Chapter from: Sanathana Sarthi – Bhagavan 70th Birthday Commemoration Volume, Nov. 1995

Bhagavan Baba – The Unfathomable Mystery

Mario Mazzoleni

Whenever I find myself having to write or speak of Sai Baba, I feel a twofold sense of fear: first, I feel presumptuous because I know that our explanations do not add anything to His Glory; second, I feel I will not do justice to the Truth because His Reality goes immensely beyond our level of consciousness.

Yes, it is always difficult to speak of Sai Baba, but one always yearns to know more. It is almost fifteen years since I came to know of the Avatar's earthly existence. Rightfully, one could state that the subject has been exhausted, and that by now there is nothing more to discover and to know. The interest, however, grows more and more. As soon as Someone talks about Him the attention is aroused, the heart is switched on, and His story endlessly fascinates us. What surprises me even more, is the creativity with which this story manifests itself with infinite scenarios, endless and exciting turn of events and episodes. For me his is already an indication of the unfathomable Sai Mystery, and of His infinite essence. If this Reality were finite, it could be framed into a pattern and exhausted in a few years of studying. A mystery that is never fully unfolded is like an adventurous treasure hunt; it is enjoyable to live it even amidst a thousand risks.

What is it in one's life that changes when one meets this Mystery that is Sai Baba? What has changed for me, in my life as a priest, as a Catholic priest? The first thing mat I feel has changed is my relationship with time. Before I knew Baba, I had the feeling that the result of my actions was what was important, and that life's activities acquired value according to the amount of time dedicated to them. Baba has tat me to see the value of life in terms of quality, and not the quantity, of what is done. I am astonished by what I see unfolding in my life. When I used to think I was doing a lot because I was doing many things, I was, in fact, wasting a lot of time. Now that I try to surrender to God's time, anally surrendering to God who is Time, every moment of the day is made precious by the constant search for unity and identity with Him, and no moment is ever lost.

A PRACTICAL TEACHER

I feel a change even in the relationship with unpleasant events in my life, those annoyances that nobody would ever want to encounter. Baba is a very practical teacher, and He chooses the precise moment when He will test you. At the beginning the tests seem hard and the “menu" varied: a serious illness, a car accident, legal problems, financial difficulties, etc. The events seem to be inexplicably tangled without leaving any possibility of a resolution. It seems that everything that happens justifies your anguish. Then you realize that if you can surrender yourself completely and unconditionally to Him, all problems are solved in the best possible way. Baba says that there are times when it seems that nothing goes right. This is only because He has chosen alternative ways for us that are longer, slower and temporarily more tiresome All of this is in order to leave the main road free and unencumbered so that the really important work can be achieved.

THE WORLD IS A STAGE

Examining my life, there is something else that astonishes me. There are so many events that follow one another that it appears that I have lived many lives in these fifty years. I can hear Baba say again and again that this world is nothing but a stage where we are all acting a part, and that life is all illusion, only a scene of the infinite Divine Comedy. Once we know this, even though suffering doesn't vanish, it no longer has the same hold on the mind that it used to, nor does it have the same after-effects. In suffering, one begins to see Grace. From an accident one draws advantages, and acquires .the certainty that without the protective Hand of Baba, the outcome would have been ,fatal. On occasions, one can also experience the enjoyment of being a witness, of being a spectator of the recital of one's own drama. It appears sometimes that living is like turning the pages of an adventure book; in the evening, having finished a page and having put the book aside, one waits in anticipation for tomorrow when we begin the next chapter to find out how it will end.

"DON'T DON" THE ROBE

Now I would like to touch upon a unique and delicate aspect of my life, my priesthood and my relationship with the Catholic Church. Because I spoke of Baba from the official position, allowed by the robe I was wearing, the robe was taken away from me. I have thought very often about this serious event in my life.

I thought that telling the truth and inviting others to look for it was the specific goal of a priest. I would never have imagined that I would lose the robe for having spoken of God! Moreover, I was hoping to contribute to the broadening of the Catholic mind by showing them Baba's Truth.

The Roman Catholic priests carry in front of their name the title "Don". The ex-communication has revoked that title, forbidding my practice of the priesthood and access to the sacraments; now for the Catholics I am a “pariah". I know that Baba loves to make a play on words; I will dare one myself., It is as if I would hear Him tell me, "Don't don" (don't keep on wearing that robe, leave the old robe). The course on which Baba has now set me is to learn the art of how "to wear the new man, and to get rid of the old one. The value of your words, He tells me, does not derive from the caste to which you belong, is not from what you are outside, but from what you are inside.

Perhaps many are curious to know what the excommunication has produced in me. With Baba's Grace, I am actually able to see this provision as a simple act of human authority, karmic for me, and consistent with the thinking of the ecclesiastical world. I don't carry any grudge towards the institution which ratified that decision. It is not my intent to have the mews of the excommunication give rise to negative judgments and condemnations. Furthermore, spreading this news is only in the interest of those who produced it.

I am very happy that the event did not, in the least, disturb my relationship with Baba. On the contrary, it has intensified it.

Now that the Catholic Church does not recognize me any longer as its son, I feel I am the son of all churches, including the one that sent me away. One can cease being loved, but it is never possible to stop one from loving. The Divine Orchestra Conductor decides when to make the music stop and where to insert the pauses; it is possible to preach with words, but it is also possible to preach with silence. Nobody is excluded from this Divine Gift because everybody, with different instruments, is playing his or her part. The symphony is magnificent only when the Divine is the Conductor.

HUMAN JUDGMENT AND DIVINE TRUTH

During the anguished time of my excommunication, I experienced a feeling which I had never known before and which still gives me immense joy: the awareness that a human judgment can never change the divine truth. All the most important men in the world can sing together that the sun revolves around the earth, but it is the opposite and the truth remains indisputable: the sun has been, is, and will always be the centre of the solar system. In spite of all the tears provoked by ignorant people, the eternal and unfailing history of God is highly comforting, as it shows how little and insignificant are the stories and the lies of men.

I can only be grateful to the Church for its teaching. I am thankful that I have been able to catch a glimpse of an infinitely small portion of Baba's reality. Without this education and the discipline that I received in the years of apprenticeship before the priesthood, many aspects of the Living Divinity would have remained obscure. I also received a certain kind of conditioning, but Baba took care of it by redirecting my mind.

BABA'S MASTERY OF THE SCRIPTURES

It is of great satisfaction to see that everything that I have learned from Baba has its theological verification and interpretation in the Bible. However, I would like to add this: Baba's divine Presence has the exceptional power to improve God's biblical image, exalting Its sweetness when It is severe, Its serenity when It is jealous, Its love when It punishes. What an incredible chance! We have the possibility to verify all we have learned about God through the Scriptures, the Sacred Tradition and literature. Those who emotionally celebrate the festivities of the Trinity, or of Christ's .Transfiguration, or of the Pentecost, do not know that now and here on this earth are walking the feet of the One who is the figure and form of God the Father, the One who sent to the world as His Son, Christ, the One who wears the liturgical colour of the Holy Spirit.

One of the divine qualities in the person of Sai Baba, that never ceases to amaze me, is His complete control of all the Sacred Scriptures; it could not be in any other way, since it is He who inspired them. But few notice that He, with His written or verbal Word, becomes the direct author I of a new revelation, new shrutis, new smritis. So, while for the traditional Scriptures we have to rely on what has been handed down by sages and rishis, new I scriptures are being created where the direct author is not a wise writer, but God personified. All this is upheld by modern means of communication which guarantee the absolute accuracy of what has been pronounced - a real God of Truth, without any mystification!

BABA AS AVATAR

The characteristics of the Avatar are so evident and effulgent in the life of Sathya Sai Baba that only a distracted and superficial person would fail to notice them. Many have grossly misunderstood His intentions, believing that He lives on the cult worship that people attribute to Him, and that He enjoys the adoration of His followers. In reality, only an embodiment of God's infinite love can allow simple human beings to show Him their gratitude, exclusively for their pleasures. As far as He is concerned, what more could the Fullness of Love desire than to fill every heart with joy. Furthermore, to give human narrow-mindedness a final blow, Sri Sathya Sai's teachings pursue a unified purpose: to free man from the tie of the form, even the one of God. Therefore, after having satiated and inebriated us with the joy of His physical presence, He brings us gradually and masterfully to the absolute emancipation from all historical form, apparent and illusive, holding our hand for that jump into the light which has neither name nor shape.

Many who have called themselves masters, tie their disciples to them, making hem dependents. They certainly do not have the "driver's license" to guide their souls. The great miracle of Baba consists in the vibrancy of His love. It is not a love which induces passiveness; it brings with it a self-regenerating force. Those who have drawn from it will be able to walk autonomously, held by the awareness that Baba is not simply the sweet orange figure whose darshan we yearn for, but the essence of life which maintains all worlds. Looking within one receives His darshan.

In this 70th birthday celebration of the earthly existence of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, I consider it a privilege to be able to express gratitude for such a copious effulgence of Divine Grace. The joy derived from this not only soothes any human pain, but gives an irreducible energy to face the difficulties of life with fortitude and joy.

Prostrating at the lotus feet of the Lord, I offer this humble thought to Him and to my brothers and sisters.

Om Sai Ram.

Mario Mazzoleni

Italy