"soul" exist in parallel. Both of these realities, absolute and individual, are in primordial harmony and unity.
The Self is potential and manifested, positive and negative, soft and hard, logical and intuitive, eternal and momentary. The Self is a great ocean and a small drop. Self is beginningless unity and infinite diversity. Self is unity in diversity and diversity in unity.
33. Personal meetings with Sathya Sai Baba, everything was unpredictable
Interviews were an important aspect of the daily program. Sathya Sai Baba would sit in his chair, which looked more like a throne. Some followers came with spiritual and philosophical questions, and some with questions relating to the circumstances of life. All those invited to a personal meeting sat on the carpet directly in front of him. Sathya Sai Baba was like a conductor for the interview. Quite often people brought photographs of their relatives with them in order for Sathya Sai Baba to bless them.
Only Sathya Sai Baba decided how the meeting went, if he wanted to give someone the opportunity to speak, he gave them that opportunity, at the same time he could completely ignore someone else. Sathya Sai Baba could turn to someone present and ask: “what are your questions? What is your problem? What do you want to say or ask? Then the person got the right to talk to him and ask his questions.
Some tried to interrupt the neighbor and ask their question, but Sathya Sai Baba made it very clear with whom exactly he wanted to communicate at the moment.
There were cases when large groups came, but Sathya Sai Baba could only talk to one person during the whole meeting, and the rest just sat and listened. There were interviews where he could talk to each person in turn. Every time everything was unpredictable.
When people turned to Sathya Sai Baba with really important questions, he listened attentively and gave detailed answers. If people came who wanted to show off their intelligence and education, Sathya Sai Baba interrupted such a farce. If he understood that a person was not sincere in his questions and asked them only to be smart, he could abruptly interrupt the clever man and point out his hidden vices and problems in front of everyone.
Only those who were completely sincere in their questions received deep and comprehensive answers from Sathya Sai Baba.
34. Sathya Sai Baba met a woman whom he knew in a previous life
Here is another story told to me by Yogi Hari. One day Sathya Sai Baba went on a long journey through the state of Kerala, in the southwest of India. He visited many cities and villages and finally came to the ancient city of Thiruvananthapuram. During this trip, as always, Sathya Sai Baba was accompanied by numerous devotees, and among them was a man named Bhagavantam. During this meeting, Sathya Sai Baba drew attention to an elderly woman.
Sathya Sai Baba turned to Bhagavantam and said he knew this woman well from childhood. At that time, Sathya Sai Baba was about 30 years old, and the woman was over 70, so Bhagavantam was extremely surprised at such strange words and decided to ask Sathya Sai Baba what they meant. He immediately said that he knew this woman well in a past life. In a previous incarnation, Sathya Sai Baba lived in the city of Shirdi, in western India. He was called Shirdi Sai Baba.
Bhagavantam approached the woman and asked if she had seen Shirdi Sai Baba as a child. The woman said that when she was a very small girl, her uncle took her with him to see Shirdi Sai Baba, and he gave her a medallion, which she wore around her neck all her life.
Thus, Bhagavantam was able to confirm the words of Sathya Sai Baba. Most often, people think in terms of the events of one life, but Sathya Sai Baba knew exactly everything that happened to everyone in previous incarnations.
35. People are like rays of a single sun
A person must do his job in society, constantly realizing the relationship between Spirit and Matter. There are many people around you, all people have different physical bodies, but in all bodies there is one divine Spirit.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Lectures at Kodaikanal”, 1996)
The world around us reveals great diversity, but at the base of this diversity lies a deep unity. One divine spirit dwells in all people. Unity and diversity are one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.
Everyone has their own purpose in life, but it is important not only to understand it, but also to realize it. Realizing your purpose in life is real success. A person who lives in harmony with the aspiration of his soul is truly happy and satisfied. A person is realized not only in deep meditative practices, but in the actions he performs physically.
The realization of one's divine potential occurs through activities in society, it can be scientific research, artistic creativity, social activities. We are all united in spirit, but in this manifested world we have incarnated as a huge number of unique individuals with our own talents and characteristics. The sun has many rays and people are like the rays of a single sun.
It is written in the Avadhuta Gita:
“For the True Self, there is no birth and death, there is no bondage, there is no liberation from bondage. Truly, each person is inherently an eternal reality and is inherently perfect. The Self is absolutely pure, I have no body, my mind is a stream of thoughts that have nothing to do with me, Self is beyond the illusion, Self calmly observe the illusion of this world. In the True Self, there is no distinction between desire and its absence, activity and inactivity. Although I am acting, there is no activity for me.”
Some mistakenly assume that the philosophy of the True Self supposedly must lead to the denial of family relationships, financial success, the implementation of social projects. Sometimes people read the books of Sathya Sai Baba or the ancient Vedic texts such as
