I had a talk with an elderly man a while back and he asked me straight out – what are your thoughts on God. He went further in saying: look around us, the suffering, the wars, various diseases, climate change, etc., etc. After he finished, I simply said, “Yes”, I do believe in God. It does not necessarily come from what I read or was told, but by actual experiences, all throughout my life. I know without doubt there is God.

I told him that when things go wrong in our lives, we often blame something or someone else for it instead of finding real reason for suffering. Instead of investigating, it seems much easier just to throw up our arms and say: I don’t believe in God, there is no God. Many today sit idle in not searching for their answers, answers to the BIG questions. If they did invest their time, the answers would automatically come to them. Effort is needed towards this. Everything in this world is attained with effort. This is the physical world and every living creature has to work for what it wants. You want answers, then search.

Scientists tell us that the earth is perfectly placed at the right distance from the sun so as to sustain life. Any closer it would fry us. A little further away it would freeze us. The moon is perfectly placed and at the right distance to control our weather patterns and sea tides. Could all this be just an incredible fluke of luck, for us? Let’s look around us at the moment, Life everywhere, progressing, developing, evolving into higher forms. Dense forests with incredible trees to help purify the oxygen which sustains life. Colours which overwhelm us with its beauty in and through the assortments of flowers, trees, bushes, grasses, great mountains with snow-capped peaks. The might of our great oceans. The incredible universe filled with countless blinking stars, planets, galaxies which goes further beyond the reach of our strongest telescopes.

Then there is (HUMAN). A perfect specimen if we take the time to look closely at its physical features. Its design is flawless. Everyone one day will come to know the truth of, IS THERE A GOD, OR NOT? This has been occurring ever since man/woman could think a little deeper for themselves. But unfortunately many today say (I don’t believe in a God) or something to that effect, but only until they need help or lay in their death bed crying out with a great voice (I don’t want to die, please God save me).

Before that time arrives (I said to him), which is always sooner rather than later, we should look into the things that will help us for when that day does come, as it cannot be avoided. I think he listened with some interest because he nodded his understanding of what I said, then he walked away saying, good talking with you. Anyway, this is my little story which took place last year.

I was going to end this story here but thought better of it, only because something else came to mind, or maybe Swami (Sathya Sai Baba) put in my mind to tell it. So here it is produced below.

Dr. Kishan Gadhia is a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba for over four decades. The following is an account in his own words when having an interview with Swami. Though sadly I do not have the name of the author to this article, just the story.

The author says:

So in the talk, Dr Gadhia shared some adventures and experiences he had with Swami. At one point he recalled a lunch in Swami’s house with some others of Swami’s inner circle. Swami was speaking about the five reasons the Avatar incarnates. If my memory is correct, they were:

(1) To answer the prayers of his devotees (2) To fulfill the yearning of the saints and sages who have performed penance in order to see the form of God. (3) To revive the ancient scriptures (4) To protect the righteous (5) To save the world from destruction

On the fifth point, to save the world from destruction – Dr Gadhia described in a remarkably matter-of-fact-way, how this world happens in the Sai Avatar. He quoted Swami saying, “In this Avatar, a great war will come between America, Russia and the Muslim powers. When this happens the world will be brought to the brink of destruction. At that moment I will reveal Myself, and in revealing Myself I will end that war. And no more wars will follow.”

The author continued in saying; It was a powerful revelation that left the audience in a state of amazement. I had the opportunity a few years later to speak personally with Dr Gadhia. He had invited me and a friend of mine for breakfast in his apartment in Puttaparthi. I could confirm the story once again. I pressed him for more details but he said that was all there was. Swami hadn’t said anymore about it. I asked him if Swami had said when this would happened but he laughed and said, “No, Swami never says when anything will happen”.

So what exactly did Swami mean, and how or when might such a dramatic event occur? Who knows? One important point for me is that when I heard the story in 1998, the world was as far away from such a global conflict as could be imagined. The Middle East was at peace, the global economy was thriving, and there was no major conflict happening anywhere on the planet. END

OMSAIRAM