60. The mystical light was so bright that it was difficult to sleep
In the Vedic tradition of India there is a rather strange custom, which is to touch the feet of the teacher. In Sanskrit this is called Pada Namaskar. In India there is also a tradition of touching the feet of an older relative or respected person, but in particular people try to touch the feet of great saints.
From the point of view of Western culture, it looks quite strange to touch the feet of another person. This can be perceived as a humiliation and a cult of personality. For most Western people, it looks very strange if someone touches the feet of another person as if you seem to belittle your dignity and humiliate yourself.
In the East, bowing down at the feet of an elder or a saint has a completely different meaning. First of all, you need to understand that people in the East, of course, do not bow at the feet of everyone. Respectful worship on the feet occurs if the person is wise and respected. Foot worship is important, especially when it comes to saints and spiritual teachers.
On the feet of a spiritual teacher, there are important energy points through which the strongest divine energy is transmitted. Of course, the energy is divine if the person himself is divine, but if the person is not, then touching the feet can be useless or even negative.
If you touch the feet of a spiritual master who is at a high level of vibration, you thereby gain tremendous spiritual blessings. Touching the feet of Sathya Sai Baba was a great spiritual act and brought down the greatest blessings.
Sathya Sai Baba rarely allowed his feet to be touched because not everyone could withstand the strength of his energy. As soon as a person touched his feet, great energy descended and the deepest insights and mystical experiences occurred.
One day Sathya Sai Baba invited a Russian group for a talk. As translator, I sat on the floor next to Sathya Sai Baba, as usual. Suddenly, I felt like I wanted to touch his feet. Sathya Sai Baba allowed me to do this, after which he continued to communicate with people.
A minute later, I again felt I wanted to touch his feet. I translated what he said and every two or three minutes I touched his divine feet. Afterwards, people who were present told me I touched his feet more than thirty times. I left the room in a state of bliss and joy. Great Divine Grace descended upon me. For several days after this meeting I experienced vivid mystical experiences. I saw the whole world around me as a bright, golden, divine light. All buildings and people were flooded with pure light.
With my eyes open, I saw that the entire space around me was shining with golden light and the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt everywhere, in everything, and in everyone. When I went to bed, the mystical light was so bright it was almost impossible to sleep. I immersed myself in subtle realms of lucid dreaming, which looked like dreams, but were more like journeys into subtle worlds of pure light.
I know several people who have experienced similar states after touching Sathya Sai Baba’s feet. After people touched the divine feet of the Avatar, they were sometimes in a state of cosmic consciousness for several months, such was the power of the energy of Sathya Sai Baba.