Wherever in the world you may be, whatever your race, colour, creed or religion I wish you heartfelt Christmas greetings and love, light, happiness and golden opportunities for 2012.
Thank you for supporting my blog and God bless you.
For some reason I was reminded today of a true story that demonstrates just how God really does answer our prayers. Unfortunately, we humans seem to have fixations on exactly how we expect our prayers to be answered, and because of this we quite often miss God’s reply.
The story concerns a man who was in need of a new car. He was not in a position financially to buy one, so he sent up prayers to God explaining his predicament and asking for his needs to be met. Around two weeks later he received a phone call from an aunt who explained that she was buying a new car. She further explained that she no longer had any need for the car she currently owned, therefore he could have it as a gift. The man’s response was “oh no, I couldn’t possibly accept your car as a gift”, so the aunt duly disposed of the surplus vehicle by other means. Six months later the man is shaking his fists to the heavens because God has failed to answer his prayer….. I ask you ….. some people!
As a footnote to this tale, have you ever wondered why God is referred to as “God The Father” and why we always turn to him when we want something? Well, cast your mind back to when you were a child and you wanted something fixing. Who did you ask? Why good old dad of course, and that’s why God is called God the Father; because G-O-D stands for Good Old Dad.
The true story also reminded me of another story. An untrue story this time, but nonetheless a story that demonstrates the same lessons. A very pious man lived in a town that was hit by serious flooding. The Emergency Services were in the process of evacuating the area, and on calling at the man’s house were told “it’s ok, God will save me”. The floods worsened and the streets became rivers. Some rescue workers came by in a boat and told the man to get in, to which he replied “it’s ok, God will save me”. The floods got even worse and the water levels rose to the extent that the man had to climb up on the roof. At this point the Emergency Services sent a helicopter to rescue him. But he shouted up “it’s ok, God will save me!” He drowned!
He arrived at the pearly gates and knocked. When St Peter opened the gates the man gave him a real earful, complaining that he’d always been a good servant of the Lord so why did God let him die. St Peter said “you were sent a boat and a helicopter, what more did you want?”
The moral of these stories is that everything we receive is a gift from God. It doesn’t matter who or what the source may be. The source is simply the method chosen by God to act as a channel for the gift. Gifts can also be translated as opportunities and we should always grasp them with both hands instead of allowing ourselves to be blinded by our own logic.
Rockin With Swami
An optimist and a pessimist were arguing as to whether the glass was half full or half empty. Whilst they were arguing a “doer” came along and simply picked up the glass and drank.
The moral of the story is that actions speak louder than words. This can also translate to “hands that serve are holier than lips that pray”.
There is a child in all of us regardless of physical age, an inner child whose very nature is love in all its innocent glory. The unsullied child; without judgement, prejudice or bias in any form. Ever the impartial and silent observer, a microcosm of equanimity within the great macrocosm, unruffled by the helter skelter of the illusion that is earthly life. If this is so why does life tend to be so painful and difficult?
The reason for this is because when we plunge into the realm of matter, encased within a body of flesh, we become immersed in the monkey-mind-like chatter of information picked up by the senses from the external world; which is then fed to our own logical minds. Our minds then tend to race, churning countless fragments of information around as if in a tumble dryer. The result of this is worry and confusion and we simply lose sight of who we really are; we lose sight of the child. The good news is that just because we lose sight of the child, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t there. It’s the same principle as not being able to see the sun on a cloudy day. The sun may be obscured by the clouds but it still shines in all its glory.
Creation moves in cycles, and this trilogy of Love, Child, Innocence is no exception to the rule; which is more good news for us. What this means is that there can only ever be one outcome; no matter how long it may take, each and every one of us will one day, once again, realise the “child within” in all its effulgent splendour. It’s also another good example of the symbolism of the Holy Trinity: Love (the all-encompassing God the Father) begat the Child (God the Son) which is permeated throughout by innocence (The Holy Spirit).
The Earth dimension has been created specifically as a dreamland stage so that we, as individualised souls, can incarnate within it when need be and play the game of life. It’s a bit like playing snakes and ladders, where we will make progress along the way but will also encounter pitfalls. The beauty of creation moving through cycles is that if we ever find ourselves in a situation that we don’t like, we have the power to change it. For example, what is your inner child doing at this moment? Is it ripping open Christmas presents, sulking in the corner or crying because it has been hurt? If it’s one of the latter two, you yourself have the power to change it to the first example.
Yes, the Earth dimension really has been created in a specific way; a way that makes it inevitable that our child will become obscured. Once this happens we can then commence “The Game of Life” or the journey back to the child via a pathway of trial and error. Life begins at the end of our comfort zone and no journey is worth making unless it represents some kind of challenge. Each challenge we meet along the way represents an opportunity to grow; and each opportunity to grow is relished by the child because it serves as one more stepping stone back to Love, The Father (there’s that cycle again).
If you are struggling at this moment in time remember that your child loves you. But also understand that you and your child are One; love your child and love yourself, for the key to happiness within the Earth dimension is to love yourself simply for who and what you are, imperfections and all, completely and utterly without conditions. Do this and your child will be laughing its socks off!
The epitomy of Love, Child, Innocence
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there are seven days in a week; there are, in fact, only three, and of those three only one has any significance.
First lets look at the two pointless days in our three-day week. There is “yesterday”; which is in the past and cannot in any way be returned to us (not even for all the chocolate in my local shop). Anyway, when yesterday was here it wasn’t yesterday, it was “TODAY” (can you guess where this little article is going yet?). Then we have “tomorrow” which will be today when it arrives (guessed yet?). At the moment “tomorrow” consists of nothing more than a series of jumbled thoughts whizzing around in your mind; indeed, as sure as Tottenham Hotspur have no chance of winning the Premier League some peeps out there will have convinced themselves that tomorrow will bring the end of the world and will be sick with worry right now.
In truth, the only day that really matters is TODAY, because it’s all we have and it represents an opportunity to make a difference. What will you do with your today, today?
The past is gone and the future is uncertain
When tomorrow comes it is today
Therefore the time is NOW
See good, be good, do good…… Now!
Sri Sathya Sai Baba
One day Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him. “You have no right teaching others,” he shouted. “You are as stupid as everyone else. You are nothing but a fake.”
Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man, “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?” The man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.” The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct; and it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself.”
That told him!
What is it that makes someone, seemingly in their prime and with everything going for them, take their own life at the young age of 42? I suppose we will never really know just what was going through Gary Speed’s mind when he took that fateful decision on November 27 2011. For the uninitiated, Welshman Gary was an English Premier League footballer who had retired from playing and was manager of the Welsh national team. As a player he made a record number of appearances in the EPL with Leeds United, Everton, Newcastle United and Bolton Wanderers. He finished his playing career outside the Premier League with Sheffield United. On Saturday 26 November 2011 Gary had appeared on the BBC’s football focus programme and was outwardly upbeat and positive about life in general and his job as manager of Wales. Off camera he had spoken enthusiastically to the presenter about his kids and also told how he was looking forward to playing golf the following week. A few hours later he was found hanging by his wife.
I am not writing this post because I am a fan of Gary or the club’s he played for, but rather to demonstrate once again the awesome power of the human spirit. As stated I was not particularly a fan but as a follower of the EPL I was well aware of Gary’s achievements and his influence both on and off the field. He was a real leader of men and a great motivator; so well respected in football circles far and wide. This influence was demonstrated aptly by the way he transformed the fortunes of the Welsh national team, who as a small country were so often the whipping boys of the international arena. But Gary Speed went in there and made those players believe in themselves. They started punching well above their weight and began to give the big boys a run for their money. I remember the recent European Championship qualifier between England and Wales at Wembley and how unbelievably lucky England were to escape with a 1-0 victory.
Yesterday (3 December 2011) just prior to kick-off at football grounds throughout the country, fans and players alike put aside their petty prejudices and rivalry and united as one in their appreciation of a man who gave so much to the game of football. Grown men wept openly as Gary Speed’s spirit touched their soul. The question “why” will no doubt resonate within the minds of those who were closest to Gary for some time to come, but I cannot help thinking that out of this tragic event there is a wonderful ray of light shining so brightly; namely the lasting influence of Gary Speed on the game of football. Fans and players of all clubs have been deeply moved by his passing, and this is no mean feat even in death, because footballers and football fans in general can be the most fickle of people and you don’t get to be such an influence on their lives unless you are of exceptional character; and Gary Speed certainly was.
R.I.P Gary we hope you are now free from your torment. You have left this Earth in the same way that you lived your life on it; by being a positive influence on others. We are living in very difficult times but yesterday your memory helped people to put all their cares and worries to one side as they united as one, one heart, one voice. What those people felt as they wept was the unifying power of the spirit. What they experienced in that moment was love in all its glory; if only this could be understood and put into practice in all walks of life. If it was, what a different place the world would be.
It seems quite appropriate to be writing this article on this particular day; November 23, the 86th anniversary of Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s descent into flesh. Devotees all over the world will be celebrating today but I’m going to tell you about an incident that occurred on Saturday 19 November in Cheltenham, when The Sai Organisation UK Region 7 held a regional birthday celebration in honour of our beloved Sai. I must say that when I first heard it was to be held in Cheltenham this year I was a bit dubious to say the least. I have never liked Cheltenham; it is a smallish town but very, very busy. Traffic is quite often gridlocked and the town centre road network is not exactly driver friendly, especially if you don’t know where you are going. Yes, I still have memories of being lost in Cheltenham on a number of occasions and driving around aimlessly getting more and more frustrated. But I wasn’t going to let a little thing like that stop me from paying my respects to Swami.
I set off nice and early to take into account that I was, in all likelihood, going to get lost. Surprise, surprise I reached my destination without any hitch and I arrived at The Cheltenham Hindu Community Centre in plenty of time. There is always food laid on at these events and it never fails to amaze me just how sumptuous it is. All of Cheltenham Sai Group worked tremendously hard in organizing the event, but the ladies who prepared the food must take a special pat on the back. As ever, it was basic vegetarian fayre, but unbelievably good. The chick pea curry was mouth-watering and the Indian sweets were out of this world. Lunch was actually the first thing on the agenda before the celebrations started at 2:00 p.m.
The event kicked off with a wonderful little play by the kids from Swindon Sathya Sai Education Group, and there followed a lovely video “Love In Action” that highlighted Swami’s fresh drinking water, hospital and educational projects (unfortunately, the video had to be cut short due to time restrictions). As the devotional singing and the event in general was drawing to a close an elderly lady in a wheelchair had a cardiac arrest. Fortunately, there was a couple of GP’s present and also a couple of nurses. But I found what followed so surreal.
The lady was very quickly lifted from her wheelchair and placed on the floor, where she immediately received CPM from a male nurse. He moved so fast it was quite unbelievable. Whilst the doctors and nurses attended to the lady someone called for an ambulance. A makeshift screen was then formed by a number of other ladies using sheets; this gave a degree of privacy to the patient and helped to maintain her dignity. Almost simultaneously most of the people not involved started to chant the Gayatri mantra. I always feel so completely and utterly helpless in these situations but joined in the chanting. It must have taken the paramedics at least 15 minutes to arrive, and it must have been very strange for them as they entered the hall with so many people chanting whilst a patient was receiving life saving first aid on the floor.
I remember thinking to myself as the drama began to unfold “what a way to go”. It seemed that Swami had decided to take her, bathed in his Omnipresence, in an environment that she loved amongst other devotees, having just finished celebrating her Lords glory; I was convinced she was gone. However, after a short time had lapsed we received a signal that the lady was going to be alright, and all those engaged in the chanting instinctively brought it to a close. The paramedics took the lady to hospital and one of the attending GP’s made an announcement.
The female GP told us that the lady had indeed suffered a cardiac arrest. She also informed us that the lady had stopped breathing and that she had turned black. So we can conclude that the elderly lady had indeed “died”. My friend Satyan from Bath, knowing that I didn’t particularly like driving in Cheltenham, called me later that night to make sure I’d arrived home in one piece. He’d had a lift from the male nurse who’d performed the CPM. During the drive back the man told Satyan that the lady would not have survived had they waited for the paramedics, so it just goes to show that it was not the lady’s time to go and Baba, from his cosmic residence, had somehow engineered the whole event as if it was nothing more than a scene from a play. I have been to many of these functions now and never experienced anything like it before, so the drive home was very strange indeed; with everything swimming around in my head. Now, five days later, I am still trying to get my head around the events of last Saturday; events that I found very surreal indeed.
Surreal for me maybe, but it was just another day at the office for the birthday boy!
Dear loving Swami was known by devotees the world over for the multitude of miracles that he performed during his 85 years in physical form; miracles such as raising people from the dead (even when the corpse had started to rot), control over the elements and the ability to appear in a multitude of places simultaneously, to name but a few. But what I personally found most heart warming about Baba was his human side. Maybe not quite as spectacular in the eyes of the average devotee, but he had this way of showing his human-ness in the most simplistic of ways; ways that really touched the heart. He always used to say that we should never try to comprehend him because he was quite simply beyond comprehension. But he also used to say that the reason he walked among us, breathed the same air and ate and spoke just like any other normal human being was so we could relate to him. So, I suppose it’s for this reason that there was also something incredibly human about Baba.
The late professor Gokak who was very close to Swami for a number of years recalled the time when he accompanied Baba on a trip. The professor spoke of how Baba had forgotten his razor, saying “so I just gave him mine”. He also spoke of how easy it was to forget just who Baba really was because sometimes “we would laugh and joke together and in those moments he was simply my friend.” But one of the most amusing stories I ever heard was when Swami was much younger and he took a party to the Himalayas. He played snowballs with the group and also enjoyed himself on a sledge. But during the same trip he visited a cave-dwelling sage and gave him the ultimate blessing by showing him his cosmic form.
I was once blessed with experiencing Swami’s human-ness first hand whilst sitting in darshan during my first trip to Prasanthi Nilayam. I’d managed to get myself a prime spot directly opposite where Swami used to make his entrance; I couldn’t believe my luck, and what happened next was absolutely amazing.
Sitting just along from me, to my right, was a man. Behind him was a younger man holding a child. She was a beautiful little girl and they were obviously all connected. At one point the younger man passed the little girl to the man in front and he had her on his lap fanning her. Immediately two Seva Dals approached and told the man that the child would have to be passed back. This made the Seva Dals look particularly mean, but I didn’t realise it at the time that children were not allowed in the front row. Apparently there had been various incidents over the years and eventually the ruling was made that children were no longer allowed to sit in the front row. The man protested long and hard but in the end he had to relent and pass the child back to the younger man. I also felt for the Seva Dals because on the whole they do a fantastic job, they are all volunteers and it was not the fault of the two Seva Dals in question. The beautiful thing about this though, is that I was one of only a handful of people who actually saw this story unfold in its entirety, and I feel privileged that Swami engineered this so that I could witness it.
As Baba approached one of the men gave the little girl a letter and they stood her up so that Baba could see. He has a way of letting his attendants know when to stop and when to start and which direction to wheel him in etc. The child held the letter out to Baba and he halted and motioned for her to come forward. He took the letter and she bent down and touched his feet. He then blessed her and a cheeky grin broke out on his face. As it did so a huge cheer went up and the section of the crowd that had seen this wonderful event in detail applauded.
It was Swami’s way of letting us know that he knew what had happened with regard to the child not being allowed to sit in the front row; and there is simply no way that he could have seen the earlier incident as he was still in his quarters at the time. The face of the child’s father was an absolute picture and it was a truly wonderful gesture by Baba. The unfortunate thing is that because the hall was so packed only those near the front were a party to this amazing event, and only a handful saw the whole event from start to finish. I am truly privileged to be one of that handful.
Baba must have been about ten feet or so away from me when he called the child forward. It was fantastic for me seeing Swami face on, and what I found striking was that as he approached he looked absolutely beautiful. I never thought I would ever describe a man as being beautiful, but Baba was not of this earth. He looked so tiny in his wheelchair but the power he gave off was absolutely awesome.
It’s now seven months since dear Swami discarded his physical form, and it would be ridiculous to say that his form is not missed by devotees everywhere. But everyone I speak to says the same thing; since Swami left his body it seems as though he is even more Omnipresent than ever. His love seems to be even more prominent than it was; if that is at all possible. I, for example, have lost count of the times since April 24 that he has made his presence felt within my heart and my eyes have filled with tears of joy. There’s definately something bubbling under, and I can’t wait for it to surface.
Author - Richard F Holmes 