Or you can look upon me as a Guru. The saints speak of this too - ‘So many devas have worshipped Siva. There is nothing to be had from worshipping Siva. Revere your guru and you will attain what you want’. But again, there are several so-called gurus who assume that a saffron dress is enough to project them that way. As a human being, you do not know to differentiate between a diamond and a pebble. So how will you know who is right and who is wrong? People are unable to identify the real guru. They get disillusioned following people masquerading as gurus. Thiruvalluvar says, ‘Some people pretend to have renounced everything and cheat the world; the five elements laugh in derision at this pretence’.

When you do not have any norms to understand the true worth of a Guru, how will you accept me as a guru? Not possible and more so when you see me interacting so casually with everyone, moving as one among you.

There are times when I may be chatting with someone who is wearing a saffron dress (as part of the rituals connected with Sabarimala pilgrimage); a new entrant would assume he is Baba and prostrate before him. (Baba laughs). It has happened so many times.

A true guru inspires people to learn from his life that is his message.

I never seek anything from whoever coming to me. See for yourself - there is no Hundi (charity box) here. I do not charge you anything for meeting me. My time is free for you. And I do not indulge in any gimmick. My instrument is love and I have transformed everyone into loving souls. Someone brings fruits, some other brings eatables, and these are distributed to the crowd. Samratchanites delight in sharing what they have. How did I achieve this? I made myself love personified. And this spreads to others. Just as a yawn causes others too to yawn, love evokes love. It happens of its own. And this is what you see in Samratchana. All these people who bring you eatables, belong to middle class families only. They may come from several miles away. But they are prepared to take the burden of bringing these all the way, just for the joy of sharing: that Baba has imbibed in them. In today’s society, where people are unwilling to share even the temple prasadam(food offering), fearing that their share of fortune will decline, I am nurturing an organization of people who love to share what they have with others. This is how divinity spreads. People do not realize that divinity does not co-exist with selfishness.

The world is presently very selfish. If X asks Y to buy a lottery ticket for him, Y loses his peace of mind from that very minute. What if X wins the prize? Y would start feeling that it was his luck that X got the prize. People find it difficult to tolerate the happiness of others. A Mahaan is one in a million. When a person attains enlightenment, he becomes a Mahaan(saint). Otherwise lagaan(reins) - he is fettered by worldly desires.

People find it difficult to express love to their own family members. Whereas though I have no relationships, I am able to hold so many people in my love. This power is infused with Grace. This Divine Grace exists in you too. This is electromagnetic energy. Grace is able to instill love in so many people.     

By being an example to people, I have been able to inspire them into revering everyone as God.

But you find it difficult to accept me as God, as the son of God, Siddha Purusha, or even a guru.

At present, the only term you seem to understand is ‘social service’. Baba runs a hospital, a school, has so many free socio-economic-cultural courses; so he is doing social service! This is the role you understand me in. I know I am God. But for your understanding, I render social service: free medical services, help poor people get married and so on. People assume these are the main activities of a Mahaan.

A true Mahaan can accomplish anything by his very thought, his sankalpa. By my very touch, I have cured so many people of cancer. I can quote thousand such incidents. People started asking, ‘If he can cure with his touch, where is the need of hospitals?’ This is the problem with society. It tries to find fault in every good thing that you do. And if you do not do good, they will find fault with that too.

They say, ‘Sathya Sai materializes vibuthi (holy ash). Is this not wrong?’ Try telling them, ‘Go to Paramacharya then. He does not perform any such miracles’. They allege caste distinction there. Society has something negative to say of everyone. Basically people do not have a need for any saint. They need a reason to hide this fact. They seek reasons to squander away their lives. When one starts finding excuses for every single action that is the end of life.

That’s why I decided to wait for the right time. If I start speaking on the lines of Jesus, society will try to crucify me. Jesus meant well. But he spoke much before the time. He said, ‘I will demolish and reconstruct in three days time’. He meant his physical form. People thought, ‘How many years it took for us to build this synagogue strong and firm. How dare he talk of demolishing it!’ and crucified him.

Initially I did speak the language of Jesus. But watching the trend, I became cautious. I must not become another Jesus. Society may build a church or a temple for me later. But whom does that benefit? There was no one to offer Shirdi Baba oil for his lamp. But much after his time, society built several temples in his name. People stoned Prophet Mohammed; they tried to poison Buddha. They humiliated Vallalar who cried out, ‘I spread my treasures, but there were no takers’. History records that the world never made use of Mahaans.

I am not prepared to go the same path. So I have a strategy for myself, bending when the wave sweeps in and standing up after it recedes.

The time is not yet ripe for me to accomplish the task I have come for. Till then, I play along the way of the society; it understands concern for studies, health, economic independence; I created avenues for these and people have started talking good of me! I am now totally non-controversial. People say, ‘Baba is a good person. He is doing so much good for society’. Long ago, I gave a quotation, ‘I have not come to grind stones; I am a sculptor all set to chisel divine statues’. I promised to help people realize the Divine. Unfortunately for people, they are not interested in this. They want to get shaped into grinding stones; what can I do?

I came to speak of inner (Cosmic) transformation; society is interested in only cosmetic changes. These are two languages vastly different from each other.

What people seek of me, they assume is spirituality: promotion/increment, owning a house, getting married, having an affectionate family and so on. This is their ambition. They do not know beyond that. They seek the external world. I want to give them the inner world, the world of Light. These are two different things. It is a waste of time trying to give you internal transformation till you have mellowed and are ready for it.

A rat came running to a saint asking for protection from a cat chasing it. The saint turned it into a cat, then into a dog, and then a tiger to protect it from those animals. Then the rat-tiger came running again saying it was scared of the eagle. The saint realized that though he had changed the rat gradually into a tiger, its basic instinct remained that of a rat only. That is why it was afraid of the eagle.

Similarly, a person comes to me seeking material benefits. I grant him that. Then he will ask for something else. And this goes on. There is a succession of wants from marriage to affection between spouses, progeny, children’s education, vehicle and house, and so on. I want to grant you an inner transformation - help you realize that you are the tiger. But as long as you are a rat at heart, what you had undergone is an external change only.

Since the time is not yet ripe to effect this inner transformation in aspirants, Siva Shankar Baba has changed his methodology. I do not call myself a reformer even. The country is not yet ready for reformation. The very people for whom you start a revolution process will forsake you if they face a problem.

So, though I am God, I am saying I am not God. Though I can call myself a God man; I am saying I am not a God man. I may be a revolutionary, but society is not prepared to stand by me.

So I am doing social service; the language that society understands. This is my role as of today.

Some day, people will understand Siva Shankar Baba’s divinity, the social transformation that will result from It, which I have come to achieve. There need not be any doubt about that. In the near future, the entire world will acknowledge my state. I am all set to be a phenomenon in World History.

But what is the use if I speak of it now? Take note of these words I have spoken. When the time comes, you will realize that every word of mine is true. I know every step of mine. The result of my every step is already in my vision.

Take this example. We started spiritual service in a small place in Mannady. Then we moved to Besant Nagar, from there to Neelankarai. Now we have moved to thirty-two acres in Kelambakkam. (these are places in Chennai)

I am growing. I faced so many hurdles. Did anything affect me? Neelankarai premises were burnt to ashes; I renovated it in just ten days time! As I mentioned in a TV interview, ‘Vali acquired half the power of his opponent. I gain the full power of anyone who opposes me’

My spiritual prowess will be recorded in world history; I do not live for myself. In fact, meditation, penance is more to my liking. Left to myself, I will wander off to a forest and do meditation somewhere in a cave, by a stream. I will not feel hunger. My interest is meditating on God. But God is not letting me go. He likes my commitment to work and so gets me working twenty hours a day. And even then, I go about my task with a smiling face. Even if I have to retire to the forest, it is God who takes care of me. So how can I refuse any task He gives me? (Laughs)

It is He who granted me this Divine Bliss. So I have to do that which pleases Him. If I go away in the quest of something of my choice, He will take away this Divine bliss from me. So though I am put off by the fact that society is not yet ripe to realize this divinity within; the reason why I am doing this service to the presently thankless society is because God wills so.

Though at a human level I am not enamoured of this work,

I am in the service of society because God bade me accomplish this task.  

Baba'a replies for other questions continue next week....

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