Yoga for the Modern Age - by Rasarani dd

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Yoga for the Modern Age

What is yoga? What is the purpose of it in the age of Kali? How does one perform it?

Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead explains that ‘yoga’ is a process of controlling the mind and senses.

In the Satya-yuga (the Golden Age), the yoga system was recommended, where one was to always meditate on Vishnu. In the Treta-yuga, one could practice yoga by performing great sacrifices and in the following age, the Dvarpara-yuga, one could achieve perfection by temple worship. The present age in which we are all living in is Kali-yuga. ‘Kali-yuga’ means ‘the age of quarrel and hypocrisy’ and is the age characterized by chaos and ignorance.

As practiced in the previous yugas, yoga was a process involving years of meditation and severe austerities.

However in the kali-yuga, this practice is of yoga is not recommended

Finale - Bogi Yogi On Sai

All information given and stated in this article has been sited and refenced as fact: refer to previous artical: The Lives of shirdi and Sai

http://gopalkeerty.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/sai-exposed/

 

Shirdi Sai Baba

The name Sai Baba itself proclaims one being a saint and father, in other words a religious guru. Shirdi Sai Baba was a saint to the Muslim and Hindu community teaching and preaching to both with equality in each. He preached that everyone is a servant of god, including himself, and that it is vitally important to have faith in the lord and to always chant his names (japa).

 

The name Sai Baba was given to him and not once did he ever mention or proclaim to be god or an incarnation or avatar of any kind, but always proclaimed on several occasions to close followers and the public that he is gods servant and messenger, and to have faith in him and he shall take them to god, if one reads their own scripture (Bhagavad-Gita, Quran) and follows it with ones life.

 

Shirdi Sai Baba is a great Saint and highly revered by many and he should be and is respected by many for his purity and contribution to humanity.

Sathya Narayana Raju (Sathya Sai)

Sathya in his youth was a troublesome adolescent and a high school drop out. He made many controversial, contradictory and false claims. A few of these claims are that he is the reincarnation of lord siva, then he said he is the reincarnation of Shirdi baba, and on another occasion he proclaimed to be an avatar of God.

His philosophy unlike Shirdis was that we are all God and that he has a special claim to the title of god because he has awoken from its dormancy, a claim which is refuted by all authentic scriptures and learned souls easily.

There have been many conspiracies and allegations against Sathya which have never come to book due to high political influence of him having them as followers.

However this is the final article in the line of bogi yogi series on Sai, and as stated at the beginning this is not here to blaspheme SathyaNarayan Raju just to get rid of the highly prevalent misconception of him being God. However through my research and findings I have gained a high regard of respect for Shirdi Sai baba, and from their contrasting teachings and proclamations I have come to the authorized conclusion that Sathya Narayan Raju (Sathya Sai) is neither an incarnation of Shiva, nor reincarnation of Shirdi Baba or further still from God.

My conclusion is the same as the conclusion of all sastra and scriptures, that we are all eternally the constitutional servants of god, and that the lord of our hearts the original supreme personality of godhead is none other than lord Krishna our sweet lord.

Hare Krishna

The Lives of Shirdi Baba and Satya Sai

 

 

Sāī Bābā of Shirdi (d. 1918), also known as Shirdi Sai Baba, was an Indian guru, yogi and fakir who is regarded by his Hindu and Muslim followers as a saint.

 

The name ‘Sai Baba’ is a combination of Persian and Indian origin; Sāī (Sa’ih) is the Persian term for “holy one” or “saint”, usually attributed to Islamic ascetics, whereas Bābā is a word meaning “father” used in Indian languages. The appellative thus refers to Sai Baba as being a “holy father” or “saintly father”. One of his well known epigrams says of God: “Allah Malik” (”God is Master”).

 

In 1858 Sai Baba returned to Shirdi with Chand Patil’s wedding procession. After alighting near the Khandoba temple he was greeted with the words “Ya Sai” (welcome saint) by the temple priest Mhalsapati. The name Sai stuck to him and some time later he started being known as Sai Baba.^[12] It was around this time that Baba adopted his famous style of dress, consisting of a knee-length one-piece robe (kafni) and a cloth cap.

 

For four to five years Baba lived under a neem tree, and often wandered for long periods in the jungle in and around Shirdi. His manner was said to be withdrawn and uncommunicative as he undertook long periods of meditation.^[16] He was eventually persuaded to take up residence in an old and dilapidated masjid and lived a solitary life there, surviving by begging for alms and receiving itinerant Hindu or Muslim visitors.

 

At first he performed the function of a local hakim and treated the sick by application of Udhi. Baba also delivered spiritual teachings to his visitors, recommending the reading of sacred Hindu texts along with the Qur’an, especially insisting on the indispensability of the unbroken remembrance of God’s name (dhikr, japa).

 

He participated in religious festivals and was also in the habit of preparing food for his visitors, which he distributed to them as prasad. Sai Baba’s entertainment was dancing and singing religious songs (he enjoyed the songs of Kabir most).

 

Sai Baba took Mahasamadhi on October 15, 1918 at 2.30pm. He died on the lap of one of his devotees with hardly any belongings, and was buried in the “Buty Wada” according to his wish. Later a mandir was built there known as the “Samadhi Mandir”.^[21]

 

Sai Baba encouraged his devotees to pray, chant God’s name and read holy scriptures - he told Muslims to study the Qur’an and Hindus texts like the Ramayana, Vishnu Sahasranam, Bhagavad Gita (and commentaries to it), Yoga Vasistha.^[25] He advised his devotees and followers to lead a moral life, help others, treat them with love and develop two important features of character: faith (Shraddha) and patience (Saburi). He also criticized atheism.^[26] In his teachings Sai Baba emphasised the importance of performing one’s duties without attachment to earthly matters and being ever content regardless of the situation.

 

Hinduism

During Sai Baba’s life the Hindu saint Anandanath of Yewala declared Sai Baba a “[spiritual] diamond”.^[35] Another saint, Gangagir, called him a “[spiritual] jewel”.^[35] Sri Beedkar Maharaj greatly revered Sai Baba, and in 1873, when he met him he bestowed the title Jagatguru upon him.^[36][37] Sai Baba was also greatly respected by Vasudevananda Saraswati (known as Tembye Swami).^[38] Sai of Shirdi was also revered by a group of Shaivic yogis, to which he belonged, known as the Nath-Panchayat.^[39] Swami Kaleshwar publicly worships Sai Baba, and treats him as a great saint and his own guru.^[40]

Other religions

In Islamic culture the person of Sai Baba appears mainly in Sufism. Meher Baba declared Baba to be a Qutub-e-Irshad - the highest of the five Qutubs.^[42] Baba is also worshipped by prominent Zoroastrians such as Nanabhoy Palkhivala and Homi Bhabha, and has been cited as the most popular non-Zoroastrian religious figure attracting the attention of Zoroastrians.^[43]

 

 

 

Sathya Sai Baba was born Sathyanarayana Raju on November 23, 1926^[1][2] — or later than 1927^[3] — with the family name of “Ratnakaram”,^[4] and is a South Indian guru, religious leader.

 

Sathyanarayana Raju was born to Peddavenkappa and Easwaramma Raju in a poor agrarian family in the remote village of Puttaparthi, located in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh.

 

Baba attended the Higher Elementary School in nearby Bukkapatnam during his 8th year.^[16]. After that Sai Baba joined the high school at Uravakonda, where on March 8, 1940 he started behaving as if a scorpion had stung his foot. Baba exhibited strange behaviour after this event, entering a state similar to a coma. After some time he started behaving in a way that worried his parents - he didn’t want to eat, he would often keep silent for a long time, recited ancient shlokas or elaborated on holy Hindu scriptures. Due to his family’s pressure Sai Baba went back to Uravakonda High school in June. In May 1940 he proclaimed himself to be a reincarnation of the fakir and saint Sai Baba of Shirdi (d. 1918) and subsequently took the fakir’s name.^[17]

 

In a discourse in 1963 he controversially claimed to be a reincarnation of Shiva and Shakti.^[20] He also claimed that Sai Baba of Shirdi was an incarnation of Shiva and that his future reincarnation, Prema Sai Baba, would be a reincarnation of Shakti. He publicly repeated this claim in 1976.^[21] Baba’s biography states that Prema Sai Baba will be born in Mysore state^[22]

 

In 1960 Sathya Sai Baba said that he would be in this mortal human form for 59 years more.^[26] According to a 1984 book, Sathya Sai Baba said that “In this body I will not become old or infirm as in my old body.”^[27] In 2003 Michael Goldstein, an official of the Sathya Sai Organisation, reported that Baba had an accident that injured his hip. As of 2005, Sathya Sai Baba sometimes uses a wheelchair.^[28]

 

Sathya Sai Baba has explained the phenomenon of manifestation as being an act of divine creation, but refused to have his materializations investigated under experimental conditions. Critics claim that these materializations are done by sleight of hand and question his claims to perform miracles and other paranormal feats. In April 1976, Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, a physicist, rationalist and then vice chancellor of Bangalore University, founded and chaired a committee “to rationally and scientifically investigate miracles and other verifiable superstitions”. Haraldsson stated that Narasimhaiah wrote Sathya Sai Baba a polite letter and two subsequent letters that were widely publicized in which he publicly challenged Baba to perform his miracles under controlled conditions.^[52] Sathya Sai Baba said that he ignored Narasimhaiah’s challenge.

 

The magazine India Today published in December 2000 a cover story about the Baba and the allegations of fake miracles quoting the magician P. C. Sorcar, Jr. who considered the Baba a fraud.^[58] Basava Premanand, a skeptic and amateur magician, asserted that he has been investigating Sathya Sai Baba since 1968 and believes the guru to be a cheater and charlatan.

 

Premanand also displayed, in the 2004 BBC documentary Secret Swami, that he could duplicate some of the same acts that Sathya Sai Baba presents as miracles; such as materializations by sleight of hand and the production of a lingam from his mouth. The BBC documentary reported that even some of Sathya Sai Baba’s critics believe that he has genuine paranormal powers.^[60]

 

Sathya Sai Baba is a prolific orator about religious topics in his native language Telugu, and he is regarded by some as an excellent speaker.^[68] He asserted that he is an avatar of God in whom all names and forms ascribed by man to God are manifest.^[69] He also says that everybody else is God and that the difference is that he is aware of this and others have yet to realize it.

 

James Randi states that “Sai Baba has never submitted to an examination of his abilities under controls, so his claims are totally unproven.”^[100]

The debates about Sathya Sai Baba were fueled by a document published in 2000 called “The Findings”,^[102] written by David and Faye Bailey (former followers who together wrote three books on Sathya Sai Baba ^[103]), in which they described their disillusionment with the guru.^[104] According to an article in Salon.com in the year 2001, a great part of the Findings contains testimonies of sexual harassment and sexual abuse.^[102] The Findings contain allegations of fakery, claims that Sai Baba does not heal sick people and allegations of financial irregularities with charity projects, such as the Super Specialty Hospital and water project.^[104] The Daily Telegraph stated that Sathya Sai Baba rubbed oil on the genitals of a young male devotee.^[104] The testimonies of sexual abuse of young men were shown in TV documentaries, including “Seduced by Sai Baba” by Denmark’s national television, and documentary film “Secret Swami” by BBC. The TV documentary “Seduced By Sai Baba“, produced by Denmark’s national television and radio broadcaster Danish radio aired in Denmark, Australia and Norway.

 

According to the journalist Michelle Goldberg of Salon.com the fact that the Baba has high ranking Indian politicians as his supporters and the charity works done by the various organizations associated with the Baba help to explain why he has not been brought into a court of law in India.

 

The Times further reported in August 2001 that three men had died after placing hope in Sathya Sai Baba.^[107]

 

Sai Baba has been referred to as a cult figure in various media reports.^[117] Reports of various cult watch groups also allege that Sai Baba and the organization indulges in tight mind control of its followers.^[118]

 

 

Bogi Yogi Series Part 2 - On Sai Baba

VIEW ARTICLE IN ORIGINAL FORMAT (EASIER READING)

Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you the most confidential part of knowledge. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit.[BG 7.64]

The Object of this article as I had stated at the very outset of this series is : “I am not here to blaspheme him, don’t get me wrong, I just want to clear up the fact that Sai Baba Is NOT God, neither in manifestation nor incarnation…”

Referring to the first comment post of Mrinali R. Rochlani on the article SAI in the Vedas (http://gopalkeerty.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/sai-in-the-vedas/#comment-16 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

she says:

“Satya Sai Baba…he is a saint…he is God…he spread so much knowledge…n u know something it says in the Bhagavad Gita that well every time there will be cruelty in this world a saviour will be born…Shirdi ke Sai Baba(just like Lord Ram) was the saviour”

 

 

 

 

 

I am certain by this statement you are referring to the verse from Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, Text 7, Transcendental Knowledge:

 

 

 

 

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham

 

TRANSLATION

 

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion—at that time I descend Myself.

 

In relation, the Words “I descend Myself” are particularly important, because here Krishna is Talking and referring to himself, therefore, Krishna being the original supreme personality of godhead, will descend, and will therefore still be The supreme personality of godhead. Satya Sai baba is not the supreme personality of godhead, or god, and therefore can not be referred to as the saviour of the age of kali.

“Shirdi ke Sai Baba (just like Lord Ram) was the saviour”

This statement is absolutely far from the truth, Lord Rämacandra was the lord’s incarnation of the Satya yuga age, his prime purpose was to be the “perfect” or “ideal” person. In all of Lord Krishna’s Incarnations there were always many reasons for them, and lord Rämacandra came with all his associates to show humanity what ideally they should be, he was the ideal husband, ideal son, ideal brother and father, and also the ideal king. Luksmana was the ideal brother, Sita Devi the ideal wife and Lord Hanuman was also the ideal servant.

 

 

Krishna promises us in Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 4, text 8:

 

 

paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma-samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge

 

TRANSLATION

 

In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.

 

 

In this verse lord Krishna is declaring that that he will advent every millennium, the word millennium should be understood to be one of the four yugas, or in other words the lord shall descend in each yuga, in this age of kali yuga, we can safely say Krishna advent has come as The lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu some 500 years ago, and also the next avatar is predicted in the Vedas as kalki who will be of a pearly white complexion, and who will bring about the destruction of the miscreants at the time of cosmic annihilation at the end of this kali yuga. Therefore again, sai baba can not be this saviour.

 

Which brings me to another point:

 

“the Bhagvad Gita doesn’t mention Sai because Sai came a lot of years after the Bhagvad Gita was written”

 

If you did not notice my title of that article was, Sai in the Vedas NOT Sai in the Bhagavad Gita, nonetheless as I stated before, that lord Krishna’s next avatar as kalki has already been predicted in the puranas, yet there is no mention in any of Satya sai baba.

 

 

“Sai is great n is a God ok… …just like Shiv or Guru Nanak or Ganpati are”

 

Once again a very common misconception of the difference between yogi, guru, demigods and ultimately God. Lord Siva and Ganpati/lord Ganesh, are demigods, they are simply ministers of this universe having the Supreme Lord as their “president” the truth is that lord siva and the other demigods have no power independent of lord Krishna. They and Every single being in creational existence is by their eternal constitutional position servants of the lord, this includes great demigods as Bramha and Siva, and to be able to be a servant of the lord is the greatest honour and the wish of every soul as the eternal servant of Krishna.

 

 

In The Brahma Samhita, Lord Bramha (the first created being, and the creator of this universe speaks the following prayers to lord Krishna the Supreme personality of godhead:

 

 

TEXT 43

goloka-namni nija-dhamni tale ca tasya

devi mahesa-hari-dhamasu tesu tesu

te te prabhava-nicaya vihitas ca yena

govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

 

TRANSLATION

 

Lowest of all is located Devi-dhama [mundane world – the world we live in], next above it is Mahesadama

[Abode of Lord Siva]; above Mahesa-dhama is placed Hari-dhama [abode of Hari]

and above them all is located Krsna’s own realm named Goloka. I adore the

primeval Lord Govinda, who has allotted their respective authorities to the

rulers of those graded realms.

 

 

By this verse we can clearly see the demigod’s position in relation to Krishna, the supreme personality of godhead. Also Srila Prabhupada writes in Brahma-Samhita purport:

 

 

“All the majestic attributes of Govinda, aggregating sixty in number, are fully

present in His majestic manifestation, Narayana. Brahma and Siva are entities

adulterated with mundane qualities.”

 

Man, male and female Devatas, Brahma, Siva, Narayana share many qualities. Krishna has qualities that are exclusive to Him. There are a total of 64 qualities of which the first fifty are in unlimited quantity in Krishna, and graded quantity in other gods and deities; man has them in limited quantity. Qualities from 51 to 55 are in unlimited quantity in Krishna and are deemed special to Brahma, Siva and other gods and goddesses. Listed between 56 to 60, Narayana has still higher qualities which are not shared by the preceding entities. Qualities listed between 61 to 64 are the exclusive domain of Krishna, the Supreme Person. This is a modified list as depicted in Jaiva Dharma, Chapter 13.

 

Qualities of individual souls, deities, Brahma, Siva and Bhagavan

Qualities of Krishna include all 64 of them.

 

1) Beautiful limbs; 2) All- auspicious qualities; 3) Beauty; 4) Radiance; 5) Strength; 6) Eternal youth; 7) Linguist; Truth Sayer; 9) pleasing speaker; 10) eloquence; 11) Intelligent; 12) Learned; 13) good conversationalist; 14) connoisseur; 15) clever and dexterous; 16) Expert; 17) Gratitude; 1 Keeper of vows; 19) Knowledge of place, time and circumstance;

20) Seer through Sastric eyes; 21) Purity; 22) Self-control; 23) steadfast; 24) forbearance; 25) forgiveness; 26) Inscrutability;

27) Forgiveness; 2 equipoise; 29) Munificence 30) Dharma; 31) Chivalry; 32) Compassion; 33) respectful; 34) Amicability;

35) Modesty; 36) Shyness; 37) Saranagata Raksaka- Surrender-protector 3 Happiness; 39) protector of devotees; 40) Controlled by Prema of devotees; 41) Benefactor of all; 42) Tormentor of enemies; 43) Fame; 44) Beloved by all; 45) Partiality to Sadhus; 46) Enchanter of women’s mind; 47) Worthy of worship by all; 4 All opulence; 49) Superior to all; 50) The Controller.

 

All these qualities are in unlimited quantity in Krishna and in a limited quantity in Jivas, Individual souls.

Five qualities are in Brahma, Siva and other Deities.

 

51) One’s own divine form (Svarupa);

52) Omniscience;

53) Eternal Youth;

54) Being, Knowledge and Bliss (SatCitAnanda);

55) Possessor of all Siddhis;

 

The above 55 qualities are present in lesser amounts in Deities.

Lakshmipati Narayana has the following additional exclusive qualities.

 

56) Inconceivable great qualities and powers;

57) Myriad universes abide within His Body;

5 He is Bija or seed of all Avatars;

59) Giver of higher destination to those He killed;

60) Enchanter of the ones who attained the Delight of their souls.

 

The following qualities are in the exclusive domain of Sri Krishna not present in anyone other than HIM.

 

61) He is like the vast ocean with incessant waves of wonderful Lilas;

62) His adoration is Madhurya Prema (Sweet love and affection) showered by His devotees;

63) He enchants the three worlds with inimitable sounds of His flute;

64) The resplendent beauty of His transcendental form is enchanting to all mobiles and immobile forms.

 

Thus Sri Krishna is the Original Supreme Personality of godhead and cannot be compared to, nor stated equal to or less than any other being for He is the only absolute for all that is.

 

 

“i respect Krsna as much as i respect any other god…coz i am a true hindu”

 

That is another misconception of modern day hindus, as stated in Padma Purana under the ten offences to the holy name:

 

Sivasya sri visnor ya iha guna namadi sakalam dhiya bhinam pasyet sa khalu

Translation: it is an offence to think that the names and qualities of the demigods like lord Siva are equal to or greater than Lord Krishna.

In other words her statement that she respects Krishna as much as any other God (referring to the demigods) is an offence in the sense that she is comparing Krishna to be equal to the demigods, which can not and should not be done.

 

In context of Sai baba being the saviour: “he literally spread knowledge n lowered the differences between castes”

Srila Prabhupada spread the essence and absolute truth of pure love of Krishna to both the high and low, he made no distinction between the saints and the crooks, he totally eradicated the caste system and gave us our varna and ashramas.

 

“he doesn’t call himself “sathya sai baba” …we call him this because he is”

I say this in terms of him calling or proclaiming to be God, or as noted Satya Sai baba. When Satya Sai first came to be acknowledged to the general public it was due to many of his articles and publications that ventured throughout the world full of his Direct words, as one article in the late 1969’s or early 1970’s in a Blitz paper Article, there was an article by Satya Sai Baba entitled “God is Indian” with the following extract:

 

‘His contemporary avatara rests in the Trinity of Shirdi Baba, Sai Baba, and Prem Baba to come. So Satya Sai Baba, the second of the triple incarnation, asserted in the course of a marathon interview to add, ‘In my present avatara, I have come armed with the fullness of the power of the formless God to save humanity.’

In the last line of the extract he directly, himself, claims to be an avatar, and incarnation of God. Another of the extract:

“God is man and man is God. All of us have something of God, the divine spark, within us. All men are divine, like myself, with the spirit embodied in human flesh and bone. The only difference is that they are unaware of this Godhood.”

The philosophy he is preaching “God is Man and Man is God” is that of a mayavada, and is therefore flawed, and not accepted by Souls on the path of perfection. Another of his mayavada philosophy is displayed here:

“[I am] armed with the fullness of the power of the formless God.”

Mayavada philosophers believe that the lord is formless and unmanifest.

 

Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 7, Text 24: knowledge of the Absolute.

 

avyaktam vyaktim apannam
manyante mam abuddhayah
param bhavam ajananto
mamavyayam anuttamam

 

TRANSLATION

 

Unintelligent men, who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme.

 

 

Prabhupada in a letter response to Sai babas Blitz article: “‘Only the rascals and less intelligent class of men think that God is formless and when He incarnates, He takes a particular form…. So in this connection, the statement of Bhagavatam is especially important. Brahmeti paramätmeti bhagavän iti sabdyate. Brahman is impersonal, Paramätmä is localized, and Bhagavän is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’”

“n plz dont think ur anything better that these great saints…coz ur not…they have reached a very high stage in their spirutual journey…n well they know and understand the Bhagvad Gita far better than u or me…”

All yogis will endeavor and may succeed in getting to a very high stage in spiritual life, however Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 7, Text 3, Knowledge of the absolute:

 

manusyanam sahasresu
kascid yatati siddhaye
yatatam api siddhanam
kascin mam vetti tattvatah

 

TRANSLATION

 

Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.

 

 

In this verse Krishna is talking about all the yogis that may endeavor through many years of austerity to reach the goal, which is Krishna, but through such a course of journey reaching the ultimate goal, which is to know, love and serve Krishna is impossible unless one takes to the path of humble and complete surrender unto the lotus feet of the lord. I do not deny Sai’s extra human powers, but such powers is easily obtainable through this path of penance, and I claim that this was the path taken by Sai in his previous life, which was ultimately fruitless seeing as he is back in this material world.

 

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18, text 66, The Perfection of Renunciation:

 

sarva-dharman parityajya
mam ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam sarva-papebhyo
moksayisyami ma sucah

 

TRANSLATION

 

Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.

 

 

Here Lord Krishna’s message is very clear, that our only goal and purpose is to surrender FULLY unto Krishna by giving up everything else. Then there will be no more fears or worries, Krishna will deliver us.

Our mood should be as follows:

Song extracts from Bhakti Siddhanta Maharaja’s Manasa Deho geho:

 

mänasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor

arpilü tuwä pade, nanda-kisor!

 

TRANSLATION

 

Mind, body, and family, whatever may be mine, I have surrendered at

Your lotus feet, O youthful son of Nanda!

 

sampade vipade, jivane-marane

däy mama gelä, tuwä o-pada barane

 

TRANSLATION

 

In good fortune or in bad, in life or at death, all my difficulties have disappeared by choosing those feet of Yours as my only shelter.

 

 

As this article is just another add-on to my series: I would like to end it here, though there is so much to say, and I will say it in the follow up articles.

 

Just Chant: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare. AND BE HAPPY!

Part 2 - On Sai Baba

VIEW ARTICLE IN ORIGINAL FORMAT (EASIER READING)

Because you are My very dear friend, I am speaking to you the most confidential part of knowledge. Hear this from Me, for it is for your benefit.[BG 7.64]

The Object of this article as I had stated at the very outset of this series is : “I am not here to blaspheme him, don’t get me wrong, I just want to clear up the fact that Sai Baba Is NOT God, neither in manifestation nor incarnation…”

Referring to the first comment post of Mrinali R. Rochlani on the article SAI in the Vedas (http://gopalkeerty.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/sai-in-the-vedas/#comment-16 )

 

 

 

 

 

 

she says: . . .

The Bogi Yogi Series - Part one

Pradyumna prabhu had a lengthy meeting with Srila Prabhupada this afternoon to finalize his reply to the Blitz article on Sai Baba. Pradyumna read from the opening paragraph of the article which was entitled “God is an Indian.” “‘His contemporary avatara rests in the

Trinity of Shirdi Baba, Sai Baba, and Prem Baba to come. So Satya Sai Baba, the second of the triple incarnation, asserted in the course of a marathon interview to add, ‘In my present avatara, I have come armed with the fullness of the power of the formless God to save humanity.’”

Srila Prabhupada dictated the outline of the letter to Pradyumna. “‘Dear Sai Baba, just recently in the Blitz paper, published on—give the date—we were surprised to find one article “God is an Indian.” And you have claimed to become an incarnation of God to save the human society. What is the ground of your claiming as incarnation? And what

you have done to save the human society? Will you explain for enlightenment of us, or many of us? We have got the list of incarnations recorded in the Vedic scriptures and their respective activities also. So where is that record in the Vedic scripture about your appearing as incarnation? Lord Krsna’s incarnation-ness is fully described in Srimad-Bhägavatam. Similarly, Lord Ramacandra’s incarnation-ness or Lord Buddha’s incarnation-ness, Lord Catena’s incarnation-ness, we have got full information in Vedic literatures. Where is your incarnation described? Will you kindly give the reference? Anyone can say like you, that one is incarnation, as it has become a fashion nowadays. But is that claim the only proof of one’s becoming incarnation? Some such unauthorized claim of becoming an incarnation is certainly ridiculous. Then you have claimed to take

form.’ What he has written?”

Pradyumna re-read Baba’s claim to being an avatara “armed with the fullness of the power of the formless God.” Prabhupada continued. “‘So you have claimed to take a form of the formless God. But we see in the Bhagavad-Gita that God is never formless.’” He had Pradyumna read out verse 7:24 from the Gita, and its purport. Telling Pradyumna to quote the verse in the letter, along with a quote from Yamunäcärya found in the purport, Prabhupada went on with his dictation: “‘Only the rascals and less intelligent class of men think that God is formless and when He incarnates, He takes a particular form…. So in this connection, the statement of Bhagavatam is especially important. Brahmeti paramätmeti bhagavän iti sabdyate. Brahman is impersonal, Paramätmä is localized, and Bhagavän is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’”

Voicing aloud Prabhupada statement as he wrote it down, Pradyumna repeated, “Brahman is the impersonal…” Prabhupada immediately corrected him. “‘Brahman is impersonal.’ Not the. ‘Paramätmä is localized, and Bhagavän is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.’” Citing many verses from Bhagavad-Gita, Prabhupada made the point that

Krsna’s personality cannot be understood without His mercy. “‘So one has to accept the statement of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, how He is originally the Purina or person,’” he said. “‘Impersonal Brahman is expansion of the rays of His personal body,

exactly like the sunshine is expansion of the rays of the sun-god Vivasvän. Vivasvän is a person in the sun globe and Krsna is also a person who spoke the philosophy of Bhagavad-Gita long, long years before He spoke the same to Arjuna. Therefore, the conclusion is that originally God is always a person.

Impersonal Brahman is emanation from the personal God. In other words, God, personal God, is not from impersonal Brahman; but impersonal Brahman is from the personal God. That is confirmed in the Bhagavad-Gita. Impersonal Brahman is resting on the personal God, exactly which illumination of light is resting on the electric bulb, not that the bulb is resting on the illuminated light.’”

Again quoting from the Gita Prabhupada came to a very pointed conclusion: “‘So Krsna, as a person, says to Arjuna that both of them existed in the past as person, and they’ll continue to remain person in the future. So without knowing all this knowledge, a mayavada accepts the incarnation of God as coming from impersonal. Under this heading you have proved yourself to become a mayavada. And how a mayavada or an ass can become the incarnation of God?’” Not content with that, Prabhupada asked Pradyumna to read the rest of the article to him.

Pradyumna squinted through his glasses at the paper and read out a declaration by the writer of his acceptance of what he called “the avatara concept which broadly means the descent of the divine principle into human affairs.” Reminding the reader of Lord Krsna’s

Descent to save humanity, the writer declared: “Solution and cure to world’s ills: To Baba’s devotees, the avatara has similarly come to provide both the solution and the cure to a world living in terror of a nuclear holocaust. The false dichotomies created by Western thought between God and man, purusa and deva, simply do not exist in the Indian scriptures, which prescribe the assimilation of God in man and man in God as the basis of religion.”

Prabhupada was disgusted. “This is another rascal Dom. God is always distinct from man.” Pradyumna said that Sai Baba made a similar quote himself, later in the piece. He read it out: “God is man and man is God. All of us have something of God, the divine spark, within us. All men are divine, like myself, with the spirit embodied in human flesh and bone. The only difference is that they are unaware of this Godhood.”Skipping to another section of the article, Pradyumna went on, “Here he says, ‘The mission of the present avatara is to make everybody realize that since the same God or divinity resides in everyone, people should respect, love, and …’” Prabhupada cut in. “No, no. If he resides in everyone, then why he has special claim?”

“Yes. Well, he says he has remembered.”

“He remembers?” Prabhupada asked. “How God can forget?”

“That he says here. He says that, ‘Take paddy or rice by way of an illustration. Every grain of rice is enclosed in a husk. You have to remove the husk to get the grain of rice. Now husk and rice both come from the same seed. Rice is the equivalent of God in man.’”

“But still husk is not rice,” Prabhupada said. “You cannot say husk is rice.”

Nodding in agreement, Pradyumna read on. “He says, ‘Rice is the equivalent of God in man, while the husk can be compared to desire which reduces God to man.’”

Prabhupada sat shaking his head. “No, no.”

Pradyumna finished the quote: “Therefore life plus desire equals man. Life minus desire equals God.” Prabhupada dictated the concluding words of his letter: “You are desiring to become God. There cannot be no desire. But you unceremoniously desire to become God. Although there is no proof in the sästras. In the Bhagavad-Gita it is accepted that the living entities are sparks of, part and parcel, of God, Krsna. But part is never equal to the whole. So you can claim as a spark of God, as every living entity can claim, but you cannot claim as the Supreme Person with full power.

That is misleading. You can show a little magic, as other magicians also can show, but you cannot show the full magic, as Krsna displayed or Lord Rämacandra displayed. Therefore, your claim as a full power is completely false and blasphemous.”

Pradyumna stopped writing and looked up, raising a point of his own, “Now someone may bring up the one point, they say ‘Well, if an avatara comes if he must show all kinds of great opulence’s and powers.’ Then he says sometimes the incarnation shows this, but sometimes, like when Lord Caitanya appeared He didn’t show visvarüpa or…” Prabhupada replied. “But He [Lord Caitanya] never claimed that ‘I am avatara.’ But we understand from the sästric evidence. He never claimed. Rather, when He was addressed as Krsna He blocked His ears, ‘You don’t say like that.’ He never claimed. He fully displayed Himself as a devotee, not Bhagavän.

Prabhupada nodded. “In this way, find out the faulty statement and give him proof.” Leaving Prabhupada to chant quietly in the garden, Pradyumna typed the letter out and it was sent off to Satya Sai Baba.

SAI in the Vedas

I’m sorry I lied, there is no Sai Baba in the Vedas, but what is this hype about him all about?

This so called Man-God. They say he can cure diseases, manifest gold and ashes and all

Other stuff from thin air…

 

I am not here to blaspheme him, don’t get me wrong, I just want to clear up the fact that Sai Baba

Is NOT God, neither in manifestation nor incarnation…

I don’t know if his “powers” are real, but if they are, then there is no doubt that he did a lot of penance

In his last life to achieve such a status…

I have read his books for preaching purposes and basically his preaching is flawed, his sight

Is limited to the material world, n how to be a better person or in other words a pious philanthropist,

He does try however to make people more “religious” which should award him respect, but however

He is well aware that people regard him as God and neither does he deny it, so that rules out the giving

Authoritive respect to him part.

Well it doesn’t really matter…

In the Nectar of Devotion it is described that one should rather be eaten alive by a tiger than take shelter of a materialist

For if one is eaten by a tiger his devotion is not harmed and is either liberated or taken birth in a pious family,

However, taking shelter of a materialist harms our devotion which takes lifetimes to build, and it

Is evident that who ever proclaims to be God in this material world is none other than a materialist…

I would like to end with something real obvious, the opulence’s of God [Krishna] are:

Full of Knowledge, Wealth, Fame, Renunciation and Beauty.

He has jnana, but no vijnana.

He has Wealth, But not true Wealth

He is Famous.

Can’t comment on the renunciation part.

And when it comes to Beauty… need i say more