DIVINE RESPONSE TO Madhusudan’s followers
WHO HAVE BEEN BOASTING ABOUT HOW MUCH SERVICE THEY DO,
CLAIMING THAT SWAMI’S ORGANISATION IS DOING NOTHING
AND HIS SERVICE PROJECTS ARE FAILING
CLAIMING THAT SWAMI’S ORGANISATION IS DOING NOTHING
AND HIS SERVICE PROJECTS ARE FAILING
Sathya Sai Baba on those who solicit donations for service
Madhusudan's followers boast of their service activities and point to them as proof of Swami's presence in an invisible 'subtle form.' Yet all of their service activities are carried out by soliciting donations, either from individuals or from companies as we have seen done in Fiji.
They claim that 'Swami' approves of this, however Swami explicitly forbade His devotees from soliciting donations several times in His life, telling them that it would bring spiritual loss, rather than spiritual gain:
And even before your bhakthi ripens, you strive to lead others, you collect donations and subscriptions and plan mandhirs and sanghams; all this is mere show, which brings spiritual loss, rather than spiritual gain. When you start publicity you descend to the level of those who compete in collecting clientele, decrying others and extolling themselves.
Where money is calculated and garnered, and exhibited to demonstrate one's achievements, I will not be present. I come only where sincerity, faith and surrender are valued.
SSS 4.35: 15 October 1964, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume04/sss04-35.pdf
I have not stretched My hand before anyone till date for any kind of help. If there is anyone in this vast concourse of devotees in this hall whom I had approached for money, they may rise and point out to Me. There is none, surely. Whatever I need in My Avataric Mission comes from within only.
SSS 41.18: 23 November 2008, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume41/sss41-18.pdf
My dear fellow, listen to Me, don’t cast your looks upon the guru who inflicts pressure on a disciple to extract money. Keep as far away as possible from such people; don’t lose faith by contact with them. Preserve faith and develop it, all by yourself.
Sandeha Nivarini, pp. 124-125, http://sssbpt.info/vahinis/Sandeha/Sandeha15.pdf
Beware of some who use My Name for collecting money and for activities that tarnish their claim to be devotees. Do not believe such; where money is asked and offered, I have no place.
SSS 5.32: 23 May 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-32.pdf
The Sathya Sai Organisation and its units must not collect money or material from those outside the membership. Fund collection is as much opposed to this movement as fire is to water. If you yield on this point, spiritual advance will perish. Let only members contribute. Do not ask all and sundry or anyone who is not a member of the samiti (centre).
SSS 11.24: 14 May 1971, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume11/sss11-24.pdf
We can see for ourselves that this is a tactic which Swami consistently condemned in strong terms. However the evidence of his behaviour shows that it is certainly a tactic which Madhusudan Naidu approves of. So what did Swami Himself say about Madhusudan's tactics?
Seeking to mobilise and collect funds for building temples or other service activities is a despicable act which must never be encouraged in our Organisation. I have often been cautioning you to keep the Organisation away from wealth and money. Instead, we should focus on associating ourselves with good ethics and behaviour. It is unfortunate that some in the Organisation are discounting this caution and resorting to collection of money, thus opening themselves to the sins of connections and relationships. There are others who falsely claim that Swami has blessed them with special powers and thus collect money. There is nothing more demonic in quality than this kind of behaviour. You have all observed that for all these years I have never interfered with the activities of any person or persons. However, these people are using Sai’s name to indulge in such shameful acts and thus defaming the name of Sai. They have converted the sacred purpose of the Organisation into a business.
In retrospect, it is indeed a business—but what kind of business? It is a business where only love has to be given and taken in return! It is sad to note that despite My repeated counselling some in the Organisation defile this sanctity, accumulate wealth in the name of the Organisation and show favouritism by helping some and putting down others. Such behaviour is not expected. It is not that our Organisation is filled with poor people—there are several rich people as well. Would it not be better for such people to volunteer and come forward from within the Organisation itself to contribute for the service activity instead of mobilizing funds from others? Why should these rich people in the Organisation resort to the disgraceful act of begging for funds? Are they not satisfied with what they have? Do not indulge in such perverse ways to make money. It will only bring the Sathya Sai Organisations a bad name. My message to you all is this—do not bring a bad name to the Sathya Sai Organisation. Apart from this, I am not involved with the Organisations in any way. To Me every-one is a devotee and all can join the Organisation.
Divine Discourse 21 November 1988, p.73, http://sssbpt.info/collections/StudyGuide-SelflessService.pdf
Baba said in this discourse that some were claiming special powers. What did He mean by this?
Below is a more comprehensive translation of this section of the discourse, along with a link where we can listen to Swami saying that these people claim that Swami has possessed them, speaks through them and has given power to them. This is exactly what Madhusudan now claims, yet here we see that Swami Himself condemned those who make these claims:
In the name of Swami, there are some people who collect money saying that Swami has possessed them, speaks through them and that He has given power to them. There cannot be more demonic acts than this. Neither I enter anybody nor do I tell anyone to act on behalf of me.
Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba, 21 November 1988, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92-ik63udUY
We can see for ourselves here that Sathya Sai Baba completely condemned the collection of money in His name, in the strongest possible terms.
Madhusudan has been acting as a mental medium for the whole duration of this farce, despite his protests that he is not a medium, but a communicator. This protest and the label 'communicator' is just another tactic to manipulate people into following him. This tactic is designed to get around the fact that Baba said in clear and unmistakable terms that He will never speak through a medium.
But for those who have faith in the real Sathya Sai, we do not need any intermediary, medium or self-proclaimed 'communicators.' Baba's words on using His name to collect funds were clear and indisputable:
Yet this is what Muddenahalli has done.
All acts of service are not equally sanctifying or uniform in the benefits they confer. When service is undertaken by power-hungry people, or under compulsion or by imitative urges, it results in more harm than good. Self-aggrandizement or competition or ostentation are motives that will pollute the sacred Sadhana of Service. The candidate for this Sadhana has to avoid Ahamkara (egotism), Adambara (exhibitionism) and Abhimana (favouritism).
SSS 19.25: 21 November 1986, http://sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume19/sss19-25.pdf
Our attitude during a service activity determines whether or not the service helps us grow spiritually. Service performed with a sense of pride or superiority may help the person we are serving, but it does not help us. Do not pollute your service with the poison of pride.
SSS 11.10: 21 February 1971, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume11/sss11-10.pdf
Since their service is polluted by pride and exhibitionism, it is not pure and selfless. Swami says such service is just empty boasting:
The worship of jeeva (individual being), which is the other name for seva can be worthwhile only when the heart is pure. All the various types of service that one may write and talk about are mere empty, boasts if the mind of the sevak (volunteer) is not pure. A heart bubbling with ananda and a mind saturated with love may do any tiny bit of seva, yet that will win much more Grace than huge projects undertaken in pride and pomp.
SSS 14.13: 22 November 1978 http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-13.pdf
What do Madhusudan's followers hope to gain from following him, advertising their service activities and boasting about how much service they do? Liberation? Madhusudan himself says that they will be bound to reincarnate with him again and again.
This may be one of the very few truthful statements Madhusudan has made. Why?
Because he tells them that they are the chosen ones and thus boosts their egos.
He tells them that other devotees who don't believe in him are like primary school children - and thus boosts their egos further.
He tells them that only they will know the full truth about Sathya Sai Baba, while those who don't believe in him will only know half the truth.
This contradicts what Swami Himself said - that even if the whole world tried for a thousand years they would never truly be able to comprehend him. Poor Swami, if only He had known that Madhusudan could make this possible. Thus, Madhusudan again makes a liar of Swami and boosts his follower's egos even further, all with one economical lie.
Madhusudan also tells his followers that they are the ones running the mission of Sathya Sai Baba and making it happen. Thus he continues to boost their egos, while binding them tighter and tighter to the egoistic idea of doership:
When the mind … identifies itself with the physical body, assuming the doership for various activities, it goes by the name of ahamkara (ego).
SSIB 1990.6: 24 May 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/summershowers/ss1990/ss1990-06.pdf
Because of his identification with his body, man is being helplessly tossed hither and thither in various ways by his ego. “I am doing this; I am enjoying that; I have conquered this” thus saying to himself, man is lending strength day by day, to his sense of doership (kartritvabhava). Students! Remember that success and failure do not depend on your efforts or sadhana and such other activities. You are simply inflating your ego (ahamkara), by deluding yourself that you have been able to achieve things by your own effort.
SSIB 1990.11: 29 May 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/summershowers/ss1990/ss1990-11.pdf
The selfless service taught by Sathya Sai Baba is performed with a pure heart, seeing the person being served, as God. It is quintessentially selfless - which means it seeks no reward. It is not advertised to the world at large by every means, it is done silently with no expectation of getting something in return.
The example set by Madhusudan and his followers has been to undertake service activities which imitate those of Sathya Sai Baba, under the instruction of power hungry men who seek to compete with the service done by the Sai Organisations, then advertise that service in a dazzling display of self-aggrandisement. Yet, as we saw above, Swami said that this kind of behaviour pollutes the sacred sadhana of service.
The teachings of Sathya Sai Baba tell His followers that they are all part of the one Divinity, that they should not discriminate against anyone on the base of race, religion or creed as all are one. He taught that all are one. That we should love all and serve all and that love will allow us to see the same Divinity in every being and thus merge in Him through love. His teachings lead to liberation.
The teachings of Madhusudan Naidu tell his followers that they are better than other devotees, that they are special, higher and purer, the chosen few. They are told that they are right and those who don't believe in Madhusudan are wrong - mere primary school children, who are not pure enough to see that his claims, which contradict Swami's teachings, are actually true. This is base flattery, which builds up their sense of separation from other Sai devotees, so that Madhusudan can seduce them away from Baba to join his organisation. It also builds up their spiritual pride, which Swami said is a poison and the hardest of all to escape from.
At the same time, these teachings build up their egos.
Madhusudan tells them that they are the ones making the mission of the Avatar progress, even though that Avatar said that He needs no help from us to complete His mission. He tells them that what they have seen happening through his organisation is their glory, not the glory of Sai. He tells them that the Grace of God is useless without human effort. That if it were not for the donations of rich men, Swami's mission would have ended long, long ago.
This builds up their sense of doership, something which Swami described as a delusion, a matter of being confused and an obstacle on the path to liberation.
Even if the person joining such service projects has good intentions, they will still be polluted by the intentions of the people who initiated the project, as Dr Samuel Sandweiss has pointed out:
People describe the MDH experience of singing bhajans together, participating in service projects, building new buildings — as uplifting. But if we take a step back for a broader view we see that what is actually happening at a fundamental level is the splitting of our organization. Why doesn’t the MDH group promote the already established Sai Centers or Super Specialty Hospitals — why their effort to make an alternate organization?
Letter from Dr Samuel Sandweiss, 21 June 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/notes/path-of-transformation/splitting-is-serious/1415902621850826/
Their promotion is also a form of serious mind influence — as our choice of thoughts leads to bondage or liberation. We enter into the thoughts and visions of our choice — and attain their qualities. Swami has come to us in a pure form — and “changing” it, even to what seems to hold high value for many, carries significant consequences. Let us deeply consider that by participating in the splitting we are actually subtly imbibing desires or attachments of the core organizers.
Letter from Dr Samuel Sandweiss, 21 June 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/notes/path-of-transformation/splitting-is-serious/1415902621850826/
The selfless service taught by Sathya Sai Baba is the same as the ancient path of karma yoga taught in the Bhagavad Gita. That path of selfless service has been followed by millions, for thousands of years. It purifies the heart, removes the ego, gets rid of the delusion of doership and reveals that there is no doer, nothing being done and no other being other than the one God who has assumed the form of this universe. Thus, His teachings lead us to liberation.
To whom will we listen? Who will we choose to place our faith in? Sathya Sai Baba, whose words we can verify and even listen to? Or a person who claims that Sathya Sai Baba speaks through him - a claim which Baba vehemently denied He would ever do, on multiple occasions. A person who oversees the advertising and publicising of every service activity done by his followers - something which Sathya Sai Baba said was the opposite of the selfless service He taught.
One of these is the Avatar of the Age. The other is a human being. What did Swami say about trusting men?
Love everyone. But don't trust men. Anybody who trusts men will be ruined. Love them. But don't trust. Then, what is the problem of trusting people? When we have faith in people, we get cheated. Love all, Serve all. But don't believe them.
Translation of Sathya Sai Baba's discourse on 6 May 2002 by Mr B. N. Narasimhamurthy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv47mHMiqOs
Consider carefully whom you believe. That choice is the most crucial you will ever make. According to Swami's teachings, it determines whether you will ascend into the bliss of His Presence and merge in Him, or descend into the darkness of delusion and miss your opportunity to merge.
Sai Ram
They claim that 'Swami' approves of this, however Swami explicitly forbade His devotees from soliciting donations several times in His life, telling them that it would bring spiritual loss, rather than spiritual gain:
And even before your bhakthi ripens, you strive to lead others, you collect donations and subscriptions and plan mandhirs and sanghams; all this is mere show, which brings spiritual loss, rather than spiritual gain. When you start publicity you descend to the level of those who compete in collecting clientele, decrying others and extolling themselves.
Where money is calculated and garnered, and exhibited to demonstrate one's achievements, I will not be present. I come only where sincerity, faith and surrender are valued.
SSS 4.35: 15 October 1964, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume04/sss04-35.pdf
I have not stretched My hand before anyone till date for any kind of help. If there is anyone in this vast concourse of devotees in this hall whom I had approached for money, they may rise and point out to Me. There is none, surely. Whatever I need in My Avataric Mission comes from within only.
SSS 41.18: 23 November 2008, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume41/sss41-18.pdf
My dear fellow, listen to Me, don’t cast your looks upon the guru who inflicts pressure on a disciple to extract money. Keep as far away as possible from such people; don’t lose faith by contact with them. Preserve faith and develop it, all by yourself.
Sandeha Nivarini, pp. 124-125, http://sssbpt.info/vahinis/Sandeha/Sandeha15.pdf
Beware of some who use My Name for collecting money and for activities that tarnish their claim to be devotees. Do not believe such; where money is asked and offered, I have no place.
SSS 5.32: 23 May 1965, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume05/sss05-32.pdf
The Sathya Sai Organisation and its units must not collect money or material from those outside the membership. Fund collection is as much opposed to this movement as fire is to water. If you yield on this point, spiritual advance will perish. Let only members contribute. Do not ask all and sundry or anyone who is not a member of the samiti (centre).
SSS 11.24: 14 May 1971, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume11/sss11-24.pdf
We can see for ourselves that this is a tactic which Swami consistently condemned in strong terms. However the evidence of his behaviour shows that it is certainly a tactic which Madhusudan Naidu approves of. So what did Swami Himself say about Madhusudan's tactics?
Seeking to mobilise and collect funds for building temples or other service activities is a despicable act which must never be encouraged in our Organisation. I have often been cautioning you to keep the Organisation away from wealth and money. Instead, we should focus on associating ourselves with good ethics and behaviour. It is unfortunate that some in the Organisation are discounting this caution and resorting to collection of money, thus opening themselves to the sins of connections and relationships. There are others who falsely claim that Swami has blessed them with special powers and thus collect money. There is nothing more demonic in quality than this kind of behaviour. You have all observed that for all these years I have never interfered with the activities of any person or persons. However, these people are using Sai’s name to indulge in such shameful acts and thus defaming the name of Sai. They have converted the sacred purpose of the Organisation into a business.
In retrospect, it is indeed a business—but what kind of business? It is a business where only love has to be given and taken in return! It is sad to note that despite My repeated counselling some in the Organisation defile this sanctity, accumulate wealth in the name of the Organisation and show favouritism by helping some and putting down others. Such behaviour is not expected. It is not that our Organisation is filled with poor people—there are several rich people as well. Would it not be better for such people to volunteer and come forward from within the Organisation itself to contribute for the service activity instead of mobilizing funds from others? Why should these rich people in the Organisation resort to the disgraceful act of begging for funds? Are they not satisfied with what they have? Do not indulge in such perverse ways to make money. It will only bring the Sathya Sai Organisations a bad name. My message to you all is this—do not bring a bad name to the Sathya Sai Organisation. Apart from this, I am not involved with the Organisations in any way. To Me every-one is a devotee and all can join the Organisation.
Divine Discourse 21 November 1988, p.73, http://sssbpt.info/collections/StudyGuide-SelflessService.pdf
Baba said in this discourse that some were claiming special powers. What did He mean by this?
Below is a more comprehensive translation of this section of the discourse, along with a link where we can listen to Swami saying that these people claim that Swami has possessed them, speaks through them and has given power to them. This is exactly what Madhusudan now claims, yet here we see that Swami Himself condemned those who make these claims:
In the name of Swami, there are some people who collect money saying that Swami has possessed them, speaks through them and that He has given power to them. There cannot be more demonic acts than this. Neither I enter anybody nor do I tell anyone to act on behalf of me.
Discourse by Sathya Sai Baba, 21 November 1988, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92-ik63udUY
We can see for ourselves here that Sathya Sai Baba completely condemned the collection of money in His name, in the strongest possible terms.
Madhusudan has been acting as a mental medium for the whole duration of this farce, despite his protests that he is not a medium, but a communicator. This protest and the label 'communicator' is just another tactic to manipulate people into following him. This tactic is designed to get around the fact that Baba said in clear and unmistakable terms that He will never speak through a medium.
But for those who have faith in the real Sathya Sai, we do not need any intermediary, medium or self-proclaimed 'communicators.' Baba's words on using His name to collect funds were clear and indisputable:
- He described it as 'a despicable act which must never be encouraged in our Organisation.'
- He said that, despite His warning, some were ignoring His words and 'resorting to collection of money, thus opening themselves to the sins of connections and relationships.'
- He said that there was nothing more demonic than collecting money in His name.
- He described those who do this as indulging in 'shameful acts' which defame the name of Sai.
- He said that those who do this, as Madhusudan and the followers of his Muddenahalli based organisation do, 'have converted the sacred purpose of the Organisation into a business.'
- Baba said that those who ignore His instructions 'defile the sanctity' of the Sai Organisation's purpose.
- He described the use of His name as a 'disgraceful act of begging for funds' and a 'perverse way to make money.'
- Baba also said that it would bring a bad name to His organisations and concluded by appealing to all who claim to be His devotees "My message to you all is this—do not bring a bad name to the Sathya Sai Organisation."
Yet this is what Muddenahalli has done.
- When they claim that Swami now uses a medium to communicate with His devotees, they also make of Him a liar, because He said that He would never do this.
- When they attempt to wheedle out of the medium controversy by claiming that Madhusudan is a 'communicator,' they make Baba appear like a criminal citing a technicality in an attempt to avoid conviction for perjury.
- When they claim that an invisible version of Sathya Sai Baba is now telling them through a medium (which Swami said He would never use) that they should form trusts and organisations and solicit donations, they again make of Him a liar, since He said that He would never do this.
- When they use donations gathered through this deceit, against the clear instructions of their own guru, they pollute not only themselves, but the very service activities they attempt to undertake.
- When they boast about the relatively small amount of service which has been done by their organisation, they pollute themselves and the service they are doing further, with the poison of pride.
- When Muddenahalli advertise these service activities, as they do through the media, their websites, their Facebook pages, YouTube, their publications, etc, they pollute the sacred sadhana of selfless service itself, as Baba said:
All acts of service are not equally sanctifying or uniform in the benefits they confer. When service is undertaken by power-hungry people, or under compulsion or by imitative urges, it results in more harm than good. Self-aggrandizement or competition or ostentation are motives that will pollute the sacred Sadhana of Service. The candidate for this Sadhana has to avoid Ahamkara (egotism), Adambara (exhibitionism) and Abhimana (favouritism).
SSS 19.25: 21 November 1986, http://sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume19/sss19-25.pdf
Our attitude during a service activity determines whether or not the service helps us grow spiritually. Service performed with a sense of pride or superiority may help the person we are serving, but it does not help us. Do not pollute your service with the poison of pride.
SSS 11.10: 21 February 1971, http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume11/sss11-10.pdf
Since their service is polluted by pride and exhibitionism, it is not pure and selfless. Swami says such service is just empty boasting:
The worship of jeeva (individual being), which is the other name for seva can be worthwhile only when the heart is pure. All the various types of service that one may write and talk about are mere empty, boasts if the mind of the sevak (volunteer) is not pure. A heart bubbling with ananda and a mind saturated with love may do any tiny bit of seva, yet that will win much more Grace than huge projects undertaken in pride and pomp.
SSS 14.13: 22 November 1978 http://www.sssbpt.info/ssspeaks/volume14/sss14-13.pdf
What do Madhusudan's followers hope to gain from following him, advertising their service activities and boasting about how much service they do? Liberation? Madhusudan himself says that they will be bound to reincarnate with him again and again.
This may be one of the very few truthful statements Madhusudan has made. Why?
Because he tells them that they are the chosen ones and thus boosts their egos.
He tells them that other devotees who don't believe in him are like primary school children - and thus boosts their egos further.
He tells them that only they will know the full truth about Sathya Sai Baba, while those who don't believe in him will only know half the truth.
This contradicts what Swami Himself said - that even if the whole world tried for a thousand years they would never truly be able to comprehend him. Poor Swami, if only He had known that Madhusudan could make this possible. Thus, Madhusudan again makes a liar of Swami and boosts his follower's egos even further, all with one economical lie.
Madhusudan also tells his followers that they are the ones running the mission of Sathya Sai Baba and making it happen. Thus he continues to boost their egos, while binding them tighter and tighter to the egoistic idea of doership:
When the mind … identifies itself with the physical body, assuming the doership for various activities, it goes by the name of ahamkara (ego).
SSIB 1990.6: 24 May 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/summershowers/ss1990/ss1990-06.pdf
Because of his identification with his body, man is being helplessly tossed hither and thither in various ways by his ego. “I am doing this; I am enjoying that; I have conquered this” thus saying to himself, man is lending strength day by day, to his sense of doership (kartritvabhava). Students! Remember that success and failure do not depend on your efforts or sadhana and such other activities. You are simply inflating your ego (ahamkara), by deluding yourself that you have been able to achieve things by your own effort.
SSIB 1990.11: 29 May 1990, http://www.sssbpt.info/summershowers/ss1990/ss1990-11.pdf
The selfless service taught by Sathya Sai Baba is performed with a pure heart, seeing the person being served, as God. It is quintessentially selfless - which means it seeks no reward. It is not advertised to the world at large by every means, it is done silently with no expectation of getting something in return.
The example set by Madhusudan and his followers has been to undertake service activities which imitate those of Sathya Sai Baba, under the instruction of power hungry men who seek to compete with the service done by the Sai Organisations, then advertise that service in a dazzling display of self-aggrandisement. Yet, as we saw above, Swami said that this kind of behaviour pollutes the sacred sadhana of service.
The teachings of Sathya Sai Baba tell His followers that they are all part of the one Divinity, that they should not discriminate against anyone on the base of race, religion or creed as all are one. He taught that all are one. That we should love all and serve all and that love will allow us to see the same Divinity in every being and thus merge in Him through love. His teachings lead to liberation.
The teachings of Madhusudan Naidu tell his followers that they are better than other devotees, that they are special, higher and purer, the chosen few. They are told that they are right and those who don't believe in Madhusudan are wrong - mere primary school children, who are not pure enough to see that his claims, which contradict Swami's teachings, are actually true. This is base flattery, which builds up their sense of separation from other Sai devotees, so that Madhusudan can seduce them away from Baba to join his organisation. It also builds up their spiritual pride, which Swami said is a poison and the hardest of all to escape from.
At the same time, these teachings build up their egos.
Madhusudan tells them that they are the ones making the mission of the Avatar progress, even though that Avatar said that He needs no help from us to complete His mission. He tells them that what they have seen happening through his organisation is their glory, not the glory of Sai. He tells them that the Grace of God is useless without human effort. That if it were not for the donations of rich men, Swami's mission would have ended long, long ago.
This builds up their sense of doership, something which Swami described as a delusion, a matter of being confused and an obstacle on the path to liberation.
Even if the person joining such service projects has good intentions, they will still be polluted by the intentions of the people who initiated the project, as Dr Samuel Sandweiss has pointed out:
People describe the MDH experience of singing bhajans together, participating in service projects, building new buildings — as uplifting. But if we take a step back for a broader view we see that what is actually happening at a fundamental level is the splitting of our organization. Why doesn’t the MDH group promote the already established Sai Centers or Super Specialty Hospitals — why their effort to make an alternate organization?
Letter from Dr Samuel Sandweiss, 21 June 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/notes/path-of-transformation/splitting-is-serious/1415902621850826/
Their promotion is also a form of serious mind influence — as our choice of thoughts leads to bondage or liberation. We enter into the thoughts and visions of our choice — and attain their qualities. Swami has come to us in a pure form — and “changing” it, even to what seems to hold high value for many, carries significant consequences. Let us deeply consider that by participating in the splitting we are actually subtly imbibing desires or attachments of the core organizers.
Letter from Dr Samuel Sandweiss, 21 June 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/notes/path-of-transformation/splitting-is-serious/1415902621850826/
The selfless service taught by Sathya Sai Baba is the same as the ancient path of karma yoga taught in the Bhagavad Gita. That path of selfless service has been followed by millions, for thousands of years. It purifies the heart, removes the ego, gets rid of the delusion of doership and reveals that there is no doer, nothing being done and no other being other than the one God who has assumed the form of this universe. Thus, His teachings lead us to liberation.
To whom will we listen? Who will we choose to place our faith in? Sathya Sai Baba, whose words we can verify and even listen to? Or a person who claims that Sathya Sai Baba speaks through him - a claim which Baba vehemently denied He would ever do, on multiple occasions. A person who oversees the advertising and publicising of every service activity done by his followers - something which Sathya Sai Baba said was the opposite of the selfless service He taught.
One of these is the Avatar of the Age. The other is a human being. What did Swami say about trusting men?
Love everyone. But don't trust men. Anybody who trusts men will be ruined. Love them. But don't trust. Then, what is the problem of trusting people? When we have faith in people, we get cheated. Love all, Serve all. But don't believe them.
Translation of Sathya Sai Baba's discourse on 6 May 2002 by Mr B. N. Narasimhamurthy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv47mHMiqOs
Consider carefully whom you believe. That choice is the most crucial you will ever make. According to Swami's teachings, it determines whether you will ascend into the bliss of His Presence and merge in Him, or descend into the darkness of delusion and miss your opportunity to merge.
Sai Ram
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