Do your best and God will do the rest

Involvement without attachment

That should inspire us to be completely involved...

There is no scarcity of people’s stories where hard work has gone in vain, unrewarded. There is also no scarcity of such stories where results and gifts are handed on a platter to people who do nothing at all. Amid these two extremes, we find a broad spectrum of people who get results disproportionate to their efforts. Thus, we find people of the first extreme getting frustrated with making efforts and people of the second extreme wondering why efforts have to be made at all when ‘luck’ seems to be ‘gifting’ people at random. And there is confusion on the efficacy of efforts in the intermediate area of the spectrum.

Blessed is he/she who is able to stay out of and go beyond the spectrum mentioned above! It is indeed a great blessing to be able to persevere with one’s efforts without getting affected, positively or negatively, by the results the efforts bring. This holds good for all kinds of efforts - at home, at the workplace, in school and generally in life (which includes one’s spiritual efforts as well). This ability to separate oneself from the results of one’s efforts has been described in the Bhagwad Gita by Lord Krishna as Karma Phala Tyaga  (giving up the fruits of efforts).

My Lord and best friend, my Swami, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba explains this beautifully. He says that one must have the ability of involvement without attachment. And that - involvement without attachment - is precisely what I feel is the meaning of this famous proverb:

Do your best and God will do the rest.

Two reassuring incidents with Swami come to mind at this point. They are similar in the way they panned out and probably that is the reason why I always remember them together. Thinking about them, I feel that also carry the same message in slightly different ways.

Goodness and Godliness

This incident is set sometime in the years 2000-2001. It is the experience of a student who joined the Sri Sathya Sai Higher Secondary School for his XI grade in 1986. He graduated in 1991 with a Bachelors degree in commerce. Let us call this student Govind for identity sake.

Govind had decided to spend all his life with his Lord and master, his beloved Swami. Therefore, he continued to be closely associated in many ways with different projects that Swami undertook. Then came the time when his mother told Swami that it was time for her son to get married.

Swami always stresses to the children and youth to consider their parents as God. Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava He says - regard and revere your mother and your father as God. He called Govind and told him to get married. Govind was hesitant. He feared that the girl who would become his wife would also take him away from Swami. He expressed the same to Swami and said,

“Swami, I don’t care what kind of a girl she is. She should be a Sai devotee.”

When he said so, Swami slightly reprimanded him. Swami said that he should not simply say that he didn’t care what kind of a girl he married. The girls should be virtuous and good. It didn’t matter it she wasn’t a ‘Sai-devotee’. Govind was adamant about his point of view. He tried to reason out with Swami. His heart pounded harder even as he thought of the possibility of him being pulled away from his Swami in case his wife did not ‘believe’ in Him.

Godliness attracts goodness naturally.

That was when Swami made a statement that reassured Govind. That statement continues to be such an inspiration for me. I always think of it in many different contexts. Swami told him,

“Ay! You just look out for virtues. Ensure that you select a good girl. I will ensure that her goodness is attracted to my Godliness.”

Wow! What a statement! What a reassurance! There is the obvious message that when one has put in one’s best efforts and done his/her best, God is always ready to do the rest. However, there is also a different, subtle message for me who claims to be His devotee.

I realize that I become Swami’s devotee only when there is goodness in me. I don’t become a devotee because of ‘knowing’ Him for 50 years or having got dozens of interviews/opportunities to touch His feet/have darshan. At the same time, I also learn that if anyone does not ‘accept’ my God, it does not matter. As long as they are good people, it is enough. Goodness automatically gets attracted to divinity/Godliness in due course of time. So, I need not unduly worry if people criticize or ridicule my Lord - as long as they are good beings! Nothing taints the Lord.

Is there a shortage of ‘goodness’ in the world?

Well, it is indeed heartening that goodness gets attracted to godliness. But again, in the ‘practical’ world as we call it, we feel that this is not happening. Bad seems to be proliferating at such a pace that there seems to be no ‘sufficient goodness’ to get attracted to Godliness! What do we do? It is here that the importance of being good oneself cannot be overemphasized.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

Now that is a cliche that we have heard again and again from many places, at many times. One of the most beautiful expressions of this cliche can be found as the epitaph of an Anglican bishop buried in the crypt of Westminister Abbey in AD 1100. On the grave are the following words:

“When I was young and had all energies, I wanted to change the world. I found it difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I realized that the nation was too large a place, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t even change the town and so I decided that changing my family would be sufficient. Now, on my deathbed, I know that the only thing I can change is myself.

Suddenly I realize that if,long ago, I had changed myself, I could have impacted my family. With its support,  I could have made an impact on our town. That impact could have changed the nation and, who knows, one day I could indeed have changed the world!”

Once again, the inspiration and reassurance from Swami is wonderful.

Role models and inspiration

Time and again, Swami exhorts the importance of one’s efforts. In fact, in the summer course discourse delivered on the 28th May 1993, Swami said,

“There is nothing that cannot be achieved through man’s efforts. He can even bring the whole ocean into a glass and drink it up completely. When he was born, he knew no alphabet but he is soon able to write complete books. However, the problem comes with one’s mind.”

A little more insight into this can be gained from a student’s experience.

It was one of those memorable Trayee sessions in which Swami had stressed on the importance of one putting in one’s best efforts. A student who was thinking ‘practically’ raised his hand and raised a doubt along with it. He asked Swami,

“Swami, you tell us that you will transform the world through us. But isn’t that such a tough task. There are so many people in the world and the number of students are so few. How can it ever happen?

Swami smiled at the student and then said,

“You take care of following and practicing the ideals I have taught. That is all that needs to be your worry. When you are ideal, I shall make sure that the world notices you and gets inspired by you. That is my job and you don’t worry about it.”

Isn't that another beautiful reassurance? Again, it carries a subtle for me. When I put in efforts, my focus and energies must be only on the efforts. Keeping an eye on when the fruit is coming or why it is not coming does not help. At the right time and circumstance, God will deliver the fruit for He always knows best.

That is where I feel that the monk’s epitaph can be slightly modified. Yes, it is indeed true that changing oneself can change the world one day. But for that to happen, one should change oneself only with the focus on changing oneself. If one changes oneself BECAUSE he/she wants to change the world, there might be a problem! That is precisely the Karma Phala Tyaga that Lord Krishna spoke about. In view of that has been discussed so far, I would like to modify the famous proverb in this manner-

Do your best and then just rest. God will do the rest and, whatever that is, it will always be the best!

For all readers:

(If you enjoyed this and wish to subscribe to this blog, please go to the right hand side and choose the last 'box' which says subscribe. Another blog which I maintain with more than 200 articles on it is at http://aravindb1982.hubpages.com. If you wish to be added to my mailing list, please email me via this page with the subject "ADD ME TO MAILING LIST".

Also, use the Tweet and FB buttons below here liberally to share with your friends and family!

Thank you)

A real 'God of small things'

The God of small things

“Why is Sathya Sai Baba God for you?”

This is a question that people are often asked when it is discovered that they have placed their faith in a contemporary ‘God’, a being who seems as human as any of them. The answers the issue forth range from a grateful silence to a verbose chatter where the devotee seems to credit everything in life to his/her ‘Swami’ (as Sri Sathya Sai Baba is called lovingly). For a ‘rational’ mind and heart that has not yet been touched by the divine alchemy, any answer seems incomplete. While the stories of cancers being healed miraculously raise interest and curiosity, the narratives of Swami’s hand in the day-to-day affairs of His devotees seem to just be brushed off as figments of the devout’s imagination.

But those little instances; those small things are what make Him the personal deity for millions. If I am allowed to modify the statement of Henry Royce, an English engineer who is believed to have said,

“Small things make perfection but perfection is no small thing”, I would say,

“Small things make Divinity but Divinity is no small thing.”

Mr. Royce sure knew what he was talking about. He went on to become the co-founder of the Rolls-Royce company along with Charles Stewart Rolls. I sure know what I am talking about because I have met at least a hundred people who have their faith firmly entrenched in God and in Swami as their god because of the small things He does for them. These acts might mean nothing for the world but they mean the world to the people who experience them!

Henry Royce and his 'perfection' - the 1929 Rolls Royce Phantom

This conviction of mine got added strength when good fortune made my path cross that of Mrs. Poongody Ratnam from Canada (originally a native of Sri Lanka). She is a regular reader of my blogs and, out of motherly affection, took time out to visit me at my workplace, Radiosai studios. It was captivating to listen to her narrative of how Baba was and is her God because of the small things He did and continues to do for her.

Strength to brave a tsunami

The 26th of December, 2004 saw a major disaster strike several nations lying on the Indian ocean. The tsunami that hit the Sumatra-Andaman region was of such historic proportions that, as far as I remember, it was for the first time in my life that I heard the word ‘tsunami’! Though the ocean waves from the earthquake did not directly affect Mrs.Ratnam’s family house in Sri Lanka, the havoc wreaked all around was sufficient to cause a massive heart attack to her father.

It was at her home in Canada that she received the news of her father’s passing away. She was halfway across the globe and it was near impossible for her to be at her home in Sri Lanka for the funeral ceremony. But suddenly, she had a wishful thought.

Mrs.Poongody Ratnam at Prasanthi Nilayam
July 2013

She regularly sent greeting cards to her father, and that too ones which she procured specially from Prasanthi NIlayam, bearing Swami’s picture and message on it. Since these cards had Swami on them, her father had preserved each and every one she had sent. She had sent a card on the 23rd of December, just 3 days before. Since it usually took the mailman at least 15-20 days for delivery, there was no way that the card had reached its destination.

“If only the card reaches my father, it could be given to him. That would be like an assurance that Swami is ‘traveling’ with him. That would also give me solace because, as a daughter, am not physically there for the ceremony.”

That was her wishful thought.

Since she had not used a courier service, there was no way to track the card or hurry it to its recipient. Mrs. Ratnam did the only thing she knew for such times - she prayed to her Swami,

“Swami, please reach in time for my father’s ‘journey’. And let me know that you have reached via this card!”

We not only pray to God to grant our desires, but also pray for the desires to be granted in a way want!

What happened was simply unbelievable according to her.

“Just as the ceremonies were completed and the coffin was being moved out of the home for the funeral, the mailman arrived at the door in Sri Lanka! He had just one post for that address that day - it was my card... Swami’s card rather! The card was placed beside my father before the final cremation rites.”

That ‘small’ act by Swami, gave her the strength to bear the force of the emotional tsunami that hit her when she lost her father. She knew, he was ‘safe, happy and peaceful with Swami’.

The mother’s journey

The 27th of April, 2013 saw Mrs.Ratnam facing another emotional storm in Canada as her beloved mother in Sri Lanka breathed her last. Once again, she was not in a position to make it for the final ceremonies. In fact, she told me that she was on her way to her ancestral home in Sri Lanka having had the darshan of her Lord at Puttaparthi.

“Whenever I travel, it is only to India, to Puttaparthi and to my parent’s place. I am at home at these places and that is why I always wish to be here. Few months before, when my mother passed away, I could not travel to Sri Lanka. I felt very bad about it.”

Once again, she just prayed to her God.

“Swami, you showed me that you are with my father. In some way, you have to show me that you are with my mother too. You must.”

This time, she gave freedom to Swami regarding the way to show the same!

Nothing happened for a week after the funeral but she held on. Her prayers did not cease, nor did her determination. On the morning of the 5th of May, she had a dream.

In the dream, she walked into her ancestral home and saw her mother lying down on a platform. She was ‘dying’. Then, before her eyes, her mother’s body vanished and it was Swami lying down there. He spoke to her and though she was seeing Swami, she was hearing her mother. Swami said,

“I have completed all my duties. I am happy and satisfied. I feel free and am ready to go.”

“Yes Swami”, she said because she was seeing Swami in her mother’s place.

Then, her mother told a strange thing. She pointed out to a bell in a temple and said,

“That is broken. Replace it.”

The dream concluded with that.

When Mrs.Ratnam woke up, she contacted her sister in Sri Lanka. She knew that her mother always worshipped the ‘Mother’ aspect of God in the nearby temple of a local goddess. She wanted her sister to go to the temple and see the bell in there. Though intrigued by this request, the sister did as she was asked nevertheless. She visited the temple and then called up her sister in Canada.

Mrs. Poon Ratnam just had tears in her eyes as she heard her sister say,

“I visited the temple. There is indeed a bell where you said it would be. It is broken.”

A broken bell at the temple indeed did ring bells for Mrs. Ratnam

She managed to say,

“Please tell the concerned people there that I would be grateful for the opportunity to replace the bell.”

She had purchased a special brass bell from India and when she met me, she told that she would be taking it to that temple in Sri Lanka.

Thanking the God of small things for the small things

Well, replacing a bell in a small temple tucked away in a corner of Sri Lanka may not mean anything at all to the world. It definitely means a world to Mrs.Poon Ratnam. She did not stop with these incidents. She went on to narrate a few more. I too can go on writing about them.

However, that is not the intention of the post. The intention was to provoke in each and every one of us, memories of the many times when God showed that He was always there, taking care of us and loving us. Did we express our gratitude to Him/Her on all those occasions? If we start expressing our gratitude to God for every small thing that we are blessed with, will we ever have time in this life to complain? These ‘small things’ stand in good stead in our lives when we are faced with tough times. It will do us good to remember these ‘small things’ during the hard times.

After all, life is always made up of ups and downs. If it was a flat line, any doctor would call that as ‘death’ and not ‘life’! 

You may also enjoy the following

1. If you look to me, I look to you : A Christian's life-changing experience

2. The Independence Day 'drama' in Sri Sathya Sai's presence - 15th August 2004 - Part 1

3. The final namaskar: the ultimate message of Bhagawan Baba.

For all readers:

(If you enjoyed this and wish to subscribe to this blog, please go to the right hand side and choose the last 'box' which says subscribe. Another blog which I maintain with more than 200 articles on it is at http://aravindb1982.hubpages.com. If you wish to be added to my mailing list, please email me via this page with the subject "ADD ME TO MAILING LIST".

Also, use the Tweet and FB buttons below here liberally to share with your friends and family!

Thank you)

Vibhuti manifestations: Sathya Sai keeps up His word and His divine pranks too

The promise kept

I have always worked on the hypothesis that the more I give, the more I shall receive. And every time that I have tried it out, I have seen it to be true. Each successful trial strengthened my faith in the statement and, therefore, I try to give as much as I can, of all that I can. You can call this selfish selflessness if you wish but that is the truth as the Dalai Lama put it - “Be selfish. Be generous.” In that sense, there is no difference between selfishness and selflessness. When one is ‘wisely selfish’ one is automatically selfless because one realizes that the greatest good comes out of being selfless.

Forgive that little detour of mine. What I intended to say was that, even when it came to the matter of me sharing my experiences with my Master and God, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I followed the same hypothesis. I felt that the more I shared my experiences, the more I would receive experiences. That is one of the reasons why I believe in sharing my spiritual experiences. Briefly, I did see this happening - the more I shared what Swami gave me or spoke to me, the more Swami, as Baba is lovingly called, seemed to give me and speak to me.

(Disclaimer: On the spiritual path, it is each man for himself; or a woman for herself. This is not a general rule but my observations in my experiences.)

Thrilled by this, I began to speak and share more. I received more. And then, all of a sudden, on the 24th of April, 2011, He left the physical. I was devastated. Among the several things that I asked Him and prayed, was this question.

“Swami, now, I shall share even more. I shall do so via the internet on a much larger scale. How will you keep your end of the promise and give me more? Is this the end?”

Today, I place my hand on my heart and say that Swami has kept His end of the promise. Hey! Wait a minute! He never made that promise in the first place. I just thrust my hypothesis on Him. But loving that He is and knowing how much my hypothesis means for me, He chose to make it ‘His promise’ and also ‘keep it up’ without fail.

Several instances after the ‘Mahasamadhi’ (That word refers to Baba’s leaving of the physical. It also represents the space where His earthly remains have been enshrined. come to mind. There are the vibhuti manifestation miracles, the miracles at the Mahasamadhi and so on. Each instance shows a different facet of my beloved Swami. Here, I would like to recount a couple of instances where His beautiful playfulness is seen, even today.

Sankaranthi leela - His divine mischief

The 14th of January every year is celebrated as Sankranthi - a harvest festival which also coincides with the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to the other. It is the day of the prize distribution for the students of the Sri Sathya Sai institutions. In the evening, the students put up a cultural programme. So, on 14/01/2013, when the prize distribution programme was on, I was in the Sai Kulwant hall in Prasanthi Nilayam, covering the event as a photographer. My cell phone vibrated and I saw that my father was trying to contact me. Since, it is not allowed to use cellphones in the premises (we are allowed to carry them for emergencies, just like the FBI is allowed guns even aboard aircraft!), I walked into a room. My father’s voice was very excited,

”Aravind! Vibhuti (holy ash) has appeared at home!”

“Where?” I asked.

“On the silver Ganesha pendant. It has formed as a small heap on it. The best thing is that the vibhuti is sweet in taste. Both me and Pooja (my wife) tasted it.”

“Wow! Let it be that way. I will come home and have a look at it.”

Needless to say, I rushed home even as the programme concluded. I went straight to the altar, to that little silver plate in which the silver pendant of Ganesha rested. There was not a pinch of vibhuti there. I was disappointed with my father. What was his hurry in clearing up the vibhuti?

“Dad! Why did you clear the vibhuti into a box. I told you to leave it as it is.”

“I did not clear it. Nor did Pooja. It should be there.”

It wasn’t there definitely. Pooja and dad came into the room. They swore that they had tasted it. As proof, my dad also showed me the picture taken a few hours before. Indeed there was vibhuti. 

This was what my dad and my wife saw at 10:30am on the 14th of January 2013.

This is what I saw at 11:30 am on the 14th of January, 2013. 

As it became clear that the vibhuti had disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared, my father rejoiced. For him, this was like two miracles on the same day. I was not happy. I would have been happier with only one miracle instead of two! I kept pouting and complaining to everyone at home for the rest of the day about how unfair Swami had been towards me. The sense of injustice was magnified by the fact that I was doing my duty in the temple while people who sat at home enjoyed a sweet snack!

Even as I went to bed, I kept complaining. The last thought before I slept was,

“Swami, you have been unfair to me.”

The next morning, my first thought too was the same! I continued to grumble and complain. I wanted Swami to feel guilty and so, I did all the morning worship - placing flowers in the altar, lighting lamps and the incense sticks. Having done that, I told a bye to Swami and was leaving for office. As I reached the main door, something stopped me. I felt an irresistible urge to go back to the altar. And as I reached the altar, the sight simply stunned me.

The vibhuti heap that appeared on the morning on the 15th of January, 2013, was similar to the
one on the previous day - only that it had cardamom flavoring!

EXACTLY LIKE THE PREVIOUS DAY (the way I had seen in the photo), there was a little heap of vibhuti on the Ganesha pendant! I quickly took a pinch of it and put it on my tongue. Not only was it sweet, it also had an elaichi (cardamom) flavor! I immediately summoned everyone. As he put the vibhuti on his tongue, dad remarked,

“Swami forgot the elaichi flavoring yesterday. That is why He withdrew the stocks and sent us fresh stock today morning!” We all laughed out aloud. I was simply happy and thrilled.

As I looked into His eyes in the picture, did I see a gleam of mischief in them?

Telegram mischief

Swami, on several occasions has done such mischief - taking away something and then returning it again. One interesting episode was what I read in a Radiosai article about Mr. Joga Rao. It brought out exactly this kind of leela of Swami.

When the document of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust was to be registered at Hyderabad in 1972, Baba asked Joga Rao to coordinate all the related work apart from organising Swami’s visit to the city. It was obligatory that the members of the Trust be present at the time of registration. Therefore Joga Rao called up the Rajamata (Queen Mother) of Nawanagar (a princely state in India) who was at Bombay, to come to Hyderabad along with Sri Nani Palkhiwala (the renowned jurist and economist) and Sri Indulal Shah.

The Rajamata conveyed to Joga Rao the same evening by telephone that she would be coming to Hyderabad with Sri Indulal Shah. She also informed him that Palkhiwala who had gone out of station would not be able to make it to Hyderabad. Since Bhagavan had had already retired by that time, Joga Rao could not convey the message to Him.

Col.Joga Rao with Bhagawan Baba. Photo courtesy - www.radiosai.org

When Joga Rao went to the post office next morning along with Sri Prasada Rao, then the State President of Sri Sathya Sai Organisations of Andhra Pradesh, he found a telegram sent by the Rajamata to Bhagavan confirming her arrival. When they met Swami and handed over the telegram to Him, He read it and said,

“Joga Rao, they are not coming!”

Puzzled and bewildered, Joga Rao read the telegram again and again. According to the telegram, what Baba had said was perfectly right! Joga Rao showed the telegram to Prasada Rao. They looked at each other in wonder and could not believe how they had bothe mistaken the telegram when they read it at the post office.

During their lunch with Swami, He laughed and gave them the telegram again. This time, it bore the same words they had read at the post office!

So, the disappearing and appearing is a common leela - done sometimes to words; sometimes to vibhuti!

Vibhuti manifestation in phases

I cannot help but recollect the most recent vibhuti prank, if I may call it so.  During my student days, I got several opportunities to witness the handkerchief mischief of my sweet Lord. And now, vibhuti pranks seem to be the new genre! This happened on the morning of the 24th of July, 2013.

As is my practice, I woke up at 6am and put on the lights in the altar. I wished my Swami a ‘Good Morning’ and I then moved into the bathroom for my morning ablutions. I came to the computer to do some typing when my wife, Pooja, called out to me.

“Come here fast....”

I did go there ‘fast’.

“I just bent down to clear these flowers. When I stood up, this had happened!”

The ‘this’ in her statement referred to the copious amounts of vibhuti that had appeared from two photographs of Swami. I was happy.

As we called my dad to the altar, in the few moments we were not at the altar, a fresh vibhuti shower had taken place! We were simply thrilled.

In joy, we called out to our dear neighbors, the Deshpandes. (Amey, about whom i have written several articles, is the son of Deshpande uncle.) By the time uncle came to the altar, some more vibhuti had manifested. This was simply getting thrilling. I just tapped on a silver container up front (which contains a Shiva linga) and said,

“This is the only container that has not been touched by the vibhuti.”

Even as I said that and all of us walked with uncle to the door, vibhuti had manifested on that silver box too.

I once again looked at Swami’s eyes in the main picture. There was so much of mischief in them. But there was so much of love too pouring from them. I just closed my eyes in gratitude and told Him,

“Swami, you continue to keep your promise! I shall keep up my end of the deal too! I will share this with all.”

For all readers:

(If you enjoyed this and wish to subscribe to this blog, please go to the right hand side and choose the last 'box' which says subscribe. Another blog which I maintain with more than 200 articles on it is at http://aravindb1982.hubpages.com. If you wish to be added to my mailing list, please email me via this page with the subject "ADD ME TO MAILING LIST".

Also, use the Tweet and FB buttons below here liberally to share with your friends and family!

Thank you)