The Inconvenient Truth - Are we ready to accept and live by it?

If I 'declare' my oneness with God...

It has been quite some time now that I have been writing articles based on the inspiration in my heart. I have received a lot of love and gratitude for the same. People thank me for providing many solutions and I write back to them telling that it is the Lord they must thank and not me for He is the inspiration. They are happy with my response and I am happy with their response. There is a reason why I am bringing this up now.

Just imagine, if today, I were to proclaim,

“I am God. What I speak is the Truth and what I do is Dharma. And that is why you find solace and solutions in what I write, for what I write is Absolute.” 

I would be considered as pompous and as someone at the zenith of ego and blasphemy. People would get ticked off and maybe even stop reading what I write. What I write is the same but whether I put it in ‘humility’ or ‘pride’ makes a lot of difference apparently! I too, therefore, choose to write in ‘humility’ for I seek my readers support and agreement. And this is where I face the Inconvenient Truth.

Please allow me to elaborate.

It was on the 20th of October 1940 that a young boy in a village that had been described as ‘a stone’s throw from Stone Age’ sat on a rock and proclaimed himself to be God. He said,
“Oh mind (people)! Incessantly meditate on the feet of your Master. That alone will aid you across the ocean of worldly existence.”

Manasa Bhajare Guru Charanam
Dusthara Bhavasaagara Tharanam

That was how Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba began what He called His mission. And the followers and devotees started flowing. Along with these followers and devotees also came the critics. The critics could not simply stand the ‘fact’ that a human is God! They felt that it was a pompous boast.

Looking back at the life of Baba, I feel that if only He had called Himself a saint or a man in touch with God, the critics would not be so many in number or so vehement in their venom. Even if He had said that He is one with God for He realized the Divine, people would have been less critical. But that was not to be so! In fact, Swami went a step ahead to say,
“I am God. And if you seek within you will realize that you too are Divine.”

Not much attention is paid to the second sentence though it is the 'longer' of the two. That’s because that is the Inconvenient Truth which demands too much if we accept it. The first sentence however is scrutinized and criticized, often quoted in isolation and, again, is not accepted for that too is the Inconvenient Truth!

This has been the case from times immemorial...

Even Jesus was not spared from stoning because
of 'blasphemy'. 

Jesus' experience stating the 'inconvenient truth'

Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down the Portico of Solomon. It was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. Someone among the crowd asked him, “Are you the Christ (The Lord)?”
Jesus replied, “The Father and I are one.” (John 10:30)
Hearing this, some of the people picked up stones to throw at him. Jesus asked them,
“I have shown many good works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?”
(John 10:32)
“We are stoning you not for doing a good work”, they replied,“but for blasphemy; though you are only a man, you claim to be God.” ( John 10:33)
Jesus answered them,
"Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? (John 10:34) If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside (John 10:35)

Why then do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ because I said, ‘I am God’? Truly, I am God and you too are God.”

"Who am I" - A time travel to the least understood period of Sri Sathya Sai's life_Part 1

The reason behind visiting a painful past

The beautiful and handsome - Bala Sai. (Both adjectives are apt for, after all,
is He not the Shiva-Shakti?) 

I have always loved the concept of travelling back in time. The reason for that, I feel, is that we are able to look back at events that have happened with the wisdom that we have retrospectively gained in the present! What might have seemed like a great tragedy in the past has great lessons for us in the future. At the same time, what seemed like a great blessing in the past, could turn out to be a tragedy in the future. That is why, visiting the past with retrospective wisdom is indeed a wonderful thing.

Today, if someone were to ask me as to which point in time in the 20th century I would like to travel back to, I would choose that point in time during which the second world war happened. It might seem like a crazy thing. But, the second world war can be considered as a watershed of sorts in the history of mankind. The second World War in general, and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in particular, made the world and realise the futility and grave danger that a world war posed to entire humanity. That is what led to the formation of the United Nations organisation and lead to a strong resolve among the leaders of all countries that they would never indulge in a war like that again. More then five decades after that world war, humanity seems to have forgotten the lessons of that war. Little pockets of violence and war have erupted all around the globe. That is why, do a painful, it would be a good idea to travel back in time to witness the Second World War. When the wisdom of the past pain is forgotten, one might have to revisit that pain in order to gain the lost wisdom. Witnessing that war again, the wisdom about the futility of war and the importance of peace is sure to dawn upon all of us.

Often the wisdom of peace is actually gifted by the horrors of a war

When it comes to the life of my Lord, my master, my best friend, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba too, I make use of the same logic. If given the choice of turning the dials on the Time Machine to revisit his story, I would choose the same years as those of the second world war- the early 1940s. These were probably the most painful times of the avatar's life. A little reminder here-when I say painful, it is not necessarily painful for the avatar, but it is definitely painful for the devotee. However, it becomes necessary to revisit that painful period, because as devotees we seem to have forgotten the great lessons and insights that our Swami give us through that episode. With that warning I now turn the dials of my time machine as I transform myself into a little fly at Puttaparthi. I have chosen to be a fly in keeping with the fly-on-the-wall approach that I would wish to adopt in narrating the happenings that I witness in the past.The dial shows the March of 1943 and here I go.

Whirrrrr...... Swooooooooshhhhhh...... Blip...

Decision to meet a miracle-worker

Having witnessed the fascinating sequence of events at Uravakonda, (if you have come here directly, you should read that part here:

Time travel to the days of declaration of Avatarhood of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba)

I was eager to see how much longer will the world remain blind to the reality of my Lord. It was late in the evening and, at a distance, I saw a bullock cart trudging it's way back to the village. The occupants of the cart seemed very concerned and sad. I buzzed up to the cart and, in an instant, I knew the cause for their sorrow. Surrounded by the peering faces was the serene and absolutely still frame of little Sathyam, my dear Swami. Oh my god! Had He still not ‘recovered’?