The Question and Answer session at Tokyo

Date: 15 March, 2015
Venue: "Workpia YOKOHAMA" Rm."Yamayuri"

Devotee 1: I did not know anything about Muddenahalli, till very recently. Last week, at a nearby Sai Center, I questioned some officers regarding this issue. At first, they were saying that the movement around Muddenahalli has very evil intentions and no one should get involved. But after detailed inquiry, they admitted that, even though they personally feel that there is nothing wrong in what is happening in Muddenahalli, they were saying what they had been instructed to say from the above. So, will you please explain why there is this separation and conflict between Muddenahalli and Sathya Sai Central Trust or Sathya Sai Organization, so that those who are not well informed can understand?

Swami: Just to save time, I will directly speak in English. Do you all know the story of Mahabharatha? Mahabharatha is a story of two cousins. Pandavas were one type of cousins, and Kauravas were another type of cousins. The leader of Kauravas was Duryodhana, and the leader of Pandavas was Dharmaraja. One day, Krishna called both Duryodhana and Dharmaraja to His palace. Darmaraja will always follow the right path. How much ever difficult it might be, he will never give up righteousness.But because of his right ways he always remained poor. But he was not bothered, because he felt he had Krishna’s grace, which is the biggest wealth. But Duryodhana, even though he had a hundred brothers and a big kingdom, he was very greedy. He took away what belonged to Pandavas, and never returned it. Krishna called both of them and advised them. He told Duryodhana, “You know what is right, do that. Do not do what is wrong.” Duryodhana replied. “I know what is right, but I do not have the courage to follow. And I also know what is wrong, but I do not have the self-control to not follow wrong. Because I am a slave of my mind, even though I know what is right, I am not able to follow. I know what is wrong, but I am unable to restrain.”

Truly this conflict is not today, it is happening from olden days. Truly it is not a conflict between two cousins, or two brothers, or two organizations. It is the conflict between the mind and the heart. Those who follow the mind, they can never understand what the heart says. Those who follow the heart, they will never listen to the mind. God does not go with the mind. He goes for the heart.

Bhagawan lived for so many years in Puttaparthi. Nobody questioned why Puttaparthi? Why Bhagawan was not born in Japan? All the people who worked, and were close to Bhagawan, they never questioned what is their punnyam, that they were so close to Bhagawan. It was Swami’s wish, the way He wanted to perform His leelas. But today, why are they questioning what is happening now? You can paint flowers in a thousand ways, but if there is no nectar, no bees or butterflies will come. To the mind the flower look the same, it has color, it has shape, but to the heart, there is no nectar in it. Therefore, where there is heart, there is God. The difference between the two places is, one is thinking only from the mind, “How can Swami, who was resident of Puttaparthi, leave Puttaparthi and go, and be with somebody else?” But they cannot ask these questions, when they did not ask why Puttaparthi, in the first place. You all know, Buddha was born near Lumbini, but he travelled all around the world to spread Buddhism. Can the people there say, that he should stay here only and not go anywhere? Nobody owns God. God owns everybody. If I move from my drawing room to my bedroom, who are others to question? I find joy where there are living with their hearts. Too much mind is not good for spirituality.

The same ego was developed by the gopikas of Brindavan. They thought Krishna belonged to Brindavan, and belonged only to them. They were jealous of each other, if Krishna was speaking to anybody. They were all fighting that Krishna favors you and not favors me. Then to break their ego, He performed the Rasa Leela.He divided Himself into many, and performed the Rasa Leela dance with every gopika. By the banks of river Yamuna, on a full-moon night, when the leela was being performed, every gopika thought Krishna is dancing with her only. All were very happy and satisfied because Krishna was with them. In the morning, when the Rasa Leela ended, and all were going back, they were discussing. Everybody said Krishna danced with me only whole night. They forgot the joy that they had in the night and started fighting over this issue now. Therefore, if you want to fight, whether Krishna is with you, or Krishna is with everybody, you will continue to fight. They are not worried that Krishna is with us. They are worried why Krishna is with them also. Therefore if you want to be jealous, whatever God does, you will continue to be jealous.

Then what did Krishna do? He thought this is not the way to teach them.I will teach them a lesson, now. So He left Brindavan and went to Mathura. Now they were all sad, searching for Krishna everywhere. They stopped eating and sleeping, and they were all the time worrying about Krishna. Then, Radha told them, “Oh mad gopikas, you are only depending on the body of Krishna, not the real Krishna, who is within.” If Krishna played with me, you were angry. If He played with everybody, also you were angry. Now He had gone to Mathura, you are angry. If you depend on this Krishna outside, you will always be miserable. If you really believe in Krishna, you will find Him inside you. That is when all the fights will end.

Devotee 2: Swami, Thank you very much for coming to Japan. I’m filled with so much bliss and happiness. We really want to continue having this kind of Sathsang with Swami in your Subtle Body. We will be very grateful if you could give us advise, as to how to continue our Sathsang.

Swami: What is Sathsang? Sathsang is a Sanskrit work. Sath means truth. Sanga means company. The company of the Truth is real Sathsang. Heart alone is true. Mind is false. Because truth never changes. Truth is fearless. Truth is selfless. While talking all these things, it is good, but what I want you is to find Me within. You must meet together once in a while, do bhajans together once in a while, and discuss about Swami. If you sing with pure love and devotion, I will come again and again and be with you. My hand always goes this way (palm down) to give, only for love’s sake, I make my hand this way (palm up). Wherever you give me that pure love, selfless love, fearless love, truthful love, I will come there immediately. If you live your life like this, every moment becomes Sathsanga. If you follow Me, I will follow you. So, all of you together, meet once in a while, whether here or any other place, and talk about this truth and selflessness. Let us not listen too much to the mind. I will send every discourse that is given in Muddenahalli to Mr. Makino, and he will discuss it with you. My message is only one now. Enough we have talked, enough we have discussed. It is time to act. By looking at the picture of food, your stomach will not be filled. By talking about food, your stomach cannot be filled. Likewise, by looking at My picture, by talking about Me, you cannot learn spirituality. By living your life according to My teachings alone, you can find Me. If you follow in My foot steps, ultimately you will reach Me. Do you know what it requires? Pure, Selfless Love. Where there is Love, there is courage. Where there is courage, there is Dharma. Where there is Dharma, there is Sathya. Where there is Sathya, there is Sai. Where there is Sai, there is Anandam. Therefore here onwards, I will give you a new place to do bhajans, called Sathya Sai Anandam. All of you get together, remember this message, and continue doing this. Soon I will arrange for a bhajan place for all of you to come together, and sing bhajans, and discuss Swami’s teaching and also follow it.

Devotee 3: I have been waiting for this Sathsang. I am so happy to be here. I certainly feel Your presence. However, I really would like to see your orange robe, even for a moment. Will you please let me see your Subtle Body? When can I see you?

Swami: To see Me with the physical eyes is not possible. You will have to see Me, with the eyes of within. I am seen now through the eyes of wisdom. But to open that eye, you have to put efforts. It is no more primary school, when you have to just draw over my drawings. Those days are over. You have to put effort. What is the effort? Every trace of selfishness has to be removed. There is nothing like 50% selfless. Either you are selfless or you are not selfless. Therefore, definitely Swami is going to be visible and audible to everyone. But for that a little effort has to be put. That effort if you put, I will guarantee the result. Definitely it will happen, but you have to put this effort. Earlier to see Swami, you have to buy a plane ticket, take a visa, come to India, and then see. You are putting your efforts. Now, selfless Love is the ticket, selfless service is the visa. Then you can come and meet Me. It will also happen. Swami says, this lady was very very sick when she came to Puttaparthi. People thought, she is going to have cancer. She was praying to Me in Puttaparthi, Swami, please bless me that I go back healthy I have to look after the family. I did not come and talk to her or bless her. It is her faith that has cured her. It is your faith in My words, that will protect you.

Guru 50%, faith in guru 50%. Total 100%. It is not only in India. Japan also. Guru very important. Once you follow a guru, you have to follow completely. Many devotees follow me like they eat buffet lunch. What they like, they take, what they don’t like, they leave it. But all these are nutrients required for your growth. Like vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, like that, all My teachings are different nutrients. So whatever is served, you have to eat everything and not leave behind some. Everybody likes to eat sweets. Singing bhajans is like eating sweets. That is the simplest and the easiest work. But when I tell selfless service, that is like eating a bitter fruit. But that is also for your health. So, do not perform duties to me, based on your convenience. Whatever Swami says, every word, put faith in it and follow it. Then you can reach Me.

This xxxxx. He had lost all happiness in life. He thought he should end his life, there is no use of living any further. But just by reading a few lines from My speech, he got inspired and today he is sitting here and doing bhajans. You are God, You are God. I am God, you are also God. He believed in that sentence. If I am God, why should I think of such negative thoughts. I am pure, I am positive. Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavati, as you think, you become like that. Dust you think, dust you are. God you think, God you are. Fill your minds with positive thoughts, positive words, positive actions. Therefore, faith in guru’s words is very important.

I will tell you a story. Once a Japanese guru called a few disciples. He told them, go and get some water from the river. And what did he give them? He gave them baskets made of bamboo. Everybody thought “How can we get water in these baskets? It will leak.” So the disciples thought this guru is growing old, and he is going mad. He is asking us to do which is not possible. But there was one disciple, who believed in guru’s words. He said if guru had told, it has to be true. Then this disciple went to the river, and kept on trying to fill water with the basket. Once, twice, thrice, hundred times, water was leaking. Did not give up. It was sunset. Then slowly, the basket had swollen up, because of the moisture. All holes were sealed. Then it could hold water. He brought that water and offered to guru. This is not somebody else’s story. This is Makino’s story. You have to follow whatever guru says. However impossible it may look. Guru’s word will make it happen.

Do we still have time? O.K. one more question. That lady there.

Devotee 4: I am very grateful to have been given this chance of asking you this question to Bhagawan. Only Swami can answer this question. Swami, as you say, we are all God, and we are all one with you. But how is it that we develop attachments and ego, and keep coming back to earth again and again? Is this also part of your leela? Will you please explain?

Swami: Have you seen little children going for fancy dress? They will put on different make ups for a school competition. Somebody will put on the makeup of a monkey, somebody will put on the makeup of a bear, somebody will become a god, somebody will put on a makeup of Rama, Krishna. People are also like that,… It is fun for the children to dress up as different people. But sometimes they like their dress so much, that even after coming back home, they don’t want to remove the tail of a monkey. A child who got price for becoming a monkey, never wanted to remove the tail at all. He wants to wear that and go everywhere. That is how we also develop attachments to things. We forget the fact that it is only for the joy of God that we have dressed up as different beings. After the function is over, we have to remove our makeups. But like the children, we want to wear the makeup because we like it. So, five year child will do this. But when he grows up, he will realize that it is not correct and he would not wear it any more. In fact if somebody shows in his childhood photo, he will get very upset. That is how we have put on the makeup, Japan devotee, India devotee, America devotee, Canada devotee, but we are all ultimately divine beings. By teaching you selfless love and selfless service, I am removing this makeup from you. The paint on your face will go with water of Love and soap of selfless service. That is the whole leela. (02:44:49)

Devotee 5: I am so happy that I could attend this meeting today and feel Your presence, even though I was not sure if I should come here or not, till this morning. I have one question, which many people are struggling with also. You have said many times over that you never use intermediaries. But why are you using a mediator now?

Swami: How did you come to Swami? Did you get to know Swami all by yourself? Or you were told by someone, that there is Swami in Puttaparthi?

Devotee 5: Through a book.

Swami: All of you have found Swami by some way or the other, isn’t it? Somebody gave you a book, somebody spoke to you about Swami, and told there is Baba in Puttaparthi, go and see Him. Do you call them mediators? Why did you not question, then? Why Swami did not come directly and tell me to come to Puttaparthi? In fact, you went and thanked the people who told you about Swami, for having helped you find Swami. Therefore, this is also just the way to show, that Swami is within, open your third eye, you will be able to find Him everywhere. Unless your friend had gone and seen Baba in Puttaparthi, how could he have confidently come and told you about Him? Because he had experienced, with that confidence he told you, and you went. Likewise, this way, Swami is telling you through these people, that you can find Him inside, you can find Him inside. Put efforts. Now you don’t have to go anywhere. You can find Swami, wherever you are. That is what I told. “Ticket is selfless love, visa is selfless service.” Therefore, they are only coming to help you find Swami within you. The day you will find Swami, within you, around you, above you, below you, you will come and thank all of them. Unless I do something different, nobody believes. Now I am taking some children from primary school and giving them admission in the high school.

Devotee 6: While you were in the physical body, many Japanese devotees prayed to you to please visit Japan. But you came only now, in your Subtle Form. If there is a specific reason or significance, for why you have come at this time, will you please share it with us? Next question is, when we look around the world, as well as in Japan, there is a lot of sad situation for the ladies, children, the elderly and the weak, due to lack of love, or lack of faith in God. And the situation seems to be getting worse. There is a saying that the night is darkest before dawn, and that every night comes to an end. So, I firmly believe, that with Swami’s blessings, things will get better. I have a feeling that your coming to our country at this juncture may be closely related to the betterment of this situation. We would be very grateful, if you could share anything regarding this aspect. Lastly, I heard Swami had already been in Japan, since yesterday. If that is the case, may I confirm if you were with me this morning, when I woke up?

Swami: All of you prayed, that I should come to your country. I know that whole group had come, they chanted vedam, and they told Swami, come to Japan, come to Japan. I told I will definitely come, I will definitely come. See, my body was very important for my devotees, then. At that point of time, every day thousands and thousands of devotees will come to Puttaparthi, taking lot of pains. One day also, if I am absent from Puttaparthi, they feel very bad. For the sake of benefitting a few, I cannot deny so many. They were simple people, poor people, who put a lot of effort, and all their savings to come and see me from many countries. It is like, one day if you take holiday from your office, all your clients will be worried. All the time there are things happening in the market, and you need to let them know what is happening. One day if you are not there, all will get worried who are working with you. Therefore, they were expecting to see Mein Puttaparthi, so I had to be there for them in Puttaparthi. But now, those who come, they don’t expect to see Me in Puttaparthi, they are happy seeing Mahasamadhi. They are happy doing pranaams there and going back, and they are not looking for Me at all. So now I am free to travel wherever I want. I am retired from that job and now I am free. Now I have come wherever I was called. Besides, it will have taken a lot of effort for all of you to arrange My visit here. And if I visit one country, all other countries will feel bad. How could I abandon those poor and needy and the people in distress, for whose sake, I have primarily come. Now that I have come here, you have to come to me.

Your prayers are only intense, when you are in trouble. That is why you feel My presence with you. When things are fine, you forget very easily. It’s like the children, who keep playing all the time, but they come to mother, only when they are hungry. Since you were hungry, that means you were sad, I came to you. All these things are passing clouds. So don’t think about it too much. Your job, your work, your family is my responsibility, I will look after. Because you tend to forget Me in good times, sometimes I will send difficult times, so that you will remember Me. In difficult times, your prayers are true. Because you were going through difficulty, you prayed so hard, so I came.

As far as the question of Love in the world, first you have to develop love within yourself. One Sai Baba, with His heart full of Love, could transform so many people. If you all could develop the same selfless Love and become Sai Baba, how can you not change the world? Sai Baba is not a body or a mind. He is heart full of Love. If you also develop such a heart, you will also become Sai Baba. Just imagine if this room is full of people with heart full of Love, how can the world will not change? I love Swami, I love Swami, these are very limited love. I love everyone, because everyone is Swami, that is unlimited love. You develop that unlimited love, you can also change the world. In fact time has come now, for my devotees to rise and become Me.

Enough of training. Now we have to go to the battle. What is this battle? To fight against all the evil, all that which is not good, and change everything into good. You have a good commander in Me, but you also have to be good soldiers. As a Master, I will tell you what to do. But as a devotee, you must follow it properly.

Devotee 7: I would like you to allow us, or give us permission to do one thing. In Japan, we have a very problematic situation, in which it is very difficult to implement proper education, especially child education at school, or proper parenting. So, we would like you to please give us permission to start your education program, SSEHV, in Japan. Or rather, will you please guide us in how to go about introducing and implementing your education programs in Japan? And if you could give us some message regarding children or education, we will be very grateful.

Swami: For educating people in Human Values, we don’t have to open new schools. Today the cause of all the unrest in the world, is because the children have not been educated properly. They have been taught how to earn money, but they haven’t been taught how to use money. They have been taught what are their rights, but they have not been taught what are their responsibilities. They have been taught that they are a part of society, but they have not been taught that society also belongs to them. They are only been taught about “I”, “I”, “I”, and nothing about “we”. The biggest value of all the values is love. If you want to get pure water from the taps, you must see to that, that the tanks are clean. Teachers are like the tanks, children are only like taps. So develop a program, which will train the teachers in Human Values, by which, children will automatically get trained. If one teacher changes, thousands of students will change. But if you only try to change students, you will be able to change only one student. Some of you who believe in Education in Human Values, should get together, form a team, bring principals, teachers of schools together to work on this Human Value Mission. The teachers and parents and principals, if they come together, then you will be able to propagate these values very easily. So there is no need of starting a new school here, to continue the education, as there are enough schools. What is needed is to train the teachers correctly, so that the students will automatically keep learning year after year.

In India, situation is different. We don’t even have schools in the first place. We have to set up schools, train the teachers, students and parents. But in Japan, situation is different. So, you develop teachers training program, bring teachers together, and train them, and help them practice these values. By watching them, children will learn. Take help from other countries, too. You develop a program, I will send speakers and teachers from all around the world to help you.

Next year, around the same time, Swami will come again to Japan. By the time, you prepare a conference, for value based education for teachers. A journey of thousand miles start with the first step. Take the first step. Someday, you will reach your destination.

Time is up. I know there are more questions, you can write them all and give it to Makino. You write them and give, and Swami will send the answers.

Sing one Bhajan. Rama Rama Ram, Prema Mudita…