When we were kids, we had utmost and irrevocable faith in our parents. They were our role models, there was no one else better than them. And so we tried to imitate them. We wanted to be like them. Their word was the final word, iron clad. We simply couldn't and wouldn't believe in anything else. They told us to pray, we prayed. They told us to be good, we tried to be good. They told us to believe in god, we believed in god without a second thought, even though we didn't fully understand the concept of 'GOD'. We believed in every truth, story, fable, lie, order they gave us, because we didn't know any better. As we grew up, we started questioning these beliefs naturally. We started rebelling against orders, fought against lies, believed our own opinions to be true and started creating our own fables. It is but nature, how God has made us, we are not at fault. But old habits die hard, the seeds sown when young still hold their roots even if the tree has grown and wilted.We retain a part of what we were taught in the childhood. Our conscience questions our rebellious nature, a part of us still wants to meekly believe and sometimes we take the easy way out by believing instead of questioning.
My mother is a pious woman. She has unconditional devotion towards God. In her own way she tried to inculcate these very qualities in me, when I was but a kid. And since I saw her as my role model, I had utter faith in her, I believed in her, listened to her, tried to do as she told me to do. She believes in Sri Sathya Sai Baba. She told me to believe in him. She told me he's a God, and I believed her then. I believed he was a God, I prayed to him, I asked him for wishes, as children usually do. As I grew up, my belief didn't change, even though I no longer needed to blindly believe what my mother said and always agree with her. Call it my blind faith, call it superstition, call it my innocence or whatever. But I had my own reasons to believe. Of course the intensity of my belief was directly proportional to how big a mess I was in at the time (Yes, I wouldn't call myself pious in any sense).
Just recently Sri Sathya Sai Baba died at the ripe old age of 85, and as is in the case of people who are always in the limelight and who leave behind a lot of money in trusts, controversies followed. Many people started debasing him on the various social networking websites, newspapers and other media. Many videos were released showing him to be a fake, how he cheated people in his miracles etc. Other controversies started about the money he's left behind in the trust, about who will head the trust after Baba's demise and so on. All these people fail to remember that Sri Sathya Sai Baba, maybe he's not a god, but he sure did a lot of charity work for the people all around the world & not just in India. His trust supports a variety of free educational institutions, hospitals, and other charitable works in over 166 countries. Whatever money he obtained from the devotees was ultimately used in their own betterment through these very educational institutions and hospitals. He preached spiritualism, meditation, good karma, sanatana dharma (All God's are one) and purity in human values and character. He was an Indian guru, spiritual figure, philanthropist, and educator. He used the better part of his life in influencing people spiritually. He did not do any sort of harm to other people. He did not preach jihad or murder. He's no Osama Bin Laden or Dawood Ibrahim. He tried to influence people to become good human beings.
So maybe he's not a God, he definitely is a better Human being than us lot. Instead of belittling him, wouldn't it serve us better to give him credit for his good work? After all that's what humanity is all about. Remember Jesus Christ? And how he was treated when he was alive? Now they believe him to be the son of God. Maybe he is, maybe he's not. But he was a spiritual guru too, he worked for the well being of others, he preached peace, non violence and spiritualism and look how he was crucified for his teachings. History shows that we human beings cannot be trusted, we make mistakes. But we should also learn from these very mistakes instead of repeating them. Don't believe in Sri Sathya Sai Baba, don't believe in Jesus Christ, but give them credit for the good that they have done instead of blaspheming their name. They may or may not be God, but they are human beings as long as they are on earth and its up to us to follow their good teachings.
I for myself, still believe Sri Sathya Sai baba's teachings. Like I said old habits die hard. Maybe I am not that pious, I am still young, I have yet to see the world, am too attached to materialistic pleasures. But I also do believe in his teachings of spiritualism, good karma and sanatana dharma. There is only one God, pray to Ganesha, Jesus, Vishnu, Buddha or Allah. Ultimately its your faith that matters.
