Fwd: How to React? - A Reflection.

[SAIbalaji]

Begin forwarded message:

Dear All,

If you can spare five minutes, please read this mail from a Sai devotee. It was sent to h...@radiosai.org. The perspectives shared in this write-up reflecting on the current situation is quite enriching. It has helped me and I thought it would do the same for many others too. (I have not revealed the identity of the person for obvious reasons.)

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Since March 28, 2011, there has been a spate of e-mails and articles offering various perspectives and interpretations of what is perhaps the most significant event in every Sai devotee’s life! One off shoot of this Divine drama is that never before have devotees across the world come together and communicated so openly, so beautifully in such a fantastic spirit of togetherness. We have felt the pain of the students who for the first time in the history of the University have left its portals without Baba’s Darshan! Less than 24 hour notices for Bhajans, Poojas, Havans have drawn more devotees than even planned events have! We have all felt inspired and have truly evolved into one unified Sai Family! The globe seems to have become one gigantic study circle, and the internet a spiritual classroom! God loves unity and He sure knows how to extract it!

What follows is one more attempt at unifying the myriad perspectives that we have all mulled over in the last ten days. The focus is not on interpreting the situation but rather on how we are reacting to it. Since the curtains were opened on Scene 1 of this drama, we have asked ourselves, “How do I react? Am I thinking and feeling what Bhagawan wants me to think and feel?” We have constantly looked for evidence of our devotional ‘rightness’ and been quick to doubt ourselves – all of course with the sole intention of doing things and behaving in the manner that would make our beloved Swami come back to us in the joyful, healthy disposition we love to seem Him in.

Broadly there have been two categories of reactions: One, where some of us have become anxious, lost all sense of joy, been moved to tears and become frantic for signs of  Baba’s physical recovery. The second category is of those of us who seem to be rooted in a firm conviction that there is no cause for worry,  that Swami knows what He is doing and we need to stay calm and cheerful.

While we may choose to react in one particular way, what is important right now, is guarding against becoming judgmental of our own or someone else’s method of dealing with this situation which is an unprecedented personal crisis for every Sai devotee.

The great epics of India tell us of the Gopis who were moved to tears, drowned in  anxiety and desperation for their Lord’s health when
Krishna ‘suffered from a stomach ache’. On the other hand there was Hanuman. Had he been swayed by Lord Rama’s drama of acute, helpless misery at the loss of Mother Sita or Rama’s own nearly fatal injury in the battle, he would not have been able to garner even an iota of faith to accomplish the Divine feats he did. The Gopis and Hanuman reacted in almost opposite ways to their Master’s  apparent
‘distress’, yet both managed to ‘heal’ Him.

Though different in their manifestation, both the reactions had two things in common:

1. They both displayed complete and unconditional love for the Lord

2. Both reactions were followed by desire and action to ‘do whatever
it takes’ (as per their own convictions) to assuage the Lord’s
‘misery’

Using the same analogies for our current situation,  we do not need to judge ourselves or others, but to examine our chosen reactions
on the touchstone of the above mentioned points and do whatever makes us reach out to Bhagawan more effectively by our own individual standards (since by reaching out to Swami we are only getting closer to our own selves – which is exactly what Bhagawan wants!) If it is by chanting Mantras, so be it; if it is by shedding tears and ‘feeling His pain’, so be it and if it is by being cheerful and happy in the conviction that ‘He knows what He is doing’ so be it. God speaks to each one of us in a language we are capable of understanding and at such a time, it is imperative that we find His gentle urging within ourselves rather than looking for external ratification of our methods of dealing with the situation. As long as we act on our own conviction, and all of us are together, helping, inspiring, loving each other, with singularity of purpose though there may be multiplicity of methods, we are on the right track and (like one of the e-mails had mentioned) a grand celebration is just round the corner…

Personally, I believe that the scheme of things is too large for us to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the drama. All I know is
that no matter how Swami chooses to unfold it, there is no place in the Universe where: my Lord can’t reach me or where I can’t find
Him…Period!