the Avadhuta Gita and make the erroneous conclusion that the contemplation of the True Self should supposedly be accompanied by complete apathy and denial of the physical and material world around them.
The question is: how do you perceive yourself and the surrounding space? Are you attached to the results of your actions? In fact, the philosophy of the True Self, on the contrary, helps to reveal dormant potentials and talents. Approaching the deep essence of his soul, a person becomes a wise creator of life.
You are incarnated with a special spiritual mission, but each person around you is also unique, and incarnated also with a special spiritual mission. No one is better or worse than you – everyone plays a role in the performance of life – all people are different, and each person is completely unique. Each person is God receiving the experience of human existence.
You live in harmony with the entire universe, complementing everything that happens around you. Realizing your purpose in life, you feel the whole world complements and helps you to realize the work you do. The unity of spirit and matter is the unity of Divine Consciousness and Cosmic Energy. Both of these aspects are inside each person, and their play and interaction give rise to the whole diversity of the universe.
36. Immaculate Conception of Sathya Sai Baba
Sometimes you have to see something to believe it. This story is about a religious man whose doubts kept him from believing the greatest miracle of all until his questions were answered by the voice of a woman.
Sathya Sai Baba once said that in ancient times the Divine Consciousness incarnated on Earth as Krishna. According to tradition, Krishna was born from a virgin birth, he entered like a flash of light into the womb of his mother. Sathya Sai Baba declared that just as Krishna incarnated on earth in ancient times, he, Sathya Sai Baba, incarnated in this world in our era.
Among those present was one of the renowned experts in the Vedic scriptures named Rama Sharma. Sathya Sai Baba's words aroused many doubts in him. He decided not to voice his doubts aloud, but all this seemed very strange and even implausible. Krishna was a divine incarnation. Rama Sharma questioned the validity of Sathya Sai Baba’s claim, asking: is Sathya Sai Baba as great and significant as Krishna?
As time passed, Rama Sharma continued to think over the strange words of Sathya Sai Baba. His doubts not only did not decrease with time but, actually, became more and more intense. He constantly pondered whether it was true that Sathya Sai Baba was the divine incarnation of our era.
Rama Sharma knew that one of the few signs of a divine incarnation is a virgin birth, just as Krishna, Buddha and Jesus were conceived. If he could find out whether Sathya Sai Baba was born in this way, then he could answer with confidence the difficult question about the authenticity of Sathya Sai Baba's divine origin.
One day, Sathya Sai Baba was sitting surrounded by a group of devotees and visitors. Rama Sharma was also present, and it was during this meeting, that he felt it a good moment to clarify the difficult issue. Gaining courage, he asked Sathya Sai Baba bluntly whether his conception was virgin or ordinary.
All those present were extremely surprised by such a strange question. In silence, they waited for Sathya Sai Baba’s answer. This story took place in the ‘60s, when Easwaramma, Sathya Sai Baba's mother, was still alive. At this particular meeting, she was sitting next to her son. Sathya Sai Baba addressed her in a mysterious voice and asked her to share about the incident which happened to her next to the well, nine months before his birth.
According to eyewitnesses, Easwaramma did not want to tell this story but Sathya Sai Baba insisted and so she agreed.
She explained how on that day, as usual, she went to the nearest well for water. Suddenly, a luminous blue ball appeared in the sky out of nowhere, which swiftly flew up to the frightened woman and entered her stomach. Immediately, she experienced an exalted spiritual state, after which she lost consciousness. An hour later, she woke up and rushed home where she told her mother-in-law what had happened. The excited mother-in-law strictly forbade Easwaramma to tell her relatives and neighbors about the event, so as not to cause speculation and ridicule. Many years later, Easwaramma first spoke about this amazing incident at the request of Sathya Sai Baba himself.
After Easwaramma told all the details of this story, Sathya Sai Baba turned to the astonished Rama Sharma and asked him if his doubts that he, Sathya Sai Baba – born of a virgin birth – had been dispelled.
Immediately after the birth of Sathya Sai Baba, many relatives and immediate neighbors clearly felt he was not an ordinary baby. In his presence, people experienced unusual spiritual states of bliss and joy, and for this reason visitors came especially to Easwaramma's house in order to glance at her newborn son.
