Baba presided over a Yajna, it was a revival; it was a revelation; it was a revolution, a resurgence. It was a symbol of cultural renascence, for Baba, explained that the Vedas are essentially for all time and all mankind, that Sacrifice or Yajna is the sign and secret of all life. He advised the participants to recapture the ancient ascetic simplicity; He explained that in the Mantras, the Glory and Majesty of the One God is visualized in various contexts; He elaborated on the symbolism of the Sun and the Moon as guiding the inner and outer vision of man. He spoke of the tonic effect of the very sound of the Vedic Mantras; they charm away the evil in man. ‘I want to prove to you and to those others that a Yajna, celebrated according to Vedic Formulae will certainly grant the fruits promised by the Vedas’, He said. ‘The Vedas belong to those who value them, who are moved by thirst for spiritual uplift, who desire to practice them and who have faith that they will benefit by that practice. No one else has the right to talk patronizingly of the Vedas or disparage them. For, all such talk will be hollow and insincere’, He warned.
Forty five days later, on the auspicious occasion of His Birthday when thousands had gathered to celebrate it in His Presence Baba invited the incomparable Aamnaayaarthavaachaspathi Uppaluri Ganapathi Sastri to inaugurate the Sathya Sai Veda-Sastra Patasala, the Academy for Vedic and Sanskrit Study, at the Nilayam. He said, ‘The Vedas are in need of revival. We have to prevent the goats from nibbling at the sprouts. I have come for the sake of this Dharma sthapana’. ‘Vedo khilo dharma mulam’, ‘The Vedas are the root of Dharma’. Vedic scholars have to grow in numbers for the sake of the promotion of Dharma. So long as Vedic Scholars are produced and honoured, so long the Vedas will remain green in the hearts of man. This is the real Dharma sthapana.’ ‘My Task is to open your eyes to the glory of the Vedas and to convince you that Vedic injunctions, when put into practice will yield the promised results.’ ‘My Prema towards the Vedas is matched only by My Prema towards Humanity.’ ‘My Mission is just four: Veda poshana, Vidwat poshana, Bhakta rakshana and Dharma rakshana’.
Writing about the Dharma sthapana for which Baba has come in human form, we have to devote special attention to the Academy of Vedic Scholars established under His Guidance, which is fast spreading its beneficent activity from one State of India to another, since 1964. It was on the sacred day of Ramanavami, when a million homes all over the country were celebrating the incarnation of Rama, described as the embodiment of Dharma, that Baba revealed His intention. He was that day at Rajahmundry on the Godavari river; at dusk, He entered a motor launch with a number of learned Pundits and scholars, and we reached a patch of dry sand, an island bathed in cool moonlight, set in the dark blue background of the river above the Dhowaliswaram anicut. There, seated in the center of the circle of adoration, Baba spoke on the state of the world and of India, which must guide it, with the lamp of Sanathana Dharma. We must reform the habits of man; re-construct his character; recondition his ideals and modes of living; help him regain the spiritual heritage which he is now encouraged to ignore by protagonists of material prosperity and monetary happiness’, said He.
He created from the sand before Him, resplendent idols of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Anjaneya; then, He created a charming idol of Nataraja, the Dancing Siva, symbolising the Energized Universe that expands and contracts (or breathes) in harmony with the Divine Will. Then, in the climax of that Sublime Silence, He announced that He had decided on the establishment of the Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha, an All India Academy of Vedic Scholars who will strive to awaken humanity to the need to attain the Prasanthi (Inner Harmony and Equipoise) which has its Nilayam (Above) in the Sanathana Dharma, enshrined in the ancient scriptures of India. Surely, a great moment in the history of this Age.
Baba had given indications even in the forties that He will rebuild Vedic Dharma on a stronger foundation. In 1955, on the first day of October, at 9.30 a.m., as recorded in my Diary, Swami Amritananda ran towards me, after an interview with Baba, gasping with joy. He said, ‘I had a big sum of money with me which Bhagawan Ramana Maharishi advised, I should use for Vedic revival. I had invested it in the Benares Bank and later with some Trusts. I had consulted Madan Mohan Malaviya, Bhagawan Das, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak about the scheme but somehow, my plan did not fructify. Just now, Baba told me, unasked, all about my unfulfilled yearning. He said, ‘Do not worry any more; the task of Vedic revival is no longer yours. It is Mine’. The Swami died, peacefully, within two months of this transfer of burden!
In January, 1960, a great Sanskrit scholar from Sorbonne, France, Valestin by name, who was in India to translate the commentaries on the Vedas into French, arrived at Prasanthi Nilayam. One evening, during an interview with Baba, he suddenly caught Baba s hands and pleaded ‘Baba! Vedic scholarship is fast declining in this Holy Land. You must revive it, you must foster it’. I was there, nearby. I felt that East and West were also there, awaiting with palpitating heart, the reply that Baba will vouchsafe. For the Vedas are for both East and West, for all mankind. And Baba did not disappoint mankind. He said, ‘I have come for that very purpose, for Vedic revival. It shall be done. I will do it. Wherever you are, you will know of it. The world will share that joy, that light’.
The Sabha was formally inaugurated at the Swadhyaya Saptaha Yajna during the Dasara Festival, 1965. About 200 Pundits had assembled at Prasanthi Nilayam for the Convocation on 20th October. ‘Bhavani’ said Baba, ‘gave a sword into the hands of the Emperor Sivaji commissioning him to venture forth and uphold Hinduism; this ‘Siva-Sakthi’ is today giving these Pundits the sword of Courage and commissioning them to go forth and revive Dharma in the world’. ‘I am sure this Sabha will move forward from Victory to victory, for it is contributory to My Work. In all lands, the true sense of values has to be restored and faith in the Divinity of Mau has to be implanted. This is the work for which I have come. The world has to be saved from the consequences of limited knowledge and of the blinding pride that precedes a fall. The world is a parched desert, calling out for rain. This Sabha will give each thirsty mouth a cup of solace and strength, from the well of the Vedas and Sastras’. He condemned the criticism of Vedic rites, rituals and teachings of superstitions. ‘The Vedas are the root of Dharma. If the roots are injured, the tree will die’. ‘They gave Ananda and Shanti that are lasting and sustaining’, He said. ‘They transmuted all activity into worship of the Supreme and saved man from unending desire and inexplicable sorrow’, He said. ‘Know thyself, instead of the sun and moon - that way lies the road to Ananda and Shanti’.
The purpose of the Akhila Bharata Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha was clarified by Baba during the discourses that He gave on the days following the inauguration, while presiding over the lectures that the Pundits gave on the subjects suggested by him from Vedic and Vedantic texts. The watchword for the Sabha should be, He said, the prayer that is mentioned in the Vedas as arising however indistinct, from every human heart, ‘Tamaso maa Jyotir gamaya ... From darkness, lead me unto light’. ‘Eradicate Ajnana, the ignorance of the Universal that is the basis, the Ocean of which the individual is but a wave; light the lamp in village after village. Instil faith in man s freedom from grief and pain, that is to say, instil faith in the Atma and the Atma tattva; share your learning and experience, in love and sympathy, with the people who are hungry to know and be saved; remind them of their worth and work. You are not to condemn any one s faith or to develop any new sect; foster the positive attitude in spiritual effort; faith is a precious plant, a gust of harshness will make il wither. Be kind, be considerate, promote love, tolerance, service, sacrifice, wherever you find them in the heart of man. These Pundits have at last attained the fruition of their long study, for, they have secured this medium, this Sabha, for sharing their joy and their wisdom with their brothers and sisters. They have been allotted districts and the Central Committee will be supervising the programme and progress. They will sow in all cultivated hearts the seed of the Karma kanda, the Upasana kanda, and the Jnana kanda of the Vedas, of Dharma as expounded in the Manu Dharma Shastra and other texts and of the Glory of God and Man as explained in the Bhagavatam, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana’, He announced.
Turning to the thousands of devotees who had come from all parts of India, Baba said, ‘They sow the seeds. But, you have to tend the young crop, feed it with the manure of Manana, rid it of pests, like greed and pride, harvest the happiness of Love and establish yourselves in the Prasanthi that the nourishing grain ensures’. Baba recognised that the pundits must grow experienced in the art of explaining the essentials of the scriptural teachings to the masses in small easily assimilable doses that are relishing; He warned that, unless the Pundits took care to practise what they preached, their discourses would be exercises in sheer hypocrisy. The people too have to be trained in the art of listening to short, straight, spiritual discourses which arouse the desire to practise what is taught. For, as Baba said, the greatest sin is hypocrisy, spiritual weakness, self-condemnation and cowardice. These can be cured only by the awareness of one s inherent Divinity, that can never be harmed by such passing clouds of depression’, Baba assured. Baba declared, ‘This Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha is not something new, it is Sanathanam. It is now once again set up on the age-old Mission. This work of Dharma sthapanam is being done over and over again. You have now the chance to share in it; So, join this great task and make your lives worth while’.
That call was irresistible. Towns and villages vied with each other in asking for the chance to arrange meetings and seminars for the benefit of their citizens. The members of the Sabha were already famous over the length and breadth of the land. Dr. B. Ramakrishna Rao, a great scholar in Sanskrit, Telugu, a celebrated linguist, a great social worker and political leader who served the people as Chief Minister of Andhra and Governor of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, is the President of the Sabha; he has a Central Committee of Pundits who have earned enduring fame by their scholarship, speeches and writings like Uppuluri Ganapathi Sastrigal, who is honoured as Amnayarthavachaspathi by his colleagues; Kolluri Somasekhara Sastry, honoured as a Kulapathi by his gratified students; Bulusu Appanna Sastry, known as Darsanalankara, the renowned translator and commentator on Sankara s Githa Bhashya; Remilla Suryaprakasa Sastry, honoured as Sanga Veda Vidya Bhaskara; Varanasi Subramanya Sastry, who by his unexcelled scholarship relating to the works of Vyasa is celebrated as Balavyasa; Ghandikota Subrahmanya Sastry, the doyen among Dharmasastra scholars and the master of Vedic lore; Pisipati Krishnamurthi Sastry, a great expert in astrological observations and calculations according to all the schools of that ancient science, and others. To bring such a galaxy of Pundits into the same orbit is itself an achievement, made possible only by the unique attraction which Baba s Divinity exerted on them all with equal force.
The Inaugural Meeting where the Pundits carried the Message to the people at large was held in the immediate Presence of Baba Himself at Venkatagiri Town, in the Palace Quadrangle, under the chairmanship of the Raja Saheb of Venkatagiri. Baba mentioned that the citizens of Rajahmundry on the Godavari were hoping that the meeting would be held in their town, since the Sabha was resolved upon on the sands of an island in the centre of the Godavari on Sri Ramanavami, last year . But, ‘like all good things, this too is won not so much by present effort, but, by merit accumulated through, years numbering to centuries’. Baba said ‘Venkatagiri has been for centuries the seat of a Royal Family dedicated to the support and protection and promotion of Dharma. Consider how many temples were built or renovated and maintained by its munificence! Take count of the Pundits it has patronised so far and the number of religious books its donations have helped to reach the masses. See the interest the Family takes even now, for the upkeep of temples and mutts although their State and Status have been overwhelmed by the storms of political change’. No wonder that when the Madras State Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha was inaugurated six months later, Baba selected the vast grounds of the Venkatagiri Palace at Madras City as the venue!
The Mysore State Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha was inaugurated at Brindavan, Whitefield near Bangalore on 13th April, 1964, under the Chairmanship of Hon ble Sri B.D. Jatti, the Finance Minister of Mysore State. Inaugurating the Sabha, Baba said, ‘The link between the Pundit and the politician, the religious leader and the ruler has snapped and each goes his own way, irrespective of what the other thinks or feels. Long years of foreign rule during which the Pundits were derided as symbols of an out-dated culture contributed to the widening of the gap. But, even after that rule ended, nothing has been done to re-establish the link. Sunk in the search of passing pleasure and cheap recreation, people have become deaf to the counsels of the past and the call of the sublime. Unless the people are trained to direct their newly won opportunities into channels of service and self-control, there will be large scale moral breakdown, when the Five Year Plans stud the land with dams, power-stations, furnaces and factories; we must have a Plan, a well-thought-out Plan, for the moral education and the spiritual uplift of the nation, in order to avoid disaster’.
At the Inauguration of the Mahasabha in Madras State, Baba declared: ‘Man s ambition to conquer outer space, even before he has understood fully the nature of the earthly home he carries about with him and the discipline needed for harmony therein is leading him into great disaster. No knowledge, however impressive, which refused to acknowledge, the existence of God can be safe and sustaining’, Baba declared. The Mahasabha has also been established with His Blessings at Hyderabad, the Capital of Andhra Pradesh at a Meeting presided over by the Governor, Sri Pattam Thanu Pillai. The Maharashtra Branch of Vidwan Mahasabha was inaugurated by Baba at the Shanmukhananda Hall, Bombay, on 7th June, 1965. A Committee under the Chairmanship of Hon ble Sri P.K. Savant, Minister of Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra, has been formed with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, the Chairman of the Legislative Council and others as members.
Sri Savant is an ardent devotee of the shrine at Shirdi, where Baba lived the Life Divine and taught way to God, as Sai Baba; Sri Savant was a member of the ‘Shirdi Samsthan Trust Committee’ and for some time he was its Chairman. The Trust manages the affairs of the unique shrine that has grown around the Tomb or Samadhi of the Sai Avathar. When, therefore, Savant heard that the Master had taken human form again, he was naturally cautious about the claim. His curiosity however took him to the bungalow of a devotee with whom Baba had stayed for three days in May, 1960. There Savant joined in the Bhajan; he went through the Album of Photographs depicting Baba s activities; he saw a few hundred feet of film recording Baba s visit to Badrinath and the Yajna which was celebrated at Prasanthi Nilayam; then, he was taken into the very room where Baba had stayed during those three days. It is kept as if He has not left the place, in perfect readiness to receive Him, any moment. While in the room, Savant was offered the Vibhuthi brought from Prasanthi Nilayam, kept in a small receptacle there.
Naturally, he opened his mouth to receive it, but, his breast was suddenly afflicted with an understandable pang of doubt, whether as a staunch devotee of the Sai Baba of Shirdi, he could now take in the Udi consecrated by a stranger who claims to be the ‘same Baba’ come again. There are Babas and Babas, he felt, spurious, pseudo-authentic, and dubious, pitching their claims to reverence on all manner of unprovable relationships.
We should not be surprised when a devotee with Savant s steady faith in Sai Baba was harassed by doubt; we must indeed be thankful for his hesitation, for just at that split second, in order to convince him that the Sathya Sai at Prasanthi Nilayam is Satya (Truth), the same as the Sai Baba of Shirdi, a long bright flash of light emerged from the right palm of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba in the picture hanging on the wall of that room, above the heads of Dr. D.J. Gadhia, who was offering the Udi and of Sri P.K. Savant who was outwardly ready, though inwardly undecided, to receive it!
That flash scattered all argument against the identity of the two Babas; it shattered the dark clouds of doubt and hesitation. Savant received the Udi. Some months later, at Prasanthi Nilayam, Baba declared, ‘The depth of the devotion of Savant to that Body and this Body of the same Sai is known only to him and Me’. Savant attended the inauguration of the Mysore State Branch of the Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha and so, he was happy that a branch of the Organisation founded by Baba was soon started in Maharashtra. He and all who shared the thrill of that day were glad that the Grace of Baba had descended on Maharashtra again and that a new era had dawned for the Pundits of that State, who could share in the revival of Dharma under His auspices.
The Vidwan Mahasabha has been actively promoting lectures by Pundits in several towns and villages. A seminar for about twenty of them was held for a week to suggest subjects (on which they should speak to the people) selected from the vast reservoirs of Scholarship that they have each stored in themselves and to suggest methods of presentation that would receive response from Baba invariably encouraged the people, the organisers, and the Pundits either by His physical presence and Discourses or by some sign of His Presence. The District Committees would arrange the discourses in the headquarter towns of Taluks, for the devotees in the Taluk headquarters could carry the Message to the villages around. Thus, the disciplines and ideals of the Upanishads have been planted among agitated communities in areca-gardens and coffee plantations, rice fields, factory-chimney and bungaloid suburbs, University campuses, pensioners colonies, pilgrim centres and professional clubs.
Where formerly the audience at the meetings that these Pundits addressed could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and where in every place the same few were the only ones attracted, the meetings of the Mahasabha now drew tens of thousands in towns and all the population in the villages. For, the discourses are in the language of the people and are simple and useful, directly affecting the daily life. Baba s Divine Presence gathers hundreds of thousands to His Discourses, for they are the authentic Upadesh of the Lord.
As Baba declared at Venkatagiri, ‘The establishment of the Vidwan Mahasabha is an epoch-making event; for it is not less than the Dawn of the Golden Era of the Liberation of Humanity. The Liberation of Humanity from the petty role to which man has condemned it, deciding wrongly that he is the sheath and not the sword, the body and not its occupant, this is the very purpose of Baba s advent in human form. Baba has revealed that the repositories of ancient Indian culture are His instruments for this purpose. During his Tamilnad Tour, in the village of Surandai, He encouraged Vedic Pundits to recite Vedic riks in the Ghana mode, and rewarded them with medallions of gold. Similar medallions were awarded by Him to Pundits on the conclusion of the recitation of riks, at Akiripalle and at Rajahmundry. In 1963, at a Vidwathparishath (Assembly of Scholars) held at Rajahmundry, He gave to each member, robes of honour encouraging them to apply themselves to the study and exposition of the Vedas and Sastras.
In 1960, He presided over the College Day Celebrations of the Markandeya Oriental College. While welcoming Him to that institution, Dr. S. Bhagavantham (whose father was the Founder of the College), the great Scientist, now Scientific Adviser to the Defence Ministry of the Government of India, said ‘Whenever I went to have Baba s Darsan, I was amazed to find around Him groups of people from all countries and professions, great and small, rich and poor, sick and healthy, young and aged and Pundits filled with academic conceit wondering how all their learning is found useless before the All-knowing one’. They wondered and the wonder ripened into devotion.
Baba has blessed by His Presence the Niranjana Bhajan Mandali, at Maddur, the Sivanamajapasapthaha (week-long Continuous Recitation of the God) at Srisailam and the Githa Study Circle at Naini Tal and the Hindu Samaj, Rajahmundry. The Sanathana Bhagavatha Bhaktha Samajam (Association of the Dedicated and Devoted) of the Krishna-Guntur Districts has been taken by Him under His benign care. Baba has also graced the Yajna celebrated by devotees at Rajahmundry, Venkatagiri and Srinivaspur. He visited the Sanskrit Patasala and the Vyasasram at Erpedu.
When the Banaras Sanskrit University arranged the Akhila Bharata Tantrika Mahasabha, it sent Swami Dattareyaji to Prasanthi Nilayam to invite Baba to be present and bless the Sabha. Though Baba has often declared, ‘This is the age of Tantra’, He had to send the Swami back disappointed. The Organisers of the Vishwa (World) Hindu Parishad approached Baba for joining the group of Swamis who were guiding it. Baba told them that He had come for the very purpose of reviving the ideals of Hinduism and setting it on the road of victory; ‘I am every moment doing the very thing you have now in view’. When the Telugu Vijnana Samithi, Malleswaram honoured some members of the Central Committee of the Prasanthi Vidwan Mahasabha Baba agreed to preside over the Meeting.
Governor Pattom Thanu Pillai said, while inaugurating its Hyderadad Branch, ‘I am glad one of the main objects of the Sabha is the fostering of scholarship by honouring the Pundits and thereby encouraging the study of the Vedas and Sastras’. Baba presided over a vast gathering of admirers and students when the Hindu Samaj at Rajahmundry honoured three old and revered Masters of the Ancient Learning, Bulusu Appanna Sastry, Varanasi Subrahmanya Sastry and Kolluri Somasekhara Sastry. During the Dasara Festival, 1965, Baba conferred upon these three and on Vidwan Dupati Thirumalacharlu of Venkatagiri, the mark of appreciation that Royal patrons used to confer in past ages, namely, the ‘Suvarna Kankana’ or gemset Golden Bracelet. Every one who saw the tender love with which He helped the old men to come on the stage, the pride which He seemed to take in their achievements, and the solicitude with which He helped the Governor to fit the jewels on the wrists of the recipients, and cover their shoulders with the gold embroidered shawls, will cherish the scene as both inspiration and instruction. Pundits have good reason to welcome the Sathya Sai Era, for He is their Kalpatharu come on earth. When a Pundit read before Him some poems that he had composed about Goddess Kamakshi of Kanchipuram, Baba created a golden image of that Goddess and granted Him that precious gift; when others offered Him works on Yogavasishta and Githa-bhashya that they have composed Baba s grace provided them funds to publish them. Baba is Veda-maatha; He cannot tolerate a Vedic scholar toiling with the sweat of agony on his brow.
Except, of course, when He is set on teaching a lesson! For, He is a hard task-master, intent on maintaining the moral standard of those who claim to be masters of the ancient scripture. For example, a Pundit from the East Godavari District was so desperate financially that in his dispair he denied Baba s Grace! He denied his wife the permission to write to Baba asking for succour. Two days later, he was amazed to receive a letter from Baba who was at Prasanthi Nilayam, 800 miles away, in which He severely reprimanded him for it, ‘Why did you tell her, You have no permission ? Do I not know? Can I know only, when she writes or any one writes? Do I not know, for example, that you went to Ramachandrapuram expecting to collect some little money through discourses on the Gita and that you returned home having incurred loss? Do I not know that you then started condemning yourself that all your learning was a waste, that all your experience was of no value? For Me who is providing for all this world, it is no burden to provide for you and your family. I am placing all these hardships on you only to teach you a few lessons’. The following extract from the letter, which the Pundit placed in my hands at Amalapuram, indicate the lessons: ‘When life flows merrily on, people claim that it is due to their own effort and they forget the Lord. When failure resists the flow, they start cursing and losing faith. When you grow desperate, you are insulting the Atma tattva, the Atma principle which you really are, that knows no pain or joy. You have become condile in many subjects, but you do not try to derive the fruits thereof by putting them into practice. If only you have the faith that nothing can hinder the Atmananda which is the live spring in every heart, how happy you can be! Just imagine how calm and collected you could be then.
In your lectures, you dilate on the Atma and the Ananda derivable by man and drill deep down into it. It is easy to advise others; when it comes to practising what you recommend, you feel it awful bother. Carrying all the Vedas, Sastras, Puranas, Ithihasas and Upanishads stuffed in your brain, this wailing do and this anger not become you. Instead of resorting to the most effective specific for all anxiety, namely, the Name of the Lord, why do you waste time recapitulating and lamenting over pain, fear, loss and grief?
Engage yourself in that which is enjoined as your duty, the duty which your status demands. Do it courageously and gladly. Strive to gain the four Purusharthas; then, you can certainly experience the Highest Truth. Practise and earn the Highest Bliss. Do not decry the rich; no, not the rich only, do not decry any one, in any manner. For remember, Sai is in every person. So when you decry another, you are decrying Sai Himself’.
After this paternal but firm admonition, Baba closes the letter with the revealing colophon: ‘He who resides in your heart, Sai’. ‘Nee Hridayanivasi, Sai’! This vigilant supervision of the workings of the Inner Consciousness of the Pundits who have come within His Orbit is another of the many ways in which this Veda mata (Providence which revealed the Vedas) seeks to promote Sanathana Dharma; for, unless, we have a brave band of Vedic scholars who live the Vedic life, the world cannot be enthused to honour and accept the Vedic teaching of Fundamental Oneness. (SSSm Vol.2)