four Vedas. In fact, three Vedas, Rig, Sama and Yajur. It is declared thus, all that is created is Brahman. Brahman, God, these are all again the same words. God is, uh, is not an Indian... The origin is not Sanskrit. It is from the Western English. So Brahman we can use, not Brahma. Brahma is a creator, one of the aspects. Brahman is, that is unmanifest. The unmanifest, one way or the other, manifests itself as the, uh, manifest world. So the real manifest as unreal. The unreal in which we all live in, believe that unreal is real and the real is forg-forgotten. This is the tragedy, uh, that, uh, human fa-race always faced through the annals of history. So here it's a beautiful subject today, wherein we have to, uh, go deeper, deeper into the matter and try to find a positive solution or arrive to a logical conclusion where we can establish wha-what really God is. God is sound. God is silent. God is Jnana. That is absolute wisdom. God is also ignorance. God is also silence. What appears to be terribly positive has also the negative aspect of it. Even the negative is also considered God. These are the, uh, proclamations in the Vedas. Needless to mention, God cannot be seen as separate from each individual too. The tree, the flowing river, the unmovable mountain, the sky, or the five elements for that matter. They all represent various aspects of God. If we stop using the word God, then things become easier. We, we'll use it, the word God, at a later stage. We always keep something that is unseen, that is not experienced yet. That we cannot even comprehend at physical or metaphysical or even at s-spiritual level, and say, such a situation is called God. Not at all. Even at physical level, God exists. He guides and guards. At metaphysical level, when you become intellect, when your intellectual quotient surpasses your emotional quotient, when these two quotients surpass the spiritual quotient, then the existence of God is felt within, definitely not without, not outside. It is only inside. So in India, I say, Paul Brunton called it the secret India. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, "No, it is not secret India. It is a sacred India." Here we go to temples to find God there. We take bath, holy bath in flowing rivers where we find the touch of God. We go to woods where we try to indulge in penance and maintain absolute inner silence. There we always see God can be heard in utter silence. We go to some remote areas and indulge in absolute solitude, where serenity and tranquility really envelop us and enshroud us in the mystery of the concept called God. Then what is it you are experiencing there? Are you experiencing an object or a subject other than you? Or are you experiencing your own self? The answer is, you are experiencing your own self. Because in the mundane world, in day-to-day, uh, aspects of life and activities of life, in the din and clamor, we lose ourselves and we are drowned and drenched, and we cannot really see ourselves, though mirror is ever in front of us. That is why the tapasvis, the rishis, the mahatmas choose solitary places far away from this, uh, din and clamor. Embrace absolute silence where they don't li-look into themselves. It is not we are looking into. It is looking unto themselves. When you look into yourself, mind is active there. It always cautions you why all this. The world is beautiful, as in Taittiriya Upanishad. The world is beautiful. Nobody knows whether you will get the same type of life. Nobody is guaranteeing you that you will be blessed with a, a better life. Live this life in its fullOr in the Western style, live life, life king size. Very immediately when you try to live or look unto yourself, it tells you the reality of this world, the vagaries of the world, and says, "See what you are seeing in the manifest world continuously undergoes a change or a metamorphosis, and finally it will get into oblivion, leaving nothing here." So as you lost your, uh, childhood, your youth, your middle age, you are also on the threshold of, uh, old age. Then finally one day you will vacate your body, even without your own knowledge. So this Vedanta and the reality, it is always appearing to be clashing with each other. But looking into is the first step, looking unto is the final step. So in this, God has no role to play. He's just an observer or a witness to what is happening within you. That is why in Telugu, Swami wrote... In fact, he rendered one poem. [reads in Telugu] See, you think that your body is eternal and permanent. It will go one day. But if you really understand what you are, if you can experience the flashes of self within you, when you look unto yourself, you realize that self is God and God is in you, so God is not separate from you. Why search outside? Always try to search inside. We indulge in all rituals in search of God. We are not in search of reality or truth. We are in search of God without even knowing the very concept or aspect of God. Then the question is: What is that God who created this world? We created. For our own convenience, we created. If you see Vedas, Veda mantras, they're all Shabda Ghosha. That's why Swami is right in saying, "I am Ghosha." He didn't say, "I'm Veda." We have to draw the inference saying that Swami is Veda himself. Swami never declared, "I am God." He never declared during the annals of his sojourn on the planet Earth, spanning into 86 years. He always said, "I know that I am God. You don't know that you are God. If you realize and understand and experience that you are God, there is nothing further to realize. Then absolutely there is no difference between you and me. You are me, I am you." We have been reading this, uh, statement of Bhagavan for nearly seven, eight decades. "You are me, I am you." But we don't know what does it mean. But after thorough examination, thorough scrutiny, thorough swadhyaya, that is self-study, after life experience, all with the grace of guru, guru in the form of Sathya Sai, we understand that self is God, God is self. Where is the supporting factor for this? Is it a, a personal in- inference? No, no. It is already declared in Upanishads. [reads in Sanskrit] Ishwara, who is yet to be found, the atma, which is yet to be experienced and felt, together assume one form that is called guru. That is why we call Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai [reads in Sanskrit] The Sadguru, he's Sanatana. He's very ancient. Maybe a few lakhs of years ago he was there, maybe in different forms. But in our times, he has assumed the form of Sathya Sai. Then he moved among us like any one of us. But entirely different from the millions and trillions of the human, uh, count. Then what made him different from all of us? The question has a beautiful answer. If you think he's really God, we have to offer our salutations for the humanism in him. If you think that he's a mere human being, we have to offer our salutations for the divinity he has revealed to the world from minute to minute, rather second to second. So Swami is a combination of Ishwara, guru, and also Atma. So here we have to understand the concept of God at physical level. For me, the role model is Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai. At physical level, when I see him, he looks like any other person in the world, a normal person. But if I try to understand him at physical level...He can be just concluded as a Mahatma, that's all, not beyond. If I, uh, continue my exploration a little further and apply my intellect, of course, with the help of, with the grace of Guru, at metaphysical level, when my Swadhyaya comes to a close, and when I finish my reading of all the scriptures, at the end of the metaphysical state, I conclude that he is not a mere human being. He's not mere intellect. He's not mere, uh, embodiment of knowledge and wisdom. He is wisdom himself. Which wisdom? It is Vedic wisdom, ancient wisdom, for which this holy country, the mother India, has stood for and passed through the test of time for several, several yugas. So, at metaphysical level, I, I experience Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai as a combination of the physical and metaphysical. It is a combo. My thrust, my quest, my eternal quest doesn't end there. It will propel me, it provokes me, it activates me, it awakens me into the realms of, uh, what we call the reality. Then I try to understand Baba in many an aspects and try to correlate my various co-current and counter-current thoughts that emanate in my brain at the rate of six thousand per second. Finally, I draw one conclusion. Sathya Sai is a guru. Sathya Sai is not mere guru. Sathya Sai is not mere human being. Sathya Sai is God. Then my quest ends there. Fine. Excellent. So what is that then? Adhato Brahma Jijnasa. This is the first sutra of Brahma Sutra Bhashya. What next? Yeah, I experienced Swami as Puttaparthi Swami, as son of Eswaramma, as Sathya Narayan Raju before, now Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. For me, uh, uh, the whole world calls endearingly the Swami. Everything is fine. But is it the end? No, not at all. Then at the guru level, he guides you externally and also internally. As a pot maker takes the clay, he will make it so soft that he'll put on the wheel to give a shape. When the shape is getting on, the potter, he pats from outside and taps from inside so that a perfect form is given or shape is given to the item that you chose to make. Then, when once that is done, I re- I realize Swami is not only giving me moral lectures. He's not merely just talking to me and giving a discourse on quoting, quotations from various scripts. He always brings out the quintessence and through the ambrosia of his deliverance, he makes you very, very comfortable and makes you fully equipped to understand the one aspect of God that is at metaphysical level, right? Then he plays the, uh, role of a guru there. Then the third aspect is the atma, the self. We don't use soul as Westerns use. We Indians, we always use the self. They, they call it body, mind, and soul. We call it body, mind, and self. Soul is... How soul is different from self? Soul changes. It travels from place to place. Self does, doesn't travel. It will be occupied by some other body. Some astral bodies will come. They occupy. Then again, we take a birth. That is a big story. Let us not bother about it. So for me, the Ishwaro Gurur Atmati, the sh- the forms are different. They are appearing to be different. One as Ishwara, the other as guru, the other as atma. But Swami plays a beautiful role as the self within us. We are all here today discussing the subject. Let us put one question or just ponder over what happens when we think good of anybody. There will be a, a small push within us. Do it immediately. Don't waste your time. Procrastination is death. It will, it never yielded any result. Immediately you act upon. The inner voice tells you. Suppose we indulge in a bad thought. We think bad of any other person or anything else. Immediately, the same self immediately says, "No, go slow. Think twice before indulging in any activity." So according to me, Swami as the self acts from within more than without. That is outside.Outside, many people, in fact, very few people have a great chance to have his proximity. For those who have real proximity might not have understood him fully yet. But the people who are far, far away from the physical form of Swami might have already experienced all the three stages called the Ishvara, Guru, and also the Self. When we hear so many things from all quarters of the society and all corners of the universe, Sir, we have not seen Bhagawan Baba yet. He guided us. He still guides us. We are in the path because he is guiding us. Is there any answer for this? Especially if you look at South African countries, very few have got the chance of meeting or seeing Swami. But in South Africa, the education system established and propounded by Swami is assiduously followed. But those people who are far away are more connected to Bhagawan because it is a connection of the Self. So without using so many words, Swami 60 years ago declared, between me and the other, there is no agent, neither agent nor any agent. It is heart to heart contact. If I decide I get contacted with anybody on this planet Earth, for that, the other party should be fully prepared to surrender first. That is a condition. Then sacrifice everything. Three, be humble. If all the three combined into one are practiced by anybody irrespective of the caste, color or creed, then I am connected. Then again, an atheist will immediately put a question. Sir, if we don't do all the three, will Swami not get connected to me? My experience is he will be more connected with those because he has come to redeem the people from the shackles of ignorance and also height of arrogance. God comes here to redeem the mankind from anger, lust, desire, jealousy, etc. And also when man loses the path of dharma, that is righteousness, then he has to incarnate. He has to descend onto the planet Earth and make an advent to correct the situation. It is very ably declared in Bhagavad Gita. Who declared? He himself declared. Who declared? It is not Yadava Krishna or the Lord Krishna. It is Yogeshwara Krishna. That is why in Bhagavad Gita, in 700 shlokas, nowhere it is used as Krishna Uvacha. It is known as Bhagavan Uvacha. Except at one point where it was used Madhusudana Uvacha. Right. So summing up, the God concept is created by God himself, by Ishwara himself, by the Sadguru himself, by the Supreme Self himself. The Supreme Self is really and beautifully, aptly termed by Sri Aurobindo as the supramental consciousness. He also never used God. Swami also never used God. Ramana Maharshi also never used God. We people, we all use only God, God, God. That's all. In fact, Swami went a little further and defined what is God. In Telugu, we call Devudu. In Sanskrit, Deva. In other languages, Daivam like Malayalam. Right. Deva means a play. Devudu means who plays. He plays with whom? He plays with himself. As a child plays with itself in the mirror, God also plays with itself or himself with all the created, the manifest world. That's why he is called Deva, Devudu. So Deva or the God is limited by time, by space. And he has a role to perform. He will perform. He has a reason to perform. He alone finds a reason. Then what is the role of the other creation than God? It has got a very limited role to play. And what is that play? When God plays, you play with him. That's what Swami says. The same thing in Shankara's Dakshinamurti Stotram, Swami beautifully puts in just Telugu and also English. I play with you because you play with me.I love you because you love me. If you want to beget love from me, you just to love me, that's all. The love, an unconditional love, a divine love. So who is God means God is everything. The sound, silence, the birth, the death, the sunrise, the sunset, the failure, the success, the up and down, everything. Everything which appears to be dual is really non-dual. It appears to be dual. So when it appears dual, to be dual, we indulge in so much of discussion because we are endowed with power of reasoning and discussion through a vehicle called the mind. We have an apparatus called the brain. We keep it aside. We try to live with our mind. When you start viewing the whole manifest world through your mind, the whole world appears to be heterogeneous, like a big group joining together to participate in a small, on, on a small occasion. That's called a heterogeneous group. But in fact, when the non-dual situation arises and is experienced by the seeker, it is homogeneous. The milk and water, when they are mixed together, they are one and the same. But when oil and water are put together, they remain, continue to remain separate with a marked distinct identity. So here, we lose our identity when once you say God is separate from us. That's why long back, maybe 25 years ago, when I was, uh, speaking on the joyous occasion of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's birthday in a place called Vijayanagaram in Andhra Pradesh, after a marathon, um, uh, speech of one and a half hours, I said, "Swami is not God." People were puzzled and baffled. "Why Murthy Gari is saying that Swami is not God?" Immediately I said, "He is not mere God. He's a phenomenon." When I say phenomenon, I should not use the word, uh, uh, I should not use He. It is phenomenon. So Swami is neither he nor she. It is phenomenon. It is Parabrahman. Then the first question, first part of the question, if God is understood in clear terms, then let us turn our own life experience with Swami, how we experience the Swami as guru, God, Ishvara, and phenomenon. Right? Four aspects. The fourth dimension is not generally applied to the God because for many, for majority, for 99.9%, God is ultimate attribution to the unmanifest, to the real, right? So we stop at God and forget there is some- nothing beyond that. But let us, uh, take this opportunity of, uh, understanding Bhagavan, who is Sathya Sai Baba. It's a beautiful question. When Swami is going to complete his, uh, advent of this 100th year very soon, the question arises at 97th year. I'm very glad the question has been put forward. [clears throat] Now let us try to answer this. I'm not quoting any experience of anybody. I'm not quoting any of my personal experiences here because they don't mean anything to the world. My own perception, my own interpretation, my own inner experience, my correlation of several happenings in life, if I just put them on one platform or one thread, then I think I will get an answer, and I will deliver the answer to you right now. Right? One, is Swami [clears throat] Ishvara? Yes. I authentically say he's Ishvara. He is Ishvara. Swami as a physical body is guru. Swami at the supra mental consciousness is Parabrahman. How? For me, Ishvara, Ishvara means what? All-pervading, all-knowing, omniscient, omnipresent, uh, etc. So many attributes are there. Second attribution for Ishvara is indestructible. People say going by the Gregorian calendar of 2011, April 24th, Swami avatar has, Swami's avatar has come to an end. I say the glory of avatar has taken a new dimension to influence the whole universe from that point of time. That's my observation. My experience too. [clears throat] Till then, the divine energy was contained in a small container of five feet three inches, where he assumed the form of a human. Following all the rules of the manifest world, he had to done, do certain things, and he could not or should not and did not do certain things because he never violated the rules of theAnatma. Anatma is the manifest world. So he's bound by that. On twenty-fourth April two thousand eleven, he's unbound. His energy has come out not like a volcano. It is like a ambrosia emanating from the Ksheera Sagara. After a great churning, the whole amrit has come to sprinkle all over the world and make the human a real human and awake the ignorant and direct and conduct him towards the realms of reality. So according to me, the concept of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba as Ishvara is eternal, it is indestructible. That is why I always wonder when Swami's Aradhana Utsavam is done on a very large scale for a, for a phenomenon which has neither a birth nor a death, why are we celebrating? We celebrate because we, we need some space. We need some occasion to sing his glory. That's all. It doesn't mean much more than, uh, what we are getting out of that. Then this Ishvara, is it, uh, that you experience when you are alone? No. Is it that you have to go in a congregation? No. Is it that you are in a state of dream? No. Is it that you are, uh, really enriched with absolute knowledge and gained power of knowledge through which you experience? No. Then how to understand Swami as, uh, Ishvara? The proof is, for the last eighty-six plus eleven, ninety-seven years, he's talked about, he's followed, he's heard, he's venerated, he's respected, he's adored, he's admired, he's worshiped by trillions of people. That is the testimony to the Ishvara aspect of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Here, I take a, a small diversion to enlighten on the very name of, uh, Bhagavan. Then we, we see, uh, so many people using the prefix as Bhagavan today. Even a person who can deliver a few spiritual lectures is now called Bhagavan, unfortunately. But the first Bhagavan, the first time after creation, even after Treta Yuga, you know, Veda Vyasa was called the first Bhagavan. Yogeshwara Krishna was equally called Bhagavan Sri Krishna. So the Bhagavan, bha means light, ga means jnana, van means that he possesses. So the combination of light... What is light? Realization. Light plus jnana. Who holds them is called Bhagavan, who contains and who is that? Who is the personified aspects of the bha and ga is Bhagavan. It is not a title. Right? Then is Krishna and Veda Vyasa are same? He's only a, a li- literate. He created literature. He has, uh, resolved so many issues related to Puranas and all, whereas Krishna is God. That is a fundamental mistake that we commit in understanding Veda Vyasa and Krishna. Here again, the same supreme consciousness has assumed three forms in Dwapara Yuga with the same name. Number one is Krishna, our Yogeshwara Krishna. Then this Veda Vyasa. The name of Veda Vyasa is not Veda Vyasa. Earlier, he was called Dwaipayana because he, he took his birth in an island. Dwipa means an island. What is his original name? He's Krishna, Krishna Dwaipayana. Then the third, uh, angle, third dimension of Krishna Chaitanya is Draupadi. Draupadi's original name is Krishna. So there is absolutely no difference between Draupadi, Krishna and Vyasa. That is why Krishna and Vyasa are called Bhagavan. Then why Draupadi is not called Bhagavan? Somebody should say Bhagavati because Bhagavan is, uh, uh, masculine, the other should be feminine. No, because for Krishna and Veda Vyasa, there must be a catalytic agent or the supreme energy that has to run through the, uh, Dwapara Yuga. That is why she's the undercurrent, but not upper current. That's why she's not called Bhagavat Draupadi, right? Uh, uh, just, uh, an academic aspect of it. Let us keep it aside. Bhagavan. Sri. Sri has three notes. Sha, ra, i. Sha is Saraswati. Ra, that is wisdom. Ra is Lakshmi. That is Jnana Lakshmi.That is prosperity. Then E, Ishwara again. Sri, shakara, rakara, E. That is called Sri. Bhagavan Sri. Sathya. It is there. What is Sathya? As already mentioned, Satatamu Undedi, which is eternal, which exists all the time. This is one of the thirty-two aspects of Lord Shiva according to Sampuranas. So this Sathya is synonym with Ishwara, Shiva. Then who is that Shiva? Is Ardhanarishwara, right? So this Sathya is masculine. Then in Ardhanarishwara, what is that feminine aspect? Ai. Sathya plus Ai. Saha plus Ai. Sathya Sai. Then it is beautiful. Very good. Sir, why that Sai is called, Sai is called? Where is that Sa? How it has come? In one great scripture called Mahamantrarnava, that is the ocean of mantras, the Shiva is declared as or worshipped as or addressed as Sarvabhyaha, Sarva Sarvabhyaha. Sarvaha is Ishwara. Sarvaha, if you condense to one single syllable, it is Saha plus Ai is Sai. Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai. Then all these put together, finally we say Baba also. Baba is not a mere father. In Urdu, in some parts of India, Baba is Baba, Bapu. These are all called attributed to fatherly aspect. But here, Baba doesn't mean alone that. There is something beyond. It is a protector. He is the perceptor. He is the one who should be followed with an unquestionable mind and with a purity of mind, with an absolute resolve and with a great clarity and absolute conviction. These all things are really enshrouded, embedded, and impregnated in the name of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai. That's why he's called Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, right? Then when I understand the whole intricacies of his name himself, the form himself... Think of his form for a while. Who is Sathya Sai Baba? In India, in, in his times, maybe hundred years ago nearly, about ninety crore Indians were there. They have taken birth on this planet Earth. But nobody has got a form like Bhagavan. It's a unique form. Very, very unique form. His features, his, uh, symmetry of the body, his head, his glowing eyes, his broad mouth, his beautiful nose, and the flashing eyes, and a flat forehead. When you see the symmetry, you don't find anything akin to him. That is a beauty because God is never akin to anything. It is always unique. Uniqueness is God. The hair that he, uh, had around and the hair he had up is entirely different. It, it looks like an Afro-Asian hair, but Afro-Asian hair has no beauty. Absolutely. It is like a keekar in a thick forest. But the very hair of Swami is so beautiful. It's very endearing. It emits beautiful fragrance. This can be experienced by many who have gone closer to him or who had an experience of, uh, being together with him. The hair itself, uh, used to emanate a wonderful fragrance and the divine fragrance. The fragrance that is not extracted from any flower. That is from elsewhere, we don't know from where it comes. When we don't know, we call it divine, right? So the very form, the very name, the very structure, the very personality, the very, uh, physical aspects of even Bhagavan indicate that he is Ishwara. See, many have come, many have gone. That is the way of the world. So many avatars have come. So many avatars also have gone. But this particular avatar of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai is unique for one as-- one reason. The reason being, in fact, he is a challenge to a great artist. Even Picasso cannot draw him. For hair is fixed. From neck down, there is nothing but down. Two lotus feet. Only the fa-facial which is visible, distinctly visible to the physical eye, is only to be drawn. Nothing else. Everything is fixed. But if you closely observe Swami's various photographs or his momentsOr his expressions when he talks, when he walks, when he speaks, when he interacts, when he cajoles, when he, uh, really, uh, cautions. His expressions express, uh, in fact, they reveal, they flash the reality, the absolute reality. The reality with a lot of, uh, shining, uh, uh, light. The light that emanates when he speaks, you cannot even gauge, uh, for more than a second perhaps. Second is too long for even to gauge at him. So these are to be experienced. I'm only trying to explain because what I have seen. My... This is limited to my perception, right? So Swami is Ishvara in all these respects. One more thing. The crea- much before the creation, Vedas were created. So Swami is much before Vedas, much before the creation. How do you know? He's born on, uh, November 23rd, 1926. You don't know even that? Sir, you are referring to the Gregorian calendar. I am referring to the time. Very long annals of yugas. When you also can take your mind back to those times, you really understand Swami is the oldest, and yet Swami is the youngest. That is why when Swami was very young, maybe, uh, in, in his 30s, for many people, he appeared as a very, very, very elderly person, even while he was giving darshan. And for very elderly people who were watching, Swami looked like a child. Is it possible? He's only one Swami appearing differently to many people. Is it according to their conclusions or according to the wish of Bhagawan? It is according to the wish of Bhagawan to declare that, "I am young, that I am a child, that I am elderly, that I am the oldest. I am Adi and Anadi. I am the beginning, I am... I have no end at all. I'm endless. And I have no beginnings too. So from where you will catch me? You can never. Because you know only the span of life that you have, uh, got to spend. But I am much be-behind, beyond. Because I know your past births, hundred births I know about you. I also know how many births you are going to take." This what Swami used to say in some of the interactions. That I will not elaborate, be-because it is not correct. So He knows. He encompasses the time and space. That is how Swami is to be understood as Ishvara. Then as Guru. Guru is He who makes you so perfect in life to understand your own self. That is the main goal of life for anybody, including me or everybody. Then what is that veil that is really catching up with us is the ignorance plus arrogance. Suppose I'm an authority in some subject called chemistry or some mathematics, and I got one PhD, and I'm teaching people. Then people think, I may not think, people think that he's absolutely knowledgeable in that, uh, chosen subject. But what about other subjects? This is the question. So PhD is not a great hallmark. That is one step ahead of your PG, not beyond that. Maybe you are very competent, you are very diligent in analyzing, uh, certain aspects of it and presenting it to the world in a different form. That's all. But the content is already there. You made a small search and research, and you achieved a go- uh, some goal set by somebody, guided by somebody. But here, Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai, as Guru, guides all of us from the time you get in contact with Him. So what will happen if we don't get in contact with Him or before we get in contact with Him? He will make you, prepare you. He will see that He will go to you in such a way that you are chiseled out. That's all. Because we, we may be wearing so many medals here and around. We may be having so many degrees in our pockets. So much of, uh, arrogance with, in our brains and inside. Then He will choose you first. He will not really search for a good man, because for God, uh, there is no need, uh, to chisel out a go- good man. He's already good. Only he is to be bettered. So He will choose you when you are not really good. When you are, in other words, when you are a raw diamond. He will take you. He will attract you. He will push you. He'll push you in two ways. By giving a beautiful experience or giving no experience, but by putting a bank of questions within yourself, saying whether Baba is God, whether He's man, whether He's woman, whether He's potent, whether He's, uh, uh, omnipotent, whether He's really God, whether He has got energies, so that you start questioning, putting questions around the same phenomena called Baba, and finally you'll be drawn towards Swami one day. You think that you have gone there to question. No. The answer is, Swami calls you to answer you.He will relieve you of all the burden that you have been bearing over years and see that you are safe, secure and cleansed. You are safe to take the path of spiritual journey from thence, right? From that point of moment. That is why the Guru is an indirect Guru and a silent master because you cannot claim proximity to Bhagawan, I tell you. Many people have failed saying, I am very close to Swami. Then he will immediately see to that you are very far away from him and you are not even recognized yet. But if you think that whether I can ever reach Swami, whether I can ever be closer to him, whether anytime I can touch his lotus feet, if you have that pining within, I am sure he will come to you. He will come to you. That is, he will embrace you. He will take you into his fold, see that you are shown a path and given a task. He will not just give you for nothing. He will give you a task. That task can be in many ways, according to your capabilities, according to your energies, according to your intellectual quotient, according to your prapti, deservedness. So many aspects. He has all that measure. Accordingly, he will give you a service or an assignment. You must be very sincere there. That also he will guide, finally. But while indulging in service also, we acquire ahankara, that ego. That also he will nullify. Finally, his endeavor is to make the man perfect. That is why Swami said, I have not come here onto this earth to liberate the mankind. I have come here to transform the mankind. So the liberation of mankind is in his own hands. This is beautiful declaration by Bhagawan. And he also declared, I am Sachabodhakaha. I have come here to tell you what really truth is. Truth is living a life in all its earnestness, living in all 360 degrees with full energy and total concentration and conviction. Of course, laced with clarity. So externally, Swami is Guru like this. Internally, as we explained when we were talking a little earlier, he gives you so many inputs when you are alone, when you are confused, when you are on the crossroads, when you are passing through the patch of rough weather. Swami is there always. A message will come, not through thin air, but through a definite object called, it can be a human, it can be an experience, it can be something else. But the coming voice doesn't mean the voice that is abstract. No, that voice, that message is realistic through somebody. Either he must be known to you or unknown to you, but message will be delivered and you will be corrected and led on the righteous path. He always guides, glides and guards. See that you are walking on the path of dharma. If you deviate from the path of dharma, you have to undergo all these patches of rough weather. But when you believe, when you surrender to the concept of Guru, considering that Bhagawan Sathya Sai is our Guru, then all calamities come, but they go, they vanish into thin air. All pleasures will embrace you, but you are not perturbed. So this sthita prajna is granted by life experience. It is the way of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. Then Ishwara Guru, then the self, the third aspect. Self is perfect. Whichever imperfect is not self, right? You take Swami's dress code, it's perfect. From the day he declared he was Sai Baba, then on May 23rd, 1940, I am Sai Baba, from then on his dress is the same. Second, his address is also the same, the same Puttaparthi where he took his birth. And that is the same place where he vacated the body. This is a characteristic phenomenon of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. In case of all other avatars, it is not so. That is why Swami is unique here. So Sathya Sai as self, he is always an indwelling factor. Where is his abode? Yes, definitely it is only Prasanthi Nilayam at physical level. Swami declared Prasanthi Nilayam is the root. Fruits can be anywhere, that is different. A fruit cannot be a tree. A tree is a tree. So Prasanthi Nilayam is the fruit yielding or giving tree, Kalpavriksha. All giving, all bestowing, ever blissful, which has no, never undergoes any effect of any weather or any season. It remains the same. That is why it is eternal. So in Prasanthi Nilayam, the self, it is also indestructible. It doesn't undergo any change. It can't be burnt. It can be, can never be wetted. Nothing can happen. It remains as it is.So his address is same. His address is also same. Puttaparthi Baba. The whole world calls Puttaparthi Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Now, the people don't say Puttaparthi Baba. Now they say simply Swami. For the whole world, the Swami is the only one word because Swami is Jnana, Jnani. That is Swami in Telugu, it is Jnani. Absolute wisdom is our beloved Swami. Then the self within us, as we discussed a little while ago, it guides you, it cautions you from within. So also, Bhagawan as self does the same thing within all of us. It cautions you. For one thing, I tell you, this morning, I had a small, uh, inconvenience in my throat because, uh, I'm still running some temperature. I thought whether I can make it. For a while, I said, "If I think I am making it, I can never make it." I'm sure it is He who is going to make it, then I'm only a listener, then I'm un-unburdened. Who gave me this? Anybody came from outside? No. From within me. You do your duty. You do, He provides. Then Swami gave me an autograph. You do, He provides. H capital. I'm-- I have great belief in that H. That capital is nothing but the self. That is nothing but Ishvara. That is nothing but Guru. That is nothing but Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. So who is God is one thing. For non-believers, as I repeat, it is really an enigma. It cannot be fathomed out so easily. The mental barriers cannot be surmounted so easily. Uh, it can never be surmounted. Then for believers, God is everything. The manifest, unmanifest, the woman, the man, the elderly, the young, the Jnani, the highly, uh, knowledgeable, the highly ignorant, totally innocent, the, the, the chair in which I sit and talk, uh, the, uh, link that, uh, delivers that, uh, uh, in fact, uh, transmits the whole lecture into the world. This is all nothing but God. This is the energy of God. God is finally energy, uh, in terms of science. So for me, from my age of eighteen, Swami when He declared, as I was introduced, uh, it was mentioned, I always are baffled why Swami is calling me spiritual scientist. I'm just eighteen years. I must become a good scientist because, uh, if at all I have very intellectual, uh, sharpness or I must become a saint. But Swami combined both. What is the spiritual scientist? Then when my thoughts were encompassing, they were, uh, uh, I think they, they were there for about a few seconds. Swami took no time. Immediately, He started explaining what is that. Chemistry is science. Maths is science. Even language is science. Everything has got a base. The base is called science. The root is called the spirituality. The-- Unless you go deeper and deeper inside, you can never understand this, either the science or spirituality. In India alone, the Adhyatma Shastra, the spiritual sciences, are in abundance. They are, uh, very well explained in Vedas and Upanishads, and, uh, invariably in some Puranas, and mostly as yoga in Bhagavad Gita. So this spiritual science is here. It is not mere explaining a particular subject. Scientifically, you can never become a spiritual scientist. You will become spiri-spiritual scientist when you take the help of, uh, science to understand spirituality, and when you believe and depend upon spirituality to understand the limitations of science, then you will become a spiritual scientist. This is the explanation which He gave long, long, long ago, some decades ago. Thanks to this forum, I recollected, uh, what Swami has said about this. So here, Swami, when I see Him as a scientist, as an acknowledged technologist in the world, Swami is not mere human being to me. He is one thousand, uh, million times higher than a human being. Swami is not a mere God to me, because gods come and go. The effect of God will be limited to one kalpa, one limited time and space. But according to me, Swami is phenomenon. It encompasses all time and space. It occupies the whole universe till it is relieved of these mundane problems, difficulties, ignorant attitudes, innocent activities, arrogant intelligences. All these are to be really thrashed out, and a real kalpa, real Satya Yuga has to emanate. But who will bring this Satya Yuga? Are we to look forward to Swami to come again? No. Swami has, in fact, shortened His stay from ninety-six years to eighty-six physically. I'm not talking about astrology, time calculation. I don't want to convince the people.Literally, He played on this earth for eighty-six years, giving a chance for all of us to understand Him for another 10 years. Then we have to be a part or instruments in creating such a beautiful generation which can take all Sanatana Dharma, Vaidika Dharma, Arsha Dharma, especially Indian spirituality. Sir, is, is there spirituality called Indian spirituality and Western spirituality? Yes. The difference is in thinking. The difference is in its ancient aspect. The tint of it is very, very ancient. Because Rama came, Krishna came, Sai came. So many will come later. So it will continue to come. They manifest to correct the whole situation and redeem the mankind and relieve them from the shackles of their own ignorance and say that the whole world is nothing but a Brahman. That is how I, uh, conclude. In fact, saying who is God, whether Swami is God. Again, I repeat, Swami is not mere God. If we think He's God, we'll frame His photograph, put Him in puja room, worship Him every day and just say, "Swami is God. Swami is God. Swami is God." But if you try to understand Swami as the phenomenon, He's the root of God, then you will understand the real Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. He manifested as the perfect human being on this earth. When this country was, uh, enslaved by Britishers, then Swami came as an advent. The country is in the shackles of bondage with the British, 1926. So twenty-one years later, this country got freedom. So in those days, the influence of the British, the colonial aspects were on human psychology, Indian society, Indian aspirations, Indian education system, Vedic values, ethos, human values, et cetera. They were all influenced very badly. And even Indians started learning or getting education for the sake of a degree. Reserve is a job. Reserve is a position. Reserve is a comfortable retired life. Swami never wanted this. Swami's mission is man-making process, transforming the man into divine. From a, an apparent human consciousness to the supreme conscious level, Swami guides the human being if one is prepared to undertake that path. The path is clear. The water is clear. The boat is clear. The sailor is ready. Now, only thing is you have to get into it. Now time has come. Three years left. Let us indulge in serious study of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the phenomenon. Then we understand He has given us 10 years' time, out of which I, I think, uh, uh, uh, we, we already lost those 10 years, right? Now, we are on bonus time. This bonus time, we have to read Him, study Him, understand Him, experience Him, explore Him, so many aspects. Then I think we, then our next immediate generation, then other generation, so on and so forth. I think if we can carry on the vital lampada and carry the divine influence of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba on this human race, I think that is-- that should be our real penance. It is not mere indul-indulging in some good activities. They are all Samaritan activities. They're all really very good activities, but they don't leave you to the, uh, lead you to the ultimate goal. Ultimate goal is to realize that human is none other than the divine. There are only two facets of the unmanifest aspects of Ishvara, the manifest guru, and the guiding, uh, factor called the self. I, uh, I think I've-- I, I don't know whether I have taken a little more time, but I tried to explain my own perception and interpretation. That's why I try to live. I look forward to be a listener in, uh, the forthcoming, uh, sessions, uh, when I am provided with the link. I'm sure I, I, uh, want to listen to the young and also to the elderly, because once Swami said, "Youth shall reshape the world," of course, with the help of adults. The energy and experience should go together, and we, we should go ahead and try to, uh, get closer to the centenary celebrations of Bhagawan, where all our resources, the intellectual, the materialistic, the HR, everything put together. I think we must celebrate Swami in our life. We have been only cherishing. Now a time has come to celebrate. Sai Ram. Uh, Subhadha, now we can go. Subhadha and Shruti, we will have some questions right now. Yes. Sai Ram, sir. Thank you very much. Uh, the floor is now open for questions. Sisters and brothers, you can, uh, raise your hand and also put on chats. We'll take, uh, each question alternatively. Vasudev, yes, please unmute yourself and ask.Sairam sir. One second, I don't... Yeah, he's come back, right. Vasu, on the camera, please. Yeah, go ahead, Vasu. Sairam sir. Sir, uh, I have a question. Uh, sir, can you hear me? Yes. Yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Sir, uh, uh, this, the Supreme had been to this earth in many forms, in many avatars He had taken. Uh, say for suppose if it is a Rama avatar or Krishna avatar, uh, we see that there was a purpose. There was a purpose that, uh, the sages, the Ashwini, uh, had cursed, uh, Ashwini brothers had cursed, uh, Jaya Vijaya and Rama and, uh, or Krishna or Varaha avatar and all these avatars came. So when, when the God descend to... I mean, uh, I understand that the word God is, uh, not, not, uh, not very correct from your session, from this entire session, but is there any purpose or an objective why an avatar comes onto this earth? We, we already discussed this point. Yeah. When this country was passing through the worst phase of its history, Swami has assumed the human form, and He made Puttaparthi as a center to bring all sections of the society and people from all walks of life together to make this country stronger. And through this country, He wanted to spread the, uh, message of love and service to the world. That is the very purpose Swami has come. He, as He Himself declared, it is to transform the human. It is not to punish. Transformation is more important. Transmission is important. So Swami transmitted without moving from His place. So Swami stands much above the other avatars because in the spiritual parlance, we are not supposed to either compare or pronounce which is greater, which is, uh, smaller. Everything has got its own purpose. They, they come with a purpose, um, uh, honesty of purpose. They will be a mission. They will achieve through, uh, their, uh, living here. They will live with the people. They influence the society, and they, they make a path, and they vacate the body. That's all. That's why Swami has come to transform the human being. That's main thing. Yeah. Okay, sir. Thank you. Sairam. Thank you, sir. Uh, I don't find any more questions. Sisters and brothers, you can raise your hands, uh, or put your questions in chat. Uh, meanwhile, Gopi uncle, uh, would, would you like to, uh, speak a few words? Yes. Sairam. Thank you, Shruti. Uh, I'm sure there'll be a lot of questions that'll come into the WhatsApp group by end of the day. Uncle, what we'll do is, uh, as, uh, questions come, we will populate the questions on a Word document, and we'll send it to you. So we'll be very happy if those, uh, questions are answered on a video format and sent back to us so that, uh, we can answer that. Uh, in the meanwhile, I see one more hand that is suddenly raised. Two participants have raised their hands. Can we have both the participants ask these questions, please? Yes. Uh, Sai Krishna brother, you can unmute and, uh, switch on your camera to ask your question. Sairam. Sairam. Sairam sir. So, uh, like, I have this, uh, this question that, like, uh, it is said that which is not seen is also a God. That, that, uh, like you also said that which is nothing is also God. So, like, how, how do we comprehend that perception or that idea? Yeah. You have an empty tumbler in your hand. It is empty. When your, uh, the younger version comes and asks you whether the tum- tumbler is full, "No, no, it is empty." The next, uh, person will come and, uh, ask the same question. You will put a question whether it is empty. It appears to be empty. It is filled with air. If you, if you have to fill it with some liquid, the air has to go out. One is going out, one is coming in. But please remember, the tumbler is always full, either with air or with liquid. So also, the manifest and unmanifest, they play simultaneously and alternately to manifest when needed, to unmanifest when it is not needed. That's why, uh, I request the listeners not to use the word God so easily. God is, according to many, it is the final. No, it is the penultimate. Ultimate is phenomenon. According to me, Swami is not God. Swami is the phenomenon. Then once you say He's God, He's much above us. That's all. When it is phenomenon, it is everything. When everything is manifesting in the something called the uni-- uh, some, uh, human form, then you can draw lot of aspects from the, uh, apparent manifest, uh, form and try to improve upon your own inner self and, uh, go on, uh, redeeming yourself. Yeah. That is my, uh, clear, uh, perfect conviction of understanding what is God. Yeah. Okay. Okay, sir. Thank you. Sairam. Sai Aishwarya from Tamil Nadu, you can unmute yourself and come on camera to ask question.Sairam sir Sairam. Uh, my question is, uh, in regards with the Swami's, uh, to say Swami's divine culture, uh, uh, compared with the normal other, like, uh, gods, uh, like Kanchi Mahaswamigal and all. Th- uh, they follow some acharyam and, uh, cleanliness and all, but it is not that strict in case of Swami's, uh, environment. So it is more into inner, uh, s- significance and all, as you said now. How is this acharam and all helps us, and how is Swami's way of, uh, uh, devotion, you know, teaching, uh, uh, teaching helps us in realizing God? Beautiful question. Very beautiful question. Very beautiful question, yeah. It needs to be answered. First of all, Mahaswami Mahaperiyava of Kanchi is embodiment of, uh, the Shiva aspect. It is not a statement, it is an experience, right? Chandrashekara Saraswati. Uh, Chandrashekhara Indra Saraswati Swami. Then Jayendra Saraswati Swami. Now Shankar Vijayendra Saraswati. So this is established by Adi Shankara four thousand five hundred years ago. Not established by Shankara, it was there earlier as Shakti Peetham. When Shankaracharya established four Amay Peethams, Kanchi was the fifth, and it was Shakti Peetham. He made it Advaita Peetha. Otherwise, it was Bagalamukhi and also Mahatripurasundari. But Shankara Bhagavatpada, when he camped in Kanchi, he called it a Mokshapuri, and it is bound by some Yati dharmas. Every Peetham, whether it is Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri, or Kanchi, they are all to be followed by some Yati dharmas, some rules, some dos. There are no don'ts. Dos. Some restrictions. The Anushthana, penance, tapas. Then Dhyana, Dharana, Shastra Dhyana. These are all the things that are given to them. They have to assiduously follow by Trikaala Puja, three times Puja. They spend about nine hours in Puja, right? So when you mention the Paramacharya Mahaperiyava, what he did is, through tapas, he protected Vedic Dharma throughout his, uh, sojourn, uh, of one hundred years, right? Here, when you compare the same, where these acharas definitely... It's a great mantra bala. It is the strength of the mantras. It is the strength of Vedas. It is by the Anushthana. It is by concentration, contemplation, communion, conviction, clarity, all these, they are all, uh, included in that. And through achara, they lead a path of sadhachara. Through sadhachara, they get into samyak achara. It's a comprehensive. They also, uh, invite inclusiveness aspect of the whole society. So Paramacharya achieved after Adi Shankara, it was only Mahaperiyava who walked throughout the country, walked by foot next to Shankara. Nobody has done that, right? So he is bound by some Peetha sampradayas, and only to guide the path, uh, guide the mankind on the path of Dharma, achara, nishta, niyama, niyati, uh, et cetera. But here, when you compare this with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai, please remember he's not a Peetha Adhipati. He's not bound by anything. He, he tried to bring the whole, uh, world into one, and bring unto one Amarilla, where everybody can think of God, understand God, the very perspective of God, and try to translate in their day-to-day life. That is why Swami aspect is different. Swami is entirely different. I'm not saying he's greater, he's lesser. No, we should not say that. I- in, uh... We are not to pronounce on the other, number one. Yati Dharma is different from Sanatana Dharma. It's entirely different. Acharas will definitely... See, we have to take bath twice. We have to eat minimum. We have to sleep minimum. We have to work very hard. We have to work hard for the family. We have to work for, hard for the society, then for the nation. It is there everywhere, even Kanchi Peetham, indulgence in building so many, creating so many Shankar Netralayas, so many Vedic, uh, uh, schools, et cetera. These are all the activities that are permitted by that Peetha Sampradaya. In Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai, uh, I, I, I will answer a little longer, maybe for a m- minute more. Yatra Yogeshwara Krishno Yatra Partho Dhanurdhara. Tatra Sri Vijayobhuati Dhruva Niti Matir Mama. This is the last shloka of Bhagavad Gita. Lord Krishna ended the avatar. Dwapara has gone. Then who will translate that shloka into action? That is none other than Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. He has come as a teacher. We are all like Arjunas. We have to take the lessons from him, take lot of inspiration from him, take the mantle, and translate into action so that the society will receive the proper Dharma. He realized throughout, uh, during his, uh, uh, sojourn on this earth. That is why Swami has continued a simple, uh, theory propounded by Yogeshwara Krishna. He extended this to one hundred and eighty-eight countries as of now. It may extend it to a few more, uh, uh...In the very near future. It's a beautiful question and it needs to be answered. Sairam. [sniffs] Thank you, sir. Uh, we will take one more question, uh- Yeah ... from brother from Telangana. Sure, sure. Please unmute yourself. Welcome. Uh, Sairam, sir. Sairam. Sir, actually, uh, I have the similar question, but not on the acharas, but- Mm-hmm ... but on the avatar. Sir, uh, why God has to... I- if God has to descend as an avatar like Rama avatar, Krishna avatar. So we sa- we, we see a couple of instances where there i- there are two avatars in the same timeline, like Rama and Parashurama. And, uh, s- sir, we have, uh, Swami, who is regarded as Sarva Devata Atita Svarupa. Mm-hmm. He is beyond any gods. I- this is what we, we cannot, uh, say anything on that. This is the truth. Sir, as, uh, the, the early sister has raised, we have Kanchi Periyavar Swami. Mm-hmm. We have, uh, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. We have, uh, mm, the Arunachala Swami, uh, Swami Ramana Maharshi. So they are... Can they be treated as avatar? And my doubt is, like, you know, there are instances where the, the, the, the destination, the teachings of them will make us leap the same path, but the way they teach is different. So why God has to take so many avatars in so many paths? Why can't Swami only, you know, bring everybody into His abode and, you know, transform everybody at an instance? In lighter vein, in lighter vein, I will answer the last question. In Treta Yuga, bad was less, good was more, so one Rama was sufficient. In Dwapar, 100 bad fellows and five good fellows were coexisted, so Krishna had to come. Right? But in Kali Yuga, bad is more and good is very, very less, and it is spread over, all over. So in various pockets of this country, so many avatars have to come. Uh, Paramatma according to the population, right? That is a lighter vein. You asked one question, why avatars come, uh, like Rama, Parashurama, Krishna, Balarama, like this. My answer is simple. Avatar is never one. It is many. Kalavatara, Amshavatara, Archavatara, Prabhavatara, Prasavavatara, Anupresavatara, Acharavatara, then Karanavatara. So many aspects. So when Rama came as Purnavatara, He didn't come as Purnavatar. By getting the Vishnudhanus from Parashurama, after marrying, uh, the mother Sita, He became Purna Purusha. Till that time, He was only Dasaratha Nandana. That's all. So these all aspects will come at the same time. So each avatar has got... These are all called the aspects of avatar. Their teachings will take you to the final destination, but each teaching has got its own limitations. So when Ramana Maharshi chose the Jnana Marga, everybody is not ready or equipped to take the path of Jnana Marga very quickly. He has to undergo a lot of process. So the, the very advent of Ramana Maharshi or Arunachala is for those who are really poised to get on to the final stage. When Ramakrishna Paramahamsa came, Narendranath Datta, uh, w- was a man who was questioning out of desperation, out of trying to understand why so many Gods, so many things like that, because he was also influenced by the West and the li- literature. Then what he did, He gave him an experience. He did not teach him. So when he experienced, he requested his guru, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, to keep him in that state of, uh, ecstasy and bliss forever. Then immediately Ramakrishna said, "I have not given to you alone. I have given something to you through you to the world. You go. Act upon. You have, you have no place to relax." Then immediately he got that wisdom. That's why Narendranath has become Viveka. So that Viveka, he has got, uh, he, he enjoyed the bliss, Ananda. Then he became a Jnani. Narendranath Datta becoming Vivekananda Swami is not a title. He became Viveka, Viveki or, uh, full of wisdom. Through wisdom, he got the absolute bliss. Then he became a Jnani. That's why he's called a Vivekananda Swami. That's why, uh, he also had a, uh, place, played a beautiful role in renaissance of the, uh, Sanatana Dharma through Upanishad. People say Vivekananda Vani, but my understanding, my studies, uh, reveal that there is nothing called Vivekananda Vani separate. It is Upanishad Vani through Vivekananda. Right? So, so many avatars will come. Small, small people will come. They will influence 10 people around. They go. But as far as Sathya Sai is concerned, Swami is... Why it is called, uh, Sar- Sarva Devata Atita Svarupa? Sarva Devata, Atita, then Svarupa. There is, uh, a, what we call the light beyond all, but it has assumed a form. That form is called Sathya SaiSo for Him, no aid is required. That is why He, He embraced. He wrote, uh, He translated Bhajagovindam into Telugu and He sang Himself. He referred to Shankara. He referred to Ramana. He spoke about Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. And, uh, invariably, He wrote, He authored one called Atmaramam. That's one of the outstanding works, um, contributed by Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai. Swami is the Saraswati Swarupa. He has done everything. What a human cannot do, what a human should do, He has done everything. That is why, uh, one unique avatar will be there in, in every yuga, in every time. But small avatars, uh, various avatars will come. We should not call them small. They are... Even Maha Periyava is an avatar. He has come to protect the Vedic Dharma. That is called Hindava Dharma, Hindu, Hindu Dharma. There is no Hindu mata, He clarified. Swami said, "Why Hindu mata? All matas are one. All religions are one. Let there be only one religion, that religion of human, uh, humanity." So we have to understand Him in, uh, different aspects. Your question is also good, but at the same time, I caution you, uh, [clears throat] I caution the listeners, uh, in the same words, uh, of Bhagawan. He once, in one of the interactions we had, Swami said, "All gurus at one level are the same or one, comma, but all are not gurus." One can pretend to be a guru and put, uh, uh, get along in the world, but he is a, he is of no use to the world. A guru symbolizes sacrifice. He symbolizes renunciation. He sy- he symbolizes love, unconditional divine love. He symbolizes an eternal virtues, ethos, and values. That is our beloved Bhagawan Sai Baba. Thank you, sir. Sai Ram. Thank you very much. Let's take that, Shruti, let's take that last question. There is one- Yeah ... somebody there from, I think they lowered their hand, from Karnataka. Uh, yeah, Preeti. Yes. Can you unmute yourself and ask the question, please? Yeah. Sai Ram, Uncle. Sai Ram. So I have question regarding these avatars, like what is Purna avatar and what is Amsha avatar, how they are different? That's all? That is the question? Yes. Yes, Uncle. Yeah. Thank you. Purna avatar is holistic. It is complete. There will be no lakune. There won't be any space left. It is f- full up to the brim of the vessel, right? Amsha avatar, they take only one aspect, like Parashurama. Parashurama, during the time of Lord Rama, that is also Vishnu Amsha, he came. He did what? He was having that Vishnu Dhanus in his hand for decades, and he protected the energy through his own penance. And finally, he handed over to the, uh, main aspect called Rama, and he vacated. He has no role to play further. He went back to his... That's why aspect, that what we call the temporary avatars. They come for kala, time, karya, with a purpose, karana, with a reason, and kartavya, to discharge a duty. They vacate. Over. That is, uh, Amsha avatars, right? Purna avatar, he will see that the whole paradigm is get, got back into one status, and he will create a generation which can carry on the system for a few more years or a few more generations. Then his influence will be directly on us, like Lord Rama. Still we try to live, uh, the path of dharma. That is how Valmiki declares. It means why he has written Ramayana, why Rama has come, he simplified in the only one sl- one shloka. San manushya mano yathA. A perfect human being is to be lived, is to live on these lines. Like a, a beautiful, uh, tank where there was no, no ripples, no disturbances, no, uh, uh, impurities. It should be as pure as this tadaka, as this tank. The human brain, human mind, human life should be as pure as that, unperturbed. Sthita pragya. Like that, Ramayana declares Rama as Purna avatar, Krishna as Purna avatar, Bhagavan Sathya Sai, Purna avatar. We call Him Maha Pari Purna avatar. Why? This is... This should be the supplement question. Amsha avatar, answered. Purna avatar, Rama, Krishna, answered. Then why Swami is a... He can also be called a Purna avatar, no? Why we call Maha Purna avatar? Maha Purna avatar because, number one, the role played by the aspect of Rama during His lifetime is from Ayodhya to Sri Lanka and back. Over. In the case of Lord Krishna, though it is a Purna avatar, His activities are confined to the places not behind, not beyond Vindhya. Rama crossed the Vindhya Mountain, but Krishna did not cross even Vindhya. He, He worked upon His own, uh, activity, uh, around, uh, Prajaprabhumi, Mathura, Vrindavan, then, um, De- Delhi, Hastinapur, like that. So, it is also Purna avatar because that was the end of that yuga, Dwapara Yuga. He became Yogeshwara, so Purna avatar. Swami has become Maha Pari Purna avatar. Has become not. We call Him Maha Pari Purna avatar because He extended the Sanatana Dharma without indulging any physical activity. Yes. But through transformation of human being, and He extended the Sanatana Dharma, and established dharma in one eighty-eight countries. That is why Swami is called Maha Pari Purna avatar. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you, Uncle. Sai Ram. Jai Guru. Thank you, Uncle.
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Who is Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Who is Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
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