56. Wish fulfillment tree
Sometimes Sathya Sai Baba, addressing the people sitting right in front of him, sadly said: you are now sitting under the «heavenly tree of wish fulfillment,» which is called in Sanskrit, «Kalpa Vriksha,» and you have enough imagination to ask for only a cup of coffee, maximum – two.
These strange images show that most people have not realized the unique opportunity that comes with meeting the Avatar.
Sathya Sai Baba repeatedly said that people do not understand what chances and opportunities they have while being in such close proximity to him. Sathya Sai Baba, addressing the visitors who came to him, sadly stated that the majority had enough imagination to ask him, figuratively, for a kilogram of chocolate, and the most daring had the ingenuity to ask for only two kilograms of chocolate. For the most part, people did not realize the full scale and boundlessness of Sathya Sai Baba’s possibilities and, therefore, asked for momentary trifles.
Society dictates certain and very naive standards to us. To be successful allegedly means to be rich, but it would be nice to be healthy, as well. Quite often it was with such standards and ideas about life that people came to Sathya Sai Baba.
Yes, having good financial opportunities is very important, but this is not a guarantee of happiness. How many rich people suffer from depression and hidden fears?
True success is the realization of one’s purpose in life. There are many unsatisfied, suffering people in the world, but also a large number of truly happy people, and this has nothing to do with their social status and financial capabilities.
True happiness is a state of harmony and the absence of internal conflict. “Knock and it will be opened to you – ask and you will receive,” the Gospel says. Are your desires proper and good? In addition to good desires, there are also questionable ones that lead to negative results.
When we talk about negative desires, we mean situations when, under the influence of resentment or conflict, people begin to wish harm and suffering on others.
Sometimes, not realizing the consequences, people demand from God the fulfillment of their destructive desires. There were cases when visitors quite seriously asked Sathya Sai Baba to endow them with various supernatural abilities, clairvoyance, and the ability to materialize objects.
There are quite a lot of mystics in the world who can materialize objects and who have clairvoyant skills, but this is not the main thing. The task of the Avatar is not to endow someone with superpowers. His true mission is to spiritually transform a person.
Questionable desires are obvious and come in the form of wishing evil, condemnation, or cursing another. There are also desires hidden and formed under the influence of selfishness, like wanting the acquisition of supernatural abilities aimed at self-enrichment and unlimited power.
I remember interviews where some people asked Sathya Sai Baba to give them clairvoyance and the ability to fly in the astral body, at will. What we ask of God is a big and difficult question. Is it really necessary to ask God? Is it good to have desires? Jesus Christ said: «Ask and you will receive.» Sathya Sai Baba also directed his devotees to formulate their goals in life more clearly and not to be shy in asking God for help in achieving their good aspirations.
Some suggest that by gaining a mystical experience of unity with God, a person loses all interest in the manifested world. Many people think that self-actualization leads to loss of motivation and apathy. There are traditions that preach the signature that a person has become a saint is, allegedly, the denial of society and all aspects of human life.
God is the supreme and original source of love and creativity. One who has truly awakened the inner God reveals infinite and great potentials within himself. The one who knows God perceives the manifested universe as a space for the manifestation of love. The one who has discovered God in his heart becomes a creator.