you an important meditation technique. You need to dress yourself up as Krishna, pick up a flute, put a flower garland around your neck, and make a beautiful headdress with a peacock feather. Then you need to ask someone to take a picture of you in this image, as if you are Krishna. The photograph should be placed on the altar … every day you need to meditate on this image, you can also perform rituals of worship on your photo, as if it were an image of Krishna himself.”
After the interview was over, I left Sathya Sai Baba's room and thought, can I take his words literally? What is the point of photographing yourself as Krishna? Or maybe it was just a joke? What will my friends and relatives say when they see my photo in the image of Krishna right on the altar? It all looked like madness.
A few days later I met with an American acquaintance, Mark, who lived in a neighboring house. I decided to tell him I recently had an interview where Sathya Sai Baba taught a strange meditation technique.
Mark listened attentively to my story, smiled, and said that two years ago, he also had an interview, and Sathya Sai Baba recommended exactly the same technique to him. Sathya Sai Baba told Mark that it is not necessary to photograph oneself in the form of Krishna, one can choose any image that is closer, for example, the image of Jesus Christ or Buddha.
Hearing this, I immediately wondered if Mark tried to take such a photo and what were the results? He said that, at first, he also doubted how literally this strange advice of Sathya Sai Baba should be taken.
When Mark returned to America, he decided to try it anyway. He found beautiful Indian clothes suitable for dressing up as Krishna, found a good photo studio, and arranged to go dressed as Krishna ready to be photographed. After that, he printed a large photo, the size of almost the entire wall, and then hung it in the room in which he practiced meditation daily.
Every morning he concentrated and meditated on this picture for twenty minutes, trying to vividly imagine that he really was Krishna. When I met Mark, he had been practicing this meditation for over a year. As a result, his perception of himself completely changed, and his relationship with the outside world changed significantly. Many conflict situations even began to level off.
Relatives and business partners began to treat Mark in a completely different way. All those around him began to listen to his opinions and respectfully relate to everything that he did, although this had not happened before.
The office began to perceive Mark as a very respected and authoritative person, although he did not specifically try to convince anyone of this. Conflict relations with some relatives were corrected, and the business clearly began to bring more income, and all this happened as if by itself.
The practice of meditating on his photograph as Krishna took only twenty minutes a day, and yet it completely rebuilt his energy, harmonized his emotional state, and changed his life circumstances.
Subsequently, I met another person whose name was Dr. Rao. He told me a similar story. At one time, I often went to the Ayurvedic clinic of Dr. Rao, which was quite famous in Puttaparthi. Many times, I witnessed how patients came to him who did not have enough money to buy the necessary medicines. If Dr. Rao understood that a person needed help, he would give a course of treatment completely free of charge.
Dr. Rao was known as a great master of Hatha Yoga. Despite his advanced age, he was very flexible and in excellent physical shape. He excelled at complex yoga exercises requiring tremendous flexibility. Every day he held free master classes in Hatha Yoga.
I attended his classes, and also talked with him on various esoteric and philosophical topics. Dr. Rao was a specialist in Ayurveda, an excellent yoga teacher, and also had a deep knowledge of Vedic philosophy.
I was able to find out that Dr. Rao also received recommendations from Sathya Sai Baba to meditate on his photograph as Krishna. Dr. Rao has been practicing this technique for many years. He told me this is a very powerful and effective meditation technique. Subsequently, he recommended several of his patients and yoga students to practice this amazing meditation.
58. Meditating on Your Own Name Helps Change Your Life
The words of Jesus Christ about the need to love your neighbor as yourself are often remembered. Christ said, “as yourself,” which means that you must love yourself first of all. How can we love the people around us if we sometimes don't love ourselves?
Love for oneself is mysteriously connected with the perception of one's own name. Think about it, do you like your name? Do you feel comfortable being addressed by your first name? Repeatedly Sathya Sai Baba said that it is very beneficial to meditate on one's own name.
The essence of any prayer or mantra is the sacred name of God, and this name can be the name of Jesus Christ or Lord Krishna. There is tremendous power in the names of God. In the Vedic tradition, there is an ancient knowledge that all the power of God is in his Holy Names.
Any mantra carries energy power only because it contains the names of God. Sanskrit is the most complex language in its grammar and the richest in its vocabulary; there are not so many names of God as there are in Sanskrit in any other language of the world.
Many world traditions include the practice of repeating the names of God. In Zoroastrianism, there is a tradition of repeating one hundred and one names of God. In some branches of Islam, there is a practice of repeating the ninety-nine names of God. Seventy-two names of God are practiced in Judaism and Kabbalah.
The name that you bear in this life, in fact, is also the name of God. Your divine essence
