cities and military conflicts.
The city of Badrinath got its name from the fact that the ancient temple of Badrinath is located there. This temple is so ancient that it is difficult to say who founded it and when. It is only known that a long time ago it was a temple of Shiva. There was a period when the temple was abandoned. In the eighth century the temple was restored by the great mystic and philosopher Shankara, who materialized the main statue of the Deity. Nearby is a sacred lake. According to legend, Shankara materialized the statue right under the water and then took it to the shore. It was Shankara who restored the temple and installed a miraculous statue there.
Some of the most significant teachers have the power to create from the world of their imagination objects that do not previously exist in the world. There were cases when Sathya Sai Baba materialized statues underground. Usually it happened like this: Sathya Sai Baba blessed a piece of land and then ordered the men to dig in the indicated place.
To the astonishment of those assembled, stone or metal statues of various Deities were dug up. Some of the statues that Sathya Sai Baba materialized in such an unusual way were small in size and some were quite large. I saw a huge statue of Ganesha that Sathya Sai Baba materialized near Bangalore in southern India.
The very fact that Sathya Sai Baba visited the Himalayas several times in his life is very curious. About five thousand years before the birth of Christ, the sage Vasistha lived in the Himalayas. His ashram was located in a cave on the banks of the sacred Ganges. Legends about this cave ashram have remained since ancient times, but no one knew where it was located.
During a trip to the Himalayas, Sathya Sai Baba pointed out the exact location of this sacred cave and gave his blessing for a small ashram to be built at the entrance to the sacred cave. Thus, the cave of the sage Vasistha was rediscovered. I have visited this beautiful place many times and have been in awe of the magnificent mountains, fast icy waters of the Ganges, fresh air, and amazing atmosphere. Anyone who comes to this fabulous place feels the beauty and power of the Himalayas.
In the ‘60s, Sathya Sai Baba visited the Himalayas several times and his route was always the same. He would come to the holy city of Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, and then he would travel with a small group of devotees up the Himalayas to Badrinath.
He spent only a week in the Himalayas and then returned back to the south of India to his ashram. The great and mysterious question is: why did Sathya Sai Baba make repeated pilgrimages to the Himalayas? This amazing region of the world is famous for the fact that great Yogis and Mahatmas have lived here since time immemorial.
38. Human and Divine
Man, constantly contemplating God, acquires unity with God.
(Sathya Sai Baba – “Stream of Divine Love”, 1993)
All the great teachers of mankind proclaimed the path of direct communication between man and God. Krishna, Buddha, Abraham, Christ, Mohammed, and Sai Baba spoke about this. At a higher level of development, a person who thinks about God, worships God, and meditates on God begins to realize his original oneness with God.
The great truth about the essence of human existence was proclaimed by Jesus, when he said: "I and my Father in heaven are one." God is the Heavenly Father of every person, and every person is a Child of God.
Self and God are originally one. This fundamental truth is proclaimed by the Vedas. In an ancient text called the Narayana Upanishad, it is said that one who knows Vishnu becomes Vishnu. Vishnu is the symbol of Absolute Consciousness. We are all one in Consciousness, and we are all Consciousness from the very beginning – we just temporarily forget about our true infinite nature.
The spiritual path is gradual and long and there is no need to wait for the result the next day. One of the greatest obstacles on the spiritual path is expecting results too quickly. Nowadays, many people want solutions to their problems instantly. There are a huge number of announcements and advertisements heralding seminars that promise to solve all your problems instantaneously.
I remember how, while walking around the outskirts of Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas, I repeatedly saw advertisements for classes that claimed to help you heal from all diseases in “just three days” and to help you attain enlightenment in “just 30 days.” It sounds ridiculous, but such offers exist in large numbers, and they’re in demand. There is no such suffering or problem that you cannot be freed from as everything can be prayed for, but healing does take time.
You can talk about the unity of your "I" and God as much as you like, but only meditation practices give an actual mystical experience of higher reality. Meditation techniques help to gradually awaken latent spiritual and intellectual possibilities. You are what you think about most of the time. Man, constantly thinking about God, discovers unity with God.
The spiritual path consists of many paradoxes. In fact, it is not possible to gain unity with God because we are all originally united in God. What is actually happening is an epiphany of what is happening and always has been. "I AM God" is not an achievement, but a discovery.
39. Sathya Sai Baba visited America in a subtle body
Here is another story told to me by Subba Rao. This one is about an American, John Sinclair, who was a man of unique destiny. He was a successful businessman with a huge fortune. However, his success in business did not bring him happiness in life; in fact, the more successful his businesses became, the more he felt depressed and meaningless in his existence. One day he began to pray intensely. His prayer seemed like a spontaneous and free
