When He Guided…
Thursday, December 22nd, 2016
It is said, “…when the disciple is ready, the Master appears.” When a long-time sadhaka at revered Ramana Maharshi’s Feet, Swami Abhedananda, was caught in a spiritual tangle, unable to bail himself out of ‘confusion’, he prayed to Bhagawan, vide a letter to Prof N. Kasturi, seeking guidance… and He responded…
Swami Abhedananda, residing at the Ramanashram, Thiruvannamalai, was sleeping in his room, or, rather, trying to go to sleep! A problem was disturbing him. He had read the life of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, titled, “Sathyam Sivam Sundaram”, written by Prof N. Kasturi. He felt, as he was pouring through the pages of that book, that the Guru who was to guide him out of the tangle of doubt into which he had led himself during twenty-five years of Sadhana was here, at Puttaparthi. He had written a letter to Sri Kasturi, asking him to present his plight to Baba and to send him His reply.
The hours ticked by and he slept. The night was almost over when Swami Abhedananda was awakened by a blow on his head! Who could it be? The door was bolted and he was alone in the room. He rose and switched on the light. There was no one; but the blow was a real, rather hard one. He sat upon the bed, half-dazed. Then, he saw a pillar of light in front of him and from out of that light emerged the figure of Ramana Maharshi and Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the same form which he had seen in the book. Ramana Maharshi disappeared soon and Baba followed, leaving just the Light! And from the Light he heard a voice, clear and sweet. “I have come to tell you how you are to get out of the tangle in your sadhana. You are attaching too much importance to the mind and its vagaries. Don’t pay any attention to it. Refuse to follow its whims. Do not even meditate; try to make the mind empty; that is the way to put it out of action.”
The Swami felt that this was the advice he was waiting for; he wrote a letter, then and there, to Kasturi that Baba had come to him and solved the problem that was agitating him, that He had become His Guru! Nevertheless, when he received a letter from Puttaparthi that he could go over and see Baba, he left immediately…and, when he reached the place, and Baba welcomed him with a smile, he knew that he had been accepted as a disciple; when, later, Baba gave him the same advice in person, he recognised the Voice as Baba’s own!…
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Sai Spiritual Showers |
