Sri Sathya Sai Visits Tamil Nadu - 1966

Thursday, May 19, 1966 to 
Sunday, June 19, 1966

Swami visited Madras on 19th May, 1966 and stayed there for a week. He blessed the devotees with His Darshan and discourses at Guindy Sai Baba temple and also at Sri Sathya Sai Nivas, Perambur. He blessed the Prashanti Vidwan Maha Sabha meetings on the 19th and 20th at Osborne House and gave discourses. 

Sri Sathya Sai at the Prasanthi Vidwan Sabha at Madras. From left are seen Governor Dr. Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, Chief Minister Bhaktavatsalam, and Justice Sadasivam

During one of those sessions Swami gave a Discourse on the theme of ‘Three Types of Roads’. The excerpts from the Discourse are given below:

“To be born as a human being is a great piece of luck. For, man alone can attain the status of the Divine, by recognising the reality of his being. No beast or bird can reach that height of realisation. But, it is tragic that instead of valuing the chance and utilising it, man fritters his years here and dies, without seeing the light. He is disgracing himself and denying his destiny. A minute's reflection will reveal how far he is from the goal, the precious stage of Self-realisation. Man is neither a picture, nor a sculpture, which are both lifeless and have no aspiration of their own. He has activity, attainment, a hunger for expansion, for immortality. But, what a pity, he does not dedicate his life to the Divine, he is caught up in the vain pursuit of comfort and cosy living. And to style himself as a son of Bharat Mata (Mother India) and yet, behave so foolishly is a greater shame. He is simply converting a fine moonlit night into a night of thick blackness.

The "believers", "the orthodox" are mainly responsible for this state of affairs. They neglect the faith, they imitate western culture. Does the west deny its culture? No; they learn about other cultures, and yet, they follow theirs with enthusiasm. But, you have neither this nor that; you fall, in between.

God cannot be grasped by anyone fully

When I see the long lines of people going to Church every Sunday, I am glad; but, when I find you talking apologetically of your visits to temples and sages, I dislike it. Why not assert that you had been to a temple or sage, boldly, with heads erect? Why fear even the most trivial persons? Why yield to worry and misery, claiming all the time that you are a believer in God?

You are born as a consequence of the activities you were engaged in, in past births. When a bus is speeding along, a cloud of dust follows it; when it halts, the passengers get the dust all over. But, how far can you travel without bringing the bus to a halt? The one consolation is: you need not always speed along the mud road; better roads are in store. The mud road, the fair-weather road is the Samiti Road; the metalled road which comes later is the Zilla Parishad Road; at last, you get on into the asphalt road, the road of the Highways Department, where the bus will not drag behind it any cloud of dust. The mud road is the Karma Marga (road of activity), the metalled road is Upasana Marga (road of worship, contemplation) and the asphalt road is Jnana Marga (road of divine knowledge, wisdom), join the Jnana Marga soon; then, there will be no dust.

The people of this country have lost reverence for things spiritual. There are many sages and saints in India, but, on account of cynical neglect, like Bhasmasura, India is planning its own extinction in the cultural field. Bhasmasura placed his hand on his own head and that reduced him to ashes. Persons who have not advanced even one step towards God by means of Sadhana (spiritual discipline) start pronouncing judgements; God cannot be grasped by any one fully. When you dismiss an act as miracle, you are only admitting that it is beyond your ken; you use that word, because you have no other means of describing God's behaviour or movements or action.

In spiritual matters, faith is the basic requisite for progress. That faith had to be guarded carefully. Yield to the Lord, who is more kin to you than your own parents; yield to no other. Do not allow your faith to falter with every passing gust of wind. Believe that all the three worlds cannot unseat Truth; all the fourteen Lokas cannot seat Falsehood on the throne. Your duty is to carry on Sadhana undisturbed by what others may say, holding fast to the certitude of your own experience.” 

Sri Sathya Sai Darshan at Madurai - 1966

Swami reached Venkatagiri on the 21st and addressed the Divine Life Conference there. He left for Kodaikanal on 26th May. After a brief stay at Kodaikanal, Swami reached Madurai on 9th June and stayed on for 11 days. He laid the foundation stone for a proposed spiritual centre at Sri Sathya Sai Nagar, Madurai. Swami performed the Graha Pravesham (house warming) ceremony of Sri Subramanya Chettiar, a very ardent devotee who was Swami’s instrument in initiating the Likhita Japa Yagnam in Tamil Nadu. 

Sri Shuddhananda Bharati with Sri Sathya Sai at Madurai

Swami asked Shuddhananda Bharati to give a discourse to the devotees on the 12th and also to translate His Discourse to Tamil. Swami blessed a Samashti Upanayanam of 11 boys by materializing the sacred threads and administering the Gayatri Mantra Upadesham. He also inaugurated a Vedic school at Madurai during this visit.

Source: Sri Sathya Sai Digvijayam (1926-1985)