Theos-Talk Archives (November 1997 Message tt00261)

Maybe Bart will someday dive deep into the Ocean, rather than deny pearls
because he sees none on the beach.

Other folks who know little or nothing about Bhagavan may consider the
following.
==
 Copyright Craig Hamilton-Parker


 On his deathbed Pope John XXIII is said to have had a vision of a man
 that would usher in a new Golden Age such as mankind has never known.
 He described him as a small, barefooted man with brown skin who will
 wear a distinctive red robe. Similarly, the great 16th century seer
 Nostradamus and American prophet Edgar Cayce predicted that a holy man
 from the east would challenge the major religions of the world as a
 prelude to a Golden Age.

 Ten years ago few people would have heard of the remote tiny village
 of Puttaparthi set in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Now
 the attention of millions is focused on this stone and thatched
 village because of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.

 Born on 23rd November 1926 Sri Sathya Sai Baba demonstrated remarkable
 materialisation phenomena from an early age. At the age of thirteen,
 after a two month period of illness and unconsciousness, he announced
 to the startled villagers that he was an avatar- a teacher sent
 directly from God. This, he said, was his second incarnation, the
 previous being as Sai Baba of Shirdi a Muslim fakir who had died in
 1918, and there would be a third to come as Prema Baba. Over these
 three lives he intends to bring the religions of the world together as
 one brotherhood with universal love as their foundation stone.
[...]

 Never before has anyone displayed such remarkable PK powers. The
 reports coming out of India are mind boggling. Sai Baba has raised the
 dead, multiplied food as Christ did at the Last Supper, materialises
 jewellery out of the air and turned water into petrol when his car ran
 out of fuel. There are tales of him materialising sweets directly into
 people's mouths, appearing in two places at once and making a
 photograph of the face of Christ appear on film. Most of his
 manifestations have been demonstrated in front of highly respected
 professional people and are particularly well documented by Dr John
 Hislop and Howard Murphet.

 There are of course sceptics who argue that Sai Baba's miracles are
 nothing but cleaver conjuring tricks. The fact that he has levitated
 in front of hundreds of people or can materialise jewellery from thin
 air can be explained by simple trickery and sleight of hand. But when
 you read the thousands of testimonials or meet intelligent people
 whose lives have been completely transformed after an encounter with
 Sai Baba you soon realise that to trick people on this scale would be
 impossible. For example Sai Baba will often ask people "What do you
 want" and many people will ask him to materialise very obscure things:
 fruits out of season, a perpetual motion watch, a map of the world in
 the future, some wood from the original cross and specific medicines.


 Amoungst the 'Sai Stories' told by devotees are some very strange
 stories. For example: Knowing that every Rolex watch has its exclusive
 serial number, an Australian visitor asked the swami to materialise
 one for him. Sai Baba obliged with a wave of his hand. On his return
 the serial number enabled the Australian to identify where the watch
 had been purchased. He asked the proprietor if he remembered who
 bought it. The owner remembered the occasion well. He could hardly
 forget the unusual orange clad Indian gentleman with strange fuzzy
 hair.

 The shop owner was a meticulous man who kept accurate sales records
 that gave not only the day of purchase but the time as well. Together
 they checked the records. It corresponded exactly with the time and
 day that Sai Baba had materialised the Rolex. Sai Baba had been in two
 places at the same time!

 Another intriguing story, although accounts differ, concerns an
 Australian who visited Sai Baba in the hope that he could cure his
 wife of terminal cancer. Sai Baba spoke to him saying "You shouldn't
 be here. Your wife needs you. She will be well." He then tapped the
 Australian three times on the forehead. The man vanished in front of a
 crowd of people and reappeared besides his wife's hospital bed in
 Australia. Baffled by what happened he checked his passport. It was
 stamped correctly with that day's date yet only moments ago he was in
 India. His wife recovered.

 All over the world there are people who have had similar impossible
 experiences many of whom I've met or have written to me at my columns.
 Sai Baba's most frequent materialisation is of a healing ash called
 vibhuti. Hindus consider this to be very holy and on a par with the
 holy sacrament of Christianity. In the Daily Telegraph of March 6th
 1992 a reporter witnessed vibhuti ash forming on photos of Sai Baba
 and objects in the room at the home of Mr G Patel in Wealdstone,
 Harrow London. In honour of Sai Baba's 70th Birthday, Mr Patel carved
 a life-size wooden statue of his guru. As soon as the task was
 complete vibhuti ash began to form on the statue's hands, gown and
 feet. Mr Patel took a photograph of this but when the film was
 developed it was not the statue in the picture but a photograph of the
 real Sri Sathya Sai Baba!

 Remarkable as these stories about Sai Baba are, they are unlikely to
 convince traditional scientists until he is tested by researchers
 under laboratory conditions. Sai Baba considers that this is
 unnecessary. "Miracles are my visiting cards" he says and on another
 occasion "My greatest miracle is Love" His spiritual teachings and the
 character transformation it triggers are far more important than the
 tantalising PK phenomena he displays: "For what purpose were you born?
 Man has been sent into the world to realise the truth that he is not
 man, but God. The wave dances with the wind, basks in the sun, frisks
 in the rain, imagining it is playing on the breast of the sea; it does
 not know that it is the sea itself. Until it realises the truth, it
 will be tossed up and down; when it knows it, it can lie calm and
 collected, at peace with itself."
[...]

Bon Giovanni:
 Since that is important for you, as you say, then perhaps as you
 find`contradictions' in what Swami says, I suggest you examine very,
 very, very carefully why it bothers you, and see what happens."Could
 be." I truly no longer harbor such thoughts, and so cannot answer you.
 You see, Swami does extraordinary things. Sometimes he does such
 miracles that the mind simply caves in, and at other times he does
 such clumsy sleight of hand tricks you think that he must think you
 are a foolif he expects you to fall for it. Why does he do that? Why
 does he contradict himself? Why is he so damnably undefinable? My
 hunch is that he does whatever is appropriate to further the insight
 of the individual present before him, no matter if that somehow makes
 the person think `of' him as a fraud or a god. He really does not care
 what one thinks of him, you see. At least that is my experience. Just
 when I think I have Swami pegged, he does something outside my
 comprehension. When doubt overwhelms me, I later discover why I have
 learned just as much from that process as when wisdom overwhelms me.

 No doubt you are wondering what I mean about palming objects. It is
 Swami is seated in private with four or five of us, and opens his
 empty right hand, palm up. He says, `see it is coming' and in a few
 seconds, just ABOVE his palm, a golden ring appears in midair, then
 falls into his hand. He passes it around. The metal is warm to the
 touch. Swami tells a story about how changing the heart of man into
 gold is not his job, but ours, and it takes effort, heat. At that
 moment a student enters to deliver a message. Swami then very clumsily
 palms the very ring he had just materialized and we all see him
 palming it, but he then waves his hand as if creating an object, and
 no surprise "produces" the gold ring, which he gives the student. I
 could almost feel the student's thoughts "but but but you palmed
 that!" .We all knew the student had not seen it appear in mid-air, and
 I for onethought surely the boy was now filled with doubts about
 Swami. `Why he just palms things!

 "Why does he do such things? FIND OUT! Sorry to be so Zen, but that is
 my experience: one must find out for oneself.After you have seen him
 and come to know him directly, perhaps your questions about
 contradictions will be satisfied.