Om Sri Sai Guru Ganeshaya Namaha

SAI BALA

************

CHILDREN’S NEWS LETTER 25
25/10/2003

Om Sri Sai Guru Deva

Dear boys and girls

We meet every weekend. This letter is for you, to love your parents and
every parent in this world.

If we are unable to come on weekends please excuse us. There may be some
reasons. You should always keep loving and enjoy your life with love. Tell
your parents or elders to receive this email print it and give it to you.
You can share our SAI BALA with all your friends. If you do not understand
any big words, ask your parents they will help you. Your parent is your
immediate GOD. OBEY THEM WITH LOVE. SATHYA SAI BABA WILL PROTECT YOU. Jai Sai Ram.

Jai Sai Ram

THIS WEEK’S MESSAGE BY BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

India is declared a secular state and so the students in the school are denied any chance of receiving training in spiritual matters, or even a knowledge of the fundamentals of Ancient Wisdom. This is a tragedy. This is a tragedy. The children have a right to the property of their ancestors; but, the children of the land have no access to the basis of their ancient culture. India is India because of Ancient Wisdom. It has enabled her to survive many a terrible storm; it has kept the country culturally united, in spite of varieties of language and food habits and dress. The Ramayana, the Mahabharatha and the Bhagavatha are revered from the Himalayas to the Cape. The ideals of Truth, Righteousness, Peace and Love which they uphold and
exemplify have welded the people and kept them on a path which was beneficial to the individual as well as society. Ancient Wisdom is the only religion that declares that thee is no religion that can be labelled one and only. It says that all religions are but facets of the One Truth, that all Names are names of God, that all Forms are but His Forms. No religion can claim to represent fully the Universal Eternal Truth. This is the teaching
of Ancient Wisdom. Therefore, if any one finds fault with another’s faith, he is cating a slur on his own faith. If any one defames another religion, he only reveals his ignorance of the nature of religion and the glory of God.

BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

Jai Sai Ram.

CHILDREN’S WORD FOR THE WEEK

THINK

Think before speaking.
Think before acting.
Then go ahead
If you feel good about it.
 
BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA

Jai Sai Ram.

STORY FOR THIS WEEK

THE PURNAVATARAS

According to the Indian conception, the Lord Vishnu has so far descended incarnate in nine forms, UNTIL THE CURRENT SHRI SATYA SAI BABA THE YUGAVATARA.

10. SHRI SATYA SAI BABA THE YUGAVATARA. PART 3

Continued from our previous newsletter

Free will

God has given free will to man. By it, he can make or mar his life. He has the choice. If he performs bad actions, he will be miserable. If on the other hand, one performs good actions, he will be happy. As you sow, so you reap.

But the question is why, if a man is God, he feels impelled to perform bad deeds. Duryodhana the Kaurava hero puts this point very graphically. He says: Janami Dharmam na cha me pravrittih, janami adharmam na cha me nivrittih! Kenapi deven hridi sthiten yatha niyuktah, asmi tatha karomi!! I know what is righteous behaviour, I know what is evil. I however act according to the dictates of some god who dwells in my heart.

This candid statement of Duryodhana simply means that one can scarcely go against the dictates of the attitudes and aptitudes one is born with. This shows, one is the prisoner of his own actions performed and accumulated in this or in the past lives. But the question does not end here. One has to search its root. If God is the creator, well! He must be the originator of the first Karma or activity of any body who sets on his journey in life. Here the Vedanta philosophers give the categorical answer! No doubt the Lord is the creator, but when he created this universe and breathed life in man, he gave him to choose his way of life. Why did he do so? In order to avoid Sameness every where. He wanted variety. He wanted the universe to be his playground. He laid down the rules of the game and gave freedom to every
body to play his role according to his choice. Well! The Vedic seers say, this is the explanation we have heard in our ears from the Lord, when our minds were absolutely pure and not contaminated by any faintest stress of passion. The seers therefore, tell us: Achintyah Khalu Ye bhayahna tantarken chintayet: When intellect can not fathom the hidden truths, use of reasoned argument is futile. Here, only in the mind stilled by yoga practices distilled wisdom dawns. So Free Well is the gift of God to every being. It can not be questioned. It is a fact of life.

Is it really a fact of life? The statement attributed to Duryodhana, noted above shows that Duryodhana, though he knew what was good and evil, yet because of his inborn tendencies determined by his actions in his past lives, was unable to exercise his will over his predetermined nature. Baba has also, said that not a leaf falls except by the will of God. At the same time Baba believes in free will. So the whole problem becomes both curiouser
and curiouser and complicated.

It is quite obvious that if man had not freewill whole talk of his getting liberation by his own efforts would be meaningless. Or as Dr.Hislop has put it: if there were no free will, we would not gain release from the endless turning of wheel of deed and consequence. Even in Duryodhana’s statement, even if he is acting at the behest of some impelling desire within, there is an undercurrent of feeling that had he exercised his free will he would have overcome his evil tendencies. He did not try strongly to resist the temptations of his egoistic pride he was goaded with his inborn tendencies to set the course of his life in a wrong way. He was not prepared to listen to the sane advice of his own conscience not to grab what legitimately belonged to the Pandavas. When his mind was wandering waywardly, he did not
try to discipline it by spiritual practices. Instead he devoted all his energies to increase his muscle power to crush Bhima the monument of muscle strength. Bhima was instinctively roused to crush Duryodhana and his hunch men. But he was controlled by the advice of his elder brother Dharmaraja. Duryodhana could have thus been prevented by Dhritarashtra his father and the king. But by his wiles Dhritarashtra goaded Duryodhana to wrong action dictated by his ego. Duryodhana never tried to get over his ego and to act with full force of his conscience and intelligence. Instead he attributed all his acts to God within. All his acts stemmed from his untamed sense desires.

Baba has in a general way graphically described what man has made of man by disregarding the dictates of his conscience. Man has not been true to his conscience. He says:

Instead of transforming his home, his village, his state and his country, and thereby this world into a Prashanti Nilayam the abode of the peace that passeth understanding man has made them all arenas for the wild passions of anger, greed, hatred and violence. Instead of making the senses which are at best very poor guides and informants his servants, he has made them his masters. He has become the slave of ephemeral beauty, evanescent melody, momentary, softness, fragile fragrance and transient taste, He spends all his energies and fruits of all his toil for the satisfaction of the trivial and degrading demands of these untamed underlings. Oh, the pity of it!

If man were to act according to the reasoned dictates of his on conscience, the suffering in the world would vanish at one stroke. It is not brought about by God. It is the result of our own free choices in acting the way we do in this and have done in our past lives.

That there is free will is our daily experience. We cogitate in our minds as to what is the proper course in a particular situation. We succumb to the easy way. Suppose there is a big full of gold lying uncared for, we grab it and argue. It will make me rich. There is nobody to watch and I shall not be caught. But unfortunately for us there is some body around and we get caught and the law leads us to prison house. All our dreams are shattered. Why! Because we did not listen to the same advice of our conscience: Don’t grab what belongs to others. We made a wrong choice of our own free will We reap what we sow. Jesus has said. This statement is the clearest proof that Jesus believed in free choice and past Karma.

Yet the Westerners in the name of Christianity invent Satan and attribute all evil to him. In so doing they forget that thereby they have created a rival for the God the Father in heaven and circumscribed his infinite love. This is a wrong doctrine. God is all LOVE.

Proof for God is also within. Ask the question: Who am I? And find out the answer. I say, this is mine, this I is not body. Had it been so, what happens when we die? Body, our corpse is there. Why does it not get up and act? For clearly I has left. This I is the individual soul, it has left in search of another body, for his present body has become uninhabitable due to disease and consequential death.

It is thus clear that the evil in this world is due to our wrong choices, freely made. It is worth noting here Baba’s answers to Shri R.K. Karanjita, the Editor of Blitz and other publications in Bombay.

Shri Karanjia had asked Baba: why does he not help people in distress by bringing rains in times of drought or creating food where there is famine by means of his Sankalpa Siddhi? Cannot an Avatar help humanity to control the natural forces and prevent calamities like earth quakes, floods, droughts, famine and epidemics?

Such a question haunts the minds of even very intelligent people.They forget that this universe has been produced with a certain design, with a certain purpose. God has createdman as the most intelligent of His creation. He has granted him the gift of free will. He expects man to use his intellect for the betterment of himself and his fellow beings. Well! How can God change his rules of the game in the middle? He is not a whimsical being.

Let us see what is baba’s who claims himself to be God i.e. His Avatara or presence in bodily form answer to such a question, questioning Baba’s very Avatarhood.

Baba States:
This is precisely what I am doing by incarnating the indwelling God inman to overcome such calamities. There are two ways in which an Avatara can help people.An instant solution as against a long term one.

Anyinstant solution would go against the fundamental quality of nature itself as well as the karmic law of cause and effect. Most people live in the material world of their desires and egos which is governed by this law. Thy reap the fruits of their action. This brings about their evolution or devolution. If the Avatara intervenes to instantly solve their problems, it would stop all action, development, even evolution. This solution can be
ruled out because it totally negates the natural laws.

“The other and more effective alternative presents a long term solution, whereby the Avatara leads the people themselves to a higher level of consciousness to enable them to understand the truth of spiritual laws so that they may turn towards righteousness sand steadfastly work for better conditions. This will relate them back to Nature and the Karmic law of
causation.They would then transcend the cycle of cause and effect, in which today they are involved as victims, and, thereby command and control the natural forces to be able to avert the calamities you mention.

Baba further says:

I have to work through them, so use the indwelling God in them, and evolve them to a higher Reality in order to enable them to master the natural laws and forces. Baba’s endeavor is to raise the level of consciousness of mankind andenable them to command their own destiny. Otherwise the instant cure by Baba’s intervention would make them lazy and dull witted.

Baba elaborates:

“Suffering and misery are the inescapable acts of the cosmic drama. God does not decree these calamities but man invites them by way of retribution for his own evil deeds. This s corrective punishment which induces, man kind to give up the wrong path and return to the right path so that he may experience the God like conditions of Sat Chit Ananda that is an existence of wisdom andbliss. All this is part of the grand synthesis in which the negatives serve to glorify the positive. Thus death glorifies immorality, ignorance glorifies wisdom, misery glorifies bliss, night glorifies dawn.

Karanjia felt that this Hindu orientation of Dharma would conflict with the established religions. Baba’s answer was catergorical No He stated: His objective is the establishment of Sanatana Dharma which believes in one God as propitiated by all the founders of all religions. So none has to give up his religion or deity, but through them worship the one God in all. I have
come not to disturb or destroy but to confirm and vindicate every one in his own faith.

There are certain types of materialists who like Baba say, that we should see good, do good and be good. We need not bother whether God exists or not. But this is an argument of the confused mind. Man must know positively that he belongs to the fraternity created by God. He has not to artificially create it in him and develop love for others. The majority of us obey the
laws made by the state even though they are in a way artificial. But they reflect the general consensus of the society that they are for its good. Similarly we love our kith and kin and others, for we are bound together by the father and motherhood of God. When this is a positive fact of life, why paint it negatively and ask others to develop it in us. It is already there, activate it.

Baba through his infinite reservoir of love, is trying to establish theism and turning the anti social elements in to his instruments of establishing the influence of righteousness. He through his devotees is also carrying his message of love to every nook and corner of the globe. In this task, his devotees have to play their role effectively.

Jai Sai Ram.

SHRI SATYA SAI BABA THE YUGAVATARA NARRATION ENDS HERE.

Jai Sai Ram.

PAST ISSUES OF THIS NEWS LETTER

NOW WE HAVE A GLOBAL WEB SITE FOR OUR MISSION

Now you can see stories, poems, pictures and questions on a web site.

Jai Sai Ram

FREE SAI BABA LIVE ONLINE CHATROOM CLASSES

Topic: Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Five basic human values, philosophy and teachings.

Admission Free. All are Welcome. Jai Sai Ram and Swami bless you.

Jai Sai Ram

FREE PROFESSIONAL ONLINE PSYCHIATRIC COUNSELLING FOR YOUR MAJOR PROBLEMS

Daily General Online Free Counselling Sessions and General Discussions on Swami by Dr Jose Luis Hernani :

5:00pm - 6:00pm Mon - Fri (Indian Time)

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You can make appointments with fellow devotees and use our Chat Room facility at any time.

Jai Sai Ram

Love is the only motivation. Please Bless All and Help the Poor. Swami bless you.

Jai Sai Ram

All our words, thoughts, efforts, actions and outcomes are surrendered upon the beautiful lotus feet of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
In Sai's Love

News Letter Editor
Soma