God cannot be a memory; He Is The Living Presence!
Thursday, November 12th, 2020
We keep hearing devotees asserting with ‘thumping clarity’ claiming that ‘the chair is not empty’. How many of us can feel Him and how many of us can see Him, in the Now, even when His physical form is not amidst us? The truth is that the Throne of Bhagawan at the Sanctum Sanctorum in Prasanthi Nilayam is ever Full With His Mighty Presence!!! As part of the Prasanthi Vidhwan Mahasabha in Oct 2011, Dr (Ms) PL Rani from the Dept. of English Language & Literature at the Anantapur Campus of SSSIHL, addressed the Prasanthi assembly on 1st Oct 2011, …and she began her address with a ‘revealing’ preface. Narrating her beautiful, revealing dream the same morning, Dr Rani that evening concluded by asserting that, ‘God cannot be a memory; He Is a Living Presence’. Read on…
I have had to make amendments to my talk overnight. I am compelled to add an unplanned preface to my talk due to a very small but significant episode that occurred this morning. It seems divinely ordained that I share it with all of you, due to the larger implications and universal message. Last night, after a particularly tiring day, I was planning this talk in my mind and putting my thoughts in order. At that point, there were two conflicting feelings that were filling my mind. On one side was the sense of gratitude, responsibility, and loving duty that I owe to Swami, which is the motivation for this talk; and on the other hand lurked a tinge of sadness that this time, compared to every other time I have had an opportunity to be here. There is a ‘shade of difference’.
I felt that it was very clever of me to think of the phrase ‘shade of difference’ because to me the shade of difference was the change from the vibrant orange to the sparkling white marble. Bhagawan, in His most inimitable manner, decided to disprove it to me. I am not a person who gets frequent dreams of Swami or who works on a practical level based on some dreams. I haven’t had one for so many months and I definitely haven’t had any after April, in particular. But suddenly when I woke up this morning, I woke up with a pleasant feeling and I quickly recalled that I had had a beautiful message.
In my dream, the scene was of those three painful days right here in the Mandir, when the Immortal One had decided to leave the mortal coil. In my mind, I was deciding that I was not going to see this because I can’t bear to see the lost luster on His face. My curiosity got the better of me and after a little while, I began to peep from a distance. I got a little closer and I saw that it was the same beautiful, effulgent, brilliant familiar face of Swami and I felt so relieved and satisfied. Just then Swami’s eyelids opened so vividly and in a fit of panic and fear, I sprang backward. It is unusual that someone springs backward on seeing Swami. He then raised His palm and beckoned me, making me even more frightened. When He beckoned me the third time, I went near, and He placed His palm on mine, and the immediate tangible sensation that I felt was the warmth of His Hand.
The message was home immediately, even in my sleep, and I knew that in those moments of weak faith, we tend to believe that ‘the orange form’ has entombed itself in the ‘white marble’. Warmth is a sign of love and life and I thought, He was telling all of us today that ‘God cannot be a memory; He Is a Living Presence’.
II Samastha Lokah Sukhino Bhavantu II
Posted in Sai Spiritual Showers |
