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152 SPIRIT AND THE MIND
Upanishads4 exhort you to march on to this goal. They address you as “children of immortality.” Try to deserve that honor, to achieve that height. Learn to use all your skills, all your intelligence, all your time for attaining that victory. You are Gods in human form, for only Gods can be immortal. You are embodiments of the divine atma. Do not degrade your life in low pursuits. Spend it in sacred thought, loving service, selfless acts and sweet words of solace.
(Sathya Sai Baba)
Baba had allowed me to experience a moment of marvelous peace. But now, back into the world for me—back into a drama with my fellow psychiatrists. Planning to leave for New Delhi on the noon plane, I was coming to Baba with hopes of receiving his blessings one last time before takeoff.
As I thought of what lay ahead, I became a bit uneasy. Why this impulse to share my experience of Baba with colleagues, I wondered. It certainly would be hard for them to swallow. Why subject myself to having to explain—perhaps to lose composure and defend or, even worse, to sell? How distasteful to become a traveling salesman for spirituality, developing a slick sales pitch for God. So why undertake such a trip?
Finish what you started, Sam, I said to myself and took solace in knowing that Baba would have mercy if somewhere in all this jumble of motives and antics there was a small genuine impulse to bring happiness and share joy. A prayer rose from my lips: “Baba, sustain me with your sweet strength; keep me close, help me remain the detached witness, protected from the coils of the drama.”
The taxi stopped, awaiting the passing of a rickety, weathered red train, rushing by with a loud clanking. Shifting attention from the blur of wood and wheels, my eyes fell to the side of the road, onto the smiling face of an earthy Indian woman who was holding out garlands of freshly cut flowers for sale. I would offer flowers to Baba.
Does the key exist in the outer world or in the inner? So long as man embroils himself in the “seen,” he cannot see the “see-er.” So long as his attention is caught by the flowers in the garland, he cannot recognize the string that holds them together. Inquiry is essential to discover the base which upholds the garland. So too, inquiry alone can bring into human experience the atmic base which upholds the objective sensory world.
(Sathya Sai Baba)


































































































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