and it manifests itself in the entire universe.
Everything that you see and feel is a manifestation of the Divine Self. There is no such place in the universe where there is no True Self – it is everywhere and in everything. However, it is the Spiritual Heart that is the door to the eternal and infinite Absolute Self, which, in fact, cannot be reduced to any point in the human body.
It is in the Spiritual Heart that the mystical experience takes place, which the Vedas call "I Am I" and the Bible describes as "I Am Who I Am."
By practicing meditation on this mysterious point, one gains the realization that the Divine is in everything. The Spiritual Heart is just a door, a pointer to the Divine Self, which is in everything. Sathya Sai Baba paid great attention to this key knowledge. Without knowledge of the Spiritual Heart, philosophy remains a mere set of concepts, and only meditation on the Spiritual Heart can help take a step toward inner mystical experience.
The feeling of separateness from existence leads to fears, which give rise to a feeling of hostility about the environment. A person who perceives himself as a separate being is always tense and aggressive, and such a person always suffers, even if he lives in a beautiful palace. Sathya Sai Baba demonstrates in each of his actions the breadth of his heart – his words and deeds were truth manifest. He was in the perfect state of the Absolute Self, and in his presence all people experienced "an unchanging, eternal and supreme reality."
12. Boy Sai told his parents that devotees were waiting for him
This story is one which happened to Sathya Sai Baba when he was very young. At the time, Sathya Sai Baba was only fourteen years old, and like all children he went to a regular school. It was early in the morning when he went to class and on his way turned suddenly and returned home. That morning he felt that the day had come to reveal a great secret.
Seeing their son come home unexpectedly, his parents looked at each other excitedly while trying to understand what was going on. Having quickly entered the house, the Sai boy said in a determined tone: “I no longer belong to you. The illusion of this world has left me. My many devotees are already waiting for me.”
The household did not know how to react to these strange words. Suddenly, a dazzling bright light shone around the head of the boy Sai. At that moment, the neighbors entered the house and also saw the majestic scene. The fourteen-year-old Baba stood calmly in the middle of the room, shining with a bright light. Recovering from their stupor, relatives and neighbors fell at his feet, asking for blessings. They could not understand the full depth of what was happening, but intuitively they felt the significance of what was unfolding before them.
After this amazing incident, boy Sai moved to a nearby abandoned Krishna temple. The temple was very ancient and, by that time, completely abandoned. The teenage Sai inspired the other boys in the village to rebuild the temple and soon several adults joined them. So, the ancient temple of Krishna was restored and became a new home for a wonderful young man. There, with friends, he sang traditional Bhajans daily, along with chants dedicated to the Vedic Gods.
Sai openly spoke of his past incarnation as Shirdi Sai Baba, a great teacher, miracle worker and sage who lived in India at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is assumed that Shirdi Sai Baba was born in the ‘30s of the 19th century and left this world in 1918. At the end of his life, Shirdi Sai Baba predicted that in eight years he would be reincarnated again.
The Sai boy was born in 1926, that is exactly eight years later. His miraculous wisdom and supernatural abilities amazed all the locals and visitors, and soon the first devotees and visitors began to flock to him. In the beginning, people came from neighboring villages to look at the miracle worker boy, and everyone marveled at his knowledge and insight.
Of course, many were surprised that the boy could accurately tell of his previous birth. Rumor about him spread far beyond the native village, and people came from afar. The fact that the little Sai was the incarnation of the great Shirdi Sai Baba arose interest, surprise, skepticism, and curiosity among all who came to communicate with him.
The ‘40s went by and one day a photographer came to the boy Sai and tried to take a picture of him. Sai stood next to a large stone. The photographer asked the holy youth to move away from the stone so he could take a more beautiful composition, but Sai refused and asked to take the picture exactly where he was standing. Once the photo was printed, an image of Shirdi Sai Baba, his past incarnation, appeared in the picture in the place of the stone.
13. The free thinker is free
Only the mind is responsible for your ups and downs. Only the mind is responsible for your limitations and liberations. This mind is responsible for the fact that man has forgotten his true divine reality, it is the mind that has brought man to hell.
(Sathya Sai Baba – "Summer Showers in Brindavan", 1990)
Only your thoughts are responsible for all suffering, and this is good news! It means your thoughts only are also responsible for happiness and joy. Although you cannot influence the world around you, you are in complete control of your thoughts, which means that your happiness is also in your own hands. The cause of tension and suffering is often found somewhere between sensing a separateness of existence and relaxing into that source of happiness where you feel unity, contentment, and peace.
When you seek happiness for yourself, you always lose it, but when you give happiness to others, you always find it. Peace and harmony are the
