Quote:

“ The knowledge of the Self is subtle and mystic. No one could, on his own, ever hope to attain it. A self-realized Guru is a must ” - Shri Sai Baba

The world is an illusion is what the spiritual masters have been emphasizing time and again. People pursuing the path of spirituality too have realized and accepted the fact that the world is enveloped by Maya, which is the root cause of all unhappiness in the world. Still most of us are trapped and the tentacles of Maya spread far and wide that we find it difficult to extricate ourselves from its ugly clutches. When our Sadguru Shri Sainath Maharaj himself said that the Maya continues to tease Him, then what about the normal beings like us. But the moot point is that, is there any way we come out of it and live in peace? Revered Guruji Shri Satpathyji has said that,

"MAATI KE YE RISTHE SAARE, SABH CHOOT JAYENGE,
NAAM, DHAN, GHAR SARE PEECHE REH JAYENGE,
TERE JANMONKE SAATHI GURU KO PUKAR RE"

It is clear from these verses that all the relations with people break off, and the name, fame, money and the worldly acquisitions are left behind. So this being the truth, He said that from the moment one takes birth, one should look for Guru and seek His companionship. Though we know this truth, we continue to be entangled in the web of this mundane world. As a result, we end up having umpteen desires, unfulfilled wishes and for their fulfillment, we constantly pray to God. This is a continuous process and there is no end to it as some thing or other keeps cropping up and we keep looking at the Lord for His intervention, to help us tide over various situations. Since none of us knows really the actual required things, we go by our intellect and invoke the blessings of Lord to have things happening in desired direction. By this act, we are actually limiting the grace of the God to some specific things only. When we realize that it is the play of Maya that forces us to seek for specific things in life, then we would blindly leave everything at the feet of the Master and just look at Him to guide us the way He thinks appropriate.

We the devotees of Shri Sainath, try to follow his teachings as described in Shri Sai Satcharitra. In spite of the fact that we read and analyze Satcharitra and try hard to internalize the essence of Sai's teachings, still we become victims of Maya. In the very first chapter in Shri Sai Satcharitra it is clearly said that, " the firm conviction of Baba is that the knowledge or Self- realization is not possible, unless there is prior act of grinding of all our impulses, desires, sins, three gunas and the Ahamkara, which is so subtle and difficult to get rid of". But most of us knowingly or unknowingly fail to take cognizance of this strong conviction of Shri Sai and as a result experience the difficulties while traversing the spiritual path.

When the realization dawns on us that it is difficult to get away from the effects of Maya which is nothing but the divine esoteric play of the Lord, our only option is to pray to the Lord fervently to save us from Maya and its effects. Here I am reminded once again the beautiful verses of Guruji Shri Satpathiji,

"BAHUT KUCH MAI SAMAJANA PAAVU, APNI LEELA SAMJHA DONA,
KRIPA KARO ES MOORAKH DAS KO, APNE CHARNOME RAKH LONA"

Oh, Sai, I am not able to understand anything, please make me understand your divine play and shower mercy on this ignorant servant and keep me at your lotus feet. The irony here is that a great realized soul like Satpathyji, composed these verses, then what about we the ignorant lot. Perhaps to overcome that inevitable maya, we need to utter these verses thinking of our Sadguru

Shri Sainath Maharaj always. Guru alone is our true companion and He is the one who walks with us in this world and the world beyond. So let us offer our humble salutations to Him and pray for His continuous presence. "Aum Shri Sai, Peace be to all"