Having seen baba and witnessed the greatness of his powers I can honestly say I think him to be a great realised master, a wonderful teacher and God incarnate. My own experience with baba is strange, for he had no physical proximity when the miracle I witnessed took place. My mothers aunt, a sanyasin herself, Swamini Nishtananda, had undergone surgery in her hand, but it didnt heal properly, forming some kind of kila (if thats the right term, Im not sure) it was a blue green growth near the place where the incision was made. It was so painful she couldnt use her hand at all. Sitting in Sidhabari,the Tapovan ashram, in the heart of the sandeepany himalayas, she applied some of Sai Baba's healing vibhuti, which her friend had given her. Overnight the growth just fell off and she was completely cured. Baba is a wonderful person (though he is far more than just a mere person) and he has a very very strong aura, a great wealth of love and spiritual energy to give. I am actually headed to puttaparthi in july, so Ill have more of a direct experience with bhagawan and I will com back tell you about it! hari om! thy own self, Bhaskar
Actually thats just some bullshit rumour. Im not one to be taken in by fakers. Ive actualyl caught out a couple in my time. There are fools to say anything. See and judge for yourself. Dont spread such rumours without any proof. Baba is accepted by scholars all over India. His miracles are extraordinary, thy often occur inhis absence, from across the country and on many occasions across the world. Some things are beyond trickery.
Yes, he is a great person- greater than any of us thats for sure, but not greater than God. Calling oneself greater than God or calling oneself "God" is not only false, but also an offense to himself and to others. I am sure he is not capable of offending any of us though, however calling oneself God is wrong. God is God, and you are you, you cannot be God, except for God.
Just my two cents, but aren't we all just an extension of God. To assume that we are not implies a separateness. Saying that one is greater than God may be inaccurate (because a part can not be more than the whole) and egocentric, but did he ever say that he was "greater than God" I hadn't heard that. Anyway...can a part be equal to the whole? I believe so...If the separation from the god source that binds virtually everyone to this physical 3-d world of separation does not exist for him then he would realize his vastness and of course be equal to that of the whole (God). Peace and Love
My beloved Jedi, Hari Om! First of all, Sai Baba never ever said I am greater than God. In fact a reporter once asked him if he is god. The answer - You are also God. The difference is, I have understood it, you havent. What have you studied in Hinduism! What do the vedas ad the bhagawad geeta and every single holy text teach!!! tat twam eva twam eva tat! - Your that, that is you! aham bramhasmi - I am Bramhan The entire essence of Hinduism, the teachigns of Sankara, of Shiva, of Krishna, Vasishta, Rama, every great guru in history is that you are divine, that is your true nature1 You are God, one without the other, infinite, complete, pure, you are bramhan, you are that, tat twam asi. I am sorry to say that if you say you cannot be god, then you have understood absolutely nothing of the Hindu philosophy.
Blackbill, if you walk through life assuming that all those you meet are child abusers unless there is otherwise evidence, then Im afraid that is your trouble. And chodpa, youre entitled to your views, but I am afraid I dont believe you or your friend. You only have to listen to his words and observe the things he does. They talk for themselves. He is not a cultish figure at all. He does the miracles because he is leading his followers on the bhakti marga, were unwavering faith in the guru and ishta is absolutely essential, in order to inspire this faith baba makes miracles. You only have ot read his books and his teachings and you will find that his words are sheer advaita vedanta. Baba has cured many whom I know, family, friends and relatives. To those who dispute the legitimacy of his miracles, do tell, how would picture of baba, taken and developed by a devotee who has never even met him, never even touched or handled by him, suddenly starts giving forth streams of vibhuti with healing qualities.... How does he multily food...how did he bring the 2 men who were certified dead to life... in the case of Krishnamurthy, he was dead for a week, the body started to decay and stink and then baba went into the room and man came out walking, alive and well. These are not the works of a mere mortal. Baba is a realised soul, a great yugaurusha, a mahatma. He is god. And he knows it.
Tonight in the UK bbc are screening a documentary about Sai Baba's alleged misdeeds. So perhaps there may be more info on this at BBc.co.uk. I am not assuming he is a child abuser on no evidence, there are in fact a number of people who claim they were abused. And the 'miracles' have all the hallmarks of cheap conjouring tricks. Nor am I ignorant of SB's work, I'm just not very impressed.
I know alot about hinduism and it is very good in teaching us the truth. It teaches us that if the supreme is the ocean, we are nothing but a drop and also warns us that if we should not mistaken ourselves into giving ourselves away to maya whether that is considering yourself the ocean or considering that the ocean does not exist in the first place. Brahman is you, Bhagavan is more than Brahman.
I am sorry, you have misunderstood. Bramhan is you, bramhan is bhagawan. Of course I do see that there are several schools of vedanta, some say that you are a drop in the ocean, others say you are the ocean itself. But the end point of it is, there is only one. That is what advaita means. non duality. Which means that there are no divisions. There is but one, no separation as bhagawan and bramhan and jeeva. these are just words, the distinction caused by maya. This is the school of thought of Adi Shankaracharya.
Ok, I wont be drawn into argument here, it is pointless. I started as a cynic myself, but my experiences with baba are sufficient to convince me of his greatness and legitimacy. Also kindly note, none of the great realised masters of our time, none of the great gurus and spiritual leaders ever disputed his greatness. It is only those of us who have a narrower vision who make such statements. And tell me, which magician in the world can make a lamp light up in a strangers house, in front of a picture which was not there, from the other end of the country... This is the experience of a close friend. She knew nothing much of baba. One day she had just finished her evening pooja, waved out the lamp and had turned to leave the room when the lamp lt up again. She turned and found the lamp burning in front of a picture of baba, a picture that had never been there before. Baba stays only in puttaparthi or whitefield, both in the south of india. This happened in Delhi.
Not only is Baba accused by many ex-devotees of sexual abuse, but it seems his 'miracles' can be easily replicated by any competent stage magician. As for me being a skeptic, just let me assure you that I do believe in a spiritual power, even that certain teachers may well be worth paying attention to - I just don't think SB is one of them. Other gurus have fallen from their positions - it seems that in the case of SB his position ensures that the Indian authorities will not do any proper investigation into the alleged abuses. Having now sat through an hour long tv documentary on all this, and seen and heard one of Baba's victims tell his story, I am more convinced than ever that he is a phoney - ie he is not an avatar, not a divine being, but a charlatan. Unless of course you are happy with a god who has a big appetite for sex with underage boys.
In my thinking, if you say you are God, then you are so egocentric, that you can make yourself superior to God in your thinking somewhere "deep down there" in your thinking, and I can't accept that. The essence of advaita, dvaita and vishista-advaita is to be with God, whether it is letting He alone exist , with making yourself not "exist" or whether it is trying to reach Him as well as keeping yourself in existence in a type of eternal Bhagavan-bhakth relationship with Him . In either case, it is to be with God. When some one is God realized and if you call that person "God", it is not only inaccurate but also very offensive both to the person and to God.
Im sorry jedi, but you have not understood advaita one bit. When one is god realised, it means he has realsied his true identity, as being one with god, there is no disnction for him. He sees himself everywhere and in everything. The very fact that you think such mahatmas can ever be offended, or that God can be offended, or insulted, shows you havent grasped the philosophy at all. All insult, all offence, is only at the level of intellect, the ego level, rooted in the notion that I am this body and I am this mind. A god realised soul has risen above these delusions, therefore he knows no insults. Of course this is not a license for us to go about calling them names, for our purposes we must respect and worship such mahatmas. Referring to them as god, not wrong. matru devo bhava pitru devo bhava acharya devo bhava atithi devo bhava these are lines form the taittriya upanishad. loosely translated, it means be one to whom the mother, father, guru and guests are seen as god. We are all avatars. Tat twam asi.
May be I am wrong, or may be its just another perspective of the same reality , anyway I am not 'enlightened' enough to say one thing is wrong and one is not, however, I know this for sure: No matter on what path we are, through our self effort, we can achieve that which is the supreme and reach the same conclusion of our path at some point.
Very true, haha! I have nothing against a different ideology, but do understand that what the vedas teach is not what you are saying.
