12 Jan 2003
[The divine experience of Shri. C. B. K. Murthy is given below in his own words.]
Swami and Shirdi Sai Baba Are One: In the past, Swami appeared as Sai Baba to several devotees. Recently He appeared as Shirdi Sai Baba to Shri. K. Lakshman with smell of camphor. Next day, a devotee from Hyderabad, Smt. Ch. Sarada, came to see Swami. In her house, letters in Telugu (dotted shapes of letters, visible to everyone) appeared in milk that was kept as an offering before Sai Baba. Devotees copied all those letters written by Sai Baba in milk. It turned out to be a small verse in Telugu. The writings were brought here [to Vijayawada]. Surprisingly, the verse contained the essence of what Swami had said in His discourses. This proves that Swami is Sai Baba i.e., Lord Datta. We told the same to Swami. Swami replied “I am a Dog at the feet of Sai Baba. Sai Baba says ‘Allah Malik’ and I say ‘Sai Malik’”. [Swami commonly speaks like this, putting Himself down. It is a characteristic way of Lord Datta.] But Swami also says, “Datta is Jnana (knowledge). Vinaya (humility) is the fruit of Jnana. So Datta is always humble and always speaks submissively. Datta will never stay where ego exists”.
Swami often says that He is the Dog at the feet of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba. Devotees felt bad about it and requested Swami not to speak like that. Swami said, “If you read it from the left, it is DOG. If you read it from the right it is GOD. If a person who is full of ego and jealousy comes to Me, I say that I am a DOG. If a devotee with full faith comes to Me, I say that I am GOD. The pointer on the ‘ego-jealousy meter’ gives a reading between 0-100% for every person coming to Me and the meter reading appears to My eyes. According to that reading, I play the appropriate cassette. I have five cassettes with Me, which say that I am a Dog, Devotee, Messenger, Incarnation and God respectively. If the ego-jealousy reading of the visitor is 100%, I say that I am a Dog. If it is 75% I say that I am a Devotee. If it is 50% I say that I am a Messenger. If it is 25% I say that I am the Incarnation. If it is 0% I say that I am God. Thus, there is a gradual transformation from Dvaita to Vishisthadvaita and further to Advaita. According to the visitors level of absorption I have to play the appropriate cassette. If the visitor has 100% ego and jealousy, and if I play the 5th cassette, which says that I am God, the visitor will leave at once shouting that I am mad and egotistic”.
Below I am comparing a small excerpt from a discourse of Swami with the writing of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba in milk.
Excerpt from Swami’s discourse
God comes down in human form alone. The Gita says the same as “Manusheem….” The Gita also says “Bhutejya yanti…”, which means, “If you worship stones you will be re-born as stones….” The Veda says “Natasya pratima…”, which means, “God does not dwell in statues”. Hence, worship (consisting of the sixteen steps or upacharas[1]) is meant only for the Human Incarnation of God and not for the statue. The statue is meant only for seeing the forms of past Incarnations as said by the Veda (Drastavayah). It is just like seeing the photograph of a person who is no more here. The photograph is required because it is difficult to clearly imagine a person, who is not before you.
Sai Baba’s writing in milk
“Nirakarun, akaramu leni nanu madi nilputa kasthamanuchu pratimal chitramulan, ekagratha kuduru okarupuniga nilpi pujinchamatanna purthin verrulai nenocchi akaramu dalchi yeduta nilchi spurthi nicchinan, aa silalan kolthuru chitramunu nilpedaru nanu gurthincha leni mimu kani chitramaitiraa.”
English translation: “I asked you to meditate upon statues and photographs, because it is difficult to concentrate on God, who is beyond imagination. But you are mad. Even though I had come down in human form to preach to you, you left Me and still continued worshipping those statues and photographs. You did not recognize Me in human form, so finally I have become a photograph (I left my body) to satisfy your madness”.
Swami said “My discourses show authority from the Vedas, Shastras and the Gita. Scholars can understand and appreciate them but common people cannot appreciate them as much. So, to give authority to My discourses in the eyes of laymen, Shirdi Sai Baba has written this verse in milk. Since most people are devotees of Shirdi Sai Baba, they will now believe My discourses easily”.
Secret of Miracles
[Swami further gave the following discourse]
The whole universe itself is a miracle. It is a modification of His mind and is called as Maya. The mind is His energy or power. This power is the substance that pervades all over the world. This Maya (mind) is the water and all the objects of the world are only waves in this Maya. Since the Maya is inseparable from the Lord, you can say that the Lord (Brahman) is modified into the world. When you are day-dreaming and you imagine a dream-city, you are not modified into the city. Only your mind is modified. As your mind changes, so does the dream-city. Therefore, according to Maya, anything can take place in this world. This Maya is under the full control of the Lord. The wish of the Lord itself is Maya. All miracles are only the wishes of the Lord. The Lord may wish to follow certain rules and in that case, there is no miracle. But when the Lord wishes to break some rules, a miracle happens.
Miracles are not the real characteristic signs of the Lord and the power to do them is transferable from the Lord to anybody. Miracles are only associated characteristics of the Lord like ornaments or jewels. The Lord may exhibit His jewels or may remove and hide them. Lord Krishna exhibited miracles and Lord Rama did not exhibit any. A cow should be recognized only by the characteristic loose skin hanging below its neck, which is not present in the case of any other animal. Similarly, the Lord must be recognized only by His characteristic signs like jnana, prema and ananda (knowledge, love and bliss). If you recognize the cow by a cow-bell hung in its neck, it is not the correct sign. The cow-bell could be put around the neck of even a donkey. The donkey cannot be the cow. The donkey can never have the loose skin hanging below its neck, which is the characteristic of the cow.
Therefore, the Lord in human form can be recognized only by the special knowledge (prajnanam) given by Him as said in the Veda. Such prajnanam alone can generate love and bliss in your hearts. But the miracles are useful to distinguish the Lord from an ordinary scholar. A scholar may also generate a trace of love and bliss and may be sometimes misunderstood to be the Lord. Sometimes, the scholar may also perform some miracles. Ravana was a scholar and also performed miracles. But his knowledge could never generate infinite love and infinite bliss in the heart of anybody. Therefore, the true and infinite knowledge that generates infinite love and infinite bliss in your heart is the only characteristic sign of the Lord. You can also recognize the Lord by miracles that are performed only when there is a real necessity. Ravana performed miracles for cheap exhibition. Lord Rama transformed a stone into the lady Ahalya. He broke the divine bow of Lord Shiva. He also broke the pride of Parashurama. All these are miracles performed by Rama were done with dignity and only, when they were absolutely necessary.
[1] The traditional ritual worship of God consists of sixteen steps or upacharas including welcoming Him, seating Him, washing His hands and feet, feeding Him, etc. These steps are to be performed assuming that God has come to one’s house as a guest. Most people perform these steps of worship for a statue whereas, they are actually meant only for the living Human Form of God.
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