Sai Pearls of Wisdom 37-B  “WHY FEAR WHEN I AM HERE " (With Subtitles).
Channel: Sai Pearls of Wisdom - Prof. Anil Kumar Kamaraju
Date: 10/12/2022

Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba declares, “Why Fear when I am here!” Wherever a devotee may be, if he is able to experience Swami’s presence with him, he becomes fearless. If his devotion is pure, the devotee does not fear, because devotion and fear cannot exist together. Sai dwells in a pure mind, and wherever He is, how can fear exist there? 

In the Shirdi Avatar, Sainath used to say, “Keep your gaze fixed on Me so that I can keep showering on you My gracious glances!” When He says ‘fixed gaze’, it means implicitly follow His instructions, and abide by them in life. Only then can one become worthy of His grace, be the recipient of His benevolence, and be free from all worries and fears.

Well, here is a story from the times of Shirdi incarnation. There lived a tailor named Kashiram in Shirdi. He had deep faith and love for Sainath. Out of his love, he stitched a green robe and offered it to Sai. Swami normally wore a white or orange robe, but the loving Sainath accepted it and wore it. The tailor got great joy in giving dakshina to Sainath every day. 

This Kashiram used to travel to several villages on work. Once, while he was returning to Shirdi from Naur village, he was attacked by a group of tribals. Kashiram was seated on a horse. They surrounded him and robbed him of all his belongings. Initially Kashiram did not resist them, but when they tried to snatch a small bundle of cloth from him, he opposed them strongly. What was there in that bundle which was so precious? 

Long ago a realized soul named Janakidas Baba had instructed this Kashiram to feed some sugar to ants every day. Since then, Kashiram followed the instruction and always carried some sugar in that bundle of cloth. To prevent the robbers from taking the bundle, Kashiram snatched a sword from one of the tribals and attacked them fearlessly, fearlessly! He could attack them, yes! Kashiram in the course of time fell off the horse and became unconscious. Fearing him to be dead, the robbers ran away.

While all this was happening, Kashiram kept experiencing Sainath’s presence with him all along and he felt fearless. Well, after some time, some passersby found him. They brought the unconscious Kashiram to consciousness and wanted to take him to a hospital, but Kashiram refused and asked them to take him to Shirdi. At Shirdi, Sainath got him treated through Madhavrao Deshpande, and soon by Sainath grace, he recovered fully.

When Kashiram was being attacked, do you know what happened? At Shirdi in Dwarkamai, Sainath suddenly started beating His chest, lost His temper and caused a commotion. The devotees around Him understood that Sainath was helping some devotee in distress. It was only due to his faith in Sai that the lone Kashiram was able to fight so many robbers fearlessly. Later the government honoured him for his bravery. See, that’s how Swami gives you the strength!

In the present Parthi incarnation also, there have been several incidents where Sai devotees have been able to overcome fear during a crisis through their faith in Swami. One small incident – one night, some dacoits went to a remote house in a village with the intention of looting. At that time, an old man was all alone in the house. On realizing the gravity of the situation, he stood in front of Swami’s photograph and started invoking Swami saying, “Swami...Swami...Swami!” Nobody knows what exactly happened but the dacoits had a change of heart, and they ran away. The Swami devotee was safe. 

Swami says, “If one practises three things in life, he can become one with Me! They are purity, patience and perseverance. Whosoever imbibes these three qualities, wherever he may be, he will always be free from fear. That’s what - fear and love can never go together. Where there is love, there is no fear!” Swami always used to say on that. 

And then, in Ramayana, Prabhu Ramachandra has given a promise to the devotees. He says, “I have taken a vow that I will free all living beings from fear.” We are so fortunate to have our Lord Sri Sathya Sai Ram among us, giving us the same assurance. 

The devotees are attracted towards many different forms of God but the one that attracts most is where His hand is raised in blessing, because from the Abhayahasta, they draw strength to cross this turbulent ocean of life with confidence. In many photographs, we see Swami giving His blessings. His Abhayahasta makes us realize that we are under the umbrella of Swami’s Grace.

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