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Best way to visit Sathya Sai Baba
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Some call it destiny, some providence, some God;
names do not matter.
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba
Namaskaar Jitendra Kavathekar
I understand you wish to visit and meet Sri Sathya Sai Baba. For the
past several decades I have visited him often, and will gladly provide
you with details of my experiences. If you will be specific in your
questions, that will help me compose an appropriate reply.
To confirm spiritual reality, the aspirant needs must be critical,
discerning, alert, sincere. Swami urges all such aspirants to voice
their doubts directly to him, and to query him with the utmost
seriousness and precision. He does not want blind faith, nor
subservient vassals, and frankly tends to deal with the insincere and
the gullible rather more directly than they expect. If one is
diligent, one gets his attention- though not always in the way one
wants, or expects. By that I mean that he teaches each person
individually: there is no `standard technique' (except one) which is
given or applied to one and all. The one practice he does prescribe
for all aspirants is to love all, serve all, and the one application he
invokes with all guests is the utility of patience and love.
During October/November he is usually in Puttaparthi, outside of
Bangalore. There are many festivals around him in those months, and
the ashram may include 5,000 people one day, and then have a population
of one and half million persons the next day. That can be extremely
unsettling for first-time visitors. It can also be exhilarating.
I often go in those months.
In terms of logistics, there are low cost flights available for
devotees and visitors: one travel agent in my area who offers discounts
to bhakthas is Rakesh Kapoor at 310.402.7597. (He handles bookings for
many groups, including ISKCON, Sai Bhakthas, Krishnamurthi, MMY, and
many others). Currently the fare from LA to Parthi RT is $1150, or
from LA to Bombay the cost is $950. There are many hotels near the
ashram, from hovels to two stars, but Swami suggests all visitors stay
only in the ashram, not outside. He suggests devotees do not even
visit shops outside. However, many do not only shop outside, eat
outside, but also stay outside, since the ashram is not a luxury hotel,
and visiting him sometimes involves no little physical discomfort.
There are some who make the effort to see him, and then quit when they
find it just not convenient to sleep on the floor or stand in queues or
get up at 3 am.
People go to see him for various reasons, and many go to see a miracle,
or to test themselves, or to expose him as a fraud. Those who leave
their egos at the gate may find miracles without end inside. After you
have seen a few dozen materializations under your nose, or spoken to
him privately, or found that what you request mentally does then happen
physically, most visitors express more interest in his teaching than in
miracles. That is what is most unique about Sathya Sai Baba: the way he
teaches.
Swami has a way of using miracles to illustrate spiritual lessons, in
that he arranges specific experiences for each devotee. At first, one
finds it easier to be in his presence and confirm that is happening.
After communion is established, one can live anywhere, since he
confirms his presence when necessary.
By that I mean that many devotees experience remarkable miracles in
their own lives, frequently far from the physical presence of Sathya
Sai Baba, and so do not go to see him for further `proof' or even for
further lessons, nor for a graduation certificate. He teaches quite
effectively here as well as there, although seeing him, and being in
his presence, is always refreshing, ever enlightening.
Further discussion regarding the person and teaching of Sri Sathya Sai
Baba is maintained in a thread in the newsgroup soc.culture.indian.
Look for
SANDEHA NIVARINI SATHYA SAI BABA DISSOLVING DOUBTS.
There is also an online satsangh for devotees, and if any feel that
phrase describes them, please advise via email.
All best wishes
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