Shining the Light of Truth
A comparison of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's
teachings
to the claims of the Muddenahalli group
Introduction
Shining
the Light of Truth: A comparison of Sri Sathya Sai Baba's teachings to the
claims of the Muddenahalli group presents
a series of statements made by Madhusudan Naidu, B N Narasimhamurthy and their supporters as
compared to the Sai Avatar's
teachings.
The intent of Shining
the Light of Truth is to provide Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's clear and direct
advice to devotees so that they can offer informed counsel and make informed decisions.
The divine guidance of our Loving Lord, bestowed upon us during His physical
incarnation on Earth, is a treasure beyond compare and is a supreme touchstone
of Truth for all devotees.
This publication is strictly confidential and has
been prepared for approved officer bearers of the Sathya Sai International
Organisation to privately review and verbally share relevant portions with
affected devotees. Only approved recipients are to receive copies of this
document. It must not be emailed or distributed in any format to non-approved
persons.
Context
When Bhagawan
Sri Sathya Sai Baba left His body in 2011, it left many devotees in shock and
feeling orphaned. It is true that many of us would love to be able to talk with
Swami, have His Darshan and receive interviews again. It is understandable that
many devotees want to relive these experiences or experience them for the first
time.
In the wake
of Swami's Mahasamadhi, Madhusudan
Naidu, a former Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning student, now staying at
the Muddenahalli Campus, has claimed that Swami—in a subtle or light body referred
to as 'Sukshma (subtle) Baba'—is
communicating through him. To minimise confusion, these communications will
be referred to as having come from Madhusudan Naidu, rather than Sukshma Baba, throughout this document.
Despite
Swami's consistent declaration, "I do not need media; nor do I need
substitutes or subsidiaries or representatives" (SSS 10.35), the Muddenahalli
group claim that Swami now needs an intermediary. They have been undertaking an intensive publicity
campaign—through word of mouth, the internet, social media, targeted recruitment
both in Prasanthi Nilayam and around the world, and visits to multiple
countries—to attract and convince devotees that Swami is now living in
Muddenahalli and communicating through Madhusudan Naidu. This is despite Swami
saying:
I have not come on any mission of publicity for any sect, or creed or cause; nor have I come to collect followers for any doctrine. I have no plan to attract disciples or devotees into My fold or any fold. I have come to tell you of this universal unitary faith, this Atmic Principle, this path of love, this dharma of love, this duty of love, this obligation to love.
SSS 8.22: July 4, 1968, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume08/sss08-22.pdf
However
other devotees, believing the words of Madhusudan Naidu and the accounts of
some long-term devotees who were at one time physically close to Swami—including
former Brindavan Campus Warden, Mr B N Narasimhamurthy, now current
leader of the Muddenahalli group—have become involved in their activities.
As devotees
of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, we need to have faith in His words, as given
to us during His lifetime. We must use His words as a touchstone against which
to test the words of any other person, no matter how physically close they were
to Baba's form.
In a 2002
discourse, translated by B N Narasimhamurthy, Swami warned against putting our
faith in others:
Love everyone. But do not trust everyone without
discrimination. One who puts his trust wholly in others is headed for ruin.
SSS 35.9: May 6, 2002, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume35/sss35-09.pdf
Swami’s
teachings are the essence of all spiritual knowledge and are incredibly
precious:
You think Swami's discourses are very simple. But, the entire essence of the Vedas is contained in them. The essence of all the sastras (spiritual texts) is to be found in Swami's words.
SSS 39.13: September 27, 2006, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume39/sss39-13.pdf
Regarding
the attitude devotees should have to His teachings, Swami said in 2007:
If you follow the teachings with firm faith in Swami, you will achieve success in all your endeavours. You should have faith in Swami's teachings; love them, adore them and follow them.
Guided by firm
faith in Swami's words and loving guidance, let us examine what Swami says
about those who claim to be His intermediaries.
Subtle body
What is the subtle body?
Madhusudan Naidu claims that since Sathya Sai Baba's physical departure
on 24 April 2011, Swami now lives in Muddenahalli in a subtle or light body,
referred to as Sukshma Baba.
Madhusudan Naidu claims that Sukshma
Baba communicates through him alone and is visible only to him and a few select
supporters. This claim assumes the survival of Swami's subtle body following
physical death:
Madhusudan Naidu: Right now, I am not
in the physical body, but in the Sookshma (Sukshma) Shareera
(subtle body) which is beyond the physical. In My Sookshma Shareera I can move
to any part of the world without taking any time. … But Sookshma Shareera is not bound by desha, kala and paristhiti
(space, time and circumstances) and therefore cannot be seen with physical
eyes.
Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Vol. 1, p.10
This subtle form is just like the physical form, without the flesh and bones.
Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha , Vol. 1, p.27
Swami has also confirmed that all beings
assume a gross, subtle and causal body when they incarnate. This includes
Avatars:
Every living being comprises three aspects: sthula, sukshma, and karana (gross, subtle, and causal).
SSS 37.24: October 19,
2004, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume37/d041019.pdf
However, Sathya Sai Baba told us that the
subtle body, which is composed of the life force, mind and the intellect,
disintegrates upon death and that the "I" or True Self has no such
bondage:
Hislop: Does man have three bodies?
Sai: Yes. Body, Mind and Soul. Physical body, subtle body and causal body. On death, the physical and subtle bodies disintegrate, but the causal body remains.
There are five sheaths within which the I shines. Of these, the Anna-maya kosha (the material sheath), is the gross body. The subtle body consists of the next three sheaths, prana-maya (the vital sheath), Mano-maya (the mental sheath) and Vijnana-maya (the intellectual sheath). The causal body is the Ananda-maya Kosha (bliss conscious sheath). Even this is a limitation, a phase, a characteristic. The I has no such bounds or bondage. The guru who can make you cognise this I is your own mind. Turn it towards Intelligence and Ananda, you are in the right path; turn it towards the vital, the material, you slide down the path of perdition.
SSS 11.44: July 26, 1972, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume11/sss11-44.pdf
The subtle body functions only in the dream state
Madhusudan Naidu claims that the Swami is living in a subtle
body which can move to any part of the world without taking any time:
Right now, I am not in the physical body, but in the Sookshma Shareera (subtle body) which is beyond the physical. In My Sookshma Shareera I can move to any part of the world without taking any time.
Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Vol. 1, p.10
Whereas, Sathya Sai Baba said that the subtle body functions only in the
dream state not the waking state:
The five pranas (vital breaths), the mind, The intellect and the ten sense organs (of perception and action), constitute the sukshma-sarira (subtle body). It functions in the dream state….There is no relationship between the dream and the waking state.
Devotees who have travelled to Muddenahalli
also refer to this subtle body as a light body, however Swami has said that the
light body is just another term for the subtle body which He has already said
disintegrates at death:
Q: What then is the subtle body?
A: The five organs of perception (jnanendriyas),
the five subtlenesses (tan-matras), the five airs (pranas), the mind (manas),
and the intellect (buddhi)—these seventeen categories combine to constitute
the subtle body.
Q: Is this called only the subtle body (sukshma deha), or does it have any other appellation?
A: Why shouldn’t it? It has. It is also known as the light body (taijasa).
Q: Is it indicated as belonging to any state?
A: The dream state (swapna avastha).
Prasnothara Vahini Answers
to Spiritual Questions,
Madhusudan Naidu
claims that he is able to see and hear what Sri Sathya Sai Baba says in the
subtle body and then communicate this to devotees. As Sri Sathya Sai Baba
consistently warned devotees not to believe those who claim to be mediums in
communication with Him, Madhusudan Naidu claims that he is not a medium.
Mediums
What is a medium?
A medium is
a person who claims to communicate with the spirits of those who have passed
away. Attempts to contact the spirits of the deceased date back to early
human history, with the practice of mediumship gaining in popularity during the
19th century. A type of mediumship
is mental mediumship, as defined below:
Mental mediumship: "Mental mediumship" is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium mentally "hears" (clairaudience), "sees" (clairvoyance), and/or "feels" (clairsentience) messages from spirits. Directly or with the help of a spirit guide, the medium passes the information on to the message's recipient(s).
The First
Spiritual Temple, founded in 1883, explains mental mediumship further:
Mental mediumship involves the relating of information,
through communication, via the varied aspects of thought transference, or
mental telepathy. … Mental mediumship takes place within the consciousness of the
medium. The results are expressed verbally and must pass through the medium's
mouth. … In a demonstration of mental mediumship, it is the medium who
hears, sees, and feels what the spirit communicators are relating. Furthermore,
it is the medium's function to relate the information, with minimum personal
influence and prejudice, to the recipient of the message…
For
example, the contemporary American medium, George Anderson, claims to hear the
voice of spirits and passes on that information to loved ones. His website
provides the following description of his mediumship:
George is simply able to hear communication from those who have passed on, much the same way as a radio receives transmissions. Unless your loved ones tell George the information they want him to relate, he does not know it. That is the very definition of a medium.
Madhusudan Naidu's behaviour matches description of mental mediumship
Madhusudan
Naidu claims to see and hear Sukshma
Baba and then pass on the given messages to the recipients, either as a
discourse or interview. This claim fits the description of a mental medium.
Madhusudan
Naidu also makes a similar claim to George Anderson of being a 'radio transmitter'
of messages—only he claims that they are from Sathya Sai Baba. In the book, Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha Volume 1,
Madhusudan Naidu explains how to see and listen to the subtle form of Sukshma Baba almost identically to George
Anderson's technique:
There are many radio stations like the All India radio, the London Radio, the American Radio and so on. Can you hear these songs without a radio? Not at all; a radio is required to capture the signals and convert the same into sound. But if you have to listen to a particular radio station, you have to tune the radio to that frequency. If the tuning is not precise, it will result in a lot of noise and no song can be heard. Similarly, mind is the radio. Swami is the song. If you wish to experience Swami, then your mind must be precisely tuned into Him.
Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Vol 1, p.9 or
Madhusudan Naidu is acting as an intermediary between Swami and His devotees
The Muddenahalli group claim that Madhusudan Naidu is not a medium
because he only hears what Sukshma
Baba says and communicates that to devotees and, therefore, he is a chosen
'communicator,' not a medium.
Regardless of the term, Madhusudan Naidu is acting as an intermediary
between Swami and His devotees. Thus, it is a different term for the same
function. The use of the alternative term, communicator, is to avoid appearing
to be in conflict with Sathya Sai Baba's declaration that He does not use
mediums or intermediaries to communicate His message and that He communicates
directly, heart to heart.
Swami repeatedly warned devotees in discourses, interviews and through Sanathana Sarathi not to be taken in by
those who claim that Swami is giving them messages for other people or in other
ways acting as Swami's intermediary:
Then, there are some who proclaim that I am "coming upon someone" and speaking through them! They pretend to be My mouthpieces and communicate to others My advice and My suggestions, as if I have 'authorised' them or as if I am Myself telling so through them. Now hear this. I never speak through another; I never possess another or use another as a vehicle of expression. I come direct, I come straight, I come as I am, to confer peace and joy.
SSS 5.18: March 27, 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-18.pdf
Mr Narasimhamurthy passing on dream messages from Swami
Mr B N Narasimhamurthy, the leader of the
Muddenahalli group, has been passing on claimed dream messages from Swami to
devotees since July 2011. In the first dream message he emphasised that the
message was from Swami in the subtle form and that these messages were
important for devotees around the world:
Swami appeared in my dream in Brahmi (sic) Muhoortam last Sunday, July, 10, 2011. He gave me many instructions; some of them are very personal. I will share with you the ones that are relevant not only to you but to all the devotees around the world. Bhagavan had said on an earlier occasion, ‘I have three forms, one is gross form which confines to the Mandir I physically reside in, second is subtle form in which I pervade the entire ashram area I reside in (those days HE meant the Prashanthi Nilayam area) and the third is causal form by which I pervade the entire creation. Bhagavan appeared in His subtle form in my dream and this is what He told me, “Get the hill-top building ready for my stay before I arrive on this Guru Purnima day (15th July, 2011). On Guru Purnima day I will enter there and stay there permanently. I will go from here to different places and come back. But I will stay here permanently”….
Swami: ‘Also keep here one of the Cars I used.“
Then He said ‘lot of people have sacrificed their everything for the growth of this institution, their pictures also should be displayed here.
Sathya Sai Baba said that the messages that He
gives in dreams or personal visitations are for the individual alone—they are
not for others. Therefore, any claims such as, "Swami appeared in my dream
or in front of me and gave me a message for you or for the rest of the world,"
are false as the person has interposed themselves between Swami and His
devotees.
When I appear in a dream, it is to communicate something to the individual.
Do not believe if any one comes to you and declares, "Sathya Sai Baba came to me in my dream and commissioned me to do publicity for him. Please help me as far as you can". I do not commission any one for such work, either in dream or while he is awake.
Such men are cheats; treat them as such, without mercy.
SSS
05.15: March 26, 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-16.pdf
People say 'Baba appeared to me in a dream and commanded me to do this and that, to you, to collect so much from you etc., etc. Do not give heed to such cheats; punish them in the way they deserve. That is the advice I have to give you.”
SSS
5.20: March 29, 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-20.pdf
Mr Narasimhamurthy's advice on intermediaries
Prior to leading the Muddenahalli group,
Mr B N Narasimhamurthy, confirmed in his book, Sri Sathya Sai Divya Kripasraya, that Swami does not use
intermediaries.
On being asked to
act as an intermediary to convey a devotee's problem to Swami, while Swami was
in the body, Mr Narasimhamurthy replied:
It is your problem: you have to tell him yourself. You know that Swami does not like any intermediaries between Him and His devotee. He has a special personal equation with every one of His devotees!
B
N Narasimhamurthy, Sri
Sathya Sai Divya Kripasraya, p.218
Swami's advice regarding intermediaries
Sathya Sai
Baba spoke in detail about the claims of those who profess divine mediumship of
any form. In Conversations with
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba by Dr John Hislop, a devotee asked about being
an intermediary for Swami:
A Visitor: I look at Swami's photograph on my desk at home in my country. And I receive Swami's instructions. He ordered me to come to India for this Conference.
Sai: You think of Sai and get some feeling.
Visitor: I look at Swami's photograph and send Him questions and problems from other people, and I receive His orders and instructions for those people. Is that all right?
Sai: No. It is not all right. For
yourself you may ask. But you should not think of placing yourself between a
devotee and Sai. That is a wrong idea.
In the early days of His
Mission, Swami warned us:
Some others are swept off their feet by hysterical
demonstrations by certain weak minded individuals who are described as My
speaking through them or acting through them! Take it from Me, I am not given
to such absurdities! I do not use others as My media; I have no need to.
I do not swing from side to side and prattle! Why, even those who torture their
bodies and suffer the pains of asceticism for years until ant hills overwhelm
them and they become as stiff as tree-stumps find it difficult to realise the
Lord. How then can these idlers, who eat their fill and wander about as slaves
of their senses, earn that status so cheaply? Their gestures, words, and
actions are hollow and vain; those who burn incense before them and revere
them are turning away from Me and running after falsehood.
How can the Full ever dally with the paltry and wear the habiliment of the trifling? When God has come assuming form, take it from Me, it will not fill inferior vessels or embellish tawdry stuff or enter impure bodies. So do not extol these falsities and ruin those unfortunates. Deal with them severely, and they will be cured. Those who have seen the brilliance of the diamond will not be misled by glass trinkets. The Lord is like the diamond, call it by any name. But a trinket cannot be turned into a diamond, however loud the praise and however adamant the claim.
SSS 2.31: March 4, 1962, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume02/sss02-31.pdf
Then, there are some who proclaim that I am "coming upon someone" and speaking through them! They pretend to be My mouthpieces and communicate to others My advice and My suggestions, as if I have 'authorised' them or as if I am Myself telling so through them. Now hear this. I never speak through another; I never possess another or use another as a vehicle of expression. I come direct, I come straight, I come as I am, to confer peace and joy.
SSS 5.18: March 27, 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-18.pdf
Howard Murphet also recalls a
warning sent out in Sanathana Sarathi in the 1960s about this kind of claim:
…a notice appeared in the
ashram magazine, under the direction of Baba. The notice said: "Some persons misuse the name of Baba, and
announce that Baba is in communication with them, giving them messages,
answering questions and granting interviews, their object being to earn money or fame." The notice goes on
to say that such phenomena have to be explained either as the manifestation of
spirits or as sheer fakes by cranks or crooks: "It is the duty of devotees
to stop all such trickery by wise counsel and firm denial."
Sai Baba Man of Miracles, pp147-148: http://www.saicenter.us/books/Sathya_Sai_Books1/Sai%20Baba%20Man%20of%20Miracles.pdf
In 2002, Swami further warned us:
There are some people who are doing business in the Name of Sai. They are cheating others, pretending to be devotees of Sai. I do not approve of such behaviour. They are not devotees at all. They are going to different parts of the country and also abroad to make money in the name of Sai. It is a big crime. I do not ask for even a single paisa from others. I never approve of such business. Whoever it may be, if somebody approaches you with such a crass motive, tell him to get out at once. Do not allow business to enter the field of spirituality.
Swami never solicits donations from anybody, nor does He have agents for propagating His Message. I do not have any association whatsoever with these deceitful persons.
SSS 35.11: 22 July, 2002, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume35/sss35-11.pdf
Imitation is human
Madhusudan Naidu is an accomplished actor
Fellow
students and staff report that Madhusudan Naidu, as a college student, was
known as an accomplished actor and his speciality was imitating Swami's behaviour
and voice.
Madhusudan started
his talk on October 20 2015 with a poem, as Sri Sathya Sai Baba used to do:
I am not a man. I am not an angel. I am not a Demi-God. I am not a Brahmana, Kshatriya or Vaishnavite. I am not a Brahmachari. I am not a Grihastha or a hermit. I am truly a teacher of Eternal Truth, an embodiment of Truth, Goodness and Beauty.
This is not an original poem like the ones Sri Sathya Sai
Baba used to sing spontaneously at the start of His discourses. In fact, this
is simply a quote Madhusudan has repeated from a discourse that Sri Sathya Sai
Baba gave on 6 March 1970:
I AM neither man nor God nor an aerial spirit; I am neither a Brahmin, nor a Kshathriya, nor a Vaishya, nor a Suudhra; I cannot be described as Brahmachaari or a house-holder, or a recluse or a monk; describe me as a Teacher of Truth, as Sathyam (Truth), Shivam (Goodness) and Sundharam (Beauty).
SSS 10.7: March 6, 1970, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume10/sss10-07.pdf
This form
of imitation is not a new phenomenon. There have always been those who attempt
to imitate Avatars. This also happened
when Shirdi Sai Baba was alive:
When the Almighty Sri Sai Baba was in flesh and blood, there were other Sai Babas. One Sai Baba was in Kopargaon, called as Kopargaon Sai Baba; One Sai Baba was in Bandra called as Bandra Sai Baba; One Sai Baba in Nagpur called as Nagpur Sai Baba. They were all telling to the devotees that they were Sri Sai Baba and thereby making their own ends to meet.
Ambrosia in Shirdi, p.174, http://forum.spiritualindia.org/your-experience-with-sai-baba/ambrosia-in-shirdi-part-1-baba%27s-leelas-before1918/90/
Sathya Sai
Baba spoke about the kind of person who imitates His voice, dress or behaviour:
In this Kali Yuga, also such imitations are cropping up just as Paundraka shaped himself into a Vasudeva (Krishna). We have today even Sathya Sai Babas… they study photographs and hold their hands up very nearly like I do and make themselves ridiculous by frantic attempts to imitate Me. They forget that imitation is only human; but, Creation is Divine.
Those who attempt to become Sathya Sai Babas by this ludicrous process of imitation only destroy whatever faith some people have placed in the Divine. They are poisonous pests which injure the peace and harmony of society. They collect around themselves insects of like nature. For only birds of the same feather can flock together. These 'pretenders' fall into ruin themselves and bring ruin on the society where they operate, as the proverbial horde of monkeys that ruin themselves and bring ruin on the forest which they inhabit.
SSS 12.2: January 14, 1973, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume12/sss12-02.pdf
Now, there are bhaktas by the million! They are increasing daily in number. And you might have noticed, Sai Babas too have become very large in number! Also, people claiming association with Me, claiming that I have blessed them more plentifully than others, and authorised them to go about the bhaktas and gain importance or funds or donations! Real devotees will never announce such absurd claims or listen to such claims made by others.
SSS 12.33: April 1, 1974, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume12/sss12-33.pdf
If somebody says Sai Baba's powers have been given to him, then we run to him. Sai Baba's powers are such that they are not given to anybody else. Nobody has the ability to take powers from Sai Baba, nor the ability to give them to someone else. Sai Baba's powers are not given like that, and you should not be led away by such statements. Each one's power is within him; it is not possible to give such power to another person. In this manner, by allowing a weak mind to get control over us, if we begin running from place to place, where are we going to get strength of mind, and control our own mind? We must be able to follow one thought, one path. One does not have to search for spiritual power, going around the world and spending a lot of money.
SSS 13.6: March 28, 1975, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume13/sss13-06.pdf
In Penukonda, another person started claiming miraculous powers, saying that he was a devotee of Sai Baba. Several others started imitating My dress and manners, started going about trying to collect a following at different places. Merely assuming My name and manners, one cannot have a following indefinitely. People realised the truth very soon.
SSS
36.20: November 23, 2003, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume36/sss36-20.pdf
Madhusudan's
supporters have also now released two volumes of speeches by him, under the
name 'Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha'. This Sanskrit title simply means 'Sri Sathya Sai
Speaks', in imitation of the published volumes of Swami's discourses which are
titled ‘Sathya Sai Speaks’.
Mr B Narasimhamurthy
also says that he is going to write his own biography of Swami, called 'Sathyam
Shivam Sundaram Anandam'. This is also in imitation of Swami's official
biography which is titled 'Sathya Sivam Sundaram':
I am going to write a comprehensive Biography of Swami
covering His life from birth to the end of His physical sojourn. That book
which is in the womb of time will be called ‘Sathyam Shivam Sundaram Anandam’.
What did Swami say
about this kind of imitation?
We should realise that “Imitation is human while creation is divine.” Merely imitating what you see in the world around you is purely human and there is no divine aspect in it at all.
Madhu Baba?
Muddenahalli
supporters refer to Madhusudan Naidu not only as a communicator for Sukshma Baba but as 'Madhu Baba' and
praise him as being 'one with Swami'.
In Truth about Sukshma Baba, the official
introduction document written by supporter Gerald Dominick, now known as Sai
Surya, and quoted on pro-Muddenahalli websites, it is stated:
Since Sathya Sai was no longer in a physical body, he needed a person who could resonate with him and speak exactly what he said. For over a decade, Sai Baba had been preparing Madhusudhan for this role. He had to undergo austerities until the only thing in his life at all times was Swami. Nothing else exists for him ever. Madhu achieved the ultimate sacrifice of total complete surrender to the absolute which we refer to as Sathya Sai Baba.
If he wanted, he could have merged but chose to remain in
his physical vehicle to help Swami complete his mission. There is no
difference between the two. Swami and Madhu are one.
When you look into Madhu's eyes you see Baba. The voice that speaks is Baba. The gestures, walking and mannerism are Baba. Even the smell of Jasmine are indications of their oneness. There is only one difference between what is happening with Madhu-Baba and Sathya Sai Baba. Previously, there was a form. Now that is gone but everything else is the same.
Truth About Sukshma Baba pamphlet by Gerald Dominick (Sai Surya)
People are deluded into
believing that Sathya Sai Baba communicates through another person. But the
Truth is that in a phenomenon unknown to most and used very infrequently in
history, a process that remains a mystery. Swami is Madhu. The words are his.
The mouth moving is him, the gestures and manner of speaking are completely
Sai. There is no Swami and Madhu. There is only one Sai Baba/ Madhu.
Email from Gerald Dominick (Sai Surya)
06/09/15
During Muddenahalli's
Summer Course in May 2015, another supporter spoke about watching the
expressions on "Swami's face" when he was actually looking at Madhusudan
Naidu's face:
We then had a beautiful music programme by Kunal Ganjawala. It was fun watching Swami's face when some Bollywood Love songs were being sung!!
As stated
previously, Madhusudan Naidu was known as an accomplished actor during his time
in the college and his former class mates have confirmed that his speciality
was imitating Swami.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan's followers say that Swami and
Madhu are one. When you look into Madhu's eyes you see Baba. The voice
that speaks is Baba. The gestures, walking and mannerism are Baba.
2. Fellow students and staff report that Madhusudan Naidu, as a college
student, was known as an accomplished actor and his speciality was imitating
Swami's behaviour and voice, which he is continuing to do to this day.
3. Sathya Sai Baba warned us, "Those who
attempt to become Sathya Sai Babas by this ludicrous process of imitation
only destroy whatever faith some people have placed in the Divine" (SSS
12.2). He says that, "Real devotees will never announce such absurd
claims or listen to such claims made by others" (SSS 12.33).
4. Madhusudan's followers are starting to call
him 'Swami' or 'Madhu Baba'.
5. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says "We
have today even Sathya Sai Babas… they study photographs and hold their hands
up very nearly like I do and make themselves ridiculous by frantic attempts
to imitate Me. They forget that imitation is only human; but, Creation is
Divine". (SSS
12.33)
6. Madhusudan Naidu's talks have been
compiled into two volumes called Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, which means Sathya
Sai Speaks, in imitation of the volumes of Swami's discourses. In addition, Mr
B Narasimhamurthy says he is going to write his own biography of Swami called
Sathyam Shivam Sundaram Anandam. This is also an imitation of the title of
Swami's biography, Sathyam Sivam Sundaram.
7. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said 'Imitation is
human, creation is Divine. Merely imitating what you see in the world
around you is purely human and there is no divine aspect in it at all. (SSIB
1974 pt1.14)
QUESTIONS
1. Why is Madhusudan imitating Swami's voice,
walk and mannerisms?
2. Why also are the titles of Muddenahalli
publications imitations of established publications like Sathya Sai Speaks
and Sathyam Sivam Sundaram?
|
Sukshma Baba is a separate phenomenon to Sathya Sai Baba
In January
2015, a supporter of Madhusudan Naidu named Gerald Dominick (now known as Sai
Surya), circulated his own publication, Introduction
to Sukshma Baba. The preface states,
"Many people have not read the introduction on Sukshma Baba. We have updated it and have attempted to answer
questions that have been raised. We update information as we get it and
understand it." He also confirms it was approved as correct by Madhusudan Naidu:
The following document about Sukshama Baba (sic)
was presented to him as he moved among the crowd at
Sathya Sai Anandam on
Thursday, 8 January 2015.
It was given to Madhu.
Baba was asked “Want to know if it was Accurate?”
His reply was “Correct”.
With Sukshma Baba Approval:
Gerald stated
in his Introduction to Sukshma Baba
that Sukshma Baba is actually a
separate entity from Sathya Sai Baba:
Sathya Sai Baba will continue to appear as he has always
done in homes, centres and places where he is needed. He may appear in the physical form that
we know or as he has in many other cases appeared as someone else. Vibhuti
will continue to manifest as usual. Healing will continue to take place. Everything
that has occurred before will continue. All of this is independent of what happens
with Sukshma Baba. Although coming from the same source they are two
different phenomenons…(sic)
There will be events happening by both forms. Some by Sathya Sai Baba and others by Sukshma Baba.
Swami's advice on those who masquerade as Gods
Sathya Sai Baba spoke in detail about the claims of those who masquerade
as Gods. As early as the 1940s, Swami told Karunamba Ramamurthy, author of Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi, that those
who claim that Gods speak through them are being deceived by evil spirits:
Devotee: Swami, what kind of acts should be done and what type of acts should be avoided for self-realisation? We are ignorant of this.
Swami: Do not
believe in mesmerism (nb: spiritualism, mediums). Do not try to learn it or
practice it. What you see then are evil spirits. God is not that easily
attainable. God, who is a form of satvaguna (purity), will never enter into
these lowly things and talk. Man is seven steps below God. Evil spirits are six
steps below God. God's aura falls on all these steps. Evil spirits have
slightly greater strength than man. With this extra strength, they have the
power to masquerade themselves as Gods. (Do not get cheated by these spirits.
Beware!).
Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi,
p.292 or http://scriptures.ru/jws_exc.htm
In 1970, Swami said:
There are others who claim that I am speaking through them, and answering questions put to them. These people must be either insane or hysteria-affected or they are possessed by some ghost or by the greed to earn money thereby. I can only tell you that it is not I that speaks through them. I do not need media; nor do I need substitutes or subsidiaries or representatives.
Evil forces which design to damage or diminish the faith and devotion of the simple and the sincere do emerge into action and try to attract attention by devious means. They try to draw away aspirants from the spiritual path into worldly paths of avarice and malice. There is a big chasm of difference between the Sai Shakti (Sai Power) and these inferior shaktis. Since the opportunity has now offered itself, this has to be said.
SUMMARY
1. The Muddenahalli group claim
that Sukshma Baba is Sathya Sai Baba. However, Madhusudan approved as correct
the statement that Sukshma Baba is
a separate entity from Sathya Sai Baba and they have separate activities.
2. Sathya Sai Baba
warned us that, "Evil forces which design to damage or diminish
the faith and devotion of the simple and the sincere do emerge into action
and try to attract attention by devious means. They try to draw away
aspirants from the spiritual path into worldly paths of avarice and malice"
(SSS 10.35).
3. He also said “Evil spirits have slightly greater strength than
man. With this extra strength, they have the power to masquerade themselves
as Gods. (Do not get cheated by these spirits. Beware!)”.
QUESTION
1. In the wake of
Swami's Mahasamadhi, what would
such evil forces be hoping to achieve and how would they attempt to do it?
|
Sathya Sai Baba's Mission
Predetermined entrance and exit
Madhusudan Naidu told Isaac Tigrett that Sathya Sai Baba had to leave
His body early without completing His mission because:
Tigrett, my gross body was decayed and useless and I had to leave it behind.
Madhusudan Naidu quoted in letter
from Isaac Tigrett, May 2014,
When asked why Sathya Sai Baba appeared to leave His
body prematurely, Madhusudan Naidu replied:
When I was young like you, and My body was strong, I physically travelled to many places, met many people and guided them. When the body became a little weak, I stayed in Prasanthi Nilayam, and from there, called people to Me, spoke to them, and guided them. Finally, when the body became weaker, I could not speak or do anything. I could only come for darshan and then return. At least that way, I was able to serve people. Then the body became further weak. I was not even able to come and give darshan. What is the use of such a body which cannot be of any use to anyone? It is better to discard such a body.
Madhusudan Naidu, Padova
Italy, April 17, 2015
Every time you write to Me saying, “Swami cure me of this, save me from that,” all these what you had to suffer, somebody in the Universe has to suffer. That is what I underwent, which made Me give away that old car much sooner than I desired.
Madhusudan Naidu,
Kodaikanal, May 19, 2014
Swami stayed in the body so long as He could serve others. Body was given to helping others. Swami gave up the body, full of ill health, to take up the subtle form.
Notes from talk by Madhusudan Naidu, May 9,
2015
Thus according to Madhusudan, Swami was forced by ill
health to leave His body early, against His will. However, Sathya Sai Baba said
that He wrote the script of all characters in His divine play and each
character had a predetermined entrance and exit:
He is the puppeteer (sutradhari), the holder of the strings that move the puppets and make them act their roles, but He seats Himself among the spectators and pretends to be unaware of the plot or story or cast. The characters cannot deviate a dot from His directions; His Will guides and determines every single movement and gesture. The varying emotions and events on the stage by which the drama unrolls itself affect the hearts of those who witness the play, but they don’t cause a ruffle in the heart of the puppeteer. He decides what this person should say or that person should do, and He prompts the appropriate words and deeds (karma) in them.
The Play is His; the role is His Gift; the lines are written by
Him; He decides the dress and decoration, the gesture and the tone, the
entrance and the exit. You have to act well the part and receive His
approbation, when the curtain falls.
It is God who makes you play your role in this cosmic drama. It is He who makes you sing, dance, etc. He is the cosmic play director.
SSS 37.23: October 17,
2004, http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/2004/d041017.html
As the cosmic play
director, Swami described His own role:
Every step in the career of the Avatar is predetermined.
SSS 03.4: February 5,
1963, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume03/sss03-04.pdf
This task will succeed; it will not be impeded by any obstacle. It will not be limited or slowed. When the Lord decides and wills, His Sankalpa (Resolve) cannot be hindered…
This Body has come through Divine Sankalpa (the Lord's Resolve), to
come. That resolve is intended to uphold Sathya. Bhagavath-sankalpa (God's
resolve) is always Sathya-sankalpa (resolve that comes true).
In 2003, Swami
suffered an injury to His hip and then underwent a hip replacement. While He
was recovering from the operation, Swami had two students staying with Him in
His room at the Poornachandra Auditorium. One of those students shared a story
about his time with Swami which shows that Swami was preparing to leave His
body as early as 2003.
After helping Swami
back to His bed, Swami asked the student to sit with Him. Swami looked at the
student and asked him "What will you do if I leave you all now and go
away"? The student looked at Swami and said "Swami, why are you
talking like that! The doctors are saying that within three months you will be
running so fast that we won't be able to catch you"! Swami replied "I
know, I know" He looked directly at the student, His face serious and
asked again "But what will you do if I leave you all now and go
away"?
The student realised
that Swami was seriously considering leaving His body. With tears in his eyes
he replied "Bhagawan! I would die! And if I didn't, my life would be
living death"! "I know, I know”, replied Swami with compassion.
"Before I go I will prepare you" He then pointed to the other student
"and him and everybody. It will be a very long preparation".
This is what Swami
was doing from 2003 to 2011. He was preparing us for His exit from the stage of
life, gradually letting His body go. Swami's departure was a conscious exit,
not an enforced departure.
My mission is already accomplished
Madhusudan Naidu claimed that Sathya Sai
Baba did not complete His mission and needed to assume a subtle body in order
to complete it:
In the recent discourses swami ('Sukshma Baba') has categorically
said that only 20% of his mission was completed in the physical form and the
remaining 80% of his mission would be completed in his Sukshma Rupam (subtle form) in 11 years.
However, Sathya Sai Baba said that His mission was already accomplished:
My mission is already accomplished. I’m only letting it unfold
before your eyes.
http://media.radiosai.org/sai_inspires/2006/SI_20060730.htm
He had also previously said that nothing
would come in the way of His mission being completed:
Let Me tell you one more thing: nothing can impede or halt the work of this Avatar.
SSS 3.15: July 6, 1963, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume03/sss03-15.pdf
This task will succeed. It will not be limited. It will not be
slowed down. When the Lord decides and wills, his divine will cannot be
hindered. ... My activities and movements will never be
altered, whoever may pass whatever opinion on them. I shall not modify my plans
for the establishment of righteousness (dharmasthapana), my discourses, or my movements. I have stuck to this
determination for many years and I am engaged in the task for which I have
come: that is, to inculcate faith in the path of the highest spiritual peace
(prasanthi). I shall not stop or retract a step.
Nothing can hold Me up or agitate Me or cast a shadow on Me come in
this Human Form; be certain of that. Not even a hair can be touched by forces
of calumny or distrust or ignorance. My Resolve must prevail; My task must
be accomplished. My mission will succeed.
SSS 1.16: September 9,
1958, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume01/sss01-16.pdf
Madhusudan's urgency vs Swami's slow calm pace
Madhusudan Naidu and
his followers say that Swami, in the subtle body, has a lot of work to be done
and done very quickly over the next 6 years.
Swami has revealed many interesting facts about His Divine Mission. One such important revelation is that He had completed only one-third of His Mission while in the physical body and two-thirds of the Mission would be completed in the Subtle Body.
Dr Ram Shetty, California, in Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha pt 2
On more than one occasion, our Beloved Swami has said that His mission is speeding up dramatically and that more will be accomplished in the coming years, in His Subtle Form, than was accomplished in all the years of His physical form on Earth.
Divine Satsang USA, p.5
Bringing the Pre-energy of the Form and the Post-energy of the
Form, and the work it is definitely doing at
tremendous speed, light speed, in fact. … There's a
lot of work to do. Don't sit around thinking about all this dark thoughts, and
I don't like this, and he said that and, the politics are here, and they said
that.
Talk by Isaac Tigrett,
Muddenahalli, http://www.znakovi-vremena.net/en/tigrett-muddenahalli.htm
However Sri Sathya Sai
Baba said that what He achieved would be done slowly not rushed through in just
a few years at the end of His mission:
Now, having come, be assured the task will be accomplished, but not as fast as impatient humans would like. By an intensive T.V. campaign, rapid change could be accomplished, but it would be only temporary. God sees things differently to man and He knows that to start early, drive slowly, reach safely is correct. The change that Baba is bringing about may be through slow methods, such as His colleges, but the methods will be effective.
H: Can it be said that the reversal
given to Vivekananda's life by the touch of Ramakrishna is given to our own
lives merely by the Darshan of Baba?
SAI: Baba does not do that. He slowly and gradually changes the
lives of his devotees. But the change is permanent.
I shall certainly achieve the purpose of this Avathar, do not doubt
it. I will take My own time to carry out My plan.
So far as you are concerned, I cannot hurry because you are hurrying. I may,
some time, wait until I can achieve ten things in one stroke; just as an engine
is not used to haul one coach, but waits until sufficient haulage in proportion
to its capacity is ready. My word will never fail; It must happen as I Will.
SSS1.31: September 29,
1960, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume01/sss01-31.pdf
Avatars leave their bodies once their Mission is complete
Madhusudan Naidu claimed that Sri Sathya Sai Baba was forced by ill
health to leave His body early, however Swami said that Avatars leave their body only after completing their mission:
The Avatars of Rama, Krishna, etc., may be different in names and forms; but the Atma Principle in them is only one. They all lived in their human vestures till the completion of their Avataric mission, and once their task was completed, they disappeared.
SSS 42.04: February 21,
2009, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume42/sss42-04.pdf
My Body, like all other bodies, is a temporary habitation; but My
power is eternal, all pervasive, everlasting! This body has been assumed, to
serve a purpose: the establishment of Dharma and the teaching of Dharma. When that purpose is
over, this Body will disappear, like the bubble on the waters.
SSS 10.39: December 25,
1970, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume10/sss10-39.pdf
The physical vestures last for a particular period and then cease to exist. Divinity takes different forms later. For example, you are now attached to this physical body. You worship this body and derive great satisfaction and bliss thereby. But, after sometime, this body may disappear like the earlier Avatars. Then you should not feel sad. When the divine Atma embodied in this physical body reaches its eternal abode, it is a matter of joy, not sorrow.
Hence, never consider the physical body as permanent. The bodies appear according to the time and circumstances. Once the prescribed time is over, they just disappear. Even the experiences gained by the physical body vanish. Considering the physical bodies as true, if you wish to have the vision (darshan) of Lord Krishna of Dwapara Yuga now, how is it possible? As long as He walked in that body, He appeared in Mathura, Brindavan, Gokul, Dwaraka, etc., and made people happy with His sight, touch, and conversation (darshan, sparshan, and sambhashan).
Take the example of an electric bulb. Each bulb has separate wattage, which remains for a limited period of time. The Avatars are also like these electric bulbs.
You should not be attached to the physical form of a particular Avatar; rather you should be attached to Divinity as the formless, attributeless Supreme Self (Parabrahma), which manifested as different Avatars in different ages… Avatars come, fulfil their mission, and disappear.
With regard to the idea going around that Swami left His body 'early',
Swami Himself said that He could extend His life or end His life whenever He
wished:
You must note that Svaami's life is in His own hands and not in those of anyone else. If I will it, I can live for as long as I please. I can also terminate it at will. It is my will that decides and not any other person.
SSS 26.25: July 3, 1993, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume26/sss26-25.pdf
When Swami has said that He can leave the body whenever He wills, what
is the point of saying that He left early?
All Avatars go
through the same stages
Sri Sathya Sai Baba never said that He would need to leave His physical
body early and assume a subtle body to complete His mission. However, Swami did
speak frequently about the stages of His life and said that every Avatar goes
through these same stages:
The first sixteen years of this Life have been, as I have often
told you, the period when divine child sport predominated, and the next sixteen
is being spent mostly in miracles in order to give joy to this generation. Joy
and contentment are short-lived sensations; you have to catch that mood and
make it a permanent possession: bliss (ananda). After the thirty-second year,
you will see Me active more and more in the task of spiritual instruction—teaching
erring humanity and in directing the world along the path of truth,
righteousness, peace and love.
The course of an Avatar goes invariably through the same stages. It
is the same for every Avatar at all times. The
first 16 years are characterised by constant leelas;
then leelas and teaching up to age 45. From age 45
to 60, the emphasis is almost wholly on teaching. At
age 60, there is a very big change… After age 60, Sai
will directly give added strength to the minds of those persons who are
actively working with Him. Now is starting a time of change. It is just as
when a strong wind comes up and blows away the husks, leaving only the sound
kernels. In these times, many devotees will fall away from Sai, leaving only
those devotees whose faith is sound and solid.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu claims that Sri
Sathya Sai Baba was forced to leave
His body without completing His mission because it gradually became weaker
and was decayed and useless.
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba announced that He
would live until age 96 and said "Every step in the career of the Avatar
is predetermined". (SSS 03.4). "This Body has come through Divine Sankalpa (the Lord's
Resolve), to come. That resolve is intended to uphold Sathya. Bhagavath-sankalpa (God's resolve) is
always Sathya-Sankalpa (resolve that comes true)." (SSS 10.39).
3. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said in 2003 that before He left His body He
would prepare everyone for it and that it would be a very long preparation.
Over the next eight years He gradually withdrew from His body.
4.
Madhusudan Naidu claimed that Sathya Sai Baba only completed 20% of His
Mission and needed to assume a subtle body in order to complete the remaining
80%. Madhusudan and His followers say that there is a lot of work to be done
to complete this 80% quickly.
5. Sathya
Sai Baba said that nothing could impede His Mission (SSS 3.15), that all
Avatars leave their bodies only after completing their mission (SSS 42.04) and
that His Mission was already complete. (Sai Inspires 2006). Swami also said
that his work would be slow, steady and permanent, not rushed to be completed
in the last few years of His Mission.
6. Sri Sathya Sai Baba also said that every Avatar goes
invariably through the same stages in their lives, (CWBSSSB, pp. 191-192), none of which
involved coming back in a subtle body. There is no record of
Rama, Krishna or any of the other Avatars being forced to complete their
mission by coming back in a subtle body and using someone as an intermediary.
QUESTIONS
1. Why does Madhusudan Naidu claim that Swami was forced to leave His
body early when Swami Himself said that His resolve always comes true and
that He would live until age 96?
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that He is the cosmic play director and
that His resolve always comes true. Why then would He design an exit for
Himself that falsifies His promise to live to age 96?
3. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that every Avatar goes invariably through
the same stages. Why then did He not include a stage where He would leave the
body early and come back in a subtle body?
4. Madhusudan
says that Swami only completed 20% of His Mission and needed to come back in
a subtle body in order to complete the remaining 80%. Since Sri Sathya Sai Baba has said that all Avatars, including Himself, leave
their human bodies only after completing their mission and that His mission
was already complete, why would He need to come back in a ‘subtle body’ as
per Madhusudan's claim?
6. When Sri Sathya Sai Baba said
that everything occurs according to His Will, why are Madhusudan Naidu and
his followers saying that they have to work with all urgency to complete his
mission quickly?
7. What effect would this message
of needing help with a high volume of urgent work have on a member of the
audience if they are time poor but financially rich? Or financially poor but with
spare time?
8. If Madhusudan Naidu is really in
communication with Swami, why do his claims differ so much from what Swami taught
about His Mission and its completion?
|
Sathya Sai Baba's physical form
Different
perspectives on Swami's physical form
On 19 June
2014, Madhusudan Naidu claimed that Sukshma
Baba described Sathya Sai Baba's 85 year old body as old, decrepit and slow and
said that He needed to get a new body:
My 85 year body had become a very old car. Does anybody want to drive in a 85 year old car? Tyres are gone, accelerator is not functioning and brakes have failed. I got bored of that old car which was not moving fast enough. I had to get a new car which would move faster.
Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Vol. 1, p.11
Whereas, Sathya Sai Baba gave us a divine perspective on His physical
body:
All avatars are ever youthful. This body of mine is
seventy-seven years old. I don't know any weakness, and I can walk quickly...
Usually, old people have wrinkles on their faces, and they suffer from deafness
and cataract. I don't have any signs of old age. There is not a single wrinkle
on my face. My eyes shine like bulbs and my ears are like loudspeakers. People
go for a cataract operation in their old age. My eyes are in perfect condition.
I can see anything that is at a distance. Nobody knows My power and strength.
But I use them according to the need and the situation. I use my senses
discreetly with discrimination… I have full control over my senses. These are
all the signs of My Divinity. You will know My divine signs slowly and steadily
in course of time. Though I have a human body, I am free from human attachment.
Though the body is human, I am entirely divine. The body has to perish one day
or the other.
Though Rama and Krishna were born with human bodies,
people entertained the wrong notion that they died in an ordinary way. Rama
and Krishna did not shed the body in the human way. Rama stepped into river
Sarayu and vanished. He had earlier sent Sita away. Similarly, Krishna went to
Dwaraka. Uddhava saw Krishna sitting under a tree, and then Krishna immediately
vanished. It was not a body to be killed by a hunter. You must earn the
capacity to understand Divinity.
Embodiments of Love! Since I eat like you, play with you and sing with you, you are deluded into the belief that I am a human being like you. It is sheer ignorance to think of Me in that way. Lady devotees think that there is something wrong with My legs when I walk slowly. I do not have any trouble with My legs, I am happy, and there is nothing wrong with My health.
SSIB 2002: May 17, 2002, http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/2002/d020517.html
Again in 2007 He said:
Even now some people consider this body (referring to Himself) as an ordinary man. If that were to be so, how could all these superhuman tasks be achieved? No, no; it is a mistake to think so. ‘This’ body may appear to be a mere physical entity to you. It is the fault of your own vision; not Mine. There is something wrong in your perception. It is a mistake of your vision, not Mine. Hence, correct your vision, develop right perception.
SSS 40.22: December 26, 2007, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume40/sss40-22.pdf
After
curing Himself of paralysis brought on by a stroke and four heart attacks which
He had taken over from a devotee, He said:
This is not Swami’s illness; this is an illness which Swami has taken on, in order to save someone. Swami has no illness, nor will He get ill at any time.
The suffering that you saw was too much for this particular devotee and so, I had to save him, by Myself going through it. This is My Leela: My nature. It is part of the task for which I have Come: Sishyarakshana (protection of disciples).
SSS 3.15: July 6, 1963, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume03/sss03-15.pdf
Similarly, in 1970, after curing
Himself from a fatal bout of appendicitis that He had taken over from a devotee,
Swami said:
The devotee could not have borne that agonising pain; I have come with this body in order to save these other bodies from pain and suffering. This body will ever be free from illness and pain; disease can never affect it. That is the real truth.
SSS 10:37: December 12, 1970, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume10/sss10-37.pdf
The other day a very serious illness came upon this body,
in Goa. When they came to know about this, many devoted to Me were plunged in
anxiety! Illness can never affect this body; it cannot approach it. If it
comes sometime, that is but a passing phase. It belongs to
someone and it comes to Me and goes, just as it came! When it comes, this body
'appears' to be ill! But, I have no contact with it, no affliction! …
…When
this body is 'suffering,' it is the nature, the duty of devotees to suffer in
unison; but, I must also follow My duty! To take upon Myself the sufferings of
those who have surrendered to Me is My duty! I do My duty, and you may do
yours. But, when you look at the Truth squarely in the face, you will know
that I have no 'suffering' and you too have no reason to suffer! The entire
thing is the play of Love! It has been taken over by Me on account of
Love and so, I have no pain or suffering. You suffer on
account of Love. It is Love, Love, right through; there is no reason for
sorrow or pain or suffering!
SSS 10.39: December 25, 1970, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume10/sss10-39.pdf
Did Swami suffer in the last years of His life?
Madhusudan
Naidu's claimed communications state that Swami suffered intensely in the last
years of His life:
I cannot describe to you the intensity of pain I used to undergo when I was in the physical form. You cannot bear the pain even if one of your bones break. You will suffer for a month at least. For Me it was like a thousand bones breaking together.
Madhusudan Naidu, Muddenahalli, June
19, 2014,
However,
Sathya Sai Baba spoke about His physical condition, in response to devotees'
concerns, in the last years of His life and said that He was in Bliss:
You may wonder that Swami may suffer from leg pain as He moves around much. Let Me tell you, I have never suffered, nor will I ever suffer. Only when I take upon Myself the suffering of others do I appear to be suffering; otherwise this body does not have any suffering.
SSS 31.44: November 24, 1998, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume31/sss31-44.pdf
For the last four days, many devotees are very much worried that Swami is suffering because of the pain He has taken upon Himself. Understand that Swami has no pain at all, because He has taken it upon Himself out of His love. How can I have pain when I have alleviated the suffering of My devotee? However, there are certain rules and regulations to be observed in this regard. I have taken it from somebody. Hence, I have to put up with this for as many days as the person would suffer in the normal course. I have no difficulty whatsoever. If I were really suffering due to pain, would it be possible for Me to speak to you at this length? I have no suffering, it has dissolved in My love. All should be happy, blissful, and comfortable. This is what I desire. Do not be worried over this matter. I have no suffering. In fact, I am ready to accept all your sufferings. Be happy always.
SSS 35.11: July 22, 2002, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume35/sss35-11.pdf
The body may undergo any amount of suffering. It is like
a water bubble. The mind is like a mad monkey. Therefore, we should not follow
either the body or the mind. We must follow our Antharatma (conscience). We
must develop Atmabhimana
(Atmic consciousness). If Atmabhimana is
developed, no pain can trouble us. It is only for teaching you about this Atmabhimana, I am undergoing all this trouble. I don't feel any pain at all. I
am telling you the truth. I am not suppressing the facts. In fact, I don't know
or feel what pain is. We must face the difficulties courageously. It is only to teach you this steadfastness and courage, I have
taken upon Myself this pain. You must follow My ideal. Do not ever give
importance to the suffering of the body.
SSS 37.21: November 23, 2004, http://www.saibaba.ws/discourses/2004/04Nov23.htm
In a discourse in 2007, Swami spoke of how to look
after the body and said that he had no trouble with His body and no pain:
The body has to be maintained within proper limits.
Otherwise, it will decay. You have to be very careful. …
I am able to manage Myself. I have no
pain or suffering in the least. I can walk in the normal way. I do not
fumble while walking and can keep My normal pace.
…I
am always hale and healthy. No one need worry about My health. I will always be
happy. When you look at Swami from an external angle, you will think that
Swami is perhaps suffering from severe pain. Not at all! I have no pain,
whatsoever. Even if there is some pain, your love for Swami will remove
that pain. It is enough if I look at you; all My pain is gone! I will be happy
and cheerful. My pain, if at all there is some, has to be removed by your love
for Swami and not by the doctors.
SSS 40.13: July 28, 2007, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume40/sss40-13.pdf
During Swami's
final days in the hospital in April 2011, the attending doctors, including Dr Narendranath
Reddy, asked Swami if He was in pain. Swami's body had multiple organ failure and
yet He reassured them, "Not only do
I have no pain, I am in Bliss." This is possible only for one who has
transcended the senses. This shows that right up to His physical end, Swami
found no pain or inconvenience from His bodily condition. Furthermore, out of
His selfless love and boundless compassion, Swami also wanted to reassure His devotees
to help lessen their sadness and worry for Him. He did not add to their
suffering. He wanted them to remember His Divine reality and thus their own.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu described Sathya Sai
Baba's 85 year old body as very old, decayed and useless, that He was
bored of it, and that He needed to get a new body that
moved faster (aka Sukshma Baba).
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, "Since
I eat like you, play with you and sing with you, you are deluded into the
belief that I am a human being like you. It is sheer ignorance to think of Me
in that way (SSIB 2002). "This body will ever be free
from illness and pain; disease can never affect it". (SSS 10.37). "Illness can never affect this body; it cannot approach
it. If it comes sometime, that is but a passing phase. It belongs
to someone and it comes to Me and goes, just as it came!" (SSS 10.39).
3. Madhusudan Naidu claimed that Sri Sathya
Sai Baba suffered intensely while He was in the body.
4. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says "Let Me
tell you, I have never suffered, nor will I ever suffer. Only when I take
upon Myself the suffering of others do I appear to be suffering; otherwise
this body does not have any suffering". (SSS 31.44). "When you look at the Truth squarely in the face, you
will know that I have no 'suffering' and you too have no reason to suffer!
The entire thing is the play of Love! It has been taken over by Me on account
of Love and so, I have no pain or suffering" (SSS 10.39).
QUESTIONS
1. If Madhusudan Naidu is in communication with Baba, why are their
perspectives on His physical form so different?
2. If Madhusudan Naidu is really communicating the words of Sri Sathya
Sai Baba, why does he claim that Swami suffered intensely when Swami Himself
said that He didn't?
|
Sathya Sai Baba will live as Sukshma Baba until age 96?
Madhusudan
Naidu claims that Sathya Sai Baba, who left His body at age 85, will remain in a
subtle body for eleven extra years, from 2011 to 2022, in order to fulfil Swami's
own prophecy that He would live until either 95 or 96 years old.
According
to Indian tradition, where the day one is born is considered the first birthday,
Swami was 85 years old when He left his body. According to the Western
calendar, where a year after birth is considered the first birthday, Swami was
84 at the time of His Mahasamadhi.
Either way, this appears to contradict Swami's own prophecy.
However,
Sathya Sai Baba calculated His age on the traditional lunar calendar which was
used at the time of His birth in 1926 and which has shorter months and years
than the solar calendar. It was only in 1957 that all Indian calendars were
standardised to correspond to the solar calendar. Yet Swami continued to the
use the lunar calendar.
The earliest sources of the Hindu calendar system are
texts dating from about 1000 BC.
This divided a solar year of 360 days into 12 lunar
months of 27 (according to the Taittiriya Samhita) or 28 (according to the
Atharvaved, the fourth Veda).
Swami was
in the body for 30,834 days. As there are 27 days in a lunar month and 324 days
in a lunar year, Swami was just over 95 lunar years as of the day that He left
His body. Since the first birthday is taken to be the day one is born, we can
add another year to this result. Thus, Swami lived for just over 96 years
according to the lunar calendar. His prophecy was fulfilled and there is no
need for Him to assume a subtle body to live until 96 as Madhusudan claims.
In
practice, Swami celebrated His birthday by the lunar calendar. For instance, on
29 November 2004, a large ornate cake was taken to the verandah of the Mandir and
Dr Sara Pavan reported that, "It's Swami's birthday today. Swami
celebrates His birthday by the lunar calendar. The other celebration is just
for the convenience of devotees worldwide so the birthday celebration is always
on the same day."
For more
information about Swami's age, refer to the SSIO website How old was Swami when He left His physical
body? http://www.sathyasai.org/swamimahasamadhi/swamiage.html
For
information on the lunar calendar:
An article
on Swami's age at the time He left His body:
SUMMARY
1. Swami calculated
his age and celebrated His birthdays based on the lunar calendar and was thus
96 lunar years old at the time of His Mahasamadhi.
Swami therefore has no need to return in a subtle form.
2. Swami said that He
would live to the age of 96 and that when the Lord decides and wills,
His Sankalpa (Resolve) cannot be hindered. (SSS 4.49). He said that Avatars
leave their body only after fulfilling their missions. (SSS 42.04). He also
said that every Avatar goes invariably through the same steps, none of which
are coming back in a subtle body. (CWBSSSB, pp. 191-192). There is no record of Rama, Krishna or any of the
other Avatars being forced to complete their mission by coming back in a subtle
body and using someone as an intermediary.
QUESTIONS
1. Madhusudan Naidu
claims that Swami left His body earlier than He wanted and has been forced to
come back in a subtle body to complete His mission. If Madhusudan is really in
communication with Sathya Sai Baba, why does his claim conflict with Swami's own
words?
Did Swami say that He would leave Puttaparthi?
B N Narasimhamurthy claims that Swami is now
staying in Muddenahalli in a subtle body:
Bhagavan appeared in His subtle form in my dream and this is what He told me, “Get the hill-top building ready for my stay before I arrive on this Guru Purnima day (15th July, 2011). On Guru Purnima day I will enter there and stay there permanently. I will go from here to different places and come back. But I will stay here permanently”.
Madhusudan Naidu also claims that Sathya Sai
Baba has shifted His residence to Muddenahalli and is now living there in a
subtle body. He claims that no one has the right to challenge this claim
because:
Bhagawan lived for so many years in Puttaparthi. Nobody
questioned why Puttaparthi? Why Bhagawan was not born in Japan? All the people
who worked, and were close to Bhagawan, they never questioned what is their
punnyam, that they were so close to Bhagawan. It was Swami’s wish, the way He
wanted to perform His leelas. But today, why are they questioning what is
happening now?
… The difference between the two places is, one is thinking only from the mind, “How can Swami, who was resident of Puttaparthi, leave Puttaparthi and go, and be with somebody else?” But they cannot ask these questions, when they did not ask why Puttaparthi, in the first place.
Madhusudan Naidu, Japan, March 15, 2015
There is a very simple reason why devotees never
questioned why Swami chose Puttaparthi. On May 23, 1940, the day Sathya Sai
Baba announced Himself, He explained to His father why He chose to be born in
Puttaparthi:
Your Venkavadhootha prayed that I take birth in your home and I have come.
Easwaramma - The Chosen Mother, p.11
As early as 1955, Sathya Sai Baba publicly gave
His word that He would not leave Puttaparthi:
This
Avatar will not select some place other than the place where the Nativity took
place for the centre of Its divine sports, miracle powers, and divine
instruction. This tree shall not be transplanted; it will grow where it first
rose from the earth.
SSS 1.2: February 21, 1955, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume01/sss01-02.pdf
In 1947, Karunamba Ramamurthy also recounts that
Swami told the devotees that Puttaparthi has a divine heritage which He was
again drawn to:
Maharshi Valmiki had meditated in Puttaparthi. There were a lot of ant hills in Puttaparthi due to the presence of which it gained the name Puttaparthi. In the place where the mandir stood, there was a forest full of tulasi. Swami revealed that Lord Narayana as a rishi had meditated there. Referring to Himself, He said that the same rishi had reincarnated now.
Sri Sathya Sai Anandadayi, pp.46-47
Swami in fact stated that He Himself did not
want to leave Puttaparthi to live in a big mansion:
After I came here, many people from Bangalore and Mysore
started visiting this place in their cars. Maharani of Mysore, coffee planter
Sakamma, Desaraj Arasu, the maternal uncle of Mysore Maharaja were among those
who used to come here. One day they prayed, "It is difficult for us
to come here often. Hence, please come and settle in Mysore. We shall build a
big mansion for You." I told (them), "I
don't want palatial buildings. I want to be here."
SSS 35.17: October 20, 2002, http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/2002/d021020.html
In a talk given on October 20 2015, Madhusudan attempted to
claim that Swami only said He would stay in Puttaparthi as long as He was in
the body.
Whatever I said people are not able to believe. Easwarama also was very hasty and she came and told me, " Sathya I don’t know how great you are but you are my son. There are a lot of people coming and inviting you to outside places. You should stay here only." I told Easwarama, "As long as this body is there I will not leave Puttaparthi and go."
This claim is completely contradicted by what Sri Sathya Sai
Baba actually said. He never said "As long as this body is there I will
not leave Puttaparthi and go". According to Sri Sathya Sai Baba, what He
actually said was as follows:
That night, mother Easwaramma came to Me with tears in
her eyes and said, "Swami, people want to take You here and there for
their selfish purposes. If you leave Puttaparthi, I will give up My life.
Please promise me that You will remain in Puttaparthi forever." I gave
her My word that I would never leave Puttaparthi. It is for this reason that I
have constructed many buildings in the ashram for the comfort and convenience
of devotees.
The relevant excerpt
from this discourse can also be watched at:
Sri Sathya Sai Baba
reiterated this statement about never leaving Puttaparthi very clearly in
another discourse in 2003:
Easwaramma and Venkamma entreated that I should not forsake Puttaparthi. I promised them that I would never abandon Puttaparthi…After I had promised Easwaramma, I never abandoned Puttaparthi. The whole world may flock here but I shall not leave Puttaparthi. Generally, the Avatars adhere to their place of birth. If you uproot a plant from here and plant it elsewhere, how long will it survive? A tree should grow where the seed sprouted. In this manner, Sathya Sai Baba has retained his roots in Puttaparthi and has made Puttaparthi a place of pilgrimage.
SSS 36.20: November 23, 2003, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume36/sss36-20.pdf
This discourse can also be viewed at:
The relevant section is at approximately the 54 minute mark.
It can be clearly seen from this that Sri Sathya Sai Baba's
own statements that He would never leave Puttaparthi don't leave room for
Madhusudan's embellishment about not leaving while He was in the body. What
Madhusudan is claiming here is simply not supported by the facts.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu claims Swami has chosen
to break His word to His mother and leave Puttaparthi to settle in
Muddenahalli. He does not explain why.
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said, "I gave
her My word that I would never leave Puttaparthi" (SSS 35.17). He also
said "This Avatar will not select some place
other than the place where the Nativity took place for the centre of Its
divine sports, miracle powers, and divine instruction. (SSS 1.2)
3. Madhusudan Naidu says that no one has the
right to question his decision because they didn't ask why Swami chose
Puttaparthi in the first place.
4. Sri Sathya Sai Baba explained on the same
day He announced he was Sai Baba that He had incarnated in Puttaparthi
because sage Venkavadhootha prayed that He be born in the Raju family home.
QUESTIONS
1. If Madhusudan Naidu is receiving his
information from Sathya Sai Baba, how could he be unaware that Sathya Sai
Baba had explained why He chose Puttaparthi?
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that He will
not select some place other than the place where the Nativity took place for
the centre of Its divine sports, miracle powers, and divine instruction. Why
then are B Narasimhamurthy and Madhusudan Naidu claiming that Sri Sathya Sai
Baba has left Puttaparthi for Muddenahalli?
|
Communicating with Swami
Madhusudan Naidu alone can communicate with Swami?
Madhusudan
Naidu claims that Sukshma Baba only
speaks to him because he only does Swami's work:
A student asked Swami (Madhusudan Naidu),
"Why only Madhu?"
Swami (Madhusudan Naidu) replied, "You
all doing your work always and Swami’s work only sometimes. But Madhu
is doing Swami’s work always and only sometimes doing his work."
Madhusudan
Naidu, Kuala Lumpur, March 2015, p.3,
Madhusudan
Naidu then tells his supporters that he will tell them what to do and that they
must follow what he tells them:
You have a good commander in Me, but you also have to be good soldiers. As a Master, I will tell you what to do. But as a devotee, you must follow it properly.
Madhusudan Naidu, Japan, 15 March 2015, p.7
While
Madhusudan Naidu also tells his followers to listen to their conscience, he
continues to claim he is an intermediary between Sathya Sai Baba and His
devotees, giving instructions and discourses and granting interviews, thus
making himself the primary means for his followers to communicate with Sathya
Sai Baba.
How to see Swami?
Madhusudan
Naidu claims that it is very difficult for other people to reach the state
where they can see Sukshma Baba:
It is very difficult for people to understand and
experience this. Only those who have great love for Swami and great humility
have the opportunity to experience these things.
Sri Sathya Sai Uvacha, Vol. 1, p.19
Question: Will you please let me see your Subtle Body? When can I see you?
Answer: To see Me with the physical eyes is not possible. You will have
to see Me, with the eyes of within. I am seen now through the eyes of wisdom.
But to open that eye, you have to put efforts. It is no more primary school,
when you have to just draw over my drawings. Those days are over. You have to
put effort. What is the effort? Every trace of selfishness has to be removed.
There is nothing like 50% selfless. Either you are selfless or you are not
selfless.
Madhusudan Naidu, Japan, March 15, 2015, p.7
Sathya Sai
Baba equates 100% selflessness with Self-realisation:
You can realise the Self only when you give up selfishness… Whatever may happen to you, never become selfish. When you conduct yourself in this manner, you will realise your divinity.
SSS 42.19: April 29, 2009, http://www.sathyasai.org/discour/2009/d090429.pdf
Thus,
according to Madhusudan Naidu, we must first become Self-realised in order to
see Sukshma Baba. However, Sathya Sai
Baba said that anyone who thinks of Him and has unflinching faith in Him will easily
be able to see and talk to Him:
Time is God and God is Time. Hence, whenever you find
time, think of Swami. I will certainly appear before you. Not only that, I will
even talk to you. I am receiving several letters saying that Swami has appeared
before them and talked to them. You can also do such sadhana. Develop such unflinching
faith in Swami. You will surely succeed in your sadhana.
You just contemplate in your mind for a period of eleven seconds on Truth and you will be able to have God’s darshan.
…Those who are engaged in sadhana and wish to have the darshan, sparshan and sambhashan (vision, touch and conversation) with God, must follow My advice in this regard. You are sure to have His darshan and can even talk to Him.
SSS 40.13: July 28, 2007, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume40/sss40-13.pdf
One of
Swami's students, Anil Kumar (not Prof. Anil Kumar, Swami's former translator),
was able to have Swami's Darshan internally by practising Swami's teachings.
Swami once told this student in an interview, "Picture your God and
pour out your feelings. They will reach Him."
Anil took this to heart and it became his spiritual
practice. Aravind
Balasubramanya narrates Anil's experience:
One of the days, Swami goes out for a drive to supervise a construction site during the bhajans. Anil Kumar sang the bhajans with visualisation which had now become his regular practice. He pictures Swami standing in front of Him and gently swaying to the tune of the bhajan…
Slowly, tears of joy begin to form and trickle down his
cheek. He is lost in the beauty of darshan and he realises the meaning of
what Swami had said a few days before. Though Swami is not in the mandir, he is
not missing Him. And the beautiful experience continues.
One
bhajan later, he suddenly feels a hush all around. And his beautiful meditation
seems to get disturbed. It is almost as if someone by his side is tapping
gently to call him. Leaving aside the beautiful image of the swaying Swami, he
opens his eyes to determine the source of the disturbance.
As he opens his eyes, he is in for a blissful surprise.
The mental image of Swami, instead of disappearing, gets reinforced as Swami is
there, right in front of him! And He is swaying gently, EXACTLY as he is
picturing Him. Swami’s face is glowing in joy and a gentle smile is dancing on
His lips. As Anil Kumar gazes longingly at the form that is the object of his
adoration and love, Swami walks up to him. He smiles at him and says, "Inside
Swami—outside Swami are ONE."
Visualising
and Materialising the Lord, http://aravindb1982.hubpages.com/hub/Visualizing-and-materializing-the-Lord
How to hear Swami?
Those who
support Madhusudan Naidu tell us that only he and a select few hear 'Sukshma
Baba' and that Madhusudan is special because of his ability to communicate with
Swami. However Sri Sathya Sai Baba told us that all anyone needs to do to hear
His voice is to listen to our conscience, the voice of God within:
I advise you to 'Follow the Master.' By 'Master' I mean the Conscience within you, the Voice of God.
SSS 14.13: November 22, 1978, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-13.pdf
The body is the temple of God; in every body, God is installed, whether the owner of the body recognises it or not. It is God that inspires you to good acts, that warns you against the bad. Listen to that Voice. Obey that Voice and you will not come to any harm.
SSS 2.3: February 27, 1961, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume02/sss02-03.pdf
You must strive to eradicate the evil tendencies in you. When your conscience tells you that something is wrong, you should refrain from doing it. You betray your true humanness when you fail to act up to the dictates of your conscience.
SSS 27.9: March 11, 1994, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume27/sss27-09.pdf
How do you determine what is bad? By consulting your conscience. Whenever you act against the dictates of your conscience, bad results follow. The conscience is the form of the Divine within everyone. Whatever you do, the conscience tells you whether it is right or wrong. However, to ascertain the directive of the conscience you have to wait for some time. You should not be in a hurry. When you want to say something, you must consider for a moment whether it would be proper or not and then speak. When you want to listen to something, you must examine whether it is good or bad to listen and then decide what is proper.
SSS 29.4: January 18, 1996, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume29/sss29-04.pdf
A Visitor: How can I tell what is right thought?
Sai: … Pray for the answer, then make inquiry in an impersonal way, and in half an hour you will have the answer. If you know what is right, don't ask. Do it. That is confidence, God power. Put aside all relationships. Is the work right, regardless of who is involved?
CWBSSSB, p.66 or http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_04/01JAN06/conversation.htm
Sai: Discrimination is to look to conscience.
Hislop: In choosing a path to follow, one should not decide amongst ideas by the use of logic?
Sai: No. Not by ideas. By conscience, by Self-confidence, do not follow another. Follow yourself. To follow another is to be a slave. Who are you? "I am not body, not mind, not even Atma." For, "I am Atma" is two: "I" and "Atma." Neti, neti, neti (not this, not this, not this) that is the way of the Vedas. Swami is in your heart. Think of Him there.
CWBSSSB, p.198 or http://media.radiosai.org/journals/Vol_05/01AUG07/02-conversations.htm
The body is like a water bubble; the mind is like a mad monkey; so do not follow the body; do not follow the mind; follow the conscience. This is the principle of Atma.
SSS 31.28: September 4, 1998, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume31/sss31-28.pdf
God is Jyothirmayudu (Embodiment of Light). So, He has nothing to do with your good or bad. He is just a witness. He is present in everybody as conscience. That is why I keep telling, Follow the Master, Face the devil, Fight to the end, Finish the game. Who is your Master? Here, Conscience is your Master. So, follow your Conscience till the end of your life.
SSS 31.28: September 4, 1998, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume31/sss31-28.pdf
Dr John Hislop, whom Swami said had more experience with Him
than any other Westerner, narrated Swami's simple and easy technique to hear
our conscience:
Hislop: How can we distinguish our conscience from our monkey mind? Practice. You see.
So far we don't consult our conscience. What we should do, is to sit quietly—now Swami
gives an example—He says that if you have a question that you don't really know the
answer to and you read Swami's teachings and still don't know the answer then
you can ask Him directly in this way. Sit quietly for about 20 minutes and
think only of Swami as being in the heart—as being your
reality. Think of Him. See His form. See His face. Remember His sayings. Every
time the mind starts to wander away, bring it back immediately to thinking
about Swami in one way or another. Then after 20 minutes of that full
concentration on Swami, ask the question. And within a short time your mind
will be clear and you will know what the answer to the question is.
Experience the Divine within
Swami told us
that Divinity is within us and all we need to do is stop looking outside
of ourselves and turn our vision inward to experience our Divinity:
When people worship Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswathi externally in pictures or icons, they are giving physical forms to the subtle potencies that are within them. The unfortunate predicament of man today is that he is not recognizing the powers within him and developing respect for them. He goes after the external, attracted by the physical forms. The relationship between the material and the subtle has to be understood. The remedy for man's life is contained within himself. But man seeks remedies from outside. Here is an illustration of what happens in the world.
A hotel and a drug store are adjacent to each other. When
a hotel server gets a headache, he goes to the neighbouring pharmacy for a pill
to cure his ache. When the pharmacist gets a headache, he goes to the hotel
shop for a cup of coffee as his cure, instead of taking his own pills.
In a similar way people today tend to ignore the Divinity
within themselves, but hanker after many external objects. There is no need to
go in search of the Divine. Men must develop firm faith in the Divinity within
them. All that is needed is to turn the vision inward to experience the Divine
within.
SSS 27.27, October 9, 1994, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume27/sss27-27.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu claims to have exclusive rights to
communicating with Sukshma Baba because he is always doing Swami's work
whereas others are only doing Swami's work part of the time. He says that it
is difficult to be able to see and hear Swami in the subtle body.
2. Sathya Sai Baba says that, "think of Swami. I will
certainly appear before you. Not only that, I will even talk to you" (SSS
40.13) and all we need to do to hear Swami is to follow our conscience. Swami
even takes it one step further and says that we are divine and that "All
that is needed is to turn the vision inward to experience the Divine
within" (SSS 27.27).
3. Madhusudan Naidu says that we must become completely
unselfish before we can see Sukshma Baba.
4. Sathya Sai Baba says that we can become completely
unselfish only by achieving Self Realisation, but that anyone can see Him by
visualizing Him inside with love, or even just contemplating on Truth for 11
seconds.
5. Madhusudan Naidu tells us that only he and a few others
can hear Sukshma Baba.
6. Sathya Sai Baba says that everyone can hear His voice
within as the conscience.
QUESTIONS
1. Why would Madhusudan Naidu claim a monopoly on
communicating with Swami, the inner resident of every heart?
|
Teachings
A different perspective on Love
Madhusudan Naidu's first spoke about love in his third talk in
Kodaikanal in March 2014. He said that students should develop pure love
because it will give them a lot of power and he illustrates this by talking
about how Sathya Sai Baba's love attracted presidents and prime ministers.
Love is extremely powerful and that too, selfless love is the most powerful thing on earth. It can achieve anything. Like a magnet it will attract everything to itself. Swami had ministers - some Prime Ministers and Presidents - to ordinary watchmen, security guards and poor village folk. What could Swami have given? Swami had nothing with Him but pure love. He only treated everybody with pure love and that is why nobody could leave Him and go easily. They would come to Puttaparthi and while going, they would all be crying, because they didn't feel like leaving Puttaparthi despite all the hardships.
This is one thing that all the children should develop. If you develop that love it will give you a lot of power. People think that money is power, position is power, authority is power. Is it true Tigrett?
Tigrett: Absolutely not.
It is not, it is not. True power is only love and pure love.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 16,
2014, p.6
It was only after saying that love will grant power that Madhusudan
Naidu revised his message and claimed that there is nothing like selfish love
anyway and started using some of Sathya Sai Baba's statements, such as "Love
is selflessness."
Whereas, Sathya Sai Baba demonstrated a consistent and complete
understanding of love and spoke about the different types of love:
Love is of three types. The first one is based on gross
selfishness, binding the ego-mind to a feeling of possession. Such an
individual does not bother about the sufferings of others. To him, all that
matters is his property and his wealth. This kind of love will not make anyone
really happy and no one will develop any affection for such a person. He, in
turn, will not be concerned about his own respect,
but will think only of fulfilling his basic desires.
The second type of love consists of pretending to love people who
are wealthy, physically strong, and in positions of power with a view to derive
some benefit from them. A large number of people exhibit only this kind of
love. Status and wealth are not permanent, therefore this type of love is also
not the right one as it is based on the self-interest of deriving benefits from
others.
The highest type of love is bereft of any selfishness and of any
pretension of love for people in authority and affluence. This type of love is
based on the knowledge that the eternal and universal Atma pervades everyone
and everywhere. If a person develops such equal-mindedness by regarding the
entire world as one, then he will cultivate the highest type of love.
Sathya Sai Baba Sai said that the reason we are to develop love is to
lead us to the selfless love, which is our reality:
Those who have recognised My Love and experienced that Love can
assert that they have glimpsed My reality, for the path of Love is the royal
road that leads mankind to Me. I am the embodiment of Love; Love is My
instrument.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu says “This is one thing
that all the children should develop. If you develop that love it will give
you a lot of power.” He said that Swami had ministers, prime ministers and
ordinary devotees attracted to Him by His love.
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that love is selfless
and has no trace of self interest in it. It seeks no reward and that pretending
to love people who are wealthy, physically strong, and in positions of power
with a view to derive some benefit from them is also not the right one as it
is based on the self-interest of deriving benefits from others.”
QUESTIONS
1. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that He is Love and that His message is
Love. If Madhusudan Naidu is in communication with Sathya Sai Baba why is his
teaching on the fundamental message be so different to what Swami said.
|
Swami on the importance of unity
Swami said
that the Avatar comes to unite all
mankind. As such, the most important duty of the Sathya Sai International Organisation
is to maintain unity:
In the Sathya Sai Organisation, keeping this in mind, we should maintain unity and help the world. Other organisations may not know the inner meaning of this, but in our organisation we should know the inner meaning and we should practise it, otherwise it is of no use. You should therefore be an ideal to others.
SSS 18.5: January 30, 1985, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume18/sss18-05.pdf
Differences should not divide us. Members of the Sai Organisation should foster such unity. Let there not be any conflicts. Live like children of the same family. Get a good name, so that there is no other organisation comparable to the Sai Organisation in the world. Develop love and work unitedly.
SSS 31.41: November 20, 1998, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume31/sss31-41.pdf
The units of the Sai Organisation have to exemplify and promote this Unity in Diversity taught by Sanaathana Dharma. The very purpose with which the Organisation was formed is to stress on this Unity.
In this gathering, people from many countries, speaking many languages, belonging to many races, are present. They are all single-mindedly united in love for Sai and in love from Sai, in spite of differences in nationality, race, creed, colour and dress. This is my real task. This is the consummation of the yearnings of the ancient seers and sages of this land. Develop this Oneness, this Unity in love, hold it ever before you as the ideal.
SSS 14.55: November 19, 1980, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-55.pdf
In the carrying out of sacred tasks in the service of the Divine, the Vedic prayer has indicated the spirit in which they should be done. "Let us live in amity. Let us move together. In harmony and understanding let us live together. Let us promote unity and friendliness." If only we have unity, how much joy can we experience! Unity is strength. To develop unity, you must have the consciousness of spiritual oneness.
The sole object of Sathya Sai Seva Samithis, the very breath on which they thrive, is the consciousness of unity, of all as One. But the politics of proliferation attacks the Samithis too and ten men develop into eleven institutions. As in politics, here too, faction, competition, clamour for power and authority, greed for office raise their heads. People are not able to resist the infection of the atmosphere of elections and parties. Such tactics and tendencies will not fit in with associations of aspirants towards the goal of spiritual unity.
SSS 8.40: October 1, 1968, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume08/sss08-40.pdf
In the Sai organizations, the primary requisite is unity and mutual trust. Only with unity can you promote the well-being of the world. If there is discord within the organization, how can you serve others? Make forbearance your ornament. Through love, eliminate your bad traits.
SSS 26.31: October 7, 1993, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume26/sss26-31.pdf
Is Madhusudan Naidu promoting unity?
In response
to Madhusudan Naidu's claims, the Sathya Sai Organisation has maintained Sathya
Sai Baba’s own consistent position, which is that He does not need to communicate
through any kind of intermediary. The Sathya Sai Organisation has also consistently
called for all devotees to maintain unity as per Swami’s Divine direction. Is
Madhusudan Naidu calling for unity as Swami did? Do his responses to the Sathya
Sai Organisation's position promote unity among Sai devotees?
When asked
about the fact that the organisation keeps reminding people that Swami doesn't
use mediums, Madhusudan Naidu has replied:
For a long time, the illusion has been there that you have to go to Puttaparthi to see Swami. That was the lower truth. The truth is that you don’t have to go anywhere.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 17,
2015
Question: With humility, I ask Swami, what do we have to answer to these
people who continuously say that Baba affirmed while He was in the body that He
didn’t have any mediums?
Answer: Swami has appeared to many people all around the world. There are many here who have not even visited Puttaparthi, but they have seen, met, or heard of people to whom Swami appeared or gave messages, or guided to do what they needed to. Swami has always had His own instruments and His own ways. Now also, it is the same thing. Those who see diversity, the truth is that they are afraid. It is the fear of sharing what you have with the others that makes you say that others are different from you, so that you don’t have to give away what you already have.
Christ does not belong to the Church. It is the Church
that belongs to Christ. If the Church helps you reach Christ, then by all
means, be in the Church. But if the Church is not letting you reach the true
Self, which is Christ, then you should have the courage to walk alone and find
your way.
There is no point in loving a Swami who resided in Puttaparthi, going and doing service tirelessly in Puttaparthi, and not being able to serve people outside of Puttaparthi.
Soldiers, before they are sent to battle, are given
training in their own town. Puttaparthi was a training ground for all of you,
where Swami taught you to fight your own negativity with the weapons of love
and service, and to look for Swami, not outside, but inside each one of you.
Since it was a practice ground, you were protected and it was easy, but today
you are in the real world.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 18,
2015
Devotees are not those who work for an organisation or a centre. … One who follows My teaching is My devotee.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 17, 2015
Question: There are some people who feel that their beliefs are superior to others’ beliefs. How is it possible to convince such people that all beliefs are equal?
Answer: Truth and true knowledge is seeing the oneness of all. In oneness, how can someone be greater and someone, lesser? All are equal. So, you should not listen to such people. Why go by what is heard and what is said? Find out for yourself. Only one who has experienced God will become God. Without having experienced, no one can define God.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 17, 2015
Question: …I am very concerned about all the separations and divisions in the Sathya Sai family all around the world. In Italy, there are lots of Sai devotees, lots of beautiful people who all love You and are ready to give their lives to You. Unfortunately, we are unable to work together….
Truly, it is just the battle between mind and heart. Every single battle fought in the world is actually a battle between the mind and the heart. The mind, even if it knows the truth, thinks about what others would think, and listens to others rather than itself. However, the heart knows the truth, and even if others say otherwise, it still believes in itself, and follows it. Follow the heart. Those who follow the heart will all come together.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 18, 2015
Question: Swami, how we are to behave in the Sai Centres You have created? As You know, there are some difficulties at this moment in time. How should we behave?
All the organizations, all the institutions, all the Centres are for only one purpose – to bring you closer to your true Self, which is Me. If it is helping you do that, then definitely behave that way. If all these put together are not letting you go closer to your heart, but only fill your heart with dry logic and suspicion, then better to walk alone and walk on the right path.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 18, 2015
Madhusudan
Naidu is actively telling Sai devotees to leave the Sathya Sai Organisation if
the Sathya Sai Organisation will not allow them to follow Him. He is attempting
to convince them that following what Swami said about mediums while He was alive
is filling their hearts with dry logic and suspicion.
The Sathya
Sai organisation does not approve Madhusudan Naidu's claims, not because we are
afraid of sharing Swami, not because we are following our heads instead of our
hearts, but because we are following Swami's own words and example, which was
to remind people that:
·
They
have a direct heart to heart connection with Swami
·
If
Swami wants to tell them something He will tell them directly and therefore
·
As
Swami repeatedly stated, there is no need for Madhusudan Naidu or any other
person to act as an intermediary between Swami and any devotee.
Remember
that Swami said:
Acquire love through love. Only through love can unity in diversity be experienced. This kind of unity through love can be witnessed only in Prasanthi Nilayam and nowhere else.
SSS 23.35: November 24, 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-35.pdf
In the Sai organisations, the primary requisite is unity and mutual trust. Only with unity can you promote the well-being of the world. If there is discord within the organisation, how can you serve others? Make forbearance your ornament. Through love, eliminate your bad traits.
SSS 26.31: October 7, 1993, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume26/sss26-31.pdf
Never give up the organisation. Regard it as the breath of your life. This is real penance. Having this firm resolve, become exemplary leaders. This is My sole desire. Swami's love will accompany you everywhere.
SSS 23.35: November 24, 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-35.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu claims that
the organisation and all its activities are only to lead us to him and if the organisation
is not letting us do that then it is better to leave it.
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba says
“Never give up the organisation. Regard it as the breath of your life”. (SSS
23.35).
3. Madhusudan Naidu says to
leave the organisation if it does not allow devotees to come to him and instead
promotes ‘dry logic’ and ‘suspicion’. The dry logic he refers to is the
organisation maintaining Sathya Sai Baba’s teaching that He does not need an
intermediary and the suspicion he speaks of is suspicion of his claims to be
Baba's 'communicator'.
4. Sathya Sai Baba says “In the
Sai organisations, the primary requisite is unity and mutual trust”. (SSS
26.31), He also says “You
should have faith in Swami's teachings; love them, adore them and follow them.”
(SSS 40.22)
QUESTIONS
1. Madhusudan refers to the
teachings of Sri Sathya Sai Baba on mediums as ‘dry logic’ which is ‘promoting
suspicion’ and claims that these are Swami’s words. Why would Swami refer to
His own teachings this way?
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba gave
primary importance to unity and mutual trust. If Madhusudan Naidu is really in
communication with Swami, why does he encourage disunity by telling devotees to
leave the Sathya Sai Organisation?
Criticisms of Sathya Sai Baba and His organisation
Sathya Sai Baba and His teachings are only 'primary school'?
Madhusudan Naidu has made claims that the life and teachings
of Sri Sathya Sai Baba constitute a kind of spiritual primary school and that the
physical Swami at Puttaparthi only taught people that God exists. He then
claims that he will now teach everyone that God is within them:
In Puttaparthi, God was outside.
Madhusudan Naidu, Muddenahalli, April
24, 2015
While in Puttaparthi, for those who did not believe
there is God, I taught them that God exists. Many
amongst you who are seated here were so-called atheists. Many of you did not
believe in the existence of God. After coming in the proximity of Bhagawan, you
learned the truth that God exists. However, you thought God exists outside as
Sathya Sai Baba, or as Jesus Christ, or Buddha, or as described in other
religions. Now I am teaching you that God does not exist outside, He exists
within.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 16,
2015
The body only came to make you understand that God exists. You thought that God is in Puttaparthi. You had to go to Puttaparthi to be with Swami. Now, when there is no body, I am teaching you that I am within you.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 17,
2015
You have all come and studied in the Primary School in Puttaparthi. You have all understood that God exists. Now, in this High School, you must understand that God is within, not without. Furthermore, in the University of Prema Sai, you must know that all are One.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 17,
2015
In Puttaparthi, I taught those who do not know that God exists, that God does exist. Now I am teaching that God exists in everyone.
Madhusudan Naidu, quoted in Visit to
Ebe, Nigeria 14th–17th July 2015, p.29
Primary school was when I came as a physical Avatar. All kinds of devotees came to Me – some interested in God, some interested in the world; some believing God exists, some believing He does not exist; some believing Swami is God, some believing Swami is not; but just like little children who don’t know the truth, who are yet to be educated, everyone was admitted into My primary school. That was Puttaparthi.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 20,
2015
Soldiers, before they are sent to battle, are given training in their own town. Puttaparthi was a training ground for all of you, where Swami taught you to fight your own negativity with the weapons of love and service, and to look for Swami, not outside, but inside each one of you. Since it was a practice ground, you were protected and it was easy, but today you are in the real world.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 19, 2015
"God exists". That was primary school. “God is not outside; God is inside.” This is high school. The third is the university where you realise, “I am God. God is me.” I have come here with the purpose of teaching you this lesson. I am teaching you these high school lessons.
Talk by
Madhusudan Naidu, Encinitas California, June 20, 2015
Swami has indeed said that we need to pass
through different school stages, but that this refers to the stages of the
spiritual path through which all aspirants must pass, not the physical location
people attend, such as Puttaparthi or Muddenahalli:
No boy can join college, the moment he steps into school.
Several stages have to be reached and got over - the Primary, the Middle, the
Secondary, the Higher Secondary, and the Intermediate; so too, we have in the
spiritual path, the stages of Work, Worship, Wisdom and finally, Sacrifice.
Sacrifice is when the ripe fruit falls from the tree, sacrificing its affection
and attachment, weaning itself away from its support and sustenance. Work is
for the physical level; worship for the mental and wisdom for spiritual. You
have to pass through the three stages, each one of you.
SSS 11.35: December 23, 1971, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume11/sss11-35.pdf
Swami revealed in 1976 that the mission of the Sathya Sai
Avathar is to teach that God is in everyone:
The mission of the present Avatar is to make everybody
realise that since the same God or divinity resides in everyone, people
should respect, love and help each other irrespective of caste, colour or
creed. Thus all work can become an act of worship.
God Lives in India, p.7
Madhusudan says that Swami only taught a primary school
level spirituality but that he will now teach the high school level, however
Swami has said in 1987 that He has already taken us through primary and high school
and into the college level:
I have resolved preaching Advaita Tatwa (non duality) as a spiritual path from the 60th year. We have crossed the stage
of worship. We must enter the path of Wisdom now. We have crossed the
primary and higher secondary levels. We have to enter college.
Divine Discourse November 24, 1987, Advaita
through Seva p.14
At the 2007 World Youth Conference, Swami said almost the
exact same thing:
I alone am present in each one of you. You are not different from Me. Do not entertain any doubts or differences of opinion in this regard.
You are not merely a human being. You are God, verily. You think that you are God and you will become God. Yad bhavam tad bhavathi (as are the feelings, so is the result)… God is present in this lady as well as the other lady. Both are embodiments of Divinity. The one God is present in all bodies. We must love every human being. Love all Serve all, since God is present in all human beings. There is no place in this universe where God is not present. God is present in the sky, in the water, in the sound and in the light. Thus, everything in this universe is the embodiment of Divinity.
SSS 40.13: 28 July 2007, http://www.sssbpt.org/pages/Prasanthi_Nilayam/ssswyc2007valedictoryaddress.html
Again in the interview with R K Karanjia in 1976, Swami
said:
As I repeatedly say, we all belong to the same divine
principle. The godliness which is present in everybody in the form of a little
spark exists in Me as the full flame, and it is My mission to develop every
little spark of God in everyone to the fullness of the divine flame.
The first imperative of this development is that the
receiver of the grace also provides from his or her side the devotion necessary
to the consummation. Those who carry the presence of Baba in their hearts like
an in-dwelling God belong to these kinds of devotees. They come to Me, see Me
and hear Me, experience My love for them and receive it with devotion. Thus,
they become part of Me and My divinity.
God lives in India, p.15
When you go back to your respective countries, your conduct must be such that your countrymen have high regard for you. They should recognise the transformation wrought in you by your visit to Prashanthi Nilayam and seek to follow your example. When you constantly remind yourselves, "I am God", you develop Godly behaviour. Listen to your Inner Voice---- the Voice of Conscience. Your conduct will then be spontaneously Godly.
SSS 22.4: February 17, 1989, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume22/sss22-04.pdf
There is only one royal road for the spiritual
journey---Love, love for all being, as manifestation of the same Divinity
that is the very core of oneself.
SSS 10.1: January 13, 1970, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume10/sss10-01.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu
says Sathya Sai Baba, while in the body at Puttaparthi, only taught a primary
school level of spirituality.
2. Sri Sathya Sai
Baba says just as we have the primary, middle and secondary stages of school,
so too on the spiritual path we have the stages of Work, Worship and Wisdom.
3. Madhusudan Naidu
claims Sri Sathya Sai Baba in Puttaparthi only taught that God exists, but now
at Muddenahalli 'Sukshma Baba' will take devotees to the next level so that they
know that God is within them.
4. Sri Sathya Sai
Baba taught that God is in all from the beginning of His mission and said
that His mission is "to make everybody realise that, since the same God
or divinity resides in everyone, people should respect, love and help each
other irrespective of color or creed. Thus all work can become an act of
worship".
5. Sathya Sai Baba
also taught the highest Truth, that we are God and God is everything
(advaita).
QUESTIONS
1. Looking at the life and teachings of Sri
Sathya Sai Baba, can we really believe Madhusudan Naidu’s claim that
Puttaparthi is just a primary school where Swami only taught that God exists?
2. Why are
Madhusudan Naidu's words so disparaging of what Sri Sathya Sai Baba taught
and achieved?
3. Why does he
belittle Puttaparthi and the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba as a primary
school?
4. Why is it that
he claims Swami only taught that God exists while he will teach that God is
within, when Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings clearly show that Swami taught
not only that God is within us, but that we are God?
|
Madhusudan Naidu on the Sathya Sai
International Organisation
Madhusudan Naidu is directing his supporters away from the
Sathya Sai International Organisation:
Enough of talking only about Sai Organisation, Sai Organisation. That way we will never be able to unite the world. The time in the organisation was only to train you. See you study in a particular school. But after you finish schooling, it is not the school that is important but it is the knowledge that is important. Sathya Sai Organization is like a school that thought you many things. Now use the knowledge you have gained to do many things in the world.
So far as you give it a name, then it is not going to move beyond certain boundaries. But you keep it open for everyone to participate, then it will go beyond. That is why the Sathya Sai Organisation, I don’t care about name….It should spread out through music, talks, activities, through various workshops and engage themselves with other organizations also and not just ourselves. That is how we will unite the whole world.
Master's Divine Command, p.4, Kuala
Lumpur, March 13, 2015
I will unite the whole world. Narasimhamurthy told just now, the last few years of mine is only for uniting the whole world. But I cannot unite it under one name, banner or organisation.
Master's Divine Command, p.6, Kuala
Lumpur,March 13, 2015
Madhusudan
Naidu says that supporting the Sai Organisation will never enable us to unite
the whole world. Does this agree with what Sri Sathya Sai Baba said about the
Sathya Sai Organisation’s role in uniting the world?
If you all stand united, these things can be achieved in a moment. I am always in you, with you, around you, above you, and below you. I am not confined to Prashanti Nilayam and India alone. I am there wherever you are. Your heart is my temple. There will be no scarcity whatsoever. You will never fail in your endeavours. Work with total faith. Have total love. You are bound to achieve success. The whole world itself will be transformed into a Sathya Sai Organisation and Sathya Sai will be installed in the hearts of one and all.
SSS 31.41: November 20, 1998, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume31/sss31-41.pdf
In His interview
with R K Karanjia, Swami spoke of how this will happen:
Q: So what is the holy mission and divine purpose of this triple incarnation?
Baba: To unite all
mankind into one caste or family in the establishment of the unity - that is,
Atmic realization - in every man or woman, which is the basis on which cosmic
design rests. Once this is realized, the common divine heritage that binds man
to man to God will become apparent and love shall prevail as the guiding light
of the universe…
We have to make him realise God within him to
develop a synthesis correlating thought, word and deed. Once this primary
lesson is taught in the family, the school, the college, the society, the
cities, the states, the nations of the world, then man will become conscious of
the fact that all mankind belongs to one family. As Christ preached, all are
one, be alike to everyone. The vital issue is the oneness: one caste, one
class, one creed of humanity: and this can be achieved only by the surrender
of one's self or ego to pure, selfless, universal love and devotion. Love
is the basis, the common denominator, and devotion the divine spark, the
cementing, unifying, integrating factor between man and man, and man and God…
Let Me give you an illustration. (Baba spreads his handkerchief on the ground between us). Here is a piece of cloth. As you see, it is all made of threads. Pull out the threads separately and the cloth becomes weak. Put them together and it is firm and strong. It is the same with mankind. Love binds it like the million, billion threads in cloth and devotion reunites it with God. I, therefore embody love and use it as My instrument to regenerate man and create the brotherhood of mankind with the help of the latter's devotion.
God lives in India, p.7
Swami also
explained further the role of the Sathya Sai Organisation in the world:
Q: Then I take it that the various educational and social service organisations run by Baba—some 3,000 in all—are designed to create the cadres necessary for bringing about the desired socioeconomic change by means of love and persuasion?
Baba: They are designed to put the new generation on the Sai path of truth, righteousness, peace, love and nonviolence. Their motto -- work is worship and duty is God -- seeks to bring in the new social order related to Sathya -- that is, truth, and dharma -- namely, right action.
God lives in India, p.23
All of you should take a vow continually to develop the Seva Organisations. Let all join in the activities. Treat all as the children of one God. Whomsoever you may serve, consider you are serving God. Then you will experience the Divine. You are bound to have that experience soon. Never give up the organisation. Regard it as the breath of your life. This is real penance. Having this firm resolve, become exemplary leaders. This is My sole desire. Swami's love will accompany you everywhere.
SSS 23.35: November 24, 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-35.pdf
Embodiments of Love! The whole world knows what sacred ideals inspire the Sathya Sai Organisations. It is true that in a big bag of rice a few grains of sand may get in. Any human Organisation is bound to have a few black sheep. But, that will not affect the organisation, as long as it is true to its principles. The kind of service and sacrifice which the Sathya Sai Organisations are rendering is colossal. The basis for all that is love that prevails among the members. From ancient times, the Upanishadic prayer said: "Sahanaa Vavathu; Sahanau Bhunakthu" ("May He protect US all; may He nourish US all.") The spirit of oneness proclaimed in these manthras (sacred formulae) is operative today only in the Sathya Sai Organisation. That sense of oneness can only be promoted by the practice of love and not by any other means.
SSS 14.56: November 22, 1980, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-56.pdf
Madhusudan
also claims that those who go to Puttaparthi are not looking for Swami:
But now, those who come, they don’t expect to see Me in Puttaparthi, they are happy seeing Mahasamadhi. They are happy doing pranams there and going back, and they are not looking for Me at all.
Madhusudan Naidu, Japan, March 15, 2015
However Sri
Sathya Sai Baba said that no one could come to Puttaparthi without His will:
The author, standing nearby, remarked, "People who come to Puttaparthi tell their neighbours, friends and relatives, and so the number increases. "Baba turned sharply, saying, "No! No one can come to Me without My calling him, even if a hundred people persuade or drag or push."
Sathyam Sivam Sundaram pt 1, pp. 264-265,
http://www.vahini.org/downloads/sathyamsivamsundaram-I.html
Swami also said to Arnold Schulman that He
brought only those who were ready to see Him:
“As I told you , no one can come to Puttaparthi, however
accidental it might seem, without my calling him. I bring only those people who are ready to see me, and nobody
else, nobody, can find his way here.
Swami also said that
thousands would come to Puttaparthi in the future:
Believe me, this Puttaparthi is soon to become a Tirupathi. Thousands of Yogis, Sadhus and aspirants are coming here in future years and deriving Solace and Salvation. The reestablishment of Sanathana Dharma will emanate from here.
Sathyam Sivam Sundaram part 1, p343, http://www.vahini.org/downloads/sathyamsivamsundaram-I.html
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu
says that the Sathya Sai Organisation was just a training ground with certain
boundaries and that it will never be able to unite the world.
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
said "If you all stand united, these things can be achieved in a moment.
...You will never fail in your endeavours. Work with total faith. Have total
love. You are bound to achieve success. The whole world itself will be
transformed into a Sathya Sai Organisation and Sathya Sai will be installed in
the hearts of one and all". (SSS 31.41)
3. Madhusudan claims
that those who come to Puttaparthi are not looking for Swami at all.
4. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
says that no one can come to Puttaparthi, however accidental it might
seem, without Him calling them. He brings only those people who are ready to
see Him, and nobody else, can find his way there. (Baba p171). Puttaparthi
is soon to become a Tirupathi. Thousands of Yogis, Sadhus and aspirants are
coming here in future years and deriving Solace and Salvation.
(SSSun pt1.15).
QUESTIONS
1. If Madhusudan Naidu
is in communication with Sathya Sai Baba in a subtle form, why would he
contradict Swami and attempt to undermine devotee's faith in the Sathya Sai
Organisation's ability to bring unity to the world?
2. Swami said that if we
stand united we are bound to achieve success and the world will be transformed
into a Sathya Sai Organisation. What would motivate Madhusudan Naidu try to
break that unity?
3. When Swami
has said that no one can come to Puttaparthi without His will, can we truly
believe Madhusudan’s claim that not one of the thousands of devotees who come
to Puttaparthi is coming for Swami?
4. Why would Madhusudan feel the need to make this claim?
Unity is the need of the day, not conflict
Sri Sathya
Sai Baba always said that unity was of paramount importance in the Sathya Sai International
Organisation.
Differences should not divide us. Members of the Sai Organisation should foster such unity. Let there not be any conflicts. Live like children of the same family. Get a good name, so that there is no other organisation comparable to the Sai Organisation in the world. Develop love and work unitedly.
SSS 31.41: November 20, 1998, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume31/sss31-41.pdf
The sole object of Sathya Sai Seva Samithis, the very breath on which they thrive, is the consciousness of unity, of all as One. But the politics of proliferation attacks the Samithis too and ten men develop into eleven institutions. As in politics, here too, faction, competition, clamour for power and authority, greed for office raise their heads. People are not able to resist the infection of the atmosphere of elections and parties. Such tactics and tendencies will not fit in with associations of aspirants towards the goal of spiritual unity.
SSS 8.40: October 1, 1968, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume08/sss08-40.pdf
In the Sai organisations, the primary
requisite is unity and mutual trust. Only with unity can you promote the
well-being of the world. If there is discord within the organisation, how
can you serve others?
SSS 26.31: October 7, 1993, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume26/sss26-31.pdf
After Sri
Sathya Sai Baba left His body on April 24, 2011, Mr B N Narasimhamurthy,
Madhusudan Naidu and others began to claim that Sri Sathya Sai Baba had left
Puttaparthi to live in Muddenahalli in a subtle body, which Madhusudan Naidu
was in communication with. They also founded a separate financial trust and
began to conduct activities separate to the Sathya Sai International Organisation.
Madhusudan's
claims to be an intermediary for Sri Sathya Sai Baba have caused disunity in
the organisation. Swami spoke about this kind of disunity arising in similar
situations in the past:
How did differences arise within each religion? After
the passing of the founders of these religions, the followers violated the
teachings of the founders and quarrelled among themselves on account of their selfish interests. With the passage of time, schisms
developed in each religion and separate sects were formed. This is
the result of individual, selfish motives and not the fault of
the original founders.
SSS 23.36: December 25, 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-36.pdf
Devotees all
around the world have rejected Madhusudan's claims, instead placing their faith
in Sri Sathya Sai Baba's teachings:
Then, there are some who proclaim that I am "coming upon someone" and speaking through them! They pretend to be My mouthpieces and communicate to others My advice and My suggestions, as if I have 'authorised' them or as if I am Myself telling so through them. Now hear this. I never speak through another; I never possess another or use another as a vehicle of expression. I come direct, I come straight, I come as I am, to confer peace and joy.
SSS 5.18: March 27, 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-18.pdf
Devotees
also rejected Madhusudan's claims because they believe Swami's teaching that
the easiest method to contact Him is by listening to the conscience:
I advise you to 'Follow the Master.' By 'Master' I mean the Conscience within you, the Voice of God.
SSS 14.13: November 22, 1978, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-13.pdf
The body is the temple of God; in every body, God is installed, whether the owner of the body recognises it or not. It is God that inspires you to good acts, that warns you against the bad. Listen to that Voice. Obey that Voice and you will not come to any harm.
SSS 2.3: February 27, 1961, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume02/sss02-03.pdf
The same God dwells in all beings. There is no justification for differences on the basis of
religion. It is attachment to the body which accounts for religious differences. Do not regard the body as permanent. It is a water bubble. The mind is a mad monkey. Don't follow either of them. Follow the conscience.
SSS 29.53: December 25, 1996, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume29/sss29-53.pdf
Swami also
referred to the conscience as the heart and said that there is no need for
another teacher apart from it:
In this world, who is a true preceptor? One's heart is the true preceptor. … Hence, there is no need to search for a preceptor. The heart is your conscience. When you consult your heart or conscience, it tells you what is right. It is the right preceptor. It will not let you go astray.
SSS 30.7: March 8, 1997, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume30/sss30-07.pdf
However, according
to Madhusudan Naidu, only those who believe in him are truly following their
heart or conscience. Those who believe Sri Sathya Sai Baba's teachings are
following their mind and this is the cause of the conflict:
Question: … will you please explain why there is this separation and conflict between Muddenahalli and Sathya Sai Central Trust or Sathya Sai Organization, so that those who are not well informed can understand?
Answer: Truly this conflict is not today, it is happening from olden days. Truly it is not a conflict between two cousins, or two brothers, or two organisations. It is the conflict between the mind and the heart. Those who follow the mind, they can never understand what the heart says. Those who follow the heart, they will never listen to the mind. God does not go with the mind. He goes for the heart.
Q and A session with Madhusudan Naidu, Japan, March 15, 2015, p.5
Truly, it is just the battle between mind and heart. Every single battle fought in the world is actually a battle between the mind and the heart. The mind, even if it knows the truth, thinks about what others would think, and listens to others rather than itself. However, the heart knows the truth, and even if others say otherwise, it still believes in itself, and follows it. Follow the heart. Those who follow the heart will all come together.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 18, 2015 p.25
In the same
discourse where He explained the origins of religious difference, Sri Sathya
Sai Baba proposed a solution which would end the disunity that Madhusudan's
claims have created:
People must first of all get rid of self-interest and self-centredness. They must develop love, forbearance and compassion. They must try to live harmoniously. Only then can we claim to be lovers of peace in the nation and of the well-being of the world. Service should be the guiding principle. There should be no room for any kind of differences in rendering service. When you wish to serve society, you must be prepared to sacrifice your individual and communal interests. Such sacrifice alone will sublimate one's life.
SSS 23.36: December 25, 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume23/sss23-36.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
asked that there not be any conflicts in the organisation and that devotees
should maintain unity.
2. Madhusudan Naidu
has banded together with others to form a separate trust independent of the
Sathya Sai Central Trust, and a separate organisation modelled on the Sathya
Sai Organisation.
3. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
taught that He needs no intermediary in order to communicate with His devotees.
4. Madhusudan Naidu
claims that Sri Sathya Sai Baba communicates by using him as an intermediary.
These claims have caused conflict and disunity among devotees.
5. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
said that these kind of differences arose in the past because "After the passing of the founders of these religions,
the followers violated the teachings of the founders and quarrelled among
themselves on account of their selfish interests". (SSS 23.36)
6. Devotees around the
world have rejected Madhusudan's claims because they have faith in Sri Sathya
Sai Baba's teachings that He does not need an intermediary and can communicate
directly with devotees as the voice of conscience, also known as the heart, in
everyone.
7. Madhusudan claims
that the reason for the conflict between the Sathya Sai Organisation and his
followers is that his those who believe in him are the ones following the
heart, whereas those who believe Sri Sathya Sai Baba are following their minds.
8. Sri Sathya Sai Baba
says that the heart is your conscience. (SSS 30.7).
QUESTIONS
1. When Swami asked devotees
to maintain unity, why did Madhusudan Naidu and Mr Narasimhamurthy feel the
need to separate from the Sathya Sai Organisation?
2. Speaking of the
cause of religious division in the past, Swami said "After the passing of the founders of these religions,
the followers violated the teachings of the founders and quarrelled among
themselves on account of their selfish interests. With the passage of
time, schisms developed in each religion and separate sects were formed. This
is the result of individual, selfish motives." Does this sound like the
scenario facing devotees today?
2. Madhusudan claims that those who believe in him follow the heart,
those who don't are following the mind, yet devotees all around the world have
rejected his claims based on what their conscience or heart has told them. Why
would he try to say they are only following their mind?
3. Does Madhusudan's claim that those who do not believe him are only following
their minds promote unity or disunity?
3. If it doesn't promote unity, why would Sri Sathya Sai Baba
communicate a message that promotes disunity to Madhusudan Naidu?
4. Whose words should
we believe? Sri Sathya Sai Baba or Madhusudan Naidu?
The three disciplines necessary to recognise Divinity
Madhusudan Naidu and his supporters say that in order to
recognise that Swami is manifesting in Muddenahalli we must go there and
experience it.
Why go by what is heard and what is said? Find out for yourself. Only one who has experienced God will become God. Without having experienced, no one can define God.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 17, 2015
Swami said:
Three disciplines are essential, to become aware of
Divinity in all and in the Avathar:
1/ No activity should be taken up with individual
aggrandizement in view;
2/ Intellect and emotion must be directed to the
revelation of the Resident in the Heart, Atma;
3/ Every act should be done sincerely, with love, with
no yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or benefit.
Above all, listen to the voice of God within.
SSS 12.42: July 4, 1974, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume12/sss12-42.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu claims that devotees must come to visit him in order
to discern whether Sathya Sai Baba is manifesting at Muddenahalli.
2. Sri Sathya Sai Baba said that there are 3 disciplines necessary to
become aware of Divinity:
1/ No activity should be taken up
with individual aggrandizement in view;
2/ Intellect and emotion must be
directed to the revelation of the Resident in the Heart, Atma;
3/ Every act should be done
sincerely, with love, with no yearning for acquiring personal profit, fame or
benefit.
QUESTIONS
1. Why would Madhusudan Naidu and his followers insist that devotees
must visit him in order to find out if Sathya Sai Baba is manifesting there?
|
Many, many births vs born to be liberated
Madhusudan
Naidu tells his followers that they will continue to reincarnate instead of
attaining liberation:
… He assures you that this is not your last birth. Many, many births will happen, many, many times Bhagawan will come, and He will continue to bring all of you together, because He enjoys the company of all of you people here.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
In the same way as same Rama came as Krishna and Krishna came as Sai, the people around Him and who loved and adored Him they will also be born again and again.
Madhusudan Naidu, Muddenahalli, October 20,
2015
Swami
however tells us that the main purpose of being born is to obtain liberation so
that we are never born again:
The main purpose of human life is to realise one's true identity. It is only when you recognise the sacredness of human life that you can realise the Divine. It is sheer ignorance to consider man as made up of merely the body, mind and sense, which are only Upadhis (instruments). To identify yourself with the body is as absurd as to consider yourself as the house in which you dwell or the car in which you travel. It is essential to realise the truth of your divine identity through the instruments of the body, mind and intellect.
SSS 26.25: July 3, 1993, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume26/sss26-25.pdf
Why should this creature, man, endowed with extra sensitiveness to share sorrow and joy with others, be born in this changing world of time and space? … There is a purpose behind all the activities of the Divine. Man has to manifest the Divine in him and lead and guide all living beings in that adventure. He has to liberate himself by his efforts and liberate all life by his example. He must become free and secure in his own Source. This is what is called Moksha (Liberation). He is liberated from littleness Into vastness, from bondage to boundless Bliss.
SSS 13.30: February 16, 1977, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume13/sss13-30.pdf
There is no pleasure in being
born again and again. There is no pleasure in being born only to die and in
dying only to be born again. Why should we be born if it is only to undergo the
repeating cycle of births and deaths? One should be born in such a way that
he becomes immortal and is never born again. One who is after finding the path
to arrive at such a truth is the wise person.
Guest: It would be good to be reborn in the time of Prema Sai!
SAI: It is best to merge with God. No rebirth.
Swami
says that human life is supremely sacred because it is only in the human birth
that we can realise God:
Sai: In all the universe there is no other planet that has human life, or a similar life-form…
The expression of life on Earth is upward through the human to the Divine. By virtue of human birth, the next step is the full realisation of the Divine. Human life is sacred and must be appreciated as having the highest value.
All life may aspire to human birth. But only through the
human birth may God be realized. To waste time is the greatest folly. Now and
here is the individual. Now and here is the opportunity to realize the
absolute goal of life. Who can be sure of the conditions and status of his next
birth? Not even one moment of this life should be wasted.
Hislop: Swami, are
there other regions throughout the universe where there may also be an escape
from birth and death.
Sai: Only on Earth may this take place. In no other planet or region throughout the indescribable vastness of the universe does this opportunity exist. It is unique and is limited to this earth.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu told his followers "this is not your
last birth. Many, many births will happen, many, many times Bhagawan will
come, and He will continue to bring all of you together, because He enjoys
the company of all of you people here."
2. Sri Sathya Sai
Baba said "One should be born in such a
way that he becomes immortal and is never born again. One who is after
finding the path to arrive at such a truth is the wise person".
QUESTIONS
1. If Madhusudan Naidu is communicating the words of Sathya Sai Baba
in a subtle body, why are his teachings so different to Swami's on this
point?
|
He left the body to teach us that we are not different from Him?
Madhusudan Naidu is claiming that Sukshma Baba is teaching something new since 'giving up the body':
Ultimately, you will realise
that Swami is not different from you. Swami is you. You are Swami. This is what
I am teaching. That is why I gave up the body.
Madhusudan Naidu, Padova Italy, 17 April
2015
However, Sathya Sai Baba had been teaching this principle of
Oneness since the early days of His mission.
You are all Sat-Chit-Ananda Swarupa (embodiments of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss), but you are unaware of it and imagine yourself to be this individual or that, subjected to this limitation or that! This is the myth that must be exploded in order that divine life may start. It is the Divine that inspires, that activates, that leads and fulfils the life of each being, however simple or complex its physical structure may be. From the atom to the Universe, every single entity is moving toward the estuary where it merges in the sea of Bliss.
SSS 1.4: April 1957, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume01/sss01-04.pdf
Prahlada never called upon his father or mother, as children do, when he was tortured; he did not appeal to the torturers to save him; he saw in those cruel henchmen the Narayana (God) he adored. Everything, everybody, was Narayana for him. How then could he feel pain or suffer injury? Non-dualism in practice, the culmination of devotion, fully realised spiritual knowledge, liberated him. The vision of this Oneness is the highest reward the non-dualist seeks.
SSS 1.0: September 30, 1960, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume01/sss01-32.pdf
Do not posit distance between you and Me; do not interpose the formalities of the Guru-sishya (Preceptor-disciple) relationship, or even the altitudinal distinctions of the God-Devotee relationship, between you and Me. I am neither Guru nor God; I am You; You are I; that is the Truth. There is no distinction. That which appears so is the delusion. You are waves; I am the Ocean. Know this and be free, be Divine.
SSS 10.16: July 19, 1970, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume10/sss10-16.pdf
The moment you establish yourself in the truth “I am Atma”, you will attain liberation. Always think, “Swami is in me.” I am in Swami .” However, there will be no use if you simply repeat, “I am Swami”, I am Swami”, with a fickle mind. Develop firm faith, “I am Swami,” I am God; I am God.” It is only when you develop that firm conviction, you will attain Divinity which is attribute less, unsullied, final abode, eternal, pure, enlightened, free and the embodiment of sacredness.
SSS 40.13: July 28, 2007, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume40/sss40-13.pdf
Do not entertain the feeling that you are separate from God, that you are only a devotee, etc. Do not think that He is God and you are only a servant of God. You are not merely a devotee. You are God, verily. Constantly remind yourself “I am God, I am God, I am God.”
Sathya Sai Baba's teachings, as recorded in Sathya Sai
Speaks, Summer Showers in Brindavan and the Vahini series, are full of
references to this principle of Oneness.
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu claims Sathya Sai Baba now says He gave up the
body to teach us that we are one with Him.
2. Sathya Sai Baba has been saying that we are one with Him since the
early days of His mission.
QUESTIONS
1. When Sathya Sai Baba has been teaching that we are one with Swami
since the early days of His mission, what need would there be for Swami to
give up the body to teach this, as Madhusudan claims?
2. If Madhusudan is in communication with Sri Sathya Sai Baba, how
could he be unaware of this?
|
Divine vs human perspective
Swami's
discourses were always delivered from the level of the Divinity indwelling in
all, the one who controls the whole universe.
On
13 May 2014 Madhusudan Naidu gave his first public talk as 'Sukshma Baba' in
Kodaikanal. In this talk he claimed to be repeating to the audience what he
heard Swami's subtle body saying. We will compare the philosophy of human
effort and attitude of 'doership' displayed in the talk to what Swami said
about the same subject:
We are very grateful to C. Sreenivas who has taken pains to come all the way from Raipur amidst all the hectic work that he is doing. Swami is absolutely thrilled and overjoyed to receive him here at this very place.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
In the year 1993, Swami was offered this property and Swami chose Sreenivas to talk to the relevant people to undertake this task. It took some time to understand how it could be handed over to Bhagawan by the industrial group that Sreenivas was mentioning, but eventually things went smoothly such that Bhagawan visited this property personally. There were no good roads as there are today, but He took all the pains to come from Bangalore to Chennai to Kodaikanal. He saw this property and He perceived that there were certain negativities at this place. Not because of the great lady who lived here, but because of the “Suicide Point” which he (Sreenivas) did not want to mention.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
As Swami said a while ago, it is His sankalpa that this should happen, but it is the effort of people like Sreenivas, who have given up everything.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
Glory will come their way as a family, like how I mentioned about the other family from the UK, whose mission was healthcare. Even Sreenivas’ family is no less than that kind of family.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
How could one ever hold such a war against Ravana, who was so very mighty? It happened due to two things. One, it was the Will of Lord Rama. But Will alone is not enough. People should come together to make that Will happen.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
Swami also wants to convey this shubha-vaastha, that is, this good news. With the efforts of all the elders who are here, the Centre for Excellence has gotten its formal approval from the University of Mysore to start in June.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13, 2014
What if Narayan Bhat had not thought selflessly, there would not have been such institutions. Without Srinivas it would not have been possible to build such a big hospital, if Narasimhamurty had not left engineering and come here, there would not have been so many schools.
Notes from talk by Madhusudan Naidu to
students, August 26, 2015
"Just Swami's Will is not enough to acheive (sic) things
in this material world. Instruments are also required. Only where there are
instruments things will happen. Otherwise, nothing will happen."
Madhusudan Naidu quoted by B N
Narasimhamurthy, October 5, 2015
Narasimhamurthy then went on to say:
Swami is always there, He pervades everything and he
always wishes good on everybody. But still alot (sic) of things go
wrong because Swami has given, as a great democrat, he has given freedom to the
individuals - the Individual will is there. It is left to the individual to
choose the right path or the wrong path.
Notes from talk by B N Narasimhamurthy,
October 5, 2015
Madhusudan Naidu and his supporters state that
human effort is progressing his mission. But what does Swami say about this human
attitude of doership?
Hislop: Swami says that "All is done by the Lord and not by you". But, the world over, there is the concept that man is responsible for his own actions.
SAI: You are God. As long
as you are being human, there may be such thoughts.
H: As long as you are being human, does that imply the human state is an act of one's will?
SAI: Not an act of will. Just a matter of being confused. It is a delusion.
I am not asking you to work for My sake. I do not want anything for Myself from you. I do all My work Myself. I do not seek others' help. If only I Will it, the whole world will help Me. So, you help yourself, serve the society and mould your lives into ideal ones.
SSS 35.11: July 22, 2002, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume35/sss35-11.pdf
When the mind … identifies itself with the physical body,
assuming the doership for various activities, it goes by the name of ahamkara (ego).
Because of his identification with his body, man is being helplessly tossed hither and thither in various ways by his ego. “I am doing this; I am enjoying that; I have conquered this” thus saying to himself, man is lending strength day by day, to his sense of doership (kartritvabhava). Students! Remember that success and failure do not depend on your efforts or sadhana and such other activities. You are simply inflating your ego (ahamkara), by deluding yourself that you have been able to achieve things by your own effort.
Wrapped up in his own ego, man pursues the will-o-the
wisp of wealth, power, position, and strength. All these are transient. Man has
overcome the eight categories of pride--pride of physical prowess, material
wealth, scholarship, beauty, power and others. God's grace is needed to conquer
these evil traits because they have such a powerful hold over man.
SSS 20.8: May 1, 1987, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume20/sss20-08.pdf
Today this Sai Krishna is directing His play with so many thousands of Arjunas. Nimitha Maathram Bhava Savyasaachin! ("Be only my instrument, Oh Arjuna"). You are only instruments. Do not arrogate to yourselves any authority or power and claim credit for any achievement.
SSS 20.30: November 24, 1987, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume20/sss20-30.pdf
Was it beyond the power of Raama to discover Seetha in Lanka Himself? What need was there for Him to send Hanumaan? Raama wanted Hanumaan to go on the search, so that He could show to the world the devotion and steadfastness and faith of Hanumaan. It is a case of Grace on the part of Raama. In the same manner, if Sai so much as wants to do so many things Himself, He could do anything. This endeavour is not for the sake of Sai. It is done through these Seva Organisations so that members of the organisation get the chance to do service and redeem themselves. Try to understand the basic truth that these avenues of service have been provided so that you will get good name for yourselves and not for the sake of Sai.
Sathya Sai does not need anything and He does not ask anything from you.
SSS 17.17: July 14, 1984, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume17/sss17-16.pdf
It is only God who can fulfil the desires of devotees. It is He who grants you powers and positions. Without Him, you cannot achieve any position. All are zeros only! With God’s grace, one can become a hero!
SSS 42.04: February 21, 2009, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume42/sss42-04.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu
says "Will alone is not enough. People should come together to make that
Will happen". God is dependent on human effort to make things happen. ie
Swami is grateful to C Sreenivas for all the work he is doing and thrilled to
have him there. Due to the efforts of Sreenivas Kodaikanal was purchased. “With
the efforts of all the elders who are here, the Centre for Excellence has
gotten its formal approval from the University of Mysore.”
2. Sri Sathya Sai
Baba says "Sathya Sai does not need anything and He does not ask
anything from you". (SSS 17.17)
"If only I Will it, the whole world will help Me." (SSS 35.11) "You are simply inflating your ego, by
deluding yourself that you have been able to achieve things by your own
effort." (SSIB 1990.6) "Today this Sai Krishna is directing His
play with so many thousands of Arjunas… You are only instruments. Do not
arrogate to yourselves any authority or power and claim credit for any
achievement." (SSS 20.30). He also says that this human point of view is
a delusion, a matter of being confused.
QUESTIONS
1. If Madhusudan
Naidu is simply repeating what Swami's subtle body says to him, why does he
teach that human effort rather than God’s will is responsible for what
happens?
2. If Madhusudan is
communicating with Sri Sathya Sai Baba, why do his teachings promote a point
of view which Swami described as “a matter of being confused. It is a delusion”
|
The chosen few?
Madhusudan Naidu and his followers proclaim that that they
are specially chosen and are therefore different to other devotees who cannot
recognise that he is in communication with Sathya Sai Baba’s subtle body:
These are not ordinary people. These are saints and sages who have reincarnated in various forms.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 13,
2014
… because now it is very difficult for people to understand and experience this. Only those who have great love for Swami and great humility, only they have this opportunity to experience these things.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 19,
2014
Out of millions of people, only one or two develop such kind of desires. So it is not a surprise that out of how many ever crores of people on Earth, only 150 are here in this bungalow.
Madhusudan Naidu, Kodaikanal, May 19,
2014
Make use of this experience, this lifetime, this
relationship with Swami! You’ve been chosen—now do something with
this opportunity!
C Srinivas quoted in Connie Shaw's The
Glory of God in Croatia document, p.3
We are lucky to be alive at a time when the transformation of the planet is being undertaken in a magnitude never witnessed before. Many of us were chosen to be here at this time to be part of the process, to help and to witness.
Email from Gerald Dominick (Sai
Surya), April 12 2015
No one can come to Me unless I will it. Only those who are humble will be admitted into My class. The first qualification is humility. All the trees that bear fruits are bent low. Only trees that do not have fruits stand straight. If you have humility, you will learn.
Madhusudan Naidu, Italy, April 16, 2015,
p.7
To think that people here are very ordinary is a big mistake. In the same way as same Rama came as Krishna and Krishna came as Sai, the people around Him and who loved and adored Him they will also be born again and again.
Madhusudan Naidu, Muddenahalli, October 20,
2015, http://www.bhajanmusic.info/sukshma-baba-information/OCTOBER-2015-MUDDENAHALLI-DISCOURSE-ENGLISH
When Swami taught us that all are one and that the goal of
human birth is to get rid of the ego in order to realise the Oneness of
Divinity, why does Madhusudan continue to consistently stroke his devotee's
egos in order to make them feel special, to make them different from or better
than those who don't believe him?
Umesh
Rao, who is on the board of Madhusudan Naidu's company, Lotus Energy, speaks of
an interview in the 1970s in which he claims that Swami told him that he would
retire and work only with chosen devotees:
“At that time it will not be like this, with all of the crowds. At that time I will work with just a few chosen devotees”.
Love in action, the mission
continues video
This
idea of being chosen above others is also being taught to Sai youth who attend
these gatherings:
This generation is already over. We cannot do much about it; at least we can save the next generation.
Master's Divine Command, Kuala Lumpur, March 13, 2015
V Kumar, who now travels with Madhusudan Naidu, preached this
same message to Australian Sai youth while he was the National Youth
Coordinator. This led to youth telling elders that Swami had given up on them
and that the youth are the chosen ones. It is interesting that we now see the
same message coming from Sukshma Baba.
Did
Sri Sathya Sai Baba build up the ego by encouraging the idea that any among His
devotees were special?
Every human being should strive to destroy the Ahamkaara (ego). Unless the ego is eradicated, Divinity cannot be realised.
SSS 30.6: March 7, 1997, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume30/sss30-06.pdf
Embodiments of Divine Love! God
is complete love incarnate. This love shines equally in every human being. The
fragrance of a flower remains the same whether it is held in the right hand or
the left. Likewise God has no distinction such as the favoured and the
excluded. Different persons, proceeding from their own likes and dislikes,
attribute to the Divine the divergent views existing in their own minds. God
has no feelings of differentiation such as the good and the bad, the likable
and the unwanted, the wicked and the virtuous. The sandalwood tree imparts its
fragrance even to the axe that fells it. Likewise God is ever prepared to love,
foster and protect equally everyone without any distinction. But the
narrow-minded cannot easily grasp the Divine's equal-mindedness. Indeed, how
can a fishmonger know the value of diamonds? Everyone apprehends God's powers
and attributes according to their own limited conceptions and experiences.
SSS 22.38: December 25, 1989, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume22/sss22-38.pdf
There is no place for any ego. A small example. America is not very big on a globe map of the world, California is just a small place, Hislop's house is just a dot and Hislop himself is not even visible. For a person so small as to be invisible, so temporary in the expanse of the universe, it is shameful to live with ego. Any person with ego is a disgrace. If you expand your idea of yourself to be God, then there is no reason and no place for an ego. And if you shrink yourself to conform to your relative statue in the vast universe, also there is no place for ego. The lowest or the highest, it does not matter. It is the middle that has pressure.
Swami
always taught that all are one, that the one Sai is in all. Swami did not feed
people’s ego and sense of being different from others by telling them that some
are chosen and different to others. What did Swami say about gurus who feed
their devotee's egos?
Many Gurus do not instruct people in this doctrine of
courage, they do not bring up those who go to them in the discipline of the
knowledge of Self (Aathma-jnaana), for, they themselves are not established in
the Reality of Self (Aathma-thathwa). They intensify the egoism of their
disciples and devotees and hasten their doom, rather than avoid it. The
disciples too asked for quick results and shortened courses and less and less
austerity. The Gurus have therefore to water down the rigour of spiritual
discipline, and behave as minions of the disciples themselves! They wink at many
a moral transgression, and very often share in the plots and intrigues which
are the daily routine of the devotees! It is a sad state of affairs, indeed!
SSS 4.11: February 24, 1964, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume04/sss04-11.pdf
SUMMARY
1. Madhusudan Naidu
and his followers say It is very difficult for people to understand and
experience this. Only those with great love and humility will be able to
experience this. Out of millions only a few have the desire to serve God so
it’s no surprise that there are only 150 there". We are lucky to be
alive at this time and have been chosen. Swami is spending the next few years
only working with a few chosen devotees.
2. Sri Sathya Sai
Baba says “God has no distinction such as the
favoured and the excluded. Different persons, proceeding from their own likes
and dislikes, attribute to the Divine the divergent views existing in their
own minds. God has no feelings of differentiation such as the good and the
bad, the likable and the unwanted, the wicked and the virtuous.” (SSS
22.38)
3. Madhusudan Naidu
says that this generation cannot be saved, but that the next generation can.
4. Sathya Sai Baba
said "Be confident that you will all be liberated. Know that you are
saved". (SSS 3.1).
QUESTIONS
1. Madhusudan talks
of his mission being with the chosen few, whereas Sri Sathya Sai Baba
includes all without distinction. Swami said expansion is His life. Why then
would He contract His mission to work only with a few?
|
It is good to see people working hard to create smiles on the faces of needy people.
ReplyDeletemadhusudan naidu
madhusudan naidu muddenahalli
The schools established with the blessings of Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba provides education to rural children absolutely free of cost. You should take a glance at our other initiatives as well.
ReplyDeletemadhusudan naidu
madhusudan naidu muddenahalli